AMCHAM today held its annual signature event – the Penang Dialogue. For the second time, it was held virtually and brought together business and thought leaders together for a dialogue on doing business in Malaysia’s Northern region. This year’s theme centered around Malaysia’s reopening to a rapidly changing world.

Join the AmChams of the Asia Pacific (AAP) on 27 October for a regional conference on the immediate issues facing international travel.

As countries worldwide prepare to re-open their economies, international travel is poised to resume. However, in the absence of globally accepted vaccine regulations and passports, would-be travelers need to navigate a complex and rapidly changing patchwork of vaccine, testing and quarantine requirements, specific to each destination.

The Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance (MICG) is organizing the "9th Governance In Procurement Conference” on 8 December 2021. This Conference will bring thought provoking and diverse insights and perspectives from experienced professionals and practitioners across a wide range of industries, on how organizations can be better prepared to step up Governance in their procurement areas.

The United States continued its commitment to assist Malaysia in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, by providing an additional US$800,000 (RM3.32mil) in assistance this month. The US Embassy in Malaysia said the assistance, which will be implemented by the Malaysian Red Crescent Society (MRCS), is in support of the government's efforts to vaccinate the hard-to-reach and vulnerable communities, as well as to provide safe quarantine facilities for them.

The government has yet to decide whether to make it legally mandatory to be vaccinated. The Health Ministry would instead continue efforts to educate the groups on COVID-19 vaccine. The Ministry had taken the approach to restrict access to privileges only to those who refused to be vaccinated.

The Malaysia Digital Economy Corporation (MDEC) has announced the coming of the AI and Data Week 2021 (AIDW 2021), a week-long curation of virtual events focusing on the Internet of Things (IoT), data, and artificial intelligence (AI). MDEC said AIDW 2021 will take place from Oct 25 to Oct 29 and will feature a host of talks and panel discussions by data and industry experts with the aim to foster a thriving data and AI ecosystem.

Novartis has agreed to expand its fill-and-finish support for the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine by using manufacturing facilities Ljubljana, Slovenia, to fill at least 24 million doses in 2022. Novartis plans to take bulk mRNA active ingredient from BioNTech and fill this into vials under sterile conditions for shipment back to BioNTech for distribution.

Many executives, analysts, and pundits continue to focus on earnings per share (EPS) as a major driver of returns to shareholders and, thus, a primary indicator of corporate performance. Our historical and updated analyses point to a better metric—economic profit (EP), or a company’s total profit after the cost of capital is subtracted.