1 post tagged “proton”
On a recent trip to Bali, I realised that the enterpreneurial Balinese people recognised 2 important things to successfully market and sell their products which were sold in Ubud:
So while Malaysia may be a more developed country than Indonesia, there're some pretty simple but important lessons which the people there have realised and implemented but Malaysia continues to live in the delusion that we can get by without.
- learn to speak English and other major languages such as Japanese, French and Italian - many traders in Ubud market seemed to switch between these 3 languages when bargaining with the tourists there. On the other hand, Malaysia continues to live in denial that we don't need to step up our efforts to improve and encourage the use of English in business. Malaysian employers complain that local graduates' grasp of written and spoken English are so poor that they are not employable. But despite the worrying number of unemployed local graduates with little or no English language skills, the Malaysian government continues to stick its head in the sand and bang on the nationalistic drum that to promote any other language besides Bahasa Malaysia would be unpatriotic. How patriotic would it be for Malaysians to lose out to foreign competitors just because we can't communicate effectively? It's ok to lose the contract or deal because we couldn't communicate with our business counterparts, but hey, at least we're patriotic, damn it!!
- produce goods which the people want and follow design trends - I was surprised to note that I didn't come across the sale of any counterfeit goods while I was in Ubud. There didn't seem to be any fake Pradas, Rolexes or Gucci handbags. All of the traders in Ubud market I came across were selling beautiful hand beaded woven baskets, wood carvings, batik, home decorations, mosaic plates and hand painted furniture. There were so many home decoration items which I wanted to take home with me but couldn't unless I hired a container. Seeing all these wonderful and attractive products, I realised that the Balinese people produced things which the market wanted. Unlike Proton, which be one of the few, if not the only car company in the world still producing its first generation car model 23 years after its launch. Nobody really wants to buy the Proton Saga if they had a choice but Proton, due to its lack of new models, are still selling models which are easily 10 years old. They try to make a few minor modifications here and there to the lights and body work, and say it's a model upgrade. What an insult to the Malaysian consumer.
So while Malaysia may be a more developed country than Indonesia, there're some pretty simple but important lessons which the people there have realised and implemented but Malaysia continues to live in the delusion that we can get by without.
