International Journal of Business and Technopreneurship (IJBT)

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https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14170/367
The International Journal of Business and Technopreneurship (IJBT) are launched with its first issue in February 2011. IJBT is dedicated to increasing the depth of the subject across business disciplines with the ultimate aim of expanding knowledge of the subject. The IJBT is a quarterly peer-reviewed journal (ISSN 2231-7090) published by the School of Business Innovation and Technopreneurship of Universiti Malaysia Perlis (UniMAP). The journal welcomes the submission of manuscripts that meet the general criteria of significance and scientific excellence, and will publish original articles in basic and applied research, Case studies, Critical reviews, surveys, opinions, commentaries, and essays. The IJBT aims to be a catalyst for expanding knowledge in the areas of business and technopreneurship.

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  • Publication
    The effect of web-based Thai Language learning site on recalling performance and motivation among undergraduate students
    ( 2011-02)
    Suriani Sukri
    ;
    Sharifah Raudzah Binti S.Mahadi
    ;
    Zarina Samsudin
    Learning a foreign language nowadays extremely spread in the web-based form or online learning. Web-based is one of the tools that can be count for the learners to choose for learning. A good web-based is when the developer applied a good instructional design in order to get positive impact towards learner's peiformance. Hence, this study was conducted to investigate the effectiveness of the web-based to learn foreign language on recalling performance and motivation. Furthermore, it also looks deeper to the TAM (Theoretical Acceptance Model) model and Information Processing Theory that irifluence the design of the website and the effect of motivation towards learners. The effectiveness was determined by analyzing the results from the oral tests, questionnaire and interview. The web-based of Thai language was determined. This study was involved 20 undergraduate students who are not familiar with the Thai language for duration of four weeks.
      11  7
  • Publication
    "UniMAP 2002-2005: Persepsi dan impak ekonomi Perlis"
    ( 2011-02)
    Mohd Mizan Aslam
    ;
    Abdul Halim Abdul
    Universiti Malaysia Per/is (UniMAP) ditubuhkan pada Julai 2001 dan telah memulakan operasinya secara rasmi selepas perlantikan Brigedier Jen. Dato 'Professor Dr. Kamarudin Russin sebagai Naib Canselor pertama pada 16 Februari 2002. Setelah empat (4) tahun beroperasi (2002 hingga 2005), UniMAP telah memberikan sumbangan yang sangat besar di negeri ini. lmpak utama UniMAP adalah dalam aspek ekonomi. Yang mana selama operasinya di Per/is, UniMAP telah menyumbang jutaan ringgit untuk prasarana dan perbelanjaan mengurus termasuklah emolumen staf dan perbelanjaan pelajar. Kertas kerja ini akan melihat kesan yang dibawa oleh UniMAP selama operasinya di Per/is terutamanya dalam aspek ekonomi termasuk jugalah pandangan penduduk Perlis, staf dan pelajar terhadap UniMAP dan kesan kampus teragih serta kesan pemusatan UniMAP terhadap ekonomi Per/is. 565 responden yang terdiri daripada masyarakat luar, sta.f dan pelajar UniMAP terlibat dalam penyelidikan ini. Semua maklumat ini dihurai secara diskriptif dan diikuti dengan ana/isis statistik yang mudah untuk menjelaskannya disamping data-data sekunder daripada pelbagai agensi samaada agensi kerajaan negeri, persekutuan, swasta mahupun UniMAP sendiri.
      7  7
  • Publication
    A consumer perspective of service quality in the airline industry
    ( 2011-02)
    Muhammad Muazzem Hossain
    ;
    Noufou Ouedraogo
    ;
    Davar Rezania
    The airline Service quality has received much attention from both academicians and practitioners. Various studies have used SERVQUAL, AIRQUAL, the Kana Model, etc. for measuring the customer service quality in the airline industry. However, a review of the airline service quality literature shows a lack of research about the use of latent semantic analysis (LSA) in uncovering the underlying factors affecting the quality of service provided by the airline companies. The purpose of this study is to explore the generic service quality characteristics pertaining to the airline industry by mining the comments provided by the passengers of various airline companies across the globe. Passengers are under no pressure to express their concerns, opinions, or suggestions for improvement of service quality. Therefore, we posit that the customers' comments are reflections of their perception of quality of service that they have already experienced. This study will help the stakeholders better understand the characteristics of service quality in the airline industry. The findings will provide managers in the airline industry with insights for managing and improving the quality of service rendered to their customers. We collected 1,069 customer comments on eleven airline companies and conducted an LSA on them to identify five factors affecting the service quality in the industry. The findings suggest that caring and friendly crews, luggage handling, in-flight meals, in-flight entertainment, and service expectation are the five critical factors of the airline service quality in the eyes of the customers.
      11  15
  • Publication
    Reconciling efforts to understand engineering intellect: Research articles from linguistic perspective
    ( 2011-02)
    Budsaba Kanoksilapatham
    Biomedical engineering is a relatively new sub-discipline of engineering. However, this sub-discipline is particularly vital, focusing on improving human healthcare and treatment. Meanwhile, English research articles are increasingly used in advanced education as a means to disseminate and ratify knowledge. Therefore, the understanding of how biomedical engineering research articles are constructed will be beneficial for both students and practitioners in this sub-discipline. This study analyzes a set of the Methods section of biomedical engineering research articles written in English with the objective of elucidating what constitutes appropriate academic style of writing in this discipline and genre. The dataset representing the high quality journals in the field is analyzed, using Swales' genre analysis (2004). The structural organization underlying the Methods section of biomedical engineering research articles is identified, consisting of a set of iriformation elements organized in a particular pattern. The textual organization displays the unique and distinctive nature of academic communication in this sub-discipline. In addition, the findings are pedagogically applicable, providing biomedical engineering graduates with the skills required in disseminating their knowledge and expertise in the academia, and alerting them to the existence of intellectual diversity. The study also demonstrates the role of linguistics to provide an intellectual and holistic understanding of biomedical engineering enterprise.
      2  17
  • Publication
    Lean manufacturing - A multi pronged strategy for enhancing the performance of an organisation - A case study
    ( 2011-02)
    B.Sudhakar
    ;
    A. Ponnusamy
    ;
    D. Anbu Geetha
    Lean Manufacturing is a systematic approach for identifying and eliminating waste in the process of manufacturing. Lean thinking is to determine the value in terms of the customer and ensure that the value is created and given to the customer at the lowest possible cost. In this process, lean approaches analysis the value stream from the raw material stage to the point it reaches the customer. Many lean strategies are employed in the organization depending on the process and the product they manufacture. Some of them are Value Stream Mapping, Cellular Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement (Katzen & 5S), .liT & Kanban and so on. Value stream mapping helps to identify the current product flows based on which the future flows are planned with the help of lean strategies to satisfy the expectation of the customer. Cellular manufacturing is one of the cornerstones when one wants to become lean. Continuous Improvement is another fundamental principal of lean manufacturing. .!IT and Kanban help lean manufacturing systems to meet high throughput with very little inventory. The paper anlayses the implementation of lean manufacturing strategies in an organization as a multi pronged approach for enhancing the performance of it. A case study has been conducted in a rubber component manufacturing unit to show that a multi pronged approach was used in implementing lean manufacturing in the company to improve its performance.
      2  4
  • Publication
    The effect of changes in oil price and monetary stance on stock market performance - evidence from Bursa Malaysia
    ( 2011-02)
    Abdul Razak Abdul Hadi
    ;
    Abu Hassan Shaari
    ;
    Mohamed Hisham Yahya
    The study is pursued with the objective to examine the effect of changes in crude oil price and three macroeconomic variables, namely exhange rate (RMIUSD), overnight lending rate (OLR), and money supply (Ml) on the performance of public listed companies in Bursa Malaysia as proxied by Kuala Lumpur Campsite Index (KLCI). The study employs Engle-Granger Cointegration test and Johansen-Juselius Multivariate Cointegration on the investigated variables. Using time series data from January 1983 through December 2006, the empirical findings show there exists a significant long-term relationship between KLCI performance and the four variables. The test results from Impulse Response Function and Variance Decomposition, however, fail to support the presence of a dynamic interaction between KLCI and the investigated variables. Interestingly, the test results form Granger Causality test indicate a significant role of money supply in influencing the performance of KLCI The empirical findings from this study do have direct policy implications for regulators, international traders and investors.
      6  29
  • Publication
    The adoption of wireless classroom technology among undergraduates students
    ( 2011-02)
    Noraini Nasirun@ Hirun
    ;
    Shaiful Annuar Khalid
    ;
    Thi Lip Sam
    ;
    Zulaiha Ahmad
    An inherent feature of technology in education is the constant development of new technologies and creating new and modern applications of already existing technologies. To date, numerous studies that examined student perceptions on information technology and communication have been carried out. Generally, the findings showed that students' perception had an influence on the adoption of technology. Using the Technology Acceptance Model as a framework, the purpose of this paper is to examine relationship between students' perception of Wireless Classroom Technology and adoption of technology. Two dimensions of Wireless Classroom Technology investigated were perceived ease of use and perceived usefulness. The data were collected from 191 undergraduate information technology students from a public university located on the northern region of Peninsular Malaysia. Using regression analysis, the results indicated that there is a significant relationship between perceived ease of use and adoption of technology. This study also suggests that adoption of Wireless Classroom Technology benefits the students. The findings should guide the management of the public university to improve the information and communication technology infrastructure. Recommendations and conclusions are also presented
      10  21
  • Publication
    Adherence to Occupational Safety and Health Management System requirement in working environment: A case study on a Higher Learning Institution of Malaysia
    ( 2011-02)
    Azuddin Bahari
    ;
    Hanui Hassan
    An Occupational Safety Health Management System (OSH-MS) is a means to assist organizations to develop a favorable working environment at the workplace. The outcomes are legal compliance and in tandem improve Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) performance. Currently, there is a variety of OSH-MS in place, such as OHSAS 18001 (Occupational Health and Safety Assessment Series), BS EN ISO 14001 Environmental management system, BS 8800 British Standard Occupational Health and Safety management System, HSG65 - SuccessfUl Health And Safety Management and the International Labor Office ILO-OSH 2001 Guideline on Occupational Safety and Health Management System, which organizations can select and apply in their organizations. Conversely, the subsequent most important point in implementing OSH-MS in an organization is getting the system to be certified by a certification body. UniMAP adopt the MS 1722:2005 in managing its OSH at the workplace. In addition, UniMAP too work towards certification for the MS: 1722:2005 and OHSAS 18001:2007. Hence, UniMAP is the first University in Northern State of Peninsula Malaysia to be certified with the MS: 1722:2005 and OHSAS 18001:2007 in tandem by NIOSH Certification Sendirian Berhad. Consequently, this standard has enables UniMAP to manage its OSH Programs and thus improve performance. In this conference, the author's would like to propose to organizations (which have not done so) to implement the aforementioned OSH-MS due to the benefit inherent with it. UniMAP hopes to share its experience in getting the system to be certified by a certification body.
      8  3
  • Publication
    Geographical information technology approach and model for visualizing the lifetime value of customers in the geographical marketplace
    ( 2011-02)
    Abdul Manaf Bohari
    ;
    Ruslan Rainis
    ;
    Malliga Marimuthu
    Geographical information technology is one of the top most techniques for handling and managing the world wide business issues including customer lifetime value on the geographical based environment. In fact, visualizing the lifetime value of customer, specifically hypermarket's customer is important to determine the most profitable customer's to the business as well as strategic important for estimating how long life the customers will engage and doing transaction with the business. Besides that, others kind of technology, as well as financial iriformation systems, retailing information systems, decision support systems, .and so on are fail and unable to visualize clearly on how these lifetime value 'alive and acting' in the real marketplace. Critically, in perspective of multicultural societies just like Malaysia, visualizing customer lifetime value of multicultural customers are potentially as become strategic issues because it has major influence on certain aspects of current and future prospect of the business. In addition, although some of information technology has ability to visualize factors for prospecting customer lifetime value, however, it still unable to visualizing the real situation of customer's in the platform of geographical marketplace. Thus, this paper is purposely for reviews some of geographical iriformation technology approach and model that be potential to handle the issues of customer lifetime value in the geographical marketplace. Moreover, understanding the advantages and disadvantages geographical information technology approach and model are practically important to strengthening the past and current methods of visualizing customer lifetime value on the ground place. At the end, suggestion was made on how to improvise the performance of visualizing the customer lifetime value for application of Malaysia multicultural geographical marketplace.
      1  13
  • Publication
    Financing corporate acquisition by selected public listed companies on Bursa Malaysia: cash versus equity
    ( 2011-02)
    M. Fazilah Abdul Samad
    ;
    Azlin Romlez Taslim
    ;
    Abdul Hadi Zulkalli
    This study aims to examine the factors determining the choice of financing an acquisition by selected public listed companies on Bursa Malaysia based on five variables: Value of Acquisition, Level of Shareholdings by Board of Directors and Substantial Shareholders, Net Assets and Gearing Ratio of the bidder companies. Empirical testing involves a binomial type of dependent variable whereby values 1 and 0 are assigned to represent choice of cash and equity financing, respectively. Probit regression is employed, but the results fail to provide proof of statistical significance for all variables. However, the analysis show corresponding signs of coefficients, which supports the direction of relationship as predicted in the hypotheses.
      7  14
  • Publication
    Mental health problems among female offenders and its relation to social engineering
    ( 2011-02)
    Nurul Hazrina Mazlan
    ;
    Affizal Ahmad
    The objective of this study is to understand the common mental health problems among female offenders and how they affect the society through application of rehabilitation program
      2  11
  • Publication
    A conceptual kano and quality function deployment (Qfd) framework for healthcare service
    ( 2011-02)
    Norshahrizan Nordin
    ;
    Razli Che Razak
    Healthcare organization is struggling to provide customer driven quality service. The key success of healthcare service is the ability to develop a comprehensive healthcare service and deliver the best service direct to customer as required. Coherently, the measure of customer feedback should definitely show good perception of service fulfillment and satisfaction. As part of quality improvement process, an outstanding healthcare organization should practice an effective complaint management system (CMS) as the main voice of customer (VOC) source, which directly mirror the quality of healthcare service. The CMS will act as an essential decision support tool by providing seamless handling of complaints, introduces systematic improvement process, thus enabling hospitals to turn weakness into opportunities. However, Malaysian top public healthcare organizations are implicitly not really put much efforts to have a kind of proper CMS to treat complaints as critical and need immediate resolution. In other words, the VOC might not be heard in right way and account as the customer demand, expect and desire. This scenario may be the evident and reason why the present states of public Malaysian healthcare service providers are still unable to fully incorporate the customer requirement or complaint in to their strategic agendas, which account all the customer needs and expectations. This paper presents the current scenario of local public health care service with special focus to their implementation of CMS or similar system, in conjunction with healthcare constraints and VOC. Based on recent healthcare literature, an inclusive comparison is made and discussed to justify the gap of improvement in healthcare service. From findings, it is identified that complaint management practice is lacking of systematic procedure to prioritize complaints by customers. To be competitive, an alternative customer prioritizing approach mainly incorporates the Quality Function Deployment (QFD) and Kana's Model is proposed conceptually. The new mechanism concept is hope to effectively address a complaint which not only satisfies the customer but also an opportunity to create positive experience with customers, building a healthier foundation, stronger brand value and avoiding legal penalties. It also provides fair balance information for decision making while facing constraints such as operational, legal, human resource and market pressures.
      2  10
  • Publication
    Factors that motivate women to start a business
    ( 2011-02)
    Salmah Topimin
    ;
    Simon Sabut
    The continuous development of women entrepreneurs has given much attention among researchers to conduct study on them. However, little research has been carried out on the factors that motivate women to start a business. Therefore, the objective of this study is to determine the motivation factors that irifluence women to start their businesses. Four factors which are the desire for self realisation, status, financial success and autonomy were used. Data was collected from 89 women entrepreneurs in Kota Kinabalu. The findings indicate that there was significant relationship between starting a business with the desire for autonomy. However, desire for self realisation, financial success and status were not significant for women to start their businesses.
      6  14
  • Publication
    Critical thinking dispositions of new intake Engineering Technology students
    ( 2011-02)
    AfizaMohamad Ali
    ;
    Muhammad Nadzri Abdul Aziz
    ;
    Isarji Sarudin
    ;
    Ainol Madziah Zubairi
    Problem-solving and critical thinking abilities serve as important outcomes of any engineering programme. Engineering students are expected to solve problems, ask questions, research and discover relevant information, and consider new ideas. This paper presents the findings a study to determine the initial critical thinking dispositions of new intake engineering technology students in the effort to provide base-line data for the integration of critical thinking (CT) in the English syllabus of the engineering technology programme. This is part of a larger English curriculum review exercise with a special focus on the integration of soft skills. A 10-item self-assessment questionnaire was distributed to 1425 new intake engineering students. When the findings of the CT dispositions are considered, CT dimension of detecting bias and exaggeration was cited the most among respondents. Low CT dimensions are evaluation and compare and contrast. Additional findings from focus group interviews reveal peculiar yet interesting insights on CT among the students. Implications of the findings in relation to CT for engineering technology students are discussed.
      14  5
  • Publication
    Factors influencing financial institutions on lending technologies to technology-based SMEs in the northen region of Malaysia
    ( 2011-02)
    Wan Sallha Yusoff
    ;
    Chuthamas Chittithaworn
    ;
    Noor Asliza Abdul Rahim
    The unavailability of external financing and lack of access to formal finance are topics of significant research interest to academicians and important issues to policy makers around the globe. However compared to large firms, SMEs frequently tend to report financing as a major obstacle. The financial constraints of SMEs to access to finance are beyond question by many researchers. Thus, this study attempts to discuss the factors that lead to influence financial institutions in lending technologies to provide finance to SMEs in Malaysia. The methodologies on the relationship between the requirements of financial institutional and the type of lending technologies provided for SMEs is illustrate. This conceptual paper is aimed to improved the theoretical parts of analysis, on the factors influencing Financial Institutions on lending technologies to technology-based SMEs in the northern region of Malaysia and identify the challenges issues regarding the requirements of financial providers based on the lending technologies adoption, be it transaction lending or relationship lending. Furthermore, the methodologies will also be able to assist researchers to get more iriformation on the unique needs for finance of SMEs and tailor the finance providers' requirements to be SMEs friendlier i.e. better meet SMEs ability and needs in order to achieve win-win situation.
      8  16
  • Publication
    Role of manufacturing export in industrial development of Bangladesh: An analysis under production function frame work
    ( 2011-06)
    Nesarul Karim
    Government of Bangladesh has started liberalizing foreign trade and deregulating the economy as an officially declared policy since early 80’s. The policy of import-substitution has been replaced by the strategy of export-led growth. At present export occupies the focal position in reformulated development strategy of Bangladesh. This paper investigates the relationship between growth of manufacturing export and industrial development in Bangladesh by applying production function frame work. Empirical findings on these regards have led to mixed conclusion.
  • Publication
    Impact of knowledge management on organizational performance
    ( 2011-06)
    Zahid Zamir
    Knowledge Management focuses on organizing and making available important knowledge, wherever and whenever it is needed. The field of Knowledge Management is of growing interest in today’s business and academic world. As society enters into the knowledge based-economy, effective knowledge management is essential for organization to stay competitive. The purpose of this study is to conduct a thorough literature review on the impact of Knowledge management on the overall performance of an organization and thereby finding the knowledge and ideas that have already been established on this topic and what their strengths and weaknesses are. This study reviewed the literature as extensively and efficiently as possible and reviewed them critically to explore or highlight further research avenues/ questions for future research. Although based on our literature review, none of the research findings demonstrate the direct relationship between knowledge management practices and its impact on financial performance of an organization, research findings however, prove that knowledge management impacts organizational performance which in turn impacts financial performance of an organization.
      7  7
  • Publication
    Asian economic crisis and the role of IMF: An appraisal
    ( 2011-06)
    Md. Delwar H. Mazumder
    The financial crisis, which was erupted in Asia through the collapse of the Thai Bath in July 1997, led to sharp declines in the currencies, stock markets and other assets prices of a member of Asian countries. This crisis threatened those countries financial systems and disrupted their real economics, with large contractions in activity that created a human crisis alongside the financial one. Moreover, this financial precipitated deep recessions in the “tiger economies”, resulting in a sharp drop of living standards together with rising unemployment and social dislocation. Not in the region, rather the crisis has put pressure on emerging markets outside the region; contributed to virulent contagion and volatility in international financial markets. International Monetary Fund (IMF) came to the rescue. Some countries adopted IMF policies while others did not. Quite interestingly though countries like Malaysia that did not take any loan from IMF recovered at faster pace than IMF loan receiving countries. This posed a blatant challenge towards the vitality and viability of IMF structural programs not only in East Asia but also in other parts of the world. In light of that challenge, this paper analyzes the root causes of the Asian crisis and the role of IMF in tackling the crisis. It does a comparative analysis between IMF loan recipient countries like Indonesia, Korea, Thailand, and non-recipient country Malaysia in order to know whether IMF policies helped or hindered economic recovery.
      2  5
  • Publication
    Training and employment for a sustainable hospitality and tourism in Malaysia
    ( 2011-06)
    Au Yong Hui Nee
    Hospitality and tourism is one of Malaysia's main foreign exchange earners that generates revenues and contributes to employment. The dynamism of a sustainable hospitality and tourism industry demands highly creative experts to lift the industry in Malaysia to a higher level. The importance of human resource development to the economic viability of Malaysian hospitality and tourism is highlighted. There should be no presumption that training will lead to reduced profits. This paper examines the employment level in hospitality and tourism in Malaysia, and assesses the link between training and employment in a sustainable hospitality and tourism. Companies that invest in human resources are expected to maintain their competitive edge in the hospitality and tourism market. The paper will first describe the methodology approach then present a brief review about hospitality and tourism employment. This paper analyses the relationship between hospitality and tourism training and employment, and finally, presents a conclusion with proposal for the development and implementation of hospitality and tourism training policy and outlines strategies for further research.
      4  3
  • Publication
    Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) in Malaysian Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) and effective safety management practices
    ( 2011-06)
    Khoo, Teng Hong
    ;
    Lilis Surienty
    ;
    Kee Mui Hung, Daisy
    Occupational safety and health (OSH) is an issue inseparable from most workplace in Malaysia particularly high-risk industries such as manufacturing and construction. Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) in Malaysia is in dire needs to implement OSH properly as Che Man (2010) estimated that around 80% of workplace accidents that occurred are accounted to SME. More attention and assistances must be extended to SME to help them in the implementation of OSH as their apparent lack of financial resources and expertise hamper their ability to effectively implement OSH. SME can rely on several management practices such as safety training, employee participation, safety rules, and supervisory support in order to make their workplace safer for employees to work in. A review of literature on the four management practices and a brief description on the OSH scenario as well as SME in Malaysia are discussed. SME should make use of the 4 management practices as they were found to be effective in other settings.
      1  11