The Antecedents for Export Growth and Corporate Sustainability of the Indigenous Malaysian Automotive Companies

Abstract

The indigenous Malaysian automotive companies (Proton and Perodua) are faced with challenges from the liberalization of the Malaysian automotive industries. The saturated domestic market has further reduced its market share as foreign brands were able to penetrate domestic sales through their competitive pricing strategy and superior product quality with the incorporation of advanced modern automotive technology. Malaysian automotive companies needs to reinvent itself by incorporating the antecedents required for export growth and corporate sustainability. The pertinent literatures were studied to gauge the business performance of Proton and Perodua and the challenges it faced in relation to its export growth and corporate sustainability. Content analysis was used to generate research findings and to identify the research issues to guide further research directions.

Both Proton and Perodua has benefitted from foreign collaborations, namely from their partnership with Geely of China and Toyota of Japan but the small and saturated Malaysian market together with its limited export market does not augur well for its long term business sustainability. The business success of both Proton and Perodua would be subject to these companies gradually increasing its domestic market share, sustaining its existing export market in ASEAN and the Middle East and their expansion to new foreign markets in Europe. In order to successfully compete with the established global brands,  both Proton and Perodua need to embrace the antecedents for export growth and corporate sustainability,  specifically in the areas of green supply chain management, competitive business strategies, marketing and branding, IR 4.0 and export and internationalization strategies.