Political Affiliations with the United States of American:

The relationship between the USA and Malaysia is a strong one. Information from the United
States trade representative as of 2019 there has been a trade off of $59.8 billion (Office of the
United States Trade Representative). Moreover the federal direct investment into Malaysia by
the United States of America was $13.6 billion as of 2018. This would reassure that the
relationship between the countries are very strong and has been going on for decades now.
Malaysia has an increasingly high import tax, ie- import tariff, as the Malaysian government
continues to levy taxation upon poultry products, milk and dairy products, and certain fruits and
vegetables (Every CRS report, 2017).

Our company MDO Inc. is a franchise restaurant business that primarily focuses on eco-friendly
methods of food serving, with the main USP being our edible cutlery that comes in various
flavors. The edible cutlery aims to reduce the use of plastic cutlery and provide a nutritious
alternative to the daily norms of a fast food franchise. The biggest concern for MOD Inc. would
be the high annual import tariffs set by the Malaysian government. This is likely to result in a
higher average cost of production for the edible cutlery segment. However overtime we plan to
set up factories in Malaysia that produces the edible cutlery in the country to overcome the
adversity of the high import tariff, thus bringing down costs significantly.

Malaysia's Hofstede Cultural Dimensions:

1. Power Distance: This dimension deals with the indifference of equality in societies. In
broader terms it is the extent to which less influential people in Malaysia accept that
power is distributed unequally. Malaysia scores a perfect 100 in power distance. This
means the people in Malaysia accept a hierarchy within the society, where everyone has
their own respective place in the community. In the business environment, centralisation
is very popular, subordinates embrace delegations and community leaders are usually
autocratic in nature (Hofstede insights, 2021).
2. Individualism: This particular dimension refers to the extent of which a society accepts
interdependence amongst its inhabitants. The society is divided into two parts, an
 individualist society where the society’s members look after their family only and a
collectivist society where the society’s members look after each other collectively, in
return for respect and loyalty. Malaysia scores a 26 in this dimension meaning it is a
collectivist society. This type of society fosters different relationships that extend beyond
family ties and each member of the society is responsible for a group of members despite
their blood ties (Hofstede insights, 2021). Employer and employee relationships are more
casual and family friendly.
3. Masculinity: In this dimension the higher the score the more competitive and
achievement driven the society’s members are, and a low score would mean dominant
traits in the society involve caring for one another in the society and the quality of
superior life. Usually the competition is kindled throughout the school life and carries
onwards through the rest of their lives. Malaysia scores a 50 in masculinity which means
the society’s members are equally divided in both groups of people making it difficult for
this dimension to properly be determined.
4. Uncertainty Avoidance: This dimension deals with the extent to which people in a culture
feel threatened by unforeseen events and in return have created respective beliefs to avoid
it. Malaysia scores a 36 in this dimension meaning that the people have a low preference
of avoidance. A low uncertainty avoidance society is likely to be more relaxed and rules
and legislations should be changed if they do not work. Here innovation is not seen as a
threat and is instead welcomed with open arms.
5. Long Term Orientation: This dimension portrays how every society is likely to cling on
to the past while dealing with new challenges and adversity from the present and future.
A low score in this dimension means the members of the society are likely to hold onto
time-honored old traditions and a high score would indicate the members of the society
are more pragmatic, they embrace modernization. Malaysia scores a 41 in Long term
orientation meaning they have a normative culture (Hofstede insights, 2021). In a
normative culture people of the society exhibit great respect for old traditions and a
relatively small concern for changes in future exhibitions.
6. Indulgence: This indulgence dimension deals with the extent to which people in the
society can control their impulses and innate desires. Malaysia has a high score of 57
meaning it is a culture of indulgence. People in this society are likely to follow their
 innate desires and are likely to have a positive outlook in following their impulses. The
people are likely to have a higher emphasis on leisure time and are likely to spend their
money as they deem fit. Thus this may result in a higher consumption rate than ordinary
standards.

Fig: Hofstede dimensions of Malaysia

Recommendations:
❏ To set up establishments in Malaysia, MDO Inc. must perform thorough market research
on the consumption, expenditure, and traits of Malaysian citizens.
❏ MDO Inc. must consider all opportunities for growth and select the optimum choice.
❏ MDO Inc. must set up operations with local producers to manufacture their edible cutlery
to reduce overall costs.
 ❏ A proper staffing examination must be undergone in order to find the best candidates to
maintain MDO Inc. rich business culture.
❏ MDO Inc. must find local suppliers for healthy ingredients to further decrease expenses.

Limitations:

Lack of professional expertise: While performing the research to undergo a business venture into
Malaysia was thorough, the lack of professional expertise is a problem. Without adequate
knowledge and understanding the concepts of business culture it is very difficult to grasp the
dynamic business environment to set up a franchise.

Time constraint: All the effort put into the report didn't go without having a decent time
constraint. More time is required to go through all possible factors and consider the most ideal
expansion strategies. In the time given, it is rather difficult to come up with the most realistic and
efficient mode of operations strategy, despite the best efforts being put into it.

Analysis of data: This report consists of both primary sources data and secondary sources of
data. However it is heavily reliant on secondary data taken from different articles, other
businesses, and government websites and so on. Only a small segment consists of primary data,
which is very important in order to get the insights from MDO Inc.'s point of view.

Conclusion:

From the following report we can easily conclude that Malaysia’s dynamic business environment
is ideal to set up and expand MDO Inc’s franchise. Malaysia has a rich history in the food
industry and plastic products, especially plastic cutlery are a huge problem. Finding the
alternative, a nutritious edible form of cutlery is an eye-opening strategy to minimize all forms of
plastic dependencies. The reliance on plastic cutlery will one day be a problem of the past.

Moreover Malaysia and the United States have had a strong relationship for many decades now
making it the perfect opportunity to set up and expand operations accordingly (Healy consultants
PLC, 2017) The people of Malaysia are open to new forms of technology and henceforth it
should be easier to introduce our revolutionary idea of plastic reduction. Edible cutlery is the
start to plastic reduction and hopefully will become a staple product of the future.

Malaysia: Background and U.S. Relations. (2017, May 18), from

https://www.everycrsreport.com/reports/R43505.html

Country comparison. (2020, August 12), from https://www.hofstede-insights.com/country-

comparison/malaysia/#:~:text=Malaysia%2C%20with%20a%20score%20of,other
%20societal%20rules%20and%20regulations.

Cleaver, I., Odhiambo, G., RK, V., Pahuja, M., Beck, H., Banerjee, R., & Trivedi, A. (2017,
March 28). Starting business in Malaysia in 2017: Benefits & DRAWBACKS , from
https://blog.healyconsultants.com/starting-business-in-malaysia-benefits-drawbacks-
infographic/