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A Structural Equation Modelling of Entrepreneurial Competencies Impact on the SME’s Business Growth in Malaysian Wholesale and Retail Industry
Abstract
The aim of this paper was to investigate the influence of two domains of entrepreneurial competencies namely strategic competency and ethical competency on the firms’ growth within the Malaysian wholesale and retail SMEs. The study also examined the roles of network competence as a mediator and a moderator among understudy variables. The data was collected from 80 entrepreneurs of wholesale and retail SMEs from the areas of Selangor and Kuala Lumpur through a standard structured questionnaire. PLS-SEM approach was utilised to analyse the data. The results of this study found a strong influence of strategic competency on business growth and mediating role of network competence in the relationship between strategic competency and business success. On the other hand, ethical competency was found to have weak impact on business growth with the moderating impact of network competence between ethical competency and business growth. The implications and future recommendations are also discussed.
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The ability to cooperate with others in interorganisational dyads and networks is a source of competitive advantage for firms today. However, the question arises as to whether managers are aware of this and implement relational orientation as a strategy in their firms to obtain relational rent. The purpose of this paper is to provide an answer to this question. The research was conducted on 53 companies based in Poland using semi-structured interviews with executives. On one hand, the research results allowed recognition of the importance of and reasons for firms forming, developing, and withdrawing from interorganisational relations, and on the other hand, confirmed a relationship between a managers' network awareness and the strategic relational orientation of their firms. The higher the manager's network awareness, the more interorganisational relations a company forms with different partners, and the better the manager's knowledge about their partners' expectations and needs, which are then included in a company's strategy.
The aim of the current study was to analyse and compare the impact of network competence on four types of firms' performances-perceived financial performance, perceived non-financial performance, perceived business growth and perceived performance relative to competitors-among Malaysian Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) run by Chinese and Indian entrepreneurs. A total of 200 retailers and wholesale owners in Klang Valley, Malaysia participated in a face-to-face survey. The collected data were analysed using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and multigroup analysis was performed to test the hypotheses developed. Findings revealed network competence to have a positive impact on all four types of firms' performances among Chinese entrepreneurs. However, for Indian entrepreneurs, network competence was found to have a positive impact only on perceived financial performance and perceived performance relative to competitors. A significant difference was also found between Chinese and Indian entrepreneurs regarding the impact of network competence on perceived business growth.
This paper explores the interplay of family values and practices in explaining the development of entrepreneurial competencies of women in Ghana. Using feminist and interpretative approaches, 35 women entrepreneurs interviewed were selected by purposive, snowballing and convenience sampling. The findings of this study suggest a validation of the assumption that family values and practices impact on entrepreneurial activities. It also proposed a relationship between family values and practices and the development of entrepreneurial competencies. The findings revealed the possible existence of ethical and comping competencies. The paper concluded that there are some positive aspects of patriarchal family system that can be used to promote women entrepreneurship.
Social entrepreneurs initiate social innovation and transformation in different fields such as education, health, environment, finance and even business management. They are keen in pursuing poverty alleviation goals while undertaking various activities with entrepreneurial zeal, business methods and exhibit the courage and commitment to renovate and transform traditional practices. The present study was conducted with a view to find out the extent to which entrepreneurial competency supports the development of social entrepreneurship and to develop a model explaining the linkage between entrepreneurial competency and social entrepreneurship. The methodology adopted in the study was a combination of exploratory, descriptive and explanatory research designs. Findings of present study pinpoint the statistically significant direct positive relationship between the two variables. Policy makers, while designing various training and development programs for micro entrepreneurs, can focus on various entrepreneurial competency factors, which can potentially contribute to the characteristic of social entrepreneurship among them.
Background and aim: Environmental factors alone cannot determine the success of small, medium and micro-sized enterprises (SMMEs) and female entrepreneurs; there is a need to closely examine the internal factors that also contribute to business success. This is necessary because, despite the considerable government support and support of bodies interested in promoting gender equality in all areas (business included), 20% of female-owned businesses still fail annually. Consequently, even though, according to a report from the Department of Trade and Industry in South Africa, millions of Rands have been allocated to support female-owned SMMEs by way of government funding, training, grants and consultative support services, the failure rates of these female-owned businesses remain high. The main reason for this can be that over-dependence on these incentives often weakens rather than strengthens female entrepreneurs’ ability to manage their businesses and reduces their competitiveness by laying emphasis on external, contextual factors rather than internal, competence variables for success. Researchers in the past have suggested that focusing on the internal factors, especially the ‘people issues’ facing the entrepreneurs (in this case female entrepreneurs), may give the business a better chance of success.
Design/methodology/approach: A ‘mixed-method’ approach, conducted in two parts, was adopted for this study and appropriate tools and techniques were used to collect and analyse the data drawn from a sample of female entrepreneurs in South Africa. The study applies culturally instantiated facets of the debate on gender entrepreneurship as part of a detailed and empirically sophisticated consideration of the status of female entrepreneurship within South Africa. The qualitative aspect utilised semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions. The quantitative aspect utilised survey questionnaires developed from the findings of the qualitative study.
Results: All participants agreed that entrepreneurial competencies are vital for business success. The study also makes a clear distinction between the traits approach and competencies approach in understanding business success. Arguably, the competency variable is viewed and appreciated differently by female entrepreneurs in South Africa. The findings also showed some cultural variations in the application of entrepreneurial competencies among the four dominant racial groups in South Africa.
Conclusion: This study offers a comprehensive analysis of the competency variable in understanding the factors that influence business success in the context of South African female entrepreneurs. It provides a basis for an agenda for focus on training and development of the entrepreneurial competencies of female entrepreneurs in South Africa.
The purpose of current study is to investigate the effects of entrepreneurial competencies on firm performance of businesses owned by Nigerian women entrepreneurs. The 200 respondents of this study are women entrepreneurs operating micro-business units in Kaduna state, Nigeria. Survey questions was used to collect data. The study utilises SPSS and SmartPLS 2.0 to analyse the data. The findings indicated that strategic, opportunity and organizing competencies significantly affect the firm performance of women entrepreneurs in Nigeria.
The purpose of this study is to examine the predictive effects of entrepreneurial orientation, innovation capability and knowledge creation on firm performance. Data for the study was collected using a cross-sectional quantitative survey. A total of 188 useable responses were collected from SMEs in Malaysia. The findings show that entrepreneurial orientation, innovation capability and knowledge creation have a positive impact on firm performance. Furthermore, the impacts of entrepreneurial orientation and innovation capability on knowledge creation are also examined in this study. The findings suggest that innovation capability is positively related to knowledge creation, but entrepreneurial orientation does not have a significant impact on knowledge creation. This study makes a considerable contribution to the existing literature on entrepreneurial orientation, innovation capability and knowledge creation of SMEs, particularly in regards to explaining the performance of Malaysian SMEs
Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to investigate the competency models used by organizations to assess the strategic thinking ability of their leaders, managers, and other employees.
Design/methodology/approach
– A basic interpretive study was conducted with human resource executives across a broad range of large organizations. Participants were interviewed, and competency models in use were shared, reviewed, and discussed. The model development process was also explored in depth. Findings were verified via member checks and triangulation.
Findings
– Models in use either identify strategic thinking as a stand-alone competency, or embed it under three different areas. Most cover one or more executive levels, stating varying expectations for strategic thinking by job title or level, or differentiating strategic thinking performance levels. The models include descriptions of strategic thinking behaviors that cross seven categories of strategy development, implementation, and organizational alignment.
Research limitations/implications
– The study provides indications of potential generalizations that should be considered with more organizations across sectors.
Practical implications
– The findings provide practitioners with format and content examples to enhance the assessment of strategic thinking in existing competency models, as well as process considerations for model development/revision. The findings also identify how competency model components are used across the spectrum of talent management activities.
Originality/value
– The study fills a gap in the literature by providing empirically based identification of the strategic thinking behaviors organizations consider essential competencies and how they are assessed. In so doing, the study provides a glimpse of how strategic thinking is used in practice and across a range of strategic management activities. In addition, the study links strategic thinking to the competency development literature, illustrating details of competency model development for strategic thinking, and identifying opportunities for related theory development in both domains.
The majority of the Malaysian consumers prefer to use perfumes since the average daily sunshine duration in Malaysia ranges from 4-8 hours per day, irrespective of the months of the year. The decomposed stimulus-organism-response (S-O-R) model was applied in this study with the purchase characteristics of perfumes form the stimulus (S), habit as the organism (0), and the purchase decision as the response (R). About 164 respondents in Peninsular Malaysia were included in this primary questionnaire survey, of which 81 (49.4%) favored branded perfumes and 83 (50.6%) preferred non-branded perfumes. The attractive packaging and seasonal variations in fragrance and flavor of the perfumes were highly prioritized by the respondents. The significant findings of the study revealed that habit of using perfume mediates the relationship between message framing and perceived quality on the purchase decision of perfumes. Surprisingly, there was no significant difference between branded and non-branded perfumes when the quality of the perfume was well maintained. Also, there was no significant difference in the usage of perfumes between men and women and between the races Malays and Chinese. The practical contribution of the present study involves in considering 'habit' as the mediating variable which has direct and indirect implications on the purchase decision of perfumes. The established results of this article have many business implications for both manufacturers and consumers of perfumes.
This survey explores the impact of external networks on the internationalization success of firms. Information for this study was collected from empirical studies that argued the significant role of external networks in beginning exports, gathering knowledge of international markets, and entering to overseas, in turn, enhances firm's performance. This paper is a conceptual survey that investigates a variety of books and papers, several studies, results of sixteen empirical researches, case studies, conceptual research and other related studies. The results of this study have showed that external network has positive impact on the internationalization of firms. Empirical context of this study needs to iterate and the implications of this survey offer the outlook of different links between firms and external networks to facilitate internationalizing firms for promoting firm's performance. The results serve international trade managers to consider external network as a suitable way for the internationalization success of firms. It contributes to the relationship and international marketing knowledge and it is useful for export managers, professionals, entrepreneurs and agencies. The results support the government's export programs for the internationalization of firms and can also help policymakers to rethink the ways to enhance international performance. This paper has made a layout and improves theoretical literature in external networks. These networks, as a net of personal and organizational relationship with external members for social or economic aims, assist a firm to increase information, knowledge and decrease transaction costs to enhance international business performance. The results of review made more sense of external network which prompts the scholars to extensive investigation.
This paper is set out to achieve two objectives. First is to identify the impact of entrepreneurial competencies on the business performance or success of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in the Malaysian hospitality and tourism industry (HTI). The second objective is to develop a framework for the SMEs entrepreneurial competencies and business performance indicators in the HTI. This is important because the bulk of the existing and new entrants into the HTI are mainly from the SMEs. To do so, this paper has adopted content analysis to analyse the existing studies on entrepreneurial competencies, business performance, and SMEs in HTI. Findings indicate that very few of these SMEs are successful while a large percentage are operating at survival stage and others are on the verge of collapsing due to lack of entrepreneurial competencies which impact negatively on their business performances. Findings also show that the SMEs' performance would depend greatly on internal and external factors, including financial and non-financial measures. The theoretical contribution and managerial implications are also suggested.
Research findings suggest that networks provide small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) opportunities to achieve sustainable competitive advantages and thus compete successfully in the marketplace. In this study, the research question explores the effectiveness of the network usage on the entrepreneurial orientation (EO) development and the moderate role of the EO in the network-SME growth relationship. The empirical part of the study comprises a survey of 121 manufacturing SMEs in Spain. Structural equation modelling confirmed the importance of both organisational networks and EO on SMEs growth and pointed out the positive effect of network usage on EO development.
Strategy has been defined as “the match an ovganization makes between its internal resources and skills … and the opportunities and risks created by its external environment.” 1 During the 1980s, the principal developments in strategy analysis focussed upon the link between strategy and the external environment. Prominent examples of this focus are Michael Porter's analysis of industry structure and competitive positioning and the empirical studies undertaken by the PIMS project. 2 By contrast, the link between strategy and the firm's resources and skills has suffered comparative neglect. Most research into the strategic implications of the firm's internal environment has been concerned with issues of strategy implementation and analysis of the organizational processes through which strategies emerge. 3
The cosmetics industry in Malaysia is growing rapidly at an annual rate of 13%. This is because of the increasing number of working women, increased urbanization, and the increasing self-awareness due to education. This industry is expected to grow steadily in the future due to the great demand for premium products. The research objective of this paper is to examine the influence of brand image, product knowledge, product quality, and price promotion on consumers' purchase intention for cosmetic products. We used a survey questionnaire to collect 204 valid responses from Generation-Y female consumers in Malacca, Malaysia. Data collected were analyzed using multiple linear regression. The findings revealed that product image, product knowledge, and brand image emerged with a significant influence on intention to purchase cosmetics. However, price promotion was not significant. Finally, research and practice implications were outlined including areas for future research.
The cosmetic industry has been expanding rapidly in both developed and developing countries. The cosmetics market in Asia seems to be one of the fastest growing markets. The market value of the Asia Pacific has increased to more than US$70 billion, which is the second highest market after the Western European market. As reported in 2013, Malaysian spent about US$407 million on cosmetics and toiletries products and this demand was mainly met by imports. The skin care products are the main driver of the cosmetics markets, which represent value of US$229 million followed by eye color cosmetics with value of US$20.6 million. In 2013, Malaysia imported about US$295 million worth of cosmetics and toiletries and the top three importing countries are the United States, Japan and Thailand. It is found that Malaysian consumers’ interest was influenced by heavy advertising, marketing and growing prosperity that increased their interest in premium brands, and they prefer to use imported cosmetics products. The more recent in the Malaysian market trade is the emerging of halal cosmetics which will be attraction for the country’s Muslim customers
Philip Kotler, in a speech to the trustees of the Marketing Science Institute, said that the paradigmatic orientation of marketing moves from transactions to relationships to networks [Kotler 1991]. From this perspective, it is worth considering a network approach to marketing developed by Swedish marketing researchers during the last decade. This approach was first presented in two books published in Swedish in 1982 [Hägg and Johanson 1982;Hammarkvist, Häkansson, and Mattsson 1982]. Both groups of authors included members from Uppsala University and the Stockholm School of Economics. A decade later, Swedish researchers are basing a substantial and growing number of studies in marketing and related subjects on the network approach. One can even talk about the evolution of a research tradition, directly and indirectly linked to international research developments, but still based largely in Sweden. This tradition in marketing predates much of the recent surge in network thinking among management and social science researchers.
Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) in Brazil are factors of great economic importance, for they represent employment for more than fifty six million people. When we consider the country's overall population of two hundred million inhabitants we can understand the magnitude of such economic segment, and it means that it is responsible for the sustainability of the employment structure. As in any economic activity, it depends on efficiency and that means specialized management, low costs, low waste, high competitiveness: these factors assure the sustainability of such enterprises in the market. Apart from these factors, which are internal to the management, there are external factors that influence the enterprises' performance, such as policies to foster development, financial cost, qualified work force, the tax burden, value of local currency weighted against foreign currencies, and other factors. Management compliant with this matrix of factors is dependent upon the managers' vision. This comprehension by the managers about the different internal and external factors that influence the enterprise shall define the organizational culture that will prevail in this type of enterprises. For this study, we have researched the vision of SME's managers as far as internal and external factors that influence the management of enterprises. © IFIP International Federation for Information Processing 2014.
Economic crisis are becoming more frequent, due to which the economies are going in and out of recession continuously. Large organizations have the potential to survive recessions because of their huge financial base but problem becomes severe when to SMEs'. SMEs' are the backbone of every economy; they are small in size but large in numbers. In Malaysia, SMEs' contribute 32% of GDP and employ 59% of workforce. In this paper, authors have tried to establish a relationship between organizational crisis management preparedness with organizational performance, organization experience, CEO characteristics and risk attitude.It has been proposed that these factors have the potential to influence the organizations crisis management preparedness in SMEs' in Malaysia.
This paper reviews the literature in a thorough manner in a bid to propose a model proposing that Innovation (technological and non-technological) and Relational learning can greatly influence the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in a developing country like Pakistan. On the basis of literature review, research hypotheses have been formulated. In order to test the hypotheses, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) has been employed to analyze the study conducted in 352 SMEs in Pakistan. The proposed model leads to very useful insights as it proposes that SMEs must not ignore the importance of Innovation especially technological innovation and Relational learning in order to achieve higher performance. Results indicate that Technological Innovation and Relational Learning have a positive significant effect on firm performance; whereas the effect of non-technological innovation on firm performance has been found as insignificant. The paper concludes with the discussion of managerial implications and recommendations for future research.
This article presents a composition-based view (CBV), which explicates the growth of enterprises that compete and develop without the benefit of resource advantages, core technology, or market power. The CBV emphasizes how ordinary firms with ordinary resources may generate extraordinary results through their creative use of open resources and unique integrating capabilities, resulting in an enhanced speed and a price-value ratio that are well suited to large numbers of mass market consumers. In addition to defining the CBV, this article explains the key elements of composition-based strategy and the distinctive processes of composition. Although CBV logic can apply to any firm endeavoring to catch up with better endowed competitors, it aligns well with the case of emerging economy enterprises (EEEs), and Chinese ones in particular. Nonetheless, the advantages of adopting composition-based strategy are temporary in nature and will decline over time, especially after the firm passes the imitative or catch-up stage. We also propose an agenda for future research. © 2015 The International Association for Chinese Management Research.
How firms grow forms a key question in the research on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Based on a survey amongst 1,535 SMEs, we show that the presence of growth capability factors, such as, innovation capacity, financing capacity and human capital, offers inadequate explanation for differences in the level of growth between SMEs in a specific period of time. The utilisation of different growth paths however does seem to elucidate differences between low and high growth. Remarkably, we found that growth paths that are most commonly used by SMEs (market penetration and increasing efficiency) hardly lead to growth. Rather growth paths that are infrequently utilised like setting up a new additional venture and entering foreign markets lead to significantly higher growth levels. It seems however that these growth paths are not attainable for SMEs due to the more extensive investments required. Increasing the firms' brand awareness was found to be the only path to growth that was both used frequently and that yields actual growth. Therefore, investing in this path to growth seems to be a sensible investment choice for SMEs that want to grow.
This paper elucidates the link of dynamic capabilities upon the relationship between entrepreneurial competencies and small firm performance. It is based on the pertinent literature as well as the theoretical foundations of the entrepreneurial competencies, dynamic capabilities and small firm performances. Underpinning by the Resource Based View and Dynamic Capabilities View, a framework is formed based on the economic environment in various countries where in spite of the gigantic economic contribution to the country's economy, the small firms are undergoing a low growth trap. For the better performance of small firms, entrepreneurial competencies and dynamic capabilities are perceived as the prospective solutions. Moreover, the economic fluctuations with the turbulent and unpredictable markets, the dynamic capabilities are considered as an imperative factor to influence the performance of small firms. This paper proposes a conceptual framework in scrutinizing the small firm's performance affected by the entrepreneurial competencies and mediated by the dynamic capabilities.
In business-to-business settings, dyadic relationships between firms are of paramount interest. Recent developments in business practice strongly suggest that to understand these business relationships, greater attention must be directed to the embedded context within which dyadic business relationships take place. The authors provide a means for understanding the connectedness of these relationships. They then conduct a substantive validity assessment to furnish some empirical support that the constructs they propose are sufficiently well delineated and to generate some suggested measures for them. They conclude with a prospectus for research on business relationships within business networks.
In Malaysia, women dominate many sectors particularly those related to small business sectors. It is crucial to realize that participation of women entrepreneurs through the informal economy can support the development of their family. The development of women entrepreneurship is crucial for creating a vibrant and dynamic economy in Malaysia. The objective of this study is to determine the moderating effect of a supportive environment toward the relationship of entrepreneurial competencies and the performance of informal enterprises owned and managed by women micro-entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia. This study adopted a cross-sectional design and a purposive random sampling method using quantitative data from 384 informal women micro-entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia. The sampling frame was based on an informal sector’s workforce survey report, Malaysia-2013. Based on the report, the total number of population of informal women micro-entrepreneurs in Kelantan is 534 000. The informal women entrepreneurs were drawn from six districts in Kelantan, Malaysia, which are Kota Bharu, Tanah Merah, Pasir Puteh, Tumpat, Machang, and Ketereh. Findings of this study revealed that opportunity recognition competencies, relationship competencies, and commitment competencies have a positive and significant effect on the performance of informal microenterprises owned and managed by women entrepreneurs in Kelantan, Malaysia. Findings also reported a significant moderating effect of a supportive environment on the commitment competency and the performance of informal microenterprises. To improve the socio-economic condition of the low-income informal women micro-entrepreneurs and their households, development programs and policies should therefore focus on improving informal entrepreneurs’ capacity to recognize and take advantage of new income generating opportunities. As for the informal women micro-entrepreneurs, it is crucial to recognize their significant positive role, and therefore accumulate relational and commitment competencies to improve the performance of their informal microenterprises
Purpose
The music festival industry is challenged by intense competition and financial exigency. As a result, many festivals have either folded or are currently struggling. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to show that motivator-hygiene-professional (MHP) strategic capabilities (SCs) are positively associated with quality music festival management thereby providing a playbook for potentially mitigating these challenges.
Design/methodology/approach
The mixed methods research design comprised a case study of a leading event management company as well as nation-wide in-depth interviews and questionnaire survey. The authors initially confirmed the nature of the challenges to the industry from the case study and the in-depth interviews. The authors then developed an MHP Model of 15 SCs that were identified from the literature and the qualitative research. The relationship of the MHP SCs model to quality music festival management was tested in the questionnaire survey.
Findings
The respondents suggested that all the SCs were related to quality music festival management. However, Professional SCs were considered comparatively less important than motivator and hygiene SCs. Across all three groups, interviewees highlighted the significance of artists, site and operational planning, financial and stakeholder management and ticket pricing. In addition, careful planning, delegation and quality focus, problem solving, resolve and flexibility, leadership and vision, communication and innovation were considered conducive to the quality management of music festival organisations.
Practical implications
The MHP SCs model and dimensions of quality management offer music festival event managers a detailed practical playbook for moderating challenges to music festival management. In essence the authors provide the specific drivers that festival managers should best focus their attention upon. Visionary leadership, artist differentiation, innovation, customer service and flexible management have priority.
Originality/value
The findings add to the festival management literature by demonstrating the importance of motivator, hygiene and additional professional SCs for moderating challenges to the music festival industry. To the best of authors’ knowledge, no previous studies have directly investigated specific SCs critical for quality event and festival management. In particular, the academic significance of this paper is that the authors have combined Herzberg’s motivator and hygiene factors with SCs, which are in essence success drivers, to create a novel holistic MHP SCs model for quality music festival management. Further explanatory insight is gained by the addition of a third factor of professional SCs.
We present a composition-based logic toward international expansion by emerging market firms (EMFs) – firms that use compositional investment, compositional competition, and compositional collaboration to create a unique competitive advantage in global competition. This view explains how EMFs creatively adopt a composition-based international strategy, enabling them to compensate for their weaknesses while capitalizing on their strengths during global competition where they offer a competitive price-value ratio suited to mass global customers who are cost sensitive. We also explicated the working conditions (i.e., strategic resource-seeking motivation, subsidiary autonomy delegation, and cross-border sharing system) that fortify the outcome of composition. Using survey data from 201 EMFs, our analysis supports these key arguments. A composition-based lens provides a new understanding of why and how emerging market businesses can survive in international competition for some period of time without possessing traditionally defined monopolistic advantages.
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to present a systematic literature review to identify new avenues of research in line with the ongoing changes in quality and management required to firms, especially regarding customers.
Design/methodology/approach
This study uses a systematic review of the literature contained in the three databases Ebsco, JSTOR, and Springerlink and on the search engine Google Scholar.
Findings
An analysis of the literature identifies three different clusters of papers: “identification” papers, which show that customer focus has gained importance in recent times; “implementation” papers, which highlight that a general or shared model or scale to successfully implement total quality management (TQM) does not yet exist; and “impact-on-performance” papers, which show that few studies have considered the relationship between TQM and the issues of both marketing and performance, underlining the most significant gap in the TQM literature.
Research limitations/implications
This study is limited by the small number of databases and search engines used and by the restricted number of keywords used in searching these sources.
Practical implications
This work highlights a gap in the existing research and thus an incomplete consideration of the interplay between management, marketing, and quality issues, all centered on customers and other stakeholders. Researchers and firms are thus advised to adopt a wider view that considers the role of the quality process to support the firm’s engagement of customers in activities that enhance both the customer role and customer satisfaction.
Originality/value
This study uses a systematic literature review to review all critical factors of TQM and identifies new research avenues and different approaches to implementing TQM, focusing on the central role that customers play in achieving firm success.
While strategic orientation can represent an important antecedent to new product development (NPD) performance, research suggests that adopting a strategic orientation alone is not sufficient and a better understanding of contingencies is necessary. Based on the dynamic capability view of the firm, this study examines the effect of a firm's ability to connect with external network partners (networking capability) and the ability of NPD project managers to network with stakeholders within the firm (networking ability). The empirical results indicate that market orientation and entrepreneurial orientation are positively associated with NPD performance when a firm has sufficient networking capability to manage network dynamics and when the managers of NPD projects possess networking ability to successfully mobilize the support and advocacy of stakeholders within the firm. The results also show that NPD performance is highest when market (entrepreneurial) orientation, networking capability, and networking ability are all high, thus supporting the proposed three-way interaction.
Purpose
– The aim of this paper is to examine the factors that lead to either success or failure of small firms in Pakistan.
Design/methodology/approach
– This study methodology is a survey research applying the Lussier Model of business success and failure with a sample of 143 small businesses to better understand the reasons of their success or failure using logistic regression statistical analysis.
Findings
– Results indicate that business planning, proper employee staffing, adequate capital inflows and partnerships are important for the viability and success of small businesses in Pakistan.
Practical implications
– Results provide further support for the validity of the Lussier Model in Pakistan and globally. Thus, small business owner/managers can use the model to help improve their chances of success and to avoid failure. Other stakeholders, including parties that assist and advise them, investors and institutions who/that provide them with capital and other resources and communities and society by and large, can also benefit from this model. The results and discussion also provide information to assist public policymakers in developing programs to support small business development.
Originality/value
– This is the first study on success and failure of small businesses in Pakistan. With the great discrepancy in the literature as to which variables, in fact, distinguish success from failure, there is no accepted theory. Thus, this study contributes to the literature to better understand why some businesses succeed and others fail, and it supports the use of the Lussier Model globally.
This paper attempts to unearth the competency-mix required by entrepreneurs in Australia and Malaysia in order to sustain their ventures. Based on this premise, the present study aims to identify, validate, and compare the competencies perceived to be important by SME entrepreneurs operating in both countries. This involved determining the psychometric rigor of the model and establishing the psychometric properties of the model of entrepreneurial competency using a sample of 391 SME entrepreneurs. Interestingly, it was found that some competencies are context-free while others are culture-specific. The identification of competencies that are highly prevalent in Australia and Malaysia would assist in the development of an assessment index that could be use in training and development programs for practicing as well as prospective SME entrepreneurs.
The contributions of SMEs to socio-economic developments have long been recognized, in developed and developing countries alike. In this relation, a wide range of support programs has been introduced and implemented in many countries. Malaysia is not exceptional to this as various SMEs-oriented policies and SME support initiatives have been nationally initiated. Among the most important areas of support extended to SMEs are financial assistance and credit facilities. Nonetheless, earlier studies indicated that the SMEs' outreach and accessibility to financial facilities, financing needs, and pattern are different than of their larger firm counterparts. In view of this, this paper attempts to examine SMEs; their financing pattern and their accessibility to external debt finance based on 124 SMEs surveyed in Klang Valley, Malaysia.
Understanding sources of sustained competitive advantage has become a major area of research in strategic management. Building on the assumptions that strategic resources are heterogeneously distributed across firms and that these differences are stable over time, this article examines the link between firm resources and sustained competitive advantage. Four empirical indicators of the potential of firm resources to generate sustained competitive advantage-value, rareness, imitability, and substitutability are discussed. The model is applied by analyzing the potential of several firm resources for generating sustained competitive advantages. The article concludes by examining implications of this firm resource model of sustained competitive advantage for other business disciplines.
A survey of new manufacturing firms yielded significant support for hypothesized relationships between psychological differences, background characteristics, and scanning behavior of the owner/founder and firm performance. In addition, a proposed contingency model of new manufacturing firm performance was tested using moderated regression analysis. This model suggests that a linear combination of psychological, background, and scanning characteristics of the owner/founder acting on firm performance may be moderated by industry dynamics.
This empirical research is a pilot study which endeavours to identify a set of variables associated with successful small businesses. Seventy-four (74) small firms operating in Montreal responded to a lengthy questionnaire and an intensive interview. From this data three variables were initially identified. A replication study of seventy small firms located in Burlington, Vermont and Plattsburgh, New York, was carried out in order to observe whether the identified variables were duplicated beyond a certain geographical location. Using factor analysis on the data, the authors were able to delineate entrepreneurial behavior and managerial skills as key success factors in small business management. This finding underscores the role of entrepreneurship education in developing both the behavioral and the managerial skills in the owner/manager.
This study examined the relationships between firm performance, the degree of aggressiveness a firm exhibits in its competitive orientation, and the environmental dimensions of technological sophistication and hostility.Subgroup (correlation) analysis was used to analyze data collected from 143 small manufacturing-based firms. The findings suggest that high-performing firms often exhibit an aggressive competitive orientation when faced with environmental hostility, while low-performing firms tend to be more passive when operating in hostile environments. No overall difference was observed in the correlations between competitive aggressiveness and environmental technological sophistication for the high- and low-performing subgroups. However, younger firms generally performed better when they were not highly aggressive in technologically sophisticated environments
This study examines the relationship between strategic human resource management (HRM) and organisational learning in Chinese private firms during the second-pioneering stage, which involves a process of transition from ‘opportunism’ to ‘capability building’. It specifically examines how this relationship is influenced by environmental uncertainty and guanxi dependence. Using data from a face-to-face survey of 107 Chinese private firms, the findings show that strategic HRM has a positive effect on all four dimensions of organisational learning: knowledge acquisition, knowledge distribution, knowledge interpretation and organisational memory. In addition, task environmental uncertainty positively moderates the relationship between strategic HRM and organisational learning. However, the moderating effects of institutional environmental uncertainty and guanxi dependence on this relationship are not significant. These results highlight the importance of strategic HRM for organisational learning in uncertain task environments to promote organisational transition.
Using a country-branding framework, this chapter aims to enable readers to comprehend how firms organise and manage ethical marketing in Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand. Specifically, the chapter examines the differences in issues addressed by ethical marketing campaigns and presents examples of both branding and ethical marketing cases and research in relation to this interesting and diversified region. Furthermore, the chapter presents important aspects of both consumers' and firms' decision-making processes, influencing ethical marketing. Theories on ethical marketing are reviewed and extant research is presented.