A REPRISE OF SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT IN CONSANGUINITY TO THE INDUSTRY OF TEXTILE

This study investigates supply chain management (SCM) literature to categorize it as well as this study particularly explores studies of SCM for textile industry. An analysis is provided for SCM in connection to textile industry. Science Direct, ABI/INFORM Global, EBSCO Host, and Emerald scholarly databases are inspected for SCM studies. It is found that there is lack of agreement for a sole definition of SCM; moreover, textile industry is being neglected for investigation of SCM. However, categories of SCM are described in a descending order from most studied categories to least studied categories. There is a void of a sole definition for SCM; therefore, a comprehensive definition of SCM is suggested from pertinent literature. Moreover, research gaps are identified for future research of SCM particularly for textile industry.supply chain management, textile industry, categories of SCM

An empirical investigation on EDI determinants and outcomes in Malaysian industry

Government involvement is the main cause for the EDI acceptance in Southeast Asian countries (United Nation of Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific - UNESCAP, 1996). This is significantly different from the EDI developments in the western countries in which private sector involvement in EDI is substantial (UNESCAP, 1996). As an initial step to spur EDI implementation in private sector, the Malaysian Government has imposed all companies that engage in international trade to implement EDI by doing electronic customs declarations through CIS (Customs Information System) DagangNet. For this, the Government also spent over RM 300 million to fully implement EDI nationwide (Star, 2003 December 3). Nevertheless, such implementation is not successful and it has been claimed that “EDI is not yet fully implemented even though it had been initiated since late 1990s, besides electronic data is also still not recognized for legal customs declaration purposes even if it was meant for paperless and electronic customs declarations” (Star, 2003 December 3). To date, there are dual customs declarations, both electronic and manual, in practices where the sole typical electronic transaction is registration of the customs form (Jimmy, 2005; Star, 2005 July 11). This is in contrast with electronic customs declarations by other countries such as Hong Kong, Korea and Singapore where there is a full electronic declaration including electronic payment for declarations charges (Jimmy, 2005; Star, 2005 July 11; Chau, 2001)

The Mediating Role of Intrapreneurship between Supply Chain Integration and Firm Performance

Today, SMEs give attention to Supply Chain Management (SCM) for gaining competitiveness. This integrity supports managers in accomplishing the competitive edge which they are seeking for. The aim of the present study is to detect the scopes of a novel constructs called the Intrapreneurship and Supply chain Integration. Thus, the concepts of Intrapreneurship and SCI are put together in order to measure firm performance. The importance of this issue is in terms of getting high performance in industry which has potential through SCI and Intrapreneurship. People and intrapreneurship are one of the main part of supply chain which can caused to increase performance .The results show that SCI  is a vital issue which can change the firm performance , therefore it is needed to concentrate on the integration of supply chain and it effect on firm innovation and intrapreneurship. So, to succeed in this competitive environment, SMEs should develop unique competences that are inimitable to maximize their utility in the supply chain, and accordingly to improve their performance. Keywords: Supply Chain Integration, Intrapreneurship, Entrepreneurship, Firm Performance. Agriculture Industr

Supplier's capabilites and its influence on competitive advantage in automotive industry

In an increasingly competitive market place, manufacturers need to provide higher quality products at cheaper price and faster delivery. Besides that, rapid technology changes require greater supplier capabilities and more active manufacturer-supplier collaborations.However, many related studies do not support the proposition that firms could secure competitive advantage from the capabilities of their suppliers even though some technological and economic benefits have resulted from the manufacturer-suppliers collaborations in the new product development (NPD).This research examined the manufacturer-supplier’s current collaboration practices in the NPD; the relationships between suppliers and their capabilities; and the extent of collaboration in NPD. In this research, a framework was designed to represent the flow of a supplier’s capabilities and the collaboration in the NPD towards securing competitive advantage. To achieve these objectives, primary data from 117 survey samples who are Proton’s suppliers were gathered and analysed. The results confirmed that a positive correlation exists between collaboration in NPD and Proton suppliers’ capabilities. There is a positive and significant relationship that exists among the three supplier capabilities which are production, manufacturing, and research and development (R&D). Results from regression analyses also supported the idea that strategic alliances and technical collaborations have significantly affected the extent of competitive advantage. However, no impact on competitive advantage could be demonstrated from the suppliers’ manufacturing capabilities based on cost, innovativeness and quality of competitiveness. This study has illustrated the indicators of competitive advantage of manufacturers and capabilities of suppliers but it can be extended and enriched by incorporating other dimensions

Impact of information technologies (IT) implementation on over\all TSC performance

Tourism sector is known for its sophistication and interdependency where performance of one player would greatly influence the business operations of others in the sector. Hence, practices of supply chain management (SCM) have become a must for firms within this sector to coordinate their business operations. Despite the growing importance of SCM practices within tourism sector, only few empirical researches have been done in the area of tourism supply chains (TSC). Accordingly, this study attempts to empirically explore supply chain practices within Malaysian tourism firms with the focus on the impact of information technologies (IT) implementation towards overall TSC performance. About 331 questionnaires were electronically mailed to tour operators and agents where the response rate was about 36%. Findings indicate that IT implementation significantly influences the overall TSC performance where firms with advanced IT implementation level tend to enjoy a better growth in the overall TSC performance

Morphological differences between Bahasa Melayu and English: Constraints in students’ understanding

Teaching English language is a big challenge in Malaysia. Students are still unable to master or even comprehend the language even after eleven years learning the language at the primary and secondary levels. A study conducted on three hundred and fifteen Form Two students show that one of the most obvious weaknesses of the students lies in the morphological aspect of the language. Affixes, adverbs, adjectives, plural forms are some of the categories that students find problem with. Findings of the study show that over 60% of the mistakes detected can be categorized as morphological. This can be attributed to the different morphological structures between Bahasa Melayu and English, for example the -ly suffix for adverbs, superlative form for adjectives, -s, -es markers for plurality and reflexive pronoun, and these are some of the constraints the students face in learning the English language. This paper will present a comparative linguistic analysis on the morphological structures of the two languages

First language influence on second language performance: A study of common English grammatical errors among rural secondary school students

As a second language in Malaysia, English is taught to all from the pre-school level until the fifth form of the secondary school. Even though the teaching and learning of English is carried out for several years, many students still fail to acquire the language successfully at the end of their schooling, which in turn jeopardizes their chances of future employment. After being exposed to the language for eleven years, students, particularly those from the rural areas, are found to be linguistically incompetent and unable to communicate successfully in the target language. The question now is why has this issue arisen. This paper attempts to share some insights into the issue of incompetency in English among rural secondary school students in Kulai, Johor. It reports an analysis of common errors made by three hundred second language learners in the acquisition of Subject-Verb Agreement, Tenses and Relative Pronouns. Using a combination of Norrish’s approach to conducting Error analysis and Contrastive Analysis, initial analysis of the common errors revealed syntactical intra-lingual interference from the first language. This paper will present a comparative linguistic analysis of the syntactical structures of the two languages in our attempt to explain and offer insights into learners’ difficulties in acquiring the target language