Research proposal prepared by

Hew Hor Yee

Faculty of Arts and Social Science

Bachelor of Communication (Hons) Public Relations

Tunku Abdul Rahman University

TITLE

The study of Buy Malaysian Campaign:

The efficiency of the campaign in changing Malaysians buying behavior

ABSTRACT

Recently, the government had launched the Buy Malaysian Campaign to urge

Malaysians to support local made products in order to boost domestic economic growth.

Since the launching of the campaign, the government has been putting effort on the

campaign by organizing a series of activities that relevant to the Buy Malaysian

Campaign such as “Price Cut” for certain local made products in hypermarkets. However,

Malaysia citizens seem do not give fully support to the campaign. They did not turn out

to buy more Malaysia-made products or switch to purchase local made products. Instead,

some of them still choose to consume imported products. Therefore, the researcher tends

to conduct a study on the campaign to find out the effectiveness of the Buy Malaysian

Campaign concerning the changes of the buying behavior of Malaysians whether they

purchase local products or imported goods. A survey will be carrying out to 100 Tunku

Abdul Rahman University Perak campus students as well as working young working
adults by distribution of questionnaires. Every questionnaire consists of 20 questions. The

distribution of questionnaire will take place at Tesco that located near the Tunku Abdul

Rahman University Perak campus. The researcher tends to target on university students

and working young adult is mostly due to these group of people need to purchase their

own necessary items all by their own. The reason why the researcher does not want to

target on homemakers is because homemakers are the group of people who tends to

purchase products that have good quality and low price. If they noticed that the good

quality product is made in Malaysia, they will surely purchase it without hesitation. This

will lead the researcher fail to gain objective opinion from his or her respondents. Based

on the poll results from the official website of Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperative

and Consumerism, it shows that the Buy Malaysian Campaign had indeed create impact

on Malaysians to purchase more local made products and about 41% of the online users

claimed that they purchase about 40 to 70 percent Malaysia made products monthly while

32% of the Malaysian buy 70 to 100 percent of local made products monthly. There are

only 26.9% of the online users consumed 10 to 30 percent of local made products

monthly. (Buy Malaysian Campaign Poll, 2009)

INTRODUCTION

Campaign is defined as a complete planned course of action that formulated to

achieve aimed objectives in marketing, public relations, quality enhancement, revenue

generation and safety standards. (Campaign, n.d.) It is a series of activities that organized

in a period of time that aimed to influence others opinion or urge the public to follow

what the message that brought by the campaign in order to achieve the goal of the

campaign.
 The Buy Malaysian Campaign is a year-long campaign that re-launch on 16 Jan

2009 by the Ministry of Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism. The campaign

was first launched in 1984 and later in 1998 during the last economic slowdown. The

campaign was carried out in the whole Malaysia including Kuala Lumpur, Melaka,

Perak, Sarawak as well as other states. It covers all industries including consumer items,

electronic and electrical appliances, furniture, banking, shipping as well as apparel and

construction. The objective of this campaign is to encourage Malaysians to purchase local

made product in order to boost the economy of Malaysia by helping the local

entrepreneurships in overcoming the economic recession. Moreover, it is to convince

Malaysians that the local made products have standard quality and more reasonable

pricing if compared to imported products. Malaysia-made products are defined as “all

products made, assembled and produced in Malaysia including the services offered in this

country”. The tagline that the campaign uses is “Buy Malaysia, Smart Choice”.

The ministry had uses various approaches to promote the campaign in order to

gain Malaysians support to spend more on local goods. They set up billboards near the

petrol stations and roadside in order to catch the eye sight of the road users. Moreover,

public service announcement is broadcasted on the television to educate as well as

increase awareness of the public to support Malaysia-made goods. Activities are

organized in hypermarkets such as set up booths to help promote local products to help

the local manufacturers.

However, every campaign has its drawbacks and criticism. Apart of the

Malaysians claimed that they would not switch to purchase local mane products after the

launching of the Buy Malaysian Campaign. They still own the perception that Malaysians
goods are not the best in quality. Moreover, the promotion of the campaign did not seem

to bring much effectiveness towards the Malaysia citizens. Some of them still do not

aware of the meaningful campaign.

Thus, the main objective for the researcher to conduct this study is to determine

the effectiveness of the Buy Malaysian Campaign towards the changing of buying

behavior among Malaysians. It is to find out whether Malaysians would switch to

purchase more local made products after the launching of the campaign or ignore the

message that brought by it. Since it is the third time the government organize the

campaign, it is indeed important to find out the responses that given by Malaysians

towards supporting the local made products.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

The two research questions of this study are as below: 1. Do Malaysia citizens

aware of the ongoing Buy Malaysian Campaign that launched by the Ministry of

Domestic Trade, Cooperative and Consumerism? 2. What are Malaysians buying

behavior after the launching of the campaign?

LITERATURE REVIEW

The Role of the Hypermarkets

Many hypermarkets and supermarkets have take part in the campaign to urge

Malaysians to buy local made products. (Save Money, Buy Malaysian, 2009) Being the

largest supermarket and departmental store in Malaysia, The Store Group has also take

part in the Buy Malaysian Campaign to support the governments’ call to reduce prices of
products in the store. Prices of more than 160 items that are more than 300 brands have

been reduced up to 70% on monthly basis and more items will be added to the list. The

Store Group also urges the public to buy more Malaysia-made products. (The Store

Group’s Reduces Prices of Goods on Monthly Basis in conjunction with the Launch of

Price Reduction and Buy Campaign at Nothern District of Perak - The Store Grik, 2009)

Moreover, Tesco in the whole Malaysia also had take part in the campaign by reducing

price of products in their hypermarkets by having “Price Cut” for certain items daily to

help promoting the local made products. (Refer to Appendix 2) Boulevard Shopping Mall

also reduces 72 items in their mall to support the Buy Malaysia Campaign. (Ritikos and

Ling, 2009)

The Urge from Different Authorities and Interviewees to Support the Campaign

The Malaysia former Prime Minister, Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi also

urges the Malaysians to support Malaysian goods by saying that he himself had tried to

consume the local made products and he found out that the products were not bad. Thus,

Malaysians may like the products if they willing to try it. (Ritikos and Ling, 2009).

Furthermore, the MCA vice president, Datuk Seri Liow Tiong Lai also urges Malaysians

to consume more on Malaysia-made products and rely less on the imported brands to lend

a helping hand to stimulate the local economy when he is attending a press conference at

Wisma MCA on 17 March 2009. (Liow: use M’sia goods: Rely Less on imports to help

stimulate local economy, public urged, 2009) Politicians are acting as role model to

influence Malaysians to consume the local goods. They are playing a role as the
spokesperson of the Buy Malaysian Campaign in order to boost the sales of the local

products as well as to advocate the citizens to buy the “Made in Malaysia” products.

Besides, Michelle Loh, 29, an interviewee that conduct a face interview with one

of the The Star reporter says that she will be looking on the products’ quality before

purchasing it. If she finds out that the product that she intended to buy is from Malaysia,

she will be more delighted since she can get a good quality product at a more reasonable

price. (Save Money, Buy Malaysian, 2009) The campaign also aimed to make more

Malaysians to think like Michelle Loh when they shop for their daily items. It is to make

Malaysians to have the perception that Malaysia-made products are also good in quality

and it is worth to consume if compared to expensive imported brands that also have the

same quality with the local made products.

Statistics

According to the poll results that stated in the Ministry of Domestic Trade,

Cooperative and Consumerism official website, it shows that in the period of 3 months

(25th March 2009 to 25th June 2009), 53.9% of the online users voted that the launching of

the Buy Malaysian Campaign bring impacts on their monthly spending. Meanwhile,

46.1% of the online users claimed that the campaign did not bring any changes on their

monthly expenditure. (Buy Malaysian Campaign Poll, 2009) The statistics also shows

that 41.1% of the online users purchase 40 to 70 percent of local goods monthly while

32% of the online users voted that they consume 70 to 100 percent of Malaysia-made

goods monthly. (Buy Malaysian Campaign Poll, 2009) Hence, it shows that the campaign
indeed bring some impact on the buying behavior of the users that surf the official

website.

Agenda Setting Theory

According to McCombs and Shaw (1972), they state that the mass media sets the

agenda for the public and form the topic of discussion for the public. The mass media do

not always successfully to tell the public what to think but they are good in telling how

the public need to think about. (The Agenda Setting Approach, 2009) It is saying that the

mass media sets the topic of discussion for the public to inform them what issue to think

about but not telling the public what topic they need to figure out themselves to discuss

with others. They are using the media to inform the public that a certain issue is

important by having wide coverage of the selected issue.

The launching of the Buy Malaysian Campaign in the whole Malaysia can be an

example of the agenda setting theory. The public get to know the campaign through

different media such as television, newspaper, radio, and internet and so on. If the media

do not inform the public, they will not aware of the campaign and the activities that

carried on throughout the whole year of 2009. They would not know the importance of

purchasing local made products. They would not know that their act can make an

overturn on the economic recession of Malaysia. Therefore, the mass media plays a role

as the disseminator of a message and also remains to be the channel to inform the public

about what is going on in Malaysia.

Ways to Promote the Campaign

As said by the Minister of Domestic Trade and Consumer Affairs, Datuk Shahrir

Abdul Samad, the sales of the local products have indeed increased with the campaign.

Moreover, the promotion and advertising of the campaign are doing well too. Therefore,

the Buy Malaysian Campaign really gains supportive consumers and retailers after it was

initiated earlier this year. (Sales of local products better with 'Buy Malaysia' campaign,

2009).

The public service advertisement of the Buy Malaysian Campaign was

broadcasted in RTM2 since a couple of months ago from the period of June to July 2009.

Petrol stations such as Petronas had also set up billboards to help promoting the

campaign. Hypermarkets like Tesco also lend a helping hand in promoting the campaign

by having “Price Cut” of items in their store. Moreover, the government also practices

transit advertising to promote the campaign by painting the advertisement on the taxi.

(Refer to Appendix 2)

Opportunities for the Local Entrepreneurships

For the local entrepreneurships, the Buy Malaysian Campaign provides a good

opportunity for them to realize their dreams. It is because the entrepreneurships can sell

their products in the activity that organized by the Buy Malaysian Campaign. The

government is using the chance to introduce branded local products that are unfamiliar to

the public. For instance, canned drinks produced by Metro Perda Sdn Bhd. (Ariff, 2009)

Citizens may have been consuming it for years. However, they do not aware of the brand
of the canned soft drinks. Therefore, in the activities of the campaign, local

entrepreneurships can gain profit and promote their product without spending a big sum

of money on advertising.

On the other hand, if the products of the company are chosen from the Domestic

Trade and Consumer Affairs Ministry's Business Development Division in Putrajaya or

the respective state offices, they can participate in the campaign free of charge. All they

need to do is just to sell their products and they can save up thousands of Ringgit

Malaysia monthly if they are previously renting a booth in the hypermarkets or

supermarkets. (Ariff, 2009) It is indeed a great opportunity for the local entrepreneurships

since they can make their product well-known among Malaysians and can save up money

in order to do more investment in their business.

Criticism of Buy Malaysian Campaign

There will always be pros and cons in a certain event or activity. Buy Malaysian

Campaign has some drawbacks and downsides too. According to Mahpar (2009), an

associate editor at The Star newspaper, claimed that the Buy Malaysian Campaign is a

failure since it does not consider other aspects such as quality of the local made product.

The government carried out the campaign and urged the public to support it. However, if

the quality of the product is not as good as other imported brands, how can Malaysians

purchase the local made products? Therefore, he suggested that maybe the budget that

used to implement this campaign can use for other purposes such as to organize campaign

that can teach Malaysians to spend wisely no matter on purchasing local or imported

products. The campaign had off and on for the last three decades but it still failed to
achieve the objectives that set in the first campaign. It may be due to the system of the

campaign and the same methods had repeated to be use in each time of re-launch of the

campaign. A little difference in the campaign cannot make a change in the buying

behavior of Malaysians. The campaign would not successfully change the behavior of

Malaysians in a short period of time. Instead, the government should try other manners to

make a change in Malaysians to support the local made products.

It is not wrong to agree with what Mahpar says in the newspaper. A campaign that

had been launched for times will not gain public support unless the right method has been

used to disseminate the right message that the campaign intended to tell the targeted

audience. If the government really keen to change Malaysians spending habit to purchase

more local made products, they have to figure out a suitable approach to reach Malaysia

citizens.

The Buying Behavior of Minority of the Malaysians

According to a survey done by Synovate, over three quarters of Malaysians would

still stick on the brand that they previously used other than to switch to buy local products

in this “gloomy” economic situation. (Mahpar, 2009). Therefore, it also shows that the

campaign did bring some effectiveness but not for the whole Malaysia citizens. However,

this is just the minority views of the whole Malaysians. It is not representative and the

results obtained cannot be generalized to the whole population of Malaysians.

It is not an easy task to change people perceptions towards certain issues.

Moreover, for people who have consume imported products for years, it is hard to change
their buying behavior. Yet, the government can still organize more activities to attract

them to purchase local made products. It would be better if all the hypermarkets and

stores in Malaysia work together to promote the campaign and reduce the price for the

products just as what Boulevard Shopping Mall did by reducing the prices of 72 items in

the shopping mall. (Ritikos and Ling, 2009)

METHODOLOGY

Due to the lack of time and limitation of budget, the researcher made up the mind

to make use of quantitative method to carry out the study. Quantitative research involves

methods of data collection like telephone surveys, mail surveys as well as Internet

surveys. (Wimmer and Dominick, 2006, p.50) In this study, the researcher will distribute

questionnaires to the selected sampling group. The researcher will distribute 150

questionnaires to the selected sampling group in order to get back 100 unspoiled

questionnaires and to minimize the measurement error in the study.

Every questionnaire contains 20 questions. A filter question will be designed to

determine whether the respondents are aware of the Buy Malaysian Campaign. The

questionnaire will consist of 5 sections including demographic, psychographic, questions

that answered by the respondents that aware of the Buy Malaysian Campaign as well as

questions that answered by the respondents who do not aware of the campaign and

general questions that can be answered by all respondents. The researcher decides to use

questionnaires to obtain the respondents opinions are because by analyzing the collected

data, the researcher can has precise results about the study.
 Non-probability sampling will be used in this study to determine the target group

of the research. The researcher will be targeting on university students and working

young adults that live far away from their home that ranged from the age of 18 to 25

years old since this targeted group is considered mature enough to make their own

purchasing decisions and spend on products that they favored. Moreover, these groups of

people need to purchase their necessary items on their own that in turns lead them to

purchase products that they preferred. It would be ideal to gain their opinions whether

they would purchase local made products at a reasonable price or stick to the previous

brand that they used to consume. Housewives are not in the category of the targeted

group is because housewives remain to be a group of people who spend wisely in order to

save money for their children. Therefore, when they noticed a good quality product was

made in Malaysia and has a reasonable price, they will definitely purchase the relevant

product without much hesitation. It will lead the researcher failed to obtain objective

opinion from the respondents. Thus, the researcher tends to conduct the study on this

group of people to examine their perception on the local made products and their extent

of willing to try the products.

The researcher will distribute the questionnaires in Tesco nearby the Tunku Abdul

Rahman University Perak campus. It is because this location remains to be a hot spot

among Tunku Abdul Rahman University students in Perak campus and the hypermarket

also supports Buy Malaysian Campaign by having Price Cut on certain items daily. Most

of the students go to Tesco to purchase their necessities and daily needs since it is

expediency and convenience. The researcher will target on the university students that go
there to purchase their necessary needs as well as young adults that work as staff in

Tesco.