Rokiah Alavi

Spillover effects of foreign hypermarkets on domestic suppliers in Malaysia

– Since the mid‐1990s, there has been a rapid expansion of large‐scale foreign retailers in many countries across Southeast Asia, Central Europe and Latin America. This emerging trend has triggered a number of research interests on the issue of retail globalization. The research aims to consider the entry of foreign hypermarkets in Malaysia and their impact on the development and growth of domestic suppliers and manufacturers., – This study uses both primary and secondary data. Secondary data were drawn from industry sources which included government departments, economic reports, retailing magazines and companies, web sites. Meanwhile, primary data are collected using mail survey questionnaire and face‐to‐face interviews., – The findings of this study indicate that foreign hypermarkets play a very important role in the development and growth of the domestic suppliers via backward linkages. The main forms of linkages are product supply, informational linkages, assistance with inventory management, technical support and quality assurance and procurement systems. A majority of the firms indicated that they benefited substantially from the presence of foreign hypermarkets; however, they also face several challenges brought about by imposition of several unfair terms and procurement policy., – The findings are largely derived from the experience encountered by domestic firms who participated in the survey. Thus, it is believed that their views could definitely help all the parties including the policymakers and researchers to better understand the impact of foreign hypermarkets on local businesses and take appropriate policy measures.

Medical tourism service quality: finally some empirical findings

The purpose of this paper is to examine service quality, perceived value, overall satisfaction and future intention among medical tourists who seek treatment in Malaysian private hospitals. Self-administered questionnaire was the main method of data collection. Respondents comprised foreign patients who seek medical treatment, and/or related medical services such as tests and medical check-ups. Expatriates and foreign nationals residing in Malaysia were excluded. Altogether 173 responses were received and analysed by SPSS 17. Three dimensions of medical tourism service quality were identified, namely, medical staff quality, supporting services quality and administrative services quality. Medical staff quality was found to predict all three variables of patient satisfaction, perceived value and future intention for treatment. Very limited empirical research has been carried out with actual data from patients due to difficulty in getting access to international patients, and patients’ reluctance to participate. This study is among the first few which examines medical tourism service quality with actual patient data. The research identifies important constituents of medical tourism which may assist policy-makers and hospital managers in better understanding the industry.

Assessing policies for attracting international students: case of Malaysia

While the world market for international students in higher education is dominated by traditional major players such as the US, UK and Australia, Malaysia has emerged as a recent contender with a market share of 2%. There is a gap in the literature in assessing the contributions of policy initiatives, including trade agreements, towards attracting inbound international students, especially from emerging contenders such as Malaysia. The objective of this paper is to compare and assess the policy initiatives at the unilateral, multilateral, regional and bilateral level and their impact on the host environment which is defined in terms of the key pull factors that have attracted international students to Malaysia. The main findings show that domestic policy initiatives have enhanced the host environment for attracting international students by providing a governance system that protects the interests of international students through its regulations. Efforts to improve quality assurance and accreditation also serve to attract international students. The regulation of fees contributed towards competitively priced programmes that are also pull factors. Multilateral, regional and bilateral commitments are relatively new, emerging only after 2006, and have less potential influence on inflows of international students as these commitments reflect, at best, existing practices in this sector.

The impact of liberalization on higher education and domestic regulation

Tertiary education provided by private higher learning institutions (PHEIs) is one of the sectors that have been included in trade liberalization negotiations.

Guidelines and Legal Ecosystem for the Creation of Islamic Content in Malaysia: Towards Consumer Empowerment

The contents of creative industry must portray the cultural and religious values of the country. As a tool of nation building, creative industry plays a fundamental role in inculcating good values and the avoidance of social illnesses. The objective of this study is to examine the importance and growth of Islamic contents in Malaysian creative industry. By employing qualitative research methods, namely, content analysis and interviews, the study found that there is increase in the demand for Islamic contents. This study intends to highlight some of the concerns raised by both producers and consumers of creative content with the hope of empowering consumers in choosing content that is more suitable to their cultural and religious needs. For the Islamic content industry to flourish, having a supportive legal eco-system is imperative. This study explores the existing guidelines on Islamic content as a well as relevant legislation that governs content creation in Malaysia. The study concludes with some policy recommendations that would assist in harnessing the creation of Islamic content in Malaysia.

In search for support for the extension of copyright term under the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement: A preliminary study of the Malaysian music industry

Purpose One of the binding commitments under the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement is the extension of the copyright term to 70 years after the death of the author. This paper reports the preliminary findings of a research on the potential impact of the extension of copyright term on the music industry in Malaysia. As Malaysia is a user and net importer of intellectual property, it is feared that extending the copyright term will likely impede incentives for the creation of new contents, increase the cost of licensing/royalties, diminish the choice and creativity of film and music industry and increase royalty payments abroad. The purpose of this study is to determine whether the commercial lifespan of copyright works is long enough. Design/methodology/approach Using a qualitative research method, in-depth interviews were carried out with key industry players between June and September 2015 to collect relevant information from the industry. The information obtained was analysed to gauge the market standing of the local music industry and how the proposed extension would bolster their financial and market power. The paper does not intend to explore the legal implications from the retrospective extension of copyright term and data on illegal use and piracy. The findings of the research will be purely drawn from the non-structured interviews and information gathered from respondents. Findings The paper concludes that there is not enough evidence to support the notion that the copyright extension will be economically advantageous to the local music industry. Research limitations/implications The feedback from the interviews, although cannot be generalised to be considered as representing the whole music industry in Malaysia, can nevertheless be taken as preliminary conclusions and an eye-opener to the quest for concrete support in the debate for the extension of the copyright term in Malaysia. The paper also does no explore the legal implications from the retrospective extension of copyright and data on illegal use and piracy. Practical implications In conclusion, more studies need to be conducted to understand the dynamics and needs of the music market in Malaysia for the extension of the copyright term to be really beneficial to them. As this study is only conducted using a qualitative research method, using open-ended and in-depth interview techniques on a small group of respondents, there may be a need to embark on empirical research with proper execution of survey instruments to a larger group of respondents. Social implications The music industry is chosen as the case study because it may develop into a potential export interest. The music industry as a small component of the larger “creative industry” has been identified as one of the new economic drivers under the Tenth Malaysia Plan. Originality/value The paper was first presented at the ATRIP Congress 2015 at Cape Town on 27th September 2015. The paper has not been published. No studies have been done on the possible implications of copyright extension term on the music industry in Malaysia before.

Public Research, Open Science and Innovation: Creating the Path for Sustainable Resource-Led Industrialisation in Malaysia

This paper intends to demonstrate the importance of innovation in primary resources by the government research institutes (GRIs) and the practice of open science in creating the path for resource-led and knowledge-intensive industrialisation in Malaysia. The core argument here is that a successful resource -led industrialisation lies on the technological advancement in the primary resources developed by GRIs . The focus of this study is on rubber industry and research undertaken by the Malaysian Rubber Board (MRB). Research methods used were interviews and secondary data search. It is found that R&D undertaken by rubber research centres and their open science practice have sustained Malaysia’s quest to be the leading producer and exporter of natural rubber and rubber based products