| Centre Name: | 
Centre for Entrepreneurial Sustainability (CENTS) formerly known as Centre for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility in Business (CSDCSR); (https://www.cents-utar.info/) |
| Chairperson: | Asst. Prof. Dr. Mohammad Falahat |
| Description of Centre: | The aim of the centre is to conduct research and propose entrepreneurial solutions for universities, government agencies, NGOs and industries focusing on business sustainability. Entrepreneurial approach refers to action research that addresses real problems faced by the industry and sustainability refers to minimising social and environmental impacts whilst simultaneously improving economy gains. This centre provides the platform to engage high-quality research activities related to the following discipline branches with the main focus on sustainability: |
| Research area: |
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| No. | Name | Faculty | Member |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mohammad Falahat Nejadmahani | FAM | Full Membership |
| 2 | Angelina Anne Fernandez | FAM | Full Membership |
| 3 | Annie Yong Ing Ing | FAM | Full Membership |
| 4 | Aye Aye Khin | FAM | Full Membership |
| 5 | Cheong Wah Wan | FAM | Full Membership |
| 6 | Chin Hon Choong | FAM | Full Membership |
| 7 | Chin Wai Yin | FAM | Full Membership |
| 8 | Chung Chay Yoke | FAM | Full Membership |
| 9 | David Ng Ching Yat | FAM | Full Membership |
| 10 | Ezatul Emilia bt Muhammad Arif | FAM | Full Membership |
| 11 | Farah Waheeda binti Jalaludin | FAM | Full Membership |
| 12 | Farida Bhanu Binti Mohamed Yousoof | FAM | Full Membership |
| 13 | Felicia Yong Yan Yan | LKC FES | Full Membership |
| 14 | Foo Meow Yee | FAM | Full Membership |
| 15 | Hooi Pik Hua @ Rae Hooi | FAM | Full Membership |
| 16 | Jayamalathi a/p Jayabalan | FAM | Full Membership |
| 17 | Jeffrey Yap Boon Hui | LKC FES | Full Membership |
| 18 | Jeya Santhini a/p Appannan | FAM | Full Membership |
| 19 | K Shamini a/p T Kandasamy | FAM | Full Membership |
| 20 | Kalaivani a/p Jayaraman | FAM | Full Membership |
| 21 | Khairul Anuar Bin Rusli | FAM | Full Membership |
| 22 | Kho Guan Khai | FAM | Full Membership |
| 23 | Kiu Mee San | LKC FES | Full Membership |
| 24 | Komathi a/p Munusamy | FAM | Full Membership |
| 25 | Lai Siew Fong | FAM | Full Membership |
| 26 | Lee Hui Shan | FAM | Full Membership |
| 27 | Lee Kwee Fah | FAM | Full Membership |
| 28 | Lee Sim Kuen | FAM | Full Membership |
| 29 | Lee Sin Yee | FAM | Full Membership |
| 30 | Liew Ping Xin | FAM | Full Membership |
| 31 | Lim Chee Seong | FAM | Full Membership |
| 32 | Lim Wan Leng | FAM | Full Membership |
| 33 | Lim Wei Yin | FAM | Full Membership |
| 34 | Linda Azlinda Binti Sahlan | FAM | Full Membership |
| 35 | Logeswary a/p Maheswaran | FAM | Full Membership |
| 36 | Low Chin Kian | FAM | Full Membership |
| 37 | Low Choon Wei | FAM | Full Membership |
| 38 | Low Mei Peng | FAM | Full Membership |
| 39 | Low Suet Cheng | FAM | Full Membership |
| 40 | Mahendra Kumar a/l Chelliah | FAM | Full Membership |
| 41 | Malathi Nair a/p G Narayana Nair | FAM | Full Membership |
| 42 | Melda Marissa Malek bt A. Malek | FAM | Full Membership |
| 43 | Nur Fatihah bt Shaari | FAM | Full Membership |
| 44 | Nur Hafizah Binti Juhari | FAM | Full Membership |
| 45 | Nuraishah Binti Raimee | FAM | Full Membership |
| 46 | Nurakmar Binti Mohamad Salleh | FAM | Full Membership |
| 47 | Nurazwani Binti Mat Radzi | FAM | Full Membership |
| 48 | Nurhayati Binti Md Khair | FAM | Full Membership |
| 49 | Omar Hamdan Mohammad Alkharabsheh | FAM | Full Membership |
| 50 | Puteri Ameera Binti Mentaza Khan | FAM | Full Membership |
| 51 | Puvaneswari a/p Veloo | FAM | Full Membership |
| 52 | Puvaneswary a/p Thanaraju | FAM | Full Membership |
| 53 | Raja Nurul Aini Binti Raja Aziz | FAM | Full Membership |
| 54 | Raymond Ling Leh Bin | FAM | Full Membership |
| 55 | Robaisya Binti Rahmat | FAM | Full Membership |
| 56 | Rozitaayu bt Zulkifli | FAM | Full Membership |
| 57 | Salizatul Aizah Binti Ibrahim | FAM | Full Membership |
| 58 | Seah Choon Sen | FAM | Full Membership |
| 59 | Shafinaz binti Ahmad Nazar | FAM | Full Membership |
| 60 | Sheelah A/P Sivanathan | FAM | Full Membership |
| 61 | Shubatra a/p Shanmugaretnam | FAM | Full Membership |
| 62 | Sia Bee Chuan | FAM | Full Membership |
| 63 | Sia Bik Kai | FAM | Full Membership |
| 64 | Tai Lit Cheng | FAM | Full Membership |
| 65 | Tan Kok Eng | FAM | Full Membership |
| 66 | Tan Pei Meng | FAM | Full Membership |
| 67 | Tan Suk Shiang | FAM | Full Membership |
| 68 | Tang Kin Leong | FAM | Full Membership |
| 69 | Tee Peck Ling | FAM | Full Membership |
| 70 | Tey Sheik Kyin | FAM | Full Membership |
| 71 | Tun Yin Li | FAM | Full Membership |
| 72 | Tung Soon Theam @ Tee Soon Theam | FAM | Full Membership |
| 73 | Ung Leng Yean | FAM | Full Membership |
| 74 | Wong Hong Chau | FAM | Full Membership |
| 75 | Wong Phui Fung | LKC FES | Full Membership |
| 76 | Wong Teck Keong | FAM | Full Membership |
| 77 | Yap Wai Onn | FAM | Full Membership |
| 78 | Yeong Wai Mun | FAM | Full Membership |
| 79 | Yow Taw Onn | FAM | Full Membership |
| 80 | Zufara Arneeda binti Zulfakar | FAM | Full Membership |
| No. | Date | Event |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 20 February 2020 | Talk Series Title: MD journey as a Leader Growing the Company Presenters: Datuk Wira (Dr.) Haji Ameer Ali Mydin |
| 2 | 30 June 2020 | Talk Series Title: Personal Financial Management during and After Covid-19 Presenter: Dr. Desmond Chong Kok Fei |
| 3 | 21 July 2020 | Talk Series Title: The Impact of Covid-19 on Human Rights Presenter: Mr. Jerald Joseph |
| 4 | 4 August 2020 | Online Workshop Title : How to Avoid Predatory Journal Publication & How to Publish in High Impact Journal Presenter: Prof Dr. Ramayah |
| 5 | 18 August 2020 | Talk Series Title: Exploring UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Practical Way of Addressing Them Presenters: Dr. Mehran Nejati |
| 6 | 11 November 2020 | Community Event Title : Start Small, Start Now. Grow Your Retirement Savings Presenter: Ms. Wong Mew Sum & Mr. Ma Kam Kwan (PPA) |
| 7 | 23 November 2020 | Talk Series Title : How Malaysian Business can Survive with Covid-19? Presenter: Dato’ Joseph Lim Heng Ee |
| 8 | 27 November 2020 | Talk Series Title: The Principal Impact of the 2021 Malaysian Budget Proposal Presenter: Mr. Yap Wai Onn |
| 9 | 10 December 2020 | Talk Series Title: Digital Marketing: A Plausible Solution in the Era of Pandemic or Future Direction for Real Estate Marketing? Presenters: Tan Sri Datuk Eddy Chen |
| No. | Date | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Talk Series MD Journey as a Leader Growing the Company 20th February 2020 The Centre for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility in Business (CSDCSR), in collaboration with Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM) Department of Accountancy and Mydin Mohamed Holdings Berhad, organised the inaugural “The Tarik Session” at Sungai Long Campus on 20 February 2020. The session featured the Malaysian homegrown hypermarket chain Mydin Mohamed Holdings Berhad Managing Director Datuk Wira (Dr.) Haji Ameer Ali Bin Mydin. The talk aimed to highlight the sustainability of hypermarket retail chain in embarking on e-business and digitalisation and address the significance of leadership and entrepreneurial role in the business as well as to instil the sustainable development of entrepreneurship literacy and leadership skills among students and staff. FAM Dean Dr Sia Bee Chuan said as she welcomed the guests, “We are indeed honoured to have Datuk Wira (Dr.) Hj Ameer Ali here today as a speaker, a great Malaysian icon who has brought MYDIN to the masses. We are privileged to learn about the successes and strategies in building MYDIN. This talk will enable our students and staff to open their minds and challenge themselves to be the next Malaysian icon. To the students, the world is your playground and we hope this Teh Tarik session will benefit you immensely, further enhance your education and offer you learning opportunities towards living a fulfilled and successful life.” In his talk titled, “MD's Journey as a Leader Growing the Company”, Datuk Wira (Dr.) Hi Ameer Ali shared about his company’s background, nature of the business and other relevant information that inspired and benefitted the future graduates. Throughout the session, four videos were played to the audience as Datuk Wira Haji Ameer explained the take-home messages from the videos. He said, “Humour always sells; classic always sell; old is gold. Eighty per cent of the goods you buy is only twenty per cent of the stock-keeping unit (SKU) we carry. Similarly, in business when you try to do something, you don’t have to come up with something really extraordinary, just tweak it and it will work out just fine.” As he spoke about the milestone of MYDIN, he said, “It was not easy to achieve all these. It took a lot of hard work. There is no magic formula. It is all about focusing on your work and achieving what you want. Never be over-dependent on anything. There is a need to strategise, diversify and stay relevant to the current landscape in the market.” He added, “If you want to make a difference in this world, start at your own pace. You can make a difference in the world if you believe in yourself and be idealistic.” Datuk Wira (Dr.) Hi Ameer Ali advised, “Honesty is the best policy. Do not cheat and it will pay well. Dare to dream, focus on the dream and nothing will be impossible. Seize the opportunity when it arrives and be disciplined in what you do.” Present at the sharing session were CSDCSR Chairperson Dr Mohammad Falahat Nejadmahani, FAM Department of Accountancy Head K. Shamini, Mydin Mohamed Holdings Berhad Department of Corporate Communications Fatin Nabilah Ahmad Kamal, Muhammad Izzar Ashraf bin Roslan, UTAR students, lecturers and staff. Refer to link: https://news.utar.edu.my/news/2020/March/05/02/02.html |
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| 2 | Talk Series
Personal Financial Management during and After Covid-19 30th June 2020 The center organised a webinar for the staff and students to discuss on the issue about borrowing, buying or selling properties, cars or doing investments. Dr. Desmond Chong shared with the listeners that everyone needs to have a buffer of at least 6 months of savings to cover their expenses. He also did the knowledge exchanged in terms of the 6-steps in financial planning. These includes the setting of the financial goals, information gathering, analysing and filtering of information, developing a financial plan, executing the plan and lastly reviewing and monitoring the implementation. The talk was conducted by industry expert Dr Desmond Chong Kok Fei from Agensi Kaunselling dan Pengurusan Kredit (AKPK). He is also the deputy president of Malaysian Financial Planning Council. Dr Desmond Chong started the session by briefly introducing AKPK. According to him, AKPK is owned by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) as part of a Consumer Protection Framework under BNM’s 10-year Financial Sector Master Plan. It was set up in the year 2006 to help individuals take control of their financial situation and gain peace of mind from using credit cards wisely. AKPK also provides financial education on using money responsibly, credit management skills, free financial counselling and advice on financial management and debt management programme to assist consumers in regaining financial control. In the effort to improve financial knowledge among Malaysians, AKPK has carried out various consumer education programmes, workshops, seminars and roadshows. They have also provided financial education based on different scenarios that people face in life. During the talk, Dr Desmond Chong also shared a few cases he handled in the past to provide participants with a better understanding. Throughout the talk, he largely emphasised on the importance of financial planning. It focused on educating Gen Y and Gen Z to increase their financial literacy. Elaborating further on the Debt Management Programme offered by AKPK, he said one can get advice on budgeting, credit-related issues and money management consultation. According to statistics gathered by AKPK, the prevalence of bankrupt adults below the age of 35 is growing in number. With that in mind, he encouraged everyone, especially young adults to learn to spend within their means and to plan for retirement as early as possible. |
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| 3 | Talk Series The Impact of Covid-19 on Human Rights 21st July 2020 The Centre for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility in Business (CSDCSR) in collaboration with the Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM) organised a webinar titled “The Impact of COVID-19 on Human Rights” on 21 July 2020 via Microsoft Teams. The speaker at the webinar was Jerald Joseph, who is presently the human rights commissioner of Malaysian Human Rights Commission (SUHAKAM) and a board member-cum-advisor of Pusat Komunikasi Masyarakat Sdn Bhd Anti-Racism and Non-Discrimination Programme. The webinar was moderated by CSDCSR Chairperson Dr Mohammad Falahat Nejadmahani and FAM lecturer Angelina Anne Fernandez. The talk aimed to highlight how the human rights of different groups in Malaysia have been affected, as a result of Covid-19. Angelina began the webinar by introducing Jerald to the participants, and from there, he took the floor by addressing the current Covid-19 situation in Malaysia. He explained that the Movement Control Order (MCO) was completely necessary to protect the public’s health and that restrictions were allowed to be implemented in order to contain the virus. However, he noted that despite this, the restrictions have severely impacted certain groups of people to the extent that it violated their human rights. Jerald went on to identify these groups and described how they were affected by the MCO and Covid-19. He spoke about students and vulnerable communities such as refugees, foreigners, migrant workers, stateless people, women & children, indigenous people, asylum seekers and the urban poor. “During the MCO, students had to switch to online learning. However, one has to ask, do all students have the devices for online learning, and if they do, can the devices support e-learning? One also needs to question how far has e-learning gone, in terms of whether students in rural areas have access to it. Not just that, students also need to take concern about their Wi-Fi speed, whether or not it supports e-learning, as there are those who may not have a stable Internet connection. All in all, though there have been many students who have had access to online learning, there are quite a number that do not,” said Jerald, as he explained how Covid-19 had restricted some student’s human rights to education. Lastly, Jerald touched on how Covid-19 has affected Malaysian’s freedom of speech and information, civil rights, parliament sessions, workers’ rights, and people’s right to healthcare. He said, “In this period, many people are facing mental health problems due to poor financial situations. Thus, they should be given access to talk their problems to someone, since mental health is extremely important especially in such a time. Moreover, many marginalised communities are at risk of obtaining the virus, since they are not supplied with facemasks, gloves and hand sanitisers. The LGBT community also faces discrimination in accessing healthcare and refugees arriving in Malaysia could also contract and spread the virus if not given proper screening.” Refer to the link: https://news.utar.edu.my/news/2020/July/27/01/01.html |
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| 4 | Talk Series How to Avoid Predatory Journal Publication & How to Publish in High Impact Journal 4th August 2020 UTAR Centre for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility in Business (CSDCSR), in collaboration with Institute of Postgraduate Studies and Research (IPSR) and Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM), conducted an online webinar on how to avoid predatory journal publication and how to publish in high impact journal on 4 August 2020 via Microsoft Teams. The webinar was moderated by CSDCSR Chairperson Dr Mohammad Falahat Nejadmahani and delivered by Prof Ramayah Thurasamy. Prof Ramayah is a professor of Technology Management at Universiti Sains Malaysia and Sunway University, and he is one of the top researchers and trainers in Malaysia. Prof Ramayah is also the international collaborative partner of UTAR Global Research Network. In his talk, Prof Ramayah explained what is high impact journals and the common issues faced to publish research work in high impact journals. He said, “Emerald provides Real Impact Awards every year for highly outstanding papers and highly recommended papers. Those are some of the indications that there is an impact. Other ways to measure the impact are such as considering the total number of papers, the total number of citations, average number of citations per paper, average number of papers per author, average number of citations per year and h-index.” Prof Ramayah also explained indexed and non-indexed journals and said, “A journalist is already indexed when they publish journals in Emerald. Emerald is a publisher, however, the indexing bodies are separated. For example, Elsevier is a publisher and it has its own indexing bodies called Scopus. We also have non-indexed journals like trade journals. In Malaysia, we have Malaysian Management Review (MMR) Journal which is editorial.” He also demonstrated how to identify the impact factor for journals using Clarivate Analytics and journal website, and shared the blacklisted journals by Malaysia Ministry of Higher Education (MOHE). He further explained the predatory open access journals, stating that open access journals are scholarly journals that are available online to the readers “without financial, legal, or technical barriers other than those inseparable from gaining access to the internet itself”. He added that some of the open access journals are subsidised, and some require payment on behalf of the author. He also explained some of the benefits gained from the open access, which included free availability to unrestricted online access, authors retain copyright, high quality and rigorous peer review, rapid publication, no space constraints, compliance with open access mandates, and citation tracking and inclusion in bibliographic databases. Besides, he also talked about the danger of open access and provided guidelines on how to identify predatory journals. “In academic publishing, predatory open-access publishing is an exploitative open access publishing business model that involves charging publication fees to the author without giving the editorial and publishing services associated with legitimate journals. They charge high publication fees but do not check the submitted papers for quality,” he said. He also shared some characteristics of predatory journal and stated that one of the easiest ways to identify predatory journals were by looking at Beall's list of potential predatory journals and publishers. Beyond predatory journals, fake journals were another issue for researchers. Prof Ramayah said sometimes someone will create a counterfeit website that pretends to be the website of a legitimate scholarly journal. He also presented some examples of hijacked journals, guiding the participants to differentiate the original from fake journals. He also gave an explanation on four models which included Publishing Models, Social influence Model, Guru Co-author model, and Intrinsic Quality of Paper Model. “One of the difficult parts of publishing is writing the paper. Talking about writing isn’t writing. Thinking about writing isn’t writing. Dreaming or fantasising isn’t writing. Neither are outlining, researching, or making notes. All these may be a part of the whole milieu of the writing life and necessary to getting a project completed, but only writing is writing,” he said. He also advised those young researchers to invest in their career. Furthermore, Prof Ramayah mentioned that the idea of writing paper can come from literature, Google Scholar alerts, colleagues, competitors and reviewing paper. “You can get your research done individually, or with your postgraduate or undergraduate students, colleagues, or collaborate with other authors,” he said. He also shared tips on picking the right journal for a research paper, thereby increasing the chances of getting the research published. “The wealth of a merchant is in their purses of gold; the wealth of a scholar is in the knowledge they unfold. When you are already successful, you must remember the people who have helped you. You will also learn more from sharing than holding,” Prof Ramayah said, adding that passion, perseverance and a little bit of luck were needed for the publication process. Refer to link: https://news.utar.edu.my/news/2020/Aug/06/02/02.html |
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| 5 | Talk Series
Exploring UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Practical Way of Addressing Them 18th August 2020 The 2020 has been a year plagued with a plethora of problems, from the worldwide pandemic to the Australian bushfire and Lebanon explosion; 2020 has been a rough year for all. However, one issue that has been overshadowed by all these problems, yet still increasingly prevalent than ever, is the global climate change. This issue, although rampant, seemed to be less discussed and known by many. Thus, to enlighten people on the severity of this ongoing problem, the Centre for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility in Business (CSDCSR) in collaboration with the Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM) organised a public webinar titled, “Exploring the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Practical Way of Addressing Them” on 18 August 2020 via Microsoft Teams. Hosting the webinar was Dr Mehran Nejati, the senior lecturer and director of United Nations Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) & Sustainability at Edith Cowan University School of Business and Law while moderating it was CSDCSR Chairperson Dr Mohammad Falahat Nejadmahani. The webinar aimed to educate people on the reasons global warming occur and how businesses and institutions can help combat this problem. Dr Falahat began the webinar by introducing Dr Mehran and his background, and from there, Dr Mehran started his segment by explaining the wasp metaphor by George Orwell, the story of the frog, and the bubble metaphor to explain how we have dismissed the big picture that is the climate change, by getting stuck in our own little “bubble”. He then noted that there were nine boundaries for the planet, in which the human race has already broken four. Dr Mehran moved on to explain the reasons these boundaries have been crossed. “When I discuss this with my colleagues or my students, I find several themes emerging, some of which were the self-interests of humans, a great level of greedy individuals, organisations and corporations, and a lack of short-term thinking, where we have a tunnel vision as we focus on improving the economy. We are also taking the planet for granted, and overall, the lack of responsibility and accountability appears to lead us to focus more on “throw away economy”, disregarding the notion of trying to bring back used materials into the production cycle,” said Dr Mehran. He continued to show evidence that climate change is increasing rapidly throughout the years, even stating that, “We must all work together to get to the level that we aim to achieve by 2030 and it must be done sooner than later. This is because if we were to continue at this pace, we will need to decrease the level by 15.4% to achieve the 2030 goal, which would be much harder compared to if we started earlier.” Dr Mehran also showed several statistics on the level of carbon dioxide emissions over the years, and then noted the many problems that have arisen from this climate change. For instance, the rise in temperature has caused the melting of ice in the North Pole and there has been an increase in the severity and incidence of natural disasters and wildfires. Dr Mehran then went on to explain how higher education can play a key role in reducing this climate change, but he first quoted Prof John Sterman, who said that showing research does not work as it is insufficient. He also explained that the rules have changed in the organisations whereby they have placed a bigger emphasis on being sustainable due to three reasons. “The first reason is the declining resources in our world that are being used excessively, with people suffering from a mismatch in the supply and demand of clean water, biodiversity, food and energy. This can cause future generations to suffer as well, since all the resources are being used up. Next is radical transparency, where the use of social media and low-cost communication is increasing among users and stakeholders, to create a culture of connectivity and a platform where corporations see greater benefits in working with the stakeholders, instead of an “us-versus-them” approach. The last reason is the rising expectations of stakeholders and using it as a force of momentum to make changes in the organisation. By practising sustainability, corporations can attract new talents and keep investors happy,” said Dr Mehran. He lastly moved on to explain the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). In essence, the main SDGs that corporations should focus has to depend on the sustainability issues that are in conjunction with their identity and success as well as the problems that they want to focus on. Higher education institutions also need to map these SDGs into their courses and introduce them in classes, so as to educate students that their decisions can affect society. It is also necessary to help students see the severity of the current situation and motivate them to work together to fix it. As a prolific researcher in the field of corporate social responsibility, business sustainability and ethical leadership, Dr Nejati has published in reputable journals such as Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental Management, Journal of Cleaner Production, Journal of Small Business Management, International Journal of Sustainable Development & World Ecology, Management Decision, and International Journal of Manpower, to name a few. With a Field-Weighted Citation Impact of 2.20 (according to SciVal) and h-index of 23 (according to Google Scholar), Dr Nejati’s publications have received more than 1,900 citations to date. Refer to link: https://news.utar.edu.my/news/2020/Sept/03/02/02.html |
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| 6 | Talk Series
Start Small, Start Now. Grow Your Retirement Savings 11th November 2020 UTAR Centre for Corporate and Community Development (CCCD) and Centre for Sustainable Development and Corporate Social Responsibility in Business (CSDCSR), in collaboration with Private Pension Administrator Malaysia (PPA), the central administrator for the Private Retirement Schemes (PRS), organised a webinar titled “Start Small. Start Now: Grow Your Retirement Savings” in support of Financial Education Network (FEN) on 11 November 2020. The webinar, conducted via Zoom, was delivered by PPA Marketing Events and Promotion Manager Wong Mew Sum and Corporate Engagement and Management Manager Ma Kam Kwan. In the webinar, Wong and Ma first explained PRS and its objectives as well as the key considerations to meet the retirement needs. “We suggest, starting from now, you save 1/3 of your monthly salary so that you will have 2/3 replacement income when you retire,” said Wong. She advised that people must make sure they have enough money to maintain their current lifestyle during retirement. “Inflation will increase your cost of living and erode your purchasing power. You should start saving now for your retirement as there will definitely be a rise in the cost of living in the future,” she said. She also talked about how the implementation of the Movement Control Order (MCO) affected Malaysian’s retirement plan. She said, “According to a survey, apart from medical emergencies and monthly fixed debts, retirement savings is one of Malaysians’ biggest financial worries. Malaysians become more worried for not having enough retirement savings after the MCO.” She further explained how PRS works and provided helpful guidelines on how to choose the fund options. Ma, on the other hand, pointed out that the minimum retirement age of an employee in Malaysia is 60 and the average life expectancy is 74.9 years. “We are living longer now, so we need enough retirement savings to last through at least 20 years of retirement,” he said. In order to have a better understanding of the future financial situation, Ma provided a guideline on how to use the retirement calculators to estimate how much one will need to save for their retirement and how long their money will last. Besides, Ma presented the PRS framework and explained that PRS is supervised by the Securities Commission Malaysia through four intermediaries, namely PRS Distributors and Consultants, PPA, PRS Providers and Scheme Trustee. He also provided an overview on the performance of the PRS funds and said, “Past performance cannot guarantee future returns. However, PRS funds have been performing well even in the recent volatile market.” The talk ended after a Q&A session. Refer to link: https://news.utar.edu.my/news/2020/Nov/16/02/02.html |
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| 7 | Talk Series
How Malaysian Business can Survive with Covid-19? 23rd November 2020 A global pandemic can transform a crisis into a business opportunity by turning stress into a competitive advantage and make a significant change. With the great disruption faced by labour-intensive, capital-intensive manufacturing and businesses; Asset-light Business Model is more viable to be adopted for businesses in the era of pandemic, whereby a business owns relatively fewer capital assets compared to the value of its operations. To highlight more about the feasibility of Asset-Light Business Model in the era of pandemic, the Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM) Department of Economics, and Centre for Entrepreneurial Sustainability (CENTS) jointly organised a webinar titled “How Malaysian Business can survive with Covid-19?” on 23 November 2020 with the aims to share thoughts and experiences regarding business survival during the Covid-19 pandemic. Speaking at the webinar was Global Green Synergy Sdn. Bhd. (GGS) Founder & Managing Director Dato’ Joseph Lim Heng Ee who is also the industry advisor for FAM’s Bachelor of Economics (Hons) Global Economics. He elucidated, “A number of start-ups popularly adopts this business model because of its ability to get the company to higher skies when compared to traditional business models.” This webinar started with a talk by Dato’ Joseph Lim and was followed by a dialog between the speaker and participants. Dato’ Joseph Lim stressed, “By going and enabling the Asset-light, businesses can switch between offensive and defensive move whenever needed and make a significant innovative change on businesses.” “SMEs can focus on product diversification, be innovative and creative, product optimisation, R&D enhancement, gathering first-hand market information, and improving the product’s unique selling proposition (USP),” as Dato’ Joseph Lim advised. The webinar was later continued with a fruitful and insightful Q&A session. Dato’ Joseph Lim is an experienced and successful “technopreneur”, Vice President for the Malaysia-China Chamber of Commerce (MCCC), and President of Malaysia Macau Chamber of Commerce (MMCC). He was invited by several International Multimedia Platforms, Global Summits & International Forums as the distinguished guest and key speaker. Refer to the link: https://news.utar.edu.my/news/2020/Dec/22/04/04.html |
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| 8 | Talk
The Principal Impact of the 2021 Malaysian Budget Proposal 27th November 2020 CSDCSR with the collaboration of FAM and CCCD organised a free webinar about the Malaysian Budget 2021 which was tabled in Parliament on 6th November 2020. His talk generally focuses on the strategies of the budget, the national economic indicators, both the individual and corporate taxes as well as the outlook of the industry for the coming year. He shared with the audiences that some of the major issues happening and how these eventually affects the Budget 2021. He also mentioned that the Budget presented is considered a targeted approach by the Government to strike a balance between the Government’s financial sustainability, reducing the urban and rural development gap as well as to uphold the values to shape the country’s economy. Lastly, the stress of the Budget is by and large on the effect of the pandemic Covid-19. |
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| 9 | Forum
Digital Marketing: A Plausible Solution in the Era of Pandemic or Future Direction for Real Estate Marketing? 10th December 2020 The COVID-19 pandemic has caused significant changes in the way businesses operate. Going digital seems to be a promising strategy for businesses to survive during the pandemic. Among others, marketing-related activities have switched from their previous physical dominant to the digital platform. The Faculty of Accountancy and Management (FAM) Building and Property Management Department, and Centre for Entrepreneurial Sustainability (CENTS) jointly organised a webinar entitled “Digital Marketing: A Plausible Solution in the Era of Pandemic or Future Direction for Real Estate Marketing?” on 10 December 2020 with the aim to explore digital marketing as the new normal during the pandemic and the adoption of digital marketing as a future marketing strategy in the real estate industry. Tan Sri Datuk Eddy Chen started the webinar by introducing the concept of digital marketing and traditional marketing to the participants. He emphasised that while traditional marketing is still effective, digital marketing offers limitless connection between a business and its audience. On top of that, by referring to the Internet World Statistic, Tan Sri Datuk Eddy Chen highlighted that Malaysia is one of the top 5 fastest-growing e-commerce countries. The country's internet penetration rate is 83 percent, with 81 percent active social media users. This fact further strengthens the need for digital marketing in helping the business to connect to its audience. Tan Sri Datuk Eddy Chen continued his talk by providing insights on how digital marketing is transforming the real estate industry by providing examples of digital marketing platforms and strategies relating to his company's current practices. Tan Sri Datuk Eddy Chen acknowledged that traditional real estate marketing campaigns have several shortages and drawbacks, such as space limitations, interaction, and measuring the usefulness of campaigns while explaining that these shortcomings can be addressed through digital marketing. Lastly, he shared his insights on the application of virtual reality as a promising tool for real estate marketing campaign. The webinar was followed by a fruitful and insightful Q&A session. Tan Sri Datuk Eddy Chen has 37 years of experience in property development and construction-related businesses. He has long played a leading role in advocating the industry's growth and advancement and is well-recognised as one of the influential key opinion leaders. He is prominently involved in the redevelopment of Kajang, and effectively steered the housing industry through the Asian Financial Crisis by the implementation of homeownership campaigns during his tenure as President of Real Estate and Housing Developers Association (REHDA) from 1998-2002. He is also an active committee member in various government and private sector organisations that formulate policies governing the housing and real estate industry. He holds positions as the Advisory Council Member of Construction Labour Exchange Centre Berhad, committee member of CIDB’s Pemandu Pembangunan Pelan Induk Industri Pembinaan II during his term from 2016 – 2020, and member of PEMUDAH Special Task Force on Kuala Lumpur City Hall. His contribution has been recognised and he received awards such as the Edge Malaysia Outstanding Property CEO Award 2018, The REHDA Personality Award 2013 and The CIDB’s Malaysian Construction Industry Excellence Awards (MCIEA) CEO of the Year Award 2015. Refer to the link: https://news.utar.edu.my/news/2020/Dec/22/03/03.html |
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