Critical Success Factors for Small and Medium Enterprises: Perceptions of Entrepreneurs in Urban Malaysia

This study aims to investigate the perceived success factors of operating small and medium enterprises amongst Malaysian entrepreneurs. The term “success” is defined with both traditional criteria such as profit and growth and also with intrinsic factors such as personal satisfaction and the sense of achievement. A total of one hundred and eight entrepreneurs from Klang Valley were surveyed. Data was collected using a questionnaire that was conducted through face to face approach. Eighteen Likert-style questions were used to determine the perceived success factors. Findings revealed that the perceived success factors across ethnic groups and gender were reputation of honesty, good customer service and hard work. In conclusion, the findings reported in this article indicated that several similarities are shared amongst entrepreneurs in terms of success factors perceptions despite differences across ethnic groups and gender.