This paper evaluates Malaysia’s value added export (VAE) in the light of its strategic policy reforms and governance. First, the study proposes a conceptual framework to show the role of governance and policy reforms in shaping a country in the path of VAE. Later, it undertakes an empirical analysis to evaluate the success of Malaysia’s VAE with the help of WTO-OECD Trade in Value Added (TiVA) database from 1996 through2014. The empirical findings reveal a significant relationship between VAE and the governance indicators and the policy parameter proxies, indicating that the government plays a significant role in Malaysia’s increased VAE.