Sustainability risk management implementation and its impact on the corporate survival of environmentally sensitive listed companies in Malaysia

The changes in business environment such as technological expansion and globalisation are reshaping the business landscape and have increased pressure to companies to place greater emphasis on the emerging sustainability risks. Sustainability risk management (SRM) is an extension to Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) approach to manage the broad spectrum of risks arising from sustainability issues such as climate change, resources depletion and natural catastrophes with the aim to maximise environmental, social and economic performances for corporate survival while preserving communities and the environment. The purpose of this research is to examine the impact of sustainability risk management (SRM) implementation and SRM key factors on the corporate survival of environmentally sensitive listed companies in Malaysia. Further, the study also determine the moderating effect of ERM level of implementation on the relationship between SRM key factors and corporate survival relationship. The study adopts a triangultion method, which is a combination of a survey and a case study. A total of 53 survey responses are collected and four companies are interviewed. The findings of the study revealed that only compliance has significant effect on the corporate survival of environmentally sensitive listed companies. Findings also confirmed that ERM level of implementation does not moderates the relationship between SRM key factor of compliance and corporate survival. This study makes several theoretical contributions and provides further insights about the extent of sustainability risk integration into ERM practices in Malaysia. The findings of the study showed that environmentally sensitive companies are in the early stages of SRM implementation. In the context of current business environment, companies can no longer spot the known risks but also keep watching and estimating the unknown events that may have extreme impact on their businesses. The results of this study offer valuable insight to environmentally sensitive companies, regulators, and researchers to further understand the effects of SRM implementation on corporate survival. The study recommends that sound risk culture, adequate risk management tools and effective business continuity planning would be beneficial to environmentally sensitive companies in responding to the emerging environmental and social risks

Observational Study on User Experience of In-Patient and Domicilliary Palliative Care Facilities Provided at Hospices

Palliative care is the field of medical care intended to provide comfort to patients who have chronic or terminal disease from the time of diagnosis and throughout the course of the illness. MOH (Ministry of Health) has aimed to establish palliative care units for inpatient and outpatient facilities However, there is no design guidelines for hospice centre due to palliative care is still considered a new field in Malaysia. This study reviews the patients’ perception in hospices in Malaysia based on layout, nature, privacy and social support. As a participatory volunteer of the hospices, this case study is carried out with qualitative observations and interviews on two chosen hospices as case study based on their typology, namely Pure Lotus Hospice, an in-patient facility in Penang and Assisi Palliative Care, a domicilliary facility in Petaling Jaya. The finding shows that there is a strong correlation of user perception to the privacy provided in the hospice. This study infers planning for privacy should be a priority when planning for future hospices as well as policies

Case studies of the practice of nomination and Hibah by Malaysian Takaful operators

Nomination is a process whereby a policyholder who purchases the insurance policy should name someone to benefit from the policy in the event of the policyholder’s death. Nomination is purposely performed to ensure the beneficiaries receive the takaful benefits promptly. The current practice of the nomination clause in family takaful operation is basically vague because the Takaful Act 1984 does not expressly provide any rule to that effect. This study aims to examine the status of nominees for Muslim participants and non-Muslim participants in family takaful as stipulated in the takaful nomination form. It is significant to clarify the status of the nominee, either as a beneficiary or an executor, in order to avoid any misconception among the legal heirs in the future. Besides this, the study also seeks to assess how far the related concept of hibah to the nomination in family takaful is currently implemented by the takaful operators in Malaysia. Hibah seems to be an alternative for Muslim participants to allocate the takaful benefits to the right beneficiaries without adhering to the Islamic law of inheritance (fara’id). This study adopts the document analysis to identify whether the takaful nomination form is standardised and clarified in respect of the status of the nominee for each takaful operator in Malaysia. Samples of eight licensed takÉful operators are selected in this study. The results of this study found that the takaful nomination form is not standardised among all the takaful operators. The status of the nominee is not clarified in some takaful nomination forms either as a beneficiary or an executor. In addition, the application of hibah seems to violate the nature of hibah itself as hibah should take place during the lifetime of the participant. This study concludes and proposes some recommendations for takaful operators to provide better and enhanced implementation of nomination and hibah in family takaful

Integrating knowledge management in sustainability risk management practices for company survival

Sustainability risk management (SRM) is an approach that manages the broad spectrum of risks arising from sustainability issues such as climate change, resource depletion and natural catastrophes. SRM is an extension to Enterprise Risk Management (ERM) that aims to maximize environmental, social and economic performances for a company’s survival.In an SRM practice, knowledge management is a strategic resource for companies to sustain in the rapidly-evolved business environment. It provides a solution to address the unknown risks associated with environmental complexity. Thus, the aim of this study is to examine the moderating effect of knowledge management on the relationship between SRM critical factors (ERM bases and organizational resilience) and company survival among public listed companies (PLCs) in Malaysia. Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) technique is used to analyze the hypothetical model which is developed in this study.The result shows that knowledge management moderates the relationship between organizational resilience and company survival. This finding signifies that knowledge management is an important strategic resource to assist companies to develop effective risk management strategy. This will lead to better decision-making and risk controls which influence stakeholder value and company reputation. The study also finds that ERM bases and organizational resilience were significant towards company survival. Companies with strong ERM bases such as procedures, infrastructure and methods have higher chances of successful SRM implementation. Organizational resilience refers to the ability of a company to manage crises and disaster risks, which is crucial for a company’s survival. This study has both theoretical and practical implications. The result of this study provides relevant insights on the value of knowledge management to meet stakeholder expectations. It also provides a better understanding of the relationship between SRM implementation, its critical factors and company survival

Does risk culture matter for sustaining the business? evidence from Malaysian environmentally sensitive listed companies

The aim of this paper is to examine how organisational risk culture and good risk management practices contribute to the sustainable business. Sustaining business requires a strong foundational of risk culture to address all types of risks. Having a sound risk culture is vital as it influences the way organisations respond to risks and hazards. A poor risk culture and weak risk management practices have triggered many business collapsed and lost with huge amounts. Drawing on the post-modern portfolio theory and stakeholder theory, the model in this study is empirically validated by means of the partial least squares approach to structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) based on survey data from environmentally sensitive companies in Malaysia. Based on the analysis, the study revealed that risk culture moderates the relationship between the role of leadership and risk resilience of sustainability risk management (SRM) implementation and company survival. This result extend previous research by not only highlighting the importance of risk culture in driving effective SRM practices but also indicating the significance of risk resilience and leadership in sustaining the business

Drivers and barriers to sustainable risk management (SRM) practices in Malaysian environment sensitive listed companies

Sustainable risk management (SRM) has become the most important managerial trend for business sustainability. Companies have started paying greater attention to adopt SRM towards achieving responsible patterns of consumption and production. Yet little is known about the drivers and barriers to SRM practices. This study aimed to fill this gap by identifying the drivers and barriers to SRM practices among environment sensitive listed companies in Malaysia. Data was collected through a questionnaire survey with 53 respondents and interviews with 3 persons-in-charge of the risk management department from the environment sensitive listed companies in Malaysia. The study revealed that internal factors such as stakeholder pressure and long-term shareholder value motivated the companies to adopt SRM practices. Also, the study found external factors such as corporate governance compliance and regulatory compliance as among the drivers that encourage companies to implement SRM. Nevertheless, the factors which were not perceived as a priority by the board of directors include organisational culture and lack of tools and data that constitute internal barriers to effective implementation of the SRM. The results of this study offer valuable insights to environment-sensitive companies to further understand the drivers and barriers of SRM practices which are essential to becoming sustainable companies

Case studies of the practice of nomination and hibah by Malaysian Takaful Operator

Nomination is a process whereby a policyholder who purchases the insurance policy should name someone to benefit from the policy in the event of the policyholder's death.Nomination is purposely performed to ensure the beneficiaries receive the takaful benefits promptly.The current practice of the nomination clause in family takaful operation is basically vague because the Takaful act 1984 does not expressly provide any rule to that effect.This study aims to examine the status of nominees for Muslim participants and non-Muslim participants in family takaful as stipulated in the takaful nomination form. it is significant to clarify the status of the nominee, either as a beneficiary or an executor, in order to avoid any misconception among the legal heirs in the future. besides this, the study also seeks to assess how far the related concept of hibah to the nomination in family takaful is currently implemented by the takaful operators in Malaysia.Hibah seems to be an alternative for Muslim participants to allocate the takaful benefits to the right beneficiaries without adhering to the Islamic law of inheritance (fara'it).This study adopts the document analysis to identify whether the takaful nomination form is standardised and clarified in respect of the status of the nominee for each takaful operator in Malaysia.Samples of eight licensed takaful

Measurement of bread crumb texture via imaging of its characteristics

A simplified image processing method has been designed based on a two-dimensional scanned red, green and blue (RGB) colour image model to evaluate bread crumb characteristics using commercially available image processing software. This method is completely objective in all respects, and highlights a minimal basic imaging method with the adaptation of an automatic threshold segmentation technique based on a statistical clustering approach. The typical spatial resolution used was approximately 85 µm2 crumbs per pixel and the cell detection sensitivity was up to 94 µm in diameter. The image processing time to compute the crumb cell structure for a single bread slice with 422,500 pixels per image was about 2 seconds. The image analysis was evaluated accurately by the results of the individual cell characteristics including the total cell count, cell area, and cell average diameter to derive crumb fineness, void fraction and cell uniformity for four types of different breads, i.e. closed and open lid sandwich loaves, country white bread and the baguette. The cell-total area ratio was found to increase across the four bread types from the closed sandwich (22%), open sandwich (29%), country (35%) and baguette (42%). This is consistent with visual observation of the crumb cell structures. The imaged crumb characteristics of the void fraction is well correlated with the physical crumb texture of the bread density at R2 = 0.8422 while crumb fineness and cell uniformity both show a positive correlation with the bread texture measured by its firmness at R2 = 0.633 and R2 = 0.6876, respectively. The results support the theory on the influence of cell size and distribution on bread texture

Dissolution profiling and its comparison of natural fruit powder effervescent tablets

The aims of the study were to observe the dissolution profile of four types of selected fruit powder fast dissolve tablet and apply different dissolution profile comparison methods, in order to select most applicable method. Spray dried powder of pitaya, pineapple, guava and mango were used as raw material. Each type of fruit powder tablet has identical dissolution profile. Dissolution profiles and dissolution rate of fruit powder tablets were different at different dissolution environment. In model-independent and statistical method pairwise comparison was performed and in model dependent method profile comparison was carried out based on best fitting of mathematical model equation. Dissolution Profile comparison methods represented that model independent method use wide range of value for profile comparison and it was direct and easy; model dependent method was indirect and complex and for critically compare the dissolution profile statistical method was the most suitable method

The influence of operational parameters and feed preparation in a convective batch ribbon powder mixer

The results indicated that the homogeneity of the mixtures was influenced by the blender rotation speed and mixing time. Better mixing can be obtained with higher rotation speeds and longer mixing time. It was also observed that preblending and smaller feed particle size achieved the required homogeneity in a shorter period of time at a lower rotational speed. These results illustrate that using binders with a smaller particle size and a preblending technique improves the mixing process in a convective batch ribbon powder mixer. However, prolonged periods of high-speed mixing will lead to mixture segregation