JUDGING CRITERIA
SME RECOGNITION AWARD 2008 nominees are judged based on the following 6 core evaluation criteria:

A. Business and Company
• History
• Marketing positioning
• Awards and accolades won
• Unique strengths and unique selling proposition
• Industry
• Milestones and achievements
• Patents/trademark
• Core business

B. Management philosophies
• Strategies for growth and evolution
• Key management team
• Culture vision and mission
• New initiatives embarked upon
• Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy and PR initiatives

C. Products, Services and Markets
• Product and/or services range
• Market size and market share
• Distribution channels
• Brand and design development
• Customer relationship management plans
• Spread and quality of customers
• Oversea and local market ratio
• Market development
• Oversea representation
• Pricing strategy

D. Operations and technologies
• Accreditations e.g ISO
• Research and development
• Adoption of information Communication Technology
• Quality of documentation e.g operating produres manual
• Innovation
• Process efficiency

E. Financial performance
• Operating profit before and after tax of the past 3 years
• Profit and sales growth
• Exports and local sales ratio
• Return on capital employed
• Profit and sales per employee

F. Corporate social responsibility
• Policy
• Awareness and promotion campaign
• Measurement and monitoring

Moreover, the audit committee will also evaluate all the nominees from the following 5 perspectives in search of winning qualities:
1. Ambition
2. Uniqueness
3. Cohesiveness
4. Implementation effectiveness
5. Social contribution


THE SELECTION SYSTEM
Following qualified submission, all award nominees will be evaluated by professionals and experts that forms the judging panel before short listing takes place. Only short listed candidates will be visited by the audit committee before their submissions and profile are presented to the Selection Committee comprising prominent businessmen and captains of the industry to select the award winners to ensure the high integrity and quality of SME Recognition Award 2008 achievers. The Selection Committee is chaired by Dato Seri Megat Najmuddin Megat Khas, the President of Malaysian Institute of Corporate Governance.


QUALIFYING CRITERIA
1. Nominees must be a company incorporated in Malaysia;
2. At least 50% owned by Malaysian;
3. Not a listed company on any stock exchange;
4. Not a approved for listing on any stock exchange as at 31st July 2008;
5. Not a subsidiary of a public listed company;
6. involved in any legitimate business with annual gross turnover below RM 100 million for the financial year ended 2007;
7. For companies with same owners, group proforma consolidated accounts is allowed but the company or group should be in a single or similar business nature. The business should not be divergently different;
8. Company must be in the business for at least 3 years (except for Rising Star Award).

* Incomplete nomination submissions may be rejected automatically.

For further enquiries, please contact SME Award Secretariat at 03-55699078, FAX: 03-55699077 or email to award@smisme.com


REQUIREMENTS FOR NOMINATIONS

Closing Date: 15th September 2008

1. Nominations can access to www.smisme.com by completing and returning the nomination form to the SME AWARD 2008 secretariat at:

SME RECOGNITION AWARD 2008
SECRETARIAT OFFICE
42-2, Jalan Presiden FU1/F,
Accentra Glenmarie,
40150 Shah Alam, Selangor, Malaysia
Email: award@smisme.com

2. Nominees may select their preferred award category. However it is the prerogative of the judging panel to place nominee in the category that allows the nominee the best probability of receiving an award.
3. All sections should be completed thoroughly as information provided will form the basis for judging. Please denote N/A where appropriate.
4. Completed forms must be submitted together with:
• Three (3) years audited accounts;
• Complete form 24 and 49 for Malaysian ownership evidence;
• A processing fee of RM 500 payable to SMI ASSOCIATION OF MALAYSIA;
• 500 words Executive Summary enclosed in English and Chinese for media coverage and reporting purposes;
• Other relevant supporting documents or information deemed appropriate
5. For each applicable section, elaborate in not more than 250 words. In addition to the question below, please attach separate sheets if you have more information or if the space provided is insufficient.
6. All information provided in the nomination form will be treated with full confidentiality.
7. All nominations must be endorsed by an approved body. An approved body is either a professional body or trade association.
8. The Organizer cannot undertake to return documents or supplementary material submitted with an entry.
9. Names of applicants, commentary and scoring information developed during the review of applicants are regarded as proprietary by the Award Committee and are kept strictly confidential. Such information is available only to those individuals directly involved in the assessment and administrative process.