Welcome to AsiaBizTech Web Site Click Here!
Click Here!


 
Top Page
Site Map
News at a Glance NEA
 • News Center
 • Internet
 • PC
 • This Week
 • Communications
 • Computer
 • Business
 • Electronics
 • Japan
 • Taiwan
 • Korea
 • China

Free E-Mail
Newsletter



(NEA This Month)






Advanced Search
Click Here!




(Nikkei BP Group)


NEA Magazine
Subscription


BizTech
(No.1 High-Tech
News Site
in Japanese)


BizTech
Chinese


Nikkei Net
Interactive




Click Here!
News from Asia-Pacific

SMEs to Adopt RosettaNet

The Malaysian government is pumping US$1.3 million for small- to medium-sized enterprises (SME) to rapidly adopt the RosettaNet open e-business standards in 2002.

Electronic components suppliers in three northern states - Penang, Kedah and Perak - which service some of the largest semiconductor producers in the world, are likely to be early beneficiaries of the federal grant.

Malaysia is also offering multinational companies tax deductions in 2002 if they can pioneer programs to assist their suppliers in adopting RosettaNet's global supply chain network standards.

The moves are seen as a means to alleviate the pain of the current global downturn and to jump-start some suppliers onto newer markets. RosettaNet's chief executive officer Jennifer Hamilton welcomed the support from the government, and said that momentum for RosettaNet is growing worldwide, including in Southeast Asia.

Formed in June 1998, RosettaNet is a non-profit consortium set up to create a common language, or standard processes, for the electronic sharing of business information. Currently, it comprises 400 leading IT and electronic components players, representing more than US$1 trillion in revenue.

"The supply chain in Southeast Asia will involve much smaller companies, and the industry will require additional creative solutions to integrate these smaller companies," said Hamilton.

Transition

RosettaNet's deployment comes at a crucial time in the transition of the electronics industry in Malaysia. Despite being one of the largest semiconductor and electronic components producers in the world, Malaysia is facing stiff competition from cheaper labor markets such as China and Latin America. Local SMEs have had to face the brunt of the tech meltdown and cutbacks in orders.

Many companies were over-reliant on being dedicated suppliers to the locally-based multinationals, and had yet to secure new customers abroad. Some now face the dilemma of either investing in new IT initiatives to ensure their long-term viability, or sticking to traditional business processes and cutting costs where they can.

Industry sources suggest that local SMEs have generally been slow to get online or buy into real-time procurement, production and logistics management systems. The human predisposition to resist change, the lack of trust of Internet security and the fear of transparency were cited as major obstacles. Despite this, projections of B2B e-commerce growth in Malaysia remain high, and it is expected to reach US$7.8 billion by 2005.

Hamilton said the evolution of improved B2B processes is a "given" in the high-tech industry. "Historically, supply chain management systems tended to be proprietary. With RosettaNet, the standards are open and available to anyone who accesses the Website, resulting in lower integration costs among suppliers."

RosettaNet's experience has been such that, with the packaging of easy-to-use and affordable e-business solutions and implementations, the mid-tier supply chain partners have gained and improved their businesses, according to Hamilton.

RosettaNet is also expecting to successfully promote the standards in Korea, China, India, Australia and New Zealand this year.

by Julian Matthews, Kuala Lumpur

(January 2002 Issue, Nikkei Electronics Asia)

Copyright (c) 1996-2002 Nikkei Business Publications, Inc. All Rights Reserved.