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Sarah Samsudin,1,2 Mairin Dulasi,2 Salina Sany,2,3 Kathirgamanathan Balanathan,2 Soon Eu Chong,4,5 Anizah Ali1 1Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Cheras 56000, Malaysia; 2Obstetrics and Gynaecology Department, Hospital Seberang Jaya, Ministry of Health, Perai 13700, Penang, Malaysia; 3Cluster of Oncology & Radiological Sciences, Advanced Medical and Dental Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kepala Batas 13200, Penang, Malaysia; 4Cluster of Regenerative Medicine, Advanced Medical and Dental Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kepala Batas 13200, Penang, Malaysia; 5Department of Anaesthesiology and Critical Care School of Medical Sciences, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kubang Kerian 16150, Kelantan, MalaysiaCorrespondence: Anizah AliDepartment of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Hospital Canselor Tuanku Muhriz, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras 56000, MalaysiaEmail dr.anizahali@ppukm.ukm.edu.mySalina SanyCluster of Oncology & Radiological Sciences, Advanced Medical and Dental Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia, Kepala Batas 13200, Penang, MalaysiaEmail salinasany@usm.myObjective: This study aimed to compare the efficacy, side effects, and clinical outcomes between parenteral iron sucrose complex (ISC) and low-molecular-weight iron dextran (LMWID) for iron deficiency anemia (IDA) in pregnancy.Methods: The study was conducted in a Malaysian tertiary hospital for a period of 1 year. Forty pregnant women with IDA between 24 and 38 weeks of gestation were randomized into two groups receiving treatment with either ISC or LMWID.Results: No significant difference was found between the groups in terms of demographic data, parity, and mean gestational age. A mean total of 835 ± 150 mg doses of ISC and 656 ± 382 mg doses of LMWID were administered (P = 0.0001). Adverse events were reported in five patients who received LMWID and none in those treated with ISC (P = 0.024). The mean hemoglobin (Hb) level increment 2 weeks post treatment was higher among those who received ISC than in those who received LMWID. The ISC group demonstrated an increase of 1.91 ± 1.10 g/dL (from 8.43 ± 1.03 g/dL to 10.29 ± 0.90 g/dL) compared with the LMWID group at 1.39 ± 0.54 g/dL (from 8.61 ± 0.70 g/dL to 9.92 ± 0.88 g/dL, P = 0.023). All participants in both groups delivered at term. The estimated blood loss during delivery was significantly higher in the LMWID group (359 ± 247 mL) than in the ISC group (280 ± 100 mL, P = 0.026). Otherwise, no significant difference was observed in terms of Hb level during delivery and the perinatal outcomes for both groups.Conclusion: Parenteral ISC is more effective than LMWID in treating maternal IDA, and it is associated with fewer adverse events.Keywords: iron deficiency anemia treatment, pregnancy, iron dextran, iron sucrose, maternal and perinatal outcomes

The rapid growth of live streaming e-commerce is hindered by its high rate of product returns, which poses a challenge to its long-term sustainability. Specifically, clothes shoppers account for 30% of all sales made during live broadcasts. This study aims to evaluate the impact of live streaming e-commerce on repurchase intention in the sports brand industry in China. The paper used quantitative research methods with 398 data collected from consumers of sports brands who were willing to provide information regarding their shopping experience on the live streaming platform. 224 respondents were females (56.3%), and 174 were males (43.7%). The study adopted a questionnaire to collect the data. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling was used to test the correlation between the variables. The results revealed direct and positive effect of consumer trust (β = 0.397, p = 0.000) and perceived value (β = 0.215, p = 0.001) on repurchase intention in live streaming e-commerce. The findings also indicated that both consumer trust and perceived value play a mediating role. In addition, the results supported the assumption that the characteristics of live streamers (β = 0.389, p = 0.000) have a positive impact on consumer trust, and customer-to-customer interaction (β = 0.678, p = 0.000) has a significant impact on perceived value. Finally, sports brands are advised to optimize live streaming platforms to better meet consumers’ needs. Acknowledgment The authors acknowledge Universiti Utara Malaysia (UUM) that supported this study.

This study intends to demonstrate the impact of board busyness through board multiple directorships and ESG scores towards firm value in Thailand within the period of 2018-2022. Theoretical frameworks such as the resource dependence theory and stakeholder theory explicate the two hypotheses developed for busy directors and ESG score. A director has multiple directorships when he/she has more than three board roles in other publicly listed firms, excluding private organizations and foundations. This research’s population are listed non-financial firms in Thailand Stock Exchange that has ESG score in Refinitiv database for five consecutive years during 2018 to 2022. Final data sample are 28 non-financial companies resulting in 140 observations. Directorship and board size were hand collected from annual reports. Panel data regression with random effect model is used, and results show that there is no association between multiple directorship and firm value. On the other hand, ESG shows a positive and significant relationship towards firm value. This research supports the belief that ESG scores have a notable impact on firm value based.

The field of strategic innovation (SI) has been garnering increasing research interest, with studies adopting and employing varying definitions and creating different methods for its measurement. Despite the innumerable studies, few have addressed manufacturing and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), particularly those focused on Middle East countries, in light of the relationship between structural capital (SC) and SI. Hence, the present work is primarily aimed at examining the role of SC in SI and the performance of manufacturing SMEs. It employed the survey method to gather data from the study sample of 284 Yemeni manufacturing SMEs and the hypotheses were tested using Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). On the basis of the results, there is a significant influence of SI on performance; SC also has a moderating role of on this relationship. The present study is expected to contribute to the creation of a measurement system for SI in SMEs, stressing each component of SI in enhancing the performance of such enterprises.

Brand engagement is relatively a new concept in marketing. The objective of this research study is to unearth the relationship between brand engagement and customer-based brand eq-uity drivers; brand personality, brand experience, and brand affect. The data was collected from 426 automobile customers in Pakistan through multi-stage cluster sampling technique. The PLS-SEM analysis of the data supported the relationships between brand equity drivers and brand engagement and the mediating role of brand affect. Brand experience, brand personality, and brand affect emerged significant predictors to brand engagement behavior of the automobile customers. It is recommended for the brand managers to design marketing plans that emphasize the pleasant brand experience which results in brand affect, ultimately leading to brand engagement behavior.

Purpose – The study aims to theoretically establish brand personality, brand experience, brand attributes, and brand affect as antecedents of brand engagement. Additionally, this study seeks to enhance customer-based brand equity and relationship marketing theories in relation to brand engagement behavior. Design/methodology/approach – Through a survey questionnaire, 426 responses were collected from automobile customers. Following the multistage cluster sampling technique, respondents were contacted through the mall intercept method. The respondents’ data was analyzed through PLS-SEM path modeling using the disjoint two-stage approach. Findings and implications – Brand personality, brand experience, brand attributes, and brand affect significantly the brand engagement behavior being explained, especially, brand affect mediated between these antecedents and brand engagement. Limitation – The cross-sectional research design of the study has some limitations. Further, brand affect, as a mediator, has explained 40.7% of the variation in brand engagement. Other mediators may explain the rest of the variation in brand engagement. As the study is related to the automobile market in Pakistan, the results may not be generalized to other parts of the world. Originality – It is the first study to examine brand affect as a mediator that theoretically links brand personality, experience, attributes to brand engagement in an integrative framework, specifically for automobile brands. The disjoint two-stage approach of PLS-SEM in this study has been rarely used in marketing and business management research.

The current study fills existing gaps in theory and practice by investigating the nature of the relationship between innovation dimensions and business sustainability in the insurance sector in Malaysia, and the moderating effects of strategic orientation on this relationship. The data was collected from 116 samples. PLS-SEM was used to test the study's hypotheses. The results shows that process and product innovation have a significant influence on business sustainability, but not administrative innovation; strategic orientation moderates the relationship between process and product innovation and business sustainability, but not with administrative innovation. These findings have important theoretical implications both for Malaysia and for countries with similar economies. The study will serve as a reference point for such countries in trying to understand factors influencing business sustainability.

Tourism industry in recent time has suffered from pervasive insecurity issues which significantly affect the performance of the industry. The aim of this study is to investigate the joint effect of push, pull and perceived security factors on tourism intention in Nigeria. In order to conduct this research, questionnaires were distributed to 650 respondents. Out of the distributed questionnaires, only 310 were eventually used for the analysis. The researchers employed Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The findings of this study reveal that push and pull factors have a positive and significant effect on tourist intention. The result equally shows a negative effect of perceived security factor on tourist intention. The results presented may serve as a direction for academia, policy makers and other practitioners.

Let R be a ring and M a right R-module. We call a module M is FI-δ-lifting if every fully invariant submodule A of M contains a direct summand B of M such that A/B «δ M/B. In this paper several properties of these modules are studied. We show that a ring R is FI-δ-lifting as an R-module if and only if R/I has a projective δ-cover for every two sided ideal I of R. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This empirical study investigates Human Capital (HC) and the performance of manufacturing Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Yemen, with the application of new econometric methods to analyse the data. It makes several contributions to the literature, the first of which is the provision of evidence concerning the major role of HC as a moderating variable in the relationship between strategic innovation (SI) and performance. The second contribution pertains to its pioneering status in examining the direct relationship between SI and the performance of SMEs in a Middle Eastern country. The findings also indicate the that an increase in HC, that is the firm's internal human knowledge, SI also increased; when the differences in SI investments and HC remained constant, knowledge-intensive, labour-intensive and capital-intensive firms were found to be at the same level of innovation. Lastly, a significant relationship was found between SI and SME performance, with HC moderating the relationship.

Green growth has become one of the main requirements by the governments and communities that companies need to fulfill in order to sustain and success in the market. However, transforming to be green companies comes with challenges that need to handle it. In this regard, green innovation has been documented to be as the companies’ driver towards attaining sustainable green economy. In Malaysia, there is a serious effort to boost up the level of green innovation performance among the industries players. This study aims to provide a model that can enhance the understanding on how to achieve green innovation. The model of this research indicates green supply chain management as an explanatory of green innovation performance. The study also explores the role of green innovation capabilities as a mediator that facilitate green supply chain management to impact on green innovation performance. This study, moreover, tests the moderator role of ISO 14000 certificate to strengthen the relationship among the variables included in the framework. The sample size was among Malaysian manufacturing companies, and a total number of 143 companies were the participants. As there is lack of studies that investigate the intervening relationship in green practices, this study will provide an insight to the policymakers, practitioners, and other researchers in the field to understand green innovation requirement and uncertainties. To run the analysis, SmartPLS3 was the software used to test the model. The main results and conclusions were discussed in the last section of the study.

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between market orientation and business performance. Hypothesis concerning the relationship between market orientation and business performance were posited and tested. Data were collected using a mail questionnaire survey approach. This study employed a simple random sampling procedure in selecting the organisations for inclusion in the sample. A total of 158 Malaysian manufacturing organisations participated in this study. Factor analysis, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression methods of data analysis were utilised for hypotheses testing. The results revealed that market focus, market action, market planning, market feedback, and market coordination jointly explained 32.6% of the variance of business performance. Market focus and market coordination were found to have statistically significant association with business performance. The outcome of this study provides vital information from a developing country perspective on the impact of market orientation practices on manufacturing organisations’ performance.

Innovation has become unavoidable choice for companies to survive. However, a high percentage of new products fail, which increase the risk of using innovative ideas. Therefore, to control and reduce the risk of introducing new products, most companies need to invent new products that can meet the customers’ real needs. Accordingly, customer must be the main source of the information through which the ideas of new products are generated. Having the knowledge about the market needs and trends is not enough as the knowledge needs to be translated into real products. Hence, capabilities, in this context, play a vital role to enhance product innovation performance of the organizations. Thus, this study investigates the role of manufacturing capabilities in enhancing the or-ganizations’ abilities to translate the ideas into the right product that can meet customers’ needs. Moreover, this paper discusses the link between customer knowledge management and developing manufacturing capabilities. The study is conducted in Malaysia, and uses the information of 134 manufacturing companies for the survey. Partial least square is used to obtain the results. The findings are discussed and compared with other results in the literature.

En el artículo se analiza cuáles son las culturas alimentarias que adoptan los adolescentes de educación general básica superior de la Unidad Educativa Babahoyo, asimismo se determina el impacto que estas culturas tienen en relación con el desarrollo de las capacidades de aprendizaje. En el estudio se consideran varios aspectos socioeconómicos y políticos que buscan mejorar los hábitos alimenticios de los educandos, así como los programas y actividades que se desarrollan en la institución educativa, que no han sido eficientes en el cumplimiento de sus objetivos. A partir de un estudio cuantitativo de tipo descriptivo y aplicando instrumentos de investigación que permiten identificar la cultura alimentaria de los adolescentes, se plantea una propuesta que fortalezca la aplicación de buenos hábitos alimentarios en los estudiantes, dando lugar a nuevos estudios en el campo educativo.

The objective of this research is to determine the factors that can effectively predict adoption of mobile commerce in Nigeria. In doing this, 192 questionnaires were analyzed using Smart PLS-SEM. While majority of previous studies revealed negative relationship between perceived risk and system usage, the result of this study however indicated a positive relationship with mobile commerce adoption especially with the incorporation of perceived fun that tends to make mobile commerce platforms to be enjoyable. The study provides further insights into how perceived risk and fun can be used to increase the rate of adoption of mobile commerce by coming up with policies that can be used to improve the platform while marketability of mobile commerce can be enhanced.

High competition in the market makes competitive advantage one of the absolute options that companies must seek to build and maintain competition. Organizational capabilities form one of the inimitable sources of competitive advantage. Therefore, establishing organizational capabilities is recognized as antecedents of competitive advantage. To build up such capabilities, several strategies have been applied. Thus, this study aims to investigate the role of IMO to enhance and build up the organizational capabilities and the competitive advantage. Hence, the present study to examine the direct effect of IMO on competitive advantage, the mediating role of organizational capabilities between IMO and competitive advantage. To do so, managers of restaurant chains sector were selected as the respondents from which the necessary data were collected. Partial least square was the statistical approach to get the result. The obtained results supported all the proposed hypotheses. Therefore, IMO is considered as one of the strategic options that organizations can apply to enhance their competitive advantage. Further discussion and suggestions for future studies were presented in the last section of the paper.

The objective of the study is to investigate the moderating role of affective sentiments of brand psychological ownership of an employee in the relationship among the cognitive sentiments of employee brand understanding and employee brand equity of conventional and Islamic banks. Survey method was adopted to collect data from respondents from conventional and Islamic banks. Data were collected from 279 employees from the banking sector using two-stage probability sampling. Disproportionate stratified random sampling and simple random sampling were employed to collect responses. To analyze the data, multi-group analysis was applied using PLS-SEM technique through SmartPLS 3.0. Results demonstrated that congruence between brand image and individuals has a moderating effect on the relationship between brand confidence and employee brand equity in conventional banking. Responsibility to maintain brand image has a moderating effect on the relationship between brand knowledge and employee brand equity in conventional banking. In case of Islamic banking, only congruence between brand image and individuals exhibited a moderating role on the relationship between brand knowledge and employee brand equity. The importance of brand understanding of employees and psychological ownership of a brand has been widely discussed in branding literature. However, only a few studies investigated the relationship between dimensions of employee brand understanding and the employee brand psychological ownership with employee brand equity. The cognitive and affective sentiments of both exogenous latent constructs, their relationships, and the interaction effect of cognitive and affective sentiments were seldom discussed in branding literature. This study covers the in-depth view and investigation of brand understanding of employ¬ees and the affective and cognitive sentiments of brand psychological ownership with em¬ployee behavior toward a brand. This study also uncovers the moderating role of affective sentiments of brand psychological ownership on the relationship between cognitive senti¬ments of employee brand understanding and employee brand equity. This study will help researchers analyze the in-depth role of affective and cognitive sentiments on brand sup¬portive related behavior of employees.

Consumers often experience injustice from the businesses which ignore fairness aspects in their marketing activities which can range from improper promotional campaigns to distribution bias and so on. As such, it has been of immense importance for the researchers to explicitly examine the role of virtuous marketing practices in shaping attitude of consumers. Accordingly, by means of a survey based investigation conducted with urban female consumers, this study probes the attitude of shoppers towards businesses’ ethicality in their marketing activities. Results indicate that righteousness in marketing communications and fairness in distribution channels exhibit a positive relationship with the attitude of consumers which further impacts their intentions to peruse marketers’ ethicalities while developing plans to buy cosmetics products. Furthermore, in an ethical marketing context, subjective norms and perceived behavioral control also influence consumer intentions significantly. It is also discovered that consumer lifestyle facets reflected by religiosity and women’s role and perception exert no moderating influence over the attitude-intention link. Consequently, managers are recommended to take adequate measures towards ensuring that their promotional and distributive actions are seen by the consumers as fair, reasonable and virtuous.

The purpose of this paper is to fill gaps in the human capital literature, first, by providing insights into the relationship between human capital and strategic innovation and the performance of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs), and second, by exploring the role of human capital as a mediating variable. Although SMEs perform a vital role in the economic development of countries worldwide, developing countries tend to lag behind developed countries in this sector; hence, there is a need to investigate the peculiar nature of SMEs and their performance in the context of developing countries. Additionally, understanding an organization’s human capital requires the articulation of a system of variables that helps to uncover and manage the visible wealth. The contribution of SMEs can be measured through performance. This study is a conceptual discussion of manufacturing SME performance in Yemen and the effect of human capital and strategic innovation. The performance is considered to be very low, and the country is ranked by the Global Innovation Index as one of the lowest in terms of innovation. This paper describes the development of a framework which is a clear manifestation of the knowledge gap addressed by this study.

Total Quality Management is essential in the healthcare sector. Delivering good healthcare services is one of the main issues among healthcare organizations. Healthcare customers are satisfied with healthcare providers when their services meet the level of their expectations. Satisfying healthcare customers (both public and private) can be attained through Total Quality Management. This paper highlights the importance of using Total Quality Management in healthcare organizations in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). A review of the implementation of TQM among Saudi healthcare organizations highlighted the challenges faced in the sector. The sustained efforts in improving the service quality in Saudi healthcare have led to remarkable results. However, there are more challenges regarding the quality of services. This paper is helpful for strategic planners, policy makers, and management in the KSA healthcare sector and in other jurisdictions.

There is a significant trend among Muslim consumers in reverting to Islamic way of life. The phenomenon somehow affected the Malaysian retail industry with specialty Islamic stores mushrooming, and retailers customizing retail elements to win the Muslim consumers segment. As the mainstream studies on retailing acknowledges the adaptation of retail elements to suit consumers’ segment, there are less report on customizing retail elements to religious consumer group such as Muslim consumers’ segment. Thus, little is understood of consumers’ patronage motives and their expectations of retail Islamic stores. The aims of this study are twofold: to explore Malaysian Muslim consumers’ expectations of Islamic-based retail store; and their motive to patronize an Islamic-based retail store. Findings from interviews, conducted in the Northern region of Malaysia, suggest unique religion-related patronage motives. This study shares some initial insight into criteria for Islamic retail-based segmentation for Muslim consumers. Implications and limitations of the study are also discussed.

Herbs have been used around the world since thousands of years ago, now, 80% of world population are using herbs as part of health practices and treatment of diseases. Due to the increasing interest on herbal products, the global herbal industry have expanded tremendously due to lifestyle changes caused by modernization and health problems. With the increase demand and usage of the herbal product, studies related to actual purchase is considered as limited. Hence,the main objective of the study is to investigate factors that influence the actual purchase related to herbal products. This study has enhanced the understanding factors that influence actual purchase and will provide insightful information to the entrepreneurs regarding the actual purchase of herbal products. Therefore, SMARTPLS was used in testing the interrelation between the proposed research model, the result shows that, perceived benefit moderates the relationship between attitude and actual purchase. In the last section, theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to describe the working of a demand and supply mechanism in an ethical scenario in the cosmetics market context. It principally aims to investigate the intentions of consumers to consider marketers’ commitment to ethics issues. Design/Methodology/Approach – Using a sample of urban female respondents from Malaysia, a consumer survey was carried out. PLS structural equation modeling was used to analyze the data. Findings and implications – The results show that the aspects of product fairness and price fairness are positively correlated to the attitudes of shoppers’ towards firms that resort to such practices. Additionally, shoppers’ attitudes and their perceived behavioral control further influence their intentions to consider a firm’s ethicality while anticipating a purchase. In terms of lifestyle aspects, the self-confidence and health consciousness of consumers do not moderate the relationship between attitude and intentions. As a whole, consumers offer hints that it is high time for marketers to start developing a sense of obligation to adhere to relevant ethical practices under vulnerable circumstances. Accordingly, it is suggested that managers offer products that are safe and pose the least risks, and that they set rational and justifiable prices. Limitation – This study has been limited to facial care products in Malaysia. Originality – This study addresses and operationalizes fairness aspects of products and their pricing from a consumer perspective through a rigorous review of the marketing and business ethics literature.

As the market is becoming more competitive, managers and marketers are becoming more aware of the importance of being a customer-oriented company to survive, and in this regard, customer loyalty is one of the major outcome of customer-oriented approach. Moreover, shifting the concept of marketing exchange from transactions to relationship emphasizes the importance of building customer loyalty. Therefore, nowadays, marketers are in the quest to obtain knowledge on how to build customer loyalty. However, most of the previous studies focused on business to customer (B2C) context. Due to several differences between B2C and B2B, there is a need to investigate the antecedents of customer loyalty separately from B2C. Therefore, this study focused on the Malaysian retail sector. The obtained results supported a positive influence of each of four adopted constructs, which represented by service quality, corporate image, customer trust, and customer switching cost, on customer loyalty. In light of the findings, several managerial implications were highlighted.

Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is more than an information tool and plays a critical role in small and medium enterprises (SMEs). The present study explored the moderating effect of relational capital (RC) on the relationship between CRM dimensions and the performance of 284 Yemeni manufacturing SMEs. Partial Least Squares-Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) was used to test the study’s hypotheses. Results indicate that only three of the CRM dimensions have a significant effect on performance. The moderating effects of relational capital on this relationship were also examined and were found to be significant for only two CRM dimensions: technology-based CRM and CRM organization. Key customer focus and CRM knowledge management had no effect. The findings of this study offer important insights for owners and managers of SMEs, researchers, and policymakers to further understand the effects of relational capital and CRM on SMEs’ performance. SMEs should be encouraged to develop their CRM and relational capital to improve their performance.

This study is meant to examine the relationships of several antecedents of actual purchase of herbal product in Malaysia. Actual purchase is considered to have a vital link to a business success. The study identified eight antecedents of consumer actual purchase such as intention, attitude, social influence, product safety and culture belief. A total of 473 respondents (about 82%) completed and returned the questionnaire. A seven point Likert scale was used to measure responses. The data were analyzed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) path modeling. The path coefficient results supported the direct influence of intention, attitude, social influence and product safety on actual buying. Moreover, the findings reveal that attitude, social influence, product safety, and culture belief also influenced buying intention.

Herbal Products industry has experienced significant growth in product demand. Therefore, this study aims to identify the factors effecting the actual buying of Herbal Product. This study also examines the moderation effect of perceived risk on the relationship between product safety and intention. Mall intercept survey was used to collect data from six various states in Malaysia. The data is analyzed using Partial Least Squares (PLS) path modeling. The path coefficient results supported the direct influence of intention on actual buying. Similarly, the findings reveal that perceived risk moderate the relationship between product safety and buying intention.

Penggunaan herba semakin mendapat tempat dalam kehidupan masyarakat moden pada masa ini dan sering digunakan sebagai perubatan alternatif. Terdapat peningkatan pembelian produk berasaskan herba dalam pasaran sama ada keluaran tempatan mahupun antarabangsa. Akan tetapi, bagaimanakah caranya untuk usahawan industri herba menjadi lebih berdaya saing dalam memasarkan produk berasaskan tanpa mengetahui corak pembelian? Corak pembelian dianggap penting dan dapat membantu usahawan untuk mengetahui persoalan berkaitan dengan apa, di mana, bagaimana, dan berapa banyak pembelian untuk sesuatu produk? Lantaran itu, ianya dapat membantu usahawan dalam proses penentuan campuran pemasaran serta memastikan kelangsungan jangka hayat perniagaan, kepuasan hati para pelanggan dan juga mengenal pasti keberkesanan strategi pemasaran. Dalam menentukan pensampelan kajian, kajian ini menguna pakai kaedah pensampelan kuota untuk menentukan jumlah populasi, manakala kaedah mall intersep digunakan sebagai salah satu kaedah pengumpulan data, pemilihan kaedah ini dibuat adalah untuk mendapatkan kepelbagaian karakter responden. Dapatan kajian menunjukkan bahawa corak pembelian produk berasaskan herba terdiri daripada pembeli sering membeli produk pemakanan kesihatan berbanding produk yang lain serta membeli di kedai yang menjual produk berasaskan herba berbanding lokasi pembelian yang lain. Para pembeli juga didapati lebih mempercayai maklumat yang disampaikan oleh rakan-rakan berbanding saluran maklumat yang lain. Hasil daripada analisis ini juga menunjukkan bahawa pembeli lelaki lebih kerap membeli dan lebih lama menggunakan produk berasaskan herba berbanding pembeli wanita. Kata Kunci: Corak pembelian; Produk berasaskan herba; Pensampelan kuota; Mall intersep; Malaysia.

Research regarding the impact of food packaging cues on product quality perception is relatively new. The role of various food packaging elements on product quality perceptions remain unclear. This study examined the characteristics of food packaging cues and their impact on product quality perceptions. This study is grounded on “Cue utilization theory†which explains the role of environmental stimuli in the formation of perceptions regarding the product. The framework of the study has been proposed by combining comprehensive set of Brand name, Price, Country of Origin, Nutritional label, Precautionary label and Perceived product quality. The research will plug the gaps in the literature of consumer behaviour and to generalize the results in the Pakistani consumer market. There is a scarcity of empirical studies which offer wide-ranging information regarding consumer mindset specifically in Asian contexts. Hence, this study provides practitioners with a framework to make appropriate marketing strategies. This study also makes theoretical and practical contributions.

The relationship between TQM practices and innovation performance had drawn the attention of several scholars during last decade,however, this relationship still not clear and inconclusive. Therefore, this study is one of the attempts that aim to clarify the nature of this relationship. Reviewing the past studies reveals that there is somewhat ignoring in examining the indirect relationship between TQM and innovation performance. Thus, to determine and explore the effect of applying TQM practices within the organization on innovation performance, this study is aiming to investigate the relationship between TQM practices and technological innovation capabilities in Malaysian context. The obtained result of SmartPLS statistical analysis confirmed the positive effect of applying TQM practice on technological innovation capabilities. Moreover, the findings also provide an indication regarding the level of occurrence of technological innovation capabilities among Malaysian manufacturing companies. According to the output several recommendations have been highlighted to the managers of the companies.

This study aims to know and analyze the influence of layout design and atmosphere on purchase intention trough emotional arousal and attitude toward the website. This research using SPSS 1.6 and Lisrel 8.7 software. Data collected directly from respondents who meet the specified characteristics of the population by distributing questionnaires. The samples used in this study was 150 respondents. The results of this study showed the influence of layout design on emotional arousal and attitude toward the website, the influence of atmosphere on emotional arousal, the influence of emotional arousal on attitude toward the website, the influence of emotional arousal on purchase intention, the influence of attitude toward the website on purchase intention, while the influence of atmosphere on emotional arousal, and the influence of emotional arousal on purchase intention of Zalora online store are rejected.

Nesta pesquisa objetivou-se captar a variedade de situações tecnológicas para identificar grupos de produtores, o mais semelhante possível, no conjunto de variáveis e características selecionadas. Foram considerados 72 produtores, 8,33% da amostra total, selecionados conforme 29 variáveis relacionadas a fatores produtivos. Avaliaram-se as variáveis de melhor representatividade dentro de cada fator e suas comunalidades dentro do conjunto de fatores analisados. Para a avaliação desses resultados, foram utilizados métodos de análise fatorial em componentes principais. Posteriormente, aplicou-se o método de análise de agrupamentos. O pluralismo tecnológico requer análises de agrupamento para viabilizar intervenções técnicas diferenciadas, o que permite a consolidação de condições de sustentabilidade a partir das reais necessidades de incorporação tecnológica dos produtores.A study was conducted aiming to determine the variety of technological situations to identify groups of producers, most similar possible, in the set of selected variable and characteristics. From the totality of producers, 72 (8.33%) were selected after taking into account 29 variables related to the production factors. The best representative variables from each factor as well as common variables were found within the group of factors analyzed. Data were analyzed using factorial analysis methods for the main components followed by grouping analysis method. Technological pluralism requires grouping analyses to make possible differentiated techniques interventions, which allows the consolidation of conditions of sustainability from the real necessities of technological incorporation of the producers.

As Malaysian Muslim consumers are more concerned about religious teachings, the doubt about the halalalness of the ingredients, processing and handling of the products has attracted Muslim consumers’ attention. Recently, Muslims are not only concerned about halal but the issue of “halalal tayibbah†has obtained great attention. In order to verify the “halalal tayibbah†concept, the acceptance of Muslim-made products is increasing in the market. With the spirit of helping the economy of the ummah, Muslim consumers tend to give their support to Muslim products. With a high demand for Muslim products, an initiative to introduce an Islamic-focused retail store has shown significant growth. Essentially, the store will provide a range of Muslim products as a substitute for previous brands. With regard to this phenomenon, the present study investigates the effect of Muslim products in an Islamic retail store on Muslim consumer-patronage behaviour. In order to get feedback, self-administered questionnaires were distributed to 384 patrons of Islamic retail stores in the northern region of Malaysia. The result of the partial least square analysis concluded that the provision of Muslim products has a significant impact on the patronage-behaviour of Muslim consumers. By buying Muslim products, Muslim consumers feel more confident that they are buying products that are religiously allowable and it prompts Muslim consumers’ buying-decisions in patronizing a store. Keywords: Muslim product. Muslim and patronage behaviour.

Nas últimas décadas uma série de transformações ampliou o alcance do mercado dos lácteos, sendo possível a captação de leite in natura em estabelecimentos distantes dos laticínios e a comercialização dos produtos processados em locais mais longínquos. O artigo se propõe a analisar mudanças que ocorreram na produção primária, na industrialização e no consumo do leite de vaca e seus derivados no Estado de São Paulo, entre 1990 e 2010. A pecuária leiteira paulista apresentou baixo dinamismo, fazendo com que São Paulo passasse de segundo para sexto maior Estado brasileiro produtor de leite cru ou resfriado no período. Sob o avanço da lavoura canavieira, a área de pastagem no Estado diminuiu e houve crescimento relativo da pecuária bovina de corte. Os ganhos de produtividade da pecuária leiteira paulista ocorreram em ritmo menor do que no Brasil e não foram suficientes para que se garantisse o aumento ou pelo menos a manutenção de sua produção de leite in natura. Os laticínios em São Paulo apresentaram dinamismo menor que no Brasil, embora sua produção tenha crescido além da produção primária de leite do Estado. O tamanho médio dos laticínios ficou maior e cresceu consideravelmente a produção paulista de leite longa vida, enquanto diminuía a produção do leite comercializado em embalagens de polietileno, de queijos e leite em pó. O consumo total de laticínios pelas famílias paulistas na década de 2000 aumentou, mas diminuiu o consumo per capita. A produção total de laticínios no Estado de São Paulo atende atualmente menos que 60% do seu consumo estadual total.

Innovation has been discussed in a broad field. Scholars have defined and discussed innovation in various forms and perspectives. Whether empirical or conceptual, the discussions have delineated innovation in various perspectives such as organizational innovation, newness, innovation management, innovation as interactive model and types of innovation. In fact, due to the competitive environment, innovation is crucial and has become a niche for firm’s performance. This paper aims to provide a systematic analysis and propose framework that emphasizes on investigating the relationship between innovation and firm performance. Based on literature review, this paper proposes six constructs which can be used to examine the innovation implementation at firm level. The constructs are leadership, managerial levers, business processes, innovation process, innovation outcome and firm performance. Keywords: innovation, innovation outcomes, firm performance

The study examines the student’s satisfaction of the quality of services rendered by mobile phone service provider in Malaysia. A cross-sectional survey was conducted using 342 postgraduate students of Universiti Utara Malaysia main campus at Sintok. The result reveals that tangibility was the most important dimension of mobile service quality, while empathy was found to be the least important dimension. The result further shows that the adjusted R² of 0.435 indicates 43.5 percent of variance in customer satisfaction could be predicted by the quality of service delivered by the mobile service providers. Based on the fi ndings, it is therefore recommended that the mobile service providers could make some paradigm changes with regard to the fi ve dimensions of service quality in order to enhance customers’ satisfaction. These changes include focusing on tangible cues, fulfi lling promises, being courteous all of which customers used to evaluate service delivery. Finally, limitations of the study were highlighted, and consequently directions for future research were suggested.

The benefits of CRM projects on business development has been a subject of discussion globally since 1990s. Evidence from different literature had equally established that there has been an increase in the attention paid to CRM by researchers, but to date, not much attempt has been made to develop a valid framework upon which the impact of CRM projects on the drivers of efficient service delivery and caller satisfaction in customer contact centre industry. This paper proposes a conceptual framework for measuring the drivers of efficient service delivery and caller satisfaction in customer contact centre. Given the need for more information that will assist in developing a viable theoretical framework for investigating service delivery in CRM contact centres, an exploratory pilot interview was conducted in four internationally recognised CRM customer contact centres that are based in Malaysia. The current results revealed a total of four major drivers of efficient service delivery (client factors, technology, process, and people), plus first call resolution as the determinant of caller satisfaction. Necessary recommendations as a guide for future research are also suggested. Keywords: Customer relationship management (CRM); service delivery; caller satisfaction; contact centre.

Market orientation and process quality measurement had been regarded in the literature as sources of competitive advantage for business performance. However, both these concepts had been discussed separately in their own respective academic discipline. In the context of business operation today, the organisation need to work as a team to survive in the challenging business environment. Market orientation originates from the marketing concept. On the other hand, process quality measurement originates from quality management principles and is viewed as one of its tools. Despite their importance, many organisations have not combined them in order to become a market driven and quality oriented organisation. Thus, this study investigated the impact of process quality measurement on the relationship between market orientation and financial performance of manufacturing firms in Malaysia. Although the overall results showed lack of evidence on the impact of process quality measurement on market orientation-financial performance relationships, individual results signified that process quality measurement moderate the relationship between market action and financial performance.

The main aim of this paper is to investigate the relationship between market orientation and business performance. Hypothesis concerning the relationship between market orientation and business performance were posited and tested. Data were collected using a mail questionnaire survey approach. This study employed a simple random sampling procedure in selecting the organisations for inclusion in the sample. A total of 158 Malaysian manufacturing organisations participated in this study. Factor analysis, Pearson correlation, and multiple regression methods of data analysis were utilised for hypotheses testing. The results revealed that market focus, market action, market planning, market feedback, and market coordination jointly explained 32.6% of the variance of business performance. Market focus and market coordination were found to have statistically significant association with business performance. The outcome of this study provides vital information from a developing country perspective on the impact of market orientation practices on manufacturing organisations’ performance.

Artikel ini menganalisa kekuatan, kelemahan, peluang dan ancaman kepada Lembaga Pemasaran Pertanian Persekutuan (FAMA). Organisasi FAMA Negeri Kedah telah dipilih sebagai responden dalam kajian kes ini. Hasil penganalisaan mendapati pengurusan komunikasi pemasaran FAMA Kedah boleh dipertingkatkan lagi. Terdapat beberapa masalah yang dihadapi oleh FAMA Negeri Kedah dalam menguruskan aktiviti-aktiviti promosi atau komunikasi pemasaran di negeri ini. Masalah-masalah yang telah dikenal pasti ialah amalan komunikasi pemasaran yang kurang berkesan, kesukaran menembusi pasaraya-pasaraya utama, bekalan dan kualiti produk yang tidak seragam daripada pengusaha industri kecil sederhana, dan kebergantungan agensi ini kepada ibu pejabat terutama dari segi sumber kewangan dan dasar yang telah ditetapkan. Penyelidik telah menjalankan analisis SWOT dan memberi beberapa strategi dan cadangan untuk mengatasi masalah-masalah tersebut. Di antara cadangan-cadangan yang telah diberikan termasuklah menjalankan program komunikasi pemasaran bersepadu, melaksanakan strategi promosi jualan dagangan, membuat perancangan dan mengawal prestasi pengusaha-pengusaha IKS, latihan kepada para pekerja dan menjana sumber kewangan sendiri.

Background: Advancements in laparoscopic techniques led to the adoption of laparoscopic common bile duct exploration (LCBDE) as an alternative to endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) for management of choledocholithiasis (CD). The goal of this study was to describe the initial experience at a safety net hospital with acute care surgeons performing LCBDE for suspected CD. We hypothesized LCBDE would reduce length of stay and hospital costs compared to laparoscopic cholecystectomy (LC) and ERCP performed in the same hospital admission., Methods: This was a retrospective case-control study from 2019 to 2023 comparing LCBDE to LC/ERCP among patients diagnosed with CD. Statistical analyses were performed using Mann-Whitney U tests for continuous variables and Chi-square tests for categorical variables. Data reported as median [interquartile range] or research subjects with condition (percentage)., Results: A total of 110 LCBDE were performed, while 121 subjects underwent LC and ERCP. Patients in the LCBDE group were more likely to be female with a total of 87 female subjects (77.6%) compared to 76 male subjects (62.8%) (95% CI 1.14-3.74). Initial WBC was lower in the LCBDE group at 8.4 [6.9-11.8] compared to the LC/ERCP group at 10.9 [7.9-13.5] (p = 0.0013). Remaining demographics and lab values were similar between the two groups. Patients who underwent LCBDE had a significantly shorter length of stay at 2 days [1-3] compared to those in the LC/ERCP group at 4 days [3-6] (p < 0.001). Hospital charges for the LCBDE group were $46,685 [$38,687-$56,703] compared to $60,537 [$47,527-$71,739] for the LC/ERCP group (p < 0.001)., Conclusion: LCBDE is associated with significantly lower hospital costs and shorter length of stay with similar post-operative complication and 30-day readmission rates. Our results show that LCBDE is safe and should be considered as a first-line approach in the management of CD., (© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.)

Context: The effects of musical auditory stimulation on the human body have received considerable interest, especially when related to health and wellbeing, so the objective was to verify the influence of classical music exposure on autonomic modulation in recovery after exercise., Methods: 35 healthy young men aged 21.74 ± 2.59 years were evaluated. Volunteers perform 2-day evaluations, 1 day without musical stimulus and 1 with musical stimulation through classical music during exercise and recovery. Physical exercises were performed on a treadmill with an intensity of 6.0 km/hr + 1% of inclination in the first 5 minutes for physical "warm-up", followed by 25 minutes with an intensity equivalent to 60% of the maximum velocity (Vmax), with a same slope according to the Conconi's threshold. Finally, the volunteers remain at rest for 60 minutes for recovery. Heart rate variability (HRV) was analyzed in some moments of recovery by linear (RMSSD, SDNN, LF and HF (milliseconds squared and normalized unit) and LF/HF ratio, RRtri, TINN and the Poincaré plot: SD1, SD2 and SD1/SD2) and nonlinear indexes (DFA Total, DFA Alpha 1 and Symbolic Analysis: Shannon's Entropy, 0V%, 1V%, 2LV% and 2ULV%)., Results: No differences were found in the comparison between the values of the HRV indexes between protocols and interaction moments vs protocols. Differences were observed between the moments for most indexes (P < .05)., Conclusions: Classical music did not significantly influence the autonomic control of heart rate in the recovery phase after submaximal exercise.

The new subcutaneous (sc) formulation of the infliximab (IFX) biosimilar CT-P13 results in homogeneous serum trough concentrations of IFX at steady state. The present study aimed to investigate in Crohn's disease (CD) patients the intra-individual variations of IFX drug levels at multiple time-points during 2 consecutive cycles of maintenance therapy with CT-P13 sc., Patients and Methods: CD patients in clinico-biological remission under maintenance therapy with intravenous (iv) IFX/CT-P13 were switched to CT-P13 sc 8 weeks (W) after the last infusion. They were treated with CT-P13 sc, 120 mg every 2 W. Assessments were performed from 8 W after starting CT-P13 sc and patients had to attend 6 visits on 2 consecutive cycles of treatment (cycles A and B). Visits were scheduled on days 4-6 (visit 1), days 7-9 (visit 2) and day 14 (visit 3) of each cycle, where days 1 and 14 were the days of sc injection of CT-P13. At each visit, peripheral blood was collected to measure serum IFX levels and anti-drug antibodies., Results: Twenty patients underwent 120 evaluations. Large intra-individual variations of serum drug levels of IFX were observed. When pooling the 120 evaluations, the mean drug level was 11.3 ± 4.9 μg/ml, and the median drug level was 10.9 μg/ml (IQR 7.5-15.5). During each cycle, the median drug levels were similar between visits 1 and 2 as well as between visits 1 and 3 and between visits 2 and 3. In cycle A, median drug levels were 11.1 μg/ml (7.8-14.5), 12.0 μg/ml (7.2-16.1) and 11.0 μg/ml (7.5-15.1) at V1, V2 and V3, respectively. Similar results were obtained in cycle B, where median drug levels were 11.6 μg/ml (7.9-14.9), 11.4 μg/ml (8.1-15.2) and 10.9 μg/ml (7.9-15.6) at V1, V2 and V3, respectively. In univariate analysis, we failed to identify factors predictive of low drug levels., Conclusions: IFX drug levels are quite stable within 14-day treatment cycle, without trough levels in CD patients in remission during the maintenance therapy with CT-P13 sc. In patients with inactive CD under maintenance therapy with CT-P13 sc, therapeutic drug monitoring of IFX can be performed at any time between two CT-P13 sc injections., (© 2022 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Nucleobase building blocks have been demonstrated to be strong candidates when it comes to DNA/RNA-like materials by benefiting from hydrogen bond interactions as physical properties. Modifying at the 5' position is the simplest way to develop nucleobase-based structures by transesterification using the lipase Novozym 435. Herein, we describe the optimization of the lipase-catalyzed synthesis of the monomer 5'- O -methacryloylcytidine with the assistance of microwave irradiation. Variable reaction parameters, such as enzyme concentration, molar ratio of the substrate, reaction temperature and reaction time, were investigated to find the optimum reaction condition in terms of obtaining the highest yield.

The aim of this study was to investigate the different immunological and antimicrobial properties of breast milk from women with (W) or without (WO) vaginal yeast infections during pregnancy in 85 lactating women (W, n = 43; WO, n = 42). Concentrations of IL-10, IgA, IgM, IgG, EGF, and TGF-α were similar in both groups. However, breast milk of women aged below 31 years old from the W-group showed higher concentration of EGF than the WO-group ( p  = 0.031). Breast milk from WO-group exhibited higher anti- Candida properties than W-group, both via growth inhibition and aggregation of yeast cells ( p  < 0.001). Correlation analysis showed that breast milk concentration of TGF-α positively correlated with concentrations of IL-10 ( p  = 0.001) and IgA ( p  = 0.021) in the W-group. Data from our present study shows that although breast milk from women with vaginal infections during pregnancy may not sufficiently hinder Candida growth, other immuno-modulatory bioactives may substitute for such a protective effect., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestAll authors declare no conflict of interest. The funders had no role in the design of the study; in the collection, analyses, or interpretation of data; in the writing of the manuscript, or in the decision to publish the results., (© The Korean Society of Food Science and Technology 2022.)

Aim: Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) are a fast-growing drug modality. Pharmacokinetic characterization and accurate quantification of ASOs is critical for drug development. LC-MS and hybridization immunoassays are common methods to quantify ASOs but may lack sensitivity. In this study we aimed to develop an ASO quantification method with improved sensitivity. Methods: We developed a branched DNA approach for ASO quantification and compared it with hybridization immunoassays. Results: The branched DNA assay showed significantly improved sensitivity, with LLOQ 31.25 pg/ml in plasma, 6.4-and 16-fold higher than dual-probe hybridization electrochemiluminescence and single-probe hybridization ELISA, respectively, with adequate precision, accuracy, selectivity and specificity and acceptable matrix interference. Conclusion: Branched DNA for ASO quantification has significantly higher sensitivity and lower hemolysis interference.