Saudah Sofian

Intellectual capital, management accounting practices and corporate performance: Perceptions of managers

Purpose - The purpose of the paper was to examine whether, and in what way, managers perceive that the level and shape of intellectual capital (IC) within firms influences management accounting practice, specifically, performance measurement, planning and control, capital budgeting, and risk management. It also explores whether such firms are better able to respond to unanticipated economic and market changes and achieve relatively higher performance within their sector. Design/methodology/approach - The paper is based on the results of a study conducted in Malaysia through a questionnaire survey in 119 large companies with varying levels of IC and selected interviews with both accounting and non-accounting executives in a subset of them. Findings - The findings in the paper suggest some evolution in management accounting practices for firms investing heavily in IC. The findings are discussed and further explored through interviews in some of the firms analysed. Research limitations/implications - The limitations of survey research in this paper are acknowledged, however these are ameliorated by confirmatory insights from the interviews. Further research could be carried out using more extensive case studies in companies, perhaps longitudinally, or undertaken using sector focused surveys. Practical implications - It is important to show in the paper that management accounting systems reflect the strategic orientation of the companies concerned. Where a greater focus on intangibles and intellectual capital occurs it may require a different emphasis on management accounting practices compared to companies where they do not feature strongly. It is important that management recognise and act on this in order to improve corporate performance. Originality/value - The paper shows that it is widely recognised that (IC), whether in the form of knowledge, experience, professional skill, good relationships, or technological capacity is a major source of corporate competitive advantage. Whilst the literature places considerable attention on the valuation, measurement and reporting of IC for external reporting purposes, far less attention has so far been given to the implications of IC for managerial accounting practice. This paper addresses this omission.

Prioritizing effective 7Ms to improve production systems performance using fuzzy AHP and fuzzy TOPSIS (case study)

This paper is aimed to present a fuzzy decision-making approach for prioritizing effective 7Ms to improve production systems performance. In this research systematic approach has been used for organization and production system inputs which named as 7Ms (Management, Manpower, Marketing, Method, Machine, Material, and Money). Linguistic values are used to assess the ratings and weights for 7Ms. These linguistic ratings can be expressed in trapezoidal or triangular fuzzy numbers. Then, a hierarchy multiple criteria decision-making (MCDM) model based on fuzzy-sets theory including FAHP and FTOPSIS are applied. The results obtained from AHP, FAHP; FTOPSIS were compared with each other. This research has been conducted on a manufacturing plant however the results can also be used for other types of organizations that are located in a competitive environment.

Hybrid GA for material routing optimization in supply chain

This research proposes a mathematical model for supply, production and distribution.For solving the model, it proposed e new methodology based on GA, FAHP and TOPSIS.The result of model shows that it is robust.It can also be applied to other industrial environments with slight modifications. In designing a supply chain (SC) system, the problem arises when a company has unsatisfactory inventory control policy and material routing between supplier-producer and distributor in SC considering specified cost and demand. The integration of decisions of different functions into a single optimization model is the base of this research. The aim of this paper is to study and compare the existing models of supply, production and distribution in SC and propose a model which integrates mentioned criteria in supply chain management (SCM). Furthermore, it proposes a new method for calculation of fitness function in genetic algorithm (GA) process. The successful designing of this model has led us to explore the use of heuristic methods such as GA to quantify the flow of SC, information and material flow. At first, fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) is adapted to evaluate objective function weights in SC. Then final weights of objective function are determined by the technique for order of preference by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS). This research also simulated the real company SC operations, and determines the most effective strategic and operational policies for an effective SC system. The result obtained from the model shows that it is robust. This model can also be applied to other industrial environments with slight modifications.

The Effects of Learning and Growth Perspective on Financial Performance in Private Universities

Many organisations are known to focus more on their financial gains to the detriments of their other roles that they are expected to discharge to their workforce and the communities. It has also been established from previous researches that financial performance would not be adequately valid with only performance measures unless others that are non-financial measures are incorporated, particularly with respect to those in the traditional BSC, such as is Learning and Growth Perspective LGP. Yet, there are limited publications that examined the effects of LGP on organisational FP for Private Universities PUs. In this paper, the effects of LGP on the Financial Performance of Yemens PUs was investigated. A designed questionnaire based on Partial Least Square-Structural Equation Modeling PLS-SEM was carried out. The results showed that LGP has a positive and direct effect on the Financial Performance of the Yemens PUs. This paper therefore will help in achieving the goals of Yemens PUs of Yemen in order to enhance their organizational Financial Performance FP.

Screening Efficiency and Entrepreneurship Potential in Automotive Suppliers Using DEA

This study aims to screen entrepreneurial potentials of automotive manufacturing and performance criteria. Supplier selection as a key part of supply chain management (SCM) facilitates the creation of sustainable competitive advantage that can cause new ventures and business growth development. Efficient supplier selection method is a main part in SCM for outsourcing in businesses. The character of supplier selection is a multi-criteria decision making (MCDM) problem and multiple criteria should be respected in the selection procedure. This study assessed the suppliers’ efficiency through Data Envelopments Analysis (DEA). Keyword: Supply chain management, supplier selection, multi-criteria decision making, DEA

A proposed model of the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility and firm performance

The aim of this paper is to propose a model of the relationship between Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and firm performance through reviewing the related literature. One of the more significant findings to emerge from this review is that most studies in CSR have been carried out in developed countries and there is a paucity of such studies in developing countries. The second obvious finding is that the experimental findings are quite controversial, and there is no universal agreement about the actual impact of CSR on firm performance. This is because while the positive relationship between CSR and firm performance has been obtained in many studies, some studies have still found a negative or neuter relationship. Review of the related literature on CSR and performance leads us to establish a third conclusion, which is that the majority of studies have focused only on the monetary aspects of firm performance in measuring overall performance, and non-monetary aspects have been disregarded. Taken together, the lack of study in developing countries, lack of a comprehensive approach to firm performance, and inconclusiveness among findings create enough ground for future empirical studies on CSR and firm performance. Accordingly, based on the suggested association of these factors, this paper proposes a model that links CSR to both financial and non-financial performance for future empirical research which will be carried out in Malaysia as a developing country.