Small
& Medium-Sized Enterprises Should Take Advantage of “Countertrade”
According to Malaysian Scholar
Associate
professor Nelson Ndubisi, from Monash University Malaysia’s School
of Business, says that Malaysia’s small and medium-sized enterprises
(SMEs), which often lack resources and expertise, can take advantage
of countertrade as a means to gain entry into foreign markets.
At the
SME-Enterpreneurship Global Conference 2006, held October in
Petaling Jaya, Ndubisi told the FinancialDaily that a few companies
in Malaysia have done it but it’s not popular yet, although there
were six models of countertrade.
Ndubisi
explained countertrade isn’t necessarily a barter deal, meaning the
exchange of goods. It can be an exchange of anything, such as
resources, expertise or ideas between interested parties.
According to a report by Bank Negara Malaysia, only 5% of the SMEs
in the region had fully automated operations, while 48% reported a
low usage of computers at work.
