Pharmaceutical companies continue to invest in Malaysia

While there are some recent restructuring and/or downsizing news from electrical and electronic sector such as Intel Penang, Panasonic Melaka, etc., there are also good news from global pharmaceutical players to expand their investment in Malaysia.

The German-based B Braun which runs its Malaysian operations in Bayan Lepas, Penang has recently invested more than RM300 million to acquire a new plot of land to strengthen its presence with new facilities.

On the other hand, there is also news about US-based St. Jude Medical has confirmed its plan to invest in Malaysia and has already launched a $30 million site in Penang to set up Asia’s first pacemaker manufacturing facility.

Beside that, US-based Trustgen LLP and India-based Malladi Drugs & Pharmaceutical Ltd have also in October 2008 announced their decision to invest a combined $600 million investment in Malaysia to set up manufacturing facilities and their respective regional and global hubs.

All these are showing positive signs that the pharmaceutical industry in Malaysia will continue to grow despite the current worldwide economic downturn.

Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 2009

The London based Financial Times has just released their Global MBA School Ranking for 2009, naming University of Pennsylvania: Wharton (USA) and London Business School (UK) as the joint no. 1 business school for MBA programs.

The ranking is based on factors including the average alumni salary, their salary increment from before getting the MBA to today as a percentage of the pre-MBA salary, value for money of the MBA course, career progress, fulfillment of aims of doing the MBA, placement and employment success after graduation, alumni recommendation, female students, international students, doctoral degree availability, academic research publication, etc.

The top 10 rankings for 2009 are as follow:

• University of Pennsylvania: Wharton (USA)
• London Business School (UK)
• Harvard Business School (USA)
• Columbia Business School (USA)
• Insead (France / Singapore)
• Stanford University GSB (USA)
• IE Business School (Spain)
• CEIBS (China)
• MIT: Sloan (USA)
• New York University: Stern (USA)

Click here to see the top 100 business schools listed in the Financial Times Global MBA Rankings 2009 and their scores in each of the ranking factors.

JobsDB Compensation and Benefit Survey Report 2009

JobsDB has just released a 67 pages Compensation and Benefit Survey Report 2009. Opinion Research Corporation is the research consultant for this survey.

This survey is conducted to collate information on the pay trend of both full-time salaried employees working in different business sectors in Malaysia. Information on different types of benefits was also collected to complement the analysis.

The survey covered 107 companies from 36 business sectors. Only full-time salaried employees working in Malaysia were surveyed. Expatriates, part-time and temporary employees were excluded. Among the 107 companies surveyed, 58% of the companies employ less than 50 staff; 14% employed between 50-100 staff; 15% employed between 101-200 staff; 8% employed 201-500 staff and 5% employed more than 500 staff. The information gathered is recent to December 2008.

The salary range of various job functions in 2008 and 2009, and their increment in 2009, are detailed out in the report.

Here are some of the findings in the report:

• In 2009, 38.9% of the employees’ salaries are expected to be freeze. 54.8% of them will have an increase between 0.6% and 7%, whereas 6.3% will have an increase of more than 7.0%.
• The overall average amount of performance bonus for senior management in 2008 was 1.4 months (of the basic monthly salaries), for middle management was 1.0 months, for executives is 0.8 months, and for non-executive is 0.6 months.
• By 2009, 76% of the employees in the surveyed companies are expected to enjoy a five-day working week. Among the surveyed, 67% have already implemented a five-day working week policy in or before 2008. For those not implementing in 2008, 9% expect to implement next year.

Click here to download the JobsDB Compensation and Benefit Survey Report 2009.

You might probably also be interested to read on:

• Result of Robert Walters Global Salary Survey 2008
• Result of ZDNet Asia IT Salary Benchmark Survey 2008
• Malaysia Salary Guide 2008/09 from Kelly Services
• Malaysia Employment Outlook & Salary Guide 2009/2010 from Kelly Services