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Entrepreneurship in developing countries is arguably the least studied significant economic and social phenomenon. Previous studies focused on describing the attributes of entrepreneurship rather than providing a framework, in which entrepreneurs and policy makers alike can rationally plan and execute innovative business models. Current issues facing Malaysian entrepreneurs include low level of technology, lack of innovation through research and development, low working capital, and of highly domestic orientations. This led to a lack of resilience and efficiency among the entrepreneurs, thus rendering them ill‐equipped to compete globally. This adverse scenario is increasingly apparent among Bumiputera (Native of Malaysia) entrepreneurs as the growth of entrepreneurial activity has not been in tandem with the pace of the overall development of the nation. Hence, this study seeks to identify factors leading to success and failure so that Bumiputera entrepreneurs can prevent failure by correcting problems, and appreciate what it takes to succeed. Ultimately, a framework of success is proposed as a comprehensive tool to enhance their survival in a competitive global economy.

A survey instrument was used, and a total of 1,500 Bumiputera entrepreneurs participated, covering all the states in Malaysia.

The findings confirmed that eight factors are vital to the success of Bumiputera entrepreneurs. In rank order of importance, these factors are advancement drive, achievement oriented, commitment, decision‐making ability, managing risk, tenacity, networking, and optimism. As for the factors leading to the failure of Bumiputera entrepreneurs, inability to compete, lack of competency and capital, customer‐related problems, employee‐related problems, unfavourable economic conditions, bureaucracy, supplier discrimination, and negative community attitudes were found to be crucial.

The paper develops a framework to aid the success of Bumiputera entrepreneurs in Malaysia.

This study aims to design and validate a new measuring instrument of service quality, and ultimately to establish a national service quality index for the banking sector. The primary contribution is the insight offered regarding what factors affect service quality and the BSQ Index, a national indicator reflecting the level of service quality within the banking sector.

A total of 3380 questionnaires were distributed to the customers of 21 commercial and Islamic banks, of which only 1,519 were deemed usable, yielding a response rate of 44.9 per cent. The proposed 29‐item instrument has been empirically tested for unidimensionality, reliability and validity using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis.

A factorial analysis suggests that service quality has three dimensions namely “Systemization”, “Reliable Communication” and “Responsiveness”, and subsequent multiple regression analysis revealed that “Systemization” is the most important service quality dimension within the banking sector. The overall weighted BSQ Index of 4.00 implies that banking customers are generally pleased with the quality of services rendered by banking institutions.

The new Bank Service Quality Index (BSQ Index) is expected to be an important complement to traditional measures of economic performance, providing useful information to the banking institutions, shareholders, investors, government regulators, and customers. This composite index shall become an indicator reflecting the level of service quality in the banking institutions.

The results from the current study are crucial because previous studies have produced scales that bear a resemblance to SERVQUAL, a generic measure of service quality, which may not be totally adequate to assess the perceived quality in the banking sector. Thus, the present study captured customers' evaluation of service quality in a 29‐item questionnaire exclusively adapted to the unique nature of the banking sector.