Malaysia small business policies praised

MELBOURNE: Malaysia is in the forefront of small business development
policies across the globe, says Ken Phillips, a leading international
small business expert.

Phillips, the Chairman of Australia's
peak small business organisation, the Council of Small Business
Australia, has identified Malaysia as a world leader.

Criticising
developed economies, Phillips said: "In comparison to Malaysia, small
business policies in developed economies of Europe, North America and
Australia frequently look like knee-jerk reactions to political
imperatives rather than thought through economic policy."

In
particular, Phillips highlighted the consistent leadership from the top
of the government as being important to Malaysia's small business
success.

He was impressed that Malaysia's Prime Minister Datuk
Seri Najib Tun Razak chairs Malaysia's National Small and Medium
Enterprises' (SMEs) Development Council.

"This leadership
showed a level of sophistication to economic development (in this case
in the small business sector) that is often hard to find in the
so-called advanced economies," Phillips told Bernama on Monday.

Phillips
is a leading small business authority particularly on self-employed and
micro-business issues. He also heads Australia's Independent
Contractors' Association and conducts global research and commentary on
government policies towards the self-employed.

Along with
contributions to international SME academic publications, his book
entitled "Independence and the Death of Employment" is one of the few
detailed publications on the self-employed.

Phillips comments
followed a presentation by Datuk Hafsah Hashim, Chief Executive Officer
of SME Corporation Malaysia, at the peak of the global small business
conference in Wellington, New Zealand, in mid-June.

The
International Council for Small Business World Conference is an annual
gathering of top academics, senior government officials and SME experts.

Hafsah's
presentation detailed Malaysia's policy towards small business
development and its integration into national economic advancement.

Phillips sees this as unique.

"What's
most interesting about this Malaysian approach is that they see a
direct connection between a high-income economy and the proliferation
and strength of small business.

"I can't say that I've seen this
sort of economic development analysis before and certainly not one
translated into direct government policy and action.

"Within the
orthodoxy of what constitutes most economic development policies, the
Malaysians stand out as different and in front. What's almost unique is
the degree of hard evidence based analysis driving their policies,"
Phillips said.

Phillips said Malaysia's policy success is
apparent. "This is demonstrated by the fact that the growth of SME
contribution to the Malaysian gross domestic product (GDP) since 2004
exceeds overall GDP growth.

"Looking forward, the fourth phase
of Malaysia's overall development agenda involves the creation of
business ecosystems for SMEs. Small business development is intended to
take Malaysia from a middle-income economy to an advanced and
high-income economy by 2020.

"Malaysia is a country to watch," said Phillips, and one that "…can teach the developed economies a lot," he added.-- BERNAMA