In Malaysia, Corporate Diversity Sits on a Slow Cooker

In this 2013 interview, Reza Ghazali, the Country Head & MD Korn Ferry International discusses the following questions: 

- Company perspective - industries most served - levels of designation most served

- Fee structure: fee vs retainer KF: 1/3rd GLCs are willing to pay - 

- GLC or private: which is the bigger market segment for you: if so, dynamics?

- Sources of talent: typical sources

- KF: country ranking - versus biggest players 

- Value of executive search industry in Malaysia- Search unregulated - issues 

- No moat? Whether boutique search firms are eating your market share due to aggressive cost-cutting, fee reduction etc 

- Competition - Jobstreet - JobsDB - LinkedIn -- online / social media recruitment -- etc 

- Talent loss to HK - Shanghai - Singapore - bigger markets - issues 

- How cyclical is your business?- Whether industry downturns - quiet periods

- Gen Y - the next leaders - lamentations - issues - best approach?

- Said to be non-consumer of traditional media and far more questioning of traditional mores

- How should GLC Malaysia approach this influential bunch?

- Drivers of better wages: performance - education - experience 

- Executive compensation that is out of whack with company earnings and performance. 

- Puncak Niaga and Genting as standout examples

- Counter/contradictory drivers: e.g. stocks/options based reward in companies with dual purposes e.g. stock exchanges 

- Wage gap between expats / locals -- perspective - hotelier has mentioned that in hospitality this gap is now closed?? 

- GLC appointment - Whether among GLCs there is now a greater appetite for non-Muslim, male, Malay talent - perspective 

- Maybank: all five shortlisted names, reportedly, are Malay, Muslim and male -- ditto EPF, ditto 1MDB, ditto Sime Darby 

- This is concerning: cite Booz&Co research which suggests that private-sector investment has flatlined in the last decade, while most if not all of the domestic investment has come from GLC sources 

- GLCs are struggling to find many Malaysian managers who are willing to rough it out in developing markets eg Indonesia, Vietnam etc. 

- Too complacent. And on the other hand, people in developed countries eg Japan find it hard to take orders from Malaysian managers eg Joel Neoh in Japan (no need to mention names).

- Diversity targets - compromised? Target: 30% females on board by 2015 - achievability / progress / bottlenecks? 

- Other minorities? Are there any female Indian CEOs of Plcs in Malaysia? What about gay CEOs? 

- Whether KF doing its part to push the Diversity agenda 

- Tricubes - directorship - issues