International Business Competence and Small and Medium Enterprises

Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) have always been an important contributor to a country's economic prosperity. In the globalization era, businesses are forced to push beyond the boundaries to sustain their competitive advantage and have the competency to succeed. Internationalization has become a way forward for businesses to increase performance and this move has open doors to SMEs to be in the picture. Studies on internationalized Small and Medium Enterprises (iSMEs) and international business competence in particular for the Internationalized Malaysian Small and Medium Enterprises (iMSMEs) are very limited. Therefore, this research explores into the world of competence for the internationalized Malaysian Small and Medium Enterprises (iMSMEs) by interviewing the Small and Medium Enterprises experts from the East and West of Malaysia. The experts’ panels (RES) are divided into five categories: academicians, policy makers, supporting government agencies, chambers of commerce and industries. The research uses a thematic approach to identify themes and emergent themes; and intelligent coding to determine most influential factors; and reports each theme and sub-theme using percentage and supporting quotations. The research contributes on the new definition of competence, international business competence and international business competence indicators for internationalized Small and Medium Enterprises. In addition, implications of this study and directions for future research are also discussed.