Supply chain management practices in Malaysian manufacturing firms

Abstract

Malaysia’s manufacturing sales value rose 2.6 % or RM43.78 billion in June 2007 from RM42.66 billion registered in the same month last year ( Department of Statistics). Contribution from manufacturing sectors in GDP shows that manufacturing has become the second most important sector in the Malaysian economy which accounted for RM47, 458 billion (Department of Statistics). Electrical and Electronic (E&E) Industry remain the main contributors from manufacturing sector to Malaysia’s GDP. In addition, E&E products, valued at RM125.2 billion remained the largest export revenue earner which was valued at RM22.4 billion or 38% of total export. However, competition in the electronics industry is fierce, driven by decreasing technological innovation cycle time. Therefore, methods for implementing and controlling production have changed. Players along the supply chain have undertaken critical roles in a firm’s competitive advantage (Sudarjat, 2007). Thus, as pointed out by many researchers, competition is no longer so much among firms, but among supply chains.