NST Online Business Times : latest
NST Online Business Times : latest |
| Glove makers seek fund for brand building Posted: 05 Sep 2012 07:20 PM PDT Glove manufacturers are looking for higher public allocation for brand building in the upcoming Budget 2013 tabling to ramp up efforts to create a strong local brand internationally. Datuk Seri Stanley Thai, Executive Chairman cum group Managing Director of Supermax Corp Bhd, one of the leading glove manufacturers, said building a domestic brand in the international scene is not an easy task, therefore concerted efforts and time need to be further strengthened. "The government needs to look into higher allocation for brand building. I think the existing brand building incentive is not good enough. "If you look at LG, Samsung, looking at how they build their brand, they got a lot of government support to build a global name. If Korea can do it, why not Malaysia," he said on the sidelines of the 6th International Rubber Glove Conference & Exhibition in Kuala Lumpur. Supermax holds more than 10 per cent of the 60 per cent share. "Malaysia can be proud of our rubber glove industry as we are able to keep sustainability and competitiveness up to now, despite the turbulence and challenges for the past few years. However, I think the industry also need the government's continuous support, for instance, the RA," he said. Meanwhile, MARGMA President Lim Kwee Shyan said the rubber glove industry is entering its new phase of development which required more innovations in order to remain competitive. "The government cannot look at the industry as an old industry. It is a newly branded industry. All of us have gone into different sizes, different modes of capacities and even the level of innovation is different (so) this is something that is very challenging to us," he said. He said the next level of development will be into civil automation and brand marketing which needs reinvestment over the next few years. This will not only create production efficiency but also reduce dependency on foreign workers, which accounted for some 30,000 workers out of the total 60,000 workers in the glove manufacturing sector, he added. MARGMA's immediate past president KM Lee revealed that Malaysian rubber and nitrile glove manufacturers are expected to invest between RM300 million and RM500 million in the next five to eight years in automation. Lee, who is also Managing Director of Top Glove Sdn Bhd, said with the extension of the reinvestment allowance, the manufacturers will be able to spend more money on building local skilled workers, as well as contributing to the country's growth. Currently, the reinvestment allowance is only up to 15 years while some rubber glove manufacturers have been operating over 15 years. Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak will present Budget 2013 in Parliament on Sept 28. -- BERNAMA |
| Fair Isaac eyes Malaysia insurance sector Posted: 05 Sep 2012 07:22 PM PDT Fair Isaac Corp (FICO), a New York-listed predictive analytics and decision management technology provider, is keen to spread its wings to tap the local insurance market given the need for analytics and vast growth opportunities. Country Manager for Malaysia Dinesh Pereira said FICO was currently very active in the local banking system and was keen to offer services in the insurance sector due to the untapped growth opportunities in analytics usage. "Many banks are already our customers and we will continue looking into expanding our relationship with them and at the same time FICO is looking at other areas outside of banking. "We are getting a lot of interest today in the insurance area as companies are interested to utilise analytics to identify insurance claim frauds and auto claims which are the most common problem faced here currently," he told Bernama. "No customers yet but we have top 10 insurers talking to us, some discussions in the early stage, some in advanced stage and we are fairly confident to have one customer from one of the top 10 companies," he said. Pereira said insurance companies have some parameters for these problems, mainly using judgmental approach. FICO is successful in using analytics widely to identify majority frauds in selected international markets such as North America, he said. On FICO's operations in Malaysia, Pereira said although Malaysia's business contribution was a small percentage to the group's worldwide number, it was growing at about 10 per cent a year. FICO Malaysia posted about five per cent revenue from 2008 to 2010. "Last year, we recorded close to 10 per cent revenue and we are growing in this rate now. We are maintaining the same growth target for this year and next year," he added.-- BERNAMA |
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