The Use of Information Technology in Managing The Supply Chain of Malaysian Palm Oil Industry: The Case of FELDA

This study was carried out to investigate the use of information technology (IT) and information systems (IS) by Malaysian palm oil industry in managing their supply chain. This study focused on Felda's palm oil supply chain which comprised of its subsidiary companies namely Felda Plantations Sdn. Bhd., Felda Palm Industries Sdn. Bhd., Felda Vegetable Oil Products Sdn. Bhd., Felda Transport Services Sdn. Bhd. and Felda Marketing Services Sdn. Bhd.. Investigation was also made to examine the extent of these palm oil companies in managing their primary and support activities and how IT and IS support those activities to improve the company's supply chain. In addition, the study was also done to investigate the utilization of IT and IS in all levels and activities of the company's supply chain. Data for the study were obtained through close-ended questionnaires that were mailed to the respondents comprised of managers from Felda's companies that were involved along supply chain. Data collected from the survey were analyzed using descriptive analysis, regression analysis, correlation analysis and reliability analysis.Result showed that Felda has effectively managed its primary activities particularly in estates, palm oil mills and refineries. Felda also has managed its inbound and outbound logistics as well as its marketing activities effectively. However, the results revealed that IT has not been fully used to effectively support certain primary and support activities, particularly in estates operations. However, while IT has made a lot of contribution to support palm oil mills support activities, it has made less contribution to support their primary activities. Further, IT has contributed significantly to support refineries' primary and support activities. At the same time, the results revealed that IT has effectively support distribution and marketing activities. From the findings, several recommendations are given to assist Felda and other palm oil based companies to enhance the management of their activities along their supply chain and help them to be more competitive in the industry

Preserving halal Integrity in herbs and herbal industry supply chain / Salini Rajendran and Nitty Hirawaty Kamarulzaman

The rapid development of halal industry has significantly influences people’s tastes, habit, and spending patterns across the globe. Halal also influences an individual’s lifestyle as it offers a wide range of options which is not only limited to food items but also healthcare products, cosmetics, logistics and financial services. Consumers nowadays do not only demand for halal products, but are also aware of the halalan toyyibban concept which requires every activity in the production process to be halal, safe and not harmful. However, due to the complexities of supply chain activities, the halal status of a product might be at stake. This unfortunately has triggered consumers to raise questions on authenticity and integrity of the products. The scenario is worsen by the increasing number of fraudulent halal certifications as well as the physical contamination of halal products. Hence, it is a major challenge to preserve halal integrity among its players both in the local and international markets. Thus, the main objective of this paper is to provide an in-depth review on halal food supply chain management focusing on the herbal industry. The paper also highlights the issue of halal integrity in the industry

The potential use of e-procurement in the Malaysian palm oil industry supply chain

E-procurement is electronic methods of conducting business transactions particularly purchasing activities. Many companies around the world have started to apply the technologies though there are still some which refuse to utilize them. The objective of this paper was to investigate the application of e-procurement technologies in managing purchasing activities among the Malaysian Palm Oil Industry (MPOI) supply chain players. Responses from the representative player of each stage of the MPOI supply chain were gathered via in-depth interviews using an open ended questionnaire. A detailed analysis based on content analysis from the responses revealed that e-procurement technologies could be a potential tool to increase the efficiency of purchasing activities, enhance purchasing and searching processes, as well as providing relevant information on materials, and aid in the reduction of human error. Certain products for example fresh fruit bunch (FFB), crude palm oil (CPO), crude palm kernel oil (CPKO) and palm kernel however were found to be impractical to use e-procurement tools due to several reasons. These products were commonly supplied by very established suppliers who are quite conventional in their business. Thus e-procurement tools are not often used in their purchasing activities. This paper concluded that e-procurement technologies were not 'really' available in the MPOI supply chain

The use of Internet applications in managing logistics activities among palm oil industry participants

With the advancement of Internet technologies, many companies have adopted the use of the technologies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of their activities. This paper aims to investigate the utilization of Internet technologies in the Malaysian Palm Oil Industry (MPOI) and explore how the technologies have been exploited by the palm oil industry participants to manage their logistics activities. The respondents of the study were the MPOI participants involved in Internet-based activities. The findings revealed that Internet applications were still new and at an early stage. Many participants did not realise the potential of advanced Internet technologies in managing their business activities. Lack of understanding of advanced Internet technologies explains the low level of utilization of these technologies among the MPOI participants. Most of the participants were comfortable with conventional ways of managing their logistics activities

Application of e-procurement technologies for selecting suppliers of agro-based SMEs in Malaysia

E-procurement is one aspect in supply management that has become popular among companies in Malaysia. There is an argument whether adopting e-procurement technology is a strategic choice for companies’ purchasing strategies. The objectives of this study are to investigate factors that influence the application of e-procurement technologies in selecting potential suppliers of agro-based SMEs in Malaysia and to determine whether these SMEs have the intention to increase the application of e-procurement in selecting their suppliers. An online survey was carried out and only 190 responses (63.3%) were received from selected agro-based SMEs. Statistical analyses such as descriptive analysis, factor analysis and logistic regression analysis were used to analyse the data. The results revealed selection efficiency, security and legal environment, commitment, delivery acceleration, cost and quality as the factors related to the intention of SMEs to increase the application of e-procurement. A vigorous use of e-procurement and strong support from the top management by providing sufficient e-procurement resources to be utilized in agro-based SMEs are a few among many relevant implications discussed in this paper

Conceptual framework for estimating postharvest losses in food supply chains: the case of plantain fruits in Nigeria

Postharvest losses which refer to the measurable quantitative and qualitative food losses in any agro-food supply chain account for significant amounts of food loss. Lack of consistent information on exact amount of losses and assessment methods further complicate the problems and makes solutions very difficult. Plantain also known as cooking banana is an important staple food and cash crop in Nigeria with observed high postharvest losses. The current study proposes a conceptual framework for directly estimating postharvest losses and identifying causative factors using a commodity system approach

The impact of public assisted contract farming programmes in Malaysia

Under the Ninth Malaysia Plan (9MP), contract farming was introduced as a high-impact project under the Ministry of Agriculture and Agro-based Industry (MoA) to revitalise the agricultural sector as Malaysia's third pillar of economic growth. The programme had the objectives of providing assured markets and of increasing producers' incomes. Eight departments/agencies under the MoA were given the responsibility to provide assistance and facilitate farmers to ensure the success of the contract-farming programme. The objective of this study was to evaluate the contract farming programme to determine whether it had fulfilled its objectives in terms of production, number of farmers involved, and incomes of farmers. Face-to-face interviews using semi-structured questionnaires were carried out with 107 contract farmer located in the states of Kelantan, Terengganu, Selangor, Johor and Perak. This study revealed that the contract farming programme had improved the production of agricultural products and increased farmers' average total incomes after five years. It was also found that after involvement with the contract farming programme, majority of the farmers marketed their entire produce through the Federal Agricultural Marketing Authority (FAMA)

Analysis of Malaysian beef industry in Peninsular Malaysia under different importation policies scenarios and rate management systems

In Malaysia, the production of fresh beef is inadequate to meet the people’s demand. The major problem is that the beef sub sector of Malaysia has remained uncommercialized due to low productivity and the private sector has been silent on the beef sub sector development. Malaysia imported 75-80% of her beef requirement from different parts of the world in order to meet the domestic demand. Thus drastic policies need to be formulated to terminate dependency on others while developing beef industry domestically as an import substitution strategy. Thus the objective of this study is to develop a beef production system modeling for policy analysis via a model known as the Vintage approach simulation matrix model (VASIMM). VASIMM has the ability to determine the effect of the importation of the breeding stock policy and calculate the benefit and cost of implementing such policy to the government in the long run. The VASIMM method uses aggregate data to bring the new breeding stock into the model. Among the data feasible include reports that derive the reproduction of existing breeding stocks, determine the culling rate, and derive a theoretical slaughter system based on different rates of calving, replacement, mortality, and slaughter in the past. In addition, the method is able to determine reduction rates for system simulation, simulate final results of female and male breeding stocks, iv) female and male calves, ,rate of slaughter, and production of beef from beef cattle, dairy cattle, and buffalo . The ex-ante simulation analysis was developed by examining different policy variables, and report issues on mortality, slaughter, and calving rate, importation of female breeding stocks, and importation of animal for slaughter, in 9 different Policy Scenarios. Result from these 9 Scenarios indicate that only Scenario 3 is economically applicable in the long run which can fulfill the targeted level of self-sufficiency (40%) by 2020

A study on organizational culture, performance, and technological adoption behaviours of Malaysian food-processing SMEs

The present study focuses on the technological adoption behaviour of Malaysian food-processing SMEs that have the intention to adopt advanced technology for their manufacturing operation, but yet to adopt it. In particular, it investigates the relationship between organizational culture and firm performance as well as the relationship between firm performance and technological adoption behaviour. As these firms have yet to adopt advanced technology, the present study investigates their technological adoption behaviour in terms of perception on benefits and obstacles towards the technology adoption. Based on the data collected through a questionnaire survey, it was found that some organizational culture (specifically, group culture, and rationale culture) enhanced performance, while others did not. Meanwhile, performing firms are more favourable in terms of their technology adoption behaviour compared to the less-performing firms. Performing firms perceived more benefits and fewer obstacles related to knowledge and people compared to the less-performing firms. The study offers implications for both theory and practice

Inbound halal logistics practices: a case of local mosques

The involvement of multiple supply chain players across the mosque food supply chain has led to halal problems, particularly cross-contamination between halal and haram of raw materials during inbound logistics. This study aims to determine factors that influence inbound halal logistics practices among local mosques. Stratified random sampling was used to select the target local mosques in Peninsular Malaysia. Responses from the mosque management committees were obtained through self-administrated questionnaires. Descriptive analysis, mean score analysis, factor analysis, and logistic regression analysis were performed to analyze the data and to determine the factors that mostly influenced inbound halal logistics practices among local mosques. The findings showed that knowledge, dedicated facilities, religious responsibility, management support, financial resources, course and training, and trust were the factors that influenced inbound halal logistics practices among local mosques. This study recommends continuous course and training on halal logistics should be held by the local mosques and specific guidelines on halal logistics should be made available to ensure inbound halal logistics practices could be performed well by the local mosques