| Summary: | Bumiputera SMEs in furniture industry has their own characteristics, but there is
little information about how Bumiputera manage their business especially in
furniture industry. The objectives of this study were to identify the problems faced,
key characteristics and most important business aspects in Bumiputera furniture
SMEs. This study would be useful for Bumiputera entrepreneurs to improve their
weaknesses and be aware of their potential as well as useful to government agencies
involved in helping Bumiputera entrepreneurs in furniture industry. The method used
was a questionnaire survey of 30 Bumiputera furniture SMEs listed by PEKA, which
analyzed using frequency and score analysis. The result from this study showed that
Bumiputera furniture SMEs has 17 listed characteristics from five main business
aspects which were raw material, financial, market, technology and human resource.
Market was their biggest weakness, where they faced difficulty to penetrate export
market and hence rely on government tender projects. But, they have their own
strength, which is their technology. The technology used were mostly advanced
machinery, such as CNC machines in Bumiputera furniture SMEs. It is an advantage
for Bumiputera furniture SMEs to get government assistance. But the advantages are
not equivalent to their weaknesses where they have to improve their market so that
Bumiputera furniture SMEs are in line with the development of other industries.
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