Retail Supply Chain and Vendor Managed Inventory System: A Review
S M Sohel Rana, Abdullah Osman and Md. Aminul Islam
ABSTRACT
Vendor-managed inventory (VMI) is a new technique that has been popular for inventory management of retail supply chain. It is one of the most widely accepted partnering initiatives for improving multi-firm supply chain efficiency, also known as continuous replenishment or supplier-managed inventory. VMI partnership enables the suppliers to make vital decisions regarding inventory replenishment for retailers. Actually this VMI transfers the responsibility of inventory management from the retailers to the suppliers who may be obliged to meet a specific customer service goal. Implementation of VMI program offers a competitive advantage for retailers in terms of higher product availability and provides the supplier with opportunities to progress production and marketing efficiencies. Going into VMI contract may give the involved firms some benefits. But entering into a VMI can be challenging unless clear collaboration and communication between the manufacturer and supplier is established to ensure success. To be successful in VMI contract, it is necessary to ensure effective teamwork with strong participation by both manufactures and retailers. So before adopting VMI strategy in their supply chain, retailers should critically analyze its applicability.
Keywords: vendor managed inventory, retailing, supply chain management and replenishment
Managing the Transition of Fossil Fuels to Renewable Energy: Application of Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion At Sabah
Bun Jian Ooi, Boon Cheong Chew and Choong Chien Khay
ABSTRACT
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) existed in the last decade was built in 1930 by Georges Claude, after the thermal energy of the ocean was tapped by Jacques Arsene D‘Arsonval in 1881. However, the technology was put on-halt and discontinued from being developed wisely for realistic application. Since ocean covers more than 70% of the earth's surface, this makes them as the world largest solar collectors for thermal energy creation. The technology generates energy by using the difference of temperature in an ocean with least environmental impact and high sustainability. In this case study, Kota Kinabalu, Sabah has been selected as main location to investigate the geographical criteria, social acceptance and the technical of OTEC as energy generator and feasibility. The research used a mixed method for both data collection and data analysis. This study proved that the application of OTEC in Sabah brings a lot of benefits such as social acceptance, sustainability and energy efficiency compared to fossil fuels. As a conclusion, the OTEC might become one of the main energy sources for people living in Sabah. Transition from fossil to renewable energy, particularly the application of OTEC could be expanded and generalized, to harvest more energy in the coastal areas of all places around the world.
Keywords: transition, renewable energy, ocean thermal conversion
Practicing Lean in Sustainable Construction to Achieve Time Reduction
Muhamad Azani Yahya and Mohammed Alias Yusof
ABSTRACT
Implementing new management philosophy in construction became an approach for construction players in achieving optimum output of the process. The practice of eliminating non-value added in the construction process flow is important in creating the elements of time reduction. Therefore, lean is the best approach as a management philosophy to be adopted in construction process flow because of the stabilizing and pulling factors towards construction time reduction. There are few cases being observed and non-value added activities being analysed accordingly to lean approach. From the questionnaire survey, factors of waiting, overproduction and double handling became the most prolongation of the construction time that contributes to delay. The analysis proof that leans has the factor of time reduction and contributes to rapid construction. The construction process flow became stable and the minimum cost being pulled in the construction cycle.
Keywords: lean, rapid construction, construction flow, construction innovation
Financial Performance Analysis of LP Gas Ltd. with Special Reference to Govt. Restriction on New Piped Gas Connection to Households
Md. Asaduzzaman, Md. Kowsar Hamid and Md. Asaduzzaman
ABSTRACT
This paper examines the financial performance of LP Gas Ltd. and impact on sales resulting from the Govt. restriction on new piped gas connection to households. The existing literature was reviewed to establish the financial performance framework of the company and at the same time to examine the sales (m. ton) of LP Gas Ltd before and after the Govt. proscription of Gas connection to the households. The performance of the company has been measured through various financial ratios i.e. liquidity ratios, activity ratios, leverage ratios, and profitability ratios with an analysis of market value ratios. SPSS software package is used for descriptive statistics and to predict the sales trend linear regression method is used. To examine the impact of Govt. restriction on piped gas connection on the sales of LP Gas: t-test has been resorted. The analysis brings to the fore that the financial position and operational performance of LP Gas ltd. in most cases are not satisfactory. Sales trend shows huge incongruities over the 23 years period. Sales (m.ton) of LP Gas Ltd. Have not been significantly increased since the time after the Govt. restrictions of new gas connection to households.
Keywords: financial performance, LP Gas Ltd, financial ratios, Govt. restriction, sales trend
Use of Facebook and Its Impact on Education: A Study on the Students of Private Universities in Bangladesh
Md. Zahidul Islam and Md. Ruhul Amin
ABSTRACT
At the beginning of this millennium public usage of internet has increased very noticeably in this country, mainly in the capital city. In the last few years, usage of internet has increased in different sectors. Social networking/facebook is one of them which have increased dramatically, especially to the students of different categories. This study is designed with a view to analyzing the use of Facebook by the students of different private universities of Bangladesh and its impact on education. The study is mainly based on primary data which were collected from 500 students as sample of different private universities in Dhaka. Some statistical tools like mean, standard deviation, hypothesis etc. were used for analyzing data in this study. The students of different private universities seem to enjoy discovering the Facebook for chatting, comments passing, message sending, photo and video sharing, and blogging etc. That enable the communication with relatives, friends, teachers and around the globe. They are even using facebook for gathering information and enhancing academic knowledge but as a matter of fact, majority of them still misuse Facebook like unnecessary chatting, bad comments passing, vulgar message sending etc. The study concluded that the excessive use of Facebook can be the reason of decreasing academic result. The students should not ignore their academic activities by using facebook excessively.. The study also recommend some suggestions for the students such as tilizing the Facebook in useful purpose like collecting and gaining information, sharing important ideas, knowing the world etc. and should not ignore the academic activities in the reason of Facebook usage. The authority of the state should also take necessary steps in this regard.
Keywords: Facebook, students, academic, networking, sharing, comments passing, Blogging
Spatial analysis of job satisfaction and organizational commitment among employees of Tehran Municipality (District 5)
Roghie Farokhi, Morteza Ataei and Maryam Khalili
Abstract
Market orientation is sometimes defined as the positive sentiment that people have towards their job. The purpose of this recent research is to study spatial analysis of job satisfaction and organizational commitment among employees of Tehran Municipality (District 5). The research method is a descriptive – survey, depending on the practical purpose and nature of the subject. The statistical population consists of the employees of Tehran District 5 municipality. Data gathering tools were questionnaires that its stability was specified using Cronbach alpha. 198 questionnaires were distributed among the companies which were in the population and 100% of them were filled and sent back to us for analyzing. In this article, the section regarding analysis and statistical tests in order to determine the Demographic characteristics if the population was performed through Descriptive statistics. Structural Equation along by SPSS 19 applications were used to test Research hypotheses and the relationship between variables. In the final results, all hypotheses were confirmed.
Keywords: job satisfaction, Organizational Commitment, Spatial analysis, dimensions of the job satisfaction
Green Marketing: A Marketing Mix Point of View
Mohammad Solaiman, Abdullah Osman and Mohd Suberi Bin Ab. Halim
ABSTRACT
This paper tries to provide an overview of green marketing from marketing mix point of view. The aim of green marketing is to include environmental issues in the marketing efforts. The idea is that marketers provide consumers with better information about the green properties of the products offered and then they will include this information in their purchasing decisions. This will consequently push companies to produce products that are better from an environmental point of view. Consequently companies have executed various green marketing strategies to meet the demands of environmentally sensible customers as they are very much aware of what they are consuming. For this reason they demand such products that are environment friendly and organizations are bound to meet the requirements for their survival in today’s competitive market. Companies that use the extreme green strategy fully incorporate environmental issues and responsibility into their business strategies and address issues related to marketing mix for the environment. Strategic greening in one area may or may not be leveraged effectively in others. So, organizations must ensure that green marketing activities are assimilated holistically, especially if they are used in positioning or promotional activities.
Keywords: green marketing, environment, marketing mix
Directors Culture and Environmental Disclosure Practice of Companies in Malaysia
Ayoib, CHE-AHMAD and Nosakhare Peter, OSAZUWA
ABSTRACT
This study sets out to investigate the effect of director’s culture on the level of environmental disclosures among companies quoted on the main stream of the Bursa Malaysia. The study uses the ethnic background of the directors to categorize the culture of the board. The dependent variable environmental disclosure in the annual report of the selected companies is measured by an index score based on the content. The study employed the multiple regression technique to estimate the data. Our result indicate a significant relationship between environmental disclosure and boards dominated by Bumiputra directors, board dominated by foreign directors, firm size and leverage. The study has public policy implications for Malaysia as well as a number of developing countries.
Keywords: accounting; environmental disclosure; corporate social responsibility; directors culture; Malaysia
PDF[99-114]The Implementation of Integrated Management System in AUO SunPower Sdn. Bhd. towards Quality Management System
Mohd Hafizzudin Muzaimi and Boon Cheong Chew
ABSTRACT
Over the past few decades, many companies have embraced the Quality Management Systems since quality appears to be the fundamental requirements for corporate competitiveness. Recently, Environmental Management System, ISO 14001 and Occupational Health and Safety Management System, ISO 18001 need to be considered as one of the additional quality management system dedicated to the management after the ISO 9001 has been implemented. The relations and contacts between the three main management system lead to the existence of Integrated Management System (IMS) as the way to meet the requirements in quality management, environmental management and occupational health and safety management. This study explored the effectiveness of the Integrated Management System in order to enhance the efficiency in management. Furthermore, this study used mixed method, which is quantitative and qualitative method that included interviews and also a questionnaire technique to investigate the related and importance for AUO SunPower in identifying the drivers, benefits, components, processes and barriers for the implementation of Integrated Management System. By doing this, the author can identify the important factors and also the best strategies in implementing the Integrated Management System (IMS). On the other hand, the author also have proposed the innovative suggestions and best practices to enhance the efficiency of the IMS implementation which can enable the company to have the maximum advantages of these comprehensive management systems. As a conclusion, the Integrated Management System might become the best practices for AUO SunPower Sdn. Bhd. in order to maintain the green management system and provided the sustainability practices. Besides, IMS also supports AUO SunPower to be more competitive than the other system and provided the sustainability practices. Besides, IMS also supports AUO SunPower to be more competitive than the other companies.
Keywords: integrated management system, quality management
Aplikasi Teknik Fuzzy Delphi Terhadap Keperluan Elemen Keusahawanan Bagi Pensyarah Kejuruteraan Politeknik Malaysia
Mohd Ridhuan Mohd Jamil, Saedah Siraj, Farazila Yusof, Nurulrabihah Mat Noh, Zaharah Hussin, Ahmad Arifin Sapar
ABSTRAK
Keusahawanan adalah suatu bidang yang amat ditekan di dalam sistem pendidikan dan ia adalah suatu elemen asas yang diperlukan di dalam pembangunan modal insan. Justeru itu, kajian ini adalah bertujuan untuk melihat pandangan dan kesepakatan pakar terhadap keperluan elemen asas keusahawanan terhadap pensyarah kejuruteraan di Politeknik Malaysia. Kajian yang dijalankan ini merupakan satu kajian kuantitatif. Pendekatan yang digunakan untuk mengumpul data kajian adalah menggunakan instrumen soal selidik yang akan diberikan kepada pakar. Bilangan pakar yang terlibat adalah seramai 12 orang. Terdapat dua kriteria di dalam penentuan pakar, iaitu para pakar ini terdiri daripada pensyarah kejuruteraan yang telah berkhidmat melebihi 10 tahun dan pernah terlibat secara langsung dengan pengajaran kursus projek akhir pelajar. Segala data yang dikumpulkan dianalisis menggunakan Kaedah Fuzzy Delphi. Hasil dapatan kajian menunjukkan kesemua elemen keusahawanan yang terdiri daripada asas keusahawanan, asas motivasi dan asas perniagaan menepati syarat, iaitu nilai threshold (dkonstruk) adalah kurang daripada 0.2 dan peratusan kumpulan pakar adalah melebihi 75%. Hal ini menunjukkan bahawa elemen asas keusahawan dan kesemua item-item yang terkandung didalamnya adalah diperlukan oleh para pensyarah kejuruteraan politeknik berdasarkan kesepakatan pakar.
Kata Kunci: pendidikan, keusahawanan, kejuruteraan, modal insan, teknik Fuzzy Delphi