Entrepreneurial Sustainability, Creativity and Innovation Environment of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia

Recognising the important role of entrepreneurs and SMEs in the economy, this paper employed qualitative study to understand the perception of Malaysian SMEs entrepreneurs regarding the concept of sustainability, creativity and innovation. Fifty-six sole entrepreneurs of SMEs in Malaysia from various business activities are chosen as respondents. The findings discovered important key phrases under the theme creativity and innovation where most respondents viewed this element as diversification of product or services technology application, utilising premium materials and ingredient, creating new ideas and the improvement of existing products. However, self-improvement, motivation or support, entrepreneur's attitude/behaviour and good relationship with supply chain or networking are among the respondents' interpretation of sustainability. The findings from this study is anticipated to contribute literatures on entrepreneurship study whilst assisting entrepreneurs and SMEs to identify and apply the concept of creativity and innovation and find the aspect to sustain in the business. Nevertheless, this study also has some limitations in terms of the number of respondents which may be insufficient to represent all SMEs entrepreneurs in Malaysia.