Research

Sotheeswari Somasundram · Murali Sambasivan · Ratneswary Rasiah · Tee Pei-Leng ·Institutions and Economies ·2018 ·JEL: 053; R11; C43; J130; 018

The urban community in Malaysia is facing rapid urbanisation and have been the beneficiary of urban development policies. The key purpose of these policies has been to enhance and improve the well-being of the urban community. However, given the diverse nature of urban planning, literature has highlighted the possibility of a mismatch between policy directions and the outcomes desired by society. The aim of this study is therefore, to determine whether urban policy measures currently implemented in Malaysia are in sync with the needs of society. This study applied the relative importance index (RII) method tounderstand the challenges faced by urban residents in Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Malacca and Penang. The results revealed five challenges which are of concern to the urban community: prevalence of crime, rising cost of living, lack of employment opportunities, air pollutionandtraffic congestion. The findings indicate Government policies are addressing these concerns. However, for a more effective outcome, the study recommends designing urban policies in consultation with civil society.

Rosmaria Jaffar · Chek Derashid · Roshaiza Taha ·Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business ·2021 ·JEL: H25, H26, M41

The purpose of this study is to examine the level of aggressive tax planning (ATP) among companies listed in the Access, Certainty, Efficiency (ACE) Market of Bursa Malaysia. On top of that, this study also investigates the relationship between company characteristics, ethnicity, and ATP. This study uses a balanced pooled sample of 105 firm years-observations for the period from 2014 to 2018. These samples were selected to provide new insight into this market and to explore the attitude of small firms toward ATP in Malaysia. The data was retrieved from DataStream and the downloaded annual reports. The finding shows that profitability and financial distress have a significant relationship with ATP. Other variables including size, capital intensity, inventory intensity, leverage, and ethnicity, were not determinants of ATP. The result in this study may assist the reader in understanding the nature of companies in the ACE market, particularly on its behavior toward tax planning. A strict requirement is needed to be adopted in the sample selection process, thus limiting the sample size. Further, since the previous study focused on large companies, the discussion of this paper will provide new insight into the nature of tax planning within the small- and medium-sized companies in Malaysia.

Paul Hughes · Vitor Leone · Ian R. Hodgkinson · Mathew Hughes · Darwina Arshad ·Asia Pacific Journal of Management ·2017

Planning and improvisation are depicted as alternate decision-making orientations in the strategy process literature, executed by two parallel cognitive contexts: rational or intuitive, but can rationality and intuition be harmonized in the strategy process? Strategic managers may not have to choose to either plan or improvise, rather there is a need to shift the focus of research from such trade-offs to paradoxical thinking. Drawing on survey data from Malaysian research-intensive firms, we investigate how strategy develops through managers’ strategic reasoning under key external (market turbulence) and internal (centralization, manager level) contingencies. In contrast to common assumptions in the management literature, we find that both rational and intuitive reasoning can drive planning and improvisation for firms in emerging economies, with additional positive moderation effects under centralization and manager level. Firms that achieve high levels of both planning and improvisation concurrently are characterized by significantly greater rationality relative to the high planning group and the high improvisation group. The findings extend strategy process research, highlighting how firms in emerging economies differ from theory derived from developed economies.

Dahlia Fernandez · Zaini Zaino · Hawa Ahmad ·International Journal of Supply Chain Management ·2018

The implementation of enterprise resource planning (ERP) system to surge the performance has induced various organizations towards its adoption. Even though the government may perhaps strive for enhancements from ERP adoption, however, the organizations may experience adverse effects. The aim of this study is to investigate the challenges in implementing the ERP system on public sector organizations. This study was conducted using questionnaires survey with 52 local authorities in Malaysia which have implemented the system. It is found that that the main challenge to implement ERP in public sector organization is due to the complexity of existing working structure (i.e. protocols, bureaucracy, etc.) in meeting ERP requirements. It is followed by the difficulties in adapting to the change brought by this system where its change the way people work, and lack of experience and appropriate skills in implementing this complex system.

Ahmad Fakrul Ramli · Zarina Ab Muis · Wai Shin Ho · Ahmad Muzammil Idris · Aminullah Mohtar ·Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy ·2019

The energy sector has grown significantly over the years, causing an increase in carbon emission that has led to serious global warming problems. Consequently, electric vehicles (EVs) have become a favourable solution in the transportation sector due to their green technology attributes. This paper aims to apply the Carbon Emission Pinch Analysis (CEPA) method to the transportation sector in Iskandar Malaysia. The modified CEPA method is applied by constructing a composite curve for transportation modes and the total carbon emission was plotted in order to study the minimum electricity requirement that needs to be generated to implement the use of EVs. Road and rail transportation were considered in the transport composite curve based on the current policies available and to achieve the new carbon emission target by the year 2025. The alternatives available to reduce carbon emission in Iskandar Malaysia include increasing public transport modal share; fuel switching from petrol and diesel to natural gas and biofuels; and increasing transport efficiency via plug-in hybrid and EVs. Four scenarios were established and evaluated based on economic and environmental aspects. As a result, Scenario 4 which considered all policies available (transport management, fuel switching and fuel efficiency) have showed the most promising fuel mix for future transportation demands. An estimated total amount of 0.25 TJ of electricity is needed for EV implementation with a total estimated cost of RM 1.3 billion. The total carbon emission for this scenario is 1101.96 kt-CO2. This research can benefit the Government, town planners, or policy makers, for preliminary energy planning.