  This paper presents the results of empirical research conducted during March
to September 2009. The study focused on the influence of virtual research and
development teams within Malaysian manufacturing small and medium sized
enterprises (SMEs). The specific objective of the study is better understanding
of the application of collaborative technologies in business, to find the
effective factors to assist SMEs to remain competitive in the future. The paper
stresses to find an answer for a question Is there any relationship between
company size, Internet connection facility and virtuality?. The survey data
shows SMEs are now technologically capable of performing the virtual
collaborative team, but the infrastructure usage is less. SMEs now have the
necessary technology to begin the implementation process of collaboration tools
to reduce research and development time, costs and increase productivity. So,
the manager of R and D should take the potentials of virtual teams into
account.
