Lokhman Hakim Osman

This study examines the effect of blockchain adoption on the agri-food supply chain. A systematic literature review approach was used to analyze and synthesize the findings from the existing literature, focusing on fundamental research themes, research gaps, and the direction of future research on the impact of blockchain adoption in the agri-food supply chain. Twenty-seven full-length articles were considered and thematically analyzed in this study. The authors identified eight themes from the literature, including factors responsible for blockchain adoption and new research areas such as digitalization and the impact after adoption. These themes shed light on the agri-food supply chain practices following the adoption of blockchain technology. Moreover, this study provides a foundation for strategic and policy initiatives in the agri-food industry involving blockchain technology. The findings indicate that critical factors driving blockchain technology adoption in the agri-food in...

Three decades ago, supply chain uncertainty was recognized as a significant conceptual problem that must be resolved to successfully satisfy supply and demand activities. For this reason, firms have developed several workable approaches and techniques (including lean, agility, and resilient framework) in response to the need to maintain such activities in the face of uncertainty. Despite this, the current pandemic’s onset has hampered supply chain management, indicating that current solutions fall short of being sufficient to shield firms from being impacted. Therefore, it raises the question of what we have learned from decades of research and studies to prepare us for such adversities. And what plans must the firms have put in place to address this disaster? To focus on this, the current study intends to explore supply chain uncertainty trends and patterns, to emphasize the future orientation. Using the PRISMA 2020 (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyse...

In accordance with shari’ah principles, Islamic banks have to be involved in supply chains of financed assets. However, Islamic banks are simultaneously part of the western banking system that is reluctant to be involved in the real economy. Due to these dual poorly understood boundaries, scholarly disputes persist on the similarities between Islamic and conventional banking. This study adopts the library research and systematic literature review method. After discussing “Islamic finance involvement in the supply chain of the financed asset” by library research method, the systematic literature review (SLR) approach, to search and review Islamic finance and supply chain integrated studies, was adopted, and the Web of Science and Scopus databases initially searched. An extended SLR was then used to search other databases for the review period from 2010 until 3rd February 2020. The library research method discovered the involvement of Islamic finance in the supply chain of the finance...

The cosmetics industry is one of the world's fast-growing sectors. With more and more new cosmetic companies joining the market this beauty industry is booming, resulting in a highly competitive environment. Furthermore, Consumers with rapidly shifting preferences and expectations have created challenges on the market, resulting in a shorter product ’s life cycle, impasse innumerable skin care giants and novice companies. As such, to stay and retain new customers, it is important for the cosmetic companies to continually grow their business activities. In order to achieve that, cosmetic companies need to understand and satisfy their customers by creating values and meet their demands. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of brand image, perceive product price and perceived quality on intention to purchase cosmetic products. A total of 139 questionnaires were collected from consumers in the Kelang Valley who have experienced purchasing and using cosmetic prod...

This article presents a narrative literature review that aims to accomplish three objectives: (1) to describe the role of external support—namely, the incubator program—in encouraging micro and small business growth; (2) to explain the concept of the incubator program; and (3) to identify the typologies in the execution of entrepreneurial incubator programs. Findings from the review show that external support is required in the early growth of the life cycle indicated by the “growth through creativity” and “growth through direction” phases in the Greiner Growth Model and the “existence” and “survival” stages in the Churchill and Lewis Growth Model. The incubator concept is centered around providing basic, specific amenities and services to support the selected MSEs growth. Incubators are a form of external support that aim to assist the growth of start-up MSEs. Finally, four typologies are identified based on the degree of supervision and range of services offered.

Majority of oil palm smallholders belongs to the B40 category due to small scale agricultural activities. Oil palm smallholders who depend on oil crops alone will face the risk of diminishing income. Long-term steps need to be taken to ensure that their income is maintained even if the palm oil prices are falling. The only way to cope with the income shortages is through business. Hence, this business simulation used the bottom-up method pioneered by Elmore (1978) and Herjn and Porter (1978). This approach was based on the implementation network at the bottom of the stage. It was also a study of the targeted group through a process of observation together with the process of implementation. This business simulation selected two (2) independent oil-palm smallholders in Teluk Intan, Perak. Selection of the participants was based on the justified details as to identify the type of business that is appropriate to the local geography and identify the needs and wants of the community. Par...

Pasaran kerja kini lebih bersifat dinamik akibat perubahan pesat dalam penggunaan teknologi dan kepelbagaian pengetahuan yang semakin disyaratkan. Pelbagai isu mula timbul apabila wujudnya persaingan dalam pemilihan kerjaya dan kriteria yang disyaratkan oleh majikan. Oleh itu, pendidikan dilihat sebagai aspek terpenting dalam menentukan hala tuju kerjaya dan sebagai penyelesaian bagi senario kehidupan masa kini. Oleh itu, kajian tinjauan berbentuk kuantitatif menggunakan instrumen soal selidik dilakukan kepada 150 kakitangan di tiga (3) organisasi di Kuala Lumpur untuk mengenalpasti faktor yang mendorong mereka terhadap keputusan melanjutkan pelajaran di Institusi Pengajian Tinggi (IPT) tempatan. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan faktor kendiri untuk melanjutkan pelajaran atas inisiatif sendiri merupakan faktor paling tinggi dalam mendorong keputusan kakitangan tersebut. Hasil kajian ini disarankan agar pihak majikan memberikan peluang serta insentif yang boleh menggalakkan pekerjanya untu...

As more people become aware of the destruction of natural resources, more are willing to purchase green products that are not harmful to the environment. This study aims to develop and test a model investigating how environmental concern, perceived consumer effectiveness and religiosity enhance ecological conscious behaviour (ECCB). Furthermore, this study will also examine the relationship between ecological conscious behaviour and purchase intention towards environmentally friendly products. A total of 211 questionnaires were collected from consumers of environmentally friendly products in Malaysia. The structural equation model that assessed the relationship between the proposed variables was tested using AMOS. This study found that religiosity, environmental concern and perceived consumer effectiveness has a significant positive influence on ecological conscious behaviour. In addition, the positive relationship between ecological conscious behaviour and purchasing intention towa...

Empirical support for the assumption that cliques are major determinants of reputational influence derives largely from the frequent finding that organizations which claimed that their cliques’ connections are influential had an increased likelihood of becoming influential themselves. It is suggested that the strong and consistent connection in cliques is at least partially responsible for the reputational influence factors. It is argued that social network analysis is an appropriate method for studying the use of influence development in the context of networked organizations. The results of the statistical network analysis reveal interesting findings in terms of prominent structural forms and the impact of involvement or embeddedness in the formal network. Consequently, this tells us that firms’ embeddedness in a centralized network structure which is based on formal ties harms the firms’ level of reputational influence.

Responding to demands for transformed networking practices requires new forms of knowledge. Given their scale and complexity, networking problems can no longer be solved by way of extending intermediaries. Recent research on alternative approaches has focused on the understanding network structures formed by interactions between heterogeneous actors. Rather than linear extensions, network theory highlights cliques structure as a major determinant of performance derives largely from the frequent finding that managers that are embedded with influential connections are at increased likelihood of becoming influential themselves thus opening rooms for new knowledge and innovative technology and practices. It is suggested that the strong and consistent cliques are at least partially responsible to managing network complexity. This paper contributes to our understanding of such facilitation by investigating the networks in which managers exchange information. We report findings based on th...

The  global market for organic food has developed significantly in the past decade. The organic food industry in Malaysia is getting wider, even though the domestic market remains relatively small. The main purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of demographic factors towards purchase intention of organic food. A total of 150 completed questionnaires was collected via convenience sampling from customers of a shopping-mall in Malaysia’s Klang Valley. Five demographic variables were used in this study, including gender, age, level of income, level of education and presence of children in the household.  The findings revealed  that, gender, age, level of education did  have significant impacts on the consumer intention to buy organic food. These findings will appeal to those interested in consumer behaviour regarding organic food consumption  and the continued development of  Malaysia’s  organic food industry. Keywords: demographic factors, organic food consumption, organic...

The paper discusses previous studies on the effect of fatigue among flight crews and their effect on airline businesses. Fatigue is a major concern in flight operations as many reports were issued on this problem among flight crew. The long flight duration requires them to travel several time zones, which leads to fatigue. Furthermore, the change of time zones could also lead to the occurrence of jet lag and subsequently causes fatigue too. Fatigue can occur during and after the travelling period, and it takes a while to recover from it. This study aims to observe the effects of fatigue experienced by flight crew. The results show that fatigue causes many health problems such as an increase in cancer risk, depression, mental illness and miscarriage. Additionally, fatigue reduces one's work productivity as working in a tired state reduces work performance. Furthermore, fatigue also leads to other problems such as anger, anxiety, stress and job dissatisfaction. With the studies co...

This paper highlights the important contribution of the palm oil industry to the country by providing employment opportunities to more than four million people mostly among the rural community. Smallholders are able to own their land and earn fixed income from palm oil and enjoy the perfect infrastructure facilities. However, there are many obstacles in the global palm oil production such price fluctuations, competition and anti-oil palm campaigns. Therefore, Malaysian smallholders face lack of income from their plantation yields caused by these macroeconomic factors such as rising cost of farming and size of land that is not economical. Therefore, it is a necessity for the smallholders to go into business. An exploratory study among 70 smallholders was done to investigate their interest in doing business. The finding shows that the main reason for their involvement in business activities is to increase their income level. Also, the most widely implemented business type is retailing.

Structural equivalence has been a fascinating topic for industry and academia due to its connection with network embeddedness. This study investigates the network assumption that structural equivalence is a major determinant of influence derives largely from the frequent finding that organizations that are embedded with influential connections are at an increased likelihood of becoming influential themselves. It is suggested that the strong and consistent structural equivalence position is at least partially responsible for factors of reputational influence among directors of government agencies. The contribution of this study continues to enrich the literature of the network and provide the solution for the industry since earlier research is neglecting the impact of relations upon the level of influence. Using exploratory social network methodology and statistical evaluation of Exponential Random Graph Modeling, this research found that, directors of government agencies may gain gr...

1. IntroductionInternet and web design have been the most exciting developments in the field of information and communications technology in recent years. With increasing Internet access, the phenomenon of using Online Banking (or Internet banking or E-banking) services is booming greatlyOnline banking refers to the banking services provided via a secure website operated by online bank-service provider to facilitate the use of the internet as a remote banking-service delivery channel. Online banking allows bank customers with appropriate access to manage their finances with minimal inconvenience as it provides a fast and convenient way to undertake various banking transactions from home, office, or elsewhere via online banking websites (Beh Yee & Faziharudean, 2010).According to Reichheld & Schefter (2000), the high costs associated with winning new online-banking customers make it necessary for the banks to keep their current customers and make them loyal. Presently, customer loyalty in online banking sector has become a critical issue because of its great and positive impact on banks' long-term profitability. Since the competition is just a click of the mouse away, customer loyalty in online banking is very important for both and competitive reasons (Floh & Treiblmaier, 2006). Hence there is a need to understand how customer loyalty in online banking can be ensured and maintained.Customer loyalty is a concept that has been studied in a good number of researches. Previous studies have found that in online banking, service quality (or eservice quality), customer satisfaction (e-satisfaction) and customer trust (or e-trust) have direct or indirect effects on customer loyalty (or e-loyalty). However, these studies have not fully demonstrated the combined effects of these factors and their impacts on e-loyalty. Therefore, important research gaps that needs be filled still exist. Therefore, in this research, we will thoroughly investigate the effects that these factors have on e-loyalty both individually and collectively by developing and testing some relevant hypotheses. Single and multiple regression models will be fitted and used for the analyses and for testing the hypotheses developed.1. Literature Review1.1. E-Service QualityFogli (2006, p.4) defined service quality as a global judgment or attitude relating to a particular service; the customer's overall impression of the relative inferiority or superiority of the organization and its services. Service quality is a cognitive judgment. According to Lapierre et al. (1996), the concept of service quality is linked to the concepts of perceptions and expectations. Service quality perceived by the customers is the result of comparing the expectations about the service they are going to receive and their perceptions of the service provider's action. If perceptions exceed expectations, the services provided by the banks will be considered excellent (Vazquez et al., 2001).As discussed by Shahrzad Shahriari (2014), service quality in online banking has a lot of underlying dimensions which includes reliability, responsiveness, security, ease of use, access and so on. Reliability includes correctness of order fulfilment, prompt delivery and billing accuracy. Responsiveness concerns the willingness or readiness of employees to provide service. Security includes security of information and minimal online purchases risks. Ease of use related to easy-touse URL address, well organized, well-structured and easy-to-follow a catalogue, site navigability and concise and understandable content, terms and conditions. Access includes the list of company's streets and email address, phone and fax number, accessibility of service representatives, availability of chat room, bulletin board and other communication channels.In online environments, service quality is defined as the ability of a website to make efficient and effective shopping, purchasing and transporting of products and services (Zeithaml et al. …

A supply network is complex as buyer-supplier organizations are embedded in multiple relationships and exchanges. The complexity complicates the management of the supply network. Social network scholars have argued that understanding a network also concern the deliberation of the embeddedness aspects of organizations in the network. Structural embeddedness theorists have argued that the structural position resulting from the embeddedness in a complex network may actually present opportunities and constraints to the managers. Thus, what created the complexity may offers economic returns. Management of supply chain then requires a social network lens to improve understandings o supply network structural embeddedness. Hence, in this paper, using the social network research approach we investigate to what extent does the degree of involvement of buyer-supplier organizations in the supply network are influence by the type of buyer-supplier relationships. The finding is hoped to illuminat...

Background: This research looks into the different effects of firms' network structural positions in an upstream supply network upon the firms' level of re lational capital outcomes. Previous research has l argely focus on the context of decentralized network structure. Howeve r, the supply network is a centralized network beca use of the existence of the focal firm. The existence of the focal firm may influence the impact of relational c apital outcomes. Methods: The objective of this research is to determine the type of network structural positions required to o btain reasonable relational capital outcome in upstream s upply network. Results and conclusions : This study found that, network structural positio ns i.e. betweeness centrality contributed to firms' level of relational capital influence. In co nclusion, firms, embedded in upstream supply network benefits differently in terms of relational capital through different degree of embeddedness. Firms' resources ...

The supply chain has been described as a complex network of interrelated organizations transforming materials into finished goods and services. Supply network is complex as organizations are embedded in tiers of relationship and exchanges. Complexity resulting from the increase number of member organizations in the supply network has been known to complicate the supply network further, making the management of the supply chain a daunting task. In this study, the researcher investigated the degree of attention paid by firms in different types of network relations. Using Social Network Analysis, it was found that firms are more connected in informal network relationship that in a formal one. These findings are essential for resource management towards an effective and efficient supply chain management. Future research are discussed.

In advancing the Malaysian industrial and business cause Malaysian business managers may have to reflect properly on the ‘myth of downsizing’ in inter-organization context. Firms’ network structural positions exert different effects  upon the firms’ level of relational capital outcomes in an upstream supply network.  Previous researches had largely focused on the context of decentralized network structure.  However, the supply network is a centralized network because of the existence of the focal firm the existence of which may influence the impact of relational capital outcomes.  Hence, the objective of this study was to determine the type of network structural positions required to obtain reasonable relational capital outcome in upstream supply network  through an exploratory analysis of  a small material-intensive maritime industry. The study found that network structural positions, i.e. degree centrality, did contribute to firms’ level of relational capital trust. In conclusion,...

This is a network exploratory research looking at determining the different pattern of connectivity that may exist in a buyer supplier relationship of the supply network and how these differences affects the pattern of inter-firm positioning in the network. Specifically, to address the lack of theoretical work on how connections in the supply network influence supply network outcome, this research examines how different buyer-supplier embeddedness configuration in the different type of buyer supplier network relations pertains to the different pattern of connectivity that may exist in a buyer supplier relationship of the supply network. This research adopted the social network analysis methodology from the field of sociology. Findings showed that the embeddedness configuration of firms differ depending on the type of network relations. Future research should attempt to conduct statistical test of the relationship posted in this study.

With an increasing degree of connections among firms forming network of economic activities, it is timely to assess the potential of these upon embedded firms.  This article presents empirical evidence to that end.  It distinguishes between decentralized and centralized network structure that illustrate the difficulties encountered in managing an inter-firm network structure.  Although considerable studies has been performed in network issues affecting firms performance,  very few research analyse the complicating attributes of a centralized network structure on its effects on firms performance.  Thus this article described different attributes of the centralized network and its effects on firms’ relational capital outcomes.  Using social network analysis methodology this study found that certain structural position occupied by firms in network impacts on its relational capital outcome.  This study is significant as it’s contributed to prudent management of resources in managing com...

This research looks at the different effects of firms’ network structural positions in an upstream supply network upon the firms’ level of relational capital outcomes. Previous research largely focused on the context of decentralized network structure. However, the supply network is a centralized network because of the existence of the focal firm. The existence of the focal firm may influence the impact of relational capital outcomes. Hence, the objective of this research is to determine the type of network structural positions required to obtain a reasonable relational capital outcome in upstream supply network. This study found that network structural positions, i.e. degree centrality contributed to firms’ level of relational capital trust. Hence, a firm embedded in upstream supply network benefits differently in terms of relational capital through different degree of embeddedness. The firm resources should be re-aligned to match the benefits of the different network structural po...