Foreign direct investment in Malaysia: Trends and prospects

This paper reports on a study analyzing recent trends, pattern and prospects of the foreign direct investment (FDI) in Malaysia in the post-1997 financial crisis period. Among the ASEAN-4 countries, Malaysia continues to remain as the main centre for attracting FDI.The macroeconomic variables such as GDP, exports and employment are found to be positively influenced by the growth of FDI in Malaysia. To enhance the positive effect of FDI on the growth process of the Malaysian economy the flow of FDI into export-oriented sector and use of domestic inputs by the foreign oriented firms need to be encouraged.It is suggested that for sustained flow of FDI, continual price stability, macroeconomic balances, good governance and economic liberalization reforms are crucially important in the country.In the event of declining inflows of FDI, Malaysia has to shiR towards inward looking policies and search other alternatives to sustain its growth and economic prosperity by seeking more investment oufflows as a global player

An eco-friendly dyeing of woolen yarn by Terminalia chebula extract with evaluations of kinetic and adsorption characteristics

In the present study Terminalia chebula was used as an eco-friendly natural colorant for sustainable textile coloration of woolen yarn with primary emphasis on thermodynamic and kinetic adsorption aspects of dyeing processes. Polyphenols and ellagitannins are the main coloring components of the dye extract. Assessment of the effect of pH on dye adsorption showed an increase in adsorption capacity with decreasing pH. Effect of temperature on dye adsorption showed 80 °C as optimum temperature for wool dyeing with T. chebula dye extract. Two kinetic equations, namely pseudo first-order and pseudo second-order equations, were employed to investigate the adsorption rates. Pseudo second-order model provided the best fit (R2 = 0.9908) to the experimental data. The equilibrium adsorption data were fitted by Freundlich and Langmuir isotherm models. The adsorption behavior accorded well (R2 = 0.9937) with Langmuir isotherm model. Variety of eco-friendly and sustainable shades were developed in combination with small amount of metallic mordants and assessed in terms of colorimetric (CIEL∗a∗b∗ and K/S) properties measured using spectrophotometer under D65 illuminant (10° standard observer). The fastness properties of dyed woolen yarn against light, washing, dry and wet rubbing were also evaluated

Dyeing studies and fastness properties of brown naphtoquinone colorant extracted from Juglans regia L on natural protein fiber using different metal salt mordants

In this study, wool fibers are dyed with a natural colorant extracted from walnut bark in presence and absence of mordants. The effect of aluminum sulfate, ferrous sulfate, and stannous chloride mordants on colorimetric and fastness properties of wool fibers was investigated. Juglone was identified as the main coloring component in walnut bark extract by UV visible and FTIR spectroscopic techniques. The results showed that pretreatment with metallic mordants substantially improved the colorimetric and fastness properties of wool fibers dyed with walnut bark extract. Ferrous sulfate and stannous chloride mordanted wool fibers shows best results than potassium aluminum sulfate mordanted and unmordanted wool fibers. This is ascribed due to strong chelating power of ferrous sulfate and stannous chloride mordants

The Mediating Role of Business Simulations on the Relationship between University Role Entrepreneurship Curriculum and Assessment of Teaching Approaches and Entrepreneurial Inclination

The primary purpose of the paper is provide an insight into present landscape of the role that universities are playing through entrepreneurship curriculum and business simulations in enhancing entrepreneurial inclination of the students through business simulations. The underlying theories of Experiential learning theory, Constructivist learning Theory and Blooms Taxonomy are described in relation with the objectives of the research. This study is conducted in the context of Malaysian Universities. The results of PLS-SEM illustrate that there is a significant positive mediating effect of business simulations on the relationship between entrepreneurship curriculum and contents, assessment of teaching approaches and entrepreneurial inclinations of students at Universiti Utara Malaysia. The present study aimed at providing an overview of the role that is assumed by the institutions of higher education whereas recommendations have been proposed for practitioners and researchers to cope with the challenges that higher education is facing currently. The future agenda of the research on similar lines has also been proposed

Determinants of entrepreneurial skills set in Pakistan: A pilot study

The purpose of this study is to assess the reliability and validity of entrepreneurial skills set construct developed by Smith and Eichholz (2008). The survey approach was used to collect response through 40 usable questionnaires from IT employees in Punjab as one of the largest populated province of Pakistan. The study adopted the stratified random sampling method for data collection.Then, reliability and validity of the instrument were assessed through experts from academia and industry and also from small sample of the data.The data was analyzed through SPSS v20 while results provide the evidence of validity and reliability of the instrumen

A conceptual development of entrepreneurial skills and entrepreneurial intentions: a case of IT employees in Pakistan

The purpose of this paper is to observe the effects of important factors affecting IT employees’ entrepreneurial intentions in Pakistan. Pakistan is a developing country and has a low rate of employment of young people.The basic issue is how to recognize the attraction of being self-employed instead of seeking jobs.The literature reviews into concepts and conceptualizations of the theories and has offered a framework recognizing the problems and the research gap.The research design comprises of developing a hypothetical model with entrepreneurial skills as the exogenous variable to test the endogenous variable of entrepreneurial intentions. In addition, perceived behavioral control and stakeholders’ support system considered as mediating variables.The methodology used in this study is quantitative that contains a random sample from IT professionals working in Pakistan.The questionnaire is proposed for data collection and analyzed through SPSS version 18.0 and Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) 3.0

An exploration of IQ, EQ, spiritual quotient (SQ) elements in the human reengineering program (HRP) practices: A study on the drug rehabilitation Centre in Malaysia

This study is entitled An Exploration of IQ, EQ and Spiritual Quotient (SQ) Elements in the Human Re-Engineering Program (HRP) Practices: A Study on the Drug Rehabilitation Centre in Malaysia. This study involved four drug rehabilitation centres in Northern Malaysia which are Perak, Penang, Kedah and Perlis. However, the rehabilitation centres involved in this study came from three different states only which are Cure and Care rehabilitation centre (CCRC) Kampung Selamat, Penang, Klinik Cure & Care 1 Malaysia, Bukit Mertajam, Penang, Cure & Care rehabilitation centre (CCRC) Batu Kurau, Perak and Cure & Care Rehabilitation Centre (CCRC) Bukit Chabang, Perlis. This study using Qualitative Method and Exploratory Research. Therefore, to explore the phenomenon an in-depth interview has been conducted with one officer of the CCRC and at least 3 patients of the CCRC. In total, 17 respondents had been interviewed for this research. All the respondents are male. Results of the study showed that approximately only 30% of the patients recover. However, this figure is still doubtful due to no exact statistic revealed. The reasons why they are failed to sustain themselves after being freed from the CCRC due to peer’s factor (40%), low of self-confidence (30%) and weak of religious practice (30%). Family support is one of the main factors contributed to their recovering process as 90% of the respondents admitted that. Majority of the patients admitted that peers’ factor is the main reason they involved with the drug abuse (50%) besides self-exploration (30%) and other factors (20%). In order to rebuild the self-confidence, rehabilitation centre used multi programs such as religious activity, peer’s guidance or group maker (Pembimbing Rakan Sebaya (PRS), and therapy community. This study also revealed that 3 out of 4 rehabilitation centres used more than 50% of SQ program in their healing process, 20-25% on EQ activities and IQ activities. Amongst favourite SQ activities are Iqra’ class, which is learning how to read the Quran, and Halaqah is where they will discuss about religion and do some self-reflection. Family support and religious commitment and practices are the main contributor to patient’s recovery survival after they are freed. As a conclusion, healing process in the rehabilitation centre highly influenced with Spiritual Quotient programs besides others. This shows that internal strength gained via religious commitment and attachment besides continuous practices will be a significant factor of the recovering.The authors acknowledge the support of Bridging grant with account no: 304 PMGT 6316039 RCMO University Sains Malaysia as well as The Sumitomo Foundation, Japan in conducting this research

Time-frequency Relationship between Innovation and Energy Demand in Pakistan: Evidence from Wavelet Coherence Analysis

This study examines the empirical relationship of innovation and energy demand by wavelet transform context. This innovative technique allowed the decomposition time-series of different time-frequency domains. The continuous wavelet and the wavelet coherence power spectrum is adopted in this study. The relationship between innovation and energy is investigated by using the annual data of Pakistan, from 1997 to 2016 by using three proxies of innovation which includes research & development expenditures, high technology exports, and the number of registered patent by residents. The overall results of the wavelet coherency propose that the measures of innovation are beneficial to bring change in the demand of energy in Pakistan in the long-run period. Furthermore, the results suggested that the technology-oriented innovations have reached to the level of bringing a notable reduction in the level of energy consumption in Pakistan. Keywords: Technology innovation, energy, wavelet coherence, continuous wavelet transform JEL Classifications: O33, K32, P1

Time-frequency relationship between innovation and energy demand in Pakistan: evidence from wavelet coherence analysis

This study examines the empirical relationship of innovation and energy demand by wavelet transform context. This innovative technique allowed the decomposition time-series of different time frequency domains. The continuous wavelet and the wavelet coherence power spectrum is adopted in this study. The relationship between innovation and energy is investigated by using the annual data of Pakistan, from 1997 to 2016 by using three proxies of innovation which includes research & development expenditures, high technology exports, and the number of registered patent by residents. The overall results of the wavelet coherency propose that the measures of innovation are beneficial to bring change in the demand of energy in Pakistan in the long-run period. Furthermore, the results suggested that the technology-oriented innovations have reached to the level of bringing a notable reduction in the level of energy consumption in Pakistan