DSW Solutions Sdn Bhd - Challenges for a Small & Medium Size Enterprise (SME) it Company in the Malaysian Environment

The formation of DSW Solutions Sdn Bhd came into being because the joint venture project that Haji Yusof and Mat Zahari had tried to work on failed to materialise. In 1993, while he was still attached to ICL Computers, Mat Zahari was approached by his ex-Commercial Director in Siemens Nixdorf, Mr. Freddy De Becker, to assist Mr. De Becker in finding a local partner to enable the formation of a local set-up for Siemens to penetrate the government sector market.Mat Zabari resorted to Haji Yusof for the search of the local partner. It took them more than two years to initiate an arrangement. Finally, after so many discussions, late nights, a few interested companies and various ways to initiate the start-up, a local company known as Mekar Idaman Sdn Bhd led by Dr. Azman Firdaus Shafii, verbally agreed to be the local investor with a 60% shareholding in the joint venture company. Siemens AG of Germany, the parent company of Siemens Nixdorf (M) Sdn Bhd would hold 30% while the balance would be reserved to Haji Yusof, Mat Zahari and the pioneer staffs of the joint venture company. Mr. De Becker had manoeuvred for Siemens AG to be involved because he did not see eye to eye on so many things with the Managing Director of Siemen Nixdorf (M) Sdn Bhd, Mr. Rolf Magruer, whom he perceived not to be a straight fellow. Siemens practised the matrix system. So, Mr. Rolf Magruer and Mr De Becker report to different bosses in Siemens AG

Entrepreneurship development in Malaysia: Based on the findings of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2009

This paper presents the results and findings of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) 2009 for Malaysia in which the country is represented by the research team from the Bank Rakyat School of Business and Entrepreneurship (BRSBE), Universiti Tun Abdul Razak (UniRazak). Notably, GEM has become the world's most comprehensive research consortium dedicated to understanding the relationship befween entrepreneurship and national economic development. It has provided the most comprehensive comparative data about attitudes toward entrepreneurs, start-up business activities, and plans for starting and building businesses, globally, by country, by geographic region and by phase of economic development. The 2009 study, the 11th in the GEM series, was based on interviews with at least 2,000 individuals in each participating country. This paper focuses and highlights the results and findings on Malaysia and in some related aspects, will compare Malaysia's standings against other participating countries in the study especially with the other 4 countries from the Asia Pacifc region namely China, Hong Kong, Japan and Republic of Korea (54 countries participated in the GEM 2009 study). This paper presents and discusses on the results and findings on the characteristics of entrepreneurial activiry, entrepreneurial attitudes and entrepreneurial perceptions which have been collected via the Adult Population Survey (APS). Several recommendations are drawn from the discussion

Sustainability Orientation and Sustainable Entrepreneurship Intention: The Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Opportunity Recognition

The purpose of this research is twofold. First, to examine the influence of four dimensions of sustainability orientation which are sustainability knowledge, sustainability culture, sustainability practices and commitment to environmental sustainability on the sustainable entrepreneurship intention of business schools’ students in Malaysia; and the second is to explore the mediating role of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition among these variables. The data for this study were collected from business school students in Malaysia through a standard self-administered online structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed through the PLS-SEM approach. The findings have revealed the direct effect of commitment to environmental sustainability on sustainable entrepreneurship intention. However, sustainability culture, sustainability knowledge and sustainability practices have been found to have no significant direct effect on sustainable entrepreneurship intention. Entrepreneurial opportunity recognition has successfully mediated the relationship between sustainability culture and commitment to environmental sustainability with sustainable entrepreneurship intention. Nonetheless, it has failed to mediate the relationship between sustainability knowledge and sustainability practices with sustainable entrepreneurship intention. The existence of the mediation of entrepreneurial opportunity recognition between sustainability culture and commitment to environmental sustainability with sustainable entrepreneurship intention has contributed knowledge to the sustainable entrepreneurship and sustainability orientation literature

Academic entrepreneurship in research universities: An organizational perspective

The focus of this study is on academic entrepreneurship, an emerging area of inquiry in the last three decades. Specifically, this research evaluates, va1idates and tests an organizational, framework of academic entrepreneurship, and investigates the relationship between the identified organizational factors and academic entrepreneurship. The methodology used involves the collection and analysis of quantitative data and the implementation of this design is guided by the study's organizational, framework of academic entrepreneurship which adopts the corporate entrepreneurship view and measures academic entrepreneurship as an organization-level construct. The dependent variable in this research is academic entrepreneurship and the independent variables are structure, controls human resource management systems, culture and leadership behavior. Findings and results of the correlation and regression analyses, from this study will enable public research universities to evaluate the status of their entrepreneurial systems, and identfy enablers and barriers, for entrepreneurial development within their academic organizations

Internal Factors of Academic Entrepreneurship: the Case of Four Malaysian Public Research Universities

His paper focused on academic entrepreneurship, an emerging phenomenon in Malaysian public research universities. The research demonstrated that academic entrepreneurship produced positive impact on research commercialization and university technology transfer for these public research universities. Academic entrepreneurship was also found to be one of the missing gaps in fulfilling the complete process of research and development up to commercialization. This study provided evidence of the appropriateness of using an organizational framework of academic entrepreneurship to measure the influence of the internal environment in stimulating the level of academic entrepreneurship. The results demonstrated that control systems, organizational culture, human resource management systems and entrepreneurial leadership behaviour were key predictors of academic entrepreneurship in these universities

Entrepreneurial Inclination of Students at a Private University in Malaysia

Most past studies on students’ entrepreneurial intention tend to focus on the phenomenon in developed countries.There is limited research on entrepreneurial intention of university students from developing nations. This article intends to close this gap by providing some insights into students’ entrepreneurial inclination in a developing country, Malaysia. A total of 234 students from three faculties at both graduate and undergraduate levels were surveyed to examine their entrepreneurial inclination and also to examine the relationship between their demographic and social characteristics with entrepreneurial inclination.The study found strong entrepreneurial inclination among the students. Significant difference was found between students studying part time and full time and their entrepreneurial inclination. Significant difference was also found between the type of program enrolled in and students’ entrepreneurial inclination. Further analysis and other findings were reported and recommendation for future research are been put forth in this article

ScanMed: a mobile medicine adherence application with intake validation using QR code

The impact of medication adherence is proven to affect hospitalization risk and healthcare cost. In Malaysia, failure in taking medication as prescribed is a complicated and common problem. There are many reasons people fail to take their medication as prescribed. Some of the few common issues are remembering to consume their medicine timely, doubts in medication effectiveness, concerns on side effects or having difficulty in taking the medication (especially with injections or inhalers) and rising cost of prescribed medications. Tracking patient medication intake leads to many advantages, one of which is lower medication due to adherence, health-care cost which effects insurance coverage premiums. In this paper, we develop an application to track medication using a smart phone and the use of QR code. Each medication transaction requires a proof of work to signify that the user have taken their medication at the correct date and time. A QR-Code reader will be used to capture medication taken printed on medication labels and each scan is considered as a proof of work . Our contribution is to create a mobile application that can help track medication intake, as well as remind, inform and warn users about the medication that they are taking

Impact of Personal Characteristics on Intrapreneurs' Behaviours

The purpose of this research is to study the impact of personal characteristics on the intrapreneurs’ behaviour. This is to investigate the impact of personal competency, innovativeness, learning competency and previous experience on the formation of the intrapreneur behaviour. A total of 146 questionnaires were distributed to the respondents who meet the requirements through a standard self-administered online structured questionnaire. The data were analysed through the PLS-SEM approach. The findings have revealed the direct effect of personal characteristics on the intrapreneurs’ behaviour. The results of finding show a positive and significant impact of innovativeness and previous experience on the formation of intrapreneurs’ behaviour. However, the results also show that the personal competency and learning competency gives a negative impact on the formation of intrapreneurs’ behaviour however it results a high performance. The innovativeness and previous experience may influence the formation of intrapreneur’s behaviour however personal competency and learning competency will not affect the formation of intrapreneur’

Laboratory Operational Management (OPMI) and Chemical Storage Database (CSDB) in laboratory

An improper documentation of laboratory operation and management results in non-uniformity of workload, complexity and difficulty of tasks especially in terms of procurement, storage and record management. Additionally, the increasing of equipment units accompanied by manual and multi-packaged maintenance also contributes to the difficulties in administration, hence demands an effective and systematic documentation system. Furthermore, the higher of unregulated supply of chemicals in laboratories has made an inconvenience management and record control for the relevant parties. These problems have influence the updating, finding and accessing of chemical information and records due to inefficient record management. To ensure the laboratory comply with the authority’s rules, the implementation of new well-ordered system that comparable with Quality Management System (QMS) is crucial so that the laboratory operations is manageable. This new internal system that cover a number of key aspects such as the management of equipment inventories, chemicals and laboratory are established and regulated through INBIOSIS's Laboratory Operational Management (OPMI). INBIOSIS’s OPMI was introduced 3 years after the establishment of INBIOSIS in 2005. Throughout the year, the ideas and experience has sparks our innovation towards the centralised database management of chemicals inventory which called as Chemical Storage DataBase (CSDB). This database system is able to accommodate the full range of chemical information in laboratories that facilitates updating, storing information, searching and improving data access. This model is capable of promoting on-line and paperless data management and enhancing operational efficiency through time, energy and cost savings. With the well-establishment of those models, we have successfully awarded as the winner of Anugerah Tempat Kerja Kondusif 2016 and Anugerah Tempat Kerja Selamat 2016