Talent Engagement and Development in Penang's Electronics Manufacturing Industry

Penang’s Free Industrial Zone (FIZ) was first established in 1972 and has since been recognize as one of South East Asia’s most powerful electronics manufacturing hub that also boost other supporting industries such as the logistics and freight industry. Despite strong and rising manufacturing countries such as China, Vietnam and Philippines making an impact in the Asia region, Penang’s electronics manufacturing industry remained strong and unfazed. However, the state’s effort to become a high-income manufacturing industry comes with a heavy price especially in dealing with Talent Management issues that has been engulfing Penang’s electronics manufacturing industry. This research examines various talent management factors affecting Penang’s electronics manufacturing industry, with a specific focus on talent engagement and development which are the two (2) key factors affecting most of Penang’s electronics manufacturing companies today. The purpose of the above two (2) focal areas is due to past researches which provided the impetus for this research or study. The findings provided the indication that talent engagement is very critical for talent retention and for effective talent management within Penang’s electronics manufacturing industry, although in general, many young talents also look towards talent development as a key factor in determining whether to remain with the organization. However, talent development is viewed within a broader perspective of talent engagement as found in this research. These are two (2) critical areas of talent management as talents worldwide are become more scare and thus, there is a need for progressive and expanding business organizations to manage their talents, and more importantly, to retain key talents within the company in order to spur growth, expansion, and for comparative advantage within the industry.