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This study aims to examine the effect of entrepreneurial skills, market orientation, sales orientations and networking on entrepreneurial competency and performance of micro-enterprises in Kelantan, Malaysia.

Adopting a cross-sectional design, this paper collected data through structured interviews from 403 micro-entrepreneurs from “Majlis Amanah Rakyat,” Kelantan and “Majlis Agama Islam dan Adat Istiadat,” Kelantan.

The findings reveal that entrepreneurial skills, market orientation and networking have a positive effect on entrepreneurial competency. Then, entrepreneurial competency, entrepreneurial skills and networking have a positive effect on enterprise performance. The findings show a significant mediation effect of entrepreneurial competency on the relationships between entrepreneurial skills, market orientation and networking and enterprise performance.

Addressing the understudied “human factor” in entrepreneurship, this paper extends the resource-based view and enriches the existing entrepreneurship literature in Malaysia. It provides useful insights into the improvement of micro-enterprise performance, which is crucial for promoting entrepreneurial activities and for enhancing socio-economic conditions among low-income households in Malaysia. Thus, the government and developmental organizations should focus on the development of entrepreneurial skills, market-oriented approach, networking traits and entrepreneurial competencies and subsequently encourage poor households to perform entrepreneurial activities.

Low-income households form a significant portion of the Malaysian population. To improve the socio-economic condition of low-income households, development organizations in Malaysia offer a wide range of development trainings, discussions and group or center meetings. This study aims to examine the impact of enterprise development training programs on entrepreneurial competencies among Peninsular Malaysia microentrepreneurs.

Adopting a cross-sectional design, the authors collected data from 300 randomly selected microentrepreneurs from the list of microentrepreneurs provided by eKasih (the National Poverty Data Bank), across four states of Peninsular Malaysia. Quantitative data were collected through structured interviews with the respondents from October to November 2017.

The findings revealed that enterprise development training programs significantly affected three of six entrepreneurial competencies (i.e. opportunity recognition competency, organizing competency and relationship competency). These findings highlight the importance of enterprise development training programs towards microentrepreneurs in increasing their competencies.

Through its insights, the study enriches the understanding of low-income communities in emerging economies, while offering significant practical implications. Based on findings, it is recommended that development organizations should therefore continue the current microenterprise development training programs. With improved entrepreneurial competencies, microentrepreneurs can thrive amidst competition yet sustaining business performance.

The purpose of this paper is to improve the socio-economic condition of low-income households in Malaysia, many products and services are available, including access to working capital and enterprise development training programs. This study examined the impact of access to working capital and micro-enterprise development training programs on household income and economic vulnerability among participants of development initiatives in the eKasih (national poverty data bank) in Peninsular Malaysia.

Adopting a cross-sectional design, the authors collected data randomly from the selected 300 micro-entrepreneurs from the list of development organizations available in the eKasih (national poverty data bank) located in four states of Peninsular Malaysia. Quantitative data were collected through structured interviews with the respondents from October to November 2017.

Both the length of participation and total amount of economic loan were found to increase the household income. However, there was no positive and significant impact of total number of training hours on household income. Interestingly, length of participation was found to reduce the level of economic vulnerability, except total amount of economic loan, and total number of training hours.

Despite the overwhelming empirical evidence, the findings indicated that the impact of enterprise development training programs was inconclusive. The effect of total amount of loan on economic vulnerability was also inconclusive. Hence, both policy makers and development organizations should understand how their programs benefit the poor households that can be improved through new implementation strategies.

This study aims to investigate the impact of economic vulnerability upon entrepreneurial competencies (i.e. commitment competency, conceptual competency, opportunity recognition competency, organizing competency, relationship competency and strategic competency) among respondents from varied development initiatives established by the eKasih program (National Poverty Data Bank) in Peninsular Malaysia.

Upon adopting the cross-sectional design, data were randomly gathered from selected 300 micro-entrepreneurs from the list of development organizations available in the eKasih (National Poverty Data Bank), located at four states in Peninsular Malaysia. The quantitative data were gathered by performing structured interview sessions from September until November 2017.

The outcomes of the study displayed that economic vulnerability has a significantly negative effect upon commitment, opportunity recognition, organizing and strategic competency. On the other hand, the results showcased that economi c vulnerability has a significantly positive effect on competency, but insignificantly positive impact upon conceptual competency.

These study outcomes appear to extend the scope of the resource-based view, apart from enriching the existing entrepreneurial competency literature, particularly within the Malaysian context. Hence, it is recommended that the government of Malaysia and development organizations should focus on maximizing the level of competency among micro-entrepreneurs as a viable approach to decrease the effect of economic vulnerability.

Entrepreneurial activities are embedded within the networks of social relationships, which facilitate the flow of crucial information and resources. This study aims to examine the effect of social capital (i.e. structural, cognitive and relational), entrepreneurial competencies (i.e. commitment, conceptual and organizing) and micro-enterprise innovativeness (i.e. innovativeness and absorptive capacity) on the competitive advantages of the micro-enterprises owned and managed by women micro-entrepreneurs in Peninsular Malaysia.

This study used a cross-sectional design and collected quantitative data from 417 women micro-entrepreneurs from six selected states in Peninsular Malaysia through structured interview. For data analysis, this study adopted variance-based structural equation modeling, i.e. PLS-SEM.

The findings of this study revealed a significant positive effect of social capital on entrepreneurial competencies, innovativeness and competitive advantage. The findings also revealed a significant positive effect of entrepreneurial competencies on innovativeness and competitive advantage.

The government and other development agencies working toward enterprise development in Malaysia should therefore focus on designing a platform for women micro-entrepreneurs to promote the development of structural and relational social capital, which foster the flow of crucial information and resources necessary for suitable micro-enterprise performance.

The type of social capital among families involved in business, or family social capital, has both positive and negative effects on family firms. This paper aims to investigate the mediating role of social relationships of family business members between socioemotional wealth (SEW) and firms' entrepreneurial orientation.

The authors applied a survey conducted in the four main cities in Mexico. The sample consisted of 360 small and medium enterprise (SMEs). This study's research framework and hypothesis were tested using regression analysis and the structural equation modeling technique.

This study finds that not only does SEW strongly influence the entrepreneurial orientation of family firms, but this influence is also mediated by the capability of such families to develop their social capital.

The results show the perspective of one person in the company. Though it is the person with the highest rank and presumably the person who thoroughly knows the company, there is always a possibility of bias, which may inflate the results presented in this paper.

Based on this study's results, family firms should continuously improve their entrepreneurial abilities to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. In addition, their unique family-related characteristics further enhance these strategic approaches' positive effects on relational capital development.

This work contributes to the academic literature on entrepreneurship and social capital. As a mediator between SEW and entrepreneurial orientation, family relational capital has been under-researched. The results of this study reveal significant implications for networking management and relational capital strategies for SMEs.

Las relaciones y conexiones de las familias involucradas en los negocios, o capital social familiar, tienen efectos tanto positivos como negativos en las empresas familiares. Este artículo investiga el papel mediador de las relaciones sociales de los miembros de la empresa familiar entre la riqueza socioemocional y la orientación empresarial de las empresas.

Se aplicó una encuesta realizada en las cuatro principales ciudades de México. La muestra estuvo compuesta por 360 pymes. El marco de investigación y la hipótesis de este estudio se probaron mediante análisis de regresión y la técnica Structural Equation Modeling (SEM).

Nuestro estudio encuentra que la riqueza socioemocional no solo influye fuertemente en la orientación emprendedora de las empresas familiares, sino que este factor también está mediado por la capacidad de dichas familias para desarrollar su capital social.

Este trabajo contribuye a la literatura académica sobre emprendimiento y capital social. Como mediador entre la riqueza socioemocional y la orientación emprendedora, el capital relacional familiar ha sido poco investigado. Nuestros resultados revelan implicaciones significativas para la gestión de redes y las estrategias de capital relacional para las Pymes.

As relações e conexões das famílias envolvidas nos negócios, ou capital social familiar, têm efeitos positivos e negativos nas empresas familiares. Este artigo investiga o papel mediador das relações sociais dos membros da empresa familiar entre a riqueza socioemocional e a orientação empreendedora das empresas.

Foi aplicado um inquérito realizado nas quatro principais cidades do México. A amostra foi constituída por 360 PME. A estrutura de pesquisa e a hipótese deste estudo foram testadas usando análise de regressão e a técnica de Modelagem de Equações Estruturais (SEM).

Nosso estudo conclui que a riqueza socioemocional não apenas influencia fortemente a orientação empreendedora das empresas familiares, mas que esse fator também é mediado pela capacidade dessas famílias de desenvolver seu capital social.

Este trabalho contribui para a literatura acadêmica sobre empreendedorismo e capital social. Como mediador entre a riqueza socioemocional e a orientação empreendedora, o capital relacional familiar tem recebido pouca pesquisa. Nossos resultados revelam implicações significativas para a gestão de rede e estratégias de capital relacional para PMEs.

Women entrepreneurs face several challenges in creating and running ventures, especially in emerging and developing countries. In this sense, by aiming to generate inputs capable of helping overcome them, this study aims to categorize the policy, managerial and practical implications of articles whose empirical research was in one or more of the 155 emerging and developing countries. Further, although scholars have addressed female entrepreneurship in developed economies, there is scant literature in the context explored here. This article provides suggestions for new studies, helping academics fill gaps in the literature.

This article adopts a systematic literature review approach, performing content analysis and bibliometric description for the sample. The study comprises 77 articles selected from the Scopus and Web of Science databases.

Research concentrates on Asian countries, with lower incidences in Latin America and Africa. The policy implications focus mainly on the executive rather than legislative spheres. The practical implications focus mainly on entrepreneurial development agencies and women entrepreneurs. Among the suggestions for novel studies, those focusing on methodological choices and female enterprises stand out.

This paper maps and categorizes the policy, managerial and practical implications, helping to raise governments’, policymakers’ and practitioners’ awareness of the preferred strategies to overcome the challenges of female entrepreneurship.

This paper emphasizes reflections of mutual interest to researchers, policymakers and practitioners, filling gaps in studies that prioritize an academic audience. Regarding the academic audience, this paper contributes to innovatively categorizing suggestions for future research and building an extensive research agenda capable of guiding research in this area.

This study aims to delineate opportunity recognition as a competency from opportunity recognition as an outcome in the form of ideas and opportunities. In addition, a model was developed to examine the antecedents that lead to opportunity recognition competency, the intention to be an entrepreneur and finally, the actual number of ideas and opportunities discovered.

This study adopted cross-sectional design and collected quantitative data from a total of 247 randomly selected final year students from two private universities in Malaysia. Partial least squares structural equation modelling was applied to test the associations.

Study revealed that opportunity recognition competency and ability to develop ideas or exploitable opportunities are distinct constructs. Students with high competency in recognising opportunities are interested to be an entrepreneur but are not necessarily prepared with tangible ideas or exploitable opportunities. Absorptive capacity, entrepreneurial alertness and entrepreneurial knowledge were found to be significant predictors of opportunity recognition competency.

Firstly, in managing outputs of entrepreneurship education and trainings, opportunity recognition competency and number of ideas and opportunities should be separately and explicitly measured. Secondly, entrepreneurial alertness and entrepreneurial knowledge must be emphasised in entrepreneurial education or training on guiding students to be alert to information and honing their opportunity recognition competency skills through active search techniques.

This study is one of the few studies that clarify and empirically distinguish the concept of opportunity recognition as competency from opportunity recognition as an outcome in the forms of ideas and exploitable opportunities.