Analysis of asymmetric price transmission of selected vegetables in Peninsular Malaysia

The wholesalers are practicing strategic pricing behavior in Malaysian vegetables markets to the extents that increase in the farm products prices were not fully transmitted to farmers as decrease, resulting to marketing inefficiency and loss of farmer’s income. Thus, the study aims to examine the existence of asymmetric price transmission (APT) in the vegetables supply chain of Peninsular Malaysia. Monthly data on farms, retails, and wholesale prices of two selected vegetables (Mustard and Spinach) for the period of ten years were sourced from federal agricultural marketing authority (FAMA). The data were analysis using Houck model to investigate for APT. The findings shows that relationship along the supply chain of selected vegetables were bidirectional. However, the results indicates that wholesale price reacts faster on price increase than price decrease to the changes made by farmers. On the other hand, farm prices response faster on price decrease than price increase as wholesaler change their prices. Besides, a long run estimation of price transmission for both vegetables revealed that wholesaler increases their price more than changes made by either retailers or farmers. Thus, the findings suggested that wholesalers exert market power in the vegetable industry

Trade-Offs between Risks and Returns of Multiple Vegetable Cropping Systems

Production of crops as a business venture is considered risky. A farmer faces variations in prices, yield and resource constraints that make income unstable. This study looks at the trade-off between farm returns (E) and risk (V) (as measured by variance of expected income) in a vegetable crop diversification programme. The study demonstrates how minimum risk farm plans can be estimated to allocate available land to match the vegetable crop combinations efficiently in situations of risk and uncertainty. The E-V frontier is traced to evaluate the trade-offs between risks and returns of each combination of the vegetable crops. The results indicate that farmers with high risk aversion i.e. at the lower E-V frontier should plant more "ladies fingers" spinach and cucumber, while farmers who are risk neutral i.e. at the higher E-V frontier should plant more high risk crops such as bitter gourd and "kailan"

Entrepreneurship engineering: a structural perspective at manufacturing companies in Yazd City, Iran

Corporate entrepreneurship (hereafter abbreviated as CE) plays a major role in promoting the performance of the small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). To compete in the global market, it is imperative that company must know and understand the business environment (Zhang & Li, 2007). It is believed that companies that behave entrepreneurially and respond to the changing environment will perform better (Nybakk & Hansen, 2008). Entrepreneurship can also be conceptualized, however, as a process or activity within the organization, distinct from specific individuals. To encourage creativity, flexibility, and to support risk, it is a process of organizational renewal. This article hypothesized that more textile companies in Yazd city in Iran are encouraged to devote efforts towards identifying entrepreneurship engineering (here after acronym as EE), and determining which factors may affect the nature of this concept. The study employed the survey method using structured mail questionnaire. By quantitative methods, several textile companies in Yard city in Iran were examined in relation to EE. Data from twenty-five respondents in several carpet companies were analyzed. The findings show that EE as an important component can play vital role for improving organizational performance. Finally, the selected criteria have been assessed according to their relative importance by utilizing AHP approach and Expert Choice software program

Marketing of pigs in Malaysia: an evaluation of market integration

This paper examines the pricing efficiency of the pig market in Peninsular Malaysia through measuring the degree of market integration. Specifically, this paper examines the price linkages between Kuala Lumpur (which is considered the market centre for price discovery) and five major local markets (Ipoh, Johor Bahru, Penang, Malacca and Seremban). The findings indicate, with the exception of Johor Bahru, the other market regions show high level of market linkage with Kuala Lumpur

Application of e-procurement technologies for selecting suppliers of agro-based SMEs in Malaysia

E-procurement is one aspect in supply management that has become popular among companies in Malaysia. There is an argument whether adopting e-procurement technology is a strategic choice for companies’ purchasing strategies. The objectives of this study are to investigate factors that influence the application of e-procurement technologies in selecting potential suppliers of agro-based SMEs in Malaysia and to determine whether these SMEs have the intention to increase the application of e-procurement in selecting their suppliers. An online survey was carried out and only 190 responses (63.3%) were received from selected agro-based SMEs. Statistical analyses such as descriptive analysis, factor analysis and logistic regression analysis were used to analyse the data. The results revealed selection efficiency, security and legal environment, commitment, delivery acceleration, cost and quality as the factors related to the intention of SMEs to increase the application of e-procurement. A vigorous use of e-procurement and strong support from the top management by providing sufficient e-procurement resources to be utilized in agro-based SMEs are a few among many relevant implications discussed in this paper

A Review of SCUBA Diving Impacts and Implication for Coral Reefs Conservation and Tourism Management

Dive tourism has become important in term of magnitude and significantly contributes to regional economies. Nevertheless, in the absence of proper controls and enforcement, unplanned tourism growth has caused environmental degradation which undermines the long-term sustainability of the tourism industry. The purpose of this paper is to explore factors that contribute to the SCUBA diving impacts on coral and fish communities. This paper explains the causes of a certain event, validating the problem of impacts, defining the core issues and identifies possible causes leading to an effect. The phenomenon of diving impacts on coral reefs is a result of intensive use of dive site over the long-term. The divers can reduce their impacts towards coral reefs through responsible diving behaviors. The causes of cumulative diver’s contacts are more complicated than it seems. In response, this paper proposes the best mitigation strategies that need to be considered for future dive tourism management

Demand for meat in Malaysia: an application of the almost ideal demand system analysis

This article presents the estimates of the Almost Ideal Demand System (AIDS) for five meat groups in Malaysia. The linear version of the AIDS model is easily estimated using most of the available commercial computer software that have several desirable theoretical properties. The results show that own-price elasticities were negative, statistically significant, and except for chicken, in the inelastic range. In general, the cross-price elasticities were positive. The demand for pork, chicken, mutton and fish were all found to be elastic with respect to expenditure

Factors affecting supplier selection in the Malaysian fresh produce industry

The selection of trading partners is one of the most important decisions to make in business-to-business marketing. Previous studies indicated that quality; price and the ability to deliver are generally regarded as the most important criteria by which organisational buyers evaluate their potential suppliers. Thus, the aim of this study is to determine the factors affecting supplier selection from the buyer's perspective within the Malaysian fresh produce industry. A survey was conducted in two major wholesale markets in Malaysia using a simple random sampling technique. A total of 53 wholesalers represented the buyers were selected and interviewed via structured questionnaire. Data was analysed using descriptive and factor analysis. The results from the survey indicated that the ability of the supplier to offer a fair price is the most important criteria used by the wholesalers when selecting their potential supplier while, sharing marketing information are the least. Factor analysis using principal component method revealed four factors that collectively described wholesaler's perspective on their supplier selection namely quality of produce, ability to supply, appearance of produce and competitiveness. Suppliers must be able to fulfil these important attributes as indicated by the buyers to remain competitive and a long-term relationship in the market

A MOTAD Approach to Risk Management Strategies for Vegetable Producers in Malaysia

Most farm decisions are made under conditions of risk and uncertainty. In the last two decades, researchers in the agricultural economics discipline have increased their research efforts in finding convenient methods of incorporatingrisk directly in farm decision making models. MOTAD (Minimization of Total Absolute Deviation) developed by Hazell is an important result of these efforts and it has become a common method of incorporating risk in farm analysis. In this paper the MOTAD model is discussed and an empirical example is provided to show how the model can be used by managers to improve farm plans

Factors determining organic farming adoption: international research results and lessons learned for Indonesia

Indonesia is potential to develop organic farming as it has suitable land and supporting technology. Demand for organic product is supposed to increase in the future due to people’s awareness about safety and healthy food. It implies that organic farming has a good prospect to develop as agriculture-base business. However, it seems that farmers’ response to adopt organic farming technology is very low indicated by low rate of adoption. Actually, many countries have experiences in term of organic farming. This paper aims to assess determinant factors of organic farming adoption based on international research experiences and to withdraw lessons learned to raise adoption rate in Indonesia. The results showed that the determinant factors of organic farming adoption consisted of various aspects, i.e. (1) information and knowledge availability, (2) economic and financial motives, (3) technical and management skills, (4) social consideration, (5) environmental concern, (6) institutional environment, and (7) farmers’ socio-economic and demographic background. Accordingly, those aspects should be taken into account in policy formulation to encourage organic farming adoption. Indeed, government’s role is very crucial, mainly to convince farmers about organic farming benefit and to provide information as well as technical assistance