CONFLICT OF INTEREST: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF FRANCHISING BUSINESS

There are many multinational companies engaging with the franchising mechanisms in order to expand the business opportunity, to explore new opportunities, and to develop businesses domestically and internationally. Even though this is a good opportunity for multinational companies to expand their market to achieve the company target, but there is a problem attached with this mechanism. The main problem of franchising business is mainly conflict of interest between the parties involved. Hence, this paper attempts to critically evaluate the potential of conflict of interest that arises among the parties. Apart from that, this paper also outlined certain way on how to avoid this problem from occurs continuouslyconflict of interest, franchising

Semiotic Literacy, Post-Modernity, Malaysia and Japan; How Television Advertising Reveals Political-Economic Development and Change

This paper focuses on how advertising formats can be utilized as inductive tools to assess the political, economic, intellectual and cultural "development" of a society. It does so by focusing on two essentially different countries: Japan and Malaysia. We find that while both countries utilize the same four formats identified by Leiss et al. (1990) in their historical survey of American and Canadian print ads, they do so in different measure. Specifically, in Malaysia Product Information and Product Image formats occur with greater frequency, whereas in Japan the Peronalization and Lifestyle forms are more common. Implicit in Leiss et al.\u27s work was a developmental logic. Simply put, one could hypothesize that nations at a lower level of political-economic development tend to favor the “cruder", more product-centered formats, while those countries at the higher level more often invoke the more sophisticated, entertainment-oriented communications. The comparative data here tends to confirm this. These associations are bolstered by the fact that in Japan, though not in Malaysia, we encounter a fifth presentation format-what I call the \u27Post-modern Format\u27. One further task of this paper is to explore an array of postmodern approaches. In conclusion I seek to understand why such patterns have resulted. My explanation is twofold. From the production side it involves matters of political organization and economic development-factors impinging on ad creation. From the audience side, it entails semiotics and, in particular, an ad reader\u27s sign-processing capacity. We end with questions of globalization. Advertising is one of the few "language systems" which has spread worldwide that is also understandable (at some level) to all recipients. Yet, because it is dependent on semiotic literacy and because such literacy is dependent on political and economic factors rooted in the context, the question whether Malaysian advertising will ever "develop" to the level of Japanese advertising -with a similar dominant status in society- is yet an open question

Revisiting of an Islamic Options Permisibility from Shariah Perspectives

The popularity of derivative instruments especially in managing uncertainty (risk)had become popular after several financial crises that occurred since the Great EconomicDepression. There are various tools have been developed in managing risk such as the Options,Forwards, Futures and Swaps. In addition, these kinds of tools are commonly used by institutional and individual investors. Given this popularity, conventional risk management strategies is completely against from Islamic risk management as Islamic financial market arekeep on growing drastically at Cumulative Average Growth Rate (CAGR) of 15% on yearlybasis (Mckinsey, 2005). This is clearly shows that, Islamic finance development are in line withconventional financial development. Therefore, there is need to maintain consistency in productstructures offered by these two financial markets. The complexity is mainly contributed by thestructures and the design of the products especially on Islamic derivatives tools. Therefore, to get a significant picture of the Islamic risk management tools, this paper will only examines thecontemporary derivative instruments namely; Option and the Islamic viewpoints of thisinstrument . As we know, Islamic finance is governed by Shariah principle and guidelines whichprohibit Riba, Gharar, and Masir etc. Therefore, this paper attempts to explore the validity ofoptions from Islamic and Shariah perspectives by reviewing Islamic scholars opinions on anoptions market

Public relation activities in Islamic banking industry: an approach of circuit of culture (COC) model

Purpose – This paper has adopted Circuit of Culture (COC) model as theoretical framework to examine the role of religion in influencing the public relations activity of Islamic banking institutions in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach – A narrative analysis is used in this study. This analysis is basically involved the application of symbolic interactionist tenets to respective websites and relevant documents of Islamic banks in Malaysia. Findings – The paper has identified six Islamic value orientations elements, especially respect for religious authority, affinity with the past, fatalism, communal kinship, attachment to the eternal life and spirituality and idealism relative to public relations practice among the Islamic banks in Malaysia. The study finds that the respective banks are embedded with Islamic values in their communication tools that reflecting public relations activity. Research limitations/implications – The theme of value orientations that have been generated and used in this study are constantly in flux. There are some other orientations that might be affecting the cultural value of public relations activities of Islamic banking in Malaysia. Furthermore, these value orientations are less effective in identifying dominating cultural factors that can be amended with situational flexibility since the current study focuses on Malaysian context. Future research is required by incorporating a quantitative means of testing and measuring the effectiveness of website by using cultural- economic model for building Practical implications – The study suggests that public relations researchers should not ignore the vital relationship between religion and public relations activity. The findings of this paper provide Islamic banking institutions to improve and enhance their public relations activity. Originality/value – This paper offers an additional literature related to public relations activity by employing Cultural-Economic model. While previous studies have focused on product, brand matters and organisation behavior to define cultural and public relation, very little research has been focused on the role of religion in determining public relations activity and cultural pattern. Indeed, no any study have been focused explicitly on public relations activity of Islamic banks in Malaysia using Circuit of Culture (COC

Covid-19, Financial Markets (Islamic vs Non-Islamic), and Exchange Rate: Does the Malaysian Market Offers Diversification Opportunities to the Investors?

We explore the impact of Covid-19 towards Islamic and non-Islamic financial markets in Malaysia. We employ the wavelet coherency approach (WCA) which allows a deeper investigation of the relationship between the selected variables in terms time-frequency domain. We document that (i) Islamic capital markets represented by FTSEBMEI and MyETFDJIMMT25 are performing better during the Covid-19 period and also offer a greater investment opportunity to the investors for diversification purposes, (ii) non-Islamic index, FTSEBMKLCI, was less affected during this pandemic, and the market offers better risk and optimal diversification benefits to the investors as time progresses, and (iii) exchange rate appears to be more stable and within the phase category, indicating the co-movements are relatively strong in smaller scales. Understanding the impact of Covid-19 on the financial markets will lend to a better portfolio investment design which considers return and risk

A proposed Integrated Zakat-Crowdfunding Model (IZCM) for effective collection and distribution of zakat fund in Malaysia

This paper has proposed IZCM to assist Zakat institutions for effective collection and distribution of zakat fund in Malaysia. Upon the proposed model, this study examines the behavioural intention of Zakat payers to use IZCM. The primary data are collected from the survey administered to Zakat payers in the Klang Valley (n=93) and the analysis is conducted using Partial Least Squares (SmartPLS). Furthermore, the model has been validated its acceptance in the field by adopting the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). This study has revealed that both the perceived usefulness and perceived easy to use are found to have a positive impact on the intention of Zakat payers to use IZCM, which later assist Zakat institutions for effective collection and distribution of zakat fund in Malaysia. Furthermore, perceived easy to use has a positive relationship and direct effect with perceived usefulness of Zakat payers to use the IZCM. The findings of this study can be used to develop a specific framework in which to examine other components of using the IZCM’s behavior and to plan appropriate intervention strategies to increase collection and distribution of Zakat fund by Zakat institutions

What drives the unemployment rate in Maldives? An Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) approach

Purpose – This paper examines factors that determine the unemployment rate in the Maldives. Methods – This paper uses an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) model in capturing long and short-run associations among the chosen variables. It uses some macroeconomic variables, namely unemployment rate, population, economic growth, foreign direct investment, external debts, inflation rate, and expatriate workers. Findings – The empirical results suggest that except for expatriate workers, all the variables are significant determinants of unemployment rate in the long run. The study found that economic growth and inflation would negatively and significantly contribute to unemployment rate when they are combined. This explains the unemployment nexus which follows the Phillips curve and Okun’s law relationship provides the presence of both these hypotheses in the Maldives in the short-run and long-run. In addition, an increase in population and external debts worsens the unemployment situation in the Maldives. Although expatriate workers are not significant in the long run, the results reveal that they have a significant positive effect on unemployment in the short run. Implications – This result implies that the Maldivian government should encourage locals in the country to participate in the labor force and limit the participation of expatriate workers in an industry that has a shortage of skilled expertise. Originality – This study expands our understanding of key determinants of the unemployment rate in Maldives. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this research is among the pioneer empirical study to assess the issue

A proposed integrated zakat-crowdfunding model (IZCM) for effective collection and distribution of zakat fund in Malaysia

This paper has proposed IZCM to assist Zakat institutions for effective collection and distribution of zakat fund in Malaysia. Upon the proposed model, this study examines the behavioural intention of Zakat payers to use IZCM. The primary data are collected from the survey administered to Zakat payers in the Klang Valley (n=250) and the analysis is conducted using Partial Least Squares (SmartPLS). Furthermore, the model has been validated its acceptance in the field by adopting the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM). This study has revealed that both the perceived usefulness and perceived easy to use are found to have a positive impact on the intention of Zakat payers to use IZCM, which later assist Zakat institutions for effective collection and distribution of zakat fund in Malaysia. Furthermore, perceived easy to use has a positive relationship and direct effect with perceived usefulness of Zakat payers to use the IZCM. The findings of this study can be used to develop a specific framework in which to examine other components of using the IZCM’s behavior and to plan appropriate intervention strategies to increase collection and distribution of Zakat fund by Zakat institutions

A discourse on the potential of crowdfunding and Islamic finance in the agricultural sector of East Java, Indonesia

Literature evidence on the transformation transpires agriculture sector in East Java for the last 5 to 10 years. The contribution of the agricultural sector towards East Java gross domestic product (GDP) in 2008 recorded at 16.55%, however, shrinks to 13.75% in 2015. This statistic shows the regressed contribution of the agriculture sector in comparison to other economic sectors. One common view that linked to shrinking in credit composition is due to the lack of credit accessibility for the sector. Given that, this paper attempts to propose a viable financing model to develop the agricultural sector in East Java known as Integrated Agricultural Land Crowdfunding Model (IALCM) using Islamic financing instruments through a crowdfunding platform. This model is expected to offer farmers in East Java to meet theirliquidity constraints and the Indonesian government to accelerate social entrepreneurship innovation with conceivable recommendations forthe development of agricultural sector in East Jav