It is no doubt that successful companies tend to be those that continually innovate, relying on new technologies and emphasize on skills and knowledge of their employees rather than assets such as plants or machinery. Knowledge being the new engine of corporate development has become one of the great clichés of recent years. Value can be generated by intangibles, which are not always reflected in financial statements. Forward-looking companies have realized that these are an integral part of fully understanding the performance of their business. This study therefore tries to investigate the efficiency of intellectual capital and its performance in Malaysian financial sectors. The results were based on the data taken from 18 companies under financial sector for the year 2007. It was found that the banking sector relied more on intellectual capital followed by insurance companies and Brokerage firms. It was also found that intellectual capital has significant and positive relationships with company's performance measured by profitability and Return on Assets (ROA).

This study analyses the dimensionality of tourist perceived value in a context that is rarely studied, community-based homestay tourism. A survey of 353 tourists to homestay villages was used to examine both functional and experiential aspects of perceived value, and structural equation models were used to verify the validity and reliability of the scales. Tourist perceived value was tested and illustrated through a parsimonious construct with five dimensions: (i) functional value (establishment); (ii) functional value (price); (iii) experiential value (host-guest interaction); (iv) experiential value (activity, culture and knowledge); and (v) emotional value. These dimensions were measured by 20 significant items. The results indicate that functional, emotional and experiential factors are important determinants of the perceived value of community-based homestay tourism. It is therefore recommended that host providers, marketers and governments should pay attention to the order of importance of these value dimensions to increase overall tourist value as well as to better develop the positioning strategies and promotion of this tourism niche.

HALAL-HUB is a concerted effort among the Islamic organizations/bodies such as Halal manufacturers, Halal traders, buyers, and consumers from all over the world. To be the central trading hub for Halal products, Malaysia must intelligently market itself and achieved Halal-hub main objective of providing a credible platform in connecting global Halal supply-chain and certification for Halal Assurance. Existing literature provides a number of examples that illustrate how supply chain strategy and marketing intelligence improve firm’s performance. The literature, however, lacks theoretical support to facilitate an understanding of the magnitude of supply change strategies, structure of halal assurance system and marketing intelligence to support the scope of relational of Halal-hub. This article uses the strategy-structure-performance paradigm to position Halal Hub relative to the nature of relationships within the broader supply chain strategies, Halal Assurance systems and marketing intelligence a firm employs. The framework presented is a first step towards a more holistic and theory-based approach to understanding the link between, supply chain, halal assurance system, marketing intelligence and Halal-hub. This framework also is designed to serve as a basis for future research in this area

Knowledge on furniture consumers' retail patronage will promote and enhance efforts to increase sales at furniture stores and could guide future research. This research therefore was proposed to develop a general model of retail patronage and to empirically test the relationships proposed in the model in the context of furniture market. The objectives of the study include 1) is to review existing retail patronage models and related literature 2) to develop a general framework of retail patronage behavior and 3) to test the model in the furniture store shopping patterns. Based on a review of the literature the study proposed to adapt Darden's patronage model of consumer behavior. 115 data were collected through survey questionnaires and the underlying relationship among the variables that characterize consumers' patronage behavior towards furniture was studied. Statistically it was found that in terms of shopping orientation, the apathetic shopper and the personalizing shopper was influenced by the lifestyle of the consumer and hence influenced the customer patronage. Store image on the other hand was found to enhance the impact on consumer patronage of the furniture store and moreover acted as both the predictor and the moderator.

Materials selection in manufacturing process is an important stage and should be performed in parallel with selection of manufacturing process. In automotive industry, production of green automotive component could utilize the natural sources such as plant fibres. In recent years, several multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) techniques are suggested to choose the best materials for particular application. Materials selection tools for natural fibre composites are studied from past researchers with the summary of the advantage and disadvantages. In addition, new optimization approach in materials selection by using statistical analysis such as multiple linear regression (MLR), response surface methodology (RSM) and Taguchi method (TM) is proposed in this study. The proposed method could evaluate the criteria or attribute in materials selection precisely by analyse the relationship of the parameters, goodness of fit, correlation, analysis of variance (ANOVA), determination of coefficient and the significant criteria in to the desired goal of the design problem.

Abstract-The purpose of the article is to disclose the challenges in sustaining the Malay traditional kuih with differing levels of acceptance among youth in East Coast Peninsular Malaysia. Malay kuih also known as Malay dessert that referring to a product which uses specific raw ingredients; methods; processes; techniques; materials and utensils; and the recipes have been passed down from one generation to other generations. It is part of Malaysian culture, identity and heritage that should be sustained by all generations especially youth. Throughout observation and interviews with youth, age of 18 to 25 years old who are completed their secondary school and basically come from different family backgrounds, the trend of buying pattern among youth towards Malay traditional kuih were influenced by the family, friends and occasions. Six main themes that have been identified are including family, value, knowledge, motivation, way of life and pecuniary. Although all themes were emphasized by youth during the interviews, a closer look revealed that the themes evaluated quite differently based on their age and background. The exhibited divergences are found to be underpinned by different way of life dispositions, which are extremely important and affecting in shaping and influencing values amongst the youth. The results are promising meaningful understanding of the challenges to sustain the Malay traditional kuih among youth, which are reinforced by its complex culture diversities and globalization.

Natural fibre as a reinforcing agent has been widely used in many industries in this era. However, the reinforcing agent devotes a better strength when embedded with a polymer matrix. Nevertheless, the characteristic of natural fibre and polymer matrix are in contrast, as natural fibre is hydrophilic, while polymer is hydrophobic in nature. Natural fibre is highly hydrophilic due to the presence of a hydroxyl group (-OH), while polymer matrix has an inherent hydrophobic characteristic which repels water. This issue has been fixed by modifying the natural fibre’s surface using a chemical treatment combining an alkaline treatment and a silane coupling agent. This modifying process of natural fibre might reduce the attraction of water and moisture content and increase natural fibre surface roughness, which improves the interfacial bonding between these two phases. In this paper, the effect of alkaline and silane treatment has been proven by performing the mechanical test, Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM), and Fourier Transform Infrared spectrometry (FTIR) to observe the surface structure. The chemical compositions and thermal properties of the composites have been obtained by performing Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC) and Thermogravimetric Analysis (TGA) tests. 1.0% silane treatment displayed better strength performance as compared to other composites, which was proven by performing Scanning Electron Micrograph (SEM). The assumption is that by enduring chemical treatment, kenaf fibre composites could develop high performance in industry applications.

This study examines the effect of the entrepreneur’s innovativeness and absorptive capacity on micro-enterprise innovativeness and the performance of micro-enterprises owned and managed by women micro-entrepreneurs in Peninsular Malaysia. This study adopted a cross-sectional design and stratified sampling methods, and collected complete data from 417 micro-entrepreneurs. Findings of this study reveal that women micro-entrepreneurs’ innovativeness and absorptive capacity have a significant positive effect on micro-enterprise innovativeness and the performance of micro-enterprises. The development programmes and policies on innovation and SMEs should therefore emphasize on promoting innovativeness and improving the absorptive capacity among the women micro-entrepreneurs to improve the performance of micro-enterprises.