Competitive assets of Malaysian international contractors

Purpose The paper aims to identify firm‐related competitive assets (FRCA) and home country‐related competitive assets of Malaysian international contractors. Design/methodology/approach Rather than applying any one of the extant models on the internationalisation of businesses singly, the study combined several relevant models, thereby providing a rich theoretical basis. Data were collected using a postal questionnaire survey and follow‐up face‐to‐face interviews. Past empirical observations of international construction companies were referred to when designing the questionnaire. All of the known Malaysian contractors with international operations were approached. Findings While there was broad concurrence between the sampled Malaysian contractors' FRCA with past studies, the participating firms attributed low competitive value to country‐related competitive assets. Even so, they were not keen to establish their export bases in more supportive countries because of top management's personal affinity to Malaysia as a home country. Research limitations/implications The surveyed population is relatively small with low response rate. Originality/value The findings do not support the eclectic paradigm and diamond model on the aspect of home country features as providing competitiveness to international construction firms.