Digi business marketing and operations head Steven Soon (second from left) delivering his speech as (from left) Johor South SME Association advisor Teh Kee Sin, RHB Bank Bhd commercial banking head Azlina Safian and PKT Logistics Group Sdn Bhd chief operating officer P’ng Tean Hau look on duri...
One for the album: (From left) Teh, Soon, Azlina and P’ng posing for photograph after their panel discussion session at the SOBA LAB programme at Trove Hotel in Johor Baru.JOHOR BARU: Digitalisation is the way forward for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and they have to start planning now,...
Unofficial figures show that some 300,000 Malaysians commute daily from Johor to Singapore to work. — FilepicJOHOR BARU: The state government is looking at the positive angle when it comes to the high number of Malaysians, including Johoreans, working in Singapore.Johor education, human resour...
An SME expo showcasing the productsKUALA LUMPUR: Malaysia's small business sector experienced positive business conditions in 2018 and confidence in business and economic growth is at its highest point since 2012, according to new survey data released today by CPA Australia. The findings from CPA A...
KUALA LUMPUR: Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) should capitalise on the RM517mil funding made available by Malaysian Industrial Development Finance Bhd’s (MIDF) and Malaysian Technology Development Corp (MTDC) under the Soft Loan Scheme for Automation and Modernisation (SLSAM).MIDF group ma...
PETALING JAYA: Finance Minister Lim Guan Eng is tabling Budget 2019 in Parliament, the first federal budget by the Pakatan Harapan government.The tabling of the Supply Bill (Budget) 2019 will commence before Dewan Rakyat Speaker Datuk Mohamad Ariff Md Yusof, and will be debated by the Members of Par...
ASEAN Set To Become Asia's Next Low-Cost Manufacturing Powerhouse
KUALA LUMPUR, June 2 (Bernama) -- ASEAN is poised to become Asia's next low-cost manufacturing powerhouse as wages in China's Pearl River Delta (PRD) factory belt continue to creep up, said an economist.
Standard Chartered Senior Economist Kelvin Lau said as China sees waning wage competitiveness, ASEAN stood to gain with its lower costs and abundant supply of labour over the next 20 years.
He said Vietnam, with its geographical proximity to China, was poised to be one of the biggest beneficiaries as low-cost manufacturing shifts away from the PRD.
"The companies in our survey estimated that moving here could give them an average cost reduction of 19 per cent. Cambodia, on the other hand, could yield a 20 per cent saving on wages," Lau said in a statement.
As a whole, ASEAN has a strong and varied manufacturing capabilities -- from low-cost factories in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Indonesia, to mixed manufacturing and electronics in Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines, and high value-added production in Singapore.
To make the most of these diverse strengths, however, ASEAN needed to achieve better integration, he said.
"In addition to improve infrastructure links, a common regional framework for investment regulation would make it much easier for companies to adopt a pan-ASEAN strategy with operations located across the region," Lau added.