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The purpose of this paper is to discuss the organizational performance and entrepreneurial orientation of Malaysian Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). Literature has shown that leadership and entrepreneurial orientation are important for organizational performance but still inadequate. Thus, this investigation hopes to close this gap in the literature and contribute to a new understanding of relationships between leadership and organizational performance, and entrepreneurial orientation served as a mediator. This study comprised a sample of owners or managers in the manufacturing and service sectors of SMEs located in Kuala Lumpur and Selangor, as their largest representation of SME establishments and significant contributions to Malaysia economy. A cross-sectional research design was used to examine the relationships between leadership behavior, entrepreneurial orientation and organizational performance among SMEs. The respondent’s lists were sought from the SME Corp. Malaysia at http://www.smecorp.gov.my and http://www.smeinfo.com.my. Data were gathered based on a mailed questionnaire and personal administered questionnaires. The findings indicate that entrepreneurial orientation acted as a partial mediator in the relationship between leadership behavior and organizational performance. Transformational leadership and transactional leadership were found to have a significant relationship with entrepreneurial orientation and organizational performance of SMEs. An important implication of this research indicated that both transformational and transactional leadership behavior positively increased the individual outcome and lead to higher organizational performance.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the extent of entrepreneurial competencies and innovation on business success in SMEs in Malaysia. Specifically, this study tested the mediating role of product innovation and process innovation between the relationship of entrepreneurial competencies and business success. The statical sample population of this research includes 407 owner and manager involved in SMEs, both manufacturing and services & other sectors. For data collection, a standard questionnaire using seven-point Likert scale and 72 items was used to evaluate 12 entrepreneurial competencies (strategic competency, commitment competency, conceptual competency, opportunity competency, organising and leading competency, relationship competency, learning competency, personal competency, technical competency, familism competency, ethical competency & social responsibility competency), seven items for innovation (product & process innovation) and, ten items for business success (financial & non-financial). Four hypotheses were developed in this study. The SPSS version 21.0 and Structural equation model (SEM)-AMOS version 21.0 techniques were used. The findings indicate that there is a positive and significant relationship between the entrepreneurial competencies and innovation on business success in SMEs. Moreover, there is a positive and significant relationship between all dimension of competencies and business success. The product innovation and process innovation served as partial mediator between entrepreneurial competencies and business success. Limitations and implications for future studies are discussed.

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Abstract-Today, we observe widespread application of the internet, both synchronous and asynchronous communication, by educators in many worldwide classes. Weblog (blog or web log) can be one of the instructional and integral components for ESL instructors. By applying interview and observation, this study reports on ESL students' experience and perceptions in applying weblog throughout a semester in a writing class in Malaysia. Besides, this study examined the effect of using Weblog on students' writing autonomy. The findings revealed that students enjoyed the process of publishing their writings, and exchanging their experience in the weblog. Students also acknowledged weblog as a tool which provides more opportunities to publish their writing freely, extend their interaction with their peers outside the class setting, be able to publish and share interesting videos, have the chance to look for the appropriate materials in the World Wide Web (WWW) and check their sentences in the Google simultaneously. Students enjoyed some features in weblog which cannot be found in conventional modes of teaching and learning, such as experiencing unlimited time and place, more independency and freedom in publishing and exchanging comments. With the empirical data presented in this study, weblog can be applied as a suitable instructional tool to promote autonomy among language learners.

In the age of computer mediated technology, the effects of the internet applications on learners' performance have been broadly investigated by many researchers. In keeping with this trend, this study compared the effect of conventional tools as pen-and-paper, and e-mail, on the writing performance in terms of content, organization, language use, vocabulary and mechanics. Forty two English major students from one intact class at Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), based on their grades in "Expository Writing", as a subject taken in the previous semester, were randomly assigned into two groups, namely: pen-and-paper dialogue journal and e-mail dialogue journal. Pre and post writing tests were administered to identify two groups' differences in their writing performance scores. After going through seven week intervention, quantitative research results revealed that e-mail group outperformed their counterparts in overall writing performance and language use, one of the categories. However, for other writing performance components, this research showed no significant difference between groups. With the empirical data offered in this study, e-mail can be applied as a suitable tool to assist language learner to improve their writing performance.

The usage of education and social science research instruments is the most important component in determining research design because it involves the process of data collection and the retrieval of correct information to be reported as a process in the results of a study. Since the measurement scales used consist of many forms, such as the Thurstone technique, the Likert scale, semantic difference, and categorical scales, in which "Yes" (1) or "No" (0) is labeled with numbers ordered according to priority. Through earlier analyses, the accuracy of the usage of these scales can be argued because each of the scores does not have clear and concrete proofs. Because of that, an instrument creation approach based on the form of rubric score is interpreted to a 5-point ordinal scale. For example, the process of constructing an instrument for a study titled "Creativity Aided Pedagogy" requires discreet literature readings to determine the constructs, sub-constructs, and variables, which possess descriptors in the rubric form. An instrument determining table is developed to summarise the related elements until an item that can measure a construct or sub-construct is produced. After the validation process is conducted and a pilot study is executed, the item analysis to determine the status of the statement can be explained by the score of every rubric objectively and systematically. For example, for the construct of a teaching aid, the mean score recorded was 3.2, which is at the average level (standard criteria). However, whiteboards are used frequently compared with other forms of teaching aids, such as charts and manila cards. For the effect of using electronic teaching aids in the centralisation process, the mean score recorded was 3.8, which is good or high. However, there are also shown weaknesses, where the teacher is not using liquid crystal display (LCD) (16.4%). The dominant factor that encouraging the teacher is to use compact disc (CD) (63.0%) as a creative aided pedagogy. Furthermore, the effect of using a creative aided pedagogy is high (minimum score 4.1) and it has a significant effect on the teaching and learning processes, but teachers need to spend more time on teaching preparation. It is hoped that the process of transforming the

This paper is to investigate the impact of key factors that influence the development of entrepreneurial competencies in Malaysian SMEs, both in the manufacturing sector and services sector. This is vital because the economy of Malaysia is partially depending on the contribution of SMEs and the roles played by SMEs. The statical sample population of this research includes 407 owners and manager involved in SMEs. For data collection, a standard questionnaire using seven-point Likert scale and 72 items were used to evaluate 12 entrepreneurial competencies and four items that influence the development of entrepreneurial competencies. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 21 and SEM-Amos version 21. The results confirmed, education was significantly affecting the development of entrepreneurial competencies among entrepreneurs, while the training before business set-up, training after business set-up and work experience have no effect on the development of entrepreneurial competencies. The results contributed to the development of theoretical contribution and knowledge base, as well as offering results that will be of interest to research and policy communities. The results are limited to quantitative, using cross-sectional data. The direction for future research are also suggested.