A study of the catch data of the Jurong in the South China Sea in 1971 and 1972

The semi-commercial bottom trawl fishing by the training vessel JURONG in the South China Sea in 1971 and 1972 was confined to three areas at its south western portion. The positively skewed frequency distributions of catch per hour assumed approximately the shape of a normal curve when the yield was transformed logarithmically. Sample statistics from these transformed values form the basis of discussion of the yields for 1971 and 1972 in relation to fishing seasons and types of nets used. Yield records from JURONG showed that the catch in waters off Terengganu (northeast coast of West Malaysia) was poorer than that of Homan and Sarawak. These yields were briefly discussed together with values obtained by the R/V CHANGI. In the area off Sarawak, the Engel II net obtained much better catches than the four seam net. The percentage composition of dominant fish categories from Tioman and Sarawak are also discussed

Unity in diversity? Identity, relationship and cultural context in the classic Mini and the BMW Mini communities

When brand objects attract a number of consumers who exhibit strong loyalty to that object, and who communicate such loyalties with each other, brand communities form. Studies of such communities have hitherto focused on the individual relationships between their members in order to explain the dynamics driving such groups. This study aims to explore the wider universe in which such groups operate, and to establish the interconnecting relationships between the various actors associated with the brand object, including marketer-consumer, consumer-society and community-subculture. Positivist research methods are inappropriate to such a study, because of their basic assumption that people can be studied in the same manner as the physical world. Instead, the interpretivist paradigm has been used for this research, because the researcher believes that the meaning of brands can only be fully understood when the subjective experiences of those who use them are taken into consideration. A case study of the Mini brand community has been chosen as a vehicle for this study. The results are inductive rather than deductive, allowing theories of social phenomena to emerge from the data, thus ensuring that they are grounded in observation and experience. The case study method has also enabled the researcher to become fully involved in the phenomenon under investigation. Analysis was conducted on data collected from a wide range of online and offline sources relating to this community. This data revealed that marketers abandoned the Mini when production of the car ceased, leaving the brand community to maintain the remaining vehicles and perpetuate the meanings that surround the brand. Community members became solely responsible for preserving the values of “small-is-beautiful”, “fun” and “Britishness” with which the Mini has come to be associated. They maintained the cultural meanings of the Mini so successfully that the Mini’s successor, the BMW MINI, was able to reclaim these meanings to maximize its launch and development. In this way, brand meaning can be shown to be the result of a complex process of interaction between all the actors concerned at every level, rather than being created and sustained only by marketers. This study proposes a conceptual framework by which consumer behavior within brand communities can be studied, and which takes account of all those actors and levels concerned with creating the cultural meaning(s) attached to a given brand object

Anomalies in Finance Stocks Market: Momentum Effect and Return Reversal

This study applies relative strength trading rule to analyse momentum effect and return reversal in the finance sector of Malaysia for the period of January 1997–December 2014. We construct J/K overlapping portfolios consisting of finance stocks over 1–12 months short investing horizons The estimated average cumulative monthly excess returns from momentum strategy portfolios are in the range of 0.017–0.023, while contrarian strategy portfolios are between 0.023 and 0.029 (in percentage). The market-adjusted returns cannot be explained based on the market risk factor of Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM). The findings indicate short-run inefficiency in the weak-form sense

Behaviour of the warm-water mass along the east coast of the Malay Peninsula

A preliminary study was made on oceanographic conditions in the South China Sea, using the data collected over two monsoon seasons. In the northeast monsoon and the subsequent stagnant season, a narrow belt-like water mass of high temperature and low salinity was observed along the east coast of the Malay Peninsula. While in the southwest monsoon season, the existence of this water mass was not clear. The presence of this narrow belt of water mass suggest the existence of a southward-flowing current which may play a role in transporting the water from the Gulf of Thailand to the coastal area of the Peninsula

Inventory of fish products in Southeast Asia

The findings are presented of a questionnaire conducted in Southeast Asia regarding fish products available, their quality and constraints to their marketing and promotion. Most quality problems were concentrated in the category of traditional products -- particularly smoked, dried and fermented items. The application of such information is identifying available products and highlighting and overcoming certain problems is considered briefly

Conceptual view of cyberloafing and non-work domain

In an attempt to understand the reasons for employees’ personal Internet use at work, known as cyber loafing, this paper attempts a new perspective to look at the phenomenon. As the barrier between the previously separate work and home domains reduces, employees are increasingly integrating their working and private world.This phenomenon has resulted in employees using their personal time for work-related tasks through technology in the privacy of their homes and private domain.Conversely, employees could be carrying out non-work related Internet use during office hours.This paper aims to explore the possibility of non-work domain as a factor for employees to cyber loaf.This paper proposed a conceptual model based on border theory and theory of interpersonal behaviour. The resultant augmented theory offers a richer explanation of how non-work domain affects employees’ decision making process on cyber loafing

Advanced automation and robotics for high volume labour-intensive manufacturing

High volume, labour-intensive manufacturing operations pose several challenges for successful operations. It is an even bigger challenge to move away from manual dependency and shift towards automation of production processes. There seems to be no general agreement among researchers on what are the critical success factors (CSFs) on the implementation of advanced automation and robotics processes in the manufacturing environment. Success factors vary across the manufacturing industry and also organizational units. This paper attempts to elicit the opinion and perception of academic professionals with links to high volume labour-intensive manufacturing industry. A systematic literature search was conducted on the topic and semi-structured interviews were conducted with experts to gather their views on CSFs. Results from the literature search and interviews revealed that factors related to Organization Strategy, Culture, and Structure; Top management support; Past experience, staffing, and learning; Project management, planning, and control; Finance, and resource availability; Technology maturity and vendor support; to be critical for the success of the production process automation project initiatives. Findings from this study can be used as guidelines to ascertain CSFs for organizations and strategy planning. Manufacturing organizations can also use this study to evaluate their organizational readiness and enhance the level of automation further

Fight or flight: the importance of team work, leadership and human governance

This case discusses issues revolving around organization behavior within MAB & Co., a pharmaceutical company in Malaysia. The company experienced substantial staff turnover following the announcement of its acquisition by Marck. The issue was further aggravated with the resignation of the Senior Manager of the Research & Development (R&D) division, who had served the company for 10 years. The previous Manager of the Marketing division was then promoted to the vacancy. However, the new appointment was not well-received by the existing staff, and hence conflicts started to surface. This case highlights the potential organization structural change arising from the impending merger exercise, coupled with deteriorating employee morale as evidenced by increasing staff turnover, which could eventually lead to disorganization of the company