Kanagi Kanapathy

Drivers of halal orientation strategy among halal food firms

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that motivate the halal food firms in Malaysia to practice halal orientation strategy (HOS). Design/methodology/approach – Data were obtained from a survey of 137 halal food firms in Malaysia, and analyzed using the partial least squares technique. Findings – Results showed that halal market demand, government support, expected business benefits, and integrity positively affect HOS. Practical implications – The findings of the study will help policy makers and managers of halal food firms to understand external and internal drivers of HOS, which may lead to successfully motivating the implementation of HOS in halal food firms. Originality/value – Although HOS plays a key role in protecting the halal status of any given product, this topic is rarely explored. This study thus contributes to the advancement of knowledge on factors that motivate the halal food firms to practice HOS.

Drivers of consumers’ willingness to pay for halal logistics

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the factors that motivate the consumers in Malaysia to pay for halal logistics and its consequences on their demand for halal logistics certification. Design/methodology/approach – Data were collected through a survey responded 313 randomly selected consumers. Partial least squares technique was employed in the analysis. Findings – Results showed that consumers’ perception on halal logistics, their concern about halal, and media coverage have positive and significant effects on consumers’ willingness to pay for halal logistics. Furthermore, positive relationship exists between willingness to pay and the extent of demand for the halal logistics certification. Practical implications – The findings of the study will be useful for the policy makers and managers of halal food companies because they can guide them in increasing the demand for the halal logistics. Originality/value – Although halal logistics play a key role in supporting the halal status of a...

Halal logistics opportunities and challenges

Purpose The purpose of the paper is to investigate the challenges and opportunities for logistics companies in Malaysia to adopt halal logistics. Logistics plays a key role in protecting the halal integrity of halal food through proper transportation, storage and handling along the supply chain until it reaches its final destination. Design/methodology/approach This research builds on existing research published in the Journal of Islamic Marketing on halal logistics. In addition to an extensive literature review, five focus group discussions were conducted to discover the challenges and opportunities with regards to halal logistics services in Malaysia. Findings The results show that the future market demands and the competitive opportunities related to halal services are the main motivators of first movers in halal logistics. The early adopters of halal logistics face several challenges such as ambiguous halal guidelines, lack of international halal certification, lack of collaboration among governing agencies (i.e. logistics service providers (LSPs), Jabatan Kemajuan Islam Malaysia (JAKIM) and Halal Industry Development Corporation), a lack of cost-effective standards, an overly competitive transportation sector, lack of demand, lack of halal logistics compulsion, financial challenges and a general misunderstanding of halal practices. Practical implications The findings of the present study may help government policy makers recognise the issues that should be addressed in motivating logistics companies to adopt halal practices. Originality/value Although halal logistics plays a key role in protecting the halal integrity of halal products, there are few halal LSPs. This study contributes to the advancement of knowledge on the challenges and opportunities of adopting halal logistics.

An intra-regional comparison on RoHS practices for green purchasing management among electrical and electronics SMEs in Southeast Asia

Green purchasing (GP) has elicited increasing attention in recent years by both academics and practitioners. However, its industrial issues in developing countries have not been investigated at a regional level. This paper aims to compare practices of GP in connection with a widely applied compliance of RoHS among five countries of Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam. We sought to determine where the differences occur and which practices are further along. An investigation of 106 manufacturing SMEs in E%E sector shows that a partial difference in the extent of implementation of on RoHS-related GP practices, including documentation, supplier management, and internal management, among these five countries. The implication of this paper indicates that RoHS-related GP enables SMEs to green their purchasing activities by establishing win-win relationships with suppliers, and thus realise sustainable development for the whole supply chains. As a managerial implication, the present study shows that an appropriate monitoring approach involving suppliers in green initiatives can help GP diffusion and greener environment across Southeast Asia.

New product development in an emerging economy: analysing the role of supplier involvement practices by using Bayesian Markov chain Monte Carlo technique

The research question is whether the positive relationship found between supplier involvement practices and new product development performances in developed economies also holds in emerging economies. The role of supplier involvement practices in new product development performance is yet to be substantially investigated in the emerging economies (other than China). This premise was examined by distributing a survey instrument (Jayaram’s (2008) published survey instrument that has been utilised in developed economies) to Malaysian manufacturing companies. To gauge the relationship between the supplier involvement practices and new product development (NPD) project performance of 146 companies, structural equation modelling was adopted. Our findings prove that supplier involvement practices have a significant positive impact on NPD project performance in an emerging economy with respect to quality objectives, design objectives, cost objectives, and “time-to-market” objectives. Further analysis using the Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm, yielding a more credible and feasible differentiation, confirmed these results (even in the case of an emerging economy) and indicated that these practices have a 28% impact on variance of NPD project performance. This considerable effect implies that supplier involvement is a must have, although further research is needed to identify the contingencies for its practices.

The impact of soft TQM and hard TQM on innovation performance: the moderating effect of organisational culture

Literature increasingly recognises the importance of organisational culture when implementing operations management practices. This paper examines the relationships among quality, innovation, and organisational culture under a moderation model. The research model is constructed based on well-established theories of competing values framework (CVF) and total quality management (TQM). A cross-sectional study was conducted amongst 106 ISO 9000-certified manufacturers where data were collected from senior managers with sufficient knowledge. Partial least square analysis indicates that: 1) innovation is influenced mainly by adopting soft (organisational) TQM elements and secondarily hard (process) TQM elements; 2) innovation organisational culture has a stronger moderating influence on process-related TQM than on organisational TQM, although its interactions are mostly insignificant. Therefore, practitioners are advised to emphasise the organisational aspect of TQM rather than process-related practices when assessing the innovation performance of an organisation. The findings recommend firms to have a balanced view on cultures in organisations.