Improving contractors’ practices of Industrialised Building System (IBS) implementation in construction industry

Malaysian construction industry plays an important role in creating wealth for the country as developing social, economic and infrastructure. The government has adopted industrialised building systems (IBS) since the 1960s and has made significant efforts in this area. It aims to achieve several improvements within the industry, such as higher productivity levels and better quality construction products. The main reason for delay the completion of construction projects was due to poor practice of contractors. Lack of experience, financial problems, lack of technical knowledge and lack of skilled labour are very important barriers to successful IBS implementation. The objectives of this research were to investigate current contractors’ practices of IBS implementation in construction industry, to identify influencing factors for contractors’ practices of IBS implementation in construction projects and to recommend ways to improve contractors’ practices of IBS implementation in construction industry. The research was take place in Johor Bahru the capital of Johor state where various development and construction activities are currently on going. Quantitative method was used by distribution of questionnaire that is designed based on the research objectives, data collected was analysed using the Statistical Package for the Social Science 22.0 software to carry out the research aims. Target respondents were the construction industry player, namely Grade 7 (G7) contractors. Contractors G7 was chosen because they are the main contractor with unlimited tendering abilities and they are involved with wide practice of IBS adaption. The study reveals that there are some problems faced by contractors in their practices of IBS implementation such as low productivity, management aspects and financial problems. Therefore, training to labour, IBS instruction guideline and improving finance and procurement mechanism is the top recommended factors to improve contractors’ practices of IBS implementation for more IBS adaption success

Determinants Contributing To The Primary Market Spread Of Securitization In Malaysia

During the year 1997, the Asian financial crisis disclosed the inherent weaknesses of the financial market in Asia. Organisations had an over-dependence to the banks as the primary sources of fund is one of the reasons why companies faced difficulty during the financial crisis. One of the factors that contributed to the financial crisis was that organizations failed to diversify their financing structure. It is to be noted that when organisations want to source for funds, they can either issue stocks, bonds or finance from banks locally or globally. Source capital from equity and borrowing through debt is considered difficult, expensive and will distort the financial leverage of the company. The development of securitization allows the organization to smooth up their cash flow by converting the illiquid assets into a liquid asset through a special purpose vehicle (SPV). SPV is a legally separated entity from the company or the holder of the assets. SPV can take the forms of either a trust, corporation or partnership set up just for the purchasing of the originator's assets. There are many literature pieces of research that regard the factors that contribute to the pricing of corporate bonds but there are few empirical studies on the determinants on securitization in Malaysia. In view of the increases of awareness of securitization, this paper intends to investigate the determinants contribute to the primary market spread of securitization in Malaysia. The primary market rate is the initial or first-time offer rate by the originator and issued by the SPV. The rate offered by the SPV is based on the underlying lease payment form the originator collection. This research applied regression analysis for the period from 2004 to 2014. The regression results show that three variables have negative and one positive relationship with the primary market spread. Thus, it can conclude that selective variables can act as an important influence to the primary market spread in helping the originators setting the competitive prices in securitization