Addressing inequality in Malaysia through corporate social intrapreneurship

Candidate, Master of Studies in Social Innovation, Judge Business School, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom  

^* Corresponding author: aoc23@jbs.cam.ac.uk

Abstract

Inequality has been a long standing issue in Malaysia, although the situation has been statistically improving over the past 40 years. From a Gini coefficient of 0.51 in 1970, the government has done considerably well to bring the figure down to 0.39 in 2016. Efforts toward improving the situation are aplenty, but there is room for improvement in terms of the coordination and collaboration of initiatives that are carried out within the public, private, and social sectors. This paper explores the idea of corporate social intrapreneurship as a potential vehicle to mitigate inequality in the country for the long term. Through the analysis of existing literatures and data on the subject, the aim is to first of all, provide a historical and global context on how the roles of corporation have evolved over the years, discuss the transformative views on social intrapreneurship against traditional corporate social responsibility, and offer considerations to further corporate social intrapreneurship initiatives through public-private partnerships in Malaysia.