Aslan Amat Senin

Decision making process in the commercialization of University patent in Malaysia

Commercialization of university patent has become a major issue around the world, where many universities are moving into technology and entrepreneurial based universities. Even though the university possessed a number of patents, still a big portion of them are yet to be commercialized. This may be as a result of the complexity of the process involved and also the commitment of the parties involved in the decision making process. The purpose of this research is to find out how the commercialization process is done and understand why just a few of the university patents are commercialized. The study uses qualitative method incorporating a case study approach. Interviews were conducted with the relevant respondents from faculty of mechanical engineering, faculty of chemical engineering and natural resources, faculty of science and faculty of electrical engineering who have registered their inventions with Research Management Centre (RMC) of University Teknologi Malaysia (UTM). The study finds that the commercialisation process is influenced by: first, the motivation and opportunity recognition of the inventor and industry; second, the royalties and funding opportunity; and lastly, and most importantly, the role played by the RMC and Innovation and Commercialization Centre (ICC) in the whole process. The study concludes with suggestions on how the decision making process in commercialising university patents could effectively be carried out. Further study should adopt multiple cases from two or more universities and could also consider patents that have not been exploited.

Leveraging Malaysian diaspora for cluster development initiatives

Purpose – A large number of East Asian economies have benefited from the diaspora employed in the large North American and European clusters. The diaspora acquired valuable skills, developed contacts and financial wealth. Much has been written about the professional and personal obstacles of brain circulation but scant work has been done to highlight the structural factors influencing brain circulation as well as diaspora strategies in the Malaysian context. This article aims to review the brain circulation theory and pertinent literature on Malaysian clusters and to highlight the structural factors inhibiting diaspora and flow of talent to Malaysia.Design/methodology/approach – This is a discussion paper on the issues surrounding diaspora strategies.Findings – On the basis of the review of successful diaspora of China, India, Korea and Taiwan, cluster organizations should take independent initiatives to contact the diaspora networks abroad in order to leverage their skills, contacts and finances through ...

Relationship between culture of excellence and organisational performance in Iranian manufacturing companies

High-performing organisations are those which practise exemplary Culture of Excellence (CoE). Global competition dictates that only high-performing organisations will survive in the long term. This study attempts to focus on the relationship between CoE constructs and organisational performance (OP) in the context of Iranian manufacturing sector. Data are gathered via survey, of 222 excellence award-winning companies in Iran. The SPSS and smartPLS were used to test the relationship between CoE factors and OP. The result of correlation analysis proved that all 10 CoE constructs were significantly correlated with OP and there exists a significant relationship between CoE and OP. Strong commitment was the most important factor and the bottom rank was high degree of motivation. According to the results, CoE might be supported as a perfect management system to efficiently upkeep organisational competitiveness. Current results might contribute to the improvement of superior OP through creating a reliable and valid measurement tool for CoE. This current research offers interesting insights for researchers and practitioners in the field of quality management.

Negotiation Styles: A Comparative Study of Pakistani and Chinese Officials Working in Neelum–Jhelum Hydroelectric Project (NJHEP)

Abstract The real negotiation world, particularly cross-cultural negotiation, is highly complex and competitive as each party in today’s connected world is fully equipped with cultural intelligence. Therefore, negotiators have to go out of the box to satisfy all parties, that is, create value by expanding the negotiation pie. The purpose of this research study is to identify the preference of Pakistani and Chinese officials, who are working together on Neelum–Jhelum Hydroelectric Project (NJHEP), with respect to endorsement of different negotiation styles, that is, knowing their preferences for ‘value creation’ or ‘value claiming’. It also explores differences (if any) between managers of two nationalities with respect to opting certain negotiating strategies in their pursuit of value creation for their customers and stakeholders. Hence, it answers the core question: Do negotiation styles vary from one nation to other in a multicultural work setting? A sample of 303 managers (Pakistani managers = 153 and Chinese managers = 150) was extracted by using convenient sampling technique. Respondents were surveyed via close-ended questionnaire through emails and in person. Mean analysis was used to identify the dominant negotiation style of each nationality and t-test was applied to test the prevalence of hypothetical differences between Pakistani and Chinese officials concerning their choice of negotiation strategies. Chinese managers dominantly use competing negotiation style while negotiating with their Pakistani counterparts. In their negotiation style preference ranking, competing, collaborating, accommodating, compromising and avoiding style stood at 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th ranks, respectively. It means that, first they attempt to claim maximum value, if they fail to do so, they opt ‘value creation’ as their residual strategy, which requires proactive, conscious and imaginative actions. On the other hand, Pakistani managers excessively use accommodating style while negotiating with their Chinese counterparts. In their preference ranking, accommodating, compromising, collaborating, avoiding and competing style stood 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th, respectively. Here, it appears that Pakistani managers are ‘depleting the value’ by simply forgoing their interests instead of looking for a win–win situation. In fact, they are also creating value in a novel manner for their stakeholders (government and people of Pakistan) by accommodating foreign investors (Chinese), who are making hefty investments in their country. There is a significant difference between the approach of Pakistani and Chinese managers to create value during negotiations. This is the first study which unveils the negotiation style of Pakistani managers, particularly when they are negotiating with foreigners. Similarly, it reveals the negotiating style of the Chinese managers while negotiating with their Pakistani counterparts and on a foreign land. Understanding of negotiation styles of people will add value to all cross-cultural negotiation situations, particularly of those which are developed during implementation of projects under the umbrella of Pak-China Economic Corridor. It highlights the importance of cultural intelligence and sensitivity in multicultural negotiations and demands for managerial training on the subject.

Strategic orientation and dual innovative operation strategies: Implications for performance of manufacturing SMEs

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is twofold. First, to address a key but neglected area of research in operation and strategy that is the association between strategic orientation of the firm and its innovation emphasis on the current and future operation initiatives. Second, to explore and examine respective performance implications of these two kinds of operation strategies. Design/methodology/approach – Data from a carefully designed and conducted survey of Malaysia manufacturing SMEs were analysed using a structural equation modelling approach. Findings – Findings suggest that strategic innovation is strongly associated with both types of innovative operation strategies and they bring about different operational and market performance outcomes for the firm. This sheds light on a new framework for understanding the strategic architecture of innovation in operation strategies. Research limitations/implications – This study was limited to the small manufacturing firms in Malaysia. As a result, to asse...

Irrational Beliefs as Mediator in the Relationship Between Activating Event and Stress in Malaysian Fully Residential School Teachers

Teacher stress has been a major concern among researchers as it has negative impact on teaching profesion. This study aimed to test the mediating effect of irrational beliefs on the relationship between activating event as the independent variable and stress as the dependent variable. Data were collected from a sample of 201 teachers from seven Malaysian Fully Residential School (FRS) in the Johor state by using stratified random sampling. The Teacher Irrational Beliefs (TIB), Teacher Activating Event (TAE), and Teacher Stress (TRS) questionnaires were employed to measure irrational beliefs, activating events, and stress of teachers. The Pearson coefficient correlation was used to determine the relationships among variables and multiple regression analysis was used to verify the presence of mediation effects. In general, the correlation results showed that there were positive relationships among variables. The findings of regression analysis indicated that irrational beliefs mediate the relationship between activating event and stress among FRS teachers. This findings highlighted the teachers’ irrational beliefs as the major determinants of emotional problems rather than activating event itself which comply with the ABC Model based on Rational-Emotive Behavioral Therapy (REBT) approach.

Sustainable Government Policy: A Catalyst for Sustainable Incubator Performance

One of the policy tools that a government uses to actualize entrepreneurship development is the business incubation program. These government policies come in several forms: fiscal, financial, as well as developmental. The business incubation program has been acknowledged as an instrument to achieve economic development, hence, the adoption of the concept by various nations. Studies have been advanced concerning business incubation performance, however, empirical scholarly works have shown that such studies have been inconclusive for the reason that results of empirically validated studies were inconsistent. The key objective of this study is to examine the contribution of government policies in the relationship between the critical success factors (CSFs) and the incubator performance. The study involves a data collection process of tenant firms of the Nigerian business incubation program using a population of 253 and a sample size of 153 for questionnaire administration and a focus group interview comprising of 10 respondents, which cut across both tenant firms and incubator managers. The results show that the independent variables and the moderator are indeed predictors of the criterion variable. As the predictors contributed merely 29.4% of the criterion variable, future studies may perhaps examine other critical factors alongside the extant constructs, which may contribute further to incubator performance.

Supportive Government Policy as a Mechanism for Business Incubation Performance in Nigeria

Business incubation programme has been adopted by numerous countries globally. Its adoption has been related to its performance and actual contribution to entrepreneurship development. Studies have acknowledged the role of incubation programme to different spheres of national economy. In spite of the positive side of incubator model, there is still a contradiction concerning incubation performance in the developing countries, especially, Nigeria. This study aims to examine the contribution of government policy on the relationship between the critical success factors CSFs and incubator performance in Nigeria. Questionnaires were distributed to a sample size of 153 respondents from a population of 253 incubatees. The Partial Least Squares PLS software was used to analyze the data. Government policy as a moderator did not show a significant moderation relationship between the CSFs and incubator performance. The study recommends that future studies should integrate this quantitative approach of data collection with the qualitative method. Also, as the value of the coefficient of determination is 46%, future research should look at other factors which may likely increase the variation in performance explained by or accounted for by the variation in the CSFs.

Strategic orientation, innovative operation strategies, and competitiveness of small firms in face of uncertainty: evidence from the Malaysian manufacturing firms

The purpose of this article is to develop a more fine-grained view of the strategic-orientation-competitiveness relationship by accounting for the mediating role of the innovative operation strategies of the firm. For this purpose, a new typology of innovative operation strategies was validated and used. Data from a survey of 201 firms in Malaysia was analysed using a structural equation modelling approach. Analysis revealed that assumptions of this models hold for small manufacturing enterprises. These findings have significant implications for the alignment between the firm’s operation and strategy and unveil a new framework for competitiveness of small manufacturing firms.