The long business relationship between Malaysia and the United States looks set to deepen in the years ahead.
Corporate America's business links to Greater Kuala Lumpur are set to grow given the push now undertaken by the Greater Kuala Lumpur / Klang Valley National Key Economic Area initiative and InvestKL, which aims to bring in more American businesses into Greater Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's main economic region.
Already Greater Kuala Lumpur plays host to many multinational US corporations, including Dell, General Electric, HP, Citibank, MetLife, Western Digital, Procter & Gamble, Dow Chemical, Texas Instruments, Boeing Aerospace, Darden Restaurants, IBM Global and AECOM.
For American Malaysian Chamber of Commerce (AMCHAM) executive director Anne Marie Brooks, the slew of unique propositions is attracting American businesses to Greater Kuala Lumpur.
"Greater Kuala Lumpur's greatest value proposition is the investor-friendly business environment in combination with a multinational society, attractive tax incentives, and its geographic location in a sizable, growing market that is increasingly an Asian hub," said Brooks.
As a travel hub, Greater Kuala Lumpur offers easy and affordable travel in South-East Asia and its strong infrastructure is an important factor that comes into play when American MNCs and businesses set up their regional headquarters here.
"The shift to an increasingly knowledge-based, high technology economy as well as the growth potential is attractive to American MNC's. In addition to the business environment, Greater Kuala Lumpur offers quality housing and educational facilities, making it an attractive location for foreign talent and their families," she continued.
Favourable incentives, attractive location and strong infrastructure make Greater Kuala Lumpur a natural location for businesses. According to Brooks, the political stability and the openness of the Malaysian government to address and discuss business concerns contribute to Greater Kuala Lumpur's competitive edge.
"The government is clearly keen on becoming the top choice for investors in the region, and has implemented policies (such as the Economic Transformation Programme and Government Transformation Programme) as well as set up agencies (such as InvestKL) aimed at driving Greater Kuala Lumpur towards that goal," said Brooks.
The progressive and targetted plans and incentives by the Government and InvestKL in crystallising the vision for Greater Kuala Lumpur have already attracted 32 multinational corporations worldwide to set up their regional hubs here in the last two and a half years.
Darden Restaurants senior vice-president and president of Darden Aquafarms Bill Herzig said the restaurant group was impressed by what it saw in the ETP when it was looking to expand into Southeast Asia.
"We came here and had discussions with the Malaysian Government. InvestKL helped us to meet the right people at the Ministry of International Trade and Industry, Malaysian Investment Development Authority and Biotech Corp.
"What we saw and heard impressed us. Malaysia to us was a country that was headed in the right direction, thanks to the Prime Minister's vision and it embraced foreign investment. The business structure that had been created made us want to be here.
"InvestKL has been wonderful. It has held our hands as we navigated through a new language, new culture, and taught us how things work here and how to be a good corporate citizen to Malaysia," said Herzig.
IBM Global Delivery Centre, Cyberjaya (Malaysia) director Craig Tucker too has benefitted from the economic vibrancy of Greater Kuala Lumpur and its Global Delivery Centre in Cyberjaya has been critical to IBM's offering to its clients.
"We selected Malaysia for our newest facility based on the strong public-private partnership with the country and Cyberjaya, its competitive business model, and the talent and skills that the Malaysian people have to offer.
"The global delivery centres are a major component of IBM's strategy to be a globally integrated enterprise, which allows us to perform work anywhere in the world where we have the right skills and the right environment for business to drive profitable growth. Our new center in Cyberjaya is now a core component of that global network," said Tucker.
This article is facilitated by InvestKL. InvestKL's mandate is to assist the establishment of MNCs' RHQs in Greater Kuala Lumpur.
Source : http://www.thestar.com.my/Business/Business-News/2014/05/19/US-MNCs-show-confidence-in-Greater-Kuala-Lumpur/
