The main objective of this report is to show how the fear of failure has influenced the Malaysian economy and population between the ages of eighteen and sixty-four, during the years 2009 and 2017. The reason for selecting Malaysia, was because of the noticeable plummet of the percentage of fear of failure after 2009, which then rapidly rose once more (Central Intelligence Agency, 2019). 1.2 Description of the country With a population of 31,809,660 people, Malaysia is the fourth smallest nation in Asia. It is located near the equator and has a tropical climate which often causes floods, landslides and forest fires. Alongside its many different native groups, the inhabitants speak 134 different tongues, with each region their own. Nonetheless, the country’s official language is Bahasa Malaysia.
The land boundaries span up to 328,657 square kilometres. In 2011, The CIA World Factbook estimated that the country was made up of 23.2% agricultural land, 62% forest, and 14,8% used for other purposes. Malaysia’s main exports are reported to be palm oil, petroleum and liquified natural gas, wood and wood products, textiles, chemicals, electronic equipment and semiconductors, rubber and solar panels (Central Intelligence Agency, 2019). 1.3 Problem Statement After a period of sky-high home prices in the United States of America (USA), the prices suddenly plummeted. The crisis that started in 2007, first spread across the United States, from homeowners to large national banks. Not only did the financial segment of the economy suffer, but also ordinary civilians and companies who relied on credits heavily. At the end of 2008, the crisis that once started in the US, had spread to most parts of the world. Yet, the most affected nations were developing European countries such as Ukraine and Poland (Havemann, 2019).
When looking at the top ten least affected countries, the majority are countries in Asia. Malaysia, in particular, can be found in the seventh position. In the aftermath of the crisis, the currency depreciation was indicated to be -0.9% with an Equity Market of -12%, while the Bond Spreads (Bps) was at 81 (Uri Dadush, 2019). Nevertheless, current numbers show that the GDP purchasing power has risen from the estimated $881,3 billion in 2016 to $933,3 billion in 2017. In addition, the GDP per capita in 2017 was estimated to be $29,100, including an industrial production growth of 5% and a real growth rate of 5,9% while the market value of publicly traded shares was $383 billion (Central Intelligence Agency, 2019). When looking at the entrepreneurship opportunities in Malaysia, it should be noted that while the perceived opportunity rate is 45,06% and the perceived capabilities rate is 46,12%, the actual percentage of the population between the ages of eighteen and sixty-four who are currently owning or managing a business and pay salaries, wages, taxes, etcetera to the owners for more than 3,5 years, is in actuality 3,82% (Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, 2019).
Not only are the numbers of the GDP’s rising, the future desire of Malaysia seems to be as well. It is well known that the country itself wants to be a leader in ecology, education and the global economy while also allowing their press to have more freedom and to create new educational opportunities for Malaysians. As a consequence, creating a change within Malaysian society (Azhari-Karim, 2019). Despite the success of the current economy in Malaysia, since 2014, when the percentile of fear of failure reached its lowest point, it has been rapidly rising to 36,68% in 2016 and 44,95% in 2017. This could mean that, when looking at previous years, that although the economy of Malaysia is improving, the fear of failure has rapidly increased since its economic boost after 2009 (Global Entrepreneurship Research Association, 2019). 1.4 Research question The question this report poses is how the fear of failure rate has developed in Malaysia between 2009 and 2017 and what kind of consequences it poses for the country. 1.5 Organization of the report This report is dived into several chapters. Following the introduction in chapter 1, the next chapter (chapter 2) will examine the methodology of the fear of failure rate. This is supported by chapter 3 with descriptive analysis. Lastly, the last chapter (chapter 4) will be the conclusion of this descriptive research report.
