2024 Malaysia SME Sentiment Report

Published

11 Jan 2024

2024 Malaysia SME Sentiment Report

It’s a brand new year, and that means a fresh start and new goals for your business.

2024 heralds a new era of possibilities and opportunities, but it also comes with various challenges carried over from 2023. Companies are struggling with talent retention and higher salary expectations, the Malaysian government is looking to adopt a progressive wage policy, and there are widespread concerns over rising costs as subsidies are removed and the ringgit continues weakening. All these factors directly impact the bottom line of your business, and your organisation’s trajectory for long-term growth. That’s why you need timely insights for the year ahead. To help you better understand the current business sentiment in Malaysia, we polled 540 business leaders in small and medium businesses* alike in November 2023. A quick snapshot of our findings? 50% of business leaders believe that Malaysia’s economy will perform well in the next 12 months, while the other half believes it will perform average or poorly. Nevertheless, the majority (79%) of business leaders remain confident about their organisation’s growth prospects in the coming year. However, micro and small businesses are struggling more than medium-sized enterprises. The findings might surprise you or strongly resonate with you. But above all, we hope you gain valuable insights from this report that will help to shape your strategy for this year.

*In this report, the term ‘micro and small businesses’ is used to refer to businesses with up to 30 employees, while ‘medium businesses’ refers to businesses with 31 to 200 employees.

In this report, we cover;

How confident business leaders are about growth prospects for 2024;
Challenges of micro and small businesses vs medium-sized businesses;
Biggest opportunities for SMEs in the next 12 months;
Biggest challenges for SMEs in the next 12 months;
Uptake of government grants and additional support SMEs are looking for; and
Much more.

Download the report now.

Key findings

are confident about the growth prospects of their company in 2024.

view digital transformation, AI, & automation as the biggest upcoming opportunity

see Malaysia’s economy performing well in the next 12 months.

are struggling with rising costs and inflation as their biggest challenge.

of business leaders are seeking improved access to market information & research.

Insights from an HR leader:

What do you foresee will be the biggest employee retention challenge for your business in 2024, and what steps are you planning to take/ have taken to tackle this challenge?

One of the biggest challenges for Muji is the heightened competition for top talent. As the job market evolves and remote work becomes more prevalent, attracting and retaining skilled employees becomes increasingly competitive. We’ll be addressing these challenges by looking to implement wellness programs that can improve employee wellbeing, and create a positive work environment that contributes to a healthier and more satisfied workforce. Offering competitive salary packages, bonuses, and comprehensive benefits is also crucial in retaining top talent. We will need to regularly review and adjust our compensation structures to align with industry standards. Last but not least, recognising and rewarding employees for their achievements and contributions also helps to enhance employee morale and retention — that is one area we are looking to improve as well in 2024.

Mei Ling Human Resource & Administration Manager Muji

Insights from an HR thought leader:

Given the rise of remote working, retaining employees—especially the talented ones—is becoming increasingly challenging. To build a strong connection between the organisation and employees, your employer brand will become an even more crucial aspect in 2024. But why? Your employer brand is an emotional connection with your employee. It’s there to instill a sense of pride. It reminds your people of what the values and culture of the company are, and what you stand for. A strong employer brand positively impacts recruitment, retention, engagement, and market perception, ensuring a company’s bottom-line success. Create a competitive advantage for your organisation today by investing heavily in your employer brand. It is going to be a gamechanger. And that starts with having your employees as your internal influencers and ambassadors.

Sam Neo Award-Winning Employer Branding Top Voice, Founder of Stories of Asia and People Mentality Inc

Methodology and sample profile

We carried out quantitative research with 540 business leaders in Malaysia. The length of the survey was 5 minutes on average. Respondents were from different organisation sizes and industries. The survey was conducted with the Glow survey platform, using the Dynata and Cint B2B panel from 28th November to 5th December 2023.

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