A Profile of Malaysian International Small and Medium Enterprises : Mapping Current Performance on National Policies and Strategic Objectives

Internationalization is recognized in many countries as an important resource for organizations' growth and expansion. In Malaysia, there have been numerous policies, strategies and support programs formulated by the government aimed at fostering the development of internationalization of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). This paper intends to look into Malaysian policies on business internationalization and to derive a profile of its international SMEs, with the aim of evaluating the effectiveness of these policies in developing firm competitiveness in international markets. The findings revealed that Malaysian SMEs are still at their early phase of involvement in international business, with a low portion of their markets, sales and profits derived from internationalization, despite numerous policies, strategies and programs supporting their internationalization development. This suggests that present policies and strategies concerning SMEs' internationalization require urgent reviews and revisions to better suit their needs and the ever-changing global environment. Policy makers are also advised to consider the relevance of various regulations which may hamper the growth of SMEs at the international level