Concentration of exports and patterns of trade: a time-series evidence of Malaysia

This paper investigates the magnitude of geographic as well as commodity concentration for Malaysia from 1970 to 2003 and how the pattern of trade and instability has changed over time. The instability index is regressed upon a set of explanatory variables including commodity concentration, geographic concentration and share of primary commodity exports. The results indicate that the commodity concentration appears as a significant variable in explaining the export earnings instability. The paper recommends Malaysia takes several measures in order to remain immune from negative effects of instability. They include the continuous effort to stay competitive by maintaining productivity higher than production cost, to diversify as well as broaden its industrial base and constantly find new markets for new products.These measures, in the presence of right macro-economic policies supplemented by increasing foreign direct investment with intra-regional trade paved the way for market-friendly approach backed by a number of liberalization measures

The impact of subprime crisis on Asia-Pacific Islamic Stock Market

The objective of this study is to examine the impact of the U.S. subprime crisis on the long-term and short-term dynamic relationships between selected Asia-Pacific Islamic stock markets and conventional stock markets in the region. The comovements among these stock markets are examined through cointegration tests, and vector error correction model–based Granger causality tests, for the period from February 2006 to December 2010. The study reveals that, after the debut of the U.S. subprime crisis, Asia-Pacific Islamic stock markets increasingly integrated among themselves and with their conventional counterparts. In addition, the conventional markets of the United States and Japan significantly influence the short-run fluctuations of Asia-Pacific Islamic and conventional markets

Trade and human development in OIC countries: a panel data analysis

This study examines the relationship between trade and the OIC countries 19 social developments as measured by the Human Development Index (HDI) using the generalized method of moments (GMM) procedure in a panel data distributed lag model for the years 1980 to 2005, with a five-year increments as well as annual data from 2000 to 2009. It addresses two questions: (i) whether trade has a positive relationship with human development as reflected by longevity, educational attainment and income in the HDI measurement, and (ii) whether trade still has a positive relationship with human development, when the income component of the HDI is excluded. Comparisons are made across OIC countries based on three World Bank Classifications by Income, namely, high income, middle income and low income countries. Trade is found to have a significant positive relationship with HDI for all income categories, but insignificant relationship with non-income HDI. The finding indicates that trade is associated with human development only through income channels, and it is not associated with other components, such as longevity, literacy level and educational attainment. More of appropriate and effective public policies need to be formulated and implemented so as to achieve the desired outcomes of multi-dimensional human development in the true sense of the word

Oman’s economic diversification cum trade structure

In line with Oman‘s National Programme for Enhancing Economic Diversification "Tanfeedh" which has received the Royal approval and has been endorsed by the Royal Decree 1/2016, this paper attempts to analyze the potential success of economic diversification of Oman by adopting measurements of trade concentration profile as used in Pitigala (2005). Tanfeedh's mandate is to implement the ninth five-year plan (2016-2020), which calls for oil's contribution to GDP to decrease to 26 per cent. The government has chosen five sectors with which it sees its best potential, namely: manufacturing, transport and logistics, tourism, fisheries and mining. This paper investigates whether or not Oman possesses the necessary trade structure by analyzing her dynamic exports between the years 1990 to 2015. In addition, the HerfindahlHirschman concentration index is also being employed to measure trade concentration for selected years for Oman and other GCC countries as a comparison. The advantage of using these measurements at the disaggregated level is that they allow for a more in-depth analysis at the product level that could be used to gauge the prospects for the success of economic diversification. The findings of this paper provide useful information for the formulation of strategies that would enhance Oman‘s economic diversification programme "Tanfeedh". It also serves additional information as to whether it needs to realign the existing policies in order to promote a more favorable environment and sustainable development in Oman

Human capital and economic growth: empirical evidence from Malaysia

The objective of this paper is to estimate the long and short run relationship between human capital and economic growth in Malaysia. The study applies rigorous empirical testing to test the validity of the model. Data derived from different sources undergo unit root tests to ensure stationarity at level or first difference. It also utilizes cointegration test, error correction model (ECM), short-run Granger causality, variance decomposition and impulse response function to analyze the impact of human capital on economic growth in the long and short run. The results confirmed that education, government expenditure and economic growth have long run relationships. The results of successful human capital development will not be seen in an instant, but rather over a period of time. In line with Malaysia’s aspiration to become a high income nation in 2020, efforts must be intensified in developing its human capital

Alignment between data warehouse design and business strategy

Data warehouse has become a very important tool for supporting the corporate executives in making important decisions in a highly competitive business environment. Data warehouse enables the top management to acquire and analyze integrated data extracted globally across the enterprise. Many organizations are sitting on vast amount of data already accumulated in their operational database. The huge data repository with potential strategic business information can be analysed comprehensively only through the usage of data warehouse system. The main objective of this paper is to systematically review the development and adoption of data warehouse design in business environment and the different models to assess the alignment between information technology strategy and business strategy

Economic integration among ASEAN countries: evidence from gravity model

This study aims at investigating whether intra-ASEAN trade is trade creating (higher trade with efficient members) or trade diverting (higher trade with inefficient members) for both inter-industry and intra-industry trade. Since integration efforts within ASEAN had to be geared toward “open regionalism”, factors that affect trade, both inter-industry as well as intra-industry trade at the sectoral level are also identified. The study adopts the extended gravity model at the total as well as the disaggregated level using the one-digit Standard International Trade Classification (SITC) Revision 2. Trade creation is found to be present for total exports, for beverages & tobacco (SITC 1), chemicals & materials (SITC 5),machinery & transport equipment (SITC 7),and miscellaneous manufactures (SITC 8). Income levels, transportation costs as well as level of development have significant effects on total trade as well as most sectors. Relative development affects only food & live animals (SITC 0), crude materials (SITC 2), chemicals & materials (SITC 5), and manufactured goods (SITC 6). Factor endowments are important determinants of total trade as well as trade in animal & vegetable fat (SITC 4), chemicals & materials SITC 5), machinery & transport equipment (SITC7), and miscellaneous manufactures (SITC 8).Tariffs do not seem to have any effect on trade except for the animal & vegetable fat sector (SITC 4), while exchange rate risk affects only beverages & tobacco (SITC 1), minerals & fuels (SITC 3), machinery & transport equipment (SITC 7), and miscellaneous manufactures (SITC 8). Based on the findings, in general, policies that promote growth and development in the region should be maintained. In addition, measures need to be undertaken to ensure low transportation costs that include improving both the physical infrastructure and the efficiency of transportation systems. Since tariffs are no longer much of an issue to promote trade, emphasis should be placed on other factors that may affect export demand such as product development to improve the quality of exports and to meet the preferences of importing countries

Factors sustaining social enterprises from the tawhidic paradigm in Malaysia

This paper attempts to analyze the factors that sustain social entrepreneurship theory from Tawhidic paradigm perspective. It describes the nature of the social entrepreneurship, the scope and boundaries of assessment on social entrepreneurship environments, and the assessment of internal aspects social entrepreneurship entities in order to formulate, implement, and evaluate strategies for survival and growth. This paper also develops an alternative model as a means to achieve sustainability in terms of innovation and competitive advantage for social entrepreneurship. It uses in-depth interviews with 10 participants including policymaker, subject matter experts, and founders of social enterprises in Malaysia. The finding indicates that the Tawhidic approach contributes to the theoretical and practical understanding of the factors sustaining social enterprises in Malaysia. Future research should incorporate more participants to further debate the dynamics of key components in the subject matter of the study