Innovation in the Malaysian furniture industry: Drivers and challenges

Abstract

The Malaysian furniture industry is the country’s fastest growing sub-sector within the wood-based industry, and its socio-economic importance cannot be taken lightly. The industry is driven primarily by comparative advantages derived from low cost factor inputs, which has eroded in recent years due to escalating production cost. Further, the increasing competition from other cheaper producing nations, particularly China and Vietnam, is also putting a damper on the future competitiveness of the industry in Malaysia. To remain competitive, the Malaysian furniture industry must transform and advance the value-chain through innovation and value-addition. Although the government has played a pivotal role in providing a broad policy framework to support value-adding and innovative activities, success has been limited. This study evaluated the extent of innovation and its sources in the Malaysian furniture industry through an internet-based survey. The results indicated that external sources of innovation were more important than internal sources. The factor analysis showed that external inputs, market demand, and in-house research and development were the most important drivers of the innovation in the Malaysian furniture industry. Therefore, the furniture industry in Malaysia will require policy support to enhance its inherent capability for innovation in the long-term.

A Review on Sustainability Characteristics Development for Wooden Furniture Design

“…This will encourage the company to perceive market opportunities and become sustainability leaders in furniture development [32]. In addition, it intensifies the consumer's acceptance and recognition of sustainable furniture [33] and the innovative abilities of the Malaysian furniture industry [18].…”

“…Sustainability issues and related challenges in furniture industries have emerged at two stages, namely, manufacturing [15][16][17][18] and the end-product stage [2,15,19,20]. As a result, sustainability issues affect both workers (during the furniture-making process) and users [21].…”

Comparative steam bending characteristics of some planted forest wood species in Malaysia

“…The results from this study also add much required information on the woodworking properties of the plantation forest trees, which are being aggressively cultivated in the country. As emphasized by Ratnasingam et al (2018) and Ratnasingam (2021), the success of new wood materials from plantation forests is often compared that of rubberwood, which has long established itself as the primary wood raw material for the large wood-based industry in the country.…”

“…The sustainable supply of wood for the large wood products and furniture manufacturing industries in Malaysia is a major concern among manufacturers and policy makers. Malaysia's wood products and furniture exports, which stands at RM 22 billion per annum for the last few years, continue to struggle in light of the raw materials supply crunch coupled with the increasing labor cost due to its continued dependence of foreign contract workers (Ratnasingam et al 2018;MTIB 2021). In fact, the severity of the raw materials supply problem became apparent when the export target for wood products and furniture by the year 2020 had to be halved to RM 25 billion from its original figure of RM 53 billion as stipulated by the National Timber Industry Plan (NATIP), which was formulated in 2009 (Ab Latib et al 2022).…”

Designing Out Waste From the Production of a Learning Tower Through Material Flow Analysis

“…The wood-based furniture industry is one of Malaysia's most important economic sectors, contributing more than 2 billion USD annually (Ratnasingam et al, 2018). Malaysia is also one of the largest furniture exporters, ranking ninth among the world's leading furniture exporters (Ratnasingam et al, 2018). The Malaysian government's initiatives to implement Industrial Master Plans beginning in the mid-1980s further aided the industry's advancement.…”