Views from Malaysia:
Ben Webb, Managing Director, Kadence International Malaysia
For a comparatively small market of around 28 million, Malaysia keeps us researchers busy, due to its great cultural and linguistic diversity. There are four broad race / language segments that can display distinctly different behaviour and attitudes and each of these needs to be factored into sample design before other standard considerations such as age, gender or brand usage. It is particularly hard to design qualitative studies that cover the full range of the target population without running up big samples and big budgets. Compromise is usually needed, along with a thorough understanding of the local market in order to gauge where such concessions are best made.
Qualitative is on the rise; clients are now looking to go well beyond simple ‘review’ surveys and this has allowed qualitative to rise in prominence, particularly in the contribution it can make to forming ideas, concepts and creative development. A rising demand for good qualitative research, and a shortage of local talent, exacerbated by the need for language proficiency has allowed moderators to break free from agencies and work on their own terms.
The big international agencies continue to dominate quantitative research and do it very well, but several factors are now allowing smaller specialists to gain traction in Malaysia: Unlike 5 years ago, It is now possible to reliably sub-contract fieldwork so it is not necessary to have a large national field-force of your own; Stronger integration of qualitative and quantitative allows smaller agencies to make a persuasive case for conducting both stages; More sophisticated clients and more targeted research spend mean that the balance is tipping towards specialists and away from generalists; and lower cost of supporting software for CATI & CAPI, statistical analysis and web-based reporting has reduced barriers of entry.
Even though the market is tougher than it was, I would unreservedly recommend Malaysia as a destination for researchers. The warmth and hospitality of the Malaysian people, coupled with the low cost of living and a wonderful tropical environment at the heart of South East Asia makes for a fantastic lifestyle. Long weekends easily become impromptu trips to Phuket or Bali and we have plenty of opportunities for this with a quite-extraordinary number of public holidays! Although not in its first flush of youth, research in Malaysia also continues to reward with real insights that clients are delighted to receive.
Steve Murphy, Managing Director, Ipsos Malaysia,
Market research in Malaysia has generally been considered challenging for those people outside of the country. On the surface, it is a complex and complicated market for research. There are 3 different and distinct races in the country, multiple languages spoken such as Bahasa Malaysia, Chinese (Mandarin, Cantonese and Hokkien) as well as English, there is a fairly big land mass, and reasonably large population.
For many years, the very well known tag line for Malaysia targeting incoming tourists has been: "Malaysia, truly Asia". This captures the essence of Malaysia very well and would be just as appropriate to position Malaysia as a key strategic market for the overall market research industry.
The local MR scene has shown consistent growth over the past 10-15 years, with Malaysia – as a market still maturing over time. The demand for strong market insights from strong research companies has naturally increased, as Malaysian companies and Malaysia itself fight the battle for greater presence in their sectors.
However, there is another string to Malaysia's bow which might not have been fully recognised until now, and that is in Malaysia's ability to be an outsource or - more often - insource hub for global companies. Malaysia is a relatively cost effective country for setting up global centre of excellences to service and /or support other functions in a global organisation.
Generally, Malaysians speak very good English, are diligent, hard working and committed, they are smart, and are supported by very strong IT infrastructure and network. The fact that the entire country is so beautiful, the people so friendly, Kuala Lumpur so vibrant and the food so delicious gives an added bonus for any would-be visitor to the place. Yes, the food. You need to know about Malaysia's food, as this is the universal obsession here. So much variety, so many flavours and so much to talk about...! Next time you come, call me.
Julius Augustine, Associate Director, Acorn Marketing and Research Consultants Bhd, Malaysia,
Malaysia has seen fantastic times this decade. The GDP of Malaysia has seen unprecedented growth which has increased the buying power of the average Malaysian and hence we have an exponential increase in marketing activities and market research.
With the west reeling under depression, Malaysia was affected too. Though Malaysia did not fall into a depression, the economy underwent a slowdown of sorts in 2009. However, come 2010, the economy has become vibrant again and is getting stronger day by day.
Sorry to start off with some statistics. I couldn't help it as being a researcher for 17+ years. Malaysia is a bit peculiar for the region, being neither developing like Indonesia and Thailand, nor developed like Hong Kong or Japan. Possibly it is in the last quartile of being called a completely developed nation by the end of the next decade if Vision 2020 is achieved. I call it a peculiar country also in terms of its people. The main three different races, Malays, Chinese and Indians are very different in terms of culture, cuisine and religion. And yet, they seem to blend into the Malaysian culture beautifully at Mamak stalls, shopping malls, offices, weddings, sports and other daily activities. As an Indian who was born in Kerala, brought up in Gujarat and residing in Mumbai, I have been exposed to a lot of cross culture and cross religion experiences. But I still find it amusing when I see a Malay in a traditional Baju Kurung with a Chinese friend who is in micro shorts and a tank top. But then, I don’t see any clash at all. Everyone is accepted in Malaysia as they are.
I switched to Acorn Malaysia from India back in March 2007 because I saw even more exciting times doing research in Malaysia. Initially, I found a few things about MR in Malaysia a bit different from that in India. Malaysia introduced me into researching 3G (India is still auctioning 3G licenses), Milk Formula (A virtually non-existent category in India!), Islamic Banking, 3 in 1 Coffees (Indians would possibly think people who drink these are lazy!), eating and drinking yoghurt (you make ‘Lassi’ at home in India, we don’t brand them there do we!) and retail chain research (India is still battling between mom and pop retail v/s organized chain retail). With two thirds of the population under 35, every marketer is trying to sell to them. The 35+ Malaysian is rich hence segments like ‘mass affluent’ become hot targets for private banking products and expensive cars. Segments like ‘migrant workers’ (there is no such segment in India for marketers!) also become hot segments for mobile phone service companies for their IDD services and for banks for their remittance services.
Acorn Malaysia also gave me excellent opportunities to coordinate and analyse information across the ASEAN countries. The research applications remain the same and yet the findings are at times unique and exciting across the cultures. As a researcher in Malaysia, truly you get a good flavor of Asian research true to the country's tourism punch line, 'Malaysia, Truly Asia'.
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