Export Of Malaysia Business-To-Business Services: An Examination Of Civil Engineering Consultancy

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Date
2010-04
Authors
Law, Yuk Hui
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Publisher
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract
The surplus of balance of payment in the services sectors for the first time in 2007 portends the services sector becoming the main economic contributor to Malaysia, overtaking the industrial sector. Among the business-to-business services, engineering services is the most impressive. Among the 86 disciplines in engineering services, civil engineering has the highest number of registered engineers (i.e. 47.4% for 1986-2006 periods). A study was conducted to examine the export of Malaysia’s business-to-business services, notably civil engineering consultancies. Data was collected from postal questionnaire survey, face-to-face interviews and secondary sources. Questionnaires were posted to all civil engineering consultancy firms. 73 questionnaires were returned, with 19 of having international experience. Six interviews were conducted with consenting respondents. Among the findings that challenge past studies include small firms were more likely to internationalise than large firms and the majority of the surveyed firms were not driven to enter psychically or geographically close countries. In terms of mode of market entry, piggybacking was the most popular choice (89.2%). Quality of service, and experienced and capable workforce were regarded as very important firm-specific competitive assets. Mutual recognition of professional qualification was the highest ranked country-specific competitive asset. As for locational factors, Malaysian firms were most concerned about political stability, and law and order in the foreign markets. The findings of this study can be use for increasing the exporting of Malaysia’s civil engineering consultancy services.
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Keywords
Among the business-to-business services , engineering services is the most impressive
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