Information prospecting in Malaysian small medium enterprises for competitive advantage

Information prospecting or mining has never been more crucial in organizational decision making and strategic competitive advantage Without information and communication technologies (ICTs), most companies, particularly the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) would not be able to survive the demands of the current volatile economic conditions Hence, this paper reports the findings from the assessment of ICT usage by 300 SMEs in the Klang Valley, Malaysia Specifically, the usage of enterprise resource planning system (ERP) was assessed and the outcome showed that SMEs in Malaysia are still lagging in computer usage for improved organizational decision. The implications for non-usage bode negatively for SME's sustained survival although the government continued to offer assistance through the annual budget allocation. A strong and visionary leader would provide the basis to push the SMEs to achieve better returns of investment through strategic decision making.