Cloud computing: Use and impact of technology

The objectives of this study are to identify the current state of cloud computing use and to examine the impact of its use to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Malaysia.The impact of cloud computing use is examined from three dimensions: strategic benefits, informational benefits, and security enhancement.Data are collected through a survey of senior managers of the SMEs.The findings suggest that all of the cloudbased technologies are currently in use. The use of cloud computing in the organization facilitates informational and strategic benefits, but not security enhancement

Use of social media for informal language learning by Malaysian university students

Social networking services (SNSs) are a much-touted technology for improved learning, yet very little research goes beyond the classroom-level controlled application of SNSs. This paper provides a look at reported usage and application of SNSs beyond the classroom, where data is scarce. The paper describes an investigation on whether Malaysian university students think SNSs are helpful for learning English, and the areas of language proficiency that these students perceived to benefit the most from their usage of SNSs. A total of 6,085 students participated in the online survey. Results indicate that an overwhelming majority (99.7%) make use of SNSs to learn English outside the classroom and 97.4% of these believe their use of SNSs helps improve their proficiency. The respondents indicated that the areas of proficiency that benefitted the most from their use of SNSs are writing, communication, vocabulary development and reading. In contrast, grammar as well as listening and speaking benefitted the least. The results presented a much needed, and currently lacking, view into the actual utility and use of SNSs for the purpose of informal learning of English among students in Malaysian universities

Komuniti masyarakat Aceh di Kedah: Satu kajian historikal pembinaan negara Bangsa Melayu di negara seberang (The Aceh community in Kedah: A historical study of Malay Nation building)

The study of historical Kedah-Aceh’s relations explained about the community that appeared and grew according to their own perspective.Acehnese communities, especially in Yan, Kedah is the most complete in terms of self-esteem and identity of the original cultural roots and contribution in politics, economics and social. Close and friendly relations between the Acehnese with the local Malay people past and present existed due to their capability to adapt the Malay’s way of life and culture which is very similar and together contribute a great role in Malaysia nation building.The Sultan of Kedah himself did not restrict the presence of nomads Aceh to Kedah; he himself even encouraged these people to jointly develop Islamic teachings and cooperated in the development of the state. Pre-independence period also saw Kedah-Aceh relations as a manifestation of cooperation in jihad among the colonized towards the same colonial invaders. In the spirit of jihad, they were united against all forms of foreign elements, particularly the British and the Dutch.Religious patriotism and high solidarity became a catalyst to the struggle against the western colonial and further strengthen the existing ties between Kedah and Aceh. Living together without prejudice and shared the joy and sorrow bring harmony despite different backgrounds but the close Malay blood relationship strengthens the prevailing unity

The critical success factors of e-CRM implementation to small and medium enterprises

Business entities around the globe are clamouring to catch up with the recent trend of the business world using information technology (IT) applications, such as Customer Relationship Management (CRM).For any business to reap the rewards of CRM initiatives, it has to have a proper plan for its implementation.However, these business entities have little knowledge regarding the critical success factors of CRM implementation and its impact to their organizations.This study, therefore, proposes the critical success factors of e-CRM implementation to the small and medium enterprises (SMEs).The success factors include operational and strategic benefits, top management support, technological readiness, and knowledge management capabilities.This study uses organization as unit of analysis with SMEs as the target population.Data will be gathered by using a cross-sectional survey approach

Effects of cooperative learning on secondary students’ achievement in financial accounting

The major factor contributing to students’ failure in financial accounting in secondary schools is the teaching methods used by the accounting teachers.In this paper we study the effectiveness of cooperative learning approach on students’ academic achievement.Cooperative learning is the learning style whereby students are arranged in small groups and the group members are linked together in such a way that they cannot succeed unless every member in the group succeed. They assist and encourage the effort of each other to ensure that all the group members master the learning material in order to achieve their personal and group objectives.Cooperative learning approach is not only improving students’ academic achievement but it also enhances positive attitudes towards learning, develops social skills, improves interpersonal relationships, and prepare students for collaborative work.Therefore, the objective of this paper is to adopt social interdependence theory, cognitive development theory and motivational theory to examine the effects of cooperative learning on secondary students’ achievement in financial accounting using pre-test post-test control group design

Extent of Adoption as Opposed to Adoption: Case of E-Procurement

Existing literature has given much attention to e-procurement adoption, rather than to the extent of e- procurement adoption. In most countries, e-procurement is being adopted at a slow pace by the corporate world, especially by small and medium enterprises (SMEs) that have traditionally been late adopters of any advanced technologies, due in large part to their resource constraints. This paper describes a project which aims to develop a measure of the extent of e-procurement adoption and to examine the key factors that influence the extent of e-procurement adoption in New Zealand SMEs. An integrated model of the Technology-Organization- Environment (TOE) framework and Diffusion of Innovations (DOI) theory is described and a cross-sectional survey is discussed. The model will be tested using data from the Chief Executive Officers (CEOs) of the SMEs

Extent of E-Procurement Usage: An Empirical Study of Small and Medium Sized New Zealand Manufacturing Businesses

This paper describes a project which aims to investigate the extent of e-procurement usage at the organizational level and to examine the key factors that influence the extent of e-procurement usage in New Zealand (NZ) small and medium enterprises (SMEs). An integrated model is developed based on the Technology-Organization-Environment (TOE) framework and Diffusion of Innovation (DOI) theory. It is hypothesized that the extent of e-procurement usage is influenced by the technological (i.e. relative advantage, compatibility, and complexity), organizational (i.e. top management support and employees’ knowledge), and environmental (i.e. external pressure) contexts. This study employs a quantitative research methodology using a cross-sectional survey approach and a qualitative analysis of respondents’ free comments incorporated at the end of each construct of the survey. The model is tested using data from 120 senior managers. Our results demonstrate that relative advantage, employees’ knowledge, and external pressure have a significant influence on the extent of e-procurement usage

The impact of online banking on the performance of Nigerian banking sector

In this contemporary life, information technology (IT) has become a significant medium in economic and social development.Banking sector nowadays cannot move forward rapidly without the use of IT. In particular, online banking (ebanking) is one of the IT applications with the highest impact on the global economy in creating a new business environment in the sector.Therefore, the aim of this study is to examine the impact of e-banking on the performance of the banking sector in Nigeria.E-banking will be measured by the expenditure made on information and communication technology (ICT) investments, number of debit cards issued to customers, and number of automated teller machines (ATMs) installed by the banks. Return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE), and net interest margin (NIM) will be used as performance variables.The impact of ebanking on the bank performance will be examined in two periods: pre-consolidation (i.e., before adopting the e-banking) and post-consolidation (i.e., after adopting the e-banking). Data collection involves secondary data gathered via annual reports of 21 Nigerian banks.The SPSS software will be used for data analysis

A study on factors to the turnover at Tesco Kota Bharu / Haslinda Che Hassan

This research was conducted to study the staff turnover toward Tesco Kota Bharu Kelantan. The objective of this research is to examine the factors to the staff turnover that can influence the company of Tesco Kota Bharu Kelantan. This study also was conducted to identify what are the most influencing factors for the staff turnover towards Tesco Kota Bharu Kelantan. Finally, the purpose of this study is also to recommend some idea and suggestion to solving the problems of the turnover toward Tesco Kota Bharu Kelantan. The researcher had using the secondary data that is from the previous report of the hypermarket staff turnover which weekly summary report of Tesco Kota Bharu Kelantan. Abscond, continue study, contract expired, healthy problems, terminate due to the disciplinary and getting the other jobs are the independent variables that being selected by the researcher. After collecting the data and analyze it, the result shows that the most factors that influence the staff turnover is abscond at Tesco Kota Bharu. The result also shows that healthy problems are not more influence to the staff turnover toward Tesco Kota Bharu. By conducting this research also, the researcher hopes that Human Resource Manager and the owner of Tesco Kota Bharu can reduced the staff turnover and improve the strategies of solving this problem of the Tesco Kota Bharu Kelantan