Kreativiti dalam Kalangan Jurutera di Kawasan Perindustrian Bayan Lepas, Pulau Pinang

Developing Countries (Third World) has been through the process of industrialization, while the advanced industrial countries have shifted to the era of post-industrial economy based on information and knowledge. Rapid technological developments have been transforming the entire production system. The new production system is very productive, fast-growing and exhibits a high level of competition. This has resulted in a large shift in the location of production and innovation, changing patterns of comparative advantage, industrial organization and management systems, the interconnections between the other productive sectors and changes in employment patterns. Human capital (skills and knowledge) is fundamental to competitive advantage for a country or town. Since the beginning, industrialization in developing countries has been associated with the advantage of locational abundance of cheap labor which is an important component of large-scale low technology production. The Theory of International Division of Labour governing the transition analysis of industrial location linked the attraction of cheap labor to the emergence of some developing countries including Malaysia as a location for offshore production units of foreign multinational companies involving large-scale activities of low-value production and routine assemblage. This production activity pattern exhibits a high requirement for production operators worker are often involve women workers. However, now there is a transfer of high-value activities such as research and development (R D) and designing to the developing countries. Manufacturing industrial sectors in Malaysia and particularly in Penang, where Electrical and Electronic products is concerned, was said to have also been transformed into high valueadded activities. However, little is known about the level of involvement of industrial space in this country in high value-added activities particularly of creativity in the work environment. This article will present the findings of a study conducted for the case of Bayan Lepas industrial area in Penang State. Data from the survey are discussed descriptively based on the views of engineers regarding the creativity in the workplace of their organizations in Bayan Lepas, Penang.