Malaysian Management Journal (MMJ) Vol. 12 No.1 & 2 June/ December 2008
Could the Great Depression Repeat Itself in the 21St Century?
Quah Chee Heong & Mohd Nazari Ismail
Faculty of Business and Accountancy
University of Malaya
Abstract Ɩ Full Text
By 2031, it will be a century since the Great Depression, touted as the most dreadful depression in the history of U.S. and the rest of the world, had taken place. In the final decades of last century and in the early years of this century, numerous financial crises and economic depressions, not as severe as the Depression, have occurred, particularly but not limited to, developing countries. Looking at the Depression and today’s arrangements, will a major global depression be looming? This paper begins with a refresher on the events of the Depression, which is followed by the Friedman and Schwartz hypothesis, criticisms against it, other contributing factors to the Depression, a reconciliation of the theories and finally ends with an assessment of the possibility of a return of the Depression in the 21st century based on today’s economic, financial, political, social, and technological considerations.
Keywords: Depression economics; economic crisis; financial crisis; international business.
Corporate Governance, Executive Directors and Level of Voluntary Disclosure: The Case of Public Listed Companies in Thailand
Jakkravudhi Chobpichien
Faculty of Management Science
Suan Dusit Rajabhat University
Daing Nasir Ibrahim & Hasnah Haron
School of Management
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract Ɩ Full Text
This paper extends the literature on voluntary disclosure by reference to a developing country, namely Thailand, through a study of 70 voluntary disclosure items in the corporate annual reports of 317 public listed companies in 2004. The study examined the relationship between the level of voluntary disclosure and a single characteristic of corporate governance characteristics, namely the quality of the board of directors. It further examined the influence of the executive directors on this relationship. The findings suggested that the quality of the board of directors is positively associated with the level of voluntary disclosure, and this association appears to be weaker for firms with an executive director that has the family member, largest shareholder involved compared to the non-family member, largest shareholder and a high concentration of executive directors’ ownership compared to a low concentration of executive directors’ ownership. This effect is further exacerbated when board of directors’ quality levels increase. It was found that an executive director that has the family member, largest shareholder involved, and a high concentration of executive directors’ ownership are quasi moderators, which means they are both an independent and a moderating variable. As control variables, size of company, auditor type, and earnings return were found to have a significant influence on the level of voluntary disclosure. These results have important implications for good corporate governance policy formulation.
Keywords: Corporate governance; executive directors; firm characteristics; voluntary disclosure; stock exchange of Thailand.
The Cause-and-Effect Linkage Between Quality Management and Balanced Scorecard
Zulnaidi Yaacob & Ommei Kolsum S. Rauter
School of Distance Education
Universiti Sains Malaysia
Abstract Ɩ Full Text
The objective of this study was to scientifically examine the path relationship between Quality Management (QM) and cause-and-effect performance linkage. According to QM literature, many studies have been carried out to investigate the relationship between QM and organisational performance (OP). Nevertheless, the report of these studies seems to ignore the cause-and-effect linkage of OP dimension as discussed in the Balanced Scorecard literature. The findings of this study provided evidence to support the concept of cause and effect linkage of performance dimension.
Keywords: Quality management; balanced scorecard; performance.
Performance-Based Pay: An Empirical Study in Malaysian Federal Government Linked Companies, Kuching, Sarawak
Azman Ismail, Dayang Nailul Munna Abang Abdullah, Norazila Abd. Aziz & Amat Khairulizan Amat Aswadi
Faculty of Cognitive Sciences & Human Development
Universiti Malaysia Sarawak
Mohd Noor Mohd Shariff
College of Business
Universiti Utara Malaysia
Abstract Ɩ Full Text
Compensation management literature highlights that properly administering performance-based pay may directly affect employee attitudes and behaviours (i.e. job performance and job turnover). Furthermore, a thorough review of such relationships revealed that the effect of performance-based pay on such employee attitudes and behaviours is indirectly affected by perceptions of procedural justice. The nature of this relationship is less emphasised in past research studies. Therefore, a survey method was used to gather 124 usable questionnaires from employees who have worked in the Malaysian Federal Government linked companies in Kuching, Sarawak (GLCKUCHING). A stepwise regression analysis was performed to determine the mediating effect of procedural justice and the findings obtained indicated that procedural justice and performance-based pay were significantly correlated with job performance. However, no significant correlation was found between procedural justice and performance-based pay with job turnover. Results of this study serve as evidence confirming the assertion that procedural justice does act as a partial mediating variable in the performance-based pay models of the organizational sector investigated. This paper also addresses the implications of such findings on compensation theory and practice. In addition, conceptual and methodological limitations, and directions for future research are also discussed.
Keywords: Performance based pay; procedural justice; job performance; and job turnover.
Service Delivery System Practices in Malaysian Hotel Operations: An Exploratory Study
Mohd Rizal Razalli
College of Business
Universiti Utara Malaysia
Abstract Ɩ Full Text
A hotel’s service delivery system is unique because it produces products as well as services. Priorresearch in this area is still scarce especially in the context of the Malaysian service industry. Thispaper investigates the extent of service delivery system practices in Malaysia’s hotels. In doing so, aquestionnaire was sent to all 474 star-rated hotels in Malaysia. A response rate of 19% was received.By using factor analysis and descriptive statistics, the results indicated that the extent of hotel servicedelivery system could be measured by the following seven dimensions – new products/services, customerparticipation, hotel operations layout, push/pull orientation, level of standardisation, use of InformationTechnology (IT), and human resource specialisation. Furthermore, on each dimension, managers ofhotels perceived that their hotels had high introduction of products/services, high customer participationfor service adaptation, mixed operations layout, pull orientation, high standardisation of processes, high use of IT for cost reduction, and low human resource specialisation.
Keywords: Hotel operations practices; service delivery system.
Fiscal Policy, Institutions, and Economic Growth in Asian Countries: Evidence from Pedroni’s Cointegration Approach
Hussin Abdullah
College of Arts and Sciences,
Universiti Utara Malaysia
Muzafar Shah Habibullah & Ahmad Zubaidi Baharumshah
Faculty of Economics and Management
Universiti Putra Malaysia,
Abstract Ɩ Full Text
This paper investigates the relationship between fiscal policy, institutions, and economic growth and also the role of the institution in Asian economies between 1982 and 2001 through the application of Pedroni’s Cointegration approach. It examined two different channels through which fiscal policy and institutions can affect long-run economic growth in Asian economies. The first channel is when aggregate of government expenditure, aggregate of other fiscal variables, and the institution affect the real per capita Gross Domestic Production (GDP) and the second channel is to determine the role of institutions on the real per capita GDP. The Pedroni Cointegration result established a long-run relationship between fiscal policy, institution, and economic growth. We found a positive and statistically significant impact of aggregate of government expenditure and aggregate of other fiscal variables and institution on real per capita GDP. We also found that there is a role of institutions on the real per capita GDP. JEL Classification: C23, H30, H50, O47
Keywords: Economic Growth; Institutions; Aggregate of Government Expenditure; Aggregate of Fiscal Policy; Panel Cointegration; FMOLS.
