Entrepreneur Characteristics and Firm Performance: A Study on Malaysian Food Manufacturing Industry SMEs

This research investigates the relationship between entrepreneurs’ characteristics and strategic orientation choices towards their business performance among SMEs food manufacturing industry in Malaysia. The existence theory suggests that entrepreneurs’ internal personality plays an important role in determining the performance of their firms. Data were collected through a national survey from owners and senior managers of small-tomedium-sized Malaysian companies. This paper discusses different types of entrepreneurs’ characteristics with specific analysis on the influence of entrepreneurs’ characteristics on firm’s performance.