Malaysia-Korea ICT Business Forum

Malaysia is under attacked!! By the Korean.

It seems like the invasion of soap opera into the heart of our people; ladies especially and even my father, they all loved Korean soap opera. Personally I have seen a few episods of some and found that my biggest attraction is that the actresses are extremely beautiful. The most popular one is called "大长今"



In terms of the ICT industry, the following are some chronical with respect to Korea-Malaysia ICT development:

1. MIMOS-IITA MOU - 25 August 2005)
2. Korean Trade Delegation for Electronic Industries. - 8th September 2005.
3. Korea-Malaysia ICT Cooperation Forum (Collaboration in Motion: Progress in Unison) - 23 November 2005.
4. Malaysia-Korea ICT Business Forum - 13 December 2005.
There could be more...

Therefore, it looks like everybody is having a common mindset, which is to be the marketeer for Korea ICT industry. These people includes:

1. MIMOS (Malaysia)
2. KAIT (Korea Association of Information Technology) & PDS Global (Malaysia).
3. iPark (Singapore) & KIPA (Korea IT Industry Promotion Agency) as the sponsor.
4. Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication (MCMC) & MIC (ministry of Information and communication)

Therefore, in my previous blog about IT938 Strategies, I concluded inaccurately that IITA tries to leverage on us for middle east penetration. In fact, it all seems like we would like to leverage on Korean Technology for business development.

This is partly due to the fact that based on my analysis, there are plenty of marketing funds from the Korean side which serves as catalyst for all these events. For instance, during my participation to the events organized by Ipark & KIPA, there is no fees or whatsoever. And we were treated to 5 star hotels and lunches. The organizer even reminded us that they do provide sponsored trip to Korea for those seeking partnership opportunities. So this is great... but the bottom line is, the sponsor is ultimately Korean government. According to Asian Inc, they expect to generate over $80 billion of exports revenue by 2006. The IT839 strategies allocated $400 million of budget for further R & D activities and we can thus expect at least $40 million of budget allocated for oversea marketing (10%)

According to some sources, they(Korean) have no choice because the ICT market is already quite saturated, with over 20 million of population reside in Seoul and other 20+ million living around it, there is no doubt that many people have already adopted IT. Internet adoption is 70% of the population. This is partly attributed to the fact that Korean use hybrid type of TV set which provides Internet capability. Comparing it to Malaysia, every household has to purchase TV and Computer separately in order to enjoy TV and Internet connection. More so, remembering the EPF PC-Scheme which ended up in bane than boon, saw the abusive mentality of many ICT enablers in the country being unfit for successful entrepreneuring.

Therefore, to protect the ICT industry, the government have to make a decision. Either to change focus (like what Malaysia did) or to carry on by focusing on other frontier; that is the export market. should they choose the first option, this would be like leaving those unperforming companies to rot and eventually close shop. But they chose the second option which is being hailed as "The Blue Ocean strategy"



My Bet:
The MSC has slowed down, which they are currently undergoing corporate restructuring again and PIKOM actually suggested them to change their name from Multimedia Super Corridor to Malaysia Super Corridor. We also seeing many grants such as the MGS, DAGS and Cradle being put to a coma with no subsequent sentence. What is happening anyway ? The Budget 2006 promised RM 136.8 billion of money to be allocated for R & D in science industries. So far that is what we got; news.

However, I am seeing something which I don't mind sharing. The Korean government could be our second mother where we can actually leverage on them in terms of fundings and opportunities for business continuity. They have the money for business development, and many already saw fit and embarked on the band wagon. So let's us quickly pick up some Korean language skills and join the club!

Gam Sa Hap Mi Da!