Malaysia's Multimedia Super Research Articles

The Effects of Role on Tacit Knowledge Sharing Practices/ Kesan Peranan Terhadap Amalan Perkongsian Ilmu Tersirat

This study investigates the impact of role (work scope, authority and responsibility fulfilment) towards the practice of tacit knowledge sharing. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed via mail to the organizational managers (outsourcing companies) registered with Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor. Of these, 168 questionnaires were returned and only 166 had been coded and analyzed. The analysis of the hypotheses is carried out using multiple regression analysis. The findings show that role elements such as work scope and responsibility fulfilment have a positive and significant relationship to the practice of tacit knowledge sharing. Theoretical and practical implications and suggestions for future research are also discussed.

The Relationship between Self-confidence, Self-remembrance and Sincerity among Staff towards Information Systems Outsourcing Success

The study examined the relationship between the humanistic elements of self-confidence, self remembrance and sincerity among staff towards the success of information systems (IS) outsourcing.A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed by mail to the manager of information systems outsourcing companies registered with Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor and 168 were returned. The hypotheses of this study were analyzed using multiple regression methods.The findings show that the element of self confidence and sincerity of the staff have a positive and significant relationship towards the success of information systems outsourcing. The theoretical and practical implications and suggestions for future research are discussed.

The Effect of Open‐Plan Workspaces on Behavior and Performance Among Malaysian Creative Workers

Attracting and retaining creative workers is essential to the success of the companies in Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor, a special economic zone and high‐tech business district that is an important driver of local development. Guided by a conceptual framework based on environmental comfort theory, researchers surveyed 238 employees in 15 firms in this region to assess the impact of employees’ perceptions of workplace design and conditions on their performance and behavior. The findings show that although open‐plan offices can contribute to teamwork and creativity, such distractions as uncontrollable and unwanted noise, lack of visual and acoustical privacy, the presence of others, and other ambient conditions in such settings may reduce not only employees’ satisfaction with their work environment, but also their performance. © 2017 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Knowledge-sharing through social interaction in a policy-driven industrial cluster

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate whether knowledge-flows through social interaction occur within the context of a policy-driven industrial cluster. Design/methodology/approach – The paper follows a single-case approach, adopting Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor cluster as the unit of analysis. Semi-structured interviews with firm- and non-firm-respondents in the cluster constitute the prime source of data. Findings – Spontaneous social interaction leading to knowledge diffusion within the cluster may be lacking. However, policymakers may be able to remedy this somewhat by organising workshops, conferences and other events to help firms gain additional knowledge, although these measures should ideally complement, rather than replace, spontaneous face-to-face meetings. Practical implications – Although policymakers may implement certain measures to try to compensate for the shortage of knowledge flows through social interaction (e.g. organising more “formal” events such as workshops and exhibitions), it is argued that these may not be sufficient in ensuring the long-term, self-sustaining success of the cluster. Originality/value – The paper integrates extant literature on “organic” industrial clusters into a pre-planned, purpose-built, policy-driven cluster context. Research on policy-driven clusters is somewhat limited, with attention from scholars primarily focused on organic clusters. This paper attempts to bridge the gap for future research in the area.

Policy-driven clusters, interfirm interactions and firm internationalisation: Some insights from Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor

This paper investigates the impact of social and business interactions on firm internationalisation within the context of an industrial cluster created from scratch by policymakers. Based on in-depth interviews with firms in Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor cluster, our findings suggest that a permanent cluster of this nature may not be able to stimulate the development of frequent, spontaneous, informal interaction and rich social networks often seen in ‘organic’ clusters, thus limiting the cluster's effect on firm internationalisation. However, the paper also shows that ‘temporary clusters’, such as trade shows and conferences, organised by policymakers on a regular basis within the broader context of the permanent cluster, can help firms to quickly acquire relevant knowledge.

Policy-driven collaborative arrangements and competency development – a case of Malaysia's MSC flagship networks

This paper presents the results of a survey done among organisations participating in flagship networks in Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC Malaysia) project. The MSC flagships are an integral part of MSC Malaysia and are inter-organisational networks, built through policy-driven collaborative arrangements, to help participating organisations develop innovative applications and achieve sustainable competitive advantage. These directed networks of exchange relationships are intended to create value in that the creativity and talent derived out of such an environment is perceived to result in certain competencies. Preliminary findings indicate that the three network groups are identified as having different forms or structures. The results of the statistical analysis indicate the following – that network structure is important in facilitating results for the organisations committed to the networks, where different network forms display different combinations of network characteristics and correspondingly, the different combinations lead to differing strengths in different competencies. It is especially significant where the focus is on policy-driven inter-organisational networks in developing economies.

Clustering as Anti-politics Machine? Situating the Politics of Regional Economic Development and Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor

Lepawsky J. Clustering as anti-politics machine? Situating the politics of regional economic development and Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor, Regional Studies. This paper addresses the formation of an ‘intentional cluster’ in Malaysia called the Multimedia Super Corridor. In this context, ‘clustering’ is a spatial fix and a development discourse that is as much about political expediency as it is about economic development. This paper suggests the utility of theorizing clusters as ‘anti-politics machines’ in terms of their instrumental utility for depoliticizing the reproduction and expansion of state bureaucracy and capital accumulation. Lepawsky J. Le regroupement comme une machine contre-politique? Le positionnement de la politique d'aménagement du territoire et de l'Autoroute Multimédia en Malaysie, Regional Studies. Cet article cherche à aborder l'établissement d'un ‘regroupement voulu’ en Malaysie appellé l'Autoroute Multimédia. Dans ce contexte, la notion de ‘regroupement’ constitue une fixation géographique et un discours de développement qui concerne autant l'opportunisme politique que le développement économique. Cet article propose l'utilité de théoriser les regroupements comme ‘machines contre-politique’ vu leur utilité de dépolitiser la reproduction et l'élargissement de la bureaucratie d'Etat et l'accumulation de capital. Regroupement Politique culturelle Malaysie Lepawsky J. Clusterbildung als antipolitische Maschine? Untersuchung der Politik zur regionalen Wirtschaftsentwicklung und des Multimedia Super Corridor von Malaysia, Regional Studies. In diesem Beitrag wird die Bildung eines ‘beabsichtigten Clusters’ namens Multimedia Super Corridor in Malaysia untersucht. In diesem Zusammenhang stellt die Clusterbildung eine räumliche Korrekturmaßnahme und einen Entwicklungsdiskurs dar, bei dem es nicht nur um Wirtschaftsentwicklung geht, sondern auch um politischen Eigennutz. Im Artikel wird der Nutzen einer Theoretisierung von Clustern als ‘antipolitischen Maschinen’ nahegelegt, was ihre zentrale Rolle bei der Entpolitisierung der Reproduktion und Ausdehnung der staatlichen Bürokratie und Kapitalanhäufung anbelangt. Clusterbildung Kulturpolitik Malaysia Lepawsky J. ¿Aglomeración como máquina antipolítica? Situación de la política del desarrollo económico regional y el Súper Corredor Multimedia de Malasia, Regional Studies. En este artículo analizo la formación de una ‘aglomeración deliberada’ en Malasia denominada el Súper Corredor Multimedia. En este contexto, la ‘aglomeración’ es un remedio espacial y un discurso de desarrollo que trata sobre la conveniencia política pero también sobre el desarrollo económico. En este artículo sugiero la utilidad de la teorización de las aglomeraciones como ‘máquinas antipolíticas’ en cuanto a su utilidad instrumental para despolitizar la reproducción y expansión de la burocracia estatal y la acumulación de capital. Aglomeración Política cultural Malasia

Policy-Driven Collaborative Arrangements and Competency Development - A Preliminary Survey of Organisations Participating in Malaysia's MSC Flagship Networks

This paper presents the results of a survey done among organisations participating in MSC Flagship networks in Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project - a cluster-oriented initiative by the government of Malaysia aimed at jumpstarting its transition to a knowledge-based economy. The MSC flagships are an integral part of the MSC project and are inter-organisational networks, built through policy-driven collaborative arrangements -and these networks with exchange relationships are intended to create value in that the creativity and talent derived out of such an environment is perceived to result in certain competencies. Preliminary findings, from three of the networks studied, indicate that the three network groups have different forms or structures. The network structure is important in facilitating results for the organisations committed to the networks, where different network forms display different combinations of network characteristics and correspondingly, the different combinations lead to differing strengths in different competencies. It is especially significant where the focus is on policy-driven inter-organisational networks in developing economies.

Re-fragmenting the ‘political’: Globalization, governmentality and Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor

Abstract Work drawing upon Michel Foucault's analyses of governmental rationalities has extended understandings of the ‘political’. The geography of this domain, however, has remained largely intact in the governmentality literature. In this paper, we contribute to work which unsettles conceptions of national scale society as a political unity across and within which government is territorialized. We examine Cyberjaya, an ‘intelligent city’ in Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor, as part of a distinct governmental zone oriented to the nurturing of ‘intelligent’ subjects for a globally-oriented information economy. What the anthropologist Aihwa Ong terms the ‘cybercorridor’ zone is one of a series of differentiated sites and spaces of government which reconfigure existing communal and spatial division in postcolonial Malaysia. As such, while exemplifying non-national territorializations of government, the Malaysian case also questions the extent to which these are novel to an era of globalization. Beyond the ‘advanced liberal’ contexts which have been the main focus of the governmentality literature – and from where the ‘death of the social’ has been diagnosed – governmental fragmentation often precedes the rise of languages and lenses of globalization.

ICT Clusters as a Way to Materialize a National System of Innovation: Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor Flagships

AbstractDeveloping countries have realised the need to develop the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector to compete in an environment of increasing globalisation and also the emergence of the knowledge based economy. But given the limited resources, one approach seems to be popular among many countries is the ‘cluster’ based approach for industrial development This paper seeks to highlight one such effort viz. Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Cluster with its Flagships approach. The MSC is presented in the paper as a physical manifestation of the NSI, to illustrate how a policy driven – cluster based regional development approach has helped to further national innovative performance and competitiveness

Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor Cluster: communication linkages among stakeholders in a national system of innovation

As the wave of globalization washes over geographical boundaries, the world steps into the era of a new knowledge-based economy with governments striving to encourage innovation in industry especially through national systems of innovation. A national system of innovation (NSI) is considered important because how a nation utilizes and exploits its NSI will determine whether it can compete and ride the wave of globalization or be carried by it and thrashed onto the shores of the new economy. This paper seeks to highlight the linkages developed for enabling communication among the various NSI stakeholders for achieving goals in one such effort, viz. the Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) Cluster of Malaysia. The MSC offers a vision to create a global multimedia climate through an integrated environment of interlinked elements and attributes. The government of Malaysia, realising the significance of the NSI as a way to better utilize, exploit, and enhance systems, is making efforts to this effect. The efforts include bringing together various stakeholder organizations under the "Multimedia Flagship Applications" to develop flagship applications. This is for the development of information technology applications to pave the way toward a knowledge-based economy. The MSC Cluster is presented here as a physical manifestation of the NSI, and it gives an idea as to how policy makers can design linkages for communication among the various stakeholders to further national innovative performance and competitiveness in general.

Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor and Its First Crisis of Confidence

In this paper, Malaysia's attempt to join the 'information society' and 'knowledge economy' by embarking on the ambitious Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) is mapped out and analysed. The discussion is framed in the context of globalization, modernity and the situation in other Muslim societies. Notwithstanding the present national skepticism regarding the MSC, the project has been reasonably well designed and launched. But it is, in the final analysis, only a part of the larger structure of national innovation systems that function equally as 'engines of economic growth.'

(Trans)national Realities and Imaginations: The Business and Politics of Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor

(Trans)national Realities and Imaginations: The Business and Politics of Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor

Human factors of it-based solutions for worldwide manufacturing web

Malaysia's Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) is a regional technology hub and a launch site for companies developing or using multimedia technologies to enhance their Asian presence. MSC makes it possible to provide value-added products and services to customers in various so-called flagship applications, including Worldwide Manufacturing Web (WMW). The latter can be conceived of as a multisite agile manufacturing where companies—both real and virtual—contribute to the various activities in the life cycle of product development and manufacturing through distributed functions. Several manufacturing functions—including design integration and testing, production planning and control, engineering support, marketing, and sales—may be performed within the MSC by various companies, domestic as well as international. This article, based on a keynote address at HAAMAHA '98, describes some of the features of WMW in accordance with agile, distributed, and virtual manufacturing paradigms. It also addresses human factors issues in implementing IT-based solutions in the WMW, with reference to existing models. © 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.