RECOGNISING THE IMPORTANCE OF STRATEGIC BUSINESS NETWORK ON BUSINESS PERFORMANCE OF SME MANUFACTURING FIRMS IN MALAYSIA: ANALYSING THE MODERATING INFLUENCE OF HUMAN CAPITAL AND BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between strategic business network and business performance among SME manufacturing firms in Malaysia. [...]this study contributes to our understanding of the contextual factors in strategic business network-business performance relationship by examining the moderating influence of human capital and business environment. The results also show that human capital and business environment significantly moderate the relationship between strategic business network and business performance. [...]methodological, managerial and policy maker implications as well as future research suggestions are discussed. Recent studies highlight the importance of strategic business network to entrepreneurial activities in foreign markets (Oparaocha, 2015), on small enterprise performance (Zacca et al.; 2015) and successful participation in large construction projects (Jussila et al., 2016). [...]this study will examine the potential influence of human capital in explaining the differences in business performance achieved. Previous studies have acknowledged there is a fit between strategic business network, business environment and business performance (Batjargal, 2010; Batjargal et al., 2013). [...]to achieve a holistic result, this paper also tries to examine how firms operating in different business environment might benefit from engagement in strategic business network. (2015), the importance of strategic business network in the developing country like Malaysia remains unclear and the outcome of business performance due to the impact of strategic business network are still in its infancy. [...]the strategic business network in the Malaysian manufacturing industry will be examined in this study. [...]we try to specify the set of hypotheses that will be tested confined...