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PurposeThe purpose of this study is to examine the organisational capabilities needed for strategic agility among private higher education institutions (HEIs) in Malaysia that are operating in a turbulent business environment. In addition, the study also intends to determine the area of prioritisation for these institutions.Design/methodology/approachA two-month data collection was carried out on 375 private HEIs via a Web-based survey, which garnered a response rate of 41.33%. The data were subsequently analysed with the partial least squares structural equation modelling to establish the validity and reliability of the research model and to test the postulated hypotheses. The assessment of importance and performance matrix analysis (IPMA) was also carried out to highlight the areas of significance for improvement.FindingsThe study discovered that all three constructs of organisational capabilities, i.e. environmental scanning, marketing and organisational learning, attributed significantly to strategic agility. This in turn enabled strategic agility to significantly influence the organisational performance of private HEIs in Malaysia. Finally, IPMA revealed that private HEIs need to prioritise organisational learning to strengthen their strategic agility, thus optimise organisational performance.Originality/valueAside from business and management research of strategic agility in other industries, the current study manages to establish that strategic agility also plays an important role in the private higher education sector. Furthermore, the use of IPMA provides fresh insight into the importance and performance of the organisational capabilities examined against strategic agility.

PurposeThe purpose of this research is to examine the effect of kaizen culture on innovation and operational performance of electrical and electronic manufacturing companies in Malaysia. A research framework, with underpinning theories of dynamic capabilities and socio-technical systems, was conceptualized to investigate the interplay of these relationships.Design/methodology/approachData were collected from 123 manufacturing companies using an online survey and analyzed with IBM SPSS Statistics version 24.0 and the partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) (SmartPLS) version 3.2.8.FindingsUltimately, the findings proved that kaizen culture is crucial for organizations to optimize their operational performance and can be nurtured through the implementation of process innovation and organizational innovation.Originality/valueUnlike past studies, this research examines the concepts of innovation, kaizen culture and operational performance in a single study; thus, provides further opportunities for new discoveries through such relationships. Also, the novelty is identifying that kaizen culture can be nurtured via innovation.

Strategic agility arises from the capabilities of people. Ultimately, in today’s turbulent business landscape, organisations need strategic agility to acquire the dynamism to achieve their goals. The main purpose of the study is to examine the relationship between people, strategic agility, and organisational performance. The partial least squares equation modelling technique (PLS-SEM) was utilised on a dataset of 155 private higher learning institutions in Malaysia. The results did not support the direct relationship between people and organisational performance. Instead, it confirmed the mediating effect of strategic agility in the relationship. This finding provided significant contribution as strategic agility, created by people, was empirically proven as a crucial link that needs to be prioritised by private higher learning institutions in Malaysia. With strategic agility, private higher learning institutions will be able to optimise their performance in order to attain business sustainability in the current dynamic market.

Kaizen culture is extremely crucial for manufacturing companies operating in the electrical and electronics (E&E) industry in Malaysia. The productivity gains of the E&E industry is on a gradual downward trend, made worse by the current Covid-19 pandemic crisis. However, this trend could be arrested if kaizen culture is nurtured within the organization. Having kaizen culture will foster a culture of continuous improvements which is essential for productivity, thus increasing operational performance. The main aim of this study is to examine the impact of kaizen culture on operational performance as well as establishing the key attributes of kaizen culture. The data was collected through a survey conducted on 248 E&E manufacturing companies of which 127 responded. Results indicated kaizen culture having a significant positive influence on operational performance. Among the four key attributes of kaizen culture, management support ranked the highest, while kaizen promotion office ranked the lowest. For practitioners, this study confirmed that kaizen culture is vital for the optimization of operational performance to increase global competitiveness.