REQUEST: Need help to build my hyphothesis

[entrepreneurship-phd at lists.uni-due.de]

From: Wan Fairuz Wan Chik [mailto:wfsaff at yahoo.co.uk] 
Date: Thu 12 March 2009 00:08

Dear all,
 
I 'm Wan from Amsterdam. Currently, my research aim to compare the development pathways of Malaysia and Kenya with respects to small and medium enterprisesI aim to compare the development pathways of Malaysia and Kenya with respect to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The starting point will be the uneven distribution of wealth between ethnic groups which developed in both countries during the colonial period. In Malaysia an affirmative action policy, in which SMEs played a significant role, was adopted in 1970 to improve the economic position of the Malay majority vis-a-vis the Chinese entrepreneurial minority. Although this New Economic Policy did not succeed in eliminating ethnic inequality, it did underpin rapid and sustained national growth which benefited both groups. In Kenya, by contrast, both systematic affirmative action and sustained national growth remained absent. Using a variety of conceptual approaches (SMEs development, ethnicity and globalisation), my research will compare the  SME policies in the two countries within this context of ethnic politics and national growth trajectories. The research will include questionnaires and in-depth interviews with SME entrepreneurs in Mombasa, Kenya and Penang, Malaysia. Special attention will be given to the the role of SMEs in developmental 'take-off', to the links between indigenous SMEs and foreign direct investment, and to the question of to what extent the performance of SMEs has been influenced by policy interventions directed specifically at the SME sector.

By using my intuition, i am now have to develop my hyphothesis based on that three conceptual approaches. I hope i can get some comments from someone here. Thank you very much.

Best regards,
Wan Fairuz, 
w.f.w.chik at uva.nl