Title: Internationalisation incentives and problems: insight from Malaysian SMEs

Authors: Mohd Khairuddin Hashim, Sa'ari Ahmad, Mustafa Zakaria

Addresses: College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 UUM Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia. ' College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 UUM Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia. ' College of Business, Universiti Utara Malaysia, 06010 UUM Sintok, Kedah, Malaysia

Abstract: As an area of study, internationalisation has received limited research attention in the Malaysian context. More specifically, the review of the small business literature reveals that research on internationalisation among small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia has not been emphasised. The purpose of this study is to address this issue. This study examines the incentives and problems of internationalisation among 73 SMEs in the manufacturing sector. The results of the study suggest that the SMEs in the study in general agreed that the internationalisation incentives had contributed to their success in exporting. In addition, the SMEs reported that their firms encountered 20 pressing internationalisation problems.

Keywords: small and medium-sized enterprises; SMEs; exporting; internationalisation; incentives; problems; Malaysia.

DOI: 10.1504/WREMSD.2010.031640

World Review of Entrepreneurship, Management and Sustainable Development, 2010 Vol.6 No.1/2, pp.100 - 112

Published online: 16 Feb 2010 *

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