The Shared Services Centre in Penang has now been launched. If things work out as planned, and if industry players are bold and wise enough, the centre will catapult economic development in the state into the next level.
Popular perception of Penang’s economy had for some time been that it had stagnated. Well-wishers have wondered, “How has Penang been doing?”
Well, at best, Penang had been retaining its status quo. Recent efforts however show that the state is doing its best to change the trend. However, major challenges lie ahead. Full-frontal competition is coming from countries hungry and aggressive enough to do what it takes to achieve economic prosperity in as short a time as possible.
However, in order to accelerate this process, industries must be brave enough to champion change and prepared enough to adopt ideas that will jolt the status quo and force the environment to adapt. This is what we call a process of “disruptive innovation”.
The first tangible instance of “disruptive innovation” within the manufacturing sector is the recently launched Shared Service Centre in Penang. It is the largest public access high-end testing facility for players in the E&E field in Malaysia. For a long time, the smaller players in the manufacturing industries complained of an unequal playing field. Technology and capital-intensive setups favour large multinationals that have the financial means and the benefits of economies of scale. Without enabling infrastructure like laboratories and chambers for product test, research and development, smaller companies had to settle for a position in the market as reliable contract manufacturers for the larger players. They found it hard to penetrate the higher technology areas and be considered equal technology partners by them. This became the state of equilibrium and the norm.
