Differences between supplier development programme of foreign and local Malaysian automotive suppliers

Research into supplier development has raised issues on the buyer’s relationship with the supplier.A buyer with collaborative relationship would have more interest in supplier development.From the viewpoint of the suppliers, buyers who provided assistance could help the suppliers in developing their capability, a situation that might be particularly relevant in developing and emerging countries. The automotive manufacturers have implemented supplier development programmes for their suppliers, both in developed and developing countries.This raises a question on supplier development programmes in developing countries: How do supplier development programmes differ between a local (Malaysian) supplier and a foreign (non-Malaysian) supplier for Malaysian automakers (buyers)? In this research, interviews were conducted at three supplier organisations, of which one was Australian and two were Malaysian, where all three were suppliers for a Malaysian automaker.This study found that the Malaysian and Australian suppliers differed in supplier categories, customisation versus standardised products and buyer involvement.The study suggests that buyer differences with regard to supplier relationship, supplier commitment, type of product and size of supplier organisation play a role in supplier development

Relationship Between Training and Employee Productivity in Organization: A Partial Least Square (PLS-SEM) Approach

Many manufacturing organizations focus only on technical enhancement of machines and adopting latest technical knowhow and superior raw material to produce goods and offer improvements, ignoring the need of providing training, particularly to their technical staff involved in production process in order to improve their productivity. This study attempts to find a relationship between training and employee productivity. A mixed methods approach, both qualitative and quantitative, was used to carry out this study. A questionnaire consisting of 30 statements on the impact of general training on employee productivity was given to respondents. The data was analyzed with Smart PLS software. Taking a step further, a few statements were also added in the questionnaire about strategic skills in order to add value to this study.  The gap analysis method was adopted to identify the questionnaire items and was validated for its content by experts. Complementary to the questionnaires, on‐site visits were made to collect data thorough interviews, documentation and observations. The study shows that both general skills and strategic skills have a positive relationship with employee productivity. The practical implication would be in the form of guidelines for training experts and HR mangers ensuring a mix of general and specific (strategic) training to impact the productivity. The limitations of this research were cost, time and lack of training and learning environment in the sampled organization. This study is a contribution to the domain of training which strives to find its positive relationship with employee productivity. Keywords : strategic training, input and output, learning environmen

Demystifying the Learning Management System (LMS): Journey from E-Learning to the Strategic Role

The usage of  the term Learning Management System (LMS) has grown recently in the corporate lexicon and so has increased  the ambiguity in understanding its meaning. Being a ubiquitous   term, it is used to mean anything that relates to computerized learning or online education courses or any educational content hosted on an e-learning platform for the purpose of educating users at a distance.  A need was therefore felt to demystify the role and meaning of a LMS in a corporate environment.  This paper will not delve into its traditional definitions nor discuss it as a platform for online courses as much has been written about its evolution and significance in the domain of e-learning. This paper focuses on the strategic role that LMS has started playing in the corporate, taking the shape of a real time, strategic initiative for the purpose of talent management at the corporate level and has almost become an integral functional unit of the organization. The LMS package adopted in a corporate environment not only customizes learning of individuals and teams and offers relevant content to meet the training needs, but it also acts as a multipurpose strategic tool for the advisory on things like hiring the right talent, leadership development and successions planning, talent management, performance measurement, rewards and compensations, in all a comprehensive package to create a sustainable competitive advantage for the organization. Keywords: business strategy, corporate learning, training needs, talent managemen

The relationship between business strategy and organizational culture to the performance of pharmaceutical retailers in peninsular Malaysia: A pilot study

The objective of this research is to examine the validity and reliability of the instrument for measuring the business strategy and organizational culture in pharmaceutical retailers in Peninsular Malaysia context. To date, the performance of the organizations had been studied by the researchers. However, there are still a limited number of studies done in the pharmaceutical industry, particularly among small retailers in Peninsular Malaysia. Thus, the study to examine of this area is needed and to examine the validity and reliability of the instrument is considered as the first step to facilitate further studies. The survey method was adopted for this study. A pilot test data from 30 respondents were collected and tested using factor analysis, construct validity, and reliability using SPSSV19. The results show that the instrument has a certain degree of reliability and validity and it is suitable for a study in Malaysia context. Hence, future studies can extend this finding and conduct a full scale study to establish empirical relationship between the study variables

Buyer differences in supplier development program implementation with local suppliers: Case study in the Malaysian automotive industry

Supply chain management focuses on improving the performance of the supplier.Through supplier development programs, buyers develop supplier’ capability, improving suppliers’ performance.Through interviews, this research focus on how buyers differ in implementation of supplier development programs and why, from the viewpoints of the suppliers

From Supplier Relations to Triad in the Automotive Industry

This paper presents a review of the literature of supplier relations in the automotive industry towards triad and how this has an impact on the supplier selection for buyers. This paper focuses on the automotive sector specifically. The paper suggest that triads reflect the supplier relations attributes in previous literature yet stress on the need for further emphasis on the supplier-supplier relationshi

Access to technical assistance: A case study of suppliers in the Malaysian automotive industry

Technology transfer has been an important area in supplier development as suppliers are expected to develop their capabilities with their technical partners.The literature has focused on supplier development programmers implemented by automakers for their suppliers.However, less focus has been on the suppliers who received them, particularly the dependent suppliers: suppliers whose major buyers account for 20% or more of their sales. Thus, the aim of this paper is to examine the experiences of the dependent suppliers with their technical partners, which was part of the supplier development program that was implemented by their major buyers.This study was based on interviews with seven supplier organisations in the Malaysian automotive industry.Findings suggest that both positive and less positive experiences were received by the dependent suppliers, and possible explanations were discussed

Effects of strategic leadership, organizational innovativeness and information technology capability on effective strategy implementation

The paper examined the role of strategic leadership, organizational innovativeness, information technology capability on strategy implementation in tertiary institutions situated at Kaduna state, Nigeria. One hundred and twenty-four (124) questionnaires were administered to Deans of colleges/faculties of the institutions located in the state.Out of the number, one hundred and eight (108) questionnaires were retrieved.PLS-SEM was used to analysed the data. The result shows a significant relationship between strategic leadership, organizational innovativeness, IT capability and effective strategy implementation. The study recommends radical move from the present style of administration in Nigerian tertiary institution to new form of leadership, which strategic leaders ought to champion.This radical move should be supported by innovation and full utilization of IT facilities available to the institutions.This is the best time, considering the dramatical change and the serious reform the sector is witnessing presently

The role of organizational innovativeness in enhancing the effectiveness of public tertiary institutions in Nigeria

Empirical evidences from the extant literature reveals that if public tertiary institutions are to survive and achieve long-run viability in this contemporary era, they must be effective. Management argued that internal organizational competencies are safer in creating organizational competitive advantages.One of the internal organizational competencies is organizational innovativeness (ability of organizations to innovate).Organizational innovativeness has been penciled as an important tool for improving the effectiveness of tertiary institutions. The current business environment that tertiary institutions are can best be describe as dynamic, turbulent as well as unpredictable.Their success largely depends on their ability to strategically innovate and timely respond to the rapidly changing environment.The aim of this paper is to discuss the correlations between organizational innovativeness and effectiveness of public tertiary institutions in Nigeria.Thus, the paper looks at the two types of innovations (technical innovation and administrative innovation) and how they could be employed by the Nigerian tertiary institutions in order to enhance their effectiveness

Language learning strategies of graduates for future employment – An overview

English language fluency among graduates is becoming an important capability that graduates need for employment.The industry has noted the declining level of English among Malaysian graduates thus strategies and policies need to be implemented.This paper gives an overview on three areas of literature that is pertinent to this topic: competencies and future employment, language learning strategies and supplier learning.This paper suggest that a model for capability development from the area of supply chain management could be extrapolated as a framework for future research on analyzing the strategies that graduates employ on their own to improve their capability of English language fluency