Policy-Driven Collaborative Arrangements and Competency Development - A Preliminary Survey of Organisations Participating in Malaysia's MSC Flagship Networks

This paper presents the results of a survey done among organisations participating in MSC Flagship networks in Malaysia’s Multimedia Super Corridor (MSC) project - a cluster-oriented initiative by the government of Malaysia aimed at jumpstarting its transition to a knowledge-based economy. The MSC flagships are an integral part of the MSC project and are inter-organisational networks, built through policy-driven collaborative arrangements –and these networks with exchange relationships are intended to create value in that the creativity and talent derived out of such an environment is perceived to result in certain competencies. Preliminary findings, from three of the networks studied, indicate that the three network groups have different forms or structures. The network structure is important in facilitating results for the organisations committed to the networks, where different network forms display different combinations of network characteristics and correspondingly, the different combinations lead to differing strengths in different competencies. It is especially significant where the focus is on policy-driven inter-organisational networks in developing economies.