Number

No.2021-01

Month of Issue

December 2021

Title

Post-Colonial Organizational Learning for Internationalization: A Case Study on Malaysian Family Business Selangor Pewter Co. (1965–1980)

Author(s)

Yen Nie Yong

Affiliation(s)

Graduate School of Economics, Kyoto University

Keywords

entrepreneurship; organizational learning; medium-sized family business; Malaysia; post-colonial industrialization

Abstract

Through the case study of Selangor Pewter Co. for the years 1965–1980, this paper analyzes how a family business in pewter manufacturing established pathways to internationalization through craft-based products. In the absence of the institutional environment that has yet to be developed in the home country, the company created for itself a cluster of networks of designers, jewelers, pewter makers, retailers, and distributors that provided know-hows on product design from other product categories such as jewelry. This enabled the company to respond to design theft and copying, dynamic changes in market demands and create new uses and meaning for pewter for international markets. The family business also used internationalization strategies to protect its ownership from outsiders, demonstrating the diverse uses of internationalization beyond company expansion.