Moha Asri Abdullah

Job Satisfaction Amongst Employees in Small and Medium Industries (SMIs) in the Manufacturing Sector: A Malaysian Case

ABSTRACT In the era of global business, quality of human resources, skilled and knowledgeable employees are highly essential. It is frequently noted that quality human resources act as a prerequisite for competitive advantage and competitive edge of any business. This is especially so in the case of small and medium industries (SMIs), considered as “the seeds” from which large organizations and big corporations are grown. Similarly, previous studies indicate that high turnover of employees undeniably affects production, productivity, profitability and hence hinders further growth of any business, small, medium and large alike. While there are a number of empirical studies on employees, their working environment, and job satisfaction, only a few have based their data on SMIs. In view of this, a survey was carried out on 243 employees of SMIs in Kuala Terengganu in late 2004 to address some of the issues above in the context of SMIs. Interestingly, the study found that the surveyed employees were relatively young, unmarried, new in the length of service and low educational attainment as well as low level of income. Surprisingly however, they were generally satisfied with their working environment and job, including their salary, task, co-worker, supervision and promotion. Furthermore, it was found that occupational categories correlate significantly with level of job satisfaction. That is, the higher the occupational categories are, the higher the level of job satisfaction. The study concludes that while SMIs should upgrade skills among their employees, government policies should also be more favorable so that a more conducive working environment and job satisfaction in SMIs could be created.

Developing cash waqf model as an alternative source of financing for micro enterprises in Malaysia

Purpose This paper aims to attempt to offer a viable alternative model of source of financing which is known as integrated cash waqf micro enterprises investment (ICWME-I) model for micro enterprises in Malaysia. Design/methodology/approach The literature on the issues of accessing to finance faced by micro enterprises and cash waqf are reviewed critically and used in the attempt of proposing an alternative model. Findings The paper has developed ICWME-I model as a source of financing for micro enterprises. This model is expected to provide financial services by using cash waqf fund and involved the participatory contract between non-profit organization and micro enterprises. In addition, with the proposed model, there will be no collateral requirement, interest rate and other stringent requirements which usually imposed by existing conventional financial institutions. Research limitations/implications The paper is based on conceptual explorations of literature in the area of micro enterprises and cash waqf. This is a conceptual paper, so it did not use any empirical analysis. Practical implications The findings of this paper will provide micro enterprises with an alternative source of financing to start-up or expand their business by using cash waqf fund. The present study also has implications for government and policy makers. With the involvement of non-profit organization that is proposed in this model, it helps the government to reduce its expenses for the development of micro enterprises. Originality/value This paper offers an additional literature on cash waqf especially from the Malaysian context. Furthermore, this paper adds to the literature on waqf and cash waqf. The paper proposes a viable alternative model for micro enterprises as a source of financing by using cash waqf fund. This model incorporates Musharakah Mutanaqisah (diminishing partnership) as a financial arrangement between non-profit organization and micro enterprises.

Regulatory Framework for Member-Owned Islamic Microfinance Institutions ( Mimis ) in Sub-Saharan Africa ( SSA )

Member-owned Islamic microfinance institutions have been toasted to be the alternative means of financial inclusion among the Muslims who are voluntarily excluded from participating in the traditional member-owned microfinance institutions because of the interest they charge. This novel idea is still new and little is known about its operations and regulations guiding its operations. This paper surveys the practices of the common member-owned Islamic microfinance in Sub-Saharan Africa with a view of recommending a regulatory framework for its operations based on these practices. This paper, thus, proposes a number of regulations for the operation of both Islamic Saving Groups and Financial Cooperative. It is hoped that these proposed regulations will assist the operators, policy makers and donor agencies to chat a way of improving the financial inclusiveness of the poor who are excluded from benefiting from the available member-owned microfinance institutions with a view to lift them out of poverty.

How comfortable are Malaysian users in utilizing webpages of small businesses

The main objective of the current study is to explore the challenges the Malaysian consumers face in terms of e-commerce experiences with small businesses in general. In addition, the study looks into the potential impacts of demographic profiles of respondents on the e-commerce experiences in general and bad experiences in particular. The results suggest that e-commerce users face highest challenges with after purchase services followed by overall quality, usage experience, value, and installation. Regarding bad experiences, slow internet appears on the top of the list followed by slow delivery of the products, unfriendly website, poor quality products, complicated payment system, and unsecured operations. Also, this study reveals that security issue is no longer serious issue for Malaysian customers. The demographic characteristics have significant impacts on the level of satisfaction perceived in the e-commerce transaction while regarding bad experiences the demographic profiles have little or no impacts.