The effects of knowledge management, competitive intelligence and strategic leadership on business strategy formulation in Malaysia multimedia super corridor (MSC) companies / Siti Sakinah Ab Rahim

Currently, there are more than 3,000 companies that have awarded Malaysia MSC Status. Although the number was high, MDEC reported that 90% of these companies remained at an under-developed level and did not scale-up to the global market. In the new economy settings, entering the global market is no longer a choice but compulsion for organizations. Despite the nation needs a more competitive and global mind-set player to spur Malaysia Digital, the typical reason related to the issues is the limited competencies of managers at strategic level in business strategy formulation (BSF). BSF from various diverse approach have been addressed in a number of previous researches has provided some distinct answers. However, the key to competitiveness is no longer based on the adoption of approach that have been successful in the past, but adapting and responding towards the rapid changes of business environments by taking the most suitable approach to be leveraged in strategy formulation. The main objectives of this research were to propose a model of business strategy formulation that integrates knowledge management (KM), competitive intelligence (CI), and strategic leadership (SL) as leverage in the business strategy formulation (BSF), as well as establish the mediation effect of strategic leadership (SL). This research adopted a quantitative approach that fully utilized the survey method through an online platform for data collection. A questionnaire survey randomly distributed to 237 managers working at the local-owned MSC Status companies. All the collected data were analysed using the IBM SPSS version 22 and SmartPLS version 3 software. The result of the study revealed that there was a direct effect of KM and CI on BSF. Nevertheless, CI found to be the most crucial factor than KM for BSF. Moreover, the findings revealed there was a direct effect of KM and CI on SL. However, it found that KM is more critical than CI to improve SL. Meanwhile, SL indeed not only an indicator to BSF but also has mediating effect in the relationship between KM, CI and BSF. Overall, the findings of the research are meaningful to add new knowledge for the knowledge fields as well as a practical context to ease the business strategy formulation.