Antecedents and outcomes of brand management from the perspective of resource based view (RBV) theory

Brand management requires greater emphasis on internal factors to increase brand performance. A model of antecedents and outcomes of brand management is developed in this study based on the Resource Based View (RBV) Theory. Top management emphasis on brand, corporate supportive resources and market orientation are identified as crucial internal factors or antecedents for success of brand management. Apart from that, the brand management measurement are expanded in this study with the introduction of three new marketing constructs namely marketing capabilities, innovation and brand orientation as new dimensions in brand management which currently comprised of management related constructs. This study also contributes in the brand management of small and medium enterprise (SMEs) literature as previous studies mainly focused on the brand management for multinational companies or large organizations. One important issue of SMEs is the “internal” brand management which is currently under-researched even though it is critical in brand building and management. Therefore, this research aims to highlight the antecedents and outcomes of brand management in Malaysians’ SMEs based on RBV theory. A comprehensive literature review was done and a conceptual model is proposed in this literature review

Analysis of Accounting Student Perceptions towards the Desire for a Career as Qualified Accountants: Case Study on Higher Education in Medan

The purpose of this research is to identify and analyze what factors influence accounting students to have a career as qualified accountants. The short term goal of this research is that the identification results of this study can be used as a basis for the preparation of learning and non-learning programs and strategies that can increase the interest of accounting students to pursue a career as qualified accountants. While the long-term goal is to increase the interest of accounting students to have a career as a qualified accountant, so that Indonesian accountants can catch up. Data were collected by distributing questionnaires to 374 accounting students in four randomly selected tertiary institutions. The tertiary institution which is the place of research consists of two state universities and two private universities with the largest number of accounting students in the city of Medan. The data collected will be tested using multiple linear regression models, to see salaries, opportunities to progress and students' perceptions about the accountant profession about the desire of students to have a career as a qualified accountant. Keywords: Perception, Accountant, Qualified, Career DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/11-2-10 Publication date: January 31st 202

Potential for using climate forecasts in spatio-temporal prediction of dengue fever incidence in Malaysia submitted

Dengue fever is a viral infection transmitted by the bite of female Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. It is estimated that nearly 40% of the world’s population is now at risk from Dengue in over 100 endemic countries including Malaysia. Several studies in various countries in recent years have identified statistically significant links between Dengue incidence and climatic factors. There has been relatively little work on this issue in Malaysia, particularly on a national scale. This study attempts to fill that gap. The primary research question is ‘to what extent can climate variables be used to assist predictions of dengue fever incidence in Malaysia?’. The study proposes a potential framework of modelling spatio-temporal variation in dengue risk on a national scale in Malaysia using both climate and non-climate information. Early chapters set the scene by discussing Malaysia and Climate in Malaysia and reviewing previous work on dengue fever and dengue fever in Malaysia. Subsequent chapters focus on the analysis and modelling of annual dengue incidence rate (DIR) for the twelve states of Peninsular Malaysia for the period 1991 to 2009 and monthly DIR for the same states in the period 2001 to 2009. Exploratory analyses are presented which suggest possible relationships between annual and monthly DIR and climate and other factors. The variables that were considered included annual trend, in year seasonal effects, population, population density and lagged dengue incidence rate as well as climate factors such as average rainfall and temperature, number of rainy days, ENSO and lagged values of these climate variables. Findings include evidence of an increasing annual trend in DIR in all states of Malaysia and a strong in-year seasonal cycle in DIR with possible differences in this cycle in different geographical regions of Malaysia. High population density is found to be positively related to monthly DIR as is the DIR in the immediately preceding months. Relationships between monthly DIR and climate variables are generally quite weak, nevertheless some relationships may be able to be usefully incorporated into predictive models. These include average temperature and rainfall, number of rainy days and ENSO. However lagged values of these variables need to be considered for up to 6 months in the case of ENSO and from 1-3 months in the case of other variables. These exploratory findings are then more formally investigated using a framework where dengue counts are modelled using a negative binomial generalised linear model (GLM) with a population offset. This is subsequently extended to a negative binomial generalised additive model (GAM) which is able to deal more flexibly with non-linear relationships between the response and certain of the explanatory variables. The model successfully accounts for the large amount of overdispersion found in the observed dengue counts. Results indicated that there are statisti�cally significant relationships with both climate and non-climate covariates using this modelling framework. More specifically, smooth functions of year and month differentiated by geographical areas of the country are significant in the model to allow for seasonality and annual trend. Other significant covariates included were mean rainfall at lag zero month and lag 3 months, mean temperature at lag zero month and lag 1 month, number of rainy days at lag zero month and lag 3 months, sea surface temperature at lag 6 months, interaction between mean temperature at lag 1 month and sea surface temperature at lag 6 months, dengue incidence rate at lag 3 months and population density. Three final competing models were selected as potential candidates upon which an early warning system for dengue in Malaysia might be able to be developed. The model fits for the whole data set were compared using simulation experiments to allow for both parameter and negative binomial model uncertainty and a single model preferred from the three models was identified. The ‘out of sample’ predictive performance of this model was then compared and contrasted for different lead times by fitting the model to the first 7 years of the 9 years monthly data set covering 2001-2009 and then analysing predictions for the subsequent 2 years for lead time of 3, 6 12 and 24 months. Again simulation experiments were conducted to allow for both parameter and model uncertainty. Results were mixed. There does seem to be predictive potential for lead times of up to six months from the model in areas outside of the highly urbanised South Western states of Kuala Lumpur and Selangor and such a model may therefore possibly be useful as a basis for developing early warning systems for those areas. However, none of the models developed work well for Kuala Lumpur and Selangor where there are clearly more complex localised influences involved which need further study. This study is one of the first to look at potential climatic influences on dengue incidence on a nationwide scale in Malaysia. It is also one of the few studies worldwide to explore the use of generalised additive models in the spatio-temporal modelling of dengue incidence. Although, the results of the study show a mixed picture, hopefully the framework developed will be able to be used as a starting point to investigate further if climate information can valuably be incorporated in an early warning system for dengue in Malaysi

Inbound and Outbound Marketing

Digital marketing has changed how businesses operate nowadays. When it comes to reaching and engaging consumers, effective marketing strategy is the key. Besides, in order to compete with the competitors, the companies should know everything about their customers from what their need is, how they can satisfy it and to what need they can further create (Hubspot, 2016) – of which a role mostly played by the marketing team

Theory of planned behaviour approach to understand pro-environmental behaviour among young green consumers in Malaysia

The depletion of the natural environment and earth-wide natural resources have led to the increasing demand for green products. This has made young consumers carry on the green, and as a result, it affects the organization’s bottom line in building a positive image and goodwill message. This research explored the facet to investigate while applying some constructs from the Ajzen’s existing theory of planned behaviour (TPB) model with additional construct. 250 viable responses were applied and path modelling using SmartPLS 3.0 analyses was used to establish the model proposed. The results indicate that among the TPB constructs, perceived behavioural control (PBC), green perceived attitude (GPA), and other contextual constructs influence pro-environmental behaviour (PEB) positively. Looking at the relative importance of constructs, perceived green culture (PGC) followed by (GPA) had a stronger impact on PEB. The study provides evidence that young green consumers exhibit great concern towards environment, through model supportability and the inclusion of additional constructs which was supported in the TPB providing insight, and holding a sense of responsibility in the consumption pattern for a peaceful future. The obtained results can promote scientific progress in the respective research area and policy implications

Market Research and Target Market Segmentation in City’s External and Internal Environment

Marketing segmentation have to be massive enough to fulfil the financial necessity of the organization and its products. Segmentation can be picked primarily based on demographics, psychographic, behavioural or geographic place. The segmentation has to be reachable by way of promotional means. Customer contentment, consumer allegiance and consumer retention are critical intermediate goals for education carriers on their ride to higher economic success in the liberalized markets. (Christopher, Payne, & Ballantyne, 2013) suggest the use of segmentation as a way to improve client satisfaction, client loyalty and consumer retention

Customer Retention in Service Industry

Customer retention is previously considered as the last resort of a company in traditional marketing approach rather than a way to improve long term profit (Krishnan & Govindarajan, 2013). This is because traditional way of marketing strategy tends to focus more on attracting new customers than satisfying the existing customers. However, as globalization continue to precede, low growth and highly competitive marketplace shows that retaining customers is the more effective way to sustain a company against inroad competition. It is found by some studies showing that companies which emphasize on attracting new customers are actually earning to cover up the regular loss of existing customers without them noticing. Thus, winning new customers are considered a risky way to be profitable (Rosenberg & Czepiel, 1984). Many previous literature reviews also showed the importance of customer retention in increasing company revenue. More companies are now changing their marketing and management strategies to reach out to their existing customers in order to prevent them for opting for service provided by competitive company. A number of researches posit that customer retention increase profitability by lowering the cost used to attract new customers. It is supported by studies showing that there is increase in profit to as high as 95% if customer retention of the company increases by 5% (Sharmeela-Banu et al., 2012). Many researchers came into agreement that repeated customers are the more valuable asset compared to new customers in today’s market (Climis, 2016). Meanwhile, it can be seen in today’s world economy, service industry has emerged to be one of the fastest growing sectors among the others. Customers are considered the real asset to service industry due to the nature of this industry which prioritizes relationship between customers with the service (Alshurideh, 2016). This makes it even more crucial for this industry to practice customer retention strategies in order to survive and grow in the very competitive marketplace. As such, this study intends to explore literatures pertaining to definitions, measures, importance and factors that influence customer retention in service industry as well as to discuss on possible strategies to be applied based on the studies

The effect of umrah service quality on umrah customer satisfaction and umrah customer loyalty: evidence from umrah traveling agents in Malaysia

The main aim of this study is to explore the impact of the dimensions of Umrah service quality on customer satisfaction for Umrah and customer loyalty for Umrah in the travel industry. Increasingly intense competition and structural shifts in the business environment are now pushing companies to adopt a customer-focused strategy that elevates the value of customerrelated constructs such as customer satisfaction, quality of service, and consumer loyalty in describing the success of a company. Umrah service efficiency, Umrah customer satisfaction, and Umrah customer loyalty were calculated from the literature using a 5-point Likert scale. Structural equation modeling was carried out to analyze the impact of Umrah service quality on customer satisfaction in Umrah and customer loyalty in Umrah. The result showed that all dimensions of service quality influenced customer satisfaction and loyalty of Umrah's customers. The study's key drawback is that it was confined only to the Malaysian nation. Second, the present study only focuses on the traveling industry in Umrah. The results clearly indicate the dimensions of the quality of Umrah service that the practitioners must concentrate on in order to provide a better quality of service

The Effects of Emotional Value, Social Value and Sensory Appeal Value to Mall Repatronage Intention in Kota Kinabalu Context

The rapid expansion of the Malaysian retail contribution to the GDP could expand to 15 per cent from the current 10 per cent in the next five years, stated by Malaysia Retail Chain Association (MRCA) President Datuk Seri Garry Chua. He mentioned that for the second quarter of 2018, Malaysia’s retail industry reported a growth rate of 2.1 percent in retail sales, compared to the same period in 2017. As a result, some retailers enjoyed a 30 percent increase in business, and others only 10 per cent after the 0 per cent of the Goods and Services Tax (GST). High value-added retail goods, such as luxury items, sporting goods, electrical goods, electronics goods, gadgets and furniture, enjoyed higher sales compared to those of basic necessities, household goods and general fashion items. There is huge potential in the local retail industry, despite concerns of a glut in retail space. Hence, the malls must be interactive and have new dynamics in shopping for consumer’s repatronage (Sharen, 2018). Specifically, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah in East Malaysia, shopping malls have tremendously sprung up nearly in every neighbourhood. In present, there are new malls opened that compete with the old. From just several earliest malls such as Centre Point, Wawasan Plaza, Wisma Merdeka, KK Plaza, and Karamunsing Complex, there are more upcoming operational malls to be built located in Kota Kinabalu city (Daily Express Online, December 30, 2015). The new malls opened differ in sizes, architectural designs and are strategically located and several of it are Imago, Oceanus, Suria Sabah, City Mall, 1Borneo and Grand Merdeka. As the number of malls rise, many consumers in the developing countries have shown loyalty towards certain malls that meet and exceeds their expectations

The influence of service marketing mix and umrah service quality on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty towards umrah travel agents in Malaysia

In the Malaysian Umrah industry, there are so many new participants selling and offering similar products and services. As a result, Umrah providers must compete to survive in this industry, as there are currently so many competitors. They need to focus on customers’ special needs and preferences to maintain and retain the long-term relationship. Thus, the objective of this study is to examine the relationship between service marketing mix and Umrah service quality on customer loyalty towards Umrah travel agents, and the mediating effect of customer satisfaction in the relationship between service marketing mix/service quality and customer loyalty towards Umrah travel agents in Malaysia. This study explored and integrated two new dimensions (not Ps) for service marketing mix namely after-sale service and marketing communication rather than traditional service marketing mix of 7 P’s. The study’s research framework was supported by the Stimulus-Organism-Response theory. Three of the four main constructs namely; service marketing mix, Umrah service quality and customer satisfaction were conceptualised as second order constructs and assessed via the reflective-formative approach. Customer loyalty which acted as the dependent variable was measured reflectively through seven multi items. All the items were assessed using the 5-point Likert scale. Data was derived from 384 Umrah customers who have used Umrah traveling services. All the constructs such as product, price, promotion, place, people, process, physical evidence, marketing communication, and after-sale service (marketing mix), Umrah service quality includes tangibles, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, and empathy had significant effects on customer satisfaction and customer loyalty. However, second hypothesis Umrah service quality and customer loyalty which were found not significant. Two indirect effect hypotheses to examine the role of customer satisfaction as mediators were accepted as full mediation. The study findings were discussed thoroughly and concluded with a discussion on the implications, the limitation of the study and recommendations for future study