Convergent aims of collaborative partnership in a sustainable community service organisation to empower underprivileged children

The purpose of this study is to address the issue: to what extents do different collaborative partners in a sustainable community service organisation have similar aims?The stakeholders involved in this study including the service organisation (key stakeholder), corporate and government bodies, non-governmental organisations, orphanage administrators, and volunteers. Interviews with the selected participants from each group of the stakeholders were conducted to gain the understanding regarding what they considered as their aim or focus in carrying out their collaborative efforts with the service organisation.The findings also included a review of the available documents. Based on the responses, this paper discusses various perspectives of the stakeholders which do not provide an agreement across all stakeholders on what they considered as their aims or focus of collaboration but they intersected with the key stakeholder’s aims.This challenges the notion that the partners in a collaborative partnership setting have to develop and be clear of the common aim of the collaborative partnership prior to collaboration.This case study was done in Malaysia within the context of a particular community service organisation for children. Future research may be conducted on the similar issue in different contexts

Investigation on construction waste management at precast concrete plants in Johor: case study

Waste is becoming a major issue to manage with any significant growth. Despite the fact that there are a few existing studies in Malaysia that have developed waste management theories, existing waste management is given less attention in the manufacturing site. It is crucial to investigate the construction waste handling processes from generation to final disposal. Thus, the goals of this study are to identify different types of construction waste, determine the causes of construction waste by materials, and compare waste management practises in four precast concrete plants in Johor, Malaysia. This study observed the manufacturing process of precast concrete elements and interviewed manufacturer staff, including production managers and engineers. According to the findings of this study, hard concrete, wet concrete, steel, timber, and PVC are the most common types of construction waste found in precast concrete plants. Meanwhile, leftover concrete from mixer trucks, items rejected by inspectors, poor workmanship and mishandling by workers, machine breakdown, weather effects, accidents, unstable staking positions, and cutting and bending activities have all been identified as major sources of waste generation at the precast plants studied. The waste generation rate in the prefabrication is around 2% by weight or lower. It can be generally concluded that the overall waste generation of prefabrication is found to be much lower than that ofconventional construction. Finally, this study demonstrated how waste is managed in accordance with the material designated for each plant visited. This study can provide valuable data on waste management assessment in order to improve our understanding of construction waste in the precast concrete manufacturing industry

Consumer evaluation of SMEs brand equity : the role of relationship quality as a mediator

The evaluation of brand equity has often been described as the new research direction, particularly in small and medium enterprises. Accordingly, this study which was conducted in Malaysia investigated the sources of brand equity for Malaysian SMEs brand such as packaging, word of mouth and brand personality with relationship quality as the mediator. Although past researches had investigated the effect of these sources of brand equity, only a few researchers discovered the effect of relationship quality as a mediator between the sources of brand equity and brand equity in the context of SMEs. In this study, the model was developed based on the theory of brand equity and the social exchange theory. The study employed systematic sampling where 538 questionnaires were distributed to the consumers of SMEs food products in Malaysia. The data gathered was analysed using the Structural Equation Model- Partial Least Square (SEM-PLS). The results indicated that packaging, word of mouth and brand personality have significant and positive effects on brand equity. It also showed that relationship quality has a direct relationship with brand equity. Moreover, relationship quality mediates the relationship between the sources of brand equity such as packaging, word of mouth and brand personality, and brand equity. Consequently, the findings of this study have further strengthened the theory on brand equity and the social exchange theory and related literature as well. This study also put forth recommendations for SMEs food industries regarding the best approaches to build brand equity using the strategic sources of brand equity to ensure long-term relationships with customers in the light of the strong competitive advantage. For future research, it would be interesting to incorporate other strategic sources which may contribute to strengthen the theory besides providing the management the know-how for better-informed decisions

Engaging underprivileged children in collaborative partnership via a curriculum

Curriculum is one of the collaborative partnership strategies used in the community efforts to develop the underprivileged children in Malaysia.This curriculum was developed by the community members to assist community partnership efforts to impart ICT knowledge and skills, personal development elements, and encourage learners to contribute to the society via a CSP.Based on the available documents, this paper examines how the curriculum is able to bring the stakeholders together in the collaborative partnerships, and how underprivileged children are engaged in the efforts.This analysis will focus on the distinctive conjunction of personal development, ICT, and community service elements in the curriculum

Establishing long-term partnership to achieve effective partnering. Is it necessary?

One of the issues in sustaining collaborative partnerships involves the drivers of change and transformation in the process. In particular to this study, various factors have gradually transformed the collaborative partnership activities in the quest for sustaining the collaborative efforts to empower children in orphanages. The paper seeks to explain one of the factors considering the significant discussion among the stakeholders regarding their perspectives on whether long-term partnership is valuable. Using a qualitative case study design, this study uses two methods of data collection with interview as the main method, supported by document review. The data collected were analysed thematically and the findings from the interviews were compared to the findings from documents reviewed. Later the findings are placed alongside the findings of the previous studies from the literature reviewed in the discussions. Based on the interview responses of 24 participants from five stakeholder groups in this collaborative setting and the review of available documents, the findings mainly revealed that partnerships are mostly pragmatics and programme based. Diverse views are given in considering the importance of partnerships to be sustained over a long period in order to be effective. This challenges the common notion that long-term commitment or relationships are needed for effective partnerships

PENGARUH CR (CURRENT RATIO), DER (DEBT EQUITY RATIO), NPM (NET PROFIT MARGIN) DAN EPS (EARNING PER SHARE) TERHADAP PERUBAHAN HARGA SAHAM PADA PERUSAHAAN TEKSTIL DAN GARMEN YANG TERDAFTAR DI BEI TAHUN 2012-2017

Tujuan dari penelitian ini Bertujuan untuk mengetahui pengaruh Current Ratio (CR), Debt To Equity Ratio (DER), Net Profit Margin (NPM) dan Earning Per Share (EPS), terhadap perubahan harga saham pada perusahaan tekstil dan garmen yang terdaftar diBEI. Periode penelitian dimulai dari tahun 2012-2017. Data yang digunakan adalah data sekunder. Jumlah populasi dalam penelitian ini berjumlah 18 perusahaan. Pemilihan sampel dilakukan dengan menggunakan metode purposive sampling, sehingga diperoleh sampel sebanyak 11 perusahaan. Variabel independen yang digunakan adalah Current Ratio (CR), Debt To Equity Ratio (DER), Net Profit Margin (NPM), dan Earning per share (EPS) dan variabel dependen yang digunakan adalah perubahan harga saham. Metode analisis data menggunakan analisis regresi berganda. Pengolahan data dilakukan dengan menggunakan program SPSS Versi 20 for windows. Hasil penelitian simultan (uji F) menunjukkan bahwa model regresi layak digunakan untuk menentukan current ratio, debt to equity ratio, net profit margin dan earning per share terhadap harga saham pada perusahaan tekstil dan garmen . Secara parsial (uji t) dihasilkan bahwa variabel current ratio berpengaruh positif dan signifikan terhadap harga saham, sedangkan variabel debt to equity ratio berpengaruh negatif tidak signifikan terhadap harga saham sedangkan net profit margin dan earning per share berpengaruh negatif signifika

ANALISIS KADAR AIR DAN KADAR KOTORAN TERHADAP MUTU INTI KELAPA SAWIT (PALM KERNEL) DI KERNEL BIN PT SOCFINDO KEBUN SEUNAGAN

Produksi utama dari tanaman kelapa sawit adalah buahnya. Minyak nabati yang dihasilkan dari buah kelapa sawit terdiri dari CPO (Crude Palm Oil) dan PKO (Palm Kernel Oil) yang berasal dari inti kelapa sawit (endocarp). Inti kelapa sawit (kernel) merupakan produk unggulan bernilai jual tinggi dan diolah lebih lanjut menjadi minyak inti sawit. Mutu Inti kelapa sawit (kernel) dipengaruhi oleh kadar air dan kadar kotoran selama penyimanan sementara di kernel bin sebelum dikirim ke mitra. mutu inti kelapa sawit (palm kernel) akan memengaruhimutu minyak inti sawit. Penelitian ini bertujuan mengetahui pengaruh kadar air dan kotoran terhadap mutu inti kelapa sawit (palm kernel) pada kernel bin di Pabrik Kelapa Sawit PT. Socfindo. Penelitian ini dilakukan PT. Socfindo Kebun Seunagan, Kabupaten Nagan Raya. Penelitian ini menggunakan dua metode yaitu pemisahan kadar kotoran dari sampel secara manual, dan metode pencarian kadar air pada inti kelapa sawit menggunakan Instrument Moisture Analyzer Balance dengan prinsip penguapan. Hasil analisis kadar air pada sampel inti kelapa sawit (kernel) di kernel bin selama 10 hari diperoleh rata-rata adalah 6.90%. Sedangkan nilai kadar kotoran pada sampel inti sawit (kernel) di kernel bin selama 10 hari diperoleh rata-rata 6.93%. Untuk kadar air pada inti sawit di kernel bin telah memenuhi syarat mutu yang ditetapkan oleh SNI dan PT Socfindo, yaitu maksimal 8%, sedangkan untuk kadar kotoran pada inti sawit tidak memenuhi syarat mutu SNI, yaitu maksimal 6% akan tetapi memenuhi syarat mutu dari PT Socfindo maksimal 8%