Synopsis:

Mr JM, the managing director of the 5Ds Enterprise dragged his chair near to the window in his office. It was a bright sunny afternoon of mid-April, 2017 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. While reading the local newspaper, his eye caught the attention of the country`s Prime Minister business convention address, urging business leaders to play their part through creating employment opportunities to help the trembling economy and government. The news saddened JM and made him recall what he has always aspired for. As a business owner with a patriotic heart for his motherland, he always felt motivated towards supporting and facilitating national well-being and development and for this, the best thing he could possibly do was to provide healthy employment opportunities for the local workforce.

Sadly, the business had always been failing to retain the local workforce. Although the business did manage to attract locals at several occasions, yet it could not hold them for long. As a result, recruiting foreign workers remains to be the only option for 5Ds which is something that had always shuddered JM`s devoted values for his country. That sunny day, Mr JM questioned himself as to whether he has done enough to achieve his aspirations; taken ample efforts to ensure his business attracts and retains local workforce and hence, contribute to national well-being. How can he possibly do something with his six-figure revenue generating business and play a proud patriotic citizen role? How can he bring in the magic?

The case study is principally developed and structured for undergraduate students studying human resource management, entrepreneurship, business management and business strategy related subjects. The case has been largely designed through primary data collection on 5Ds Enterprise, whereby in-depth interviews were conducted with the owner and employees of the enterprise.