A study on motivation, competencies and barriers to exporting in manufacturing firms in Malaysia

Many organisations use exporting as a mode to enter international business. This is more prevalent in developing countries such as Malaysia. The government through the Industrial Master Plan 3 which is a long term plan to industrialise and develop Malaysia has identified the need to promote Malaysia as a trading nation. Therefore, intensifying export can assist in achieving this target.The focus of the study is to identify the determinants of exporting. The determinants of exporting include motivation, competencies and barriers. Exporting is seen from two perspectives, export performance and export expansion. Thus, one the objectives of the study is to identify the relationship between motivation, competencies and barriers and export performance. Another objective is to identify the relationship between motivation, competencies and barriers and export expansion. The study of relationship between export performance and export expansion is the next objective of the study. Mediation effects of motivation are also tested

Organisational Capabilities And Their Relationship With Organisational Performance: A Focus On The Small And Medium Industries In Malaysia.

The study aims to identify the relationship between organisational capabilities and organisational performance. The focus of the study was on the small and medium industries (SMIs) in Malaysia

The impact of managerial and firm characteristics on barriers in export businesses

The growth of export in many countries all over the world signifies it as the most important mode of internationalization. However, some exporters face difficulties in managing export due to the barriers they face. It is, therefore, important to identify the factors that might influence export barriers. The study attempts to identify the relationship between demographic factors and export barriers which has not been much researched. Demographic factors are represented by managerial or executives’ characteristics as well as firm characteristics. A cross-sectional survey was conducted where a total of one thousand and four hundred and thirty-nine questionnaires were sent to the exporters. The respondents include executives who were in charge of exporting. Two hundred and twelve responses were found to be usable which formed the basis for the analysis. The response rate was 14.9%. The export barriers include marketing barriers, financial barriers, government barriers, informational barriers, administrative barriers, production barriers, and external barriers. Correlation analysis was used to conduct the analysis and it is found that age of executives, age of firms, size of firms, and export experience of firms have a negative relationship with some of the export barriers. On the other hand, there was no relationship between the employee experience and export barriers. This finding contributes to the limited knowledge on the relationship between demographic characteristics with export barriers. Thus, it provides support for the resource-based view. From a practical perspective, it essential for business to accumulate knowledge, expertise and experience in order to reduce the export barriers

An analysis of competencies and moderating influence of demographic profiles - Evidence from exporting organizations

The increasing numbers of organizations involved in exporting intensifies the competition level. Therefore, to manage the competition effectively, organizations need the necessary competencies. The objective of the study is to determine the relationship between competencies and export performance. The competencies tested are in the area of personal traits, management, production and marketing. The results showed that except for personal traits, all the competencies have an influence on export performance. Demographic characteristics (key decision makers' demographics and organizational demographics) art, also tested to identify whether they have moderating effects on the relationship between competencies and export performance. These include key decision makers' demographics (age, education, overseas exposure and employment experience) and organizational demographics (age, size of organization and export experience). The result showed age and education (key decision maker's demographics) have an effect in the relationship between competencies and export performance. However, all the organizational demographics tested have a moderating effect

What Drives E-grocery Purchase Retention in a Post Pandemic Era?

E-grocery is steadily growing its presence in the marketplace as one of the modes of purchasing grocery items. Through e-grocery, consumers are able to access information conveniently and compare items and prices before making a purchase decision online. It is therefore, important for the e-grocery retailers to attract customers to continue purchasing grocery through the online mode. Although studies have been done on online shopping, studies related to e-grocery shopping in particular is limited. Furthermore, only a few studies focused on egrocery purchase retention. Therefore, the paper seeks to determine what drives the e- grocery purchase retention. The conceptual model for this research is developed based on integration of e-satisfaction model and e-servQual model. The components of the e-satisfaction model are namely convenience, merchandising and financial security while the components of e-servQual model are efficiency, system availability, fulfilment and privacy. All these factors are tested to determine their influence on e-grocery purchase retention. Convenience sampling is used to collect the data. 200 respondents participated in the study. Data collected is analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 26. Multiple regression analysis is used to identify the drivers of egrocery purchase retention. The result reveals that convenience, financial security and e-service quality (efficiency, fulfillment, and privacy) influence e-grocery purchase retention. However, merchandising and system availability are not significant factors of e-grocery purchase retention. In terms of the theoretical implications, the study provides the findings of the integration of two models (esatisfaction model and e-servQual model) related to e-grocery purchase retention. The results also provide further evidence from a developing country’s perspective supporting earlier studies in this area. The findings of the study are able to fulfil the gap on studies related to e-grocery purchase retention. The research also benefits the future researchers who intend to conduct research in this area. Future researchers may apply this integrated model to identify whether similar observations are obtained in different settings. The practical implications are the findings demonstrate that e-grocery retailers should put emphasis on convenience to the customers and ensure the system that they are using is financially secured. In addition, e-service quality is also critical to attract the customers to continuously purchase grocery online. The study substantiates that e-grocery retailers should develop strategies considering these factors to compete more successfully and improve their overall business performance

E-Banking: An Empirical Study on Customer Satisfaction

Digital technologies are booming worldwide in all the sectors including the banking industry. In order to sustain in the highly competitive world, banks introduced electronic banking (E-banking) to sustain and maximize the profit of the business. From this point of view, customer satisfaction had become an important component to ensure the survival of the business. The conceptual model of the study is developed based on the SERVQUAL and TAM models. The main objective of this study is to look into the elements that has impact on the E-banking customer satisfaction. The study investigates the impact of E-banking security and privacy, responsiveness, reliability and ease of use on the customer satisfaction. The outcome will be able to provide insight into how to enhance the E- banking services in the banking industry. A total of 200 responses are obtained using convenience sampling technique. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) version 27 is used to perform the data analysis. Findings reveal that E-banking security and privacy, responsiveness, reliability have a significant impact on the Ebanking customer satisfaction, while ease of use does not have a significant impact on the E-banking customer satisfaction. The findings further elaborate the knowledge of E-banking customer satisfaction in the context of Malaysian customers

A Study on Readiness in Artificial Intelligence (AI) Affecting the Adoption of AI in Human Resources Management's Function

Purpose of the study • The purpose of the study is to identify the need of adopting artificial intelligence in human resource management • To identify the relationship between technology readiness, organizational readiness, and environmental readiness affecting the adoption of AI in HR • To investigate the mediating effect of employee readiness in AI with the external factors of technology readiness, organizational readiness, and environmental readiness with the adoption of AI in human resources management

Online Shopping and Customer Satisfaction: A Malaysian Perspective

The growth of online shopping is changing the how businesses operate. It has caused an interested on how customers can be satisfied through this mode of shopping among the marketing and research world. Generation Y is the generation that has grown with the information technology phenomena. They are a group who is comfortable and has a high motivation to shop online. Therefore, the current study focuses on factors affecting customer satisfaction in online shopping among Generation Y. This study investigates whether the four factors (privacy and security, perceived risk, trust and ease of use) affects customer satisfaction. Questionnaire was used as the method of data collection. The respondents are those referred as Generation Y. Multiple regression analysis is used as the statistical analysis method to test the hypotheses. The result indicates that all the four factors tested affect customer satisfaction in online shopping among Generation Y. This study sheds light on the major factors affecting customer satisfaction. The findings imply that businesses that uses e-commerce should concern themselves on how to improve privacy and security setting in the online shopping websites. In addition, the customers must be convinced of the low perceived risk, have trust and be provided with ease of use in the shopping transaction

Effects of the Pandemic on the Adoption of E-Wallets Among Young Adults in Malaysia

The rapid growth and advancement of electronic devices and technologies in the FinTech industry empower new innovative products and services. The covid-19 pandemic could have a devastating effect on Malaysia’s economy, but it has offered additional opportunities for the E-wallet segment of the Fintech business to thrive. The E-wallet segment of FinTech is one of the latest innovations that is currently growing as there is a need for contactless payments during the pandemic situation. The main objective of the study is to examine the factors affecting e-wallet adoption among young adults in Malaysia. A sample of 200 responses was analyzed using Smart PLS 3.0. The findings revealed that the factors of “performance expectancy”, “effort expectancy”, “compatibility”, and “social influence” have a positive and significant impact during the pandemic; however, the factor of “facilitating conditions” has no significant impact on the adoption of the E-wallets. The study substantiates the key and important variables of adoption in order to develop and evolve E-wallet providers' existing services. Particularly, due to the increasing importance of e-commerce, E-wallet service providers are urged to focus on the system's interoperability, which encourages individuals or customers to use the strategy. They should include unique features that allow customers to accept the service, trust its benefits and feel comfortable using the technology. The study is useful to the E-wallet providers to improve the existing services. The findings also guide the companies offering E-wallets to enhance the usage and adoption of their services

An Empirical Study on Factors influencing Apparel Brand Loyalty among Malaysian Women

The apparel industry is a very competitive industry. In Malaysia, the apparel industry consists of players from both the international and local brand. Due to the high competition, it is critical to attract and retain loyal customers. One way is to create brand loyalty where the customers will not switch to a different brand easily. Therefore, the main purpose of this research is to study the factors influencing apparel brand loyalty. The target respondents are the Malaysia women. The factors studied included price, product quality, service quality, uncontrolled communication and store environment. The data was collected from 200 respondents. The multiple regression analysis identified that all the factors studied contribute to brand loyalty. Therefore, the retailers need to ensure these factors are considered and matched with the customer expectations to create brand loyalty