Evaluating drivers impacting buyer-supplier relationships in agile supply chain / Nazura Mohamed Sayuti … [et al.]

This study identifies the critical drivers of buyer-supplier relationships in the context of agile supply chains. It develops a conceptual framework consisted of three higher level constructs and eleven determinants of buyer-supplier relationship. Data and information were collected through in-depth interviews from senior managers of six MNC’s (buyers) and six local SMEs (suppliers) operating in electrical and electronics industry in Malaysia. AHP, a multi-criteria-decision-making methodology, was used to analyze data and access the criticality of determinants. The results indicate that SMEs regard partner’s characteristics capability as the most important construct, whereas MNCs consider process capability as most important construct in building a buyer supplier relationship. The results also indicate that the determinants such as resources complementarities and partner capabilities are more important for SMEs, whereas flexibility proficiency and information technology determinants are more important for MNCs. The findings of this study may generate ideas to manufacturers in agile environment to focus on partner’s expectations in developing a mutually beneficial relationship

Factors Influencing Philanthropic Behavior among Youths in Malaysia

Philanthropy is the desire to promote the well-being of others. It is about looking for and helping the welfare of others, particularly by giving them money for good reasons. Philanthropy is not only confined to the contribution of money, but it involves making efforts for religious purposes and self-satisfaction towards others. The level of charity among Malaysian citizens is alarming in 2015, Malaysia ranked 10th in the World Giving Index but in 2021 the ranking has dropped tremendously to 29th place. This has shown that Malaysians are getting less interested in participating in charitable activities and doing general good deeds. Therefore, there is an urgent need to look broadly at the philanthropic behavior of Malaysians. This research aims to determine the factors influencing philanthropic behavior among youth in Malaysia. For this study, a survey was conducted to the target population which is youth. Data was collected by distributing questionnaires via emails and WhatsApp groups and data was analyzed using SPSS and PLS-SEM. Findings show that religion and altruism are significant to the philanthropic behavior of Malaysian youth. This study has provided valuable insights into youth philanthropy by identifying solutions to further create awareness of philanthropy

The antecedents of financial wellness among young employees: empirical evidence in Kuala Lumpur / Zahariah Mohd Zain … [et al.]

The purpose of this study is to examine the antecedents of financial wellness among young employees in Kuala Lumpur. A survey was carried out to acquire data from 324 young employees using a self-administered on-line questionnaire, utilizing convenience sampling. Results showed that financial stress, work environment, locus of control and financial behavior has significant relationship with financial wellness. It was found that financial stress, work environment, locus of control and financial behavior has significant effect on respondents’ financial wellness. Based on the results, financial wellness can be enhanced through the decreased of the employees’ financial stress and increasing of their work environment, locus of control and financial behavior

An exploratory study of operations management best practices

The purpose of this paper is to conduct an exploratory investigation on the level of operations management best practices. A sample random t-test analysis was used upon a high technology company that was selected based on simple random sampling from government agency directory. After various attempts, 72 out of 138 are providing feedback. However, only 34 can be used, the rest did not answer completely. Descriptive analysis and t-test analysis were performed on 34 completed feedbacks. Six factors in the form of quality commitment, customer focus, formalization of performance measurement, people management, process management and technology management were examined as predictors for operations management best practices. Findings indicated that the mean value is more than 3 for all dimensions. Furthermore, most cases are significant as the selected samples are high technology based companies and their workers are knowledgeable in terms of operations management best practices

Entrepreneurial orientation from the perspective of Malaysian public sector employees

An unprecedented event such as COVID19 has drastically changed the global economic landscape and social wellbeing. To survive the unfortunate consequences, out-of-norm decisions and abrupt actions have been made by companies, public sectors and nations. Other than financial concerns, people are abruptly forced to take risky decision and action, be able to innovate, adapt and continue to act proactively despite the circumstances. Interestingly, these traits are similar to the entrepreneurial domain of entrepreneurial orientation as it is closely associated with the entrepreneurial competencies. This article discusses an empirical study of being entrepreneurial for public sector governance by borrowing the ideation from business-like elements of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) and associate it with the current global situation. The respondents are librarians from Malaysian public universities who have not received any training in entrepreneurship. Three dimensions in entrepreneurial orientation are being studied, namely the innovativeness, proactiveness and risktaking. The study employs on qualitative analysis using the thematic method of Miles and Huberman (1994) analysis. The qualitative analysis was conducted on the two-level approach; using open-ended questions and indepth interviews. The result indicates that entrepreneurial orientation is a latent orientation of which its existence is acknowledged by the librarians. This provides librarians and managers with the orientation to be adaptable should any ‘black swan’ event disrupt the librarians’ work equilibrium in the future