Small business performance in Malaysia

An empirical study on Malaysian small firms

This research has been conducted in order to understand how the market orientation influences the business performances of various small firms in the small towns in Malaysia. The research has been conducted on as many as 53 individual short firms operating in Malaysia in order to have an idea about the market orientations role in the performance. The main question for the research has been what is the role of the market orientation in the performance of the small firms in Malaysia?

The entire market orientation has been studied at first for the purpose of the research. Once the market orientation has been understood two hypotheses have been made on the role of different market orientation properties on the performance of the small firms in Malaysia.

The two variables that were concerned in the conduction of this research are the performance of the small firms and the market orientation. In order to study the market orientation of the small town markets in Malaysia it has been divided into three components the customer orientation, the competitor orientation and inter functional co ordination.

The other variable that has been studied is the performance of the small firms it has been analyzed primarily based upon the return on investment of the firm, the sales growth rate and the customer retention capabilities of the firm.

The research shows that the market orientation plays a key role in the performance of the small firms in the Malaysian country. Thus it is important for the companies to be on their toes in order to adapt quickly to the changing customer preferences, economy and the market competition in order to attain success in the market. Mostly it has been seen that the small firms are driven by the competition orientation rather than the customer orientation.

The research has been successfully conducted but the main concern is the limited sample on which the research has been conducted it reduces the scope and the generalization of the research. So further research should be conducted on the other small firms in order to know how the market orientation influences the small firms. It can also be researched to know that how the different factors affect the performance of the firms individually this might also help in order to make the small firms function even better. All the ethical rules have been maintained in order to conduct this research. The most interesting thing about the research is it deals with all the small firms. Mostly the big and the well established firms are the subject of researches. As this research is about the small firms and it concerns as many as 53 small firms it makes the research process dynamic and also much more interesting. Moreover this is a domain which has not been researched much as normally the large companies take away the lime light from the small firms. The research also provides an insight into the Malaysian market and how things work there specially the small town markets.

LEVEL OF JOB SATISFACTION AND INTENT TO LEAVE AMONG MALAYSIAN NURSES

This study has been performed in order to gather knowledge about the level of job satisfaction and the intent to take leaves among the Malaysian nurses. The study analyzes two things that are mutually dependant in a certain way and thus it also helps to understand the working environment of the Malaysian nurses too. The primary question for the research is how satisfied the Malaysian nurses are from their jobs? Nursing being a popular profession in Malaysia makes the research reasonable and interesting in a certain way.

The subjects for the research are the nurses and in order to collect authentic information a cross-sectional survey of 153 nurses working in a public sector hospital has been performed after a detailed literature review.

The two essential variables that were required to be analyzed in this case study includes the job satisfaction of the nurses and the intent to leave of the nurses. The job satisfaction is measured with the help of the six facets of job satisfaction initially drafted by Wood et al. the facets include the satisfaction with supervisor, variety, closure, compensation, coworker and management.

The intent to leave is analyzed on basis of three conditions whether the person want to leave the organization now, whether he wants to leave it in the recent times, or whether he wants to leave the job in the near future.

The research evidently shows that the majority of the nurses have a low to moderate job satisfaction. Though the satisfaction with the co workers is considerably high but all other facets show comparatively low order of satisfaction thus a large number of the nurses have shown intent to leave the organization. This is the answer obtained to the research questions.

The research has been conducted in a very systematic way which is also responsible for the success of the research. At first the literature review has been done on the subject matter before deciding upon the research methodology and executing it. 1.39 among 1000 people in Malaysia is working as nurse and it is thus quite understandable in order to conduct a research that concerns with how satisfied this huge section of the society is with their jobs. The methods and the instruments chosen are also highly efficient and eligible enough to go the root of the subject. The research has also been conducted in the most ethical way which is possible maintaining all the rules and regulations of the hospital authority while conducting the survey among the nurses. But this research mainly concerns the Perlis hospital and thus it does not show the job satisfaction of the Malaysian nurse at a general level as a different hospital having a different management, supervisors, co workers and HR policy will have a totally environment for the nurses to work in. Thus next such type of research should be conducted in more hospitals in the country to have a clear perception about the job satisfaction of the entire set of people in Malaysia who work in the nursing profession.

Do Some Business Models Perform Better than Others?

The model of a business is very essential for the success of the business. The selection of the business model is also a headache for the new business man as the business model should be compatible with both internal and external environment completely to ensure the success of the business. This research thus analyzes the four different types of business models based on what asset rights are sold. The research question is to find whether some business model performs better than the other or not?

The research concerns the study of the four different types of business models based on the asset rights that are sold. For detailed study the four types are again subdivided into four variations depending upon the type of assets that the business is associated with it. This includes the Financial, physical, intangible and human resources. In order to conduct the research the different statistical calculations have been made to analyze the performance of each business model and in order to verify whether any business model performs better than the others or not. To make the calculations different data about the finances of various types of business firms has been studied in details.

The primary variable associated with the research is Performance. In order to calculate the performance of the business models different techniques has been implemented which includes MKTCAP, COMPUSTAT-CASP, Apart from that there has been a whole lot of statistical data that were required in order to understand the performance of the business and to analyze it statistically with the help of various techniques.

The result evidently shows that some business model actually performs better than the others and the performance they show statistically proves the result. Though at present the outcome can only be considered hypothetical due to the not consideration of the time coefficients in the performance analysis. Still the hypothesis is more or less clear that the performance for some model has to be better than the others.

The research is a first of its kind on business models which makes it interesting in the first place as it helps to identify how the difference in asset rights can eventually change the performance of an organization. The research has also been conducted in a well structured and systematic form in order to ensure that the findings of the research are valid and authentic. The detailed study helped to develop the hypothesis but it has not been possible to comment about the findings with absolute surety. This is due to the fact that the time dependency has not been considered. Thus the exact cause of the superiority of some business models compared to others has not been known accurately. Though assumptions can be made like the complex interdependency of the firms makes it difficult for the competitors to analyze the company there by helping in its performance thus this research has paved the way for further research to analyze the reason for the superiority of some business models.

COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF MARKETING STRATEGIES FOR MANUFACTURERS’ AND RETAILERS’ BRANDS

This research has been based upon the Taiwan retail outlets and it deals with the comparative study of the different marketing strategies. The retail outlets can be classified on basis of their marketing strategies. The manufacturer or the retailer either implements a high quality and high price strategy followed up by the proper promotion and the development of the brand equity. While there are some outlets implementing a low price, brand endorsed, and promotion based strategy. This research compares the outcomes of these two marketing strategies. The primary research question is which of the two strategy yields better outcome for the organization?

The research has been executed in a very systematic manner at first the literatures related to the subject matter has been studied to get a grasp over the subject then the data is found with the help of a consumer survey of the consumers of RT-Mart, Carrefour, Geant, Welcome, and Watsons. All these companies are part of the Taiwan retail outlets.

The main variables concerned with the research includes the different aspects like the pricing strategy, the marketing strategy, the perceived quality, the purchase intention, the brand image and the brand loyalty. The factors have been studied separately for manufacturing and retailing units. To analyze the responses and to find answers to the research question the SPSS software has been put into use. Help has also been taken from the Structural Equation model that has been studied with the help of Chi-square significance test.

The research shows that the store image has a more key role to play in the performance of the company compared to brand value. The increase in brand equity increases the consumer’s purchase intentions. Low price strategy, endorsement by famous entity, appropriate promotional activities all enhances the purchase intentions of the consumers. Though there is market for high priced products too.

In order to conduct business successfully for any company it is important to know what should be the correct strategy to attract the maximum numbers of customers. This research aims to find the correct strategy for selling a product from the retail or the manufacturing terminals of the Taiwan research outlets. A large section of the customers has been surveyed to get the desired result. But the sample size is not big enough to consider the research findings absolutely general. A wider approach for the research would have added more value to the research making it more general. It is helpful for the new business as it provides a complete inside view into the market of the manufacturers and the retailers thus they can be able to draft a strategy worthy of hiking the purchase intentions of the customers. The researches have also been done very ethically and in the most systematic way and the companies were even informed over telephone that the survey will be conducted over their customers. The data that was collected has been studied in details and analyzed statistically to ensure the best results.

A PROCESS VIEW OF SWOT ANALYSIS

This hypothesis deals with the process of drawing an analogy between the Chinese five elements theory and the SWOT Analysis. The study makes an attempt to perform SWOT analysis based upon the five different stages of businesses prevalent in the Chinese theory. As per the theory of the Chinese elements the life of every organization can be divided into birth, growth, harvesting, storage, and transformation.

The research aims to establish an analogy between the SWOT analysis and the Chinese five element theory. The analogy helps in the better understanding of the market as well as of a particular organization. The study has taken shape with the help of simple comparison and analysis techniques where each quadrant of the 2×2 SWOT matrixes has been compared with a building block of the Chinese 5 element theory. The study also involved the detailed analysis of all the attributes that are part of the SWOT analysis or the five elements theory.

The main variable of the research includes the Strength-Weakness-Opportunities and threats of an organization required for the SWOT analysis and also the concept of birth, growth, harvesting, storage and transformation of a company. The concepts have been studied from various literature sources available on the subject matter and finally they have been put together in order to achieve the desired result of the research.

The research shows that SWOT analysis is similar to the Chinese 5 elements theory entirely. Four of the elements that are birth, growth, harvesting and storage are similar to the four quadrant of the SWOT analysis while the transition from one quadrant to another or the link between the four quadrants is formed by the transformation element. Thus this research helped to identify how the basic pattern of SWOT analysis is in other words it provided a view of the process of the SWOT analysis.

SWOT analysis is an important tool of market analysis. Especially in the case of competition analysis as the SWOT analysis provides a complete view of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities as well as threats of a particular organization thus making it easy to compete with the company in the market. This research has successfully established a process view of the SWOT analysis. Moreover the research has made an attempt to decode two popular marketing tools in order to show that the basics of both the tools are same. The analogy helps in better understanding of the market and the organization. The research required a consolidate base about the subject matter as without that it would not have been possible to draw the conceptual analogy. Apart from that this research also shows how an organization discovers its different facets in the course of its growth from a budding company to an essential part of the market. The procedural view of the SWOT is pretty clear though the next step would be to implement the research in a real time organization as that would help to establish the findings of the research in a better and more practical way.