Malaysian Business articles from January 2010

Malaysian Business archives from January 2010

For the right price.
January 16, 2010... THE entry of Hong Leong Group as the new owner of EON Capital very much depends on the pricing. Meanwhile, the saga continues... EON Capital Bhd's purported buyout offer by the Hong Leong Group (HLG) at the tail-end of 2009 was one of the...

Back in business.
January 16, 2010... LAND and General makes a comeback after a two-year hiatus. LAND & GENERAL BHD (L&G) IS a 'phoenix rising from its ashes' or 'back from the dead'. Once the largest property company by market capitalisation in the 1990s, it collapsed in...

WiMAX boost.
January 16, 2010... GREEN Packet, the nation's largest WiMAX player, seems to be on a roll, buoyed by its aggressive WiMAX broadband network deployment and subscriber market share gains. Is there further upside? THE NATION'S LARGEST WIMAX player, Green Packet Bhd,...

Bull in a Tiger Year?
January 16, 2010... WILL the roar rhyme with the snort to create a harmony most pleasing to investors in the soon-to-come Year of the Tiger? Malaysian Business turns to the wisdom of the ancient feng shui masters for pointers on where the market is heading and what...

Top security issues for 2010.
January 16, 2010... AS the world enters the new decade, the battle between cyber-criminals and data protection professionals gets more intense where companies are expecting more sophisticated hacking tactics and an even stronger emphasis on social engineering to...

Listen to the roar of the tiger.
January 16, 2010... IN A MONTH'S TIME, WE WILL be ushering in the 'Year of the Tiger' according to the Chinese zodiac. The tiger has always been admired for its fighting qualities. Will these characteristics have any influence on the Malaysian equity market in...

No handicap to working.
January 16, 2010... THE United Nations Development Programme, together with the Johor Government, aims to get employers to put more disabled persons on their payroll. PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES (PWDs) are frequently not considered as potential members of the...

Gold fever.
January 16, 2010... GOLD prices have reached breathtaking heights. Is the sky the limit? GOLD PRICES SURGED BY 12.1% last year to average US$984.9 per troy ounce, driven by a broad commodity rally and a decline of the US dollar. Expectations are for gold prices...

Growth cheer for the New Year.
January 16, 2010... AFTER a period of slow and in some instances negative growth, the Asean-5 countries are expected to show stronger numbers this year. THE good news is that all the Asean-5 economies are expected to register positive and higher growth rates...

Personal branding: Road to authenticity.
January 16, 2010... IN projecting our 'Personal Brand' to others, we have to ensure that we don't unintentionally communicate a fake message. HAVE YOU NOTICED THAT MANY retail shops have started welcoming customers as they walk in through the door? This is...

Networking for success.
January 16, 2010... NO one can achieve greatness alone. Every outstanding success is based on cooperative effort. 'If your education consists solely of what you have learned from books, it will not be complete until you have had the post-graduate course in...

Striking out with fizz and sparkle.
January 16, 2010... FRASER & Neave Holdings Bhd prepares for life without Coca-Cola after the termination of its decades-old partnership with the global soft-drink maker. TWENTY-TEN IS NOT JUST A NEW year for Fraser & Neave Holdings Bhd (F&N). It...

Gaining from the market.
January 16, 2010... IT'S all about market 'time-in', not market 'timing' when it comes to investing. WHEN IT comes to investing, there is absolutely no concrete conclusion to the debate between whether it is better off to predict or 'time' the market, or focus...

Use a bad habit to form a good one!
January 16, 2010... ONE really bad habit is spending more than you earn. If you want to be financially successful, do away with this nasty habit and spend less than you earn, and save and invest the difference! IF YOU'RE reading this in the middle of January, then...

The rise of India.
January 16, 2010... THE Economic Times, India's premier financial broadsheet, has predicted that India will be the new economic superpower by 2020. Is it possible? IF YOU'RE LOOKING FOR A thunderous wave of ebullience for Asia's economies in 2010 and beyond, forget...

Sustaining the environment.
January 16, 2010... WHEN S Perry made his foray into the field of recycling and recovery, little did he realise the mammoth task that lay ahead in an industry that was in its embryonic stage in this region. Now, 25 years on, he speaks candidly to BRENDA JAMES on...

Deep water adventure.
January 16, 2010... WHY stop at just the beach when the waters off Malaysia are equally captivating? WHEN IT comes to diving, Pulau Sipadan easily comes to mind as the best spot for the sport. Still, Malaysia holds a vast repertoire of diving areas that make it a...

The truth about cashew.
January 16, 2010... THE World Cashew Industry: An Indian Perspective dwells into all things cashew. TRADE and trade relations make compelling stories, which in this case is about the Indian cashew industry. The cashew is a poor man's crop but the cashew nut is...

Islamic finance to the fore.
January 16, 2010... GLOBALISATION and Islamic Finance - Convergence, Prospects and Challenges argues why a convergence of conventional and Islamic finance is inevitable. THE 2007-2009 financial crisis has put into focus the perils of the conventional financial...

Free flow of collaborative technologies.
January 16, 2010... COLLABORATION WILL DRIVE THE next wave of business growth, innovation and productivity. According to Anne Abraham, managing director, Cisco Malaysia, she sees tremendous opportunity for companies to explore and creatively use collaborative...

Nobody wins when violence reigns.
January 16, 2010... THE controversy arising from the usage of the word Allah by non-Muslims has resulted in churches and a mosque being attacked in this country, something unthinkable until a couple of years ago. Have Malaysians lost their ability to find amicable...

CIMB Islamic is Best Overall Islamic Bank.
January 16, 2010... CIMB Islamic was recently voted the 'Best Overall Islamic Bank' by the 5th Annual Islamic Finance News (IFN) Awards Poll 2009. In the same poll, CIMB Islamic also emerged at the top spot in other categories, namely the 'Most Innovative...

Nazar Samad to helm KUB Malaysia until 2013.
January 16, 2010... KUB Malaysia Bhd has extended the contract of its Group Managing Director, Datuk Mohd Nazar Samad, for another three years until 2013. Commenting on the contract extension, Nazar said that he was glad to have the opportunity to complete the...

TH Properties & UTHM in MoU.
January 16, 2010... TH Properties Sdn Bhd (THP) has continuously endeavoured to carry out its development projects, specifically Bandar Enstek, on a sustainable manner. Towards this end, THP has entered into an innovative collaboration with Universiti Tun...

Tourism tie-up.
January 16, 2010... CREATIVE Advances Technology Sdn Bhd (CAT) has announced that it has entered into a strategic collaboration with Kuala Lumpur Tourism Association (KLTA) to provide support to travel and tourism players in KL. The collaboration will help drive...

Is e-mail dead?
January 16, 2010... THE SHIFT FROM E-MAIL TO instant communication via social networking websites is gathering pace. This trend, however, also provides some serious and important security implications. Today, cyber criminals have already responded to the...

Renewing legacy core banking systems.
January 16, 2010... MANY OF THE WORLD'S LARGEST banks are cautiously commencing on the journey to upgrade their core banking systems at significant cost. At a high level, this article explores the background and key drivers for undertaking such an expensive and...

Lacking in presence.
January 16, 2010... THE attendance of our MPs in Parliament leaves much to be desired. Perhaps a stricter approach is needed. BACK IN THE 1990'S, THE NEW STRAITS TIMES (NST) daily decided to report on a daily basis the number of Members of Parliament (MPs) who...

Power and mobility.
January 16, 2010... FUJITSU HAS ANNOUNCED ITS-latest ultraportable notebook, the Fujitsu Lifebook P8110, which the company claims features a combination of mobility and a stylish design with an extremely small footprint. With a slim design that allows it to fit...

Super long battery life.
January 16, 2010... TOSHIBA'S LATEST SLIM SERIES notebook, the Toshiba Protege T130 boasts a rather unique feature - a super long battery life. This laptop lasts for up to 11 hours on a single charge, but it depends on configuration, applications, power management...

Leapfrogging into the new economic model.
January 16, 2010... AS talk of becoming a high-income nation gains momentum, a lot has to be done. No sitting on our laurels for a long time to come. NOW THAT WE ARE TALKING OF BECOMING A high-income nation, of transforming our economy into one which is based on...

Creating business gateways without barriers.
January 1, 2010... ELEVATING businesses to a new and more competitive level, the Walter Rhodes Group has embarked on a systematic approach equivalent to creating a bridge for Malaysian enterprises to venture into some of the world's emerging global economy and...

Giving the rating business a deserving boost.
January 1, 2010... FROM being the 'new kid on the block' in 1996, the Malaysian Rating Corporation Bhd (MARC) has for the past 13 years moved on to become the 'seasoned' rating agency it is today. As the second domestic rating agency to be set up in Malaysia, a...

New year renewed hopes.
January 1, 2010... LAST Year was a year of tough challenges for corporate Malaysia as it grappled with the effects of the global financial crisis. Now, as the new year unfolds amidst signs of a nascent recovery, Malaysian Business presents a list of personalities,...

People to watch.
January 1, 2010... Datuk Seri Nazir Razak Group CEO, CIMB Group Holdings Bhd With An Eye On the Region DATUK Seri Nazir Razak, having established himself as Malaysia's top investment banker on many counts, is moving to turn CIMB Group into a regional force. And...

An eventful journey for Telco.
January 1, 2010... AXIATA has had an eventful journey - from an international division within Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TM) to its incorporation as a private listed company and then onwards to its demerger. The company has blazed a path for Malaysian telcos across...

Brighter days ahead?
January 1, 2010... HOW will the local property market fare in 2010? Is recovery in sight or are prospects still elusive for property investors? Will a 360 degrees turnaround ensue following setback resulting from global recession in the previous year? Malaysian...

Companies to watch.
January 1, 2010... Malayan Banking Bhd Putting the Past Behind THE past year has been less than rosy for the country's largest lender as it grappled with the aftermath of its RM11 billion acquisition spree in 2008 (which included Bank Internasional Indonesia, MCB...

How do Malaysian companies measure up?
January 1, 2010... FOR the first time, Malaysian companies will be participating in the 'Global Reputation Pulse Survey', giving them a chance to be benchmarked against their peers in 30 other countries. ANY COMPANY, regardless of industry, strives to evoke...

Taking off on a dream.
January 1, 2010... WHY there's no business like the dream business. KILL Devil Hills and Kitty Hawk. They sound so improbable. If that's not enough, try Run Run Shaw and Runme Shaw. Years ago, some laureates, impressed with the brothers' movie-making empire,...

What comes down must go up.
January 1, 2010... AFTER its unprecedented plunge in 2009, ad spending is set for a recovery. AFTER the worst decline in ad expenditure in modern times - estimated at minus 10.2% in 2009 - the world's ad market has now stabilised and will grow 0.9% in 2010,...

Susilo's end game?
January 1, 2010... SUSILO Bambang Yudhoyono is embroiled in a corruption scandal involving a bank. Can he placate the electorate on this one? SUSILO Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), Indonesia's sixth president, won his second consecutive term in office with an outright...

It's the year of deletion.
January 1, 2010... ENTERPRISE IT administrators are expected to continue to struggle with the continuing growth of information in 2010, while budgets continue to lag, predicts Symantec Inc. In order to keep up, storage administrators will need to begin to lose...

Warrant trap.
January 1, 2010... DON'T be fooled by 'cheap' warrants. THERE is a common misconception amongst investors that low-premium warrants are always cheaper and more preferable than those with high premiums. By definition, a premium is a measure of how much the...

Beginning 2010 with a bang!
January 1, 2010... WONDERING how to make 2010 your best year yet in business? Follow these pointers. ANOTHER year has gone by. How time flies! There were many unpredictable things that caught us by surprise last year. Many of us were enjoying the fruits of good...

Growing wealth over time.
January 1, 2010... TAKING calculated risks by weighing all the facts and making a plan is the cornerstone of good investing. WHY DO you buy a stock? Most would answer: I buy a stock to sell to someone else at a higher price. The problem with this is: What if...

Budgeting, saving, prospering!
January 1, 2010... THE best way for individuals to come to grips with their financial planning needs is to pay attention to wealth protection, wealth accumulation and wealth distribution requirements. THERE ARE parallels between a country's and a family's...

Telling it like it is.
January 1, 2010... IT has been unusually silent on the Gerakan front since its brutally frank ex-president Tun Dr Lim Keng Yaik retired from active politics. Malaysian Business tracks down the former minister in retirement to discover what's been behind the...

Mamee-Double Decker improves revenues with my SAP.
January 1, 2010... MAMEE-Double Decker Berhad (MDD), one of the nation's top food & beverage companies, reveals that its deployment of mySAP business solution in 2002 outperformed the company's expectations, helping it to quadruple its revenues to RM400...

Down by the river.
January 1, 2010... A slow boat takes in big adventure in Sabah. ON THIS boat ride, all one needs to do is have the finger at the ready to snap the camera. Let your mind stray for just a second and the reality of the wetlands disappears in an instant. That was...

KLIA satellite retail optimisation project.
January 1, 2010... TRAVELLERS flying into Malaysia via the KL International Airport (KLIA) need not go far to see the rainforest. There is a slice of natural rainforest right smack between its duty-free shops. With the concept of KLIA being the 'Airport in the...

Media Agency Awards.
January 1, 2010... PHD Asia Pacific was crowned 'Media Agency of the Year 2009' in recognition of the region's top media and advertising achievers. This is PHD Asia Pacific's debut entry for this category in the region. Organised by Haymarket Media, this year's...

Christmas joy.
January 1, 2010... PARKROYAL Kuala Lumpur on Dec 1 held it's third annual Christmas Tree Lighting ceremony to kick off the hotel's month-long celebration of the holiday and festive season of Christmas and New Year. The centre of attraction was a 20-feet tall...

Winning the war against dengue.
January 1, 2010... SARA LEE Malaysia, the owner of Malaysia's leading brand of insecticide, and Tesco Malaysia, one of the world's leading hypermarket chains, have officially launched their nationwide 'Anti-Aedes' campaign. The campaign is aimed at encouraging...

Raising competitiveness.
January 1, 2010... THE Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), and SME Corporation Malaysia (formerly SMIDEC) recently announced their collaboration to enhance the competitiveness of local small and medium enterprises (SME) through the MSC Malaysia SCORE+...

Will the Government's recent liberalisation measures speed up recovery?
January 1, 2010... COMPETING for foreign direct investments (FDIs) is a very tough business. At best, Malaysia is trying to catch up and to put itself on par in competing for FDI inflows compared to neighbouring countries. For the period between 2000 and 2008,...

Implementation is the key.
January 1, 2010... THE Government Transformation Programme is being touted as one of the most ambitious tasks to date. Can the government deliver? THE Government Transformation Programme (GTP) has been touted as one of the most, if not most, ambitious and...

Top strategic technologies for 2010.
January 1, 2010... ANALYSTS forecast that top technologies to look for in 2010 are key for an agile, mobile, secure enterprise where advanced analytics and social media identify early warning signs of failure and predict emerging business trends. ONLY COMPANIES...

Newsmakers for 2010.
January 1, 2010... IT IS NO easy task identifying the people and companies that are likely to make news and leave an impact on the corporate scene for 2010. But we sought the views of market players and came up with 11 personalities likely to grab the headlines...

A healthcare provider with a heart.
January 1, 2010... KPJ Healthcare Bhd hardly needs introduction. It is the nation's largest private hospital group and the only listed healthcare provider on Bursa Malaysia. It has a knack for acquiring unprofitable hospitals and turning them around, as well as...

Learning from the crisis.
January 1, 2010... IF there are lessons to be learned from the global financial crisis, one must be that emerging economies must stop relying too much on export-led growth, especially exports to the United States. THE global financial crisis that erupted as a...

Feting management accounting excellence.
January 1, 2010... ALLIANCE Financial Group emerges the big winner at the sixth 'National Award for Management Accounting' or 'NAfMA 2009'. ALLIANCE Financial Group Bhd took top honours at the sixth National Award for Management Accounting (NAfMA) 2009, beating...

Canon continues to delight.
January 1, 2010... AS the leading name in cutting-edge imaging and information technology solutions for the home and office environment, the folk at Canon are well aware of the need to consistently raise the bar on their achievements. talks to Liew Sip Chon,...

How's your company's reputation?
January 1, 2010... REPUTATION is everything for a company, delivering a whole host of benefits. WARREN Buffett told Salomon investment bankers: 'If you lose money I will be understanding. If you lose reputation I will be ruthless.' Investors like Buffett know...

Middle East jewellery show.
January 1, 2010... SEVEN prominent local jewellery companies, led by Malaysia External Trade Development Corporation (MATRADE), made their presence felt at Jewellery Arabia 2009, the Middle East's largest jewellery show, with immediate sales of RM973,540 being...

CCM Fertilizers and Mardi partnership.
January 1, 2010... CCM Fertilizers has established a strategic alliance with the Malaysian Agricultural Research and Development Institute (MARDI) to undertake research and development (R&D) to promote the commercialisation of Nitro Humic Acid (NHA) and crop...

International actress for Bizzy Body & Facial First.
January 1, 2010... BIZZY BODY and Facial First have officially appointed Hong Kong actress, Jessica Hsuan (pix left), as their 'Regional Spokesperson'. The wholly Malaysian owned slimming and beauty company will be expanding their activities regionally to...

Malakoff Community Partnerships.
January 1, 2010... MALAKOFF Corporation Bhd has unveiled its flagship corporate social responsibility (CSR) platform, the 'Malakoff Community Partnerships', through which the company plans to invest RM12 million over the next three years. The Malakoff Community...

Information galore.
January 1, 2010... WINDOWS 7 Secrets tells you everything you need to know about Windows 7. WHEN I first got my hands on Windows 7 Secrets, the first reaction was, 'Whoa, it's a manual!' And that's exactly what it is. This 1,054-page book is packed with...

Winning ways explained.
January 1, 2010... WINNING Strategies: Secrets to clinching multimillion-dollar deals is a complete seller's and buyer's guide for today's outsourcing market. CLINCHING a mega deal is one thing, profitability is another. In today's business world, competition...

HDS eyes high growth markets.
January 1, 2010... HITACHI DATA SYSTEMS PLANS to focus on vertical markets that have high demands for data, including government, financial services, healthcare, media and security across the Asia-Pacific region in the next 12 months. Its senior vice president...

Results speak louder than words.
January 1, 2010... FROM absent MPs in the Dewan Rakyat to missing aircraft engines, the administration of Prime Minister Datuk Seri Mohd Najib Abdul Razak has been dogged by problems in the nine months it has been in power. Unless the Prime Minister starts taking...

Scaling greater heights with new age water meters.
January 1, 2010... WHILE it is relatively a newcomer in an industry that has established players, the power of innovation has over the last two years propelled Delta Perdana Sdn Bhd into a multi-million ringgit business by way of creating a niche product for an...

It's Twitter-time - Social media adaptation a must for SMEs.
January 1, 2010... IT SEEMS LIKE THE WORLD HAS gone Twitter-crazy? The company is featured on the cover of major magazines, tweets are referenced in advertisements for mobile phone services and influence-setting talk shows feature celebrity 'follower' races. Call...

Overcoming our weaknesses.
January 1, 2010... OUR stock market's performance vis-a-vis others in the region is hardly something to shout about. A more solid approach to boost growth is needed. WE ARE back to the old issue of reviving the stock market. Figures as at end October last year...

Keeping your office free from the Flu.
January 1, 2010... CATCHING a cold or the flu from your colleagues is a reality in the working world. Thankfully, there are ways to minimise it. THE NEXT time your colleague at work sneezes, brace yourself for half the people in the office going on a sneezing...