Malaysian SMEs Research Articles

Information Technology Implementation in SMEs: A Comparison of Indonesia and Malaysia

Objective: The purpose of the study is to compare SMEs in Indonesia and Malaysia regarding the implementation of information technology, especially on the sustainable competitive advantage factors, IT adoption, perceived simplicity, green technology capability, and performance. Design/Methods/Approach: Survey data are collected from 269 SME leaders and managers SMEs in Indonesia and 241 respondents in Malaysia. The sampling model is purposive sampling while analysis involved a non-parametric test (Mann-Whitney U-test). Findings: The results show that there are significant differences for the variables SCA, SMEs performance expectation, and IT adoption. There are no significant differences between Indonesian and Malaysian SMEs for the variables of perceived simplicity and green technology capability. Originality: The paper contributes to the growing research on information technology implementation by using factors within Sustainable Competitive Advantage, IT adoption, perceived simplicity, green technology capability, and performance. Practical/Policy implication: This finding can encourage SMEs in Indonesia and Malaysia to work together to develop important variables to improve the implementation of information technology to increase competitiveness.

Issues and Challenges of Adoption of IFRS for SMEs in Malaysia

The purpose of this research is to look into issues and challenges associated with the adoption of International Financial Reporting Standards for Small and Medium Enterprises (IFRS for SMEs) or so-called MPERS (Malaysian Private Entity Reporting System). Using keywords like "IFRS for SMEs," "MPERS in Malaysia," and so on, this study examines existing literature in the form of articles in the Emerald database, as well as press releases and publications published by the Malaysian Institute of Accountants (MIA). The MPERS version of IFRS is a shortened version of the complete IFRS. It reduces the substance of the whole IFRS by about 85%. Certain topics are excluded because they are not normally relevant to SMEs. SMEs, on the other hand, still consider IFRS for SMEs to be excessively complicated. MPERS is a performance-based standard, not a cost-based one. Almost everything must be of reasonable value. As a result, businesses owning investment properties or biological assets will have to pay extra for the valuation of these assets at fair value. For preparers, there are two major obstacles to overcome. Constant changes in standards, as well as a scarcity of skilled accountants, are also issues. Some data suggests that the decision usefulness model is inappropriate for smaller businesses. SMEs have a small number of account users, lack accounting competence to deal with complexity, and are managed by their owners. Furthermore, for SMEs, a reporting approach focused on stewardship and employing simplified historical cost accounting would be more appropriate.

Measuring Technology Transfer Success Empirical Evidence from Malaysian Firms

The research tries to answer the management question as to which mode of technology transfer leads to the maximum success among the Northern Malaysian manufacturing firms. The statistical tests employed included one-way ANOVA and multiple regression. One-Way ANOVA was used to test the differences in the mean degree of success for the various modes of transfer. Most significant finding from this study is different modes of technology transfer leads to different degrees of success. FDI would give rise to the highest degree of overall success. This is followed by co-production and lastly, by contractual agreements. Proper choice of technology transfer mode is key since a wrong choice would lead to the company loosing significant market share and could incur heavy losses. Malaysian managers are advised to look seriously into what mode suits their needs best based on the existing situation in the organization and also to ensure that good internal cooperation is maintained among the various functional areas of the firm to achieve high levels of success from the technology transfer. Main limitation is the study was limited only to the Northern Malaysia. Hence the results do not reflect the situation in entire Malaysia. Also, the inclusion of more MNCs, which are mostly FDI-based operations is another limitation. This study provides empirical evidence that will improve the understanding of the modes of technology transfer adopted among the Malaysian SMEs.

The Impact of Innovation, Organizational, Technological Capital on Innovation Performance of SMEs: The Mediating Effect of Innovative Intelligence

Innovation is crucial for SMEs to survive and impacts the national economy. The present study is conducted in the context of knowledge-based SMEs in Malaysia concerning structural capital (technology capital, innovation capital, and organizational capital), innovative intelligence, and innovation performance. A survey was carried out through a face-face interview and online. A total of 136 usable questionnaires were then analyzed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). This study has shed light on the role of the structural capital of knowledge-based SMEs on innovation performance. While structural capital is significant for organizations to achieve their competitive advantage and should be given necessary attention compared to human capital, innovation and technological capital were not fully capitalized. The presence of innovative intelligence in SMEs helps to be innovative. This result will be encouraging to SMEs in other developing countries. The results obtained are useful for SMEs, especially knowledge-based firms where technology and innovation are critical to achieving a competitive advantage. The results are also significant for agencies that handle SMEs in high-tech and policymakers to increase performance and promote economic stability.

Pandemic: Linking the Big Five and Conflict Management Styles within the SMEs Context in Malaysia

Pandemic of Covid-19 outbreak has become a global disruption and affecting the global economy. As the phenomena are unprecedented, there is a lack of studies on the impact of pandemic on businesses especially among SMEs in Malaysia. Conflict and conflict management are nowadays are the focus of many organizations especially SMEs. SMEs and entrepreneurs are extremely worried on the conflict they are facing and the impact of pandemic Covid-19 on their liquidity position and business survival.Personality differences may be a major reason of conflict, as well as the perception of conflict and preference for handling that conflict. Managers’ selective styles of conflict management have been affected by their unique characteristics such as personality differences. This conceptual paper aims to explore the role of personality traits in determining conflict management styles within SMEs context in Malaysia due to the pandemic situation. The Big Five factors are extroversion, openness, conscientiousness, agreeableness, and neuroticism, and the five conflict management styles are integrating, obliging, dominating, avoiding, and compromising.

Development of Entrepreneurial Competencies and Business Performance in SMEs: Between Government Support and Empowerment of Malaysian Women Entrepreneurs

The important aspect of business performance among women-owned SMEs in Malaysia is scarce and still underperformed. Hence, Malaysian SMEs needs to empower the entrepreneurial competencies among women-owned entrepreneurs and the support of Malaysian government. In this study, the questionnaire survey has been selected as the data collection method for this research. A total of 116 responses from the women-owned entrepreneur in Malaysia were obtained and analysis was carried out using Smart PLS software to generate findings. The results reveal that strategic competencies, opportunity competencies and conceptual competencies have significantly impacted the business performance of women-owned entrepreneurs among SMEs in Malaysia. The moderating effect of government support on the relationship between strategic competencies, opportunity competencies and business performance proved to be significant. Surprisingly, the interaction of government support between conceptual competencies and business performance is not supported in the findings. Hence, the current paper will further provide a women-owned SME with substantial information to focus on fostering entrepreneurial competencies within their respective companies to ensure peak business performance. Findings from this study anticipated being extremely useful to the Malaysian government, in specific Policy Makers. With these results, authorities will be better informed when implementing new strategies and programmes to enhance the skills of entrepreneurs, which will result in better business performance.

Rewards and Organizational Commitment: A Study among Malaysian SME’s Employees

This study aims to examine the relationship between rewards (intrinsic and extrinsic) and organizational commitment. A total of 429 employees from SMEs in Klang Valley, Malaysia participated in this study. The Pearson’s correlation analysis was employed to examine the relationships between the intrinsic and extrinsic rewards and the organizational commitment. Study revealed that the level of organizational commitment is moderately high among employees of SME in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Results also show that there is a significant and positive relationship between intrinsic rewards and organizational commitment; and a significant and positive relationship between extrinsic rewards and organizational commitment. A notable discovery from this study is that the employees’ demographic background influenced the level of organizational commitment. However, results shows that the gender and the number of times in changing jobs have no significant influence on the level of organizational commitment.

Identifying the driving and moderating factors of Malaysian SMEs’ readiness for Industry 4.0

ABSTRACT Despite the growing importance of SMEs’ readiness for Industry 4.0 (I4.0) to successful digital transformation, limited empirical studies have investigated the factors contributing to the I4.0 readiness of manufacturing SMEs. To fill this gap, this study examines the effect of organisational capabilities, perceived advantages, and market pressure on I4.0 readiness, the moderating effect of financial support, and SMEs’ readiness for I4.0 in Malaysia. This research contributes theoretically by extending the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology and integrating it with the Resource-Based View and Dynamic Capability Theory to develop an SME-centric model for I4.0 readiness. Structural Equation Modelling from the Partial Least approach was performed to test the model by drawing on data from 110 manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia. Practically, the findings are instrumental in helping SMEs prepare for digital transformation. Policymakers may use the findings as a tool to identify where to prioritise efforts to accelerate SMEs’ readiness for I4.0.

Relational Capital and Performance: Empirical Evidence on the Services Sector of SMEs in Malaysia

Relational Capital and Performance: Empirical Evidence on the Services Sector of SMEs in Malaysia

The relationship between architecture, social, law and market in determine challenges of big data analysis for Malaysia SMEs

The relationship between architecture, social, law and market in determine challenges of big data analysis for Malaysia SMEs

Technology, Organization and Environment factor on Mobile Payment Implementation: Focus on SMEs in Malaysia

Technology, Organization and Environment factor on Mobile Payment Implementation: Focus on SMEs in Malaysia

Technology, organisation and environment factor on mobile payment implementation: focus on SMEs in Malaysia

Technology, organisation and environment factor on mobile payment implementation: focus on SMEs in Malaysia

Effect of intellectual capital on the business performance of SMEs in Malaysia

Effect of intellectual capital on the business performance of SMEs in Malaysia

Usage of Public Financial Support Services, Entrepreneurial Orientation and Sme Performance: the Case of Malaysia

Abstract SMEs have received much recognition as they continue to be the backbone in the development and economic growth of nations. This study intended to investigate how the entrepreneurial orientation moderates the relationship between the utilization of the financial support services and the firm’s performance. This study used Structural Equation Modeling to evaluate the impact of financial support services on SME performance. The sample for this study involved SMEs in Malaysia. The result indicates that financial support services significantly associated with the firms’ performance and entrepreneurial orientation failed to influence significantly the relationship between the usage of the services and the performance. The findings of this study could be useful for the government business support services providers to enhance further the quality of services and will provide an understanding of how effectively the characteristics of SMEs related to entrepreneurial orientation would help increase the effectiveness of the support services.

An Analysis of Malaysian SMEs' Access to Public Financial Assistance

The purpose of this paper is to identify the types of firms for which government financial support for SMEs is provided in Malaysia. The financial data of privately held and publicly traded companies are used and a probit model is estimated with qualitative variables as explained variables. The estimation results of the probit model reveal that the more Bumiputras are included as the ethnic composition of the board of directors. The more support they have received, the more fixed assets a company has, and the more support it receives. Firms with poor corporate performance tend to be more likely to receive financial assistance. Since the length of operation and ROE are not statistically significant, length of operation and ROE do not seem to have a significant effect on government financial support. The study finds that government financial support through development finance institutions is related to the ethnic composition of the board members. And the more difficult it is for SMEs to borrow from banks on a commercial basis, the more government financial support they receive.

Intellectual Capital and Firm Performance Correlation: The Mediation Role of Innovation Capability in Malaysian Manufacturing SMEs Perspective

Understanding of intellectual capital’s influence on the firm performance has received immense interest in recent years. In this view, the impact of various intellectual capital components, including human, structural, and relational capital, on the performance of small- and medium-sized Malaysian manufacturing enterprises were examined. A correlation between intellectual capital and firm performance were established based on the mediating role of innovation capability. To achieve this goal, a stratified sampling method was used wherein 262 participants’ responses from the focused manufacturing firms were obtained and analyzed via the structural equation model (SEM) and resource-based view (RBV). Statistical tools like SPSS.v25 and SmartPLS.v3 were used. The results showed that the relationship between intellectual capital and firm performance was strengthened due to the mediation of innovation capability, thereby gaining higher competitive advantages. It was asserted that the present comprehensive analyses may offer a useful information and guidance to the academics, owners/managers, and policymakers involving the impact of intellectual capital development towards improving the Malaysian SMEs performance.

Entrepreneurial Orientation, Market Orientation, Managerial Accounting and Manufacturing SMEs Satisfaction

From a management accounting perspective, this study aims at examining the relations of entrepreneurial and market orientations and SMEs satisfaction in terms of financial and non-financial performance. SEM was conducted on 107 responses including management accountants from the manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia. The results reveal a null relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and financial-performance satisfaction, while it shows a positive impact on non-financial performance. In contrast, market orientation affects financial and non-financial performance positively. However, to understand the null impacts, interviews were conducted with owner-managers of manufacturing SMEs in Penang. Based on the interviews and the analysis, practical implications are provided to entrepreneurs of SMEs, the Malaysian government, and researchers.

Measurement Validation of Factors Influence SME Business Performance in Malaysia

Organizations are increasingly under pressure to shift their production methods from traditional to sustainable, reinforcing the requirement to monitor their sustainability performance. The slow performance growth of Malaysian manufacturing companies remains a concern. The goal of this research is to highlighted the measurement used in the Malaysian SME context. Data were collected using survey method. A survey method was employed to collect a total of 1,071 responses in SME firms using proportional stratified sample technique. Using statistical packages for the social sciences (SPSS) version 27, this research focused on data validity and reliability. Findings of factor analysis confirmed 3 factors for the ICT adoption variable, were formed while 1 factor for the innovation variable, 4 factors for the competitiveness variable and 1 factor for the business performance. Only 2 items were dropped due to the weak loadings. Meanwhile the reliability analysis also indicates all the constructs and dimensions achieve good reliability value at more than 0.8. This research demonstrates the measurement validity and reliability of the research variables were inconsistent due to culture setting. This research highlighted the measurement used in the Malaysian SME context. The findings of this research withdraw a conclusion that the validity and reliability of item and construct of this research is proficient and consistent with the previous studies.

IMPACT OF SOCIAL CAPITAL TOWARDS STRATEGIC CAPABILITIES OF MANUFACTURING SMEs IN MALAYSIA

Research on SMEs in Malaysia has become more significant nowadays as SMEs in Malaysia contribute national income to the country. Internationalisation of SMEs is imperative as smaller firms operating international business today develop their own capabilities and competitive advantage. Thus, it is important for SMEs especially those in emerging countries like Malaysia to look into their social capital and put their efforts to strategize their capabilities to respond to the global competition and business opportunities. This study was conducted to examine the impact of social capital towards the SMEs capabilities before they adopt the best strategic approach to face challenge situations at hand. A quantitative approach was employed in this study and a total of 187 responses from manufacturing SME exporters were received and further analyzed using Partial Least Square (PLS) technique. The results demonstrated that social capital of manufacturing SMEs in Malaysia has significant impact only on innovation, marketing and technology capabilities but not market-linking and management capabilities.

Factors Influence Malaysian Small-Medium Enterprise to Engage in Facebook Marketing

Social media plays an important role as a marketing tool to promote Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs’) businesses. Among the social media platforms, Facebook is the preferred advertisement tool for SMEs. It is because Facebook provides more features for SMEs to communicate with their customers such as by using direct messenger, comments, like, and share. SMEs engage in social media to lower the cost of advertisements, attract new customers through online contact, improve the interaction with customers or customer engagement, and create brand awareness of the company. Most of the past research has focused on the value of brand awareness and customer engagement on Facebook, however, there is a limited amount of research related to the value of cost-efficiency and attracting a new customer base especially in a developing country like Malaysia. As such, this study reviews the literature on social media marketing and factors influencing Malaysian SMEs to engage in Facebook online marketing. This study also proposes a conceptual framework on the factors influencing Malaysian SMEs to engage in Facebook online marketing.