UNIVERSITI PUTRA MALAYSIA

FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE LEVEL OF ENTREPRENEURIAL

PERFORMANCE OF GRADUATE ENTREPRENEURS

ROSNI JAMEEAH AHMAD SAID

FPP L 1994 11

FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE LEVEL OF ENTREPRENEURIAL PERFORMANCE

OF GRADUATE ENTREPRENEURS

BY

ROSNI JAMEEAH AHMAD SAID

Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment

of the Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science

in the Centre for Extension and Continuing Education,

Universiti Pertanian Malaysia .

October 1994

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Syukur Al-hamdu l l i l ah , I thank Al l ah for a l l the kindne s s

H e has g iven m e i n paving the way t o one o f m y goal s . With

this , I wou ld l ike to convey my s incere grat itude and

immeasurab l e apprec iat ion to the f o l lowing individual s who have

painstakingly led me to succeed in my educat ional pursuit :

1 . My committee members : Dr . Abu Daud S i long , Puan Jamilah

Othman and Encik Khairuddin Idris who have guided me throughout

the preparation of this thes is .

2 . Prof Madya Dr . Hj . Azimi b Hj Hamzah , Dr . I brahim b Mamat

and Dr . Bahari b Yatim, lecturers of the Centre for Extens ion

and Cont inuing Educat ion , Universiti Pertanian Malaysia , who

have given me construct ive suggestions as to the foundation of

this thes is .

3. Encik Mohamad I zad o f the Soc ioeconomic Research Unit , Mr .

Momen o f the Commonwea lth Secretariat ( India ) and Encik Jaafar

b Abdu l l ah o f B ank Bumiputr a Research Unit who have together

a s s isted me in my researc h .

4 . The entrepreneurs as wel l as the a s s istant interv iewers ,

who have devoted their t ime in gett ing the interv iew quest ions

completed in accordance to the needs of this thes is .

ii

5. My dearest f ather Encik Ahmad S aid , my mother Puan Om

Fat imah , my s i ster Cik Nur Sazal iah and my two brothers Encik

Ari f f Fad i l ah and Encik Othman Hamid who have inspired me in

this endeavour .

Thank you .

iii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

L I ST OF TABLES

L I ST OF F I GURES

ABSTRACT

ABSTRAK

ii

viii

ix

x

x i i i

CHAPTER

I BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

The Special Graduate Programme for Tax Agent s 2

Performance of the Graduate Entrepreneurs 4

statement of the Prob lem 6

Obj ect ives of the Study 7

S ignif icance of the Study 8

Scope o f the Study 9

Operat ional Def init ions 10

I I L ITERATURE REVIEW

Definitions of the Entrepreneur

Characterist ic s of the Entrepreneur

iv

12

13

Perspect ives o f Entrepreneurial Act ivit ies 14

Approach to Entrepreneurial Development Theory 1 5

The Performance Measure 18

Factors Related to the Entrepreneurs ' Per formance 2 0 Personal Pro f i l e 2 0 Bus iness Pro f i l e 2 1 E ntrepreneurial Educat ion 2 1 Ent repreneurial Development 2 3

conceptual Framework of the Study Dependent Variable I ndependent Vari ables

I I I METHODOLOGY

Locat ion of the Study

Popul at ion of the Study

Instrumentat ion

Pretest ing

D at a Col lect ion

Measurement and Treatment of D at a Dependent Vari able I ndependent Vari ables

Analyt ical Procedures

IV F IND I NGS

Personal Pro f i le Bus iness Prof ile Entrepreneurial Educat ion Entrepreneurial Development Aspects o f Performance

C l ient s Served

v

2 6 2 6 2 7

2 9

2 9

3 0

3 1

3 2

3 2 3 3 3 3

3 7

4 0 4 2 4 4 4 7 4 9 5 0

sales 50 Expenses 50 Net Prof it 5 1

Level of Performance 5 1

D i f ferences Between Means of Groups 5 2

Rel at ionship between Leve l of Per formance with 5 5 Entrepreneurial Educat ion and Entrepreneurial Development

Management Probl ems 59

V SUMMARY , CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATI ONS

Summary 6 1 The Problem 6 1 Research Object ives 6 2 Research Methodology 6 3

Conc l u s ion 6 4 Personal and Bus iness Prof i le s 64 Level of Performance 6 4 D if ferences between Means o f Groups in the Personal and Bu s iness Prof i les in terms of the Leve l of Performance 6 5 Re l at ionship of Entrepreneurial Educat ion and E ntrepreneu r i a l Deve lopment with the Level of Performance 6 5 Management Problems 6 6

D is cu s s ion 6 6

Recommendat ions 7 3

B I BL I OGRAPHY 7 5

vi

APPEND I CES

A . Selected L i st o f Entrepreneur ' s Traits

B . Selected I nformat ion Gathered f rom the Spec i a l Graduate Programme ' s F i le

C . I nterview Schedu le

D . Pretest ing Anal y s i s

E . Add it ional F igures

CURRICULUM VITAE

vii

83

8 6

9 4

1 2 3

1 2 5

1 3 1

LIST OF TABLES

Tab l e

1 D istribut ion o f Respondent s by Age , Sex ,

Page

Tenure , Previous Job and Qua l i f ic at ion . . . . . . . . . . 4 1

2 D istr ibut ion of Respondent s by Geographical Locat ion , Bus iness Premises , Bu s iness Statu s and Tot a l I n i t i a l Capital Ut i l i sed

3 Percentage Rat ing of Respondent s on

43

Entrepreneur i a l Educat ion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 5

4 Percentage Rat ing of Respondents on Entrepreneurial Deve lopment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

5 ANOVA of Previous Job by Leve l of Per formance

6 Correl at ion of Selected I ndependent Var iables to the Leve l of Per formance

5 3

5 6

7 Percentage Rat ing on Management Prob lem . . . . . . . . . 60

8 Traits often Attr ibuted to a Succe s s fu l Entrepreneur

9 D istribut ion of Tax Agent s by

84

Group , State and Sex . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

1 0 D i stribut ion of Tax Agent s ' Firms in Mal ays i a . . . 8 8

1 1 A Summary of Pre-Test ing Analys i s 1 2 3

viii

LIST OF FIGURES

F igure Page

1 Two Perspectives on Ent repreneurship . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 5

2 conceptual Framework o f the Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 8

3 Percentage Dist ribution of Respondent s by Client s Served 1 9 8 9 / 1 990 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 5

4 Percentage Distribution of Respondent s by Tota l Sales 1 9 89 / 1 9 9 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 6

5 Percentage Distribution of Respondents by Tota l Expenses 1989 / 1 9 9 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 7

6 Percentage Distribution of Re spondent s by Net Pro fit 1 9 8 9 / 1 9 9 0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 8

7 Percent age Distribution of Respondents by Leve l of Performance . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 2 9

ix

Abstract of thesis submitted to the Senate of Universiti Pertanian Malaysia in partial ful filment of the requirement s for the degree of Master of Science .

FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH THE LEVEL OF ENTREPRENEURIAL PERFORMANCE

OF GRADUATE ENTREPRENEURS

BY

ROSNI JAMEEAH AHMAD SAI D

October , 1994

Chairperson Dr . Abu Daud Silong , Ph . D .

Faculty Centre for Extension and Continuing Educ ation

This thesis on the gradu ate entrepreneurs of the Special

Graduate Programme ( SGP ) for tax agent s aimed to determine

the f actors as sociated with the level of ent repreneurial

performance o f graduate entrepreneurs . A total of 78 graduate

entrepreneurs from the state of Sel angor and Wil ayah

Persekutuan were studied . These graduate entrepreneur s were

heads of firms which have been operating for at least two

year s . Specifically the study sought to determine the

relationships between the entrepreneuria l education and the

entrepreneurial development with the level of per formance of

the graduate entrepreneur s .

Frequencie s , means and percentages were u sed to interpret

the entrepreneurs ' per sonal profile, busines s pro file and the

x

management prob lems encountered . Corr e l at ions were used to

ident i fy the relat ionships and associat ions of selected

independent variab les with the leve l of performance . One-way

ANOVA and T-test were u sed to ident ify the d i f ferences of means

between groups of selected var iables in the personal and

bus ine s s pro f i le s .

I n general , the results showed that three-quarters of the

graduate entrepreneurs studied used only a minimal amount of

init i a l c ap it a l which was l e s s than RM 5 , 000 . Only a third o f

the respondent s have had work exper ience . The graduate

entrepreneur s scored ' moderate ' in entrepreneur ' s traits and

interest but h igh in entrepreneur i a l deve lopment . Ha l f of

these entrepreneurs felt that the SGP training has contr ibuted

h ighly towards the ir entrepreneur i a l educ at ion . Pos it ive

relat ionships exi sted between the level of per formance with SGP

t r aining , tert iary educ at ion , entrepreneur ' s trait s , interest

and upbring ing respect i ve l y . The l eve l o f performance of these

graduate entrepreneur s tended to be influenced by their SGP

training and entrepreneur ' s trait s . On ly previous j ob

experienced in the s a l es related f ie l d showed a s ignif icant

r e l at ionship with the level of per formance with regard to the

graduate entrepreneurs .

I n conc lusion, responses from 78 graduate entrepreneurs

have shown that among the independent var iab l e s found in

x i

entrepreneurial educat ion , the SGP training has a s ignificant

influence on the overa l l leve l of performance of the graduate

entrepreneurs . Among the entrepreneurial deve lopment factors ,

the entrepreneur ' s traits seemed to great ly inf luence the

graduate entrepreneur ' s overa l l leve l of performance .

xii

Abstrak tes i s yang dikemukakan kepada Senat univers it i Pertanian Malaysia sebagai memenuhi sebahagian dar ipada keperluan untuk mendapatkan ijazah Master Sains .

Pengeru s i

FAKTOR-FAKTOR YANG BERKAITAN DENGAN TAHAP PRESTAS I USAHAWAN D I KALANGAN USAHAWAN S I SWAZAH

Oleh

ROSNI JAMEEAH AHMAD SAID

Oktober , 1994

Dr . Abu Daud S ilong , PH . D .

Faku l t i Pusat Pengembangan dan Penyelid ikan Lan j utan

Tes i s mengenai u s ahawan graduan Skim Latihan Khas ( SLK )

agen percukaian bertu j uan untuk menentukan f aktor-f aktor yang

berkaitan dengan tahap prestasi us ahawan s i swazah. Seramai 78

u sahawan s i swazah neger i Selangor dan Wi l ayah Persekutuan telah

d ikaj i . Us ahawan s i swa zah ini merupakan ketua f i rma yang telah

beroperasi sekurang - kurangnya selama dua tahun . Khusu snya ,

kaj ian ini bertuj uan untuk menentukan perka itan antara angkubah

l at ihan keus ahawanan , pembangunan keu s ahawanan dengan tahap

prestasi u sahawan s iswazah .

Kekerapan , min , dan peratusan digunakan untuk menerangkan

prof i l u s ahawan , prof il f irma usahawan dan masalah penguru san

yang dihadapi . Korel a s i telah digunakan untuk mengenalpast i

perkaitan dan perhubungan angkubah- angkubah terpilih dengan

x i i i

t ahap prestas i u sahawan . ANOVA sehala dan U j i an-T telah d iguna

kan untuk mengenalpast i perbezaan min ant ara kumpulan dalam

angkubah- angkubah terpilih daripada prof il per ibadi dan prof il

f irma ushawan .

Pada keseluruhannya kaj ian menunj ukkan yang tiga-perempat

daripada u sahawan s i swazah ini menggunakan modal permulaan yang

kurang daripada RM 5 , 00 0 . Hanya sepert iga dar ipada kalangan

u s ahawan s i swazah ini mempunyai pengalaman ker j a . Us ahawan

tersebut menun j ukkan pencapaian dan minat yang sederhana tetapi

t inggi dalam pembangunan keu sahawanan . Separuh dari us ahawan

ini merasakan yang lat ihan SLK telah banyak member i sumbangan

terhadap pendidikan keus ahawanan mereka . Hubungan yang po s i t i f

wu j ud d i antara tahap prestasi dengan lat ihan SLK , pend idikan

t ingg i, s ah s iah keusahawanan, minat dan asuhan . Tahap prestas i

d ipengaruhi oleh lat ihan dan s ahsiah keu sahawanan . Pengalaman

ker j a d alam bidang j u alan dapat memperlihatkan kepent ingannya

dalam perhubungan dengan tahap prestasi u sahawan s i swa zah ini .

Kes impulannya , re spon dar ipada 78 u sahawan s i swazah ini

mengambarkan kepent ingan lat ihan di kalangan angkubah s andar

yang terdapat di dalam pend id ikan keu sahawanan sebagai

mempengaruhi tahap pre stasi keu sahawanan . Di kal angan f aktor

pembangunan keu sahawanan , s ahsiah keu sahawanan mempengaruhi

t ahap prestasi keu sahawanan .

xiv

CHAPTER I

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

I n the early n ineteen e ighties , Malays ian graduates were

f aced with unemployment . Unemployment rate in Malays i a rose

r apidly from seven percent in the year 1 9 8 7 to ten percent in

1 9 8 9 ( Abu D aud and J amilah , 19 9 1 ) . For the f ir st t ime , 2 0 , 000

graduates from both the local and foreign universities under

various study sponsorships were released f rom their scholarship

bonds ( New Straits Times , 198 3 ) .

However , the s ituat ion was not ju st due to the lack o f

pos i t ion s . According to the Malaysian Department o f Stat i stics

( 1989 ) 6 3 percent of job vacancies could not be f illed because

most o f the graduates ' qual i f ications did not correspond to

those requ ired by potent ial employers . Some graduates were

found to be inexperienced, technical ly unqu a l i f ied and too

choosy in their search for jobs . There were also graduates who

lacked init iat ive to be self-reliant ( Berita Minggu , 1 9 8 7 ) and

others who ju st do not have the conf idence to venture into

bus iness ( Abu Daud and Jamilah , 1 9 9 1 ) .

To reduce unemployment , the Educat ion Minister proposed

four strategies to encourage a change in the graduates ' way of

thinking ( Star , 1 9 8 7 ) . The strategies a imed to create a self-

1

2

rel iant and independent graduate . One o f them was to employ

the graduates on temporary basis to give them employment

experience in secretariat s or units of organi sat ions which

include c hambers o f commerce and corporat ions . The aim was to

provide greater opportunit ies for the unemployed graduates .

Spec i al programs were des igned to c ater to the needs o f

the unemployed graduates . Berita Harian ( 1 9 9 1 ) quot ing Anwar

Ibrahim said that twenty agenc ies from the government and the

private sector have implemented the entrepreneur sh ip programme s .

They were the Small Scale Enterprise , Bumiputra Contractor

Training , Youth Enterpr ise Training , Project I dent i f ication and

Licens ing Courses and the Special Graduate Schemes . One o f the

Spe c i a l Graduate Schemes was the Spec ial Graduate Program

( SGP I I ) for Tax Agent s or more popularly known as the Skim

Lat ihan Khas I I Agen Percuka ian .

The Special Graduate Programme for Tax Agents

The SGP I I was a programme des igned to train the graduate s

to become t a x agent s . The SGP I I s cheme catered for two kinds

of graduates , the fully unemployed as well as the temporar ily

unemployed , which are both cla s s i f ied as unemployed graduates .

Cooperat ion o f agencies such as Mara I nst itute o f Technology ,

Univers it i Pertanian Ma l ays i a , I ncome Tax Department , Public

Service Department , Mini stry of Educat ion and also the Ministry

of Finance made it pos s ible to equ ip the unemployed graduates

3

with the neces sary ski l l s in entrepreneurship . The training

programme was init ial ly c arr ied out in Universiti Pertanian

Malays i a . Today the programme has been trans ferred to the Mara

I nst itute of Technology .

On the whole, SGP I I a imed to produce 1, 000 qua l i f ied t ax

agents ( Abu Daud and Jamilah, 1 9 9 1 ) . They were se lected from

various backgrounds . Upon succe s s f u l complet ion of the SGP I I

training programme, l icences were given to them by the Mini stry

of F inance under sect ion 1 5 3 ( 3 ) ( c ) of the I ncome Tax Act to

conduct the relevant bu s iness the graduates were trained for .

The SGP I I training was conducted for s ix months . I t was

pragmat ic in nature . The curricu lum cons i sted of techni c a l

knowledge blended with t h e much-needed entrepreneurial skil l s .

The graduates were exposed to the overa l l nature o f the ir

intended job and given hands-on pract ical train ing .

I n it ia l ly the SGP I I was carr ied out in two groups . The

f ir st, Group A , completed a three-month course for

part ic ipants with an account ing background . The second, Group

B , f o l l owed a s ix-month course for part ic ipants f rom a l l other

f ie l d s of study . Two batches of tax agent trainees were

developed from each group . Later, it was real i sed that

entrepreneurship was a tot a l ly new experience for all the

graduates . Thu s a new schedu le was introduced ( Abu Daud dan

Jamil ah, 1 9 9 0 ) .

4

Training for SGP I I was then c arried out for s ix months

for all groups irrespect ive o f their background . SGP I I

managed to produce four groups o f tax agent s by December 1 9 9 0 .

This accounted for 845 graduates trained f rom a l l over Mal ay s i a .

However, census made by t he SGP I I lecturers s howed that only

475 part ic ipant s out o f the tot a l number trained became

entrepreneurs ( Re fer to Appendix B ) . More than a third o f the

graduate entrepreneurs ( 3 6% ) were operat ing in the state o f

Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan .

Performance of the Graduate Entrepreneurs

On the per formances o f the graduate entrepreneurs , Haw

( 1 988 ) and Raj a Ar i f f in ( 1 988 ) acknowledged that the graduates

in the SGP I entrepreneurship scheme has reaped succes s .

Anwar Ibrahim quoted by Badrul ( 1 9 9 1 ) said that the SGP I I has

trained 845 qua l i f ied tax agent s and has thus succe s s f u l l y

created about 3 0 0 t a x agent f i rms throughout Malay s i a . The

graduate entrepreneur s have either formed sole propr ietorships

or partner ships . Badrul a l so reported that the government with

other interested part ies wi l l cont inue guid ing these graduates

in their progress ive careers .

Howeve r , despite the training and gu idance , the tax agent

graduate s are st i l l f ac ing prob lems in relat ion to their

entrepreneurship . They have no conf idence , do not know how to

5

start a bus ine s s and do not know how to relate to c l ient s ( Abu

Daud and Jami l ah , 1 9 9 1 ) .

N ik Abdul Rashid ( 1 9 8 3 ) noted that new entrepreneurs

lacked resource fulnes s , knowledge , ski l l s and expert ise ,

support , aid and reinforcement for them to succeed . Conf irming

Nik Abdul Rashid ' s v iew , other interested part ies a l so noted

that graduate entrepreneurs l acked the c apital for their f irms '

f ormat ion a s wel l as experience to conduct their duties ( Berita

Harian , 1 2 -4-88 ) . A report in a daily news ( Berita Minggu ,

4 - 1-87 ) stated that the graduates do not ref lect the

behav ioural qual ities of an entrepreneur . I n add it ion ,

Sabar iah Sheikh A l i ( 19 8 9 ) commented on the ir entrepreneurial

educat ion and training which are st i l l insu f f ic ient .

I n a technical report made by Abu Daud and Jamilah ( 1 9 9 1 ) ,

the SGP I I graduate entrepreneurs were a l s o fac ing s imilar

problems such as market ing it s f irm services and gett ing access

to f inanc ial help . The short comings h ighl ighted earl ier

certa in ly do indicate some f l aws in the entrepreneurship

programme . However l ittle informat ion is ava i lable on the

actual programme resu lts and per formance of the graduate

entrepreneurs . Some of the l iterature regarding graduate

entrepreneurs in Malays ia were not based on empirical research .

S ince the programme is integrat ive in nature , whereby several

institutions and agencies are invo lved , there is a need for

6

an in-depth research on f actors as soc i ated with the graduate

entrepreneu r s ' perf ormance . Such research wou l d be of great

interest to the relevant part ies .

Immediate informat ion was needed to ident ify the f actors

assoc i ated with the graduates performance in entrepreneurship .

How are the f actors rel ated and to what extent c an re l at ionship

be revealed? An in - depth knowledge on the f actors assoc iated

with the entrepreneurial performance w i l l be useful inf ormat ion

for the SGP entrepreneurs and administrators .

statement of the Problem

The SGP I I ' s aim to produce tax agents i s a new scheme

introduced with the objective of expos ing the unemployed

graduates to the wor ld of sel f-employment and entrepreneurship .

Several inst itut ions are keen to gather empirical facts to be

u sed as a foundat ion for the future expans ion and deve lopment

of strategies in fac ing unemployment . Enqu irie s on how

succes s fu l i s the tra ining approach and curricu lum u sed are

f requent ly r a i sed by the interested agenc ies . other enquiries

include the e f fect iveness , contr ibut ions and consequences o f

tertiary educat ion , work exper ience , the involvement in

a s so c i at ions and per sonal ity deve lopment such as interest ,

traits and upbr inging in a f fect ing entrepreneurial deve lopment

and strategies .

7

With regard to performance o f entrepreneurs , it was found

t hat a s soc iated f actors are important cons iderat ion in the

graduate entrepreneurs study . These factors include training ,

tertiary educat ion , work exper ience and membership in

a s so c i at ions ( Co l l ins and Moore , 1 9 7 0 ; Amminudin S u l a iman ,

1 9 7 7 ; Abdul Azi z , 19 8 1 ; Storey , 1982 ; B irch , 1 9 8 2 ; Z u l k i f l i Abu

Bakar, 1 9 88 ) . In addit ion , the entrepreneurial deve lopment

factors such as interest , entrepreneur ' s traits and chi ldhood

upbr inging may a l so contr ibute to a pos it ive performance

( Fr iedman and Roseman , 1 9 7 4 ; Matteson and Preston , 1 9 82 ; Owens

and Vinars ky , 1 9 8 3 ; Gordon , 1 9 8 6 ; Z akar i a , 1 9 86 ) .

I n order to understand the performance of the graduate

entrepreneur s , issues ment ioned ear l ier need t o b e answered .

To date , complete dat a are not avai l able to understand the

re l at ionship of the factors associated with the per formance of

graduate entrepreneurs . This study wi l l focus on gett ing the

pert inent data assoc iated with the leve l of performance of the

t ax agents as graduate entrepreneurs .

Obj ectives of the study

The general purpose of the study i s to ident ify the

f actors associated with the level of performance of the SGP

graduates in Selangor and W i l ayah Persekutuan . The spec i f i c

object ive s are :

1 . To determine the pro f i le of the entrepreneurs

8

2. To determine the leve l o f per formance o f the graduate

entrepreneur s

3 . To determine the d i f ferences between means o f groups

in the personal and bus iness pro f iles in terms of the

leve l o f performance o f the graduate entrepreneurs

4 . To determine the relat ionship o f the entrepreneur i a l

edu c at ion and entrepreneurial development f actors with

the level of per formance of the graduate entrepreneurs

5 . To determine the prob lems f aced by the graduate

entrepreneurs in the tax agent indu stry in the state

of Sel angor and Wilayah Persekutuan

Significance of the Study

I t is rea l i sed t hat entrepreneur s have an impact on the

economy . E f fort s aimed at deve loping and creat ing graduate

entrepreneur s among the unemployed graduates a r e being carried

out by both the pub l i c and the pr ivate sector s .

The ident i f icat ion o f the f actors assoc iated with the

graduate entrepreneurs ' leve l o f performance in the SGP

programme wi l l contribute to a better understand ing of the

graduate entrepreneurs . I t wi l l bring out new perspect ives on

the training needs for graduate entrepreneurs . I t w i l l f i l l

the gap which ex ists i n the study o f entrepreneurship in

9

Malay s i a and it will ass ist the entrepreneur to cre ate new

ideas and experiences for their future development . This w ill

be o f int r insic sc ient i f ic and soc iological interest as well as

o f pract ical value .

This research on entrepreneur ship is important not only to

econom i st s , but also to soc iologists and psycholog ists who will

want to know about the types of ind iv idual needed for

successful entrepreneurship in Malay s i a . With the government ' s

c all for graduates to act as a c atalyst w ithin the country ' s

development , this research can in its minute way contr ibute a

more wholist ic view o f the s ituat ion .

Scope of the Study

I mmed iate ef forts of entrepreneurs c annot be quant i f ied .

The newly operating gr aduate entrepreneurs need to be g iven

t ime to practise the acqu ired skills and knowledge g ained from

the SGP training . Phys ical const raints have also led to the

limitat ion in this study . Time and f inance l imit the areas

covered . This study focu sed only on the graduate entrepreneurs

in the state o f Selangor and Wilayah Persekutuan who have been

operat ing in the market for at least two year s . The populat ion

totaled 78 entrepreneur s . Results from this study cannot be

generalised to all entrepreneur s in Malay s i a .

10

operational Definitions

Special Graduate Programme refers to the SGP I I programme held

in Univer siti Pertanian Malaysia to produce qualified tax

agent s .

Tax agents refer to the participants who graduated from the SGP

programme . They were given licences for operation under the

approval of the Minister of Finance within section 1 5 3 ( 3 ) ( c )

o f the I ncome Tax Act .

Graduate entrepreneur refers to practising tax agent based in

the state of Selangor and Wilayah Per sekutuan . They have been

in operat ion for at lea st two year s .

Sales refer to the cumulative income gathered f rom both the

received and unreceived income made on services produced by the

graduate entrepreneurs .

Net profit refers to the total sales made minu s all expenses

made . Expenses do not include tax reduction .

Performance refers to the respondent ' s s core based on the

number of client s served , sales made , expenses incurred and net

pro f it gained or los s for the year s 1989 and 1 9 9 0 .

Level of performance is derived from the net pro fit gained in

1 9 9 0 minus net pro fit gained in 1989 . I nterpretations o f

pos it ive , negative and n o change i n profit s a r e made .