Nora Sakari

In 2002 the Malaysian government gave Telekom Malaysia Bhd (TMB), the national telecom company, the authority to develop the country's telecom infrastructure. TMB did not have the technology and expertise to take on this project and therefore called for tenders to assist on a five-year project worth RM2 billion (6,305,000.00 $USD), installing digital switching exchanges in various parts of Malaysia [i](Lander n.d.).

The objectives of the project were developed in line with the Malaysian government's Vision 2020:

1. Invest in the digitalisation of its network in order to offer services based on the ISDN (integrated services digitalised network) standard;

2. Invest in international fibre optic cable networks to meet the needs of increased telecom traffic between Malaysia and the rest of the world; and

3. Facilitate the installation of more cellular telephone networks in light of the increased demand for the use of mobile phones among the business community in Malaysia.

NoraB Sdn Bdh in and Malaysian household name, one of the leading companies in the telecom industry was established in 1975 with a paid-up capital of RM2 million. Nora Holdings consisted of 30 subsidiaries,

Sakari

Sakari Oy was established in 1865 in Finland and began as a pulp and paper mill production company. In the 1960s they expanded into the rubber and cable industry[iii](Bartlett, Beamish & Ghoshal 2008).

In 1975 they entered into the computers, consumer electronics, and cellular phones industries through a series of acquisitions, mergers and alliances.

In 1979, a joint venture between Sakari and Vantala, was develop to increase and manufacture mobile telephones and gained a large percentage of the world. These markets are European including the United Kingdom, Malaysian, and Thailand for the production of mobile phones and mobile phone handsets.

In 2001, Sakari was Finland's largest publicly-traded industrial company and derived the majority of its total sales from exports and over-sea operations.

In January 2003, Nora Holdings SDN Bhd submitted its proposition for TMB's RM2 billion contract to supply switching exchanges supporting four million telephone lines.

Nora felt that was eager to secure this proposition because of the financial gain, but most importantly it was due to the added benefit of obtaining the knowledge in switching technology from its partnership with a telecom Multi-National Cooperation (MNC).

There were many reasons Nora and Sakari were interested in each other; to become joint ventures. Nora chose Sakari because they were internationally recognized company, they had special technical knowledge and expertise (SK33); and Sakari was the leading telecom company in Europe that has had experience with