Ethnicity as a Management Issue and Resource: Examples from Malaysia

Abstract

There has been recognition for some time that the management policies in overseas operations of multinational companies may be complex. This is not only due to diverse business or product market strategies, but also because the political, economic, social, legislative and cultural environment varies between locations. In particular, a neglected aspect of the context is ethnicity, especially in locations which are multi-ethnic. Such environments provide not only ‘constraints’, but also ‘opportunities’ in terms of management. Ethnicity is not only an issue which calls for ‘management’ itself, but is itself a potential managerial resource. Ethnicity is important for organizations at both external (contextual) and internal (operational) levels. We use the example of Malaysia to highlight such issues.

Keywords:

• Ethnicity
• employment
• management
• resource
• context
• Malaysia

Acknowledgement

The authors wish to thank the British Academy Committee for South East Asian Studies for funding (2003–04) which in part helped to contribute to this work.

Notes

¹ This is a reference to the Malays whose lineage can be traced to this community; today the term also refers to all the indigenous peoples of Sarawak and Sabah, and so is varied.