Marketing Environment of Small and Medium Enterprises in Pahang, Malaysia

Aims: The main aim is to examine the Socioeconomic Profile of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Pahang and also to scrutinize the Internal and External forces of Marketing Environment of the SMEs in Pahang.

Place and Duration of Study: Study was directed only for SMEs that are registered as Halal SMEs in Pahang and was used as respondents for the period of 2013-2014.

Methodology: Primary data: The instrument selected for this research is questionnaire survey. Survey instrument is referred to a form that is composed of structured questions answers collected from the sample of 94 participants consisting of 37 female and 57 male respondents. The questionnaire mainly included self-designed questions and the survey instrument was developed to suit the targeted respondents in the present study. Secondary data: All existing literature was obtained from internet websites, magazines, and e- journals. Data was analyzed through ranked method using 5-point Likert scale represented by 1- strongly agree to 5-strongly disagree.

Results: The outcome of the study reveals that the SMEs are located outside their respective cities. Most respondents perceived that the environmental variables are conducive to the success of their business as respondents were asked to answer based on the environment in which they operate the Halal business.

Conclusion: The halal market is huge and attracts SMEs all over the world; future research can also be conducted to examine the level of success of halal SMES in other parts of the world since the marketing environment is different in the sense that the SMEs in other countries may have different requirements or different perceptions of influence of the environment.