Malaysia: February 2009

Wednesday, February 25, 2009

Geert-Hofstede Model

Power Distance Index

PDI is the extent to which the less powerful members of organizations and institutions accept and expect that power is distributed unequally.

Malaysia has a Power Distance Index of 120, and the the U.S. is just about 40. It has big difference between Malaysia and the U.S. because their different governence system. According to the Geert-Hofstede model, we can tell that Malaysia is the country which is highly rule-oriented with laws, rules, regulations, and controls in order to reduce the amount of uncertainty, while inequalities of power and wealth have been allowed to grow within the society. The United States is opposite way to compare with Malaysia. People has more equally power in the States.

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Uncertainty Avoidance Index

Uncertainty Avoidance is the tendency for a culture to shy away from risk. Countries with a high Uncertainty Avoidance tend to value rules, structure, and low risk situations. Malaysia has an Uncertainty Avoidance Index of 36, and the U.S. comes in at 46. These numbers are relatively low (compared to other countries which rank between 8 and 112). This means that they are more likely to value situations that lead to high payoffs and larger rewards, even if more risk is involved.

These numbers also tell us that Malaysia values risk somewhat more than the U.S. These numbers definitely makes sense. As we stated earlier, the country ranks #1 in Ease of Getting Credit and #4 in Protecting Investors (as opposed to the U.S., which ranked #5 in Ease of Getting Credit and #5 in Protecting Investors). So while Malaysia has a lower Uncertainty Avoidance, both countries have a history of encouraging people to invest and take risks.

Geert-Hofstede Model

Masculinity vs. Femininity

Masculine cultures value competitiveness, assertiveness, ambition, and the accumulation of wealth and material possessions. Feminine cultures place more value on relationships and quality of life.

The United States and Malaysia both have very masculine cultures. According to the Geert-Hofstede model the United states ranks 60 on masculinity and Malaysia ranks at about 50. The United States is more masculine than Malaysia, but they both have similar masculine traits. Malaysia is a high context culture meaning that less emphasis on words and more on voice tone, body language, eye contact and facial expressions is important. The United States focuses more on getting your point across through words. In a business sense Malaysia and the United States both focus on the hiearchy structure where authority is directed from the top. They both have competitive cultures where accumulation of wealth and ambition are important.

http://www.communicaid.com

Geert Hofstede Graph

PDI

Power Distance Index

IDV

Individualism

MAS

Masculinity

UAI

Uncertainty Avoidance Index

LTO

Long-Term Orientation

Monday, February 23, 2009

petronas-towers

The Petronas Twin Towers were the tallest buildings in the world from April 15th, 1996 until October 17th, 2003 when Taipei 101 (Financial Center) was topped out at 508m (1676ft).
http://www.kiat.net/towers/

Quotes II

Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm.

http://www.worldofquotes.com/proverb/Malayan/1/index.html

Malaysian Proverb

Don't use an axe to embroider. http://www.worldofquotes.com/proverb/Malaysian/1/index.html

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Malaysian Culture Batik

http://kamaldollah.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/batik-klib-masters.jpg

Malaysian Proverb

"He who has learned how to steal, must learn how to hang."

http://www.rightwords.eu/folklore/category/proverbs-and-old-sayings--1/malaysia--my

Sunday, February 15, 2009

History of Malaysia

Malaysia has a history that stretches back for tens of thousands of years. Before the 19th Century, the peninsula was composed of numerous kingdoms that were ruled by varying powers. In 1826, Britain united most of the kingdoms and colonized them. After briefly being under control of the Japanese during WWII, they declared independence in 1963, and officially became the country of ‘Malaysia’. Today, the country is developing at a rapid rate, and experiencing relatively significant economic growth. In the coming years, the country hopes to become an economic hub for Southeast Asia.

Economy

Today, the country is governed by a constitutional monarchy. It employs a mixed market economic system. Before the country’s independence, the economy was fueled by the export of raw material. Today, the economy is guided by the government’s “Vision 2020” goal of becoming a developed nation by the year 2020. The country plans on achieving this by promoting business in the manufacturing and technology sectors.

Here is a breakdown of the Malaysian labor force (Encarta)—

Labor force: 11.6 million workers
15 percent of jobs: agriculture, forestry, and fishing
30 percent: industry
53 percent: services.
Unemployment rate: 3.5 percent (2004)

Legal/Regulatory Environment

Malaysia has created many economic laws that help foster a friendly business environment. It is a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization, and has implemented laws to combat the problem of copyright infringement that plagues the nation.

The government subsidizes many products, in an effort to keep prices low. Currently, subsidies exist on gasoline, diesel, cooking oil, fertilizers, homes, and certain foods. This practice is controversial because it diverts enormous amounts of government money. Recently, the government has tried to reduce subsidies in an effort to lessen its financial burden.

Here is how Malaysia ranks on their ease of doing business (According to DoingBusiness.org)—

Ease of Doing Business: 20
Starting a Business: 75
Dealing with Construction Permits: 104
Employing Workers: 48
Registering Property: 81
Getting Credit: 1
Paying Taxes: 21
Trading Across Borders: 29
Enforcing Contracts: 59
Closing a Business: 54
Protecting Investors: 4

Cautions to Companies Locating in Malaysia

A lot of the companies located in Malaysia have something to do with technology. They have a lot of people that are great at those knids of careers. Some cautions would be that the government is setup so different than the United States. there is also a lot of corruption that is committed often. Malaysia is trying to improve on numerous things to make it a more appealing place for MNC's. There is a great website to find out all of the things you are required to do with business in Malaysia. Here is the website, http://www.gov.my/MyGov/BI/Directory/Business/. It can tell you what is acceptable there and what is expected of a business.

Corruption in Malaysia

There are different levels of corruption in Malaysia. I will be talking about government, national, and tourist corruptions. First, the government is introducing many new plans that deal with trying to make Malaysia corruption free. They have the National Integrity Plan (NIP), which takes a preventive approach. It tries to put an emphasis on honesty, integrity, and ethics. They have made a plan to develop eight new strategies, and is called the Integrity Agenda. This list includes:

Family Institution
Community
Civil Society
Socio-Cultural Institutions
Religious Institutions
Economic Institutions
Political Institutions
Administrative Institutions

There are also corruption issues towards tourists and initiated by tourists that have harsh penalities. In the past there have been attacks on foreingers including Americans. the United States Government has qualified two groups as terrorists groups inside Malaysia. They are the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), and the Abu Sayyaf Group (ASG). JI is a branch of al-Qaeda and both of these organizations have multiple groups operating in Southeast Asia. The last known attack on Americans was in 2000 and another attack in 2003 involved other foreigners. Most of the crime on tourists is purse snatching, pick-pocketing, automobile theft, and credit card fraud. They take drug trafficing very seriously in Malaysia. It is a mandatory death penalty if you are found with 15 grams (1/2 oz) of heroin or 200 grams (7 oz) of marijuana. Another serious crime is distributing religious books of a different faith to Malaysian Muslims.

Human Rights in Malaysia

Malaysia does not have a lot of human rights. Some of them that are violated include:

Freedom of Religion
Equality of Religion
Freedom from Torture
Freedom of Speech
Independence of the Legal System
Right to Vote Freely
Homosexual Rights
Freedom from Discrimination

The government in Malaysia wants to be a fully developed country by 2020. This is outlined in the Wawasan 2020. It does not discuss the issues of a multi-party democracy, an indepentent judiciary, or a free press. These are three things that need to be established before they can reach their new economic maturity. The people of Malaysia have tried to rally multiple times with crowds of 10,000-50,000 people. Two of the largest political rallies in the past ten years include the Berish rally and the HINDRAF rally. HINDRAF stands for Hindu Rights Action Front.I think most people in Malaysia want to change from the federal constitutional elective monarchy. Basically, there is a king of Malaysia that is elected for a five year term. At the age of 12 you have to get a biometric smart chip identity card called MyKad that you must carry at all times. By having this card someone knows where you are at anytime of the day. Talk about not having any human rights.

Technology

Malaysia is one of the world leaders in innovation and technology.

Cyberjaya - A city born out of Malaysian government's initiative to transform the country from a manufacturing-based economy to a knowledge-based economy. The most crucial part of that master plan was the creation of the MSC Malaysia, within which an intelligent world class city was envisioned to be the nucleus. Cyberjaya took shape as a result of that vision. Cyberjaya is Malaysia's premier multimedia and ICT hub designed as a leading edge multimedia centre to attract world class multimedia and ICT companies, developed with sophisticated and state of the art integrated infrastructure and ICT system, complete with efficient transportation services. It was built to be the city of the future. It provides the most suitable place for major ICT players to undertake research and develop new products and technologies.

Some companies that operate in Cyberjaya are Motorola, BMW, Ericsson, and Hewlett Packard.

Technology Park Malaysia - Technology Park, like Cyberjaya, is also located in MSC and was set up to provide a convenient locale for MSC status companies. It is to date one of the world's most advanced and comprehensive centre for research and development of knowledge-based industries. The environment is conducive for these companies to conduct research and development activities. It currently comprises 12 main buildings set on about 750 acres of land. Buildings include Enterprise buildings, Incubator buildings, an Innovation house, and R&D land lots. Along with this, there are also auxilery facilities like banks, restaurants, convenience shops, and a gymnasium.

TPM also engages in other business activities through its four wholly-owned subsidiaries, namely TPM Biotech Sdn Bhd in biotechnology, TPM Engineering Sdn Bhd in engineering, TPM IT Sdn Bhd in Information Technology, and Technology Park Malaysia College Sdn Bhd in education and training.

Multinational Corporations in Malaysia

GENTING GROUP - The Genting Group is Malaysia's leading multinational corporation and one of Asia's best managed companies. It is comprised of Genting Berhad, Resorts World Bhd, Asiatic Development Berhad, and Genting International.

Genting Berhad - The investment holding and management company of Genting Group. Genting Berhad got them involved in palm oil production and electricity power generation and supply.

Resorts World Bhd - Resorts world is principally involved in the leisure and hospitality business including; theme parks, gaming, hotels, seaside resorts, and entertainment. The main attraction is Genting Highland Resort which is a premier integrated family leisure and entertainment resort. This resort offers six hotels, over 50 fun rides, 170 dining and shopping outlets, mega shows, business convention facilities, and endless entertainment.

-Voted world's leading casino resort
-Acknowledged by the Guiness Book of World Records as the largest hotel with 6,118 rooms

Asiatic Development Berhad - This is one of the fastest growing plantation companies listed on the main board of Bursa Malaysia. Asiatic currently has over 80,000 hectares of plantation land in Malaysia and Indonesia. It has established itself as a reputable and reliable palm oil producer and as one of the lowest cost palm oil producers in Malaysia. While the plantation business remains its core activitiy, Asiatic has also ventured into property development. They currenty own five properties throughout Malaysia. If this isn't enough, Asiatic has also been working in the biotechnology industry. In 2007 they entered in a joint venture with US based Synthetic Genomics Inc. They have been receiving technical assistance from US based J. Craig Venter Institute to explore the use of genomics based techniques to improve yields and profit streams of palm oil.

Genting International P.L.C. - A leading international resorts development specialist with over 20 years of gaming experience and global experience in developing and operating internationally acclaimed casinos and resorts in different parts of the world including Australia, U.S., Malaysia, Phillipines, and the United Kingdom. The principal activities of Genting International are development of integrated resorts, casino operations, international sales and marketing services, and IT application related services.

http://www.genting.com/groupprofile/index.htm

Friday, February 13, 2009

Malaysia's Ideologies and Political System

The Ideologies System

The official state ideology is the Rukunegara, which has been described as encouraging "respect for a pluralistic, multireligious and multicultural society". However, political scientists have argued that the slogan of Bangsa, Agama, Negara (race, religion, nation) used by UMNO constitutes an unofficial ideology as well. Both ideologies have "generally been used to reinforce a conservative political ideology, one that is Malay-centred".

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Malaysia

The Political System

Malaysia is a federal parliamentary monarchy, the Prime Minister of Malaysia is the head of government, and there is multi-party system. The Malaysian political system refers to all those regulations and practices and the structure of laws that show how the government is run. Malaysian political system has a unique foundation on which the country's machinery functions.

http://www.123independenceday.com/malaysia/political-system.html

Malaysia's Relationship with US

Today the economic relationship between United States and Malaysia are very strong and continue to grow. The United States is Malaysia's largest trading partner and Malaysia is the sixteenth-largest trading partner of the U.S. The annual two-way tread between these two countries is about $44 billion. The United States invest $15.7 billion in Malaysia which is the number one investment country for Malaysia. Those investment companies are focus on energy, electronics, and manufacturing area. They also have a bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) in June 2006.
The United States and Malaysia have a close relationship on security matters too, including counter-terrorism, maritime domain awareness, and regional stability. The militaries have numerous exchanges, training, joint exercises, and visits. They signed Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) in July 2006.

http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/2777.htm