Aina Modh

SUCCESS FACTORS IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP: THE CASE OF MALAYSIA

DEPARTAMENT D’ECONOMIA DE L’EMPRESA

EUROPEAN DOCTORAL PROGRAMME IN

ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND SMALL BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

(EDP)

Pilot Research Work

SUCCESS FACTORS IN ENTREPRENEURSHIP:

THE CASE OF MALAYSIA

Author: Supervisor:

Siti Nor Wardatulaina Mohd Yusof Prof. Dr David Urbano

[email protected] [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]


SITI NOR WARDATULAINA MOHD YUSOF Page 1

Acknowledgments

Working on this project, it really takes perseverance, determination, commitment, planning, and sacrifices

and if I were to write, the list is endless with joys and tears. It was a self-fulfilling journey. I would like to

thank all who have aided in one way or another in the writing of this report.

To begin, firstly this is a great opportunity to express my respect to Professor Dr David Urbano, who has

been an excellent supervisor. Undertaking work of this nature would have been impossible without his

support, patience, time and energy. His unflagging belief in people, his generosity and his leadership are

truly inspirational. The immense knowledge shared was uncountable.

Greatest thanks to my family for their love, unremitting encouragement and support especially to my

lovely mother who is a very strong, achieving woman and who was always be my role model. But most of

all to my sister and brothers, all of you deserve countless gratitude for your helped in so many different

ways during this journey. For my true best friend ever- Suhaimi and Rosalina, you both mean so much to

me; take me through the challenge for all the emotion support and always cherished my soul. And not to

forget also my deep and sincere thankfulness to the owner and founder of the firms who collaborated in

this research.

Last but not least, my sincere appreciation is expressed to the administrative staff of the Department

d'Economia de l'Empresa at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona. Financial support from the Ministry

of Higher Education (MOHE), Malaysia, for awarding me the scholarship is greatly acknowledged.



ABSTRACT

Entrepreneurship is one of the main important drivers of a market nation and economists have underlined

the crucial task acting in the market development. This research aims to analyze the success

environmental factors of entrepreneurship in Malaysia. Concerning the methodology, the four case studies

in Malaysia as a qualitative approach were conducted by using the ATLAS. ti software package for the

analysis. The main findings from the research are as follows; the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets in

addition to the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies are the factors that contributed to the

success in entrepreneurship. The elements such as entrepreneurial role models, presence of experienced

entrepreneurs, skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs, cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship and

proximity of entrepreneurial universities are strongly correlated with the entrepreneurial culture and

mindsets. The entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies is related with the business angels and

risk capital availability, availability of financial resources, government influences and supports for

entrepreneurship in addition to role of government policies on entrepreneurial activity. This research will

be practicable for academicians and the researchers who are concerned in examining environmental

factors on entrepreneurship. Besides, this also may impart to the entrepreneurs themselves to improve the

success ratio in their business on top of give the additional exposure through the characteristics in the

entrepreneurial industry. In term of policy makers, this study may conduce through the national or

regional laws and regulation be changed to facilitate and retain the entrepreneurial movement. The future

research may investigate the result of this study throughout a large-scale within and cross cases analysis.

The more exploration of potential entrepreneurs and businessmen in the various sector industries who

have recently started their ventures may provide more convincing, extensive and supportive insights. This

may also focus on the different geographical region in Malaysia or within each of the other developing

countries.

Keywords: entrepreneurship, success factors, SMEs, case studies, Malaysia

JEL classification: L25, M13, M21



1. INTRODUCTION

Entrepreneurship is one of the main important drivers of a market nation and economists have underlined

the crucial task acting in the market development. Whereas neoclassical economists have dismissed

entrepreneurial activity due to the dominance of general equilibrium analysis, economists outside the

mainstream demonstrate how crucial entrepreneurs are to sustaining a dynamic market under appropriate

institutional conditions (Blaug, 1998; Casson, 1982; Kirzner, 1973, 1979; Mises, 1949). In this sense,

Bird (1988) contends that new entrepreneurial ventures emerge because of careful thought and actions.

Surveyed by Bernier (2001), showed that the cost of doing business influences the start-up and the

success of the company in its formative years “performance outcomes”. Indeed, Bruno and Tyebjee

(1982) suggest that clusters of entrepreneurs occur at certain times and places because the social and

economic environment at those times and in those places encourages entrepreneurship. Another study of

Savaya, Spiro, & Elran-Barak (2008) have mentioned that along similar lines, the literature on new

organizations teaches that their failure or success depends, in good measure, on ecological factors like the

availability of resources or the existence of competing organizations (Pennings, 1980; Weiss, Coffman, &

Bohan-Baker, 2002).

According to the literature, in Malaysia as a developing country, entrepreneurial activities are seen as a

mechanism to improve the social and economic development. According to Abdullah (1999a), in a

developing country like Malaysia, entrepreneurial activities through venture creation are seen as a

mechanism to improve the distribution of income, to stimulate economic growth, and to reshape an

economic structure, which has been highly dependent on the activities of large firms. In essence,

entrepreneurship is crucial to the health of Malaysia‟s economy. The government of Malaysia, throughout

its constitutional bodies, has been playing the crucial role in developing and encouragement home grown

business entrepreneurs. Therefore, efforts have been intensified and policies were drafted by the

Malaysian government to encourage entrepreneurial activities and to promote the growth of self-

employment nationwide through small businesses, petty trading, agriculture, and services (Ninth

Malaysia Plan, 2006-2010). Three of the mainly important establishments are the Ministry of

Entrepreneur and Cooperative Development (MECD), its agency Perbadanan Nasional Berhad (PNS) and

the SME (Small and Medium Enterprises) Bank.

Hence, entrepreneurship is seen as a paradigm of deliberate behaviour. Beginning the moment when

entrepreneurship is a process that does not occur in a vacuum, Grundsten (2004) argues that

environmental factors have some bearing on an individual‟s entrepreneurial activities. In fact, in



entrepreneurship field, based on Veciana and Urbano (2008), it seems that the study of the

environmental/institutional context of a country and its relationship to the several aspects of

entrepreneurship should be of paramount importance. According to Gartner (1985), there are four major

dimensions in entrepreneurship describing the phenomenon of new venture creation: the characteristics of

the individual(s) who start the venture; the organization they create; the environment surrounding the new

venture; and the process by which the new venture is started. Therefore, this study takes the approach that

the most important dimension is the environment which it associated with the entrepreneurial

phenomenon and furthermore, this can be discussed with regard to a possibility acknowledgment and

exploitation by entrepreneurs in regards to increase the rate and nurturing of new venture developments.

In general, the supportive environment refers to a combination of factors in the environment that play a

role in the development or nurturing of entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial activities. As the

infrastructure develops and as the entrepreneurial system grows, the system will thrive only if the

environment is conducive for entrepreneurial activity and new venture creation (Pennings, 1980).

Empirical evidence, however, on entrepreneurial environments suggest that societies that keep rules and

regulations at minimum, offer tax incentives provide training and counseling services to start-up

entrepreneurs, increase the likelihood of new venture creation (Dana, 1987). Gnyawali and Fogel (1994)

have argued that an integrated, theoretically driven and comprehensive framework is not available for

studying the environmental conditions conducive for entrepreneurship. Moreover, they asserted that a

conceptual framework is needed that integrates existing literature on external environments for

entrepreneurship. For that reason, in this context and due the scarcity of this type of research, this study

analyzes the success factors of entrepreneurship in Malaysia. In particular, the research questions are the

following:

What is the entrepreneur‟s profile in Malaysia?

What are the characteristics of new firms in Malaysia?

What are the success environmental factors in entrepreneurship?

Which are the most important success environmental factors in entrepreneurship?

Essentially, we use the four case studies on Malaysia as a qualitative approach. Hence, the process for this

case studies analysis as follows: as the interviews were recorded, it is transcribed and coded with

supported by a qualitative data analysis software package which is ATLAS. ti. Thus, for all intents and

purposes contribution of this study will be practicable for academicians as well as the researchers who are

concerned in examining environmental factors on entrepreneurship. Besides, this also may impart to the



entrepreneurs themselves to improve the success ratio in their business on top of give the additional

exposure through the characteristics in the entrepreneurial industry. In term of policy makers, this study

may conduce through the national or regional laws and regulation be changed to facilitate support social

entrepreneurs because an entrepreneur in the true sense of the word is who wants to be successful in

his/her business will work hard for his/her cause and will not depends on others. However, the guidance,

assistance and support from government particularly the policy makers and local authorities are needed in

order to encourage higher spirit towards success.

After a general introduction in section 1, this research is organized as follows: Section 2 reviews of

literature on the main topics related with the study. Firstly, it will start with the entrepreneurial success,

entrepreneurial culture and mindsets together with the entrepreneurial supports and governmental

policies. The section ends with a proposed framework to be used as a guide for this research which links

to the elements of entrepreneurial culture and mindsets together with the entrepreneurial supports and

governmental policies elements found in the literature. Section 3 describes the methodology designed to

identity the relationship among the factors that contributed to the success in entrepreneurship with a

qualitative approach using four case studies based on Yin (2003). Section 4 is about the analysis of the

data collected on four companies‟ interview in different sector industries. This section shows the analysis

results of the individual case-studies (within case analysis) and also the analysis results of the comparison

of four case studies (cross-case analysis) as detailed along with the ATLAS.ti software as a tool in order

to develop codes and categories from the interviewee‟s data. Section 5 presents the conclusions, and

future research of the study.



2. LITERATURE REVIEW

As we mentioned before, the theoretical framework of this research is built on the conceptual framework

of new venture creation (Gartner, 1985) and according to him, one of the four major dimensions in

entrepreneurship which describing the phenomenon of new venture creation is the environment

surrounding. With regards to this matter in this study, we narrowed down the environmental surrounding

as the factors that contribute to the success in entrepreneurship. Therefore, the entrepreneurial success as

the outcome will be presented followed by the first dimension which is the entrepreneurial culture and

mindsets. This dimension has five elements which are the entrepreneurial role models, presence of

experienced entrepreneurs, skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs, cultural attitudes towards

entrepreneurship and the role of governmental policies on entrepreneurial activity. Subsequently, the four

elements of the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies are explained. These elements are the

business angels and risk capital availability, the financial resources availability, the government

influences and supports for entrepreneurship as well as the role of government policies on entrepreneurial

activity. The section ends with a proposed framework to be used as a guide for this research which links

to the all elements as found in the literature.

2.1 Entrepreneurial Success

Assessing success is somewhat debatable due to a deficiency of agreement what comprises

entrepreneurial success. Eight various success dimensions pertaining to economic performance have been

suggested (Murphy, Trailer and Hill, 1996) which are; efficiency, growth, profit, size, liquidity, success

or failure, market share and leverage. Furthermore, they state that success determined from outside has

little relevance if the entrepreneurs do not see themselves as successful. According to Cooper, Woo,

Carolyn, & Dunkelberg (1988), regardless of some mixed findings, success generally attended those

entrepreneurs who were involved in a founding team, who had education and relevant experience, who

had owned previous businesses, who started businesses similar to those they had left, who came from

large firms, and who had more initial capital.

Success or achievement is a persistent subject matter in individual life. This is no distinction for the field

of entrepreneurship. Derived from Raduan Rose, Naresh Kumar, & Yen (2006a), their study has

identified the success factors of founding entrepreneurs in Malaysia contributing to their companies'

venture growth. This is more to examine the relationship between venture growth and the following

factors; namely personal initiative, human capital, areas of focus on competency and government support

programs. They found that the entrepreneurs educational level, working experience and weather their



parents own business have a positive relationship with their success. The scholars have also provided a

clear indication as to which area of competency the entrepreneurs should focus on. Successful

entrepreneurs have been described as extroverted risk takers who are creative, flexible and independent

(Ibrahim and Goodwin, 1986). Moreover, success has generally been operationalized in one of four basic

manners by income (Duchesneau and Gartner, 1990), employment that is either steady or growing

(Alpander, Carter, & Forsgren, 1990), revenue growth (Begley, 1995) or more frequently, mere survival:

remaining in business (Ibrahim and Goodwin, 1986; Box, Watts, & Hisrich, 1994, Duchesneau and

Gartner, 1990). Literature also revealed that all entrepreneurs have their own perceptions of what success

means to them: they can regard themselves as successful, although, looking from outside and measuring

with traditional financial meters, their firms have attained different levels of success (Simpson, et al.,

2004). Rather than personal characteristics, a combination of experience and environmental awareness

which is focus was demonstrated as significant predictors of venture success. Consequently, the

characteristics of the businesses and owners may influence their perceptions of their success and its

relative importance (Walker & Brown, 2004). Entrepreneur characteristics, such as gender, education,

age, managerial skills, experience (Kallerberg & Leicht, 1991; Rowe, et al., 1993; Masuo, et al., 2001),

as well as physical and emotional support from family members (Green & Pryde, 1989), are important

factors that influence business success.

Entrepreneurial success may not be restricted to economic performance (Cooper and Artz, 1995).

According to Simpson, Tuck, & Bellamy (2004), in the simplest definition success is equivalent to

continued business operations and the opposite, failure, means going out of business. Indeed, the

“company success” is one of the topics that the academic literature in fields ranging from economics to

psychology, including sociology and anthropology, has paid great attention to (Van Praag, 2004). Prior

research has shown that successful entrepreneurs have large networks of causal acquaintances that

provide ideas, access to potential investors and access to potential customers (Aldrich, Rosen and

Woodward, 1987) and there is a link between entrepreneurs‟s networking behaviour and the growth of a

firm (Ostgaard and Birley, 1996). This relationship appears to be contained by environmental influence.

Moreover, the analysis in the term of business success as evaluated by in their study found that it

generally defined in terms of economic or financial measures which comprise return on assets, sales,

profits, employees and survival rates; and no pecuniary measures, such as customer satisfaction, personal

development and personal achievement. Scholars such as Maidique and Zirger (1985) together with

MacMillan (1994) study mentioned previously that success was defined as the achievement of something

desired, planned or attempted. Based on Reijonen and Komppula (2007) study, a majority of the



entrepreneurs assessed business success from the individual level. Besides, they mentioned that the most

important success measures were making a reasonable living, good quality of life and satisfied as well as

loyal clientele. On the contrary, Kalleberg and Leicht (1991) supported these arguments and tested several

hypotheses concerning how the survival, and success, of small businesses owned by men and women

were related to industry differences, organizational structure, and attributes of their owner-operators.

Scholars such as Man, Lau, & Chan (2002) prefer to speak of success in terms of competitiveness to

analyze these early years of the life of the business.

Accordingly, from the brief of literature review pertaining to entrepreneurial success factors in this

research, the concept of sales growth, satisfaction and income is used in this research as a success

measurement in entrepreneurship.

2.2 Entrepreneurial Culture and Mindsets

2.2.1 Entrepreneurial Role Models

The impact of entrepreneurial role models generally interrelated to involving the entrepreneurs,

employment in the business and significantly related with interest in starting a business towards the

success factors in entrepreneurship. Therefore, the greater entrepreneurial role models influence, the

greater the ability to enterprise. As surveyed by Cooper (1985) has stated that the factors like experience

or occupational background of the entrepreneurs, family members, skill, knowledge, role models,

supports and the economic conditions of the entrepreneurs, access to capital, etc. are some of the motives

that lead to entrepreneurial success. The argument is supported by Amit, Glosten, & Muller (1993) and

Bygrave (1993) revealed that success of a new venture is the outcome of reciprocal relations among

variables relating to the entrepreneur‟s personal characteristics, skills and background, the decisions and

actions taken by the entrepreneur in the process of realizing the venture, the nature and structure of the

organization or the service that the venture has developed, and the organizational and environmental

variables of the framework in which it came about. Among them, Cressy (1996) emphasizes the role of

the entrepreneur‟s human capital, especially his or her age, and suggests a model that assumes the

probability of a new firm‟s survival is an increasing function of an entrepreneur‟s age.

The foregoing discussion shows that an individual with a high need for achievement is characterized as

having a desire to take personal responsibility for decisions, a tendency to work harder at tasks requiring

mental manipulation, setting goals and trying to achieve them, and a tendency to think and plan ahead

(McClelland, 1961). In the same way, in the literature assured that the human capital elements of the



entrepreneurs such as education, age, work history, role model and support networks have positive

contributions in business (Hisrich, 1990; Krueger, 1993). Likewise, as revealed scholars indicated that

successful entrepreneurs are willing to take risks although many successful entrepreneurs attribute success

in business (Gelderen, Thurik, & Bosma, 2006; Norton & Moore, 2006) to their ability to confront

uncertainty (Moensted, 2007) and take a calculated risk (Ibrahim & Ellis, 1993).

Numerous studies have been conducted and some researchers have found it fruitful to the relationship

between the entrepreneur‟s human capital and the post-entry performance of new or entrepreneurial firms,

defined as the survival or hazard rate of the firms (Evans & Leighton, 1989; Bates, 1990; Bruderl,

Preisendorfer, & Ziegler, 1992; Holtz-Eakin, Joulfaian, & Rosen, 1994; Cressy, 1996; Taylor, 1999).

These studies generally demonstrate that the entrepreneur‟s human capital, expressed by age, education,

work experience, and other factors, have a positive effect on the post-entry performance. From the

literature, Begley and Boyd‟s (1987) study of risk-taking preferences demonstrated that organizational

founders exhibit a stronger risk-taking propensity, as well as a higher tolerance for ambiguity, than do

non-entrepreneurial individuals. Furthermore, as reviewed by Zhao, Seibert, & Lumpkin (2010) conclude

that interest in the role of personality in entrepreneurship has recently seen a re-emergence after a hiatus

of almost 20 years e.g., (Baum, Locke, & Smith, 2001; Ciavarella, et al., 2004). This is supported by

Consistent and Wagner (2006) finding that those individual characteristics tend to play a minor role in

explaining founding success. However, in the „person‟ dimension, cohabitation turns out to be much more

influential, although this characteristic has not yielded consistent results so far (Davidsson, 2006). Hence,

in view of the above, we may deduce that proposition (P):

P1 (a): There is a positive relationship between entrepreneurial role models and the success in

entrepreneurship

2.2.2 Presence of Experienced Entrepreneurs

In a further understanding of the entrepreneurial process and environment, therefore, it is crucial to find

the presence of experienced entrepreneurs. Moreover it will positively associate to improve the business

skills and venture in a continuous discovering and development in entrepreneurship. As appraised by

Vesper (1980) indicated that work experience may be more important when it is necessary to rely on

inside industrial information and in highly competitive businesses. By examining experience and

expertise, Chandler and Jansen (1992) report some significant relationships between a founder's

experience and self-rated skills and between experience and skills on the one hand and venture growth

and profitability on the other. Besides, the founding entrepreneurs could have the competencies to

perform equally well as professional managers (Willard, et al., 1992). The review of the literature



provided earlier which entrepreneurs who have the necessary competencies especially in the area of

operations, finance, marketing, human resources and management skills required for the business are

more likely to be successful at startup (Peterson, Kozmetsky, & Ridgway, 1983; Praalad & Hamel, 1990;

Swierez & Spencer, 1992). With regards to these contacts, Vesper (1990) reports several studies

indicating that founders have a propensity to start ventures in technologies, markets, and geographic areas

they are already familiar with, while Cooper, Woo, & Dunkelberg (1989) in their studies, found that 42

percent or 58 percent of the founders they studied got their business idea from a previous job.

Ideally, several people can be in a profession for years and be familiar with fewer than someone who has

been in the profession for months. Research has shown that founders' current skills could predict the

performance of their ventures and that their predictive ability varied across economic environments

(Herron & Robinson, 1993). The importance of knowledge and previous managerial experience for

venture performance has been emphasized in the literature see for example (Brockhaus & Horwitz, 1986;

Cooper & Gascon, 1992; MacMillan, Zemann, & Subbanarasimha, 1987; Shane, 2003). Tacit knowledge

sometimes can be taught through guided experiences, however, and courses in entrepreneurship try to do

just that, at least to some extent. And this view was defended by a numerous scholars which they have

themselves devised a program for teaching practical intelligence in school (Williams, Blythe, White, Li,

Sternberg, & Gartner, 1996).

In line with the research has been done, it illustrated that entrepreneurs with high personal initiative will

further enhance their management, improve business operation skills and embark in a continuous learning

and development attitude (Raduan Rose, et al., 2006a). However, knowledgeable practitioners, such as

venture capitalists, seem to believe that founders' experience is important to the success of a new venture

(Goslin & Barge 1986; MacMillan, Siegel, & SubbaNarasimha, 1985; Riquelme & Rickards, 1992).

Furthermore, there are a number of studies stated that relevant previous experience (in self-employment,

the same industry or occupation) affects success as a business founder (Reuber & Fischer, 1999; Brüderl

et al., 1998; Luk, 1996; Cooper, Gimeno-Gascon, & Woo, 1994). Entrepreneurial experience has also

been found to be conducive to business performance (Ronstadt, 1988). Some research evidence by

Chandler and Hanks (1994) have shown that founders' skills moderate the relationship between (1) the

abundance of opportunity in the economic environment of the venture and (2) venture performance. In the

service industries, the quality and experience of the service personnel is frequently viewed as an

inimitable resource that contributes to the competitive advantage of the venture (Groonroos, 2000;

Schneider & Bowen, 1995). Studies also show that the kinds of experience that founders bring into a



business have received attention from researchers who are attempting to explain why certain business

founders are more successful than others (Reuber & Fischer, 1999). Yet sometimes, experience is the

most excellent educator, but simply if one learns from the experience. Notwithstanding, human resource

is a clear distinction to be focused on, as all areas of human resources are found to have significant

relationship with venture growth. Besides, prior experience as an entrepreneur is a good predictor of re-

venturing and can contribute to a successful path (Ronstadt 1988; Vesper, 1980). Van Praag (2003) wrote

that experience in the same industry as the business venture gives better chances, and so does experience

within the same occupation. These prove studied by Sharir and Lerner (2006), of the 13 successful

entrepreneurs; seven had previous managerial experience, the salience of which is patently demonstrated

in Etgarim, (The Organization of Challenging Outdoor Sports and Active Recreation for the Disabled in

Israel).

Other theorists have pursued this idea is by Reynolds (2007) and he identified the following primary

factors affecting founding success: start-up activities to produce a good/service; start-up activities to

develop a presence for the new firm; business experience, particularly in the same industry; start-up

activities to create a financial and organizational structure; the start-up team‟s financial commitments;

and, the concentration of resources and speedy completion of start-up activities. This is also supported by

Panda (2008) says that previous experiences lead to the success of the entrepreneurs. For example, Lee

and Denslow (2005) in their study have found that lack of capital and lack of experience is one of the

major factors affecting entrepreneurial success. Research evidence showed that education and

entrepreneurial experience have a positive impact on performance (Cooper & Gimeno-Gascon, 1992;

Robinson & Sexton, 1994; Bowen & Hisrich, 1986). What matters is not the quantity of experience one

has but how much one has learned from that skill. Finally, Reuber and Fischer (1994) provide evidence

that expertise mediates the relationship between founder experience and venture performance, with

expertise in such key areas as strategic planning, globalization, financing, and strategic alliance formation

being more consequential for performance than expertise in back office functions. The previous

experience of founders is likely to be most influential when initial start-up decisions are being made.

Thus, the following proposition (P) is suggested for empirical testing is:

P1 (b): The presence of experienced entrepreneurs will be positively associated to the success in

entrepreneurship

2.2.3 Skills and Knowledge of Entrepreneurs

Skills and knowledge are particularly important to performance in emerging market industry and may

impart more entrepreneurial opportunities attractive as well as leads to the successful entrepreneurs. Many



researchers have acknowledged the fact that management skills can be acquired and personal qualities

have a strong influence on the management skills/ competencies of the entrepreneur (Baum et al., 2001;

Chandler & Jansen, 1992; Ibrahim & Goodwin, 1986; Pavett & Lau, 1983 ; Schein, 1987; Westerbergetal,

1997). For an example, Capron, Dussauge, & Mitchell (1998) highlight how firm performance responds

favorably when related managerial capabilities developed in other companies are brought to bear in new

situations. With regards to this, Tanriverdi and Venkatraman (2005) also find that the simultaneous

application of product, customer and managerial knowledge relatedness across different business units

improves the market performance of multi business companies.

According to Shane (2000), an entrepreneur can discover only those opportunities related to his/her prior

knowledge. The prior knowledge creates a „„knowledge corridor‟‟ that allows him/her to recognize certain

opportunities, but not others (Ardichvili et al., 2003). Literature revealed that the management skills of an

entrepreneur refer to knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required managing a venture (Sambasivan, Abdul,

& Yusop, 2009). Another study of Hood and Young (1993) found that financial management, accounting,

marketing and sales were meaningful skill areas of successful entrepreneurs. Hence, to be successful,

(Malecki, 1997) argues, entrepreneurs must know how to integrate scientific knowledge, facts, and

management techniques with contextual experience. All propagated by additional studies accomplished

that an entrepreneur‟s management skills were favorable to business performance and development

(Cooper & Gimeno-Gascon 1994; Ronstadt 1984; Bird, 1995).

Thus, new ventures rely on whatever knowledge resources are brought to the table by the founders

(Brush, Greene, & Hart, 2001). Empirical studies and based in his consultancy practice, Gerber (2001)

points out those small businesses are founded mostly by technicians, specialists, or professionals in

certain fields and most of entrepreneurs perform their own technical work with high quality and

efficiency, but seldom are management and managerial skills neglected. Similarly, several academic

researchers have examined the effectiveness and support initiatives focused on providing entrepreneurs

with the abilities and insight to develop their businesses (De Faoite, Henry, Johnson, & Van der Sijde,

2003). A mixture of studies found that some key factors may lead to the business failure were due to the

lack of management skills or competencies (O‟Neill & Duker, 1986; Terpstra & Olson, 1993) and the

other perspective concluded that management skills of entrepreneurs were conducive to business

performance and growth (Bird, 1993; Cooper & Gimeno-Gascon, 1992; Ronstadt, 1984). Moreover,

scholars argued that successful entrepreneurs were typically able to employ a host of various skills in

areas such as financial management, accounting and marketing (Hood & Young, 1993). As reviewed by



Barkhamm (1994), he examined the level of new firms‟ turnover using a dataset of 304 new firms in

several regions of the UK, and found the positive effects of the entrepreneurs‟ high motivations for

growth, managerial skills, and previous knowledge of specific market on their post-entry turnover. The

management skills can be general (decision-making ability, conceptualization, ability to process

information effectively, leadership skills, presentation skills, diagnostic use of concepts and use of power)

and/or specific (technical skills and industry skills). In recent times, Lussiers and Pfeifer (2001)

empirically established that in addition to competencies and personality traits, human capital of individual

entrepreneurs play a role in contributing to the success of entrepreneurs. Their study found that

entrepreneur with higher education level, industrial and managerial experience, and business exposure has

greater chance of succeeding than people without tertiary education, minimal industrial and managerial

experience, and with little or no business exposure.

Our study supports Brush, Greene, and Hart (2001) argument that they conclude, one of the biggest

challenges facing new ventures is transforming the founder CEO‟s personal knowledge of the industry,

market, and product into organizational resources. Management of prior knowledge is an important factor

in opportunity recognition. Furthermore, in the literature exposed that three major dimensions of prior

knowledge are important to the process of opportunity recognition: prior knowledge of markets, prior

knowledge of ways to serve markets, and prior knowledge of customer problems (Ardichvili, et al., 2003).

Studies in service industries such as tourism and hospitality offer some insight into identifying firm

resources capable of generating sustainability, including proper communication and coordination skills,

behavioral performance skills, information exchange skills and speed of transaction management

competency (Lundberg, Krishnamoorthy, Stavenga, 1995; Olsen, West, & Tse, 1992). This argument is

supported by Lerner and Haber (2001) and they found that good managerial skills were critical to

performance of the small tourism venture.

A lot of researches have acknowledged the fact that prior knowledge of a market, industry, or customer

needs can be a major advantage for entrepreneurs in terms of recognizing potentially profitable

opportunities (McKelvie & Wiklund, 2004; Shane, 2000). These studies have argued that „„prior

knowledge of customer needs and ways to meet them greatly enhances entrepreneurs ability to provide

innovative solutions to these problems‟‟ and thus recognizing potentially valuable business opportunities

(Baron, 2007). Three types of procedural knowledge are important (Wiklund & Shepherd, 2003):

knowledge about the industry, knowledge about the type of business and knowledge about starting up

new ventures. Findings from Haber and Reichel (2007) stated that there are 305 small tourism ventures in



Israel showed that the entrepreneurial human capital, particularly managerial skills, was the strongest

contributor to small venture performance from both short- and long-term perspectives.

Hence, this prior knowledge, through entrepreneurial alertness, ultimately helps entrepreneurs discover

innovative ways (opportunity recognition) to satisfy the needs of the customers through new products,

services and processes (Sambasivan, et al., 2009) and for that reason role and management of information

in opportunity recognition indeed are critical in high-technology domains (Ozgen & Minsky, 2006).

Therefore, based on the above argument, we may infer that proposition (P):

P1 (c): The higher skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs leads to greater likelihood to the success in

entrepreneurship

2.2.4 Cultural Attitudes towards Entrepreneurship

Cultural attitudes also one of the mechanism that contribute to the entrepreneurial success and it would

positively related to motivating force for the business growth. This indeed, supportive by Gnyawali and

Fogel (1994), entrepreneurship may not prosper if most members of the society view it with suspicion.

Consequently, a constructive approach of the general public toward entrepreneurship and an extensive

public support for entrepreneurial behavior are both needed to encourage people to start a new business.

As Lui and Wong (1994) found Hong Kong‟s economy is structurally conducive to Chinese entrepreneurs

in two ways; first, the expansion of the economy in the past few decades “has given rise to many new

forms of economic activities which are open to entrepreneurial ventures” and second, the structure of the

economy “encourages people to appropriate opportunities opened up in the process of economic

development in the forms of small businesses and self-employment”. In fact, as pointed out by Gnyawali

& Fogel (1994), they revealed that social factors may be equally important as availability of loans,

technical assistance, physical facilities, and information. In the Czech and Slovak Republics, negative

public attitudes toward entrepreneurs discouraged entrepreneurs (Swanson & Webster, 1992). Another

study of Mokry (1988) proposed that local communities can play an important role in developing an

entrepreneurial environment. Authors such as Swanson and Webster (1992) propagated that with the

development of social prejudice against business entities may result to small business become a victim of

social justice.

For instance, close relatives can assist entrepreneurs inquire about solutions, locate resources, and

assemble a team of willing people to address the entrepreneur's problems (Kao, 1993) and together with

social norm also represents the attitude of fellowmen towards entrepreneurship (Grundsten, 2004). In the

study of Scholten, Kemp, & Omta (2004) found that the image of entrepreneurship have a positive effect



on entrepreneurial intention. Moreover, the societies and cultures that value entrepreneurship tends to

develop societal systems to encourage it (Vesper, 1983). In fact, Lui and Wong (1994) put forth the claim

that cultural value analysis is in tension with another conceptualization that emphasizes strategizing

behaviour. Overall, the strategizing behaviour simply refers to using sets of strategic actions in achieving

specific goals. This argument is supported by Stites (1985) study of industrial workers in Taiwan and The

foregoing discussion shows that the Chinese entrepreneurial ethic are credible examples to illustrate this

second paradigm and its tension with the cultural value analysis (Harrell‟s, 1985).

Positive attitudes of the surrounding community concerning entrepreneurship are likely to increase one‟s

desire to engage in entrepreneurial activities and more specifically, individuals who experience a positive

view on entrepreneurship among their immediate contacts are more likely to have greater intention to

become entrepreneurs. For example, it is often recognized that among people of Chinese origin,

entrepreneurial role models encourage people to go into business supported by close networks of family

members and relatives (Kao, 1993; Siu & Martin, 1992). Thus, the above analysis suggests the following

proposition (P):

P1 (d): The cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship would be positively related to the success in

entrepreneurship

2.2.5 Proximity of Entrepreneurial Universities

A low level of education and exposure could prevent motivated entrepreneurial movement in their

surroundings. Undoubtedly, we suppose that the proximity of entrepreneurial universities does indeed

have a positive relationship to entrepreneurship. Etzkowitz (1983) coined the term “entrepreneurial

university” to describe institutions that have become critical to regional economic development.

Entrepreneur education and its relationship to performance have been widely examined (see for example,

Bird, 1989; Cooper, et al., 1994; Robinson & Sexton, 1994). Not surprisingly, the entrepreneurial

movement within universities been met with both enthusiasm and resentment as the scholarly community

struggles with the ethical implications of such activities (Mowery, Nelson, Sampat, & Ziedonis, 1998). As

such, developing a more entrepreneurial culture can be regarded as the essential mechanism through

which universities become effectively involved in economic development (Fairweather 1990; Hagen,

2002).

Despite inconsistent findings with regard to the impact of education (Bird, 1989; Ronstadt, 1984; Cooper

& Gimeno-Gascon, 1992) concluded in meta-analysis significantly positive relationships between

education and performance. The similarities in their views are summarized here which the importance of



academic entrepreneurs is widely accepted and is linked to a common view that an appropriate prevailing

institutional culture is critical to successful entrepreneurial activity (Glassman, Moore, Rossy, Neupert,

Napier, Jones, & Harvey, 2003). In addition, spillovers from universities, as well as from private firms,

have been identified as key sources promoting firm innovation and performance (Stuart & Sorenson,

2003; Hall, Link, & Scott, 2003). Certain substructure components give the impression to make

considerable impact on the entrepreneurial environment. These components include the existence of

universities and research and development programs, a well-educated and technically skilled labor force

and modern transport and communication facilities that provide easy access to suppliers and customers

(Bruno & Tyebjee, 1982; Gartner, 1985).

Research evidence by Clark (1998) has shown that there are the relation with the concept to universities

attempts to reform them and to become more entrepreneurial by strengthening their steering core,

enhancing the development periphery, widening the funding base, stimulating the academic heartland and

promoting an entrepreneurial belief. As Saxenian (1994) points out, one of the important mechanisms

facilitating knowledge spillovers involves the mobility of human capital, embodied in graduating

students, as they move from the university to a firm. The entrepreneurial university is thus related not

only to the university mission and tasks, but also to the organizational form, the deeply embedded

activities and procedures, and the working practices and goals of individuals and research groups. It thus

implies entrepreneurial action, structures and attitudes within the university (Rinne & Koivula, 2005).

Moreover, in the literature, (Zhou & Peng, 2008) define the entrepreneurial university as „the university

that strongly influences the regional development of industries as well as economic growth through high-

tech entrepreneurship based on strong research, technology transfer and entrepreneurship capability.

Likewise, as (Varga, 2000) shows, university graduates may be one of the most important channels for

disseminating knowledge from academia to the local high-technology industry. Analyzing patent

citations, (Jaffe, Manuel, & Rebecca, 1993) found that knowledge spillovers from academic research to

private industries have a strong regional component (see also Arundel & Geuna, 2004) for the importance

of proximity for the use of public science). This could be perceived as an institutional characteristic – an

institution aiming to foster enterprising individuals (Gibb, 2005) and to change and take risks (Barnett,

2005), its faculties and staff operating as academic entrepreneurs within the university and capable of

innovating and sustaining technology transfer beyond it (Shattock, 2005). Without a doubt, we believe

that universities ought to take steps to encourage entrepreneurial movement in their environments. Thus,

the dual role of the modern academic mission now requires universities to not only serve society by



educating students, but also to foster research that can be developed into commercially viable products

and technologies (Kirby, 2005). Based on the above arguments, we may derive the proposition (P) that:

P1 (e): There are positive relationship between proximity of entrepreneurial universities and the success

in entrepreneurship

2.3 Entrepreneurial Supports and Governmental Policies

2.3.1 Business Angels and Risk Capital Availability

Entrepreneurs need capital support services in order to develop their business. The business angels and

risk capital would be as an addition support to financial assistance. They all have versatile and differing

venture criteria and may give more by approach of support particularly to premature phase SMEs than

just capital. Research has shown that creation of investment companies, provision of low-interest loans,

and availability of credit guarantee schemes for small business financing have all contributed to the

establishment of new businesses (Dana, 1987; Harrison & Mason, 1988; Hawkins, 1993). From early on,

venture capital availability was proposed and recognized as contributing to firm formation, as determined

by Bruno and Tyebjee (1982) in a review of 17 papers on environmental factors influencing venture

creation. Venture Capital firms are seen as having an edge over banks as a source of finance for new

firms, especially specialized technology-based firms. According to Keuschnigg and Nielsen (2000),

recently the finance literature on venture capital has grown considerable, both theoretical and empirical

(Gompers & Lerner, 1999; Repullo & Suarez, 1998; Bergemann & Hege, 1998; Cornelli & Yosha, 1997;

Sahlmann, 1990).

Venture capital firms availability are entities, typically limited partnerships or limited liability companies,

which increase funds from high net worth individuals and institutional investors to invest in a portfolio of

business ventures with hope of a high return on investment. In addition, this view were supported by

Brewer and Genay (1994) in their analysis of the performance of Small Business Investment Companies

show that venture capital firms holding a higher proportion of debt claims have significantly higher

returns on their own stock. Therefore, as conclude by Garmaise (2007), this result is particularly striking

in that one would expect equity claims to be riskier, so venture capital firms that hold a greater proportion

of their assets in equity would, prima facie, as be expected to realize higher returns.

The other theorist have pursued this idea is argued that support from informal network such as friends,

relatives, previous employers and acquaintances have found also to benefit the business (Rose, Naresh

Kumar, & Yen (2006b). Even people initial with their personal capital are as successful as those who

initiate with liability resources. Besides, Gompers (1994) stated that entrepreneurs typically regard



venture-capital firms as no more than a source of capital, while venture capitalists themselves claim that

they play a strong advisory role in the firms they finance. The literature on Garmaise (2007) suggests that

large and successful venture-capital firms are much more likely to be regarded as expert by entrepreneurs

than their more humble competitors are. As several studies that have estimated that, total informal capital

investment is multiple times that of formal venture capital (Harrison & Mason, 1992). Moreover, this

finding confirms the importance of informal investment relative to other forms of financing (Reynolds et.

al., 2002). Empirical studies of Kortum, Samuel, & Lerner (2000) found that venture funding increased

patented inventions from using data on 20 manufacturing industries for the period 1965 to 1992. By

distinction, as shown by several authors, venture capitalists often hold seats on the borrowing firm‟s

board and voting rights far in excess of their cash flow rights, and they could have the contractual right to

replace the entrepreneur with a new manager if covenants are violated (Kaplan & Stromberg, 2003;

Sahlman, 1990). In fact, Ueda and Hirukawa (2008) confirmed that this positive impact continued to be

present and became even stronger during the venture capital boom of the late 1990s. In recent times as

surveyed by Hellmann, Laura, & Manju (2008) using data on 10,578 companies over 1980 to 2000, they

found that having had a prior relationship with a company in the venture capital market increased a

bank‟s likelihood of subsequently granting a loan to that company and that the relevant companies

benefited from this relationship not only through more readily available loans but also through more

favourable loan pricing. Comparability as revealed by Chemmanur and Chen (2003), venture capitalists

can add value to some of the firms they finance, but angels cannot and therefore as confirmation for this,

Hellmann and Manju (2000) find that innovator firms are more likely to obtain venture capital financing

than are imitator firms. Eventually, Feldmann (2010) showed that so far, there are only few empirical

studies analyzing the impact of venture capital on labor market performance and almost all of them take a

micro econometric approach. His paper‟s results confirmed the theoretical arguments suggesting that

access to venture capital may have been an important determinant of industrial countries‟ labor market

performance since the early 1980s. In line with this matter, Norton and Tenenbaum (1993) show that

smaller venture capital firms, measured by asset size, hold a greater proportion of their investments in

equity stakes. Therefore, several aspects of small-business finance may be explained by positing that

banks and venture capital firms possess project evaluation skills that are superior to those of entrepreneurs

(Garmaise, 2001).

Business angels are private investors who provide risk capital to new and growing businesses in which

they have no family connection (Mason & Harrison, 1995). Beyond their importance in funding, there are

also a large number of them in North America. Riding (2008) identified that, in year 2004, amount of



15,800 business angels in Canada invested about $2 billion in companies. Similarly, for example, (Mason

& Harrison, 2000; Mason, 2006; Kelly, 2007) identified the importance of fund raising from third parties

to facilitate the growth of new technology ventures. Amongst new firms that raised external equity

capital, most raised it from angel investors as opposed to institutional venture capitalists (Fenn & Liang,

1998).

A similar study examined by Sohl (2003) provided comparative information for the U.S., where business

angels invested $22.5 billion in 48,000 ventures in 2004. This makes understanding business angels

decision making very important. Mason and Harrison (1999, p. 26) have estimated that there are

approximately 18,000 Business Angels that annually invest sums in the region of £500 million. As

articulated by Madill, Haines, & Riding (2005), since existing investment from business angels is often a

prerequisite for obtaining investment from venture capitalists, increasing the number of business ventures

that receive funding from business angels is of interest to all potential investors. In view of the above, we

may deduce that proposition (P):

P2 (a): The business angels and risk capital would be positively associated with the success in

entrepreneurship

2.3.2 Availability of Financial Resources

Generally, entrepreneurs need and require financial support for their business. Financial resources

prospects concern to affluence formation, which is ordinarily suppose as a right need for all varieties of

different individual conducts. As reviewed by Gnyawali and Fogel (1994), in most developing countries

and emerging market economies, only a few venture capital companies and commercial banks are

available and alternative sources of financing are almost non-existent and as a consequence, a paradox

emerges: entrepreneurs cannot start a business without financial assistance; they do not have access to

financial institutions and cannot secure financial assistance if they lack prior business experience. This

argument is supported by Bruno, Leidecker, & Harder (1987) studied ten failed high-technology firms

and concluded that there were three major reasons for the failure: 1) financial difficulties, 2)

product/market problems and 3) managerial problems. It was found that formal support sources were

hardly used, the institutions mostly mentioned were banks (Birley, Cromie, & Myers, 1991). According to

Aidis and Adachi (2005), ten years ago, it was possible to start-up a business with very little capital and

most entrepreneurs could rely solely on their personal savings. However, the costs have increased because

of competition and the need to enter at a higher level of sophistication. As reported in Davis (2003), fully

90% of start-ups are not supported by venture capital and more than 95% of small-firm financing comes

from sources other than venture capital, particularly commercial banks.



The foregoing discussion shows that in the US, availability of financial resources was an important

contributor of organizational birth rate (Pennings, 1982). Hence, Winton and Yerramilli (2008) identified,

because entrepreneurial firms are usually small and have high risk of failure, both venture capital and

bank loans require careful monitoring of borrowers. Both types of finance use covenants to restrict the

borrower‟s behaviour and provide additional levers of control in the event that the firm performs poorly.

Financial expectations refer to wealth creation, which is commonly held as a powerful motivation for all

kinds of different individual behaviors (Birley & Westhead, 1994). Studies also show that, it is generally

agreed that such finance originates from four main sources; first, personal savings (including

contributions from family and friends); second, debt financing (including hire purchase and leasing),

normally through a commercial bank; third, soft loans supported by central government; and finally,

equity funding via venture capital and informal investment (Jarvis, 2000).

As reviewed in Walker and Brown (2004), traditional measures of business success have been based on

either employee numbers or financial performance, such as profit, turnover or return on investment (see

also: Barkham, et al., 1996; Bruderl & Preisendorfer, 1998; Forsaith & Hall, 2000; Gray, 1998; Ibrahim

& Goodwin, 1986; Kalleberg & Leicht, 1991; Kelmar, 1991). Whereas bank loans usually take the form

of pure debt, venture capitalists almost always employ convertible securities or a combination of debt and

equity (Kaplan & Stromberg, 2003). A number of studies have also established that lack of finance is a

barrier for businesses in transition economies (Pissarides, 1999, 2004; Kaganova 2002; Aidis 2003; Aidis

& Sauka, 2005).

Furthermore, Landier (2003) wrote, an economy‟s entrepreneurs choose safe projects backed by bank

debt and low monitoring if the stigma associated with failure is high and risky projects backed by venture

capital finance and high monitoring if the stigma associated with failure is low. Notwithstanding

Pennings (1982) found that generally entrepreneurs require financial assistance for at least one of three

purposes: to diversify or spread the start-up risk, to accumulate start-up capital, and to finance growth and

expansion while availability of financial resources appears to be a major predictor of the frequency of

new business start-ups, many lenders seem to be unwilling to invest in high-risk projects or tend to

withhold support until the firm has been established successfully. Much of the concern, Landier (2003)

offers an analysis of bank finance and venture capital based on the assumption that there is a “stigma” that

attaches to an entrepreneur if a project fails. The liquidity of financial systems as it influences

entrepreneurial thinking tends to vary along a continuum between equity-focused financial systems and

bank-based financial systems, which is the process by which capital is made available and priced



(Whitley, 1999). Variations in the strength of this stigma differentially affect bargaining between an

entrepreneurs and either a bank or a venture capital, leading to a characterization of when bank or venture

capital finance might be preferred (de Bettignies & Brander, 2007). Marlow and Patton (2005) study

matches and argued that equity finance is provided through two major channels; first, on a formal basis

where funding is provided by banks, special investment schemes, and dedicated venture capital

companies in exchange for a significant share of the firm‟s equity. Second, the informal market which is

based on personal investment through “business angels” who have a certain amount of disposable income

which they choose to invest in firms with the anticipation of an agreed level of return should the firm

attain anticipated performance targets. Most apparently, bank finance is normally in the form of loans,

whereas venture capital finance consists primarily of equity (Kaplan & Stromberg, 2003).

As such, an equity-based financial system is perceived to enhance entrepreneurship and economic growth

more than a bank-based financial system (Levine, 2002). The similarities in the views was affirmed by

George and Prabhu (2002) highlight the role of developmental financial institutions in fostering

entrepreneurship in emerging economies through lending policies and prioritization of national industrial-

development goals. The majority of formal equity capital funding is directed at Management Buy Outs or

Buy Ins where business and managerial track records are already established, rather than new businesses

(Bank of England, 2001). Therefore, the next proposition we would suggest proposition (P) for empirical

testing is:

P2 (b): The more favourable availability of financial resources, the greater ability to the success in

entrepreneurship.

2.3.3 Government Influences and Supports for Entrepreneurship

Government influences and supports for entrepreneurship is very crucial to promote the entrepreneurial

development in order to guarantee SMEs future business success. Thus, it will contribute to the greater

ability and power to the success factors in entrepreneurship. In developing areas, satisfactory government

support has been shown to be important for small firm success (Yusuf, 1995). The need for such

motivational factors is generally higher in countries where entrepreneurial awareness is low than in

countries where such awareness is high (McClelland, 1961). In addition, there are five major areas of

government support programs for SMEs in Malaysia, among which are: Financial and credit assistance;

technical and training assistance; extension and advisory services; marketing and market research; and

infrastructure supports (Abdullah, 1999b). Based on (Hawkins, 1993) study, he found that in Japan, 52

credit guarantee associations exist to guarantee loans to SMEs; local governments have special funds that

serve as a reserve for loans to SMEs. Government support is vital to cultivate SMEs expansion and



authorized aspects are used in selection operating resolution in order to guarantee SMEs upcoming

business achievement. Therefore, as supported by Yusuf (1995) in his study that government support is

one of the critical success factors for small business in South Pacific. By their actions, governments

substantially influence the economic and non-economic opportunities essential to the creation of the

conditions that lead to the development of business ventures (Wilken, 1979). Corresponding to Haber and

Rachel (2007), governmental financial support for developing small ventures becomes essential input for

their long-term economic prosperity. In this sense, Gnyawali and Fogel (1994) mentioned that,

governments could influence the market mechanisms and make them function efficiently by removing

conditions that create market imperfections and administrative rigidities. They can also create an

"enterprise culture" that enables firms to take reasonable risks and seek profits. In many cases, dealing

with legal aspects has forced the SMEs to allocate significant amount of financial resources due to bribery

practices. Legal aspect is often also used in selection operating decision in order to ensure future business

success (Mazzarol & Choo, 2003).

Thus, governments in growing countries play a role in promoting and supporting companies by providing

incentives and infrastructure. In the contrary, entrepreneurs may be discouraged to start a business if they

have to follow many rules and procedural requirements, if they have to report to many institutions, and if

they have to spend more time and money in fulfilling the procedural requirements (Dana, 1987; Young &

Weisch, 1993). Without a doubt, government procurement programs and subsidies for research and

development are also important for entrepreneurs (Goodman, Meany, & Pate, 1992). As a consequence,

governments have a central role in supporting ventures whose success potential is not necessarily visible

in the short term, but which may have a significant contribution to economic development (Hustedde &

Pulver, 1992). Indeed further research has shown that provision of management and entrepreneurship

training programs, various forms of start-up incentives (e.g., exemption of custom duty, tax concession)

and provision of consulting services enable a person to start a business (Dana, 1987; Hawkins, 1993).

Moreover, an extra measurement of the environment is the governmental and supporting environment.

Overall, these showed that governments in many countries are actively contemplating measures, both at

the local and state levels, to stimulate entrepreneurial activity and to ensure that adequate financing and

advice is present to back up business formation (Keuschnigg & Nielsen, 2000). Thus, from the above, we

may infer the proposition (P) that:

P2 (c): The more favourable government influences and supports for entrepreneurship, the higher ability

to the success in entrepreneurship



2.3.4 Role of Government Policies on Entrepreneurial Activity

Government policies and procedures may determine the market instrument and make them function

expeditiously. The government support policies are one of the key elements for hastening the emergence

of entrepreneurs. In the literature, government policy shapes the institutional environment in which

entrepreneurial decisions are made and hence, can influence the allocation of entrepreneurial activities

(Baumol 1990; Bowen & De Clercq, 2008; Minniti; 2008) and there is empirical evidence from a wide

range of settings that established legal systems can increase the overall likelihood of entrepreneurial

success (for an analysis see Ingram & Silverman, 2002) of particular importance is the establishment of

enforceable property rights for the exploitation of entrepreneurial opportunities (Anderson & Leal, 2001;

De Soto, 2000). In Lundstrom and Stevenson (2001) research have shown and described the

entrepreneurship policy as a collection of measures taken to stimulate more entrepreneurial behavior in a

geographic area. This is also supported by Young and Welsch (1993) with the situation in Mexico, which

is the key barriers for business start-up, included excessive government regulation, high rates of taxes,

and increasing inflation. Similar examples can be found in many scholars that focused on the role of

public policy (El-Namaki, 1988; Goodman, et al., 1992; Mokry, 1988; Vesper, 1983; Westhead, 1990)

and they suggest several policy options for developing entrepreneurship. These policy options include

provision of venture capital funds, tax-based incentives, and government procurement programs;

protection of proprietary ideas and innovations; investment in education and research; explicit recognition

of, and support for, entrepreneurship by government agencies; fostering of entrepreneurship by

educational institutions; and minimization of entry barriers.

In succession to create people be aware of the value of being entrepreneurs, the government and also the

business organizations can manage certain entrepreneurship programs and courses to the publics. Ideally,

Lundstrom and Stevenson (2002) specified two important facts that contribute to differentiate both

policies. The first one is that SME policy has a focus on the existing stock of SMEs, and entrepreneurship

policy is more encompassing in that it includes potential entrepreneurs and the existing stock of

enterprises. This means that entrepreneurship is focused on the process of change and multiple units of

organization and analysis, while SME policy is concerned with the enterprise organizational level. The

second one is that virtually every country has a ministry or governmental agency charged with promoting

the viability of the SME sector. For example, in their recent research Van Stel, Storey, & Thurik (2006)

find that business regulations have direct and indirect impact on the entrepreneurship rate. Based on Lim,

Morse, Mitchell, & Seawright (2010), they argued that a legal system with stronger property rights

protection and less regulatory complexity (Soto, 2000) positively influences the level of entrepreneurship



by shaping the entrepreneurial scripts of individuals within that society because of its entrepreneurial

munificence. In addition, tax and other start-up incentives have a greater impact when people have greater

motivation to go into business (Davidsson, 1991) and conversely, the restrictive regulations, crippling

tariffs and taxes can disable any entrepreneurial effort (Sebora, Lee, & Sukasame, 2009). Many

commentators have noted how regulation and taxation present a number of challenges and, in some cases,

barriers to the development of SMEs (Chittenden, Poutziouris, & Michaelas, 2000). According to a recent

The Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) report, Thailand has the highest rate of entrepreneurship

activity in Asia (Reynolds, Bygrave, Autio, & Hay, 2002). For an example, Gray and Sanzogni (2004)

found that the government support policy is a key component for accelerating the growth of e-commerce

entrepreneurs in Thailand because the achievement of the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity by

Thai‟s comes from the encouragement and support of the Thai government (Sebora, et al., 2009).

The government policies influence new venture creation throughout legislation and regulation, licenses,

taxation, etc. Similar example can be found in the public discussion the role of taxation is a relatively

common topic concerning policies that affect entrepreneurship (Grundsten, 2004). In Virgin Islands, tax

concession on all businesses for ten years, tax concession for hotels for twenty years, and exemption from

custom duty on imports of capital equipment facilitated the development of entrepreneurship (Dana,

1987) as well as the similar situation of Cayman Islands, which is their government guarantee not to tax

businesses for 20 years in order to attract the amount numbers entrepreneurs. Recently, another study of

Belso Martinez (2009) stated that the objective of entrepreneurship policy is aimed at increasing the

supply of new entrepreneurs and new businesses as well as their early stage survival and growth and thus,

this public policy to promote entrepreneurship can be broadly considered under that aimed at the

macroeconomic environment, the micro level (supporting individual firms), and the entrepreneurial

culture. Hence, an effective government policy to decrease unemployment is to stimulate the number of

new businesses and therefore, both practical experience and academic research point to the importance of

public policy in creating the conditions under which entrepreneurial companies can flourish (Hart, 2003).

Since government policies are often designed to offer innovative incentives and challenge the dominant

paradigm of separating environmental and business concerns (Gladwin & Kennelly, 1995), it is

understandable that such policies would be more effective in regions where there is a low value of

conforming. A GEM report provides conclusive evidence that promoting entrepreneurship and enhancing

the entrepreneurship dynamic of a country should be an integral element of any government‟s

commitment to boosting economic well being (Reynolds, 2000). Public institutions provided by the state



an also directly influence the direction of industrial sectors through providing incentives, such as tax

breaks, to encourage the creation of entrepreneurial ventures (Audretsch, Grilo, Thurik, 2007).

Taxation is clearly significant in affecting the `upside' of the risk reward calculus for potential

entrepreneurs (Gompers & Lerner, 1998; Poterba, 1989a; 1989b; Rees & Anup, 1994). Several studies

were found as explored by Feindt, Jeffcoate, & Chappell (2002) identified that a supportive government

can nurture entrepreneurial activity by giving the free market an opportunity to operate under the laws of

supply and demand. In its promotion of e-commerce ventures, the government can play two positive roles

in the development of e-commerce: (1) direct promotion through applications of e-commerce principles in

government administration and procurement, and in the provision of public services; and (2) facilitation

of the development of e-commerce through the provision of a legal, regulatory, and infrastructural

environment that encourages the development of e-commerce (Organization for Economic Co-operation

and Development 1999).

The other view stated that the British tax system disproportionately affects the financial development of

high-technology start ups and constrains their growth potential (Poutziouris, Chittenden, Michaelas, &

Oakley, 2000). In reality, Gentry and Hubbard (2004) found that the level of the marginal tax rate and the

progressive character of tax have a negative effect and discourage entrepreneurship and therefore,

government may provide a general economic framework which actively encourages growth and at the

same time removes unnecessary restrictions or burdens (Hall, 1996). On the subject of the Spanish case,

Lopez (1998) argues that entrepreneurship policy and SME policy should not be confused and must be

carefully distinguished. Eventually, according to Sarder, Ghosh, & Rosa (1997) there is contradictory

evidence regarding the impact of such services from one study to another, from one country to another,

and even within countries. In their Bangladesh study, they found that firms assisted by governmental as

well as non-governmental support organizations performed significantly better than non-assisted firms. In

general, the high entrepreneurship rating reflects both a high level of firm creation and the classification

of existing firms as entrepreneurial (Acs, Arenius, Hay, Mininiti, 2004). From the above, we may derive

the proposition (P) that:

P2 (d): The role of government policies on entrepreneurial activity would be positively to the success in

entrepreneurship

As to summarize, from the literature review in the light of Gartner‟ environmental dimension as

mentioned, we propose the environmental situation in Malaysia into two proportions, which are the

entrepreneurial culture and mindsets along with entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies.



Figure 1 presents the integrated framework and the interaction we have assumed here between success

factors in entrepreneurship and these variables.

Figure 1: A framework for describing Success Factors in Entrepreneurship



3. METHODOLOGY

As we mentioned before, this research was concerned generally to see how the environmental factors

influence success in entrepreneurship particularly in Malaysia. The phenomenon (e.g., new business start-

ups) and its context (e.g., the local business and community environment), according to Yin (1989), may

not be readily distinguishable, thus he suggests that the case study definition include characteristics

stipulating data collection and analysis requirements. Consorting the literature of Yin, in Case Study

Research Design and Methods (2003), defines case study research as “an empirical inquiry that

investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries

between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident.” The secondary research in this study is based

on secondary resources that already exist. It included leaflets, newspapers, magazine articles, government

publications, conference proceedings, reports, academic journals, books, statistics and unpublished

manuscripts.

3.1 Rationale for the Case Study Methods

Case studies may have shortcomings that limit their usefulness in understanding a situation or evaluating

a program. To induce the information requirements of the study, a proper methodology has to be chosen

and appropriate tools for data collection and analysis have to be selected. Therefore, a qualitative research

as a primary research enables researchers to be present detailed snapshots as it were of the participants

under study. A case study approach is applied, in order to meet the aim and purpose of the study carried

out with the use of semi structured interviews. The objective purpose of this case study is to experience

the entrepreneurial success through the culture and mindsets and the entrepreneurial supports and

governmental policies, and moreover, to report encountered findings observed from the selected

theoretical perspective. This research technique was selected as it is useful for examining an experience in

its natural settings (Benbasat, 1984). Yin (1989) recommends case studies when a researcher aims to

expand and generalize theories (analytic generalization) and not to specify frequencies (statistical

generalization.

Additionally, Yin suggests that the case studies when the researcher investigates a contemporary

phenomenon within its real life context and boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly

evident. Even though Yin (1989) stated that there are many ways to collect the qualitative data, this

research is based on interviews performed companies in the sample selected. Hence, case study research

is an all-inclusive research strategy that admits the improvement of a theoretical model, data collection,

data analysis along with research model design. The case studies have been applied to this study because



it provides a clear example of the „success factors in entrepreneurship ‟and the variability in usage as well

as to describe entrepreneurial phenomena. And ultimately this study needs to find the appropriate issues

for assumption and needs to confine the relationship with the dimension of the success factors. A total of

four in-depth cases were used to infer theory from practice by exploring the environmental variables of

the success factors in order to determine what the elements were would facilitate and contribute to the

entrepreneurial success.

3.2 Case Selection

The impressions and expectations in entrepreneurship might be different, depending on which population

or group is considered. Information collected for a case study, especially through personal interviews,

may not perfectly reflect the situation. A biased answer may result from cognitive difference of opinion or

an exposition view of the case on the part of the individual interviewed. As for the example, individuals

interviewed a number of years after the establishment and operation of a business may not precisely

reflect the challenges faced in entrepreneurial success from economic developers in the community. This

needs to be taken into account when the sample is chosen. Thus, for this qualitative data collection

methodology, the sample was selected from the subsequent criterions which are all the four companies

were created after year 2002 and belongs to the combinations of both female and male entrepreneurs in a

different sector industry. Criterions of the cases are as follows:

a) A young adult men as a travel and consultant business which offers a wide spectrum of tourism

services which includes corporate airline ticketing, worldwide hotel reservations, airport check-in

service, incentive group travel, cruises and independent and group tours to any part of the world.

b) A woman entrepreneur in food and beverages. This company is one of the new groomed SME in the

state of Kelantan of Malaysia which popular with varieties of foods and tradition. The natures of

business are food as well as spices production, spices repackaging and retailing.

c) A young men entrepreneur in owned design and technology sector industry. His company as an

independently owned design and technology with comprising designers, producers, developers and

programmers idea into an engaging intelligent and innovative solution towards achieving user‟s

satisfaction.

d) A matured women entrepreneur from south coast of Malaysia. The company runs retail, woman

clothing, traditional herbs and school uniforms. Her financial wealth and stability inspire her more to

become a successful entrepreneur with her own skills and interest.



The rationale behind selecting different profile criteria‟s of the respondents was to consent to key

comparisons to be made. Therefore, the pilot case reports are mainly of the value to us and needs to be

written clearly, even if in the form of the memoranda. If enough pilot cases are done in this manner, the

final agenda may actually become a good prototype for the final case study protocol.

3.3 Data Collection

Case study research typically employs multiple data collection methods (Benbasat, Goldstein & Mead,

1987). Data for this study were collected through interviews. The sample was made up of the business

owner or business founder who responded to questions regarding the success factors in entrepreneurship.

The aim was to get each respondent to answer regarding several subject matters; they will were asked

questions starting with the general organization profile; the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets as well

as the last section about the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies.

In the end, in order to gather information on entrepreneur‟s perception and opinion on the success factors

in entrepreneurship, four surveys were carried out in Malaysia. All interviewed and questions are

followed by the literature review with the final version of the case study protocol showing in the

Appendix 1. As mentioned by Yin (1988), a case study protocol is more than an instrument and the

interview protocol was developed to guide the interview process (Kvale, 1996). Yin argues the protocol

should contain the following sections: an overview of the case study project; field procedures and case

study questions to be kept in mind when collecting data. Thus, having a case study protocol is desirable

under all circumstances, but it is essential if we are using a multiple case design.

And therefore, in having a purposive sampling, we decide when enough participants or units have been

sampled. This occurs when there is redundancy with regards to data. In this study, this was achieved after

conducting four personal interviews. Yin (1994) suggested that the researcher must possess or acquire the

following skills: the ability to ask good questions and to interpret the responses, be a good listener, be

adaptive and flexible so as to react to various situations, have a firm grasp of issues being studied, and be

unbiased by preconceived notions. Along these lines, the researchers received for predictable reasons

different results from each individual case, i.e. theoretical replication occurred (Yin, 1989). The semi-

structured personal interviews were conducted by us. Semi-structured interviews are generally the most

helpful, in that they tolerate full investigation of the topic and yet preserve a degree of structure, which

ensures that for the most part of the information obtained is significant and controllable.



3.4 Data Analysis

The main issue of studies executed using case-based qualitative research is deciding prior to the start of

data collection as well as how much data to collect. To help address this problem, several steps were

taken before hand including the development of a predefined framework and the outline for the case study

reports:

3.4.1 Predefined Conceptual Framework

According to Miles and Huberman (1994), a conceptual framework explains either graphically or in

narrative form, the main things to be studied are the key factors, constructs or variables and presumed

relationship among them. A previous conceptual framework (see figure 1) showing the proposed

relationship between the entrepreneurial environments dimensions and the success factors was developed

and the potential link found from the construct of the literature.

3.4.2 With in Case Analysis

There is no standard format for within case study analysis and the process is typically accomplished

through a detailed description for each case that provides the basic for generating insights (Eisenhardt,

1989). The process for this case study analysis as follows: as the interview were recorded, it be

transcribed and coded with supported by a qualitative data analysis software package which is ATLAS.ti.

ATLAS.ti

The qualitative analysis and systematic analysis in this study will support by the qualitative data analysis

software package ATLAS.ti which the narratives were analyzed by means of content analysis. The

operating principle of ATLAS.ti is based on the technique of thematic analysis. By means of using

ATLAS.ti, we processed and coded all data collected during the interviews, all notes taken throughout the

interviews and those reserved in the log book and all secondary data from newspaper articles or any other

documents provided by the businesses. Data analysis incorporated multiple case study analysis and cross-

case comparison and was carried out using ATLAS.ti, a qualitative analysis software package for data

management, coding, and retrieval. The purpose of this content analysis was to identify common themes

across the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets and the entrepreneurial supports and governmental

policies towards to foster the entrepreneurial success factors and to draw a contrast between the two

dimensions.



There are two main advantages of ATLAS.ti. Firstly, it extends the ability to deal with a huge quantity of

interconnected themes with high degree of accuracy and of flexibility. Secondly, it enables the researcher

to create the theoretical interpretation systematically during the actual process of the coding of the data.

This makes inducive and explorative analysis more accurate. Initially, they were coded instinctively and

then recycled as new codes emerged and provided more accuracy. Processing the data twice gave us a

better understanding of each of the cases.

3.4.3 Cross Case Analysis

A cross case comparison of the cases was performed to determine whether there was consistency among

the results of the individual case studies. A pattern matching technique was used as the primary mode of

analysis to examine patterns occurring across the cases. Pattern matching provided the ability to examine

the patterns of outcomes for dependent and independent variables derived from the research framework to

determine whether pattern existed across them that could be used to establish analytic generalizations:

analytic generalization involves generalizing a particular set of results to a broader theory (Yin, 2003).

In analyzing the data, a various processes recommended by Yin (1984) were adopted. The analysis of

case study is one of the least developed aspects of the case study methodology. Hence, the qualitative data

analysis tends to be mainly an inducive process of organizing data into categories and distinguishing

patterns. We need to rely on experience and the literature to present the evidence in various ways, using

various interpretations. This implied that collected data could not be statistically analyzed, but through a

deep analysis of case studies. Yin (1994) delineates that data analysis consists of examining, categorizing,

tabulating or otherwise recombining the data collected to address the initial focus of the case study. This

entailed a literature review to learn about the various techniques of analyzing qualitative data.

The study aimed at collecting empirical understanding of the selected core concepts and phenomenon

within the selected respondents. Yin (1994) suggested that every investigation should have a general

analytic strategy, so as to guide the decision regarding what will be analyzed and for what reason. He

presented some possible analytic techniques: pattern- matching, explanation- building, and time-series

analysis. In general, the analysis will rely on the theoretical propositions that led to the case study. If

theoretical propositions are not present, then the researcher could consider developing a descriptive

framework around which the case study is organized. Thus, the above analysis was favoured for its

potential to assist us to describe trends in the data and also determine whether there were relationships

between variables.



3.5 Criteria for Evaluation

There are two steps in developing a high quality case study (Yin, 2003). Firstly, it must articulate theory

about what is being studied to „help operationalized case study designs and make them more explicit.‟

Secondly, it needs to maximize four conditions related to design quality which are a construct validity,

internal validity, external validity and reliability.‟ In addition, he mentioned that covering these

components of research designs will effectively force the researcher to begin constructing a preliminary

theory related to the topic of study. The preliminary theory related to this topic of study has been

developed in a previous section.

According to Kidder and Judd (1986) as well as Yin (2003), they summarized that the basic of these four

tests of quality measure in case studies are:

a. Construct validity establishing correct operational measures for the concepts being studied (Yin,

2003). This was addressed in this study by collecting data through multiple sources review

throughout the four case studies reports as well as to maintain chain of evidence from the

respondents. This include by contriving case study protocol questions and asking questions

throughout the interview sessions which efficiently captivated a comprehensive and rich

understanding about the research study appropriate main issue.

b. Internal validity establishing a causal relationship, whereby certain conditions are shown to lead to

other conditions as distinguished from spurious relations (Yin, 2003) and this was addressed by the

use of pattern matching technique analysis. We used the standardized in the literature review and

entail which we have to determine the established relationships between dependent and independent

variables in this study.

c. External validity establishing the domain to which findings of study can be generalized by using

replication logic in the multiple case designs (Yin, 2003). This was demonstrated in this study by

using multiple cases for imitation logic to generalize the findings into the theory. Generally, the

external validity or transferability, we refer towards the coverage to which the study‟s answer can be

comprehensive ahead of the direct case study and applied to other cases of the research entire

population.

d. Reliability demonstrating that the operations of a study such as the data collection procedures which it

can be repeated with the same result (Yin, 2003). This proved from this research throughout the



development of the research framework in order to guide the data collection and analysis with a case

protocol and maintaining a case study database tracking for the study. Moreover, we illustrated by

which level the mechanism is established and reliable with assessing the concept to allow paralleling

the equivalent study using the similar technique, model and the data collection formed so as to gain

the same results of the prior research.

This section has covered broadly some of the issues associated with collecting and organizing data for

case studies of the choice of methodology used to conduct the present research. The section also detailed

the approach used and conditions under which the various stages of investigations were carried out from

the development of initial contacts, preliminary questionnaire, pilot survey and design and administration

of the research instrument (questionnaire). Hence, we supported the choice of approach with a detailed

description of the use of qualitative research and its benefit and this approach was customized to suit the

requirements of the study as a whole.



4. FINDINGS

In this section, this research will expands on the development of the four cases has chosen, elaborates the

preliminary concepts and codes extracted from the literature review, demonstrates the analysis and

findings from the four cases using the within-case approach and continues with the cross-case analysis of

the cases and finally to present a summary of the findings. All the findings throughout this section are as

follows:

4.1 Development of the cases

The data analysis was based on the constant comparison method postulated by the Glaser & Strauss

theory, with the aid of the ATLAS.ti version 6.2 software. The decision of selecting this software was

based on the literature on qualitative data analysis software that pointed to the ATLAS.ti software as the

best choice for data analysis and in particular for the theory building (Kelle & Laurie, 1995; Lonkila,

1995; Prein, Kelle, & Bird, 1995). Furthermore, according to Weitzman and Miles (1995) regarding the

ATLAS.ti software:

“ATLAS.ti is a powerful, well designed, user friendly program for coding and interpreting text. But more

than that, it provides an unusually wide range of powerful tools for theory building, such as a network

editor that allows you to graphically create, manipulate and examine the logical relations (hierarchical

or not) among your codes. You can also include text segments in your network views.”

The operating principle of ATLAS.ti is based on the technique of thematic analysis. By means of using

ATLAS.ti, we processed and coded all data collected during the interviews, all notes taken throughout the

interviews and those reserved in the log book and all secondary data from newspaper articles or any other

documents provided by the businesses. Data analysis incorporated multiple case study analysis and cross-

case comparison and was carried out using ATLAS.ti, a qualitative analysis software package for data

management, coding, and retrieval. The purpose of this content analysis was to identify common themes

across the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets and the entrepreneurial supports and governmental

policies towards to foster the entrepreneurial success and to draw a contrast between the two dimensions.

There are two main advantages of ATLAS.ti. Firstly, it extends the ability to deal with a huge quantity of

interconnected themes with high degree of accuracy and of flexibility. Secondly, it enables the researcher

to create the theoretical interpretation systematically during the actual process of the coding of the data.

This makes inducive and explorative analysis more accurate. Initially, they were coded instinctively and

then recycled as new codes emerged and provided more accuracy. Processing the data twice gave us a

better understanding of each of the cases.



In the first part on the analysis, an individual case analysis was developed and after that, a cross-case

analysis was performed. For the analysis, we will start describing the elements found to correspond to the

success factors in entrepreneurship construct studied. Then we will move to the entrepreneurial culture

and mindsets and entrepreneurial supports and government policies elements found, and then the realized

those elements. When using quotes from any interviewee to support a finding, we referred to the

document source as the Primary Document Number (PD) associated with the interview transcript in

which the quote is extracted from. Therefore, the distribution of PD identification numbers within the

Hermeneutic Unit (HU) „data analysis‟ was used for the analysis of individual cases. For the analysis of

the integration of the four cases, this study used a second HU named „data analysis integrated‟ where the

codes were group into similar categories whereas the association between codes point to new network,

although the PD identification numbers remained the same.

4.2 Preliminary Concepts

From the literature review, we identified and initial set of concepts and codes that are shown in Table 1.

All this concepts were included in the interview protocol at some point, although, they were only

referential because the idea was to extract the concepts and categories directly from the interviewee.

Concept/Code Concise Explanations Reference

Entrepreneurial

Success

The simplest definition success is equivalent to continued

business operations and the opposite, failure, means going

out of business.

The concept of success is defined in terms of financial

performance, such as growth, profit, turnover or return of

investment, or number of employees.

The success of small firms was attributed to entrepreneurial,

managerial, or other personality attributes of owner-

managers.

Simpson, Tuck, and Bellamy (2004)

Walker & Brown (2004), Simpson, et

al. (2004), Paige and Littrell, (2002),

Greenbank (2001)

Wijewardena and Tibbits (1999)

Entrepreneurial

Role Models

Emphasizes the role of the entrepreneur‟s human capital,

especially his or her age, and suggests a model that assumes

the probability of a new firm‟s survival is an increasing

function of an entrepreneur‟s age.

Interest in the role of personality in Entrepreneurship has

recently seen a re-emergence after a hiatus of almost 20

years.

In the „person‟ dimension, cohabitation turns out to be much

more influential, although this characteristic has not yielded

consistent results so far.

Cressy (1996)

Zhao, Seibert and Lumpkin (2010)

Davidsson (2006)

Presence of

Experienced

Entrepreneurs

Founder‟s current skills could predict the performance of

their ventures and that their predictive ability varied across

economic environments.

Herron & Robinson (1993)



Entrepreneurs who have the necessary competencies

especially in the area of operations, finance, marketing,

human resources and management skills required for the

business are more likely to be successful at start-up.

Peterson, Kozmetsky and Ridgway

(1983), Praalad and Hamel (1990),

Swierez and Spencer (1992)

Skills and

Knowledge of

Entrepreneurs

Management skills can be acquired and personal qualities

have a strong influence on the management skills/

competencies of the entrepreneur.

The simultaneous application of product, customer and

managerial knowledge relatedness across different business

units improves the market performance of multi business

companies.

Baum et al. (2001), Chandler and

Jansen (1992), Ibrahim and Goodwin

(1986), Pavett and Lau (1983),

Schein, (1987), Westerbergetal

(1997)

Tanriverdi and Venkatraman (2005)

Cultural Attitudes

towards

Entrepreneurship

Local communities can play an important role in developing

an entrepreneurial environment.

The image of entrepreneurship has a positive effect on

entrepreneurial intention.

The societies and cultures that value entrepreneurship tends

to develop societal systems to encourage it.

Mokry (1988)

Scholten, Kemp and Omta (2004)

Vesper (1983)

Proximity of

Entrepreneurial

Universities

Developing a more entrepreneurial culture can be regarded

as the essential mechanism through which universities

become effectively involved in economic development.

Spillovers from universities, as well as from private firms,

have been identified as key sources promoting firm

innovation and performance.

Fairweather (1990), Hagen (2002)

Stuart and Sorenson (2003), Hall,

Link and Scott (2003)

Business Angels

and Risk Capital

Availability

Creation of investment companies, provision of low-interest

loans, and availability of credit guarantee schemes for small

business financing have all contributed to the establishment

of new businesses.

Total informal capital investment is multiple times

that of formal venture capital

Dana (1987; Harrison and Mason

(1988), Hawkins (1993)

Harrison and Mason (1992).

Availability of

Financial

Resources

Lack of finance is a barrier for businesses in transition

economies.

The foregoing discussion shows that in the US, availability

of financial resources was an important contributor of

organizational birth rate.

Pissarides (1999, 2004), Kaganova

(2002), Aidis (2003), Aidis and

Sauka, (2005).

Pennings (1982)

Government

Influences and

Supports for

Entrepreneurship

Governmental financial support for developing small

ventures becomes essential input for their long-term

economic prosperity.

Without a doubt, government procurement programs and

subsidies for research and development are also important

for entrepreneurs.

Haber and Rachel (2007)

Goodman, Meany and Pate (1992).



Role of

Government

Policies on

Entrepreneurial

Activity

Government policy shapes the institutional environment in

which entrepreneurial decisions are made and hence, can

influence the allocation of entrepreneurial activities.

The government policies influence new venture creation

throughout legislation and regulation, licenses, taxation, etc.

Baumol (1990), Bowen & De Clercq

(2008), Minniti (2008)

Grundsten (2004).

Table 1: Initial concepts of literature

4.3 Within-Case Data Analysis

There is no standard format for within case analysis and the process is typically accomplished through a

detailed description for each case that provides the basis for generating insights (Eisenhardt, 1989). While

as we cannot disclose due to the privateness reasons, all four companies‟ personal confidentiality given is

treated in the strictest confidence (hereafter referred as the „company‟). Therefore, the research to be

written will not identify the corporation name.

4.3.1 CASE 1

This company is established in 2003 through self financing by a young guy with a big vision. The success

of the company lives in the strong spirit and belief that is so dear to the owner, which is “whatever it

takes”. His company involved in tourism sector in the inbound and outbound tour, ticketing, events,

conventions as well as seminars. Before he owned the business, he worked in the hotel industry and also

as a part-time travel agent for eight years. He founds that tourism industry is his passion and believes that

he could go further with this. Drove by the desire to be in control of his own destiny and coupled with his

experience and support from his late father as well as benchmarking himself with the role model that he

adores so much, Tun Dr Mahathir Muhammad, the former Prime Minister of Malaysia, he bring himself

to one step further to be an entrepreneur. Living in these two parameters, his company never failed.

Throughout seven years in business the company manages to accumulate less than RM 5 million sales

turn over and the business grows rapidly amidst the market and economy uncertainties. The first few

years in business were a daunting experience to him. He needs to have a lot of saving and sometimes will

auction some of his assets in getting the working capital. However, the belief that is so dear to him and

also supports and encouragement from friends, relatives and acquaintances has helped him to sail through

all the obstacles successfully and has forced him to be an innovative person.

Following the data analysis result for Case 1, first “the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets” elements are

explicated and then the elements of “entrepreneurial supports and government policies” are explained.



4.3.1.1 The entrepreneurial culture and mindsets

The analysis of the interviews on Case 1, we found four elements clearly associated with this construct in

the data interviews. Those elements were: entrepreneurial role models, presence of experienced

entrepreneurs, skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs and cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship.

These elements also discovered the theoretical support in the literature that specifically allocates those

elements to entrepreneurial culture and mindsets. Role models was early defined as “in the „person‟

dimension, cohabitation turns out to be much more influential, although this characteristic has not yielded

consistent results so far” (Davidsson, 2006). And normally, persons are fascinated to role models that are

enthusiastically supportive in requiring new tasks, skills, attitudes and norms. In addition, when

individuals have problems or drained of ideas, they will fall back on their role model for guidance.

According to the owner from this company, before he owned the business, he worked in the hotel industry

and also as a part-time travel agent for eight years. He founds that tourism industry is his enthusiasm and

believes that he could go further with this. Thus, drove by the desire to be in control of his own destiny

and coupled with his experience and support from his late father as well as benchmarking himself to

determine him to be as a successful entrepreneur. In this case, it was supported by the interviewee:

“Yes, my former Prime Minister, Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad as my role model and he bring me to one

steps further - to be an entrepreneur. Work hard, work smart and always positive.”

Another element found related to the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets were the presence of

experienced entrepreneurs. As appraised by Vesper (1980) indicated that work experience may be more

important when it is necessary to rely on inside industrial information and in highly competitive

businesses. Tacit knowledge sometimes can be taught through guided experiences, however, and courses

in entrepreneurship try to do just that, at least to some extent. And this view was defended by a numerous

scholars which they have themselves devised a program for teaching practical intelligence in school

(Williams, Blythe, White, Li, Sternberg, & Gardner, 1996). Agreeing by the respondent in this case, the

success and opportunity of the company determined by the common rule of thumb in business; the Pareto

Principle - 80/20 rules – it means the company gain 80% only through 20% of the customers. These are

the loyal customers that keep on patronizing company‟s services as well as introducing new customers to

his company. This is not because they gain profit or incentive. It is purely based on the good experience

and trust that are worth of sharing within their networking. This is the power of the word of mouth

advertising. This demonstrates his company as a successful brand. The brand has satisfied his customer

and makes them willingly to communicate the value to others that eventually bring sales and reinforce the

brand. Ideally, several people can be in a profession for years and be familiar with fewer than someone

who has been in the profession for months. This was affirmed by the respondent saying that:



“I was working in the same as with the current one during your formative years. It was definitely related

to my current business.”

Skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs are particularly important to performance in emerging market

industry and may impart more entrepreneurial opportunities attractive as well as leads to the successful

entrepreneurs. According to Shane (2000), an entrepreneur can discover only those opportunities related

to his/her prior knowledge. The prior knowledge creates a „„knowledge corridor‟‟ that allows him/her to

recognize certain opportunities, but not others (Ardichvili et al., 2003). Therefore, have a presence in the

heart and minds of the stakeholder are not the only key survival in business as according by the

interviewee. Management agility in responding to the business environment, strong financial standing,

visionary, hardworking and perseverance are also essential in sustaining and building business reputation.

These are the soft and hard skills in which the owner strongly believes these could be acquired through

the existence management competency accomplishments. Thus, in the interviewee words:

“I discovered those opportunities related to my skills and knowledge when I realized and recognized that

at the time there were not so many companies who could seriously provide good and comprehensive

service in this related sector.”

The interviewee asserted some concept regarding the surrounding local community which is related to the

cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship. As supported by Mokry (1988) proposed that local

communities can play an important role in developing an entrepreneurial environment. Consequently,

cultural attitudes may consider one of the mechanisms that contribute to the entrepreneurial success and it

would positively relate to motivating force for the business growth according to the interviewee.

Moreover, he found that one of the reasons he may spot this opportunity in this business environment

cause he was born into a family with businesses and this image of entrepreneurship having a positive

effect on his entrepreneurial intention. This indeed, supportive by Gnyawali and Fogel (1994),

entrepreneurship may not prosper if most members of the society view it with suspicion. However, an

entrepreneur in the true sense of the word affirmed by the respondent, who wants to be successful in his

business will work hard for his cause, and will do also depend on others surrounding as well. Therefore,

the respondent in this case noted that:

“Yes. Local environment and community are great influence on what one does for a living.”

Therefore, the networks view for the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets in case 1 as follows (see figure

2). For the analysis of this first case, this study used the first Hermeneutic Unit (HU) named „data

analysis‟ and while the primary document number (PD) named P1- Case Study01. The four elements

which are entrepreneurial role models, presence of experienced entrepreneurs, skills and knowledge of



entrepreneurs and the cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship in this network were grouped into

similar codes and categories {1-1} whereas the relationship between codes point to the new networks

which is the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets {2-4}.

is part of

is part of

is part of

is part of

The Entrepreneurial Culture

and Mindsets {2-4}

Role models {1-1}

Presence of Experienced

Entrepreneurs {1-1}

Skills and Knowledge of

Entrepreneurs {1-1}

Cultural Attitudes towards

Entrepreneurship {1-1}

Figure 2: Entrepreneurial Culture and Mindsets – Case 1

4.3.1.2 Entrepreneurial Supports and Governmental Policies

In this first case, we identified that there are two elements that affiliated with this entrepreneurial supports

and governmental policies. Those elements were: government influences and supports for

entrepreneurship as well as the role of government policies on entrepreneurial activity. Government

influences and supports contribute to the greater ability and power to the success factors in

entrepreneurship. In developing areas, satisfactory government support has been shown to be important

for small firm success (Yusuf, 1995). The service and support programs for business creation and growth

implemented by government has successfully cultivated the expansion of SMEs as it does help for the

new and existing entrepreneur to achieve their goals and the meantime to stabilized the business. The

credit guarantee association‟s existence to guarantee loans for SMEs on the other hand play an effective

role in promoting and supporting entrepreneurial activity through promotions, exhibition and seminars.

Nonetheless, the owner of this company founds that the red tape and bureaucracy are still the hurdles and

due to this most of the programs benefited only to certain segment of the markets. However guidance,

assistance and support from government and local authorities are needed in order to encourage higher

spirit towards success. This was corroborated by the interviewee:



“Yes. The government procurement and support programs are very innovative and timely. It helps to

protect ideas & interest from copycats & opportunists. In the travel industries, only agents in the

exclusive category will be eligible to programs of international stature.”

The role of government policies are one of the key elements for hastening the emergence of

entrepreneurs. In the literature, government policy shapes the institutional environment in which

entrepreneurial decisions are made and hence, can influence the allocation of entrepreneurial activities

(Baumol 1990; Bowen & De Clercq, 2008; Minniti; 2008) and there is empirical evidence from a wide

range of settings that established legal systems can increase the overall likelihood of entrepreneurial

success. According to the respondent in this case, the government policy, programs and supports are other

pivotal elements in encouraging more people to be an entrepreneur. As for the policy, the government has

a very positive attitude in influencing new venture or business creation throughout legislation and

regulation, licenses, taxation. In addition, the government should also seriously look into the need of our

youth population. This may create the „enterprise acculturation‟ with adequate policies from the

government. Education system should be changed to prepare them as early as in the primary school to

develop the necessary skills and attributes that make up an entrepreneurial mindset. These can later be

followed at various levels of higher education system including at vocational trainings, universities,

business incubations for the young etc. As validated by the respondent in this case:

“Yes, it does help for the new and existing entrepreneur to achieve their goals and the meantime to

stabilize the business.”

Consequently, the networks view for the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies in case 1 as

follows (see figure 3). For the second analysis of this case, this study used the same primary document

number (PD) named P1- Case Study01. The two elements which are governmental influences and support

for entrepreneurship as well as role of government policies on entrepreneurial activity in this network

were grouped into similar codes and categories {2-2} whilst the relationship between codes point to the

new networks which is the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies {1-2}.



is part of

is part of

The Entrepreneurial Supports

and Governmental Policies

{1-2}

Government Influences and

Support for Entrepreneurship

{2-2}Role of Government Policies

on Entrepreneurial Activity

{2-2}

Figure 3: Entrepreneurial Supports and Governmental Policies – Case 1

4.3.2 CASE 2

The second company is one of the new groomed SME in the state of Kelantan of Malaysia. Located in

east coast which popular with varieties of foods and tradition. Spices and food producing, spices

repackaging and retailing are the core business which established since 2005. Self interest in cooking,

trying new recipe in addition to basic knowledge of business during her childhood brought this women

entrepreneur into the entrepreneurship arena. She started the business without formal intentions to

commercialize it until started to be more serious since the last few years as the business grow is positive.

Her company has RM 250,000.00 to less than RM 5 million annual sales turnovers with the total of thirty

two skilled and unskilled employees. Her first venture started with introducing her cooks to her friends.

The uniqueness of the tastes and its differences make the demands of her cooks became appealing. The

demands grew and she started to cook more every day until she found out why she doesn‟t turn from

producing ready cook meals into producing the spices to be used for the cook and customer can buy the

spices and cook by themselves. The owner of this company is a risk taker, but she is firm with her vision.

She shoot a try in producing the spices of her own food recipe, put them into a presentable looks and

started going into the market and now she made it.

As the following is the data analysis result for Case 2. First of all “the entrepreneurial culture and

mindsets” elements are explained and finally the elements for “entrepreneurial supports and government

policies” are explicated.




The analysis of the interviews on Case 2, establish four elements clearly linked with this construct in the

records of interviews. Those elements were: entrepreneurial role models, skills and knowledge of

entrepreneurs, cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship and proximity of entrepreneurial universities.

These elements also found through the theoretical support in the literature that precisely allocates to

entrepreneurial culture and mindsets. As Cressy (1996) emphasizes the role of the entrepreneur‟s human

capital, especially his or her age, and suggests a model that assumes the probability of a new firm‟s

survival is an increasing function of an entrepreneur‟s age. Moreover, the interviewee confirmed that

having a role models help her in adapting and instilling the righteous of managing the business, risk

analysis as well as the strategy in business industry. For her, without a right mindset and strategy, the

entrepreneur will easily retreat from the competition. Being an observant at her first attempt in

entrepreneurship made her feel comfortable in placing herself within the entrepreneurship tough

challenge. The success stories of the existing entrepreneur with their strategy unintentionally have been a

guides and lines as an entrepreneur to penetrate her own market in her own way. The end result of the

type of role model will absolutely influence the surrounding especially for the new entrepreneur. In this

case, it was supported by the interviewee:

“Yes, indeed by having an entrepreneurial role model which is more relevant to my business, he/she will

be able to motivate and inspire me in the way of how to run the business, the potential risks and how to

increase market share.”

The advanced skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs leads to greater possibility to the success in

business. Many researchers have acknowledged the fact that management skills can be acquired and

personal qualities have a strong influence on the management skills or competencies of the entrepreneur

(Baum et al., 2001; Chandler & Jansen, 1992; Ibrahim & Goodwin, 1986; Pavett & Lau, 1983; Schein,

1987; Westerbergetal, 1997). As according to respondent into this case, the competition of such products

in the area is stiff. The entrepreneur without a strong motivations and confidences won‟t be able to start

such business within the competitors strong and established territory. Even though her company could not

win a huge percentage of the market share, but the brand was able to enter the market and became the

alternative products for the other spices products. Hence, this prior knowledge, through entrepreneurial

alertness, ultimately helps entrepreneurs discover innovative ways (opportunity recognition) to satisfy the

needs of the customers through new products, services and processes (Sambasivan, et al., 2009). Thus, in

the interviewee words:

“When I first promoted my products, I gathered feedback from the customer. Then, I realized that there is

a lot of positive feedback about the products and some possible improvement. Based on the information

gathered, I confidence that my product is marketable.”



The positive public and cultural attitudes towards enterpriser encouraged entrepreneur‟s activity. This

indeed, supportive by Swanson and Webster (1992) propagated that with the development of social

prejudice against business entities may result to small business become a victim of social justice. The

respondent swanned some concept as regards the surrounding of social factors as well as physical

facilities which is related to the cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship. From the owner standpoint of

views, although the business sounds not complicated, the hardest part is to sustain and maintain the pace.

The interviewee understands that she won‟t be able to run the business alone. This is definitely the image

of entrepreneurship having a positive outcome to her entrepreneurial intents as the environing local

communities of interests are likely to increase one‟s desire to engross in the business natural process. As a

result, the respondent in this case remarked that:

“Yes. The surrounding local community concerning entrepreneurship gave me a good exposure and

being supportive on the golden opportunity that I would have in business.”

A further element found correlated to the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets were proximity of

entrepreneurial university. Etzkowitz (1983) coined the term “entrepreneurial university” to describe

institutions that have become critical to regional economic development. Entrepreneur education and its

relationship to performance have been widely examined. As such, developing a more entrepreneurial

culture can be regarded as the essential mechanism through which universities become effectively

involved in economic development (Fairweather 1990; Hagen, 2002). Therefore, having closer proximity

of the business to the university will have the spill over knowledge in a sense of experiment grounds for

students as well. The respondent agreed that ingraining the entrepreneurial movement within the

universities is a correct decision as the students are considered matured enough to understand the business

conduct at that age. The presence of proper training and research assistances are important factors

contributing to become more entrepreneurial. This is because the local residence from the same vicinity

stands to benefit from research, training, courses, seminars, exhibitions and guidance offered by the

universities as mentioned by the interviewee. This was stated by the answerer saying that:

“Yes, adult and adolescences are matured enough to understand the business conduct. This opportunity

should be grabbed by university management or entrepreneurial to help country produce successful

entrepreneur.”

Accordingly, the networks view for the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets in case 2 as follows (see

figure 4). For the analysis of this second case, this study used the same Hermeneutic Unit (HU) named

„data analysis‟ and while the primary document number (PD) named P2- Case Study02. The four

elements which are entrepreneurial role models, skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs, cultural attitudes

towards entrepreneurship and proximity of entrepreneurial university in this network were grouped into



similar codes and categories {2-1} whereas the relationship between codes point to the new networks

which is the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets {1-4}.

is part of

is part of

is part of

is part of


and Mindsets {1-4}

Role models {2-1}


Entrepreneurs {2-1}



Proximity of Universities {1-1}



In this second case, we recognized that there are two elements that consorted with this entrepreneurial

supports and governmental policies. Those elements were: government influences and supports for

entrepreneurship as well as the role of government policies on entrepreneurial activity. Government

supports is vital to cultivate SMEs expansion and authorized aspects are used in selection operating

resolution in order to guarantee SMEs upcoming business achievement. By their actions, governments

substantially influence the economic and non-economic opportunities essential to the creation of the

conditions that lead to the development of business ventures (Wilken, 1979). As corroborated by the

owner from this second company, she agreed that the local government play an effective role in

promoting and supporting entrepreneurial activity. A lot of pre-requisite and requirement need to be

fulfilled. As such, creation of investment companies, provision of low-interest loans and availability of

credit guarantees schemes for small business financing have all contributed to the establishment and

success in business. These areas provide opportunities for the entrepreneur to seek knowledge, learn from

the best practices and to have alternative for financial support. This was underpinned by the interviewee:

“Yes. All these initiatives are the opportunity for the entrepreneur to seek knowledge, learn from the best

practices and to have alternative for financial support.”

Government policies and procedures may determine the market instrument and make them function

expeditiously. Besides, for an example, Gray and Sanzogni (2004) found that the government support



policy is a key component for accelerating the growth of e-commerce entrepreneurs in Thailand because

the achievement of the highest rate of entrepreneurial activity by Thai‟s comes from the encouragement

and support of the Thai government (Sebora, et al., 2009). This also agreed by the interviewee mentioned

that policies programs for business creation and growth implemented by government is very important to

encourage SMEs spreading out and it motivates the entrepreneur to expatiate the business. As formalized

by the respondent in this case:

“Yes, government introduced several of incentive such as tax exemption, licensing, etc towards business

achievement and it motivates the entrepreneur to expand the business.”

Thus, the networks view for the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies in case 2 as follows

(see figure 5). For the second analysis of this case, this study used the same primary document number

(PD) named P2- Case Study02. The two elements which are governmental influences and supports for

entrepreneurship as well as role of government policies on entrepreneurial activity in this network were

grouped into similar codes and categories {1-1} whilst the relationship between codes point to the new

networks which is the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies {1-2}.

is part of

is part of



{1-2}



{1-1}

Role of Government Policies


{1-1}


4.3.3 CASE 3

“Sky is the limit” is the motto for a young Information Technology (IT) male entrepreneur. He realized

that Multimedia, IT, Web and Video Production is one of the services which continuously demanding

within the evolving era of technology. To remain competitive, companies need to be on the par with

global technology evolution where his company provides the solution. He is already a business owner

with, almost unbelievably for a person of his age, two years of entrepreneurial experience. He



incorporated this business in 2007, making him, at 28, one of the youngest company directors in

Malaysia history. He managed to have thirty skilled and two unskilled employees. He completed his

postgraduate study in Multimedia Creative which makes him more reputable and brings customer

confidence in dealing with his service. The annual sale turnover is RM250,000.00 to less than RM5

millions makes his company stand strong among its competitors. He quite satisfied with his achievement

so far. Within years of establishment, the company reached RM1.5 millions target and RM5 millions for

the next 2 years target. “Success is a ladder that cannot be climbed with your hand in your pocket. Work

Smart and Think Hard” he said when he been asked about the attribute that motivates him the most in

achieving long term success. He learns from a role model who works hard and risk takers. He attracted to

decision making and problem solving style from his role model. For him, it is better to learn from other‟s

mistake rather than learn from his own mistake. “He learnt from his friends, lecturers that not many of

them willing to leave their five figure jobs to run the business. Definitely he believed that hard work will

pay.

The data analysis result for Case 3 as follows; firstly, “the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets” elements

are explicated and followed by the elements for “entrepreneurial supports and government policies” are

explained.


The data analysis of the interviews on Case 3, encountered five elements strongly allied in the data. Those

elements are: entrepreneurial role models, presence of experienced entrepreneurs, skills and knowledge of


These elements also found throughout the academic support in the literature that in particular allocates to

entrepreneurial culture and mindsets. The impact of entrepreneurial role models generally interrelated

to involving the entrepreneurs, employment in the business and significantly related with interest in

starting a business towards the success factors in entrepreneurship. As surveyed by Cooper (1985) has

stated that the factors like experience or occupational background of the entrepreneurs, family members,

skill, knowledge, role models, supports and the economic conditions of the entrepreneurs, access to

capital, etc. are some of the motives that lead to entrepreneurial success. The owner of this company

learns from role models who work hard and risk takers. He attracted to decision making and problem

solving style from his role model. For him, it is better to learn from other‟s mistake rather than learn from

his own mistake. He learnt from his friends, lecturers that not many of them willing to leave their five



figure jobs to run the business besides, he believed that hard work will pay. In this case, it was confirmed

by the respondent:

“Yes, role models as a reference and as a guideline in decision making. Therefore, why should we learn

from our mistake when we can learn from others?”

By examining experience and expertise for the presence of experienced entrepreneurs, Chandler and

Jansen (1992) report some significant relationships between a founder's familiarity and self-rated skills

and between experience and skills on the one hand and venture growth and profitability on the other.

Moreover it will positively associate to improve the business skills and venture in a continuous

discovering and development in entrepreneurship. The respondent gained some experiences when he

involved in project management of advertising, multimedia and IT. He was self employed during that

time when he ventured to the business world. He likes venture new things make him impatient and

aggressively expand his business to meet his own target. Experiences that he gained during his previous

job are important for him as a guide and familiarize him with the business game play. In consequence,

regarding the presence of experienced entrepreneurs, an interviewee pointed out:

“Yes. Experience is important to guide us and to make sure we know the game of the business. Besides,

experience could help and boost the growing process.”

The truth that prior skills and knowledge of a market, business and consumer desires can be the most

important benefit for entrepreneurs in terms of realizing potentially profitable chances. Empirical studies

and based in his consultancy practice, Gerber (2001) points out those small businesses are founded mostly

by technicians, specialists, or professionals in certain fields and most of entrepreneurs perform their own

technical work with high quality and efficiency, but seldom are management and managerial skills

neglected. According to the owner of this company, some of the entrepreneurship success story were

based pure luck, whilst the rest are merely depends on the past experiences and knowledge that boost and

grows the business. He alert with his surroundings as well as the market needs. The entrepreneur should

have the ability of turning the problem into opportunity and on the same time he maintains and improves

his company reputations. These are one of the factors that help him in developing his business. Not to

forget, staff welfare and effective skills in problem solving are vital elements in managing the company as

affirmed by this success entrepreneur. Thus, in the interviewee expressions:

“I discovered those opportunities related to my skills and knowledge by look around by listen to the

problem, read and analyze the difficulty and always look forward for the new technology.”

.

Therefore, a constructive approach of the general public toward entrepreneurship and an extensive public

support for entrepreneurial behaviour are both needed to encourage people to start a new business. The



owner of this company affirmed that having more open culture and positive attitudes will encourages

information sharing and networking that help to advance the interests of entrepreneurial people. For

instance, close relatives can assist entrepreneurs inquire about solutions, locate resources, and assemble a

team of willing people to address the entrepreneur's problems (Kao, 1993). Hence, the respondent in this

case mentioned that:

“Yes. People always think as a business owner, we can be rich and have our sweet time. The facts are,

the life is not as great as it seems. Business consume more time in first 5 years before it reach the success

point.”

The spillovers from universities, as well as from private firms, have been identified as key sources

promoting firm innovation and performance (Stuart & Sorenson, 2003; Hall, Link, & Scott, 2003). A low

level of education and exposure could prevent motivated entrepreneurial movement in their surroundings.

Undoubtedly, we suppose that the proximity of entrepreneurial universities does indeed have a positive

relationship to entrepreneurship. In term of educational background, the respondent agreed that education

experiences are helpful in venturing into the entrepreneur world. Entrepreneurship which tag along with

education will result a smart entrepreneur who knows how to look into the problem and turn it into

opportunity. The university should become a playground for a young entrepreneur to learn and get the

right exposure whilst on the same time indirectly involve in business. This was declared by the

respondent saying that:

“Yes, education and business should work together in determine advancement of technology and looking

for more opportunity.”

As a result, the networks view for the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets in case 3 as follows (see figure

6). For the analysis of this third case, this study used the same Hermeneutic Unit (HU) named „data

analysis‟ and while the primary document number (PD) named P3- Case Study03. The three elements

which are entrepreneurial role models, skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs and cultural attitudes

towards entrepreneurship in this network were grouped into similar codes and categories {3-1} whilst the

elements of presence of experienced entrepreneurs and proximity of entrepreneurial university in this

network were grouped into similar codes and categories {2-1} where the relationship between those

codes point to the networks which is the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets {2-5}.



is part of

is part of

is part of

is part of

is part of


and Mindsets {2-5}

Role models {3-1}


Entrepreneurs {2-1}


Entrepreneurs {3-1}






In this third case, we acknowledged that there are two elements that related with the entrepreneurial

supports and governmental policies. Those elements were: business angels and risk capital availability as

well as the role of government policies on entrepreneurial activity. Entrepreneurs need capital support

services in order to develop their business. The business angels and risk capital would be as an addition

support to financial assistance. The other theorist have pursued this idea is argued that support from

informal network such as friends, relatives, previous employers and acquaintances have found also to

benefit the business (Raduan Rose, et al., 2006b). In term of resource, as mentioned by the respondent, he

relies on his own on top of the business angels to start the business. He obtains the financial support from

his own savings and family as well. For him, it is not that easy to apply and get the financial support

nowadays due to a lot of documentation obligation, etc. At the beginning he started with RM70, 000.00

capitals. Even though the self financing reduce liabilities, but as an entrepreneur, he still require support

to venture bigger scale projects and ensure the resource that they have is enough at any time. This was

supported by the interviewee:

“The main source of financing on the support for my business is through business angel. I start with the

personal capital. It helps since we didn‟t have the liabilities I also do ask for family support.”

In Lundstrom and Stevenson (2001) research have shown and described the entrepreneurship policy as a

collection of measures taken to stimulate more entrepreneurial behaviour in a geographic area. In

succession to create people be aware of the value of being entrepreneurs, the government and also the

business organizations can manage certain entrepreneurship programs and courses to the public‟s. As

according to the interviewee, he sees these initiatives as a great effort from government in encouraging



and developing entrepreneurship in Malaysia. On top of that, the role of government policies is

important to cultivate SME growth in this country. Some other initiatives such as tax exemption, new

policy which protect the entrepreneur, etc are some of the proof that the country is keen on business

creation and growth. Therefore, he expects more research and development to be organized by the

researchers as well as the government, so that they will understand the issues and problem faced by the

entrepreneur. This also includes with more campaigns and success stories should be highlighted in order

to stimulate and encourage entrepreneurial movement. As validated by the respondent in this case:

“Yes, service, policies and support programs for business creation and growth which done by

government are very important to cultivate SMEs expansion.”

As a consequence, the networks view for the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies in case 3

as follows (see figure 7). For the second analysis of this case, this study used the same primary document

number (PD) named P3- Case Study03. The two elements which are business angels and risk capital

availability as code {1-1} as well as role of government policies on entrepreneurial activity as code {2-1}

in this network were grouped whereas the relationship between codes point to the new networks which is

the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies {2-3}.

is part of

is part of



{2-3}

Business Angels and Risk

Capital Availability {1-1}



{2-1}


4.3.4 CASE 4

The fourth company belongs to a matured women entrepreneur from South Coast of Malaysia agreed that

the best way to achieve long term target is by building the target around a short and middle term target

and strive to achieve the targets. The company was created in 2007 and it runs retail, woman clothing,

traditional herbs and school uniforms. This company has thirty two employees consists of skilled and

unskilled workers. Throughout four years in the business, the company manages to progress up to



RM250,000.00 sales turnovers and the business grows speedily amongst the market. This employment

segmentation helps her to balance her business income and spending in term of salary payout to the

employees and skill transfer from skilled to unskilled, and from skilled to become expert workers. She

was a teacher before becoming an entrepreneur. Her financial wealth and stability inspire her more to

become a successful entrepreneur with her own skills and interest. Even though she is from the family and

community which not business minded type of person, but she proves she was able to stand up with her

own choice and she made it.

The data analysis result for Case 4 as follows; to start with, “the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets”

elements are explained and accompanied by the elements for “entrepreneurial supports and government

policies” are explicated.


The data analysis of the interviews on Case 4, encountered three elements strongly connected in the data.

Those elements are: skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs, cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship

and proximity of entrepreneurial universities. These elements also found throughout the academician

support in the literature that in particular apportions to entrepreneurial culture and mindsets. Regarding to

the skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs, the empirical studies by Gerber (2001) points out that those

small businesses are founded mostly by technicians, specialists, or professionals in certain fields and most

of entrepreneurs perform their own technical work with high quality and efficiency, but seldom are

management and managerial skills neglected. The owner of this company asserted that the previous

exposure in multi level marketing and direct selling give her confidence in dealing with clients and

customer. She spots her business when she realized that there is a need within the community within the

area whereas none of such business existed or presented. After a meticulous study and market research,

she found out that the location is strategic for her to start the business. From her perspective, she asserted

that the key considerations in order to ensure business success are knowledge. She urges youngsters and

new entrepreneur to go for the knowledge before entering entrepreneurship field. Moreover, literature

revealed that the management skills of an entrepreneur refer to knowledge, skills, and/or abilities required

managing a venture (Sambasivan, Abdul, & Yusop, 2009). According to the interviewee, firstly, the

understanding and determining the most commonly sought after products that help to ensure higher

repeated sales. Secondly, the capability to quickly respond towards enquiries pertaining to potential

products to be sold at the outlet can be a major advantage for entrepreneurs in term of recognizing



potentially opportunities. Those are crucial thing that need to be done together with having knowledge of

the market .In this case, it was confirmed by the respondent:

“I discover those opportunities related to my skills and knowledge based on enquiries and support from

my previous MLM and direct-selling clients. They kept asking for products that they believe I was likely

able to provide them with. Understanding and determining the most commonly sought after products that

help to ensure higher repeated sales.”

Cultural attitudes together with community norm also correspond to the mind-set of fellowmen for

entrepreneurship. In the study of Scholten, Kemp, & Omta (2004) found that the image of

entrepreneurship have a positive effect on entrepreneurial intention. As the owner and founder of the

company, she was well known among her friends with her products. She realized that she has the needed

skills and knowledge when her friends keep on asking about products that they believed her likely to

provide them. This is makes her more feel very determined entrepreneur and from her standpoint of view,

the local communities should keep continuously support the business development together with the

recognition as the vital contribution of confidence in the chance for entrepreneurial success. As a

consequence, concerning the cultural attitudes towards the entrepreneurs, an interviewee remarked:

“Yes, they inspire me to face whatever challenges ahead and they are supportive of this kind of

endeavour; stiffer competition will ensure them of better price advantage from the users‟ point of view.”

The proximity of entrepreneurial universities has a strong relationship in the business vicinity. A low

level of education and exposure could prevent motivated entrepreneurial movement in their surroundings.

Research evidence by Clark (1998) has shown that there are the relation with the concept to universities

attempts to reform them and to become more entrepreneurial by strengthening their steering core,

enhancing the development periphery, widening the funding base, stimulating the academic heartland and

promoting an entrepreneurial belief. The respondent agreed that the entrepreneurial movement within

universities been met with both enthusiasm towards the successful entrepreneurs. From her point of view,

the knowledge spillovers from universities can be identified as key sources promoting firm innovation

and performance. With the advance of communication technologies, proximities are now becoming less

significant. The presence of universities for training and research assistance were important factors

contributing to become more entrepreneurial. This function a purpose in providing them with systematic

ways of running or operating a business entity. This helps to prepare them more and enhances the chances

of success while able to determine the red-flags to potential problems. For that reason, in the interviewee

words:

“Yes. It does serve a purpose in providing them with systematic ways of running or operating a business

entity. This helps to prepare them more and enhances the chances of success while able to determine the

red-flags to potential problems.”



Therefore, the networks view for the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets in case 4 as follows (see figure

8). For the analysis of this fourth case, this study used the same Hermeneutic Unit (HU) named „data

analysis‟ and while the primary document number (PD) named P4- Case Study04. The three elements

which are entrepreneurial skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs and cultural attitudes towards

entrepreneurship in this network were grouped into similar codes and categories {4-1} whilst the

elements of proximity of entrepreneurial university in this network were codes as {3-1} where the

relationship between those codes point to the networks which is the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets

{3-5}.

is part of

is part of

is part of


and Mindsets {3-5}


Entrepreneurs {4-1}






In this fourth case, we recognized that there are three elements that interrelated with the entrepreneurial

supports and governmental policies. Those elements were: business angels and risk capital availability,

financial resources availability as well as the role of government policies on entrepreneurial activity.

Regarding to the business angels and risk capital availability, research has shown that creation of

investment companies, provision of low-interest loans, and availability of credit guarantee schemes for

small business financing have all contributed to the establishment of new businesses (Dana, 1987;

Harrison & Mason, 1988; Hawkins, 1993). They all have versatile and differing venture criteria and may

give more by approach of support particularly to premature phase SMEs than just capital. The owner of

this company asserted that her business was established with self funding with a year loan as the

commencement. From her opinion, in Malaysia it is not easy to get capital assistance. The creation of

investment companies, provision of low-interest loans and availability of are crucial in helping those

actual entrepreneurs who may have the wisdom or awareness or avid to embark on a business venture; but

short of proper capital investments. However according to her, the entities should have a continuous



monitoring system in place to provide a check and balance environment to minimize the likelihood of the

entrepreneurs going astray from their main objectives. This was backed by the interviewee:

“Yes. These are the main sources of strength. These entities are crucial in helping those genuine

entrepreneurs who may have the wisdom or knowledge or zealousness to undertake a business venture;

but short of proper capital investments.”

Generally, entrepreneurs need and require formal financial resources for their business. Financial

resources prospects concern to affluence formation, which is ordinarily suppose as a right need for all

varieties of different individual conducts. The brief review of the literature provided recently is by George

and Prabhu (2002) highlight the role of developmental financial institutions in fostering entrepreneurship

in emerging economies through lending policies and prioritization of national industrial-development

goals. As mentioned by the interviewee, in emerging economies through lending policies and

prioritization of national industrial-development goal, the proper support and exposure are crucial in

terms of fund management; i.e. not only just giving out loans to the entrepreneurs but also in guiding

them especially during the difficult period in servicing the loans with the intention of help an

entrepreneurs. Besides, she brought up that bank-based loan financial is perceived to enhance

entrepreneurship loves to do that to ensure their money is in a safe-hand. But getting a top credit

references is another stumbling block because a formal institutions such as a bank required absolute top

credit references from loan applicants. From her words, not all entrepreneurs have the proper

documentations as required by those banks; yet they are genuine players that require additional capital to

ensure greater success. It is have a lesser bureaucratic atmosphere when giving out financial assistance to

entrepreneurs. Nobody wants to fail but the onus is vested on the financial providers to guide and educate

the entrepreneurs to ensure their exploration is a successful ones For this reason, the respondent in this

case mentioned that:

“Yes. The role of developmental formal financial institutions not only just giving out loans to the

entrepreneurs but also in guiding them especially during the difficult period in servicing the loans.”

Recently, according to Belso Martinez (2009) stated that the objective of entrepreneurship policy is aimed

at increasing the supply of new entrepreneurs and new businesses as well as their early stage survival and

growth and thus, this public policy to promote entrepreneurship can be broadly considered under that

aimed at the macroeconomic environment, the micro level (supporting individual firms), and the

entrepreneurial culture. The government policies influence new venture creation throughout legislation

and regulation, licenses, taxation, etc. The owner of this company affirmed that government plays a vital

role in encouraging and influencing new venture/business creation throughout legislation and regulation,



licenses, taxation for instance. But, still it needs a synchronize efforts by all parties, local government in

particular. As corroborated by the respondent in this case:

“Yes, especially in making sure the marketability and identifying new potential markets for SMEs. Try to

have the products exported to other countries using the government platform.”

Thus, the networks view for the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies in case 4 as follows

(see figure 9). For the second analysis of this case, this study used the same primary document number

(PD) named P4- Case Study04. The three elements which are business angels {2-1}, availability of

financial resources {1-1} and role of governmental policies on entrepreneurial activity {3-1} in this

network were grouped whereas the relationship between three codes point to the new networks which is

the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies {3-4}.

is part ofis part of

is part of



{3-4}

Business Angels and Risk


Availability of Financial

Resources {1-1}



{3-1}


4.4 Cross-Case Analysis

In an attempt to give internal validity to the analysis, we went one step further in the analysis of the data.

After analyzing the individual cases using separate set of codes for each case in order to identify cases, a

new Hermeneutic Unit (HU) inside Atlas.ti was created, an all codes from the individual cases were

grouped (merged) in one single set of codes according to their similarity of meaning. The data analysis

result for the integration of cases as follows; first the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets elements are

explained and finally the elements of the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies are

explained.



4.4.1 The entrepreneurial culture and mindsets

The analysis of the interview in the integration of cases found five elements which are: Entrepreneurial

role models, presence of experienced entrepreneurs, skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs, cultural

attitudes towards entrepreneurship and proximity of entrepreneurial universities. These results are in line

with the components of contribution towards the success in entrepreneurship.



success factors in entrepreneurship. Therefore, the greater entrepreneurial role models influence, the

greater the ability to enterprise. The argument is supported by Amit, Glosten, & Muller (1993) and

Bygrave (1993) revealed that success of a new venture is the outcome of reciprocal relations among

variables relating to the entrepreneur‟s personal characteristics, skills and background, the decisions and

actions taken by the entrepreneur in the process of realizing the venture, the nature and structure of the

organization or the service that the venture has developed, and the organizational and environmental

variables of the framework in which it came about. Therefore, the entrepreneurial role models element

appears to be linked with the three cases which are Case 1, Case 2 and Case 3. Contrary, in case 4, the

interviewee mentioned that it is not necessary for an individual‟s attracted to entrepreneurial role models

which are actively helpful in requiring new tasks, skills, attitudes and norms.


the presence of experienced entrepreneurs. The review of the literature provided earlier which

entrepreneurs who have the necessary competencies especially in the area of operations, finance,

marketing, human resources and management skills required for the business are more likely to be

successful at startup (Peterson, Kozmetsky, & Ridgway, 1983; Praalad & Hamel, 1990; Swierez &

Spencer, 1992). With regards to these contacts, the presence of experienced entrepreneurs comes out to be

related with only two cases which are case 1 and case 2 and they are definitely agreed that the business

owner or founder obtain their business idea from a previous job as well as helped them to predict the

performance of their ventures.



entrepreneurs. A mixture of studies found that some key factors may lead to the business failure were due

to the lack of management skills or competencies (O‟Neill & Duker, 1986; Terpstra & Olson, 1993) and



the other perspective concluded that management skills of entrepreneurs were conducive to business

performance and growth (Bird, 1993; Cooper & Gimeno-Gascon, 1992; Ronstadt, 1984). As a result, this

element is remarkably important in order to be a successful entrepreneur and all the interviewee supported

these statements.

Cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship also one of the mechanisms that contribute to the

entrepreneurial success and it would positively relate to motivating force for the business growth. For

instance, close relatives can assist entrepreneurs inquire about solutions, locate resources, and assemble a

team of willing people to address the entrepreneur's problems (Kao, 1993) and together with social norm

also represents the attitude of fellowmen towards entrepreneurship (Grundsten, 2004). Hence, this is also

strongly established and all the four cases through the interview supported this element and them likely to

increase one‟s desire to engage in entrepreneurial activities by the surrounding local community

concerning entrepreneurship.

Undoubtedly, we suppose that the proximity of entrepreneurial universities does indeed have a positive

relationship to entrepreneurship. A low level of education and exposure could prevent motivated

entrepreneurial movement in their surroundings. Certain substructure components give the impression to

make considerable impact on the entrepreneurial environment. These components include the existence of

universities and research and development programs, a well-educated and technically skilled labor force

and modern transport and communication facilities that provide easy access to suppliers and customers

(Bruno & Tyebjee, 1982; Gartner, 1985). This was also affirmed by three cases (case 2, case 3 and case 4)

with the aim of the entrepreneurial movement within universities been met with both enthusiasms towards

the successful entrepreneurs. Concerning the finding from the interview in case 1, the interviewee noted

that the experienced are more valuable than the education because it just only a theory compared to the

practically exposure doing the business.

4.4.2 The Entrepreneurial Supports and Governmental Policies

In the integration of cases the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies is believed to be

interrelated with some facilitator elements towards the successful in entrepreneurship. Those elements

are: Business angels and risk capital availability, availability of financial resources and government

influences and supports for entrepreneurship.




risk capital availability would be as an addition support to financial assistance. The other theorist have

pursued this idea is argued that support from informal network such as friends, relatives, previous

employers and acquaintances have found also to benefit the business (Raduan Rose, et al., 2006b). For

that reason, this element is directly quoted by the interviewee from the two cases which are case 3 and

case 4. They remarked that these entities are crucial in helping those genuine entrepreneurs as well as

contributed the ability and willingness to provide the company with enough capital to move the business

to the next phase. On the contrary, with the other two cases which are they preferred having their own

financing as they have more than enough to start their business.

Generally, entrepreneurs need and require financial support for their business. The availability financial

resources prospects concern to affluence formation, which is ordinarily suppose as a right need for all

varieties of different individual, conducts. As reported in Davis (2003), fully 90% of start-ups are not

supported by venture capital and more than 95% of small-firm financing comes from sources other than

venture capital, particularly commercial banks. Regrettably, there is only one case from the four

interviews that supported this element which is in case 4 after one year business operation. Nevertheless,

according to the other three cases, they mentioned that financial institutions have a rigid scheme of

payment to be followed and thus this could be a discouraging factor especially when expected payment

from the formal bank financial.

Government influences and supports for entrepreneurship is also very crucial to promote the

entrepreneurial development in order to guarantee SMEs future business success. In developing areas,

satisfactory government support has been shown to be important for small firm success (Yusuf, 1995).

Thus, it will contribute to the greater ability and power to the success factors in entrepreneurship. This

was supported by case 1 and case 2 which are it is very innovative and timely. It helps to protect ideas &

interest from copycats & opportunists. Opposing to the other two cases, they affirmed that the local

governments are not of big help to entrepreneurs due to their stringent polices. The government is more

concern in terms of enforcement activities; yet they seem to be very selective and only have it

occasionally done. Promotional activities are normally done by agencies that are directly related to

entrepreneurship.

The role of government policies on entrepreneurial activity may determine the market instrument and

make them function expeditiously. Based on Lim, Morse, Mitchell, & Seawright (2010), they argued that



a legal system with stronger property rights protection and less regulatory complexity (Soto, 2000)

positively influences the level of entrepreneurship by shaping the entrepreneurial scripts of individuals

within that society because of its entrepreneurial munificence. The government support policies are one of

the key elements for hastening the emergence of entrepreneurs. This element are strongly have a full

supported from all the four cases especially in making sure the marketability and identifying new

potential markets for SMEs. These may also have the products exported to other countries using the

government platform.

As to summarize, the integration of cases below shows that each element of two environmental

dimensions is associated to the success in entrepreneurship. For the analysis of the integration of the four

cases, this study used a Hermeneutic Unit (HU) named „data analysis integrated‟ where the codes were

group into similar categories and whereas the association between codes point to the new networks, while

the primary document number (PD) are remained the same. Figure 10 shows the complete set of detailed

network view for all these cases.

Figure 10: Integration of cases – Network View

The first dimension which is the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets that relates to the five elements

which are entrepreneurial role models, presence of experienced entrepreneurs, skills and knowledge of


The second dimension is the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies that associated to success

in entrepreneurship relates to the four elements which are business angels and risk capital availability,

is part of

is part of

is associated with

is part of

is part of is part of

is part of

is part of

is part of

is associated with

is part of

is associated with

Succes Factors in



and Mindsets {4-6}

Role models {3-1}


Entrepreneurs {2-1}


Entrepreneurs {4-1}






{3-5}



{1-1}



{3-1}Business Angels and Risk


Availability of Financial

Resources {1-1}



role of government policies on entrepreneurial activity, availability of financial resources and as

government influences and supports for entrepreneurship as well as the role of government policies on

entrepreneurial activity.



5. CONCLUSIONS

In this research, the environmental factors on entrepreneurship were analyzed in Malaysia using

qualitative approach. This study found all the elements in two dimensions which are the entrepreneurial

culture and mindsets as well as the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies are the factors that

contributed to the success in entrepreneurship. The elements such as entrepreneurial role models,

presence of experienced entrepreneurs, skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs, cultural attitudes towards

entrepreneurship and proximity of entrepreneurial universities are strongly correlated with the

entrepreneurial culture and mindsets. The entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies is related

with the business angels and risk capital availability, availability of financial resources, government

influences and supports for entrepreneurship in addition to role of government policies on entrepreneurial

activity. Those elements in both dimensions provide theoretical support to the success in

entrepreneurship. Nevertheless from the findings, we found that the elements of the entrepreneurial

culture and mindsets are the most important factor that contributes to the success in entrepreneurship in

Malaysia.

On the other hand, this research encountered with some of the entrepreneur‟s profile and characteristic in

Malaysia which are firstly, a young adult man as a travel and consultant business offers a wide spectrum

of tourism services which includes corporate airline ticketing, worldwide hotel reservations, airport

check-in service, incentive group travel, cruises and independent and group tours to any part of the world.

His company was established in 2003. Secondly, a woman entrepreneur in food and beverages industry as

her core business. Her company is one of the new groomed SME in the state of Kelantan of Malaysia

which popular with varieties of foods and tradition since 2005. The natures of business are food as well as

spices production, spices repackaging and retailing. Thirdly, a young men entrepreneur in owned design

and technology sector industry. The business was incorporated in 2007 and his company as an

independently owned design and technology with comprising designers, producers, developers and

programmers idea into an engaging intelligent and innovative solution towards achieving user‟s

satisfaction. Finally a matured women entrepreneur from south coast of Malaysia and her company run

retail, woman clothing, traditional herbs and school uniforms. Throughout four years in the business, her

business grows speedily amongst the market. Thus, eventually in general, the findings of this study

provide as a road map for entrepreneurs to be successful in their effort to accomplish higher venture

growth. As a result, this study supports all the research propositions as follows:





success factors in entrepreneurship. Therefore, the entrepreneurial role models element appears to be

linked with the three cases which are Case 1, Case 2 and Case 3. Thus, this study did support the

proposition (P) 1a: There is a positive relationship between entrepreneurial role models and the success in

entrepreneurship.


the presence of experienced entrepreneurs. With regards to these contacts, the presence of experienced

entrepreneurs comes out to be related with only two cases which are case 1 and case 2 and they are

definitely agreed that the business owner or founder obtain their business idea from a previous job as well

as helped them to predict the performance of their ventures. Hence, this study did support the proposition

(P) 1b: The presence of experienced entrepreneurs will be positively associated to the success in

entrepreneurship.



entrepreneurs. As a result, this element is remarkably important in order to be a successful entrepreneur

and all the interviewee supported this proposition (P) 1c: The higher skills and knowledge of

entrepreneurs leads to greater likelihood to the success in entrepreneurship.

Cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship also one of the mechanisms that contribute to the

entrepreneurial success and it would positively relate to motivating force for the business growth. Hence,

this is also strongly established and all the four cases through the interview supported this element and

them likely to increase one‟s desire to engage in entrepreneurial activities by the surrounding local

community concerning entrepreneurship. For this reason, this study did support the proposition (P) 1d:

The cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship would be positively related to the success in

entrepreneurship.

Certainly, we suppose that the proximity of entrepreneurial universities does indeed have a positive

relationship to entrepreneurship. A low level of education and exposure could prevent motivated

entrepreneurial movement in their surroundings. This was also affirmed by three cases (case 2, case 3 and

case 4) with the aim of the entrepreneurial movement within universities been met with both enthusiasms



towards the successful entrepreneurs. Therefore, this study did support the proposition (P) 1e: There are

positive relationship between proximity of entrepreneurial universities and the success in

entrepreneurship.


risk capital availability would be as an addition support to financial assistance. For that reason, this

element is directly quoted by the interviewee from the two cases which are case 3 and case 4. They

remarked that these entities are crucial in helping those genuine entrepreneurs as well as contributed the

ability and willingness to provide the company with enough capital to move the business to the next

phase. Thus, this study did support the proposition (P) 2a: The business angels and risk capital would be

positively associated with the success in entrepreneurship.

Generally, entrepreneurs need and require financial support for their business. The availability financial

resources prospects concern to affluence formation, which is ordinarily supposed as a right need for all

varieties of different individual‟s conducts. Notwithstanding, this study did support the proposition (P)

2b: The more favourable availability of financial resources, the greater ability to the success in

entrepreneurship.

Government influences and supports for entrepreneurship is also very crucial to promote the

entrepreneurial development in order to guarantee SMEs future business success. This was supported by

case 1 and case 2 which are it is very innovative and timely. Thus, this study did support the proposition

(P) 2c: The more favourable government influences and supports for entrepreneurship, the higher ability

to the success in entrepreneurship.

Finally, the role of government policies on entrepreneurial activity may determine the market

instrument and make them function expeditiously. The government support policies are one of the key

elements for hastening the emergence of entrepreneurs. This element are strongly have a full supported

from all the four cases especially in making sure the marketability and identifying new potential markets

for SMEs. These may also have the products exported to other countries using the government platform.

As a result, this study did support the proposition (P) 2d: The role of government policies on

entrepreneurial activity would be positively to the success in entrepreneurship.



The results of the study should be conceived with regards to its limitations, which is also point to some

issues for the upcoming research. The future research may investigate and validates the result of this

study throughout a large-scale within and cross cases using quantitative analysis. The more exploration of

potential entrepreneurs and businessmen in the various sector industries who have recently started their

ventures may provide more valid, extensive and supportive insights. As a final point, being a qualitative

study it cannot avoid the researcher bias and the lack of generalizability. Even though the study has

followed the right steps towards objective, there might also be the other various ways of data

interpretation. Therefore, it is not impossible to infer causation in these studies of the result to the

universe in this case population. Moreover, it may be useful to observe a mixture of types of success

factors as for examples; partition the business environment into different categories such as market

openness and strategy, research and development transfer, supportive environment, etc in order to

comprehend entrepreneurial motivation in Malaysia. Finally, the future research line may also focus on

the different geographical region in Malaysia or within each of the other developing countries.



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APPENDIX 1: CASE STUDY/ INTERVIEW PROTOCOL

1. Purpose

The purpose of this protocol is to guide the data collection for the cases in a multiple case study research. The

research will examine the factors that contribute to the entrepreneurial success and the case study protocol will be

used to collect the information about the presence and interaction of entrepreneurial culture and mindsets together

with entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies elements towards the success in entrepreneurship. The goal

of this case study is to provide information that gives a deeper insight into the role of culture and policies regarding

effectiveness towards an improvement in business growth.

2. Overview of the Case Study Project

2.1 Research Study Questions

This study aims to explore the relationship between the success factors in entrepreneurship with the two dimensions

which are entrepreneurial culture and mindsets together with entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies. In

particular, this research needs to deal with the following main research questions:

• What is the entrepreneur‟s profile in Malaysia?

• What are the characteristics of new firms in Malaysia?

• What are the success environmental factors in entrepreneurship?

• Which are the most important success environmental factors in entrepreneurship?

2.2 Propositions:

The goal of this study is to find enough support to conclude if there is a positive relationship between environmental

dimensions and success in entrepreneurship. Therefore, we will aim to validate the following propositions:

P1 (a): There is a positive relationship between entrepreneurial role models and the success in entrepreneurship

P1 (b): The presence of experienced entrepreneurs will be positively associated to the success in entrepreneurship

P1 (c): The higher skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs leads to greater likelihood to the success in

entrepreneurship

P1 (d): The cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship would be positively related to the success in

entrepreneurship

P1 (e): There are positive relationship between proximity of entrepreneurial universities and the success in

entrepreneurship

P2 (a): The business angels and risk capital would be positively associated with the success in entrepreneurship

P2 (b): The more favourable availability of financial resources, the greater ability to the success in

entrepreneurship.

P2 (c): The more favourable government influences and supports for entrepreneurship, the higher ability to the

success in entrepreneurship

P2 (d): The role of government policies on entrepreneurial activity would be positively to the success in

entrepreneurship



2.3 Relevant Literature Review

This study will use a case study methodology for the study design and the methodology to collect and analyze

qualitative data. For that reason, we follow first the conceptual framework proposed by Gartner (1985) for

describing the phenomenon of new venture creation and more towards to the variables in the environment

dimensions as a base. This framework classifies the articles according to four key dimensions of venture creation

and ownership: individual, environment, process and organization. Nevertheless, in order to be able to apply the

model to this research, we narrowed down this framework towards the environmental dimension.

This research was concerned generally to see how the environmental variables influenced the success in

entrepreneurship. The phenomenon (e.g., new business start-ups) and its context (e.g., the local business and

community environment), according to Yin (1989), may not be readily distinguishable, thus he suggests that the case

study definition include characteristics stipulating data collection and analysis requirements. Consorting the

literature of Yin, in Case Study Research Design and Methods (2003), defines case study research as “an empirical

inquiry that investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context, especially when the boundaries

between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident.” Therefore, with respect to this, we arranged into group

the environmental situation into two proportions, which are the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets and

entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies. Figure below presents the integrated model and the interaction

we have assumed here between success factors in entrepreneurship and these variables.

(Figure above shows a framework to be used in this study)

2.4 Research Design

According to Yin (1988), a research design is the logic that links the data to be collected to the initial questions of a

study. The objective of this study was to conduct a qualitative research to analyze the success factors of

entrepreneurs in Malaysia as the entrepreneurship nowadays portray the importance of the economic enlargement

activity worldwide. Therefore, the study design took into account the conceptual framework defined in the previous

which shows all the elements taken into consideration. The unit of analysis for the study was the successful

entrepreneurs in Malaysia. The multiple cases were examined because they provided more evidence than a single

case, produced more compelling study and added confidence to the finding (Yin, 2003).



3. Techniques for Data Collection and Analysis

3.1 Data Collection

Case study research typically employs multiple data collection methods (Benbasat, Goldstein & Mead, 1987). Data

for this study were collected through interviews. The sample was made up of the business owner or business founder

who responded to questions regarding the success factors in entrepreneurship. As mentioned by Yin (1988), a case

study protocol is more than an instrument and the interview protocol was developed to guide the interview process

(Kvale, 1996). The aim was to get each respondent to answer regarding several subject matters; they will were asked

questions starting with the general organization profile; the entrepreneurial culture and mindsets as well as the last

section about the entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies. A case study protocol containing the

procedures to direct the data collection for the cases will be developed and used to aid the exploration of the

research questions.

3.1.1 Interview

Interview will be conducted with a selected of key individuals which have a number of years after the establishment

and operation of a business may not precisely reflect the challenges faced in entrepreneurial success from economic

developers in the community. The interviews will be focused (Yin, 1994), and it means they will were asked

questions starting with the general respondent and organization profile; the entrepreneurial success; the

entrepreneurial culture and mindsets as well as the last section about the entrepreneurial supports and governmental

policies. Yin argues the protocol should contain the following sections: an overview of the case study project; field

procedures and case study questions to be kept in mind when collecting data. Thus, having a case study protocol is

desirable under all circumstances, but it is essential if we are using a multiple case design. The interviews will range

from approximately forty minutes to one hour and will be recorded with prior authorization from the respondents.

Follow up questions will be done via telephone to clarify any specific points brought up during the interviews. A

structured interview protocol draft will be developed to guide the interview process (Kvale, 1996). Thus, an average

of four entrepreneurs will be interviewed.

3.2 Data Analysis

The main issue of studies executed using case-based qualitative research is deciding prior to the start of data

collection as well as how much data to collect. To help address this problem, several steps were taken before hand

including the development of a predefined framework and the outline for the case study reports.

4. Criteria for Evaluation

As proposed by Yin (1994), he indentifies four tests that can be used to evaluate the quality of research design and

determine the rigor of the study. The tests are: a) construct validity, b) internal validity, c) external validity and d)

reliability. An overview of these tests and how they will be addressed in this study as following:

a. Construct validity establishing correct operational measures for the concepts being studied (Yin, 2003).

This was addressed in this study by collecting data through multiple sources, review the case study reports

and maintain chain of evidence.

b. Internal validity establishing a causal relationship, whereby certain conditions are shown to lead to other

conditions as distinguished from spurious relations (Yin, 2003) and this was addressed by the use of pattern

matching technique analysis.

c. External validity establishing the domain to which findings of study can be generalized (Yin, 2003). This

was demonstrated in this study by using multiple cases for replication logic to generalize the findings into

the theory.



d. Reliability demonstrating that the operations of a study such as the data collection procedures which it can

be repeated with the same result (Yin, 2003). This proved from this research through the development of

the research framework in order to guide the data collection and analysis, a case protocol and maintaining a

case study database tracking for this study.

5. Interview Protocol

The interview was intended for capture the narrative related to the dynamics inside of entrepreneurial activities and

to discover the individual characteristics involved with knowledge acquisition, transformation and application

needed for a better implementation. While as we cannot disclose due to the privateness reasons, all four companies‟

personal confidentiality given is treated in the strictest confidence (hereafter referred as the „company‟). Therefore,

the research to be written will not identify the corporation name. Thus, for this qualitative data collection

methodology, the sample was elected from the subsequent categories:

CASE CASE SUMMARIZE

Case 1 This company is established in 2003 through self financing by a young guy with a big vision. The

success of the company lives in the strong spirit and belief that is so dear to the owner, which is

“whatever it takes”. His company involved in tourism sector in the inbound and outbound tour,

ticketing, events, conventions as well as seminars. Before he owned the business, he worked in the hotel

industry and also as a part-time travel agent for eight years. He founds that tourism industry is his

passion and believes that he could go further with this. Drove by the desire to be in control of his own

destiny and coupled with his experience and support from his late father as well as benchmarking

himself with the role model that he adores so much, Tun Dr Mahathir Muhammad, the former Prime

Minister of Malaysia , he bring himself to one step further to be an entrepreneur. Living in these two

parameters, his company never failed. Throughout seven years in business the company manages to

accumulate less than RM 5 million sales turn over and the business grows rapidly amidst the market and

economy uncertainties. The first few years in business were a daunting experience to him. He needs to

have a lot of saving and sometimes will auction some of his assets in getting the working capital.

However, the belief that is so dear to him and also supports and encouragement from friends, relatives

and acquaintances has helped him to sail through all the obstacles successfully and has forced him to be

an innovative person.

Case 2 The second company is one of the new groomed SME in the state of Kelantan of Malaysia. Located in

east coast which popular with varieties of foods and tradition. Spices and food producing, spices

repackaging and retailing are the core business which established since 2005. Self interest in cooking,

trying new recipe in addition to basic knowledge of business during her childhood brought this women

entrepreneur into the entrepreneurship arena. She started the business without formal intentions to

commercialize it until started to be more serious since the last few years as the business grow is positive.

Her company has RM 250,000.00 to less than RM 5 million annual sales turnovers with the total of

thirty two skilled and unskilled employees. Her first venture started with introducing her cooks to her

friends. The uniqueness of the tastes and its differences make the demands of her cooks became

appealing. The demands grew and she started to cook more every day until she found out why she

doesn‟t turn from producing ready cook meals into producing the spices to be used for the cook and

customer can buy the spices and cook by themselves. The owner of this company is a risk taker, but she

is firm with her vision. She shoot a try in producing the spices of her own food recipe, put them into a

presentable looks and started going into the market and now she made it.

Case 3 “Sky is the limit” is the motto for a young Information Technology (IT) male entrepreneur. He realized

that Multimedia, IT, Web and Video Production is one of the services which continuously demanding

within the evolving era of technology. To remain competitive, companies need to be on the par with

global technology evolution where his company provides the solution. He is already a business owner

with, almost unbelievably for a person of his age, two years of entrepreneurial experience. He

incorporated this business in 2007, making him, at 28, one of the youngest company directors in

Malaysia history. He managed to have thirty skilled and two unskilled employees. He completed his



postgraduate study in Multimedia Creative which makes him more reputable and brings customer

confidence in dealing with his service. The annual sale turnover is RM250,000.00 to less than RM5

millions makes his company stand strong among its competitors. He quite satisfied with his achievement

so far. Within years of establishment, the company reached RM1.5 millions target and RM5 millions for

the next 2 years target. “Success is a ladder that cannot be climbed with your hand in your pocket. Work

Smart and Think Hard” he said when he been asked about the attribute that motivates him the most in

achieving long term success. He learns from a role model who works hard and risk takers. He attracted to

decision making and problem solving style from his role model. For him, it is better to learn from other‟s

mistake rather than learn from his own mistake. “He learnt from his friends, lecturers that not many of

them willing to leave their five figure jobs to run the business. Definitely he believed that hard work will

pay.

Case 4 The fourth company belongs to a matured women entrepreneur from South Coast of Malaysia agreed

that the best way to achieve long term target is by building the target around a short and middle term

target and strive to achieve the targets. The company was created in 2007 and it runs retail, woman

clothing, traditional herbs and school uniforms. This company has thirty two employees consists of

skilled and unskilled workers. Throughout four years in the business, the company manages to progress

up to RM250,000.00 sales turnovers and the business grows speedily amongst the market. This

employment segmentation helps her to balance her business income and spending in term of salary

payout to the employees and skill transfer from skilled to unskilled, and from skilled to become expert

workers. She was a teacher before becoming an entrepreneur. Her financial wealth and stability inspire

her more to become a successful entrepreneur with her own skills and interest. Even though she is from

the family and community which not business minded type of person, but she proves she was able to

stand up with her own choice and she made it.

The rationale behind selecting different profile criteria‟s of respondents was to consent to key comparisons to be

made. Therefore, the pilot case reports are mainly of the value to the researcher and needs to be written clearly, even

if in the form of the memoranda. If enough pilot cases are done in this manner, the final agenda may actually

become a good prototype for the final case study protocol.

5.1 General Aspects

The following main issues should be addressed by the interviewer throughout the interview:

1. Brief explanation of study, the purpose of the interview and the potential use of the result

2. Reassure confidentiality of the information given

3. Gathered of general information regarding the respondents and the organization

4. Gathered information related to their succeed in business

5. Gathered information environmental situation into two proportions, which are the entrepreneurial culture and

mindsets and entrepreneurial supports and governmental policies as well as try to relate to the success factors in

entrepreneurship.

6. Ask the respondents to add anything more if any specific element that not included during the interview that

might be important.

7. Closing the interview when the interview draws to an end, thank the interviewee by name, saying something

like thank you to their support, time and cooperation. We may also ask their personal contact number and email

address for follow up or to clarify the questions as well as to let the respondents know if they would like to

receive a report of the study.

5.2 Interview Commencement

The interview starts with an introduction from the researcher in regards with the intention to give some level of

comfort to the respondent by creating a trustful environment. The following statements could be used:



“Good Afternoon, first and foremost, I would like to thank you for volunteering your time to be a part of my

research study as well as the respondent for this study. First, let me introduce myself. I‟m Siti Nor

Wardatulaina Mohd Yusof (you may call me Aina), and as a PhD student in the department d‟economia de

l‟empresa at the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona, Spain. I am conducting research under the supervision of

Professor Dr David Urbano which researching the Success Factors in Entrepreneurship: The Case of

Malaysia.”

After the introduction, the respondent will be given the explanation of the purpose of the study and the

confidentiality of the information given. The researcher should continue to create a trustful environment. The

following lines could be used:

“The purpose of this survey is to analyze the success factors of entrepreneurs in Malaysia as the

entrepreneurship nowadays portrays the importance of the economic enlargement activity worldwide. There are

a number of respondents were selected from a various industry sectors. I am glad to inform you that your firm

is one of the selected samples for this study. Currently I‟m in at the data collection stage that requires urgent

response from all the respondents. Your participation would be greatly appreciated and I hope you could

answer all the questions and this shouldn't take up too much of your time. I also would like to inform you that

any information given will be treated in the strictest confidence. Personal confidentiality will be maintained

throughout the research. The research to be written will not identify you or your corporation.”

Next, the researcher states again how the interview will unfold and starts asking the general questions,

background information, and organization profile. This based on the following lines:

Respondent Profile:

1. Respondent‟s name:

2. Where and in what year were you born?

3. What is your gender?

4. Your position in the organization:

5. Do you have entrepreneurial family background? And if affirmative, what is the relationship between you

and the person?

6. What is your present academic qualification? (Please choose one)

Primary studies

Secondary studies

University studies

Postgraduates

Vocational training

Others (please state):

7. What made you start your particular business?

8. Would you tell me about yourself before you started your first venture?



9. Whom else did you know while you were growing up who had started or owned a business and how did

they determine you?

10. Were your parents, relatives, or close friends entrepreneurial? How so?

Organization Profile:

11. Name of the organization:

12. Year when the organization was created:

13. How long has this establishment been in business?

14. Which sector is your company belongs to and what is your core business?

15. Which is the best to describe your involvement in the business? Business owner or business founder?

16. Organization‟s annual sales turnover is (in Ringgit Malaysia):

Less than 250,000

250,000 to less than 5 million

5 million to less than 10 million

More than 10 million

17. Type of your business organization? (Please choose one):

Sole proprietorship

General partnership

Limited partnership

Corporation


18. No. of employees:

Total Skilled employee:

Total Unskilled employee:

19. Where do you market your products {In Percentage (%)}?

Malaysia =

Singapore =

European =

USA =


20. How would you rate your organization profitability over the last 3 years? (Please choose one).

Increased tremendously

Very much increased

Increased slightly

Stagnant

Decreased



Next, the researcher states again how the interview will extend and starts asking the entrepreneurial success.

The following lines and questions could help the respondent‟s opinion and perspective:

21. What is your definition of success and has your company achieved it?

22. How far are you willing to go to succeed?

23. How long did it take you to get where you wanted to be?

24. What is the best way to achieve long-term success? And what do you most attribute your success?

Next, the researcher states again how the interview will extend and starts asking the entrepreneurial culture and

mindset. The following lines and questions could help the respondent‟s opinion and perspective:

“As an experience person in your industry, we seek your opinion with regard to the above statement. Therefore,

could you please answer the following questions based on your industry?”

Proposition (P1 a): There is a positive relationship between entrepreneurial role models and the


25. Do you have role models? How role models help clarify your business vision?

26. Generally, individuals are attracted to role models that are actively helpful in requiring new tasks, skills,

attitudes, and norms. Did you agree? If yes, how did they influence you? (As reviewed by Zhao, Seibert, &

Lumpkin (2010) conclude that Interest in the role of personality in entrepreneurship has recently seen a re-

emergence after a hiatus of almost 20 years e.g., (Baum, Locke, & Smith, 2001; Ciavarella, et al., 2004).

27. From your opinion, when an individual finds a role model relevant to his or her needs and goals, and views

the position of the role model as potentially attainable, does a role model can provide motivation and

inspiration particularly in business? Please elaborate more. (Quote from Hisrich, 1990; Krueger, 1993); In

the literature assured that the human capital elements of the entrepreneurs such as education, age, work

history, role model and support networks have positive contributions in business).

Proposition (P1 b): The presence of experienced entrepreneurs will be positively associated to the


28. Did you have a business or were you in self-employment during your formative years? What kind of

business? Was it the same as with the current one?

29. In particular, did you have any experience? How important was it, or a lack of it, to starting your company?

(As appraised by Vesper, 1980 indicated that: Work experience may be more important when it is

necessary to rely on inside industrial information and in highly competitive businesses.)



30. Do you think that business founder obtain their business idea from a previous job? If yes, does it help

predict the performance of their ventures? (Citation from Herron & Robinson, 1993: Research has shown

that founders' current skills could predict the performance of their ventures and that their predictive ability

varied across economic environments.)

Proposition (P1 c): The higher skills and knowledge of entrepreneurs leads to greater likelihood


31. How did you spot the opportunity in your business? How did it surface?

32. The fact that prior knowledge of market, industry and customer needs can be a major advantage to

entrepreneurs in terms of recognizing potentially profitable opportunities. From your experience, what are

the most crucial things you have done? (Reference from McKelvie & Wiklund, 2004; Shane, 2000: A lot of

researches have acknowledged the fact that prior knowledge of a market, industry, or customer needs can

be a major advantage for entrepreneurs in terms of recognizing potentially profitable opportunities).

33. How did you discover those opportunities related to your skills and knowledge? (According toShane,

2000): An entrepreneur can discover only those opportunities related to his/her prior knowledge)

34. From your standpoint of view, what are some key factors that may lead to business failure? Were they due

the lack of management skills or incompetency? (Based on O‟Neill & Duker, 1986; Terpstra & Olson,

1993: A mixture of studies found that some key factors may lead to the business failure were due to the

lack of management skills or competencies)

Proposition (P1 d): The cultural attitudes towards entrepreneurship would be positively related to

the success in entrepreneurship

35. What made you decide to go into business for yourself?

36. Are the images of entrepreneurship having a positive effect on your entrepreneurial intention? (Citation

from Scholten, Kemp, & Omta, 2004: The image of entrepreneurship has a positive effect on

entrepreneurial intention)

37. How about the surrounding local community concerning entrepreneurship? Are they likely to increase

one‟s desire to engage in entrepreneurial activities? (From study of Mokry, 1988 he proposed that local

communities can play an important role in developing an entrepreneurial environment.)

Proposition (P1 e): There are positive relationship between proximity of entrepreneurial

universities and the success in entrepreneurship

38. What was your education experience? In observation, was it helpful? In what specific ways?

39. Do you think that the entrepreneurial movement within universities been met with both enthusiasm towards



the successful entrepreneurs? In what particular conduct? (Quote from Mowery, Nelson, Sampat, &

Ziedonis, 1998: The entrepreneurial movement within universities been met with both enthusiasm and

resentment as the scholarly community struggles with the ethical implications of such activities).

40. We suppose that the proximity of entrepreneurial universities does indeed have a positive relationship on

entrepreneurship. From your point of view, is the knowledge spillovers from universities could be

identified as key factors in promoting firm innovation and performance? How do you measure it? (From

Stuart & Sorenson, 2003; Hall, Link, & Scott, 2003: In addition, spillovers from universities, as well as

from private firms, have been identified as key sources promoting firm innovation and performance).

41. Do you think that presence of universities for training and research assistance were important factors

contributing to become more entrepreneurial? How so?

Next, the researcher states again how the interview will extend and starts asking the entrepreneurial supports

and governmental policies with the introduction of the definition of terms will use. The following lines and

questions could help the respondent‟s opinion and perspective:

Risk capital industry consists of firms staffed by professional money managers that are funded by insurance

companies, major corporations, pension funds, foundations and the government.

Business angels are individuals who have the ability and willingness to provide your company with enough

capital to move your startup businesses to the next phase. Business angels are primarily local people who are,

relatively speaking, financially independent.

Proposition (P2 a): The business angels and risk capital would be positively associated with the


42. What are the main sources of financing on the support for your business creation?

43. How difficult was it to get investors? How did you find working capital support for your business?

What kind of investor that you get (Risk capital or Business angel)?

44. How would you think that creation of investment companies, provision of low-interest loans and

availability of credit guarantees schemes for small business financing have all contributed to the

establishment and success in business? (According to Dana, 1987; Harrison & Mason, 1988; Hawkins,

1993: Research has shown that creation of investment companies, provision of low-interest loans, and

availability of credit guarantee schemes for small business financing have all contributed to the

establishment of new businesses).

45. In your perspective, do you consider support from informal networks such as friends, relatives and

acquaintances to be important and will benefit the business? (Based on Raduan Rose, et al., 2006: The

supports from informal network such as friends, relatives, previous employers and acquaintances have

found also to benefit the business.



Proposition (P2 b): The more favourable availability of financial resources, the greater ability to

the success in entrepreneurship.

46. Did you finance your business though bank? If yes, do you think that this is supposed as a right need for all

varieties concern to business formation and growth? How?

47. As such, a bank-based loan financial is perceived to enhance entrepreneurship. From your opinion and

experienced, does a bank require absolute top credit references from loan applicants? (Quote from Levine,

2002: An equity-based financial system is perceived to enhance entrepreneurship and economic growth

more than a bank-based financial system).

48. How would you think about the fact that there are an analysis of bank finance based on assumption that

there is a „stigma/mark‟ that attaches to entrepreneurs if a project fails? (According to Landier, 2003: The

offers an analysis of bank finance and venture capital based on the assumption that there is a “stigma”

that attaches to an entrepreneur if a project fails.)

49. The role of development of formal financial institutions such as banks in fostering in emerging economies

through lending policies and prioritization of national industrial-development goal. From your opinion,

how it can help entrepreneurs? (Based on George and Prabhu, 2002 highlight: The role of developmental

financial institutions in fostering entrepreneurship in emerging economies through lending policies and

prioritization of national industrial-development goals.)

Proposition (P2 c): The more favourable government influences and supports for

entrepreneurship, the higher ability to the success in entrepreneurship

50. There are five major areas of government support programs for SMEs in Malaysia currently which are:

Financial and credit assistance; Technical and training assistance; Extension and advisory; Services,

marketing and market research; and Infrastructure supports. Therefore, do you think efforts involvement for

greater ability to the success or not? Why? (Citation from Abdullah, 1999b: There are five major areas of

government support programs for SMEs in Malaysia, among which are: Financial and credit assistance;

technical and training assistance; extension and advisory services; marketing and market research; and

infrastructure supports).

51. Regarding credit guarantee association‟s existence to guarantee loans for SMEs; do you think that local

government play an effective role in promoting and supporting entrepreneurial activity? How? (Based on

Hawkins, 1993 study, he found that: In Japan, 52 credit guarantee associations exist to guarantee loans to

SMEs; local governments have special funds that serve as a reserve for loans to SMEs.)

52. With adequate policies from the government, can they create an “enterprise culture‟? Can you

give some suggestions to stimulate and encourage entrepreneurial activity? (Gnyawali and Fogel, 1994

mentioned that: Governments could influence the market mechanisms and make them function efficiently by

removing conditions that create market imperfections and administrative rigidities. They can also create an

"enterprise culture" that enables firms to take reasonable risks and seek profits.)



Proposition (P2 c): The role of government policies on entrepreneurial activity would be positively


53. What are the key considerations in selecting the rules and procedural requirements in order to ensure

business success? (In the literature of Dana, 1987; Young & Weisch, 1993: Entrepreneurs may be

discouraged to start a business if they have to follow many rules and procedural requirements, if they have

to report to many institutions, and if they have to spend more time and money in fulfilling the procedural

requirements).

54. The government policies influence new venture/business creation throughout legislation and regulation,

licenses, taxation etc. From your standpoint of view, does the government have a very positive attitude

towards to this business achievement? (As mentioned by Grundsten, 2004: The government policies

influence new venture creation throughout legislation and regulation, licenses, taxation, etc. Similar

example can be found in the public discussion the role of taxation is a relatively common topic concerning

policies that affect entrepreneurship).

55. Have you been involved in any government procurement programs such as protection of intellectual

property, proprietary idea and innovations, support for entrepreneurship? How does it work in your

business? (As affirmed by Westhead, 1990: There are several policy options for developing

entrepreneurship. These policy options include provision of venture capital funds, tax-based incentives, and

government procurement programs; protection of proprietary ideas and innovations; investment in

education and research; explicit recognition of, and support for, entrepreneurship by government

agencies; fostering of entrepreneurship by educational institutions; and minimization of entry barriers.)

56. Do you think that service and support programs for business creation and growth implemented by the

government is very important to cultivate SMEs expansion? How?

To finish up, the researcher should be make sure to ask if anything that the respondent may add or comments.

The following lines could be help:

57. Before we finish up, how do you think programs and services available today could be further enhanced to

better meet entrepreneurs‟ needs? And what else might be required?

58. In conclusion, is there anything more you would like to add?

5.3 Closing the Interview

The researcher/interviewer should make sure saying something like thank you to their support, time and

cooperation. We may also ask their personal contact number and email address for follow up or to clarify the

questions as well as to let the respondents know if they would like to receive a report of the study. This could

be:

“I would like to thank you for your support and I am most grateful for the cooperation and attention you give,

and please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any enquiry about this study. I greatly appreciate your time

and feedback. Please let me know should you like to receive a report of this study. And again, thank you very

much for participating in the survey.”



6. Project Timeframe and Agenda

In October, initial field appointment as well as carrying out interviews scheduled time took place where a topic for

discussion and interview questions was made, and the literature review of the research were clearly discussed. On

the January the research was reviewed and approval of final research report done as described in table 4 and 5.

October November December January

2010 2011

(Figure above shows the project timeframe)

1. Planning the research

2. Fieldwork {plan, act, observe & reflect} and

{Revised plan, act, observe & reflect} Research

3. Evaluation

4. Conclusions from fieldwork (1st draft)

5. Planning final draft

6. Writing final draft Writing

7. Evaluating, seeking comments, revising and proofreading

8. Reflections and conclusions of the research

(Figure above shows the research session agenda)

Develop the theory

Analyzing data and writing a case

study report

Write up and draft done

Literature review

Research proposal

Field appointment and conduct the pilot

interview session as well as carrying out

interviews scheduled time

Topics for discussion and interview questions were drafted.

Transcribing interview recordings.

Final report done

Carrying out analysis of the data by using the

ATLAS.ti software.

Writing the results

Review and approval of draft


APPENDIX 2: INITIAL CONCEPTS AND VARIABLES LITERATURE

NO YEAR &

AUTHOR{s}

THEORETICAL

FRAMEWORK

OBJECTIVES DATA/TECHNIQUE {S} FINDINGS/RESULTS FUTURE

RESEARCH

VARIABLE{S}

1. 1992-

Wui-sum Siu

and Robert G.

Martin

Wilkcn‟s hierarchy

of levels for

studying

entrepreneurial

behaviour.

This paper examines the

following factors which might

influence the emergence of

entrepreneurship: (I) economic;

(2) non-economic; and (3)

psychological. It then relates these

factors to Chinese culture in an

attempt to explain the apparent

success entrepreneurial skills of

the Chinese people in Hong Kong

Exploratory study -

Qualitative

Entrepreneurship is the intervening

variable and should also be considered

as a major factor in stimulating

economic development, both the

government and academicians should

respond to this issue.

In the future, Hong

Kong academic

researchers should

also concentrate

their efforts in

assisting small

business owners.

Governmental

influences and

policies support

2. 1994-

Peter B.

Robinson and

Edwin

A.Sexton

This study examines the

relationship between formal

education, experience and self-

employment, as well as other

moderating variables related to an

individual‟s life experience will

affect the success of an

entrepreneur

Public-use B sample of the

U.S. Census of Population -

Quantitative

Education does indeed have a close

relationship to entrepreneurship, in that

entrepreneurs (self-employed) do have

a higher level of education than those in

the wage and salaried sector. In

addition, higher levels of education

increase both the probability of

becoming self-employed and the

success of individuals in that sector in

terms of the earnings. The effect of

education and experience increase over

the span of one‟s career as the levels of

experience increase

One major

shortcoming of the

study was inability to

study the effect of

specific types

of education or

educational programs

such as business

school or

entrepreneurship

programs as opposed

to general levels of

education.

Proximity of

Entrepreneurial

Universities

3. 1998 -

Benson

Honig

This research examines the

performance of 215 informal

microenterprises in Jamaica, to

determines success factors by

studying the influence of human

capital, social capital and

financial capital of the owners on

their business profitability

From informal

microenterprises in Jamaica

- Quantitative

This study shows the importance of

considering heterogeneity when

examining informal sector micro

entrepreneurship, as well as the

influence of critical human capital and

social capital variables.

Further research

regarding the

relationship between

social capital and

entrepreneurship is

both warranted and

necessary, to better

understand these

dynamic aspects of

organizational activity.

Entrepreneurial

Role Models and

Financial

Resources



4. 2001-

Christian

Keuschnigg

and Soren Bo

Nielsen

Simple Partial

Equilibrium Model

To analyze several policy

entrepreneurial success measures

addressed at venture capital

activity: government spending on

entrepreneurial training, subsidies

to equipment investment, and

output subsidies.

Case Studies - Qualitative Venture capitalists actively help with

managerial advice and essential

industry experience of business

development.

The extensions could

possibly provide some

rationale for

government activity

other than the

productive

contribution

emphasized in this

paper

Governmental

policies to

Entrepreneurship

& SMEs and

Business Angels

5. 2001-

Miri Lerner

and Sigal

Haber

The Environmental

Milieu Approach

* The study assesses

environmental factors, including

those of the particular industry,

and the business and personal

factors associated with the success

of tourism ventures.

Privately-owned businesses

in the tourism industry,

located in the south of Israel

- Quantitative

The results indicate the dual nature of

the impact of institutional support upon

the tourism venture‟s performance.

Success in persuading external sources

to provide financial support would

seem to be evidence of the soundness of

the venture‟s planning and its economic

viability.

Further research

should compare the

performance factors of

tourism ventures with

those of ventures in

other economic

sectors, particularly

service industries.

Financial

Resources and

Governmental

Influences

6. 2001 –

Werner H.

Hoffmann

and Roman

Schlosser

Transaction-cost

theory, the

resource-based and

knowledge-based

strategic theory as

well as on

interorganisation

theories

This study aims to identify critical

success factors in alliance-making

with special consideration given

to the specific situation of small

and medium-sized enterprises

(SMEs)

Key executives in 164

Austrian SMEs -

Quantitative

The results of study show that all

important theoretical perspectives

essentially contribute to explaining why

alliances are successful. The identified

success factors utilize concepts

developed in the resource-based view

of firms as well as those from the

transaction-cost and interorganisation

theories.

There is a strong need

for collaboration

research tailored to the

specifics of SMEs,

which represent more

than 90 percent of all

European companies.

Presence of

experienced

entrepreneurs and skills and

knowledge of

entrepreneurs

7. 2003-

C. Mirjam

van Praag

Theory of

entrepreneurship

The objective of this paper is to

quantify the person-specific

determinants of survival duration

and of success in business

National Longitudinal

Survey of Youth (NLSY) -

Quantitative

The results of the competing risks

model, which distinguishes compulsory

from voluntary exits, could be useful

for initiating policy measures aiming at

longer lasting business ventures. The

model shows in which cases business

hazards are high through a lack of

motivation to continue and in which

cases compulsory exits should be

prevented.

Entrepreneurial

Role Models,

Presence of

experienced

entrepreneurs and

venture capital



8. 2003-

Noam

Wasserman

This paper seeks to begin filling

the outlines some of the most

central ways in which Founder-

CEO succession differs from

succession in their business in the

paradox of entrepreneurial

success

Founder-CEO succession -

Quantitative

The analysis provides strong evidence

of a linkage between Founder-CEO

succession and the completion of both

product development and each round of

financing and skills of the technically

adept Founder-CEO whose skills were

the key to success until now and the

new needs of the organization.

Further research that

focused on the

survival rates of

entrepreneurial firms

that experience

Founder-CEO

succession at different

points in their

development would

enable us to perform a

survival assessment of

the intertemporal

affects of Founder-

CEO succession.

Presence of

Experienced

Entrepreneurs and

Skills and

Knowledge of

Entrepreneurs

9. 2003-

Nobuyuki

Harada

This paper examines whether the

probability of an entrepreneur‟s

success is related to the

entrepreneur‟s human capital and

gender, and the initial size of

the firm.

5911 Japanese firms -

Quantitative

First, the estimation results suggest that

younger entrepreneurs tend to be more

successful. Second, the importance of

having related business experience

before start-up is shown, while the

effect of education. Third, it is shown

that female entrepreneurs tend to be less

successful. Finally, larger firms tend to

have higher probabilities of success.

Entrepreneurial

and Role Models

10. 2003 - Robert

A. Baron and

Gideon D.

Markman

Two studies investigated the

higher entrepreneurs competence

(their ability to interact effectively

with others as based on discrete

social skills), the greater of the

financial success in their business.

Two groups of

entrepreneurs working in

distinctly different

industries (cosmetics and

high-tech) - a total of 230

individuals - Quantitative

Results indicated that one aspect of

social competence (e.g., accuracy in

perceiving others) was positively

related to financial success

for both groups of entrepreneurs. In

addition, social adaptability was related

to financial success for entrepreneurs in

the cosmetics industry, and

expressiveness was related to such

success for the entrepreneurs in the

high-tech industry.

Future studies should

be conducted to

determine whether,

and to what extent,

various social

competencies do

indeed influence

entrepreneurs‟

performance through

these mechanisms.

Entrepreneurial

Role Models ,

Business Angels

and Financial

Resources



11. 2004-

Elizabeth

Walker and

Alan Brown

This research sought to explore

the financial criteria are

considered to be the most

appropriate measure of business

success

Exploratory in approach -

both qualitative and

quantitative methodologies

were adopted.

The motivation for people to go into

small business ownership is varied, and

includes financial as well as non-

financial factors like personal

satisfaction, independence and

flexibility. This study has found that the

owners of small businesses

measure their success using both of

these criteria, and that the non-financial

lifestyle criteria are sometimes more

important.

This study just

restricted to the

property and business

services sector and

including many home-

based businesses,

show that owners who

are financially

motivated are in the

minority and that most

small business owners

are content to stay

very small.

Financial

Resources and

Entrepreneurial

Role Models

12. 2004-

Eva Schmitt-

Rodermund

Holland's E-type

Approach

Concerning entrepreneurial

success, the discussion

concentrates on two implications

of the findings: bank professionals

dealing with venture capital loans

would profit from a more

thorough assessment of

personality traits and programs to

foster entrepreneurship should

address adolescents in addition to

adults.

East Germany -

Quantitative

The right personality profile is

important for entrepreneurial success

and venture capital loans would profit

from a more thorough assessment of

personality traits.

More systematic

testing of the

personality and skills

of a future small

business founder may

help to provide a

better overview of

person characteristics

and, thus, provide at

least some information

for a prognosis of the

performance and

survival of the

business in question.

Entrepreneurial

Role Models and

venture capital

13. 2004-

Robert J.

Sternberg

Emanates from the

work of Baron and

his associates

(Baron, 1998,

2000a,b; Baron and

Markman, 2000)

The article provide the

descriptions of practical and

creative intelligence and then

describes how analytical

(conventional), practical, and

creative abilities merge in

successful intelligence is needed

for entrepreneurial success.

Quantitative Successful entrepreneurship is not

really just a story about intelligence in

the traditional sense but more fully a

story about successful intelligence - the

strategic merger of analytical, creative,

and practical intelligence. All three

kinds of intelligence can be developed

and are developed through good use of

experience

Presence of

experienced

entrepreneurs and

Entrepreneurial

Role Models



14. 2006-

Moshe Sharir

and Miri

Lerner

Social

Entrepreneurship

This paper focuses on identifying

the factors affecting the success of

social ventures operating in social

settings in Israel

Case Studies 33 social

ventures founded in Israel -

Qualitative

The study demonstrates eight variables

as contributing to the success of the

social ventures, arranged in the order of

their value: (1) the entrepreneur‟s social

network; (2) total dedication to the

venture‟s success; (3) the capital

base at the establishment stage; (4) the

acceptance of the venture idea in the

public discourse; (5) the composition of

the venturing team, including the ratio

of volunteers to salaried employees; (6)

forming cooperation in the public and

non-profit sectors in the long-term; (7)

the ability of the service to stand the

market test; and (8) the entrepreneurs‟

previous managerial experience.

Future research might

focus on those

variables identified as

being associated with

success on a larger

number of social

ventures (100 or

more), enabling

examination of the

relationships of each

variable with the

criteria of success.

Presence of

experienced

entrepreneurs

15. 2006-

Raduan Che

Rose, Naresh

Kumar and

Lim Li Yen

This study aims to investigate the

formal and informal attributes of

founding entrepreneurs

contributing to success factors in

influencing the venture growth.

Malaysia Enterprise for the

year 1997 to 2003 -

Quantitative

The study found significant relationship

between venture growth and

entrepreneurs with high personal

initiative, focused on specific

competency areas within operations,

finance, marketing and human

resources.

A preferable

longitudinal research

which would generate

more accurate

findings.

Governmental

influences and

financial

16. 2006-

Raduan Che

Rose, Naresh

Kumar and

Lim Li Yen

* This study was initiated to

examine the relationship between

venture growth and the following

factors, namely personal

initiative, human capital, areas of

focus on competency and

government support programs in

order to contributing to their

successful companies in Malaysia

Small and Medium

Industries Development

Corporation (SMIDEC)

1997-2003 - Quantitative

and Qualitative

The entrepreneurs‟ education level,

working experience and whether their

parents own business have a positive

relationship with their success.

A similar study across

other Asia Pacific and

other developing

countries are

recommended.

Presence of

experienced

entrepreneurs,

Government

Influence and

17. 2006-

Sammy King-

fai Hui,

Josephine

Csete and

John Raftery

This paper explores the factors

which successful Hong Kong

construction and property

entrepreneurs regarded as

contributing to their success; it

adds knowledge to the discussion

of whether success can sensibly

be explained.

Through in-depth

interviews, participants

shared their

experiences and the factors

they perceived as

contributing to their success

- Qualitative

Having a strong sense of interest,

continual learning and commitment

– that is, a sense of obligation to the

people who depend on them and to

Hong Kong itself – is what keeps

motivating the six respondents to do

well in the construction and property

business.

The same combination

of values and

strategies would be an

essential factor

contributing to success

in other industries and

further exploration of

this is encouraged.

Cultural Attitudes

towards

Entrepreneurship



18. 2007-

Pamela

Mueller

This paper analyzes the

relationship between the

exploitation of entrepreneurial

opportunities were more

successful in surviving

West German regions

between 1990 and 2002 -

Quantitative

Research and development activities in

the private sector are a fundamental

element of growth. Governments

should not be misled in believing that

more entrepreneurship will ultimately

lead to higher economic growth.

Entrepreneurship promotion policy

starts by stimulating entrepreneurial

awareness and developing

entrepreneurial skills.

Governmental

influences

19. 2007-

Sigal Haber

and Arie

Reichel

Resource-Based

View

The study attempts to empirically

examine, within the context of the

tourism industry, an integrative

model combining the

entrepreneurial process with

resource accumulation. It is

argued that Physical Capital

Resources (PCR), Human Capital

Resources (HCR) and

Organizational Capital Resources

(OCR) can contribute to a

successful path of small venture

sustainability

305 small tourism ventures

- Quantitative

The identification of venture resources

and their effect on performance. The

study suggested a data-based resource

allocation process model and its impact

on the performance of small ventures.

And this might reflect an optimistic

business attitude that could be related

for venture success

Further studies

examining the impact

of the phases of

venture creation and

resource accumulation

on performance in

other industries are

undoubtedly required.

Skills and

Knowledge of

Entrepreneurs and

Venture capital /

Business Angels

20. 2007-

Jean-Etienne

de Bettignies

& James A.

Brander

Using Douglas and

Shepherd (1999)

model approach

This paper examines the

entrepreneur's choice between

bank finance and venture capital

for the successful entrepreneurial

venture

Case Studies - Qualitative Venture capital tends to be preferred to

bank finance when VC productivity is

high and entrepreneurial productivity is

low. The VC cannot survive as a pure

financial intermediary; bank finance

would always be preferred to a VC who

could not provide managerial value-

added to the venture. Banks would have

no particular preference for major

success over modest success and

therefore would focus simply on low

failure probabilities. VCs, on the other

hand, would be more willing to trade-

off a higher failure probability for some

chance of a major success.

Venture Capital

and Financial

Resources



21. 2008-

Ajay Thapa,

Archana

Thulaseedhar

an, Arup

Goswami and

Lucky Prasad

Joshi

This study has revealed many

facts concerning the socio-

economic and motivational

factors affecting street

entrepreneurial success.

Interview with the street

entrepreneurs in Vastrapur,

India - Quantitative

This study has found that level of

education has moderate positive

relationship with profit from the

business and the number of workers,

size of initial investment on business

and some motivational factors like

family business and promising demand

of the products/services are the major

determinants on street entrepreneurial

success.

Entrepreneurial

Role Models and

Skills and

Knowledge of

Entrepreneurs

22. 2008-

Michael

Song, Ksenia

Podoynitsyn,

Hans van der

Bij and

Johannes I.

M. Halman

The theoretical

framework consists

of 5 elements:

entrepreneurial

opportunities,

entrepreneurial

team,

entrepreneurial

resources, strategic,

organizational fit

and performance.

The study‟s integrated evaluation

of the success factors of new

technology ventures provides one

step toward developing an

integrated theoretical foundation

for technology entrepreneurship

as well as identifies universal

success factors.

a meta-analysis to analyze

the findings of 31 studies

and identified the 24 most

widely researched success

factors for New Technology

Ventures - Quantitative

among the 24 possible success factors

identified in the literature, 8 are

homogeneous significant success

factors for New Technology Ventures :

(1) supply chain integration; (2) market

scope; (3) firm age; (4) size of founding

team; (5) financial resources; (6)

founders‟ marketing experience; (7)

founders‟ industry experience; and (8)

existence of patent protection.

In future research

financial resources,

patent protection,

supply chain

integration, firm age,

and size of the

founding team may be

considered as control

variables.

Venture Capitals

and Financial

Resources

23. 2009-

Alexander

Kessler &

Hermann

Frank

The Vienna

Entrepreneurship

Studies (VES)

The main objective of this study

was to develop and test a model

which predicts the founding

success of businesses using

indicators related to the (1)

entrepreneurial person, (2)

environment (3) resources, and

(4) founding process.

290 nascent entrepreneurs

in Austria (1998–2001) -

Quantitative

The results show that each dimension

differs in significance.

The results of this

empirical analysis

based on the Vienna

entrepreneurship

Studies (VES) data set

as well as the Panel

Study of

Entrepreneurial

Dynamics (PSED)

study support a

comprehensive

research approach,

meaning that all four

of the influencing

dimensions postulated

should be subjected to

further research.

Presence of

experienced

entrepreneurs, skills and

knowledge of

entrepreneurs ,

Entrepreneurial

Role Models and

Venture Capital



24. 2009-

Jose A Belso

Mart|¨nez

A various survey of

the theoretical

literature

To examine various facets of

entrepreneurship policies

identified by economic literature

as influential in the

entrepreneurial decision as well as

a broad range of factors explain

the level of entrepreneurship and

success in small businesses

72 Spanish footwear

entrepreneurs year 2000 -

Quantitative

Some of the analyzed public policies

significantly favor for business

profitability and growth. Tax reductions

and subsidies have emerged as essential

tools to help businesses to survive and

thrive during their gestation periods.

Further research is

also needed to value

the benefits and cost

of these policies

Governmental

influences and

policies support

25. 2009-

Matthew S.

Wood

Transaction cost

theory

The goal of the paper is to

enhance the understanding of

proper organizational form-

innovation attribute alignment as

a key driver of innovation

commercialization success, so that

universities and their industry

partners can increase their

effectiveness in

commercialization activities

leading to successful

entrepreneurship

Further explanation of

Zander and Kogut

framework (1995)

innovation knowledge

taxonomy - Qualitative

The high level of transaction-specific

investments indicates that the university

would be best served by governing this

transaction with the spin-off firm in

order to successfully transfer the

innovation to an existing firm.

Future research should

explore the possibility

that additional

organizational forms

could be employed in

the commercialization

of university-held

innovations

Proximity of

Entrepreneurial

Universities

26. 2009-

Murali

Sambasivan,

Mohani

Abdul &

Yuzliani

Yusop

The framework has

been constructed

based on the five

schools of thought

in entrepreneurship.

There are three

constructs in this

framework:

„qualities-skills‟

(personal qualities

and management

skills) is an

independent

construct,

„opportunity

recognition skills is

a mediating

construct and

„venture

performance‟ is the

dependent

construct.

This research studied the role of

personal qualities, management

skills and opportunity recognition

skills of entrepreneurs in

influencing the venture

performance.

1275 SMEs in the

manufacturing sector from

all over Malaysia -

Quantitative

The results indicated that:

(1)opportunity recognition skills had a

„„pure‟‟ mediating effect between

qualities-skills and venture

performance, (2)personal qualities

affect venture performance through

entrepreneurial alertness and (3)

management skills affect venture

performance through alertness and prior

knowledge. These results can help

agencies training and funding

entrepreneurs. The better the

opportunity recognition skill of the

entrepreneur, the better is the success of

the venture in terms of sales volume

and sales growth.

Future studies can

include additional

samples from the

service industry and

the failed ventures to

make the results

robust.

Entrepreneurial

Role Models, skills and

knowledge of

entrepreneurs and

Venture Capital



27. 2009-

Terrence C.

Sebora, Sang

M. Lee and

Nittana

Sukasame

Entrepreneurial

ventures Critical

Success Factors

This study focuses on the

relationships between

entrepreneurial characteristics

(achievement orientation, risk

taking propensity, locus of control

and networking), e-service

business factors (reliability,

responsiveness, ease of use, and

self-service) and governmental

support towards the success of e-

commerce entrepreneurs.

1,794 e-commerce

entrepreneurs who

registered with the

Department of Business

Development (DBD),

Ministry of Commerce,

Thailand. - Quantitative

The results show that the success of

Thai e-commerce entrepreneurs are

associated with founders who have high

achievement orientation and

an internal locus of control, confirming

the results of many previous studies.

This study could have

provided a more

comprehensive

understanding about

the success of e-

commerce ventures if

it expanded its base to

include customer

perceptions as well.

These issues could be

considered for future

research.

Presence of

experienced

entrepreneurs and

Entrepreneurial

Role Models

28. 2009-

Zhang Jie and

Liu Qing

Entrepreneurial

environment

To compares the entrepreneurial

environment of Guangzhou and

Changchun based on the date

from Global Entrepreneurship

Monitor (GEM) China report in

revealing the impacts that

environment makes on achiever

entrepreneurship and

entrepreneurial behaviors

Global Entrepreneurship

Monitor (GEM) China

report - Quantitative

Changchun region needs badly to

strengthen the governmental support,

offer superior political environment and

market conditions, increase

entrepreneurial education and training

opportunities, promote the transferring

efficiency of R&D achievements.

Governmental

influences and

policies support

29. 2010-

Ahmad Raflis

Che Omar,

Suraiya Ishak

and M.

Radzuan

Rahid

Kolb experiential

learning theory and

Lewin Field Theory

to describe the execution of

experiential-business consultation

program as adopted by University

Kebangsaan Malaysia and to

evaluate the ability of the program

to fulfill the learning process

according to Experiential

Learning Theory together

highlights the entrepreneurs

success factors for such program

Interview screening phases-

Qualitative

Knowledge and management

capability of entrepreneurs play

important role and need to be developed

at every level. Developing

entrepreneurial and business

management skills requires more than

theoretical approach.

Proximity of

Entrepreneurial

Universities

30. 2010-

Deniz

Ucbasaran,

Paul

Westhead,

Mike Wright

and Manuel

Flores

the comparative

optimism literature

by introducing a

complementary

perspective that

focuses on the

factors associated

with its presence

The nature of entrepreneurial

experience can shape how

entrepreneurs adapt with the

business success and comparative

optimism

Ssurvey of 576

entrepreneurs in Great

Britain - Quantitative

Entrepreneurs may benefit from

developing routines that challenge

assumptions about their business as

well as their competitors. Entrepreneurs

who have experienced success appear

to adjust their comparative optimism.

Studies could consider

the actual financial

and non-financial

costs of business

failure and links with

subsequent optimism

and behaviour

Presence of

experienced

entrepreneurs



31. 2010-

Dominic S.K.

Lim, Eric A.

Morse,

Ronald K.

Mitchell &

Kristie K.

Seawright

Institutional theory To inquire the relationship

between institutional elements of

the social environment and

entrepreneurial cognitions, which

lead to the individual‟s venture

creation decision. These

institutions are thought to

influence the resources that are

key to business success financial,

human and social capital

757 entrepreneurs and non-

entrepreneurs from 8

countries - Quantitative

The various institutional elements, such

as legal and financial systems, affect

venture arrangements and willingness

scripts. Venture arrangements scripts

have the most significant impact on an

individual‟s venture creation decision.

Future research may

look into the

coevolving nature of

various types of

institutions, for e.g.:

interactions between

legal and financial

systems, and their

impact on

entrepreneurship

Venture Capital,

Financial

Resources &

Governmental

Influences

32. 2010-

Hao Zhao,

Scott E.

Seibert and

G.T.

Lumpkin

Five Factor model

(FFM) of

personality

The purpose of the current study

is to extend understanding of the

role of personality in the

entrepreneurial which ultimately

relate to the firm success.

Meta analysis - a final total

of 60 studies with 66

independent samples, with a

total sample size of 15,423

individuals - Quantitative

Personality does play a role in the

intention to become an entrepreneur

and success as an entrepreneur.

Future research needs

to explore how

elements of

entrepreneurs‟

personalities relate to

specific behaviors of

the entrepreneur or

characteristics of the

new venture, which in

the end relate to the

firm success.

Entrepreneurial

Role Models

33. 2010-

Igor Prodan

& Mateja

Drnovsek

Academic-

entrepreneurial

intentions

To proposes a theoretical model

of academic-entrepreneurial

intentions to gain insight attaining

success and controlling cognitions

for successfully tackling

challenging goals throughout the

entrepreneurial tasks.

Data from two universities

(the University of

Cambridge and the

University of Ljubljana) in

two different European

countries (United Kingdom

and Slovenia) - Quantitative

The result indicate that entrepreneurial

self-efficacy, type of research,

perceived role models, number of years

spent at an academic institution, and

patents are significantly related to the

formation of academic-entrepreneurial

intentions, regardless of cultural

context. The results revealed that

entrepreneurial self-efficacy had the

highest path coefficient among all

predictors of academics‟

entrepreneurial intentions in both

universities.

Future research in

academic-

entrepreneurial

intentions should

consider the extent to

which the findings of

this study apply to

academics from other

research areas (e.g.,

life sciences, social,

and behavioural

sciences).

Proximity of

Entrepreneurial

Universities

34. 2010-

Jiangyong Lu

and Zhigang

Tao

Institutional

Environment

To propose a theoretical

framework for the

entrepreneurship decision in

China with a focus on the

role of the institutional

environment accumulate wider

ranges of skills which are

essential for successful

entrepreneurship.

Survey data of 2854

respondents from twenty

cities in China -Quantitative

The Legal position implying that the

surveyed respondents were more likely

to become entrepreneurs after the

granting of legal status for private

enterprises in 1988. The results robust

to the controls for other personal

attributes of entrepreneurs that have

been found to be important in the

existing literature (such as gender,

Entrepreneurial

Role Models and

Governmental

policies to

Entrepreneurship/

SMEs



marital status, age, education, financial

conditions, and altitude for taking

business risks).

35. 2010-

Linda

Edelman and

Helena Yli-

Renko

Alvarez and Barney

Theory (2007)

to examine the objective existence

of the business opportunity vs. the

entrepreneur‟s subjective

perception of the opportunity and

the actual availability of resources

vs. the entrepreneur‟s perception

of resource availability as drivers

of resulting entrepreneurial

succeeded actions

64,622 individuals in the

United States using

National Panel Study of

Entrepreneurial Dynamics

(PSED) through telephone

interviews - Quantitative

Have a clear understanding the complex

relationships among the objective

environment, entrepreneurial

perceptions, entrepreneurial efforts and

firm emergence

Future studies could

develop more fine-

grained measures to

also look at the extent,

sequencing and

effectiveness of

business activities.

Venture Capital

and Financial

Resources

36. 2010-

Maher Al-

Mahrouq

The purpose of this paper is to

identify the main factors that

mostly used to reflect the success

o Jordanian small and medium-

sized enterprises.

163 industries (Services,

Manufacturing and Retail) -

Quantitative

The results of this study identified five

principle factors that could be major

contributors to the success of the small

and medium-sized enterprises in

Jordan.

There is a need to

study this topic more

so as to find more

other factors that

could be added to the

success factors from

one hand.

Skills and

knowledge of

entrepreneurs ,

Presence of

experienced

entrepreneurs and

Financial

Resources

37. 2010-

Marco

Caliendo,

FrankFossen

and

Alexander

Kritikos

Approach from

psychological

research

To analyze whether the risk

attitudes of active entrepreneurs

have an impact on their survival

probability and success rates in

self-employment in Germany.

German Socio-Economic

Panel (SOEP) - Quantitative

The socio-demographic variables

observed gender and age effects

showing that women and younger

persons have significantly lower

probabilities of remaining self-

employed. A self-employed father has a

positive effect on survival.

Entrepreneurial

Role Models

38. 2010-

Mathew

Philip

* The purpose of this study was to

identify the factors affecting the

business success in small and

medium sized enterprises in

Bangladesh.

A total 300 sets of

questionnaires to 300

employees from SMEs -

Quantitative

External environment factor play a very

important role as well for firm success.

Social network, government support

and legality, are the key strategic

dimension in external environment in

business success.

Entrepreneurial

Role Models,

Financial

Resources and

Governmental

policies



39. 2010-

William R.

Meek,

Desirée F.

Pacheco and

Jeffrey G.

York

Institutional

Theory, Sociology

and

Entrepreneurship

Integrating theory from

entrepreneurship, sociology, and

institutional theory, this paper

argues that both centralized

(government designed) and

decentralized (socially

determined) institutions impact

entrepreneurial success activity.

U.S. solar energy sector -

Quantitative

The initial evidence to support the

theory that areas with higher norms of

environmentally responsible

consumption have higher levels of

entrepreneurial founding‟s in support of

environmental practices. The efficacy

of state-level policies in the sponsoring

of entrepreneurial growth is dependent

upon the social norms that prevail in the

entrepreneur's environment. The

integral role that social norms play in

influencing the creation of new firms

and by illustrating the potential effect

social norms have on the effect of

policy that seeks to encourage

environmentally responsible

economic activity.

Future research should

explore the theoretical

underpinnings of the

study in different

environmental

entrepreneurship

contexts.

Entrepreneurial

Role Models and

Governmental

policies to

Entrepreneurship/

SMEs

Aina Modh

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