Malaysia retains 3rd spot among best global services locations

Thursday, 09 August 2012 06:25


Malaysia maintains its third placing in a ranking of the world's top 50 global services locations for eight consecutive years, according to the latest AT Kearney Global Services Location Index 2011 report.

The report said that the top three countries for outsourcing acitivities-India, China and Malaysia have shown "remarkable staying power" due to the "deep talent pools and cost advantages" in these economies and have retained their positions since the inception of the report in 2004.

Seven out of the ten top locations are in Asia, with the four other countries being Indonesia (5th), Thailand (7th), Vietnam (8th) and the Philippines (9th) while Egypt is at 4th position, Mexico at No.6 and Chile at No 10.

Speaking at the Shared Services and Outsourcing Conference 2012 in Kuala Lumpur yesterday, Multimedia Development Corp (MDeC) Global Sourcing Cluster Division Director, Michael Warren said Malaysia should be able to draw more investments this year.

The agency is positioning Malaysia as a preferred high-value and premium destination for shared services including knowledge process outsourcing in shared services, needing strong application of advanced analytical and technical skills, as well as a high degree of proprietary domain expertise, he said.

A major misconception is that Malaysia is competing against India and Pakistan in this business but in reality Malaysia with a population of some 27 million is not competing in the low-value shared services based on cost arbitrage, volumes, and economies of scale, he explained.

Last year, MDeC secured 30 new investments in shared services and outsourcing activities with a total potential investment of more than US$100 million.

The investments would also create some 7,000 jobs over the next three years.

To-date, there are more than 232 shared services firms in Malaysia, offering a wide range of shared services and outsourcing activities including IT outsourcing and knowledge process outsourcing, he added.

In Penang, MDeC has partnered investPenang to work towards making Penang a key destination for shared services and outsourcing here.

Currently, there are 148 Multimedia Super Corridor-status companies that have set up operations in Penang with nine companies- AMD, Dell Global Business Centre, Intel, Motorola Technology, Resoft Synergy, Jabil, Echo Broadband, Penang Seagate, and CompuMed Health Logistics engaging in share services activities.

Adapted from StarBiz and AT Kearney website