Interpretation of Data

BELOW IS THE TABULATED FINDING OF THE DEMOGRAPHIC DATA FROM A SURVEY DONE BY AMIRUL. HIS SAMPLE CONSISTS OF 114 SMALL AND MEDIUM SIZED MANUFACTURING COMPANIES IN MALAYSIA. BASED ON THE INFORMATION BELOW, DESCRIBE THE GENERAL PROFILE OF THE SAMPLED COMPANIES.

ITEM DESCRIPTION NO. OF COMPANIES (%)

Manufacturing Sector Food 32 (28.1)

Textile 18(15.8)

Fabricated Metals 40(35.1)

Wood 24(21)

Size <10 FT employees 10(8.8)

10-50 FT employees 60(52.6)

51-100 FT employees 31(27.2)

101-150 FT employees 13(11.4)

Market Scope >50% Domestic and <50% international 92 (80.7)

<50% Domestic and >50% international 22(19.3)

Note: Small-sized companies are defined as companies with less than 50 full-time (FT) employees; while medium-sized companies are those with 51-150 full-time employees

The table shows that out of the total samples of 114 manufacturing companies, 61.4% of the samples is consisted of small-sized companies that employs 50 and less number of full-time employees. The other 38.6% are medium sized companies with 51 to 150 full-time workers. The small sized and medium size manufacturing companies are divided into four main manufacturing sectors. The largest percentage of 35.1% of the companies were manufacturing fabricated metal, followed by 28.1% producing food and 21% processing wood and lastly, only 15.8% are making textile. The manufacturing sector revolves mostly in producing fabricated metal and food is is likely due to the high market demand. Wood and textile sectors are smaller in size probably due to the need of highly