Entrepreneurial Orientation for Sustainable Competitive Advantage and Risk Management: Evidence from Government-Linked Companies in Malaysia

Abstract

This study is an attempt to assess the status of the current level of entrepreneurial orientation among the Government-Linked Companies (GLCs) in Malaysia. This study collected primary data based on a set of questionnaire survey among 134 executives and managers of GLCs in Malaysia. The data were collected based on opinions of the seven factors of entrepreneurial orientation practices by using the five-point Likert scale. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics. Further, the reliability of the data was tested using Cronbach’s alpha test, the validity of the data was tested by checking the normality test through skewness and kurtosis, and the consistency of the data was tested using factor analysis. On an average, 70.9% of the respondents agreed that they focus on these factors of entrepreneurial orientation. The federal owned GLCs place more emphasis on entrepreneurial orientation than the state owned GLCs. This study suggests improving the practices of entrepreneurial orientation of GLCs in Malaysia by emphasizing on recognizing individual risk takers for their willingness to champion new projects, whether it eventually turns out to be successful or not, encouraging employees to take calculated risks with new ideas, considering the term “risk taker” as a positive attribute for people in the organization, and supporting many small and experimental projects by realizing that some will undoubtedly fail.