Challenges and Opportunities of Rural Micro Enterprise in Malaysia

It is observed that the phrase “Entrepreneurship” has been used in disparate meanings by scholars around the world. In academic definition, entrepreneurship is the process by which individuals pursue opportunities without regard to resources they currently control(Stevenson & Jarillo). In venture capitalist, entrepreneurship is the art of turning an idea into a business(Fred Wilson). In a simple word, entrepreneurship is the process of designing a new business and start new businesses is the most obvious example of entrepreneurship. Most researchers would agree with a definition of entrepreneurship as an activity that involves the

The existing literature on entrepreneurship stems from economical conceptual frameworks developed in the early twentieth century by Schumpeter, Cole, Kirzner among others. Fayolle (2014) notes that entrepreneurship has gained considerable study

The role of entrepreneurship in the economy of a country is to inspire new business ventures that support wealth

Economic revitalization and the goal for community financial efficiency is a challenge set before all communities both large and small, and while the size and scale of the local community brings with it unique challenges to overcome, it can be argued the smaller the city the larger the challenge. Awareness of the factors standing against the goal of revitalization not commonly found in larger areas can help support economic growth and heightened entrepreneurial innovation in these smaller communities.

A small business is one that mainly has an independent ownership and operation. Its operation is organized for profit and has no dominant field. The number of employees in a small business depends on industry or rather its operation and standards size of its eligibility. A small business can have all levels of operations just as a large scale firm can hold (Stanberry, 2009). The only difference between the two is the number of employees, the annual receipts and the construction. For instance, the number of

Small medium sized enterprises and small and medium sized businesses are often referred to as SMEs. These are companies whose number of employees or turnover falls underneath certain limits. The EU defines companies with fewer than 50 employees as small, and those

There are many enterprises that operate successfully in rural areas and can provide guidance to other enterprises with respect to

A small business will employ less than 250 employees as it is a company that is independently owned and “is not dominant in its field of operation” (Bovée and Thill, 2008). There are three aspects: micro, small and medium. A microbusiness will have a turnover of less than or equal to £2 million and will employ between 1-9 employees (see appendix 2). On the other hand, a small business will have a turnover of less than or equal to £10 million and will employ from 10 – 49 employees and lastly a medium business will employ from 50-249 people and have a turnover of less than or equal to £50 million (BMG Research, 2013). Small businesses have been defined as such due to their annual revenue and/or number of employees which was defined by the SBA (U.S Small business administration).

To better their survival chances, entrepreneurs and owners of small businesses in rural areas must successfully pitch their ventures to

In their study, they provide Iran and Malaysia as examples. In Iran, business that has 10 to 49 employees is categorized as SMEs. In Malaysia, the number of employees needed to be categorized as SME is between 5 to 19 employees. It can be seen SME’s definition cannot be defined in general, because each country having its own parameter in defining SME.

Entrepreneurship is broadly accepted as a prominent driver of economic development (Schumpeter, 1912; Camp, 2005). As United Kindom Her Majesty's Treasury (2005) declared, entrepreneurship and its profound impact on enterprises have been one of five driving forces of the Nation’s remarkable strategy to promote economic development for the last ten years. Drucker (1985) also accepts the major role of entrepreneurship and he even indicated that present businesses could hardly

A survey on the Strategic and Entrepreneurial Orientation (EO) and Growth of Small & Medium Enterprises (SMEs)

Presently, there is no common definition of small and medium enterprises (SME) in Malaysia. Different Agencies define SME based on their own criteria, usually bench-marking against annual sales turnover, number of full-time employees or shareholders’ funds. In addition, present definitions focus mainly on SMEs in the manufacturing sector.

• Number of people employed: The number of people varies from country to country. In Uganda the figure is put to between 5-50. In India, the figure is that between 30-100. In the United States, small enterprises are those which employ less than 500 people. In Kenya business with 10 or fewer workers are called micro enterprises.

Information on the type of the microenterprises shows that there are various types of micro enterprises ranging from tea stall owners, vegetable vendors, paper makers, tailors, paper bag makers , imitation jewellery sellers, saree sellers , grocery sellers , fish sellers, shoe makers, beauty parlour owners, garland sellers , flower sellers , idli sellers etc.