P104 Pelaksanaan Pelan Peralihan dikalangan SMEs di Sarawak : Peranan Orientasi Keusahawanan, Kesediaan Organisasi dan Keupayaan Sumber

Abstract

The long-term sustainability of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) depends not only on their ability to establish and grow a business but also on their preparedness to manage leadership, ownership, knowledge, and operational transitions. This issue is particularly significant among Bumiputera SMEs in Sarawak, where many enterprises remain highly dependent on founders, informal governance arrangements, and undocumented business knowledge. Despite the growing literature on succession planning, existing studies remain fragmented and predominantly focus on the factors associated with succession rather than explaining how strategic and organisational conditions are translated into effective transition plan implementation. This conceptual paper therefore develops an integrated framework to explain the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, organisational readiness, resource capability, transition plan implementation, organisational lifecycle stage, and business performance and sustainability. The framework integrates Entrepreneurial Orientation Theory, the Resource-Based View, and Organisational Lifecycle Theory. Entrepreneurial orientation, organisational readiness, and resource capability are conceptualised as antecedents of transition plan implementation, while transition plan implementation functions as a mediating mechanism through which these strategic attributes contribute to business performance and long-term sustainability. Organisational lifecycle stage, represented through the S-Curve perspective, is proposed as a contextual moderator that may strengthen or weaken the relationship between transition plan implementation and business outcomes. Conceptually, the framework addresses the explanatory “black box” in existing transition and succession literature by demonstrating how organisational attributes are converted into implementable transition actions under different lifecycle conditions. The framework is intended for subsequent empirical validation through a quantitative, cross-sectional survey of Bumiputera SMEs in Sarawak using purposive sampling and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling. This paper contributes a context-sensitive and theory-driven explanation of SME transition planning and offers practical guidance for entrepreneurs, policymakers, business associations, and development agencies in strengthening business continuity, intergenerational knowledge transfer, and the sustainability of Bumiputera enterprises in Borneo.

Keywords: Bumiputera SMEs in Sarawak; transition plan implementation; entrepreneurial orientation; organisational readiness; resource capability; organisational lifecycle; business sustainability.