Beyond “Know-Who”: The Instrumental Role of Relationship Competency among SME Entrepreneurs

Noor Hazlina Ahmad and Hasliza Abdul Halim

Journal of Asian Business Strategy, 2013, vol. 3, issue 4, 69-80

Abstract: This paper reports the findings of an exploratory empirical study that aims to primarily examine the instrumental role of relationship competency among SME entrepreneurs by utilising a comparative data from Australia and Malaysia. A sample of 20 SME entrepreneurs from Australia and Malaysia participated in this study. A series of interviews were conducted to probe into the behaviours that delineate relationship competency among these entrepreneurs. The results showed that SME entrepreneurs in both countries highlighted the importance of relationship (also referred to as social competency) in managing their ventures. This study provides entrepreneurs with knowledge about the way they should operate their business and encourages them to be conscious of the importance of relationship and networking in sustaining their business and increasing the odds of success. The study also demonstrates that entrepreneurs could reap a lot of benefits and at the same time overcome their limitations if they are able to equip themselves with relationship competency.

Keywords: Social capital; Relationship competency; SME entrepreneurs; Malaysia; Australia (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2013
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://archive.aessweb.com/index.php/5006/article/view/4069/6344 (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:asi:joabsj:v:3:y:2013:i:4:p:69-80:id:4069

Access Statistics for this article

More articles in Journal of Asian Business Strategy from Asian Economic and Social Society
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Robert Allen ().