Explores the behaviour of transnational corporations (TNCs) in Malaysianmanufacturing firms in relation to employment absorption, human capitalformation and technological change…
Abstract
Explores the behaviour of transnational corporations (TNCs) in Malaysian manufacturing firms in relation to employment absorption, human capital formation and technological change, based on a survey of 60 firms randomly selected within the major manufacturing establishments in Malaysia. Argues that TNCs exert an influence in promoting employment, training and innovation and adopt a much more proactive policy towards HRD than the local firms in Malaysia. However, their reluctance to participate and invest substantially in local R&D could result in a gradual reduction of technology flow and stifle the development of domestic innovative capacity. Policy measures are therefore required to induce TNCs to undertake greater R&D activities in Malaysia, and such measures should be conceived in the broader context of the indigenous technological development policy of the country.
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Bawa Chafe Abdullah and Wan Nor Azriyati Wan Abd Aziz
In 2000, Federal Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (MFCT), Abuja launched a mass housing scheme (MHS) under the platform of a public-private partnership (PPP). This paper…
Abstract
In 2000, Federal Ministry of the Federal Capital Territory (MFCT), Abuja launched a mass housing scheme (MHS) under the platform of a public-private partnership (PPP). This paper reports an evaluation of this reform in order to understand the scheme's impact on the cohort of low-income group (LIG) in Abuja, Nigeria. The study explores the multiple data sources available, including literature and policy material and empirical evidence collected through structured and semi-structured questionnaires. The findings of the study suggest that the scheme did not significantly improve the housing status of LIG. The research suggests that the cohorts' history of exclusion in housing delivery in the Abuja deepened further due to partly an inadequate mortgage infrastructure to support their participation. Moreover, with poor scheme implementation, it is clear that the scheme strengthened the polarised position of the Abuja with respect to housing which runs counter to the stated policy objective to provide all Nigerians with decent and affordable housing. The paper concludes by showing the wider implication of the contemporary approach of the housing strategy in Abuja and Nigeria in general.
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Islamic finance and Halal product sectors are thriving successfully. This chapter is a general review of the perception of Asian consumers on Islamic finance and Halal sectors in…
Abstract
Purpose
Islamic finance and Halal product sectors are thriving successfully. This chapter is a general review of the perception of Asian consumers on Islamic finance and Halal sectors in the global Halal economy.
Methodology/approach
The first section will briefly describe the Halal concept in both Islamic finance and Halal industries, and the growth of both sectors in Asian countries. The second part highlights the review of Asian consumers’ perception towards Islamic finance products and Halal products.
Findings
The review found that the consumers’ perception towards the Islamic finance products and Halal products is distinctive. This is due to the diversity of Asian countries in terms of geography, religion, culture, ethnic, school of thoughts (madzahib), income per capita and government’s involvement.
Originality/value
The third part of the chapter concentrates on planning towards Halal marketing, which involves the move and future challenges in different layers of industries to gear up and strengthen the Halal economy.
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Safinar Salleh, Akmal Hidayah Halim, Uzaimah Ibrahim and Mohamad Asmadi Abdullah
A family takaful certificate is subscribed by a takaful participant for the purpose of preparing financial support for his dependants after his death. The takaful benefits could…
Abstract
A family takaful certificate is subscribed by a takaful participant for the purpose of preparing financial support for his dependants after his death. The takaful benefits could then be made payable to a nominee named as the beneficiary under conditional hibah (gift). In this respect, the participant is free to decide to whom the benefits are to be given since the law is silent as to the criteria of the beneficiary. This situation gives rise to the issue on whether such a practice fulfils the objectives of Sharīʿah, especially when the nominated beneficiary is not the sole dependant of the deceased participant. Therefore, this research aims to evaluate the status of family takaful benefits, analyse the rules of conditional hibah from the Sharīʿah perspective and propose solutions whenever necessary. The research adopts doctrinal analysis by examining existing primary and secondary materials including statutory provisions and other legal and non-legal literatures. The study predicates that the application of conditional hibah to the whole benefits does not reflect the objectives of Sharīʿah if determination on the status of the benefits is solely based on the nomination made by the participant. It is observed that takaful benefits payable from the Participant’s Account should be considered as the deceased’s estate and must be distributed according to fara’id or Islamic law of inheritance. Conversely, the sum covered payable from the Participant’s Special Account may be paid to the deceased’s dependants whose criteria are determined by the Sharīʿah Advisory Council as the highest authority in Islamic financial matters.
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Chang Da Wan and Doria Abdullah
The purpose of this paper is to examine the policies and practices of internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia, and to specifically explore how Sustainable Development…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the policies and practices of internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia, and to specifically explore how Sustainable Development Goals are translated into policies and practices.
Design/methodology/approach
This paper takes a chronological and historical approach to examine policies and practices on internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia. This includes identifying patterns, trends and shifts on internationalisation at the system and institutional levels.
Findings
At the system level, Malaysia has transformed from a sending to receiving country, from being an aid recipient to an equal partner, and from a host to a provider. At the institutional level, internationalisation transforms from a fad to a norm, and from having unilateral collaboration to setting up multinational collaborations with international partners. Equally important, the paper discusses the role of internationalisation to address the global Sustainable Development Goals, and identify policy gaps at the national level and the de facto practices of Sustainable Development Goals at the institutional level.
Originality/value
This paper charts the changes of internationalisation of higher education in Malaysia, and importantly, shows gaps to incorporate the global Sustainable Development Goals and to relate this global agenda to the internationalisation of higher education.
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Abdullahi Ahmed Umar, Noor Amila Wan Abdullah Zawawi and Abdul Rashid Abdul Aziz
This study aims to seek, on the basis of Hofstede's culture consequences, to explore the notion that regional characteristics may influence the prioritisation of certain types of…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to seek, on the basis of Hofstede's culture consequences, to explore the notion that regional characteristics may influence the prioritisation of certain types of public-private partnerships (PPP) contract governance skills over others. It further sets out to determine which skills are considered the most critical between the groups of respondents surveyed.
Design/methodology/approach
To bring this important and neglected perspective into the mainstream of PPP discussions, the study, being of an exploratory nature, relied on a survey of 340 respondents from around the globe. The respondents are a rich mix of public policy experts, economists, construction professionals, project finance experts, lawyers and academic researchers in PPP.s.
Findings
Analysis revealed that, regional characteristics was an important factor influencing skills prioritisation. Furthermore, exploratory factor analysis with Monte Carlo principal component analysis (PCA) confirmation revealed that project management, contract design, negotiations, performance management and stakeholder management skills were very critical for successful contract management of PPP projects.
Practical implications
The findings indicate that the design and implementation of regulatory governance for infrastructure PPPs should be context-specific rather than the current one-size-fits all model. Training should be tailored to reflect regional specific characteristics.
Originality/value
Studies are increasingly pointing to the absence of critical PPP skills among institutions responsible for managing PPP contracts. This lack of capacity has resulted in poor oversight of private companies providing public services resulting in poor services, and financial recklessness, which threaten the sustainability of service provision.
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Abdullahi Ahmed Umar, Noor Amila Wan Abdullah Zawawi and Abdul-Rashid Abdul-Aziz
The purpose of this study is to explore the skills required by regulatory agencies for effective governance of public-private partnership (PPP) contracts from the perspective of…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the skills required by regulatory agencies for effective governance of public-private partnership (PPP) contracts from the perspective of Malaysian regulators. There is a growing literature indicating that there is poor public sector expertise in managing PPP projects.
Design/methodology/approach
The study, being an exploratory one, relied on a questionnaire survey of the Malaysian PPP unit (UKAS) and five Malaysian regulatory agencies responsible for regulating service delivery across a number of sectors.
Findings
The results of the exploratory factor analysis returned six factor groupings, indicating that the most important skills are procurement, auditing and forensic accounting, lifecycle costing, sector-specific, negotiation analysis and performance management. It was also found that academic qualifications, profession, years of experience and the regulatory agency had no mediating effect on the rankings.
Practical implications
The findings show that infrastructure regulation training programs should be tailored to reflect regional and country-specific characteristics. This is because a similar study with a globalised set of respondents gave a different result from the current study.
Originality/value
There is a growing trend towards remunicipalisations and contract cancellations globally. This is the very outcome that regulatory agencies were created to prevent. Studies including government reports are increasingly pointing in the direction of poor skills set among public sector staff managing PPPs. This lack of capacity has resulted in poor oversight, which now threatens the sustainability of service provision.
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Abdullahi Ahmed Umar, Noor Amila Wan Abdullah Zawawi and Abdul-Rashid Abdul-Aziz
The purpose of this paper is to explore the skills required for effective contract management of public–private partnership (PPP) projects over their contract duration. The…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the skills required for effective contract management of public–private partnership (PPP) projects over their contract duration. The growing body of literature indicating the lack of expertise in managing PPP-related projects within the public sector prompted this study.
Design/methodology/approach
The study, being an exploratory one, relied on a survey of 207 survey responses from a sample of PPP experts across the globe. The data from the survey are a rich mix of responses from public policy experts, construction professionals, project finance experts, lawyers and academic researchers in PPP.
Findings
It was found through exploratory factor analysis that project management, financial engineering, negotiations, risk management, forecasting, stakeholder management and technical skills were very critical for successful contract management of PPP projects. It was also found that regional characteristics influence skills prioritisation.
Research limitations/implications
The results of this study can be validated on larger data sets in specific countries and across regions, sectors and variety of PPP projects. Currently, the authors conducted a general survey using convenience sampling.
Practical implications
The results send a clear signal to practitioners that infrastructure regulation training programs cannot be generalised. Training should be tailored to reflect regional and country-specific characteristics.
Originality/value
The increasing failures and remunicipalisations of privately financed infrastructures is a cause for concern. Little attention has been given to the complicity of PPP regulatory institutions responsible for contract governance of such projects. Studies are increasingly pointing to the absence of critical PPP skills among institutions responsible for managing PPP contracts. This lack of capacity has resulted in poor oversight of private companies providing public services resulting in poor services, and financial recklessness which threaten the sustainability of service provision.
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Ameen Qasem, Norhani Aripin and Wan Nordin Wan-Hussin
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of financial restatements on the sell-side analysts' stock recommendations.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of financial restatements on the sell-side analysts' stock recommendations.
Design/methodology/approach
The sample of this study is based on a dataset from a panel of 246 Malaysian public listed companies for the period 2008 to 2013 (651 company-year observations). This study employs feasible generalized least squares regression.
Findings
This study finds a negative and significant relationship between restated companies and sell-side analysts' stock recommendations, which means that sell-side analysts issue less favorable stock recommendations for restated companies.
Practical implications
The findings based on observations from an emerging economy complement the results of the US studies that analysts revise their earnings forecasts or recommendations downwards or drop coverage following financial restatements. The results of this study should be useful to capital market participants in understanding how analysts perceive and evaluate restated companies.
Originality/value
This paper expands the literature on financial restatements consequences in an emerging market which is largely unstudied. Prior research on analyst behavior towards restatements has focused on the consequences of restatements in terms of analyst following and forecast accuracy and dispersion. This study examines if and how the restatements affect the analysts' final output as reflected in the recommendation opinion, an area that has so far received little attention.
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Nur Laili Ab Ghani, Noraini Mohd Ariffin and Abdul Rahim Abdul Rahman
This study aims to assess the extent of the mandatory and voluntary Shariah compliance disclosure in the Shariah Committee Report of Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) in…
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to assess the extent of the mandatory and voluntary Shariah compliance disclosure in the Shariah Committee Report of Islamic financial institutions (IFIs) in Malaysia. The study highlights the accountability and transparency of the Shariah Committee members to provide full disclosure of relevant Shariah compliance information to the stakeholders.
Design/methodology/approach
The study adopts content analysis to quantify and code the number of sentences in the Shariah Committee Report disclosed in the 2016 annual report of 47 IFIs in Malaysia. The extent of Shariah compliance disclosure in the Shariah Committee Report is measured based on the Standard (S) and Guidance (G) items outlined in the Shariah Governance Framework (SGF) as well as the Financial Reporting for Islamic Banking Institutions and takaful operators guidelines issued by Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) as the reference.
Findings
The findings indicate that majority of IFIs complied with the minimum mandatory disclosure requirement based on the Standard (S) items in the Shariah Committee Report as required by the SGF. Highest information on the purpose of Shariah Committee engagement and scope of work performed is disclosed to the stakeholders in almost all IFIs. Only two prominent full-fledged Islamic bank and Islamic banking business in development financial institutions have shown highest accountability to go beyond the minimum disclosure requirement. This includes disclosing higher voluntary information on Shariah governance processes in the Shariah Committee Report of these two IFIs.
Research limitations/implications
This study adopts the SGF (Bank Negara Malaysia, 2010), Financial Reporting for Islamic Banking Institutions (Bank Negara Malaysia, 2016) and Financial Reporting for Takaful Operators (Bank Negara Malaysia, 2015) as the reference to develop the measurement of Shariah compliance disclosure in the Shariah Committee Report. These guidelines issued by BNM are still effective during the period of study, i.e. the year 2016.
Practical implications
The findings contribute towards the relevance for BNM as the regulator to enhance the current disclosure requirement in the Shariah Committee Report as stated in the SGF especially in Islamic windows and takaful operators. The main argument of this paper is that the more information being disclosed in the Shariah Committee Report will lead to better Shariah assurances. The issuance of Shariah Governance Policy Document in 2019 is expected to enhance the credibility, accountability and transparency of the Shariah Committee members concerning their oversight responsibility towards Shariah matters in IFIs’ business operations.
Originality/value
After five years since the issuance of the SGF in 2010, further study on the extent of mandatory and voluntary Shariah compliance disclosure is important to highlight the accountability and transparency on the implementation of the Shariah governance across various types of IFIs in Malaysia.