Religion and politics in America : the rise of Christian Evangelists and their impact

The author starts with a look on the current situation between America and the Muslim World, that "has been exploited by extremists in both camps endangering world peace in the first decade of the 21st century." Then he justifies the major reasons behind his research: "The peace loving majorities in both the west and the Muslim world want to know the causes of this problem to resolve it. The hawks in the west have developed a number of approaches (e.g. Islamophobia, clash of civilizations, etc.) to explain this situation to their people and the world at large. These approaches put the entire blame on Muslims and Islam. On the other hand in the Muslim world it is the other way around as all the explanatory models put the entire blame on the west and Israel. This blame game has been going on for quite some time leading to actions by each side that, instead of solving problems, have caused further deteriorated of the situation. This reality calls for a different approach. The Muslim world has to learn to appreciate that in Western societies the bottom line is the public opinion and not the wishes of the President/Prime Minister and his cabinet." All through the book, Zakaullah discusses the rise of Christian Evangelists within "this democratic context" and the various challenges they faced and dealt with. - From the publisher

Liberalization of retail sector and the economic impact of the entry of foreign hypermarkets on local retailers in Klang Valley, Malaysia

The primary purpose of this research is to investigate the impact of liberalization of retail sector via the presence of foreign hypermarkets in Malaysia on local retailers. Both quantitative and qualitative methods (survey and interviews) were used to collect and analyze the data. A total of 135 questionnaires were completed. The findings from the survey reveal that the entry of foreign hypermarkets in a town often affects the business environment of the local retail businesses. It is found that the newly established foreign hypermarkets tend to acquire much larger market share from the existing local businesses. The survey found that some businesses benefited from the presence of foreign hypermarkets (especially complementary type of retail businesses) while others do not (specifically those retail businesses that are related to groceries)

Spillover effects of foreign hypermarkets on domestic suppliers in Malaysia

Since the mid-1990s, there has been a rapid expansion of large-scale foreign retailers in many countries across Southeast Asia, Central Europe and Latin America. This emerging trend has triggered a number of research interests on the issue of retail globalization. The research aims to consider the entry of foreign hypermarkets in Malaysia and their impact on the development and growth of domestic suppliers and manufacturers. This study uses both primary and secondary data. Secondary data were drawn from industry sources which included government departments, economic reports, retailing magazines and companies, web sites. Meanwhile, primary data are collected using mail survey questionnaire and face-to-face interviews. The findings of this study indicate that foreign hypermarkets play a very important role in the development and growth of the domestic suppliers via backward linkages. The main forms of linkages are product supply, informational linkages, assistance with inventory management, technical support and quality assurance and procurement systems. A majority of the firms indicated that they benefited substantially from the presence of foreign hypermarkets; however, they also face several challenges brought about by imposition of several unfair terms and procurement policy. The findings are largely derived from the experience encountered by domestic firms who participated in the survey. Thus, it is believed that their views could definitely help all the parties including the policymakers and researchers to better understand the impact of foreign hypermarkets on local businesses and take appropriate policy measures