Azlan Zainol Abidin

Reversed size, book-to-market and momentum effects: A review of Malaysian equity returns behavior

This paper reviews behavior of widely documented equity market return anomalies and their pricing implications in multifactor asset pricing models. We apply time series and panel tests for 24 risk—mimicking portfolios, formed over a period of 14 years. In contrast to prior findings in Malaysia, we report evidence of small firm discount, together with persisting significance of the size effect. Evidence suggests that liquidity is the source of small discount. BM effect remains significant in explaining equity returns. Regardless of the evidence of short-term momentum trading profits, we dismiss application of a risk factor to the effect of momentum anomaly. Fama-French three-factor model, while efficient than CAPM, leaves a substantial unexplained component. The paper provides insights of the source of the size effect in equity returns, and pricing debate in Malaysian market.

Developing index competency for the Malaysian tourism and hospitality graduates

Various models have been developed for the purpose of identifying graduates competencies. However, such specific model has not been found in the context of Malaysian tourism and hospitality education.This study develops an index competency for the Malaysian tourism and hospitality graduates through the perspectives of the industry.The process of developing the index consisted of three major stages—items generation, items verification and items development.The developed index contributes to the planning and designing the tourism and hospitality program more effectively by taking into consideration the competencies required by the industry. Hence it also assists the graduates to survive within the industry as they possess what the industry wants.