An empirical study on the impact of supply chain practices on competitive position of MNEs in Malaysia

Effective supply chains provide opportunities to create sustainable competitive advantage and enhance the competitive position of companies. This paper attempts to study the impact of supply chain practices on competitive position of a company. This research surveyed senior managers in various MNEs in Malaysia. The results show that efforts in: (1) improving customer satisfaction, (2) selecting the right suppliers, (3) improving the efficiency of operations and (4) implementing the right quality practices have significant impact on the competitive position of the company

Improving production efficiency at DIGI Camera, Malaysia

The case discusses the problems in achieving production efficiency at DIGI Camera, Malaysia. The parent company was established in Japan in 1928 and since then, had been consistently introducing new and advanced technologies in their line of products. The company introduced digital lens cameras in March 2001 and was struggling to meet the production targets because of high rejection rates. The company was respected for its high quality products and the current situation was completely unacceptable to the company’s top management. Through systematic analysis, the causes for high rejection rates were identified. The case provides information on the costs and benefits that could be obtained by eliminating these causes. This study illustrates how systematic analysis of quality problems can help generate viable solution alternatives and can help select the best alternative to implement

A heuristic procedure for solving multi-plant, multi-item, multi-period capacitated lot-sizing problems

This paper presents a heuristic procedure for solving multi-plant, multi-item, capacitated lot sizing problems with inter-plant transfers. The solution procedure uses the solution for the uncapacitated problem as a starting point. A smoothing routine has been employed to remove capacity violations. The smoothing routine consists of two modules. Extensive experimentation has been conducted comparing the heuristic solution procedure and LINDO. The heuristic has been implemented on IBM 3090 mainframe using FORTRAN

Relationship between work-family conflict and quality of life: an investigation into the role of social support

Purpose – The main purpose of this study is to link work-family conflict, quality of work and non-work lives, quality of life and social support (supervisor and spouse supports). Specifically, it seeks to address three different roles of social support that have theoretical and empirical support and the mediating roles of quality of work life and quality of non-work life. Design/methodology/approach – The SEM-based approach has been used to study supervisor and spouse supports as moderators between work-family conflict and quality of life; independent variables of work-family conflict; independent variables of quality of life. The study has been carried out in Malaysia. Findings – The main findings are: work-family conflict has relationship with quality of life; quality of work life and non-work life are “partial” mediators between work-family conflict and quality of life; and, among the various roles of social support, its role as an independent variable of quality of life gives the best results. Research limitations/implications – The research is based on a cross-sectional study conducted in Malaysia and addresses only the spouse and supervisor supports as components of social support. Originality/value – The research has developed a comprehensive model linking work-family conflict, quality of work and non-work lives, and quality of life and has studied the role of social support

Antecedents affecting employee service recovery performance in five star hotel

Studies on service recovery have been dominated by the investigation on customer’s perceived value after service recovery in the past. However, not many have taken concerted efforts in examining the possible factors that influencing employees’ service recovery performance (SRP). This study examines the role of organizational’s characteristics (reward system, guest focus and commitment, system, policy and procedures of recovery) and employees’ characteristics (organizational’s commitment and prejudgment towards customer’s complaint) on employees’ service recovery performance (SRP) in Malaysia luxury hotels. The finding shows that rewarding system and prejudgement towards complaints has positive influences on employees’ service recovery performance. The result *is contradicting with the findings from past research in which prejudgement towards complainers has adversely affect employees’ service recovery performance

The mediating role of organizational innovation on the relationship between knowledge management processes and organizational performance in the public sector

The main objective of this study is to survey relationships among some of critical success factors of knowledge management (KM) include; KM processes (KMP), organizational innovation (INO), and organizational performance (PER). So in this research about the role INO as mediator will be investigated.The research proposes that KM in the public sector is still in its infancy and has a long way to go in the KM journey. However, the study has identified a certain number of factors that are essential to the success of the KM initiative and program in the public sector.The result of this investigation could have significant implications for KM programs in public sector organizations in Iran

The Indirect Effects of Participative and Abusive Supervisions on Talent Development through Clinical Learning Environment

This chapter aims to examine the indirect effect of clinical learning environment in the relationship between supervisory styles (participative and abusive supervisions) and talent development in the healthcare setting. A questionnaire-based survey was implemented to collect the data. The data was collected from 355 junior doctors in six Malaysian public hospitals. The partial least squares based structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the hypotheses. The main findings are: (1) clinical learning environment has a strong positive indirect effect on the participative supervision-talent development link. This reveals that a conducive clinical learning environment that allows empowerment leads to talent development and (2) clinical learning environment has a strong negative indirect effect on the abusive supervision-talent development link. This implies that junior doctors who feel abused have reduced capacity to work and participate in the learning environment which consequently affects their talent development. The result of this study is consistent with theoretical propositions that clinical learning environment indirectly affects the relationship between participative supervision-talent development and abusive supervision-talent development. This study contributes to the clinical learning environment literature by providing empirical support towards identifying clinical learning environment as the underlying mechanism that accounts for the participative supervision-talent development and abusive supervision-talent development relationships

Psychometric evaluation of Dynamic Managerial Capability scale in the context of early internationalizing firms from an emerging economy

Purpose: The research aims to perform a psychometric evaluation of dynamic managerial capability (DMC) scale in the context of early internationalizing firms from an emerging economy. Drawing on DMC theory, this study validates the measurement scales to operationalize DMC of entrepreneurs as managerial human capital, managerial social capital, and managerial cognition. Design/methodology: Sample firms were drawn from the apparel industry in Bangladesh, an emerging economy. Data was collected from entrepreneurs in two waves through a questionnaire-based survey. One hundred and eighty-five firms responded during the first wave and 223 firms responded during the second wave. The first wave of data was used to conduct exploratory factor analysis (EFA) to uncover the underlying dimensions of DMC and the data from the second wave was used to test the validity of the DMC scale through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Findings: EFA suggested a 3-dimension scale which was supported by CFA. The findings of the study demonstrate that DMC is a valid and reliable scale to capture the individual-level capability of entrepreneurs. Originality/value: DMC is rooted in three underlying attributes as managerial human capital, managerial social capital, and managerial cognition. It is advisable to the practitioner and researcher to operationalize DMC as a second-order construct in future studies

Antecedents and outcomes of flight attendants' job satisfaction

This paper develops and tests a comprehensive model for job satisfaction amongst flight attendants with antecedents and outcomes that are germane in the context of airlines. The antecedents are: jetlag, role overload, emotional exhaustion, personal accomplishment, and depersonalization, and the outcomes are; job performance and service recovery performance. A framework was tested using structural equation modelling. A survey was conducted of flight attendants working in Malaysia found exhaustion and personal accomplishment have a direct effect on job satisfaction; emotional exhaustion and personal accomplishment affect the level of depersonalization; and role overload has a positive relationship

Impact of psychological ownership on the performance of business school lecturers

The purpose of the present article is to investigate the impact of psychological ownership, job performance, job commitment, and job satisfaction among business school lecturers of public universities in Malaysia. As psychological ownership is a relatively new concept, the present study expands the use of it in a different setting. Based on the correlation analysis, it was found that psychological ownership had significant and positive relations with job commitment, job satisfaction, and performance. The findings of the present study can help the management of universities select the lecturers with a right attitude and provide them with a right environment to perform better