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Management, marketing and branding and strategy.

Undergraduate and postgraduate management courses.

This is a real-life case involving a confectionery manufacturer in Malaysia where it has grown over the years. As the market becomes more competitive, more challenges are confronting the company. Although there is still profit to be made, the margin is declining. Hence, the management of King's Biscuits Berhad must embark on the marketing environment scanning to prepare the company for future challenges and to ensure continued existence. As in the case of most strategy cases, little guidance was available for the students to reflect upon.

With the completion of this case study; student will be able to familiarize with the exercise of marketing environment scanning, determine the branding, product lines and positioning issues, adopt the marketing mix concept into real practice, and have the opportunity to visualize a true business scenario and simulate their minds and thinking towards managing a business.

Teaching note.

This paper aims to explore the construction of a valid and reliable measure for the competitiveness of cities that excludes the drivers of competitiveness from the index construction. Not incorporating these drivers in the index avoids the problem of assuming relative contributions (i.e. weights) of these drivers on competitiveness as a maintained hypothesis.

From the definition that competitiveness is the ability of a city to sustain prosperity, this study derives a model called the hedonic well-being index (HWI) in which prosperity is measured by using the consumption of goods and service including leisure. This study then uses secondary data sources to construct an exploratory HWI (assuming a Cobb Douglas functional form) and compare this index to three benchmarks, namely, income, gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and the World Happiness Report (WHR) index. This study also review the component expenditure of the index across geographical locations.

The HWI is better predicted by the WHR index (a subjective well-being index) than by the GDP per capita (a measure of output), owing to the inclusion of leisure and household production absent in per capita GDP. This study explored and found regional variations in the distribution of the expenditure components in the HWI.

This paper demonstrates the feasibility of constructing an exploratory HWI to measure the competitiveness of cities using secondary data. The reliability of the index can be improved using primary data in future research. Separating the drivers from the definition of competitiveness allows testing of the contribution and interaction of these drivers on competitiveness.

To enhance and promote quality construction, the Construction Quality Assessment System (CONQUAS) was introduced in Singapore in 1989 to evaluate the quality performance of building contractors using numerical scores. Apart from the CONQUAS system, the ISO 9000 quality management standards were also introduced in the Singapore construction industry in 1991. Is there a relationship between certification to ISO 9000 standards and the achievement of higher construction quality standards as indicated by CONQUAS scores? As several years have passed since the introduction of the CONQUAS system and ISO 9000 in the Singapore construction industry, this paper aims to ascertain if the implementation and certification of quality management systems to ISO 9000 standards in construction firms has helped them to achieve higher construction quality standards through higher CONQUAS scores.

The organizational culture–performance link is fundamental to organization development and building a high-performance culture is a responsibility of leaders. The claim of a culture–performance link is most visible in the 1980s (e.g. In Search of Excellence) but is replaced by skepticism by the 1990s. Using conclusion validity as the framework, the purpose of this paper is to synthesize cross-disciplinary literature in organization studies and the emerging sub-field of organizational economics to lay a foundation to establish the link rigorously.

The drivers of conclusion validity – internal validity, external validity and construct validity – guided the literature search and review. The author began with the concepts of organizational culture and performance, examined the organizational economic literature for the causal culture–performance link (internal validity), reviewed the organization studies literature on the debates in the measurement of organizational culture (external and construct validity) and examined the debate if organizational culture can be managed (internal validity).

Organizational economics (which conceptualizes organizational culture as shared beliefs) shows that cultures that are more homogeneous, encourage teamwork and have a clear mission, enhance organizational performance. In measuring culture, survey instruments using the process-oriented approach can rely on these results to strengthen their construct validity. In the search for the organizational culture–performance link, non-cultural factors affecting performance have to be included as control variables.

The weaknesses of early research on the organizational culture–performance link become clear when examined with the conclusion validity framework. This clearness shows the way toward a rigorous empirical analysis.

This review provides guidance for researchers to evaluate published studies on the organizational culture–performance link. It also helps researchers to design new studies with stronger conclusion validity.

This paper aims to empirically examine the factors that affect the adoption of online banking in Vietnam. Perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, trust and government support were examined to determine if these factors are affecting online banking adoption.

A survey was distributed to 156 respondents in Vietnam with 103 usable samples giving a response rate of 66 percent. Data were analyzed by employing correlation and multiple regression analysis.

The results showed that perceived usefulness, trust and government support all positively associated with the intention to use online banking in Vietnam. Contrary to the technology acceptance model, perceived ease of use was found to be not significant in this study.

This study was conducted in Vietnam and future research can use this model to study the adoption of online banking in other countries.

The results allow banks' decision makers to develop strategies that can increase the adoption of online banking. Banks should improve the security and privacy of the web sites, which will increase the trust of users. Banks should also create features which are useful to users and make sure users are aware of these features. Lastly, government should also play a role to support banks in their efforts to increase online banking adoption.

The findings allow the factors that can influence the adoption of online banking in Vietnam to be understood. Unlike existing studies based on Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study includes both security and government support on top of the existing variables used in TAM. Most studies on adoption of online banking are focused on developed countries. By focusing on Vietnam, this model can also be applied to other countries which are relatively new to e‐commerce and online banking.

The purpose of this paper is to critically explore business‐to‐business critical success factors (B2B CSFs) for small and medium‐sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in the Chinese B2B marketplace, evaluate the findings, and use the generated CSFs to propose a framework to assist in the marketing management of B2B in China. The proposed framework provides a guideline for academics and practitioners and highlights the significant role of each factor in developing and sustaining effective B2B electronic commerce (B2B e‐commerce) practice for SMEs.

The proposed framework is constructed by combining the empirical findings and B2B literature. The quantitative (online survey) was targeted at, proprietors, chief executive officers, managing directors, general managers, sales/marketing managers and export managers in selected SMEs that participated in B2B electronic marketplace (B2B e‐marketplace) in China. The data received from the recipients were processed on SPSS to conduct factor analysis to identify whether a factor structure underlies the correlations between a number of variables.

The findings are indicative of two sets of internal and external critical factors, including: successful customer relationships, supply chain facilities, global competition, information system/information technology (IS/IT) infrastructure and performances, information visibility, top management support and commitment, government encouragement and commitment, security and trust, and cultural consideration.

SME managers can derive a better understanding and measurement of marketing activities that appropriately balance between traditional and B2B e‐commerce practice. At the same time, the CSF can be integrated into the companies to determine the level of marketing performance in B2B e‐marketplace.

The paper's findings provide new theoretical grounds for research into B2B relationships in the digital business environment. The paper also provides an empirical assessment of the essential components in B2B e‐commerce adaptation, and implications for the means to prioritize CSF.

The purpose of this paper is to compare two corruption scandals in Singapore to illustrate how its government has dealt with these scandals and to discuss the implications for its anti-corruption strategy.

This paper analyses the Teh Cheang Wan and Edwin Yeo scandals by relying on published official and press reports.

Both scandals resulted in adverse consequences for the offenders. Teh committed suicide on 14 December 1986 before he could be prosecuted for his bribery offences. Yeo was found guilty of criminal breach of trust and forgery and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment. The Commission of Inquiry found that the Corrupt Practices Investigation Bureau (CPIB) was thorough in its investigations which confirmed that only Teh and no other minister or public official were implicated in the bribery offences. The Independent Review Panel appointed by the Prime Minister's Office to review the CPIB's internal controls following Yeo's offences recommended improvements to strengthen the CPIB's financial procedures and audit system. Singapore has succeeded in minimising corruption because its government did not cover-up the scandals but punished the guilty offenders and introduced measures to prevent their recurrence.

This paper will be useful for scholars, policymakers and anti-corruption practitioners interested in Singapore's anti-corruption strategy and how its government handles corruption scandals.

The purpose of this paper is to show how QFD can be used as part of a structured planning and analysis framework for micro‐sized enterprises to build‐up their e‐business capabilities.

This case study has been produced using a new framework which integrates the balanced scorecard, value chain and quality function deployment techniques into an integrated framework known as the E‐Business Planning and Analysis Framework (E‐PAF). It has been produced using an action research approach.

A new framework with a supporting case study is provided. This case study has demonstrated that the framework can be applied successfully to micro‐sized enterprises (those with less than ten employees) to successfully plan new strategic and technical developments. This will enhance the online service that the company is able to provide.

This paper presents a single case study. The technical recommendations are currently being implemented.

Such analytical techniques are most commonly associated with large organisations, and are not specifically associated with e‐business planning. This paper provides a new framework that will be of general applicability to other similarly sized enterprises that are looking to improve e‐business capabilities.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between total quality management (TQM) practices and customer satisfaction and also to investigate the association between TQM practices and service quality within the context of Malaysia's small service organizations.

The paper uses data from the perceptions of sales and marketing managers in 108 small service organizations in Malaysia. Data were analyzed by employing correlation and multiple regression analysis to test the relationship between TQM practices, customer satisfaction and service quality.

The results showed that TQM practices are significantly and positively linked to customer satisfaction and service quality of the small service business firms. It was further confirmed that the dimensions of customer focus and information and analysis were strongly linked to customer satisfaction and service quality.

The results of this paper can be used by marketing/sales managers to prioritize the adoption of the dimensions for TQM practices. For instance, those dimensions that are found to have positive influence on customer satisfaction and service quality can be recommended to marketing/sales managers so that they can allocate resources to improve these practices to achieve higher customer satisfaction and quality of service.

This paper identifies two dimensions of TQM namely, customer focus and information and analysis that can influence customer satisfaction and service quality in Malaysia's small service business firms.

The collapse of the Malaysian exchange rate and the stock market during the Asian financial crisis had elevated uncertainties in the financial market and increased the instability of the bank stock returns. Whilst it is commonly known that the crisis rooted from a complex interplay of various factors, there seemed to exist some fundamental and systemic problems in the banking sector. Besides, the challenges from the wave of financial globalization also urged the authorities to conduct structural enhancement in the sector. This paper briefly outlined the main aspects of the Malaysian bank merger program, and tracked as well as evaluated the effects of the program on the volatility of the Malaysian bank stock returns. It was found that the proposed merger did bring about stability for the banks’ stock prices and returns, especially after the initial consolidation announcement of 29 July 1999 based on the estimations of conditional variances. The analysis also documented a persistency positive risk returns tradeoff and asymmetrical news effects in the bank stocks before the announcement. After the announcement, bank stocks clearly enjoyed a huge reduction in the volatilities and the asymmetrical news effects.