Mamak stall
Comparative analysis of managerial practices in small medium enterprises in Malaysia
Abu Bakar Abdul Hamid
Rohaizat Baharun
Noor Hazarina Hashim
Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine the existing practice in managerial strategic and tools being used and problems faced by local small medium enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector. With today’s arduous competition, it requires the SMEs to tune its current business practice to cope with the rapid changes in the business environment. Due to the rapid changes, SMEs’ managers need to equip themselves with new knowledge and ideas to promote effective managerial practices. In other word, SMEs must have better trained managers, knowledgeable in managerial activities. Focus should be on the knowledge on financial management, human resource management and marketing management techniques. The research method was adopted from the combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Since there is no detailed and up-to-date databases about SMEs in the Malaysian industry, the sampling plan was designed by using judgment and snowball sampling. A total of 102 responses were obtained from the owner-managers drawn from Johor Bahru city area.
The most important findings of the study on managerial practices are that the SMEs appear to have a very limited knowledge of the overall spectrum of managerial practices. Introduction
The increasing magnitude and significance of the SMEs is a recognized feature of most nations. Malaysia is no exception. In her vision to be a fully developed and industrialised nation by the year 2020, future progress toward that end was seen to depend greatly upon the development of SMEs (Abdul Hamid et al., 1993). The
“Vision 2020” of the country recognized the importance to industrialize rapidly by capitalizing on the country’s strengths and forcefully tackling the weaknesses.
Abu Bakar Abdul Hamid
Rohaizat Baharun
Noor Hazarina Hashim
Faculty of Management and Human Resource Development
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia
Abstract
The purpose of this paper is to examine the existing practice in managerial strategic and tools being used and problems faced by local small medium enterprises (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector. With today’s arduous competition, it requires the SMEs to tune its current business practice to cope with the rapid changes in the business environment. Due to the rapid changes, SMEs’ managers need to equip themselves with new knowledge and ideas to promote effective managerial practices. In other word, SMEs must have better trained managers, knowledgeable in managerial activities. Focus should be on the knowledge on financial management, human resource management and marketing management techniques. The research method was adopted from the combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Since there is no detailed and up-to-date databases about SMEs in the Malaysian industry, the sampling plan was designed by using judgment and snowball sampling. A total of 102 responses were obtained from the owner-managers drawn from Johor Bahru city area.
The most important findings of the study on managerial practices are that the SMEs appear to have a very limited knowledge of the overall spectrum of managerial practices. Introduction
The increasing magnitude and significance of the SMEs is a recognized feature of most nations. Malaysia is no exception. In her vision to be a fully developed and industrialised nation by the year 2020, future progress toward that end was seen to depend greatly upon the development of SMEs (Abdul Hamid et al., 1993). The
“Vision 2020” of the country recognized the importance to industrialize rapidly by capitalizing on the country’s strengths and forcefully tackling the weaknesses.
References: Abdul, A., (1981). Malaysia entrepreneurship: Problem and development, A comparative empirical study Abdul Hamid et al., (1993). Vision 2020: Understanding the concept, implication and challenges Chee Peng Lim, (1986). Small industry in Malaysia. Kuala Lumpur: Berita Publishing. Bates, J., (1971), The financing of small business, London: Sweet and Maxwell. Cannon, T., (1991). Marketing in small businesses, in Baker, M.J. (ed.), The marketing book, 2nd ed., London: Butterworth-Heinemann. Carson, D., (1993). A philosophy for marketing education in small firms, Journal of Marketing Management, Vol Davis, C.H. and Klassen, M.L., (1991). What entrepreneurs need to know: are we researching it?, in Hills, G.E and LaForge, R.W (eds.), Research at the Dollinger, Marc J. (1999). Entrepreneurship: Strategies and resources, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Edwards, Pamela and Turnbull, Peter W. (1994), Finance for small and medium-sized enterprises: Information and the income gearing challenge, International Journal Gibson, Brian (2001), Financial structure in Australian small firm, Paper presented at SEAANZ 14th Conference, 13-15 September, Wellington, New Zealand. Gupta, M. and Cawthon, G., (1996), “Managerial implications of flexible manufacturing for small/medium-sized enterprises”, Technovation, Vol Hill, Jimmy (2001), A multidimensional study of the key determinants of effective SME marketing activity, International Journal of Entrepreneurial Behaviour & Kotler, Philip, (2003). Marketing management, International Edition, 11th ed., New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Malhotra, N.K., (1999). Marketing research, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Miles, M.B and Huberman, M.A., (1994). Qualitative data analysis, London: Sage Publications. Mohd. Asri Abdullah, (1983). Government support, inter firm linkages and the success of urban small firms in developing countries: A case study of small textile and Mohd. Khairuddin Hashim, (2000). Business strategy and performance in Malaysian SMEs: A recent survey, Malaysian Management Review, Vol Mohd. Khairuddin Hashim, (2000). A proposed strategic framework for SMEs’ success, Malaysian Management Review, Vol Mohd. Khairuddin Hashim and Syed Azizi Wafa, (2003). Strategic planning practices in Malaysian SMEs: An empirical assessment, Paper presented at 1st International