Transforming Malaysia's Higher Education: Policies and Progress

Malaysia's higher education sector has a substantial number and diverse types of public and private providers, which have contributed toward improving access. Over time, with improved access, there are increasing policy efforts directed toward improving the quality of higher education to meet the desired human capital needed for advancing economic development. This paper assesses three key areas that have been undertaken to improve the quality of higher education, their measurements, achievements, outstanding challenges, and ensuing implications on future policy directions. The key performance indicators used for monitoring quality improvements show that some targets have been achieved. A review of the approach used to measure performance and a consolidation of the sector are needed for further quality improvement.     

The Effects of Participation and Job-Relevant Information on the Relationship Between Evaluative Style and Job Satisfaction

This study investigates the intervening effects of budgetary participation and job-relevant information on the relationship between budget emphasis and job satisfaction. It proposes that budgetary participation and job-relevant information are endogenous to budget emphasis. Using the path analytical technique and based on a sample of 152 senior managers, the study found that budget emphasis has an insignificant direct effect on job satisfaction, but a strong indirect effect through job-relevant information and budgetary participation. The results also indicate that job-relevant information has an intervening effect on the relationship between participation and job satisfaction.     

进口安全视角下中国棉花进口波动研究

论文针对进口安全问题,利用1992-2012年时间序列数据,以中国棉花进口为研究对象,运用进口市场集中度、进口依存度、自给率、贸易竞争力等方法从控制力和竞争力角度对中国棉花进口安全程度进行研究.分析得出:中国棉花供求矛盾突出;棉花进口维持在较高水平;棉花进口集中度较高;中国棉花进口依存度逐步由“不安全”状态向“危机”状态转变;中国棉花的自给率一直处于“危机”状态;中国棉花贸易竞争力也较弱,棉花安全也处于“危机”状态.     

财政存款、银行竞争与僵尸企业形成

银行以优惠利率贷款为低质企业“输血”,是企业僵尸化的重要成因。然而,基于中国背景的文献,对银行“输血”动机的研究并不充分,本文从地方财政存款影响银行信贷分配的视角,分析僵尸企业形成的内在机理。首先,通过构建理论模型对银行竞争财政存款及影响企业融资和投资绩效进而僵尸化的逻辑进行刻画,而后依据省份财政存款、银行竞争与微观企业财务数据,对理论推论进行了验证。研究发现,财政存款占当地存款比重越大,企业僵尸化概率越高,并且银行竞争助长了企业僵尸化。此外,基于工具变量估计处理了核心变量的内生性问题,并进行了多种稳健性检验。机制检验表明,财政存款的信贷分配效应,促使企业过度投资,导致经营绩效恶化,进而提高了企业僵尸化概率,银行竞争则会加剧该效应。本文拓展了财政存款的经济效应与僵尸企业形成方面的文献,对于僵尸企业治理有一定参考意义。     

Japanese management in Singapore: Convergence of human resource management practices

This paper discusses the transfer and adaptation of Japanese human resource management practices to Singapore. By comparing Japanese parent companies, their subsidiary companies in Singapore, and comparable local Singaporean companies, the modifications to the practices of the Japanese parent companies and the adoption of local practices by Japanese management are made evident. The findings seem to uphold both the convergence and the contingency theses.Dr. Chong Li Choy is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Management, National University of Singapore. Prof. Hem C. Jain is from the Faculty of Administration, University of New Brunswick.     

Predictability of nonlinear trading rules in the U.S. stock market

Most of the existing technical trading rules are linear in nature. This paper investigates the predictability of nonlinear time series model based trading strategies in the U.S. stock market. The performance of the nonlinear trading rule is compared with that of the linear model based rules. It is found that the self-exciting threshold autoregressive (SETAR) model based trading rules perform slightly better than the AR rules for the Dow Jones and Standard and Poor 500, while the AR rules perform slightly better in the NASDAQ market. Both the SETAR and the AR rules outperform the VMA rules. The results are confirmed by bootstrap simulations.     

Shipping the Good Horses Out

The 1964 effect states that when a fixed per‐unit cost is added to two substitutes, the more expensive (higher quality) one becomes relatively cheaper, and, thus, its consumption will increase. When applied to trade in vertically‐differentiated goods, the importing regions demand relatively more high‐quality goods. We examine how this result changes when the importing region is also endowed with the goods. We use a vertically‐differentiated goods model with heterogeneous consumers in which prices are endogenously determined. We show that the importing regions with an endowment have a stronger Alchian‐Allen effect than the regions that are not endowed. We use the auction data of Australian thoroughbred yearlings to empirically test our model and find consistent empirical patterns.     

The role of organisational concern for workplace fairness in the choice of a performance measurement system

Prior studies linking performance management systems (PMS) and organisational justice have examined how PMS influence procedural fairness. Our investigation differs from these studies. First, it examines fairness as an antecedent (instead of as a consequence) of the choice of PMS. Second, instead of conceptualising organisational fairness as procedural fairness, it relies on the impression management interpretation of organisational fairness. Hence, the study investigates how the need of senior managers to cultivate an impression of being fair is related to the choice of PMS systems and employee outcomes. Based on a sample of 276 employees, the results indicate that the need of senior management to cultivate an impression of being fair is associated with employee performance. They also indicate that a substantial component of these effects is indirect through the choice of comprehensive performance measures (CPM) and employee job satisfaction. These findings highlight the importance of organisational concern for workplace fairness as an antecedent of choice of CPM. From a theoretical perspective, the adoption of the impression management interpretation of organisational fairness contributes by providing new insights into the relationship between fairness and choice of PMS from a perspective that is different from those used in prior management accounting research.     

物流仓储配送仿真平台的构建及其多层次实验教学的研究

分析目前物流实验教学内容单一又缺乏内部联系的问题,提出物流实验教学的一个方向应该要围绕着物流环节进行,并针对物流仓储配送环节,充分利用实验室现有软硬件组合构建了物流仓储配送仿真实验平台.基于该平台,论述了三个培养层次的实验项目的设置和实验过程的前后关联设计,进行了综合性和开放性实验的探索与实践.