There is a need for this thesis to identify factors from both founder-specific factors and firm-specific resources that may influence business sustainability according to the relevant indicators. The identification of these factors will help explain the relationship between identified factors and business sustainability and eventually help determine the important factors influencing long term viability of the business. A set of business sustainability indicators will be used to determine and explain the relationship between factors and business sustainability. For instance, a founder’s skills may be one of the important factors
influencing business sustainability due to their significant roles with performance and competitive advantage.
According to Robson, Prabhu and Mitchell (2002), business sustainability from a firm’s operational perspective can be also measured by performance, business growth, competitive advantage and impact of change. These measurements were developed by Robson et al. (2002) based on defined areas that can represent business sustainability and are consistent with the range of success measures proposed by Liburd and Zairi (2001).
Some other aspects will be also taken into consideration in explaining the sustainability of business such as profitability and new product development. ‘Profit persistence’ may also be used as a measure of business sustainability (Villalonga 2004) since the level of a firm’s profitability could affect its economic survival (Esteve-Pérez & Maňez-Castillejo 2008). The introduction of new products may also provide a competitive advantage as this activity will lead to the generation of profit, which affects the firm’s sustainability.
From another perspective, the impact of change from the operational perspective may also be measured in terms of the role of the firms towards the development of its society. The operations of the entrepreneurship activities by the Indigenous entrepreneurs can simultaneously generate economic growth as desired, while advancing social objectives toward achieving Indigenous societal sustainability (Hall, Daneke & Lenox 2010). This form of business can be regarded as what Brueckner, Paulin, Davis and Chatterjee (2010) labelled an Indigenous social enterprise, concerned with overcoming social and economic obstacles faced by the Indigenous people through entrepreneurship activities. Interestingly, Mann and Gazzarin (2004) posit that the income generation from entrepreneurship activities might also be regarded as a social indicator that lead to a better societal transformation, such as increased income status. In the context of this thesis, the Bumiputera entrepreneurs help their society through new product creation or job creation which helps to overcome society’s problems or portray a better image of the Bumiputera in the economic activities.
To summarise, business sustainability has become an important issue, specifically with reference to technology-based small firms given the rapid changes in the global business environment. The ability of a firm to continue business operations in a technology industry in the long term will constitute a definition of business sustainability. Competit ion
intensity in technology industries, which is normally characterised by high research and development (R&D) and high product innovation, requires the firm to pay serious intention to factors that may influence a sustainable business. In addition, a group of economic performance indicators such as profitability and productivity and societal contribution may also be utilised to represent the relationship between factors identified and business sustainability.
2.7 SUMMARY
This thesis focuses on the factors influencing the sustainability of business amongst Malaysian Bumiputera NTBSF. The literature review in this chapter has recognised that the development of Bumiputera entrepreneurship through affirmative actions as an instrument by the Malaysian government to restructure the socioeconomics of society and eradicate poverty amongst Malaysian multiethnic people (Husin Ali 2008; Montesino 2012; Gomez 2013). In line with the literature of Indigenous entrepreneurship development conducted around the globe such as in the continent of Australia and Oceania (Frederick & Foley 2006; Maritz 2006; Foley 2008; Pearson & Helms 2013), the continent of Africa (Naudé & Havenga 2007; Dzisi 2008; Sonobe, Akoten & Otsuka 2011), the continent of America (Redpath & Nielsen 1997; Galbraith et al. 2006; Dana 2007a) and continent of Asia (Siddique & Leo 1981); this thesis shows that many incentives have been provided by the government, including financial assistance and business training to develop their business acumen. Nevertheless, the effectiveness of such incentives may not necessarily bring a positive outcome to the Indigenous entrepreneurs (Pearson & Helms 2013), which can be related to the government’s ability to determine what main assistance is needed by the Indigenous entrepreneurs. Indeed, limited study has been conducted on this issue, especially in regard to the relevant business stakeholder to really ‘communicate’
the needs of the Indigenous entrepreneurs in sustaining their business.
In addition, much Bumiputera entrepreneurship research has focused on traditionally-based business sectors, implicitly assuming that the participation by Bumiputera in those industries should be more encouraged by the Malaysian government (Mat Zain & Senteri 1998; Abdullah et al. 2009). Indeed, with the introduction of policies such as NEM and Malaysia National Innovation Policy that provide a guideline for Malaysia to become a high-income nation by 2020, the technology-based sectors have been regarded a main focus that drives the country’s economic growth. Shane (2009) also suggests that the
formulation of entrepreneurship policies should focus on high-growth industries which bring more impact to the society. It is the intention of this thesis to fill in this gap by exploring what factors matter in the development and sustainability of Bumiputera technology entrepreneurship through the designation of conceptual framework on this issue. Further, the proposed conceptual framework can also guide the Bumiputera entrepreneur in managing their technology business venture.
Much literature on sustainability has been discussed, yet it is deficient in several aspects.
Mann and Gazzarin (2004) argued that the discussion on the main concepts underpinning the sustainability at the business level by many studies was less comprehensive. This is primarily because the discussion of business sustainability was examined from an economic perspective rather than investigating other aspects such as societal perspective that might also impact a firm’s business sustainability.
This thesis attempts to fill this deficiency by proposing a framework that explains how the enterprise sustainability can also influence the societal sustainability amongst Indigenous people. Moreover, the sustainability indicators of an enterprise are mainly based on economic values such as profitability, whereby the perceptions of what constitute a success or failure may be different for some ethnic groups such as Bumiputera, where cultural aspects rank highly and the collective achievements of the society are more important than measurements on an economic basis only. In summary, reflecting back on the research question of this thesis, this chapter has specifically defined the main concepts of sustainability of Bumiputera entrepreneurship in Malaysia’s technology-based industries. The key concepts such as who are the Bumiputera people, the nature of technology-based industries as well as sustainability in the Indigenous firms need to be understood if these questions are to be answered.
The next chapter will discuss on the development of the conceptual framework underpinning this thesis based on the key concepts uncovered in this chapter, especially in regards to the sustainability of Bumiputera technology firms.