Conceptual model of engineering consultancy practice (ECP) performance measurement factors in Malaysia

Abstract

The implementation of liberalization in Malaysia has offered opportunities to the local companies to expand businesses. The salient point of liberalization in the context of Engineering Consultancy Practices (ECP) is the opening of the flood gate for non-professionals (including foreigners) to register and operates consultancy practices. This would create an excessive competitive environment to the local consulting firms. The aim of this study is to identify the successful business model to be adopted by Engineering Consultancy Practice (ECP) for building its capacity and competitiveness. This study is important in the sense that it serves as one of the pioneer studies focusing on the Engineering Consultancy Practices, from the perspective of business model. Principal Component Analysis (PCA) was employed to analyze data from a quantitative survey. Three components were extracted through PCA approach: (1) Profit Structure factor, (2) Management Capability factor and (3) Stakeholder Relationship factor. Next, Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) was utilized to perform analysis on the data extracted from PCA. Two (2) Business Model Index equations were formed to examine the business performance in terms of business model criteria. Through the data validation, it is found that ECP Business Performance Measurement model developed in this study is the best model to evaluate the ECP business performance. Understanding the core values related to the ECP could help the local stakeholders to have better preparation and planning to face a greater challenge lies as a result of the liberalization.