Significance of studying product diversification, geographic diversification, and their interaction impacts for Malaysian companies: A literature review

The objective of this study was to comprehensively and critically review research literature on impacts of product diversification strategy and geographic diversification strategy, conducted particularly in Asian context, and set forth guidelines for future studies.The study concludes that past research into impacts of product diversification and geographic diversification produced indecisive results.There has also been absence of any consensus on the interaction impacts of the two strategies on corporate performance.Although past research studied the topic using variety of methodologies but there has been limited research on the topic for Asian economies compared to Western ones.This is especially true about Malaysian public listed companies (PLCs) for which, particularly, studies regarding interaction impacts of the two strategies are extremely limited.For Malaysia, the challenging business scenario in future coupled with quite significant number of diversified companies warrant research into these areas.Future research could take up the objective of analysing and understanding individual and interaction impacts of product diversification and geographic diversification on corporate performance of Malaysian companies and contribute significantly to this research field. It could adopt new and advanced methodologies for measuring diversification strategies as well as employ several measures of corporate performance to produce comprehensive and robust results.Findings of such research would certainly be useful for practicing managers, particularly Malaysian strategists, and guide them in their decisions concerning diversification strategies and help them better manage their companies’ performance

Strategy Building and Sustaining Competitive Advantage: A Case Study of Shangri-La Hotels (Malaysia) Berhad

This case study focuses on the best strategic initiatives of Shangri-La hotels (Malaysia) Berhad (SHMB) in strategy building and sustaining competitive advantage.It presently owns nine branches, namely Shangri-La's Rasa Ria Resort, Kota Kinabalu, Shangri-La's Tanjung Aru Resort and Spa, Kota Kinabalu, Putrajaya Shangri-La, Shangri-La Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Traders Hotel, Kuala Lumpur, Traders Hotel, Puteri Harbour, Johor, Malaysia, Golden Sands Resort, Penang, Shangri-La's Rasa Sayang Resort & Spa, Penang and Hotel Jen Penang (Formerly Traders Hotel, Penang).The group is engaged in the ownership and operation of hotels and beach resorts, a golf course, investment properties and a commercial laundry. Hotel business represents a critical part of the tourism sector, which plays a pivotal role in driving the nation’s economic transformation agenda.Therefore, the Malaysian government is constantly implementing various policies and agendas to uphold the industry’s competitiveness and profitability growth. Although, the concerted efforts are underway, but some hoteliers are still facing several challenges in today’s highly competitive and rapidly evolving market.Hence, why certain hotels succeed in a dynamic competitive environment while rest fail? The answer might be simple and straightforward, but it is not easy.Hotels that grow and change are hotels that know how to build resilient strategies that secure and sustain competitive advantage.The notion of strategy building and sustaining competitive advantage are at the very heart of business success.In view of that, this case study mainly intends to analyse a case of successful SHMB from a strategic management perspective.There is an urgent need to look into the true competencies of SHMB in overcoming the challenges in the 21st century based on the right strategy formulation, implementation, evaluation, direction and decision making process and recognize their efforts to attain high income nation in 2020 as well as continuing to grow in the industry it now dominates

The impact of product innovation on relationship quality in automotive industry: Strategic focus on brand satisfaction, brand trust, and brand commitment

This study examines the effect of product innovation on relationship quality in automotive industry.Based on the review of literature, it is evident that there are very limited studies which have come across the effect of product innovation on relationship quality and its dimensions; brand satisfaction, brand trust, and brand commitment. Therefore, this study aims to contribute to the literature and body of knowledge on the actual relationship between such variables.The automotive sector in Malaysia was selected to conduct this study whereby the data were collected from passenger car users in Northern region of the country. The data were analyzed using SPSS and structural equation modeling (AMOS).The findings revealed that the research model fits the data significantly and achieved the recommended values for all fit indices.In particular, the findings supported the significant positive effect of brand satisfaction on brand trust.Consequently, brand trust has significant positive effect on brand commitment.Moreover, the findings indicated that product innovation has significant positive effect on relationship quality and its dimensions; brand trust, brand commitment, and brand satisfaction.The findings also demonstrated that the main contribution of this study lies in the examination of product innovation as an antecedent to relationship quality and its dimensions rather than looking on the frequently used antecedents. These results and their implications along with avenues for further research are also elaborated in this study

Construct validation on organizational strategies and performance dimensions using confirmatory factor analysis

The research tries to observe the psychometric properties of the organizational strategies and performance scales which consist of competitive strategy, market orientation, innovation strategy and organizational performance.SPSS v21 and Amos v20 were utilized to analyse the dataset.The outcomes found support for the fact that organizational strategies and performance can be measured by the four variables that adapted from prior literatures.The results also indicated adequate internal consistency and construct validity for all the variables.The findings show that instrumentation used in this study is a valuable and apt in evaluating the organizational strategies and performance in context of Malaysia hotel industry. Finally, implications, limitations and recommendations are also discussed

Market orientation practices and effects on organizational performance: Empirical insight from Malaysian hotel industry

Today’s organizations need market orientation practices to strive and generate superior performance and competitive advantage in the modern turbulent marketplace. Thus, this research inspects the respective links between the dimensions of (a) competitor orientation and (b) customer orientation and performance in the context of hotels in Malaysia. Data were gathered through self-administrated mail questionnaires directed to the top- and middle-level managers of three- to five-star-rated hotels in Malaysia. The findings indicated that hotels in Malaysia practiced competitor orientation and customer orientation as their core marketing strategy. Specifically, both competitor orientation and customer orientation positively linked to organizational performance.Few studies have investigated the practices and effects of market orientation on performance in the Malaysian hotel setting.Therefore, this study provided new insights into the understanding of market orientation practices in the hotel industry, particularly in Malaysia.In addition, the significance of this study, potential limitations, and future examination directions are highlighted

The library’s quality management system and quality assurance in higher education: A lesson from Southeast emerging educational hub

As one of the national vision 2020’s implementation programs, the establishment of a national Quality Assurance system focusing on the quality of the programs offered in terms of the general criteria of the structure and process of higher education is timely.In relating to the program, this paper aims to explore the efforts and other issues associated with the development and implementation of quality assurance in higher education due to its role as a service organization, which is required to enhance their quality of services.One of the important pillars determining the quality of higher-education service delivery is the library’s quality management system. By using 46 public universities’ libraries as the main sample, this study tested three hypotheses that are related to the nature of quality management practices by individual construct, as well as by aggregation value, and to what extent the difference to the numbers of staff and the type of organization will influence the quality management practices.We employed mean value and one way analysis ANOVA as the research method to solve the questions.The validity of the constructs is measured using factor analysis, and its reliability is measured by Cronbach’s alpha.Our study results revealed that the study sample perceived those constructs were important to maintain service quality to its customer.The study also informs that the number of staff and the type of organization do not influence at all on the library’s quality management system. In other words, the awareness and spirit to play an important role in achieving excellent service to its customer is the main platform over the number of staff and the type of organization

The influence of organizational structure and organization culture on the organizational performance of higher educational institutions: The moderating role of strategy communication

This paper examined the moderating of strategy communication, focusing on the influence of organizational structure and organizational culture on the performance of the higher educational Institutions in Palestine.The study generated a quantitative questionnaire data from 255 respondents representing the top, medium and low management level of the higher educational institutions in Palestine.Data were analyzed using the partial least squares-Structural equation model PLS-SEM. Overall, the findings revealed that organizational structure and organizational culture are significantly related to the performance of higher educational institutions in Palestine.A Further result of the moderating role showed that strategy communication failed to moderate the influence of both organizational structure and organizational culture on the organizational performance.Discussions on the findings, implication and limitation of the study were also provided

Does service innovation act as a mediator in differentiation strategy and organizational performance nexus? an empirical study

The study determines how service innovation impacts differentiation strategy and the impact on organizational performance.The target population of this research was 475 hotels, which are three to five star hotels in Malaysia.Due to the small population and the nature of the research, questionnaires were sent by mail and email to all the targeted three to five star hotels' managers. Regression was used to analyse the relationship of differentiation strategy, service innovation and organizational performance.The result shows that differentiation strategy has a significant effect on organizational performance and service innovation has a significant effect on organizational performance.Remarkably, this study found that service innovation partially mediates the relationship of differentiation strategy and organizational performance.This study found that hoteliers that pursuing a differentiation strategy should simultaneously employ service innovation to attain better organizational performance.Thus, this study contributes a significant knowledge to the Malaysia hotel industry.This study fills in some of the gap and showing the significance of differentiation strategy and service innovation in the hotel industry which has received little empirical attention in current strategic management literatures.It also offers some practical contributions to the development of service innovation in relation to differentiation strategy and organizational performance

Examining the role of service quality in relationship quality creation: Empirical insights from Malaysia

Building and maintaining successful relationships with customers have become the prime focus for many organizations.The ability of a brand to manage customer relationships in a favourable manner provides a strong platform for its continued success.This paper examines the effect of service quality on relationship quality in the Malaysian automobile market.The data was collected using systematic sampling from 287 passenger car users’ at shopping malls in Northern region of Malaysia.The data is analyzed using structural equation modeling on AMOS.The results revealed that service quality has significant positive effect on brand trust, brand commitment, and brand satisfaction.The results also indicated that service quality has significant positive effect on overall relationship quality.Because this study is limited only to individual customers in Northern region of Malaysia, future studies might apply this work to organizational level and expand it to other industry and country contexts for better understandings of how service quality can affect customer relationships.As a result of successful customer relationships, organizations would have greater opportunities to sustain their success and respond to competition

Kepimpinan berintegrati amat perlu untuk membawa Felda ke mercu kejayaan yang lebih besar

PENGANALISIS Ekonomi, Dr Haim Hilman Abdullah menyifatkan adalah perlu bagi Felda untuk menjadi satu entiti yang menyumbang kepada pembangunan ekonomi negara dan segenap lapisan masyarakat. Bagaimanapun, dalam usaha untuk membawa kejayaan lebih besar pada masa hadapan, Felda perlu memiliki visi dan misi terutama melibatkan pelaburan di luar negara. Pensyarah Kanan Pengurusan Strategik Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) ini dalam temu bual dengan Utusan Malaysia berpendapat, kepimpinan berintegriti begitu penting dalam menyumbang kemajuan lebih besar buat Felda