Saudi Ports, is one of the busiest seaports in the world and the biggest ports in the Middle East, which is facing challenges from different ports such as Salalah and Dubai ports especially in the cargo section, which can release their cargoes and goods in a short time without any congestion of stock. The current challenges of Saudi Ports Authority are the overstock of cargo which is the result of low performance of workers at cargo field. This paper investigated the root of this problem based on the role of the human resource practices such as training and development, reward, job analysis, social support, recruitment and selection, employee relationship and empowerment, employee satisfaction into employee performance. In other words, the current study explored to know whether HRM practices offer direct impact on the employee performance or through employees' job satisfaction on employee performance to solve the said problem. The study analysed the 367 Saudi port authority employees' data and found a positive significant relationship between HRM practices and employee performance. Furthermore, the current study revealed a positive relationship between employee job satisfaction and employee performance. Moreover, the present study found the insignificant relationship between HRM practices and employee job satisfaction but reported no significant mediating role of employee job satisfaction between HRM practices and employee performance.

A sample of 101 companies is selected randomly from Bursa Malaysia during the period 2005-2009 where two models are used to analyze the relationships between financial distress and firms’ characteristics and risk. The dependent variables are long-term debt to total equity ratio and short-term debt to total equity ratio. The independent variables are profitability, liquidity, firm size, solvency, growth and risk. Size is found to be significant and has a positive relationship with financial distress. Interest coverage ratio has a positive relationship with financial distress, while growth of operating profits has a negative relationship with financial distress. Corporate managers should use these indicators to detect early signs of financial distress and take innovative actions to prevent such occurrences.

No abstract

Purpose This paper aims to derive determinants of loan loss provisions (LLPs) of commercial banks in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach A single-stage panel data analysis multiple regression model that contains a mixture of quantitative and qualitative elements is used. The LLPs is a dependent variable or regressor, and non-performing loan (NPL), interest income, net profit, loans and advances and gross domestic product (GDP) are the independent variables or regressor/explanatory variables. The moderating variable is “credit risk management” (CRM) and the intervening variable is “relevance and faithful representation”. Findings This paper suggests in LLPs, NPLs, interest income, loans and advances, net profit and GDP, as well as the moderating effect of CRM and the intervening effect of relevance and faithful representation, are determinants of the LLPs. The moderating variable CRM strengthens the relationship between the independent variables and the dependent variable. The intervening variable “relevance and faithful representation” brings about a more accurate reporting on the levels of the LLPs. Practical implications The association of the factors is investigated further to detect possible effect of multicollinearity and research to better understand how banks manage their risk as the current investigation is limited to banks in Malaysia. Social implications Loan loss provisioning issues of commercial banks in Malaysia are challenges for both regulators and the banking industry owing to the implementation of several new measures, the convergence with internationally accepted accounting standards and differences in loan grading and applications of different loan loss provisioning standards. Because of these challenges, Bank Negara Malaysia (the Central Bank of Malaysia) has tightened its supervision of commercial banks to ensure that banks are sufficiently and adequately provisioned. The banking sector plays a significant role, and it is important that it is resilient in the face of potential sources of systemic risk. And, like in other major ASEAN economies, the Malaysian’s financial system remains largely bank-dominated. Originality/value This study discovers whether Malaysian banks are sufficiently provisioned for the regional financial integration under the ASEAN Capital Markets Forum (ACMF) by the end of 2015, where several initiates have been initiated, including the harmonization of standards to encourage greater intra-regional investment flows and transactions and continued provisions of the much needed funds by the region’s private sectors.

The primary objective of this paper is to investigate the mediation role of port supply chain integration between Human Resource Management (HRM) practices and port performance (PP) in Kingdome of Saudi Arabia. The present study employed partial lest square structural equation modeling technique to analyze the collected data. The study found some positive significant direct relationship between HRP, port supply chain integration (PSCI) and PP. Besides, this study also found some positive and significant relationship between HRP and PSCI. Additionally, the study confirms the mediating role of PSCI between HRP and PP. The study contributes to the literature and to the practice of ports to understand how the process of HRP and PSCI produces better port performance.