A Handbook of Malaysian Cases: Contemporary Issues in Marketing & Management

By Farzana Quoquab

This book is appropriate and useful for the college and university lecturers, practitioners and students who are undertaking courses in business studies. It is widely acknowledged that, only theoretical discussion does not provide the comprehensive understanding about the business decision. This book will contribute in teaching as a tool to provide practical knowledge to the students and/or participants. Apart from the lecturers and students, practitioners also can be benefited from this book since it will provide them understanding about the problems and challenges faced by different types of companies.
There is a growing need of reading and understanding the challenges faced by the managers from developing country perspective. Compared to the developed countries, the documentation of local cases are very few. As such, the present book taken the initiative to provide a selection of high-quality cases on Malaysia based companies and MNCs operating in Malaysia about their marketing and management related decision making issues.
This book is unique in many ways. These cases not having been published before, provide a pool of fresh cases for teaching purpose. All eleven cases demonstrate different company issues and different managerial problems which certainly will enrich its readers' understanding about the phenomena. At the end of each case, suggested case assignment questions are provided so that the facilitator will have some preliminary understanding about the questions that can be discussed. Lastly, a brief synopsis of all cases is presented at the end of the book. It is hoped that, this book will provide the practical knowledge to its readers.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Nov 16, 2016
• ISBN: 9781482881349

Farzana Quoquab

Dr. Farzana Quoquab is a senior lecturer at International Business School, UTM. She has published cases in peer-reviewed international journals such as Asian Case Research Journal, IIUM journal of case studies in management and Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies. Since 2010, she has produced 9 cases to be used to facilitate the class room learning. She is one of the editorial board members of ‘Case Studies in Business and Management’ and ‘Journal of Economic and Administrative Science’. Dr. Jihad Mohammad is a senior lecturer at International Business School, UTM, Malaysia. He has presented papers at various international and national conferences and published articles in peer-reviewed international journals. He has versatile career exposure. His area of research interest includes organizational citizenship behaviour, psychological ownership, psychological capital, leadership, innovation, and Islamic work ethics. Dr. Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin is a Senior Lecturer at UTM International Business School. She has published in Journal of Islamic Marketing, Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research, International Business Management, Jurnal Teknologi, among others. Her main research interests lie in Islamic Banking and Finance, Takaful, Islamic Economics, Islamic Marketing and Consumer Behaviour. Dr Arif Hassan is a Professor at Department of Business Administration, International Islamic University Malaysia. He has published four books and over 50 research papers in peer reviewed journals. He has received several best paper awards during conference presentations, including the best paper for international implication award and a finalist for the Caroline-Dexter award during Academy of Management conference, 2016. He has interest in case writing and case teaching methods and has served as the founding Chief-Editor of the IIUM Journal of Case Studies in Management.

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Copyright © 2016 by Farzana Quoquab.

ISBN:       eBook       978-1-4828-8134-9

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Contents

About the Editors

Preface

Value of This Book

Acknowledgement

Leading Talents at ZKHM: When Pay and Benefits Matter!

On The Cross-Road of Career and Wellbeing

Amethyst: From New York to Kuala Lumpur

When CEO Allegedly Misconducts: A Case of Vierna Vesta Limited

Project Delays in Merdaz Goil: Who Gets the Blame?

Rainstah: When Turnover is High, Who’s at Fault?

Sales Challenge of Orix: How to Deal With It?

The Fekshta Welding Solutions’ Ethical Dilemma

Oil Pilferage in Fimani Sdn Bhd: In Search of an Acceptable Solution

Buana Island Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BIS): It is Time for a Strategic Move

Sweet Temptation – A Chunky Bite Story

Case Synopsis

Contributors

About the Editors

Dr. Farzana Quoquab is a senior lecturer at International Business School, UTM. She has received her Doctorate degree from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. She has presented papers at various international and national conferences and published articles in peer-reviewed international journals such as Asian Case Research Journal, Emerald Emerging Markets Case Studies, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics, International Journal of Economics and Management, International Review of Management and Marketing, Pertanika Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities, International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, Asian Academy of Management Journal and Journal of Islamic Marketing. She is one of the editorial board members of ‘Case Studies in Business and Management’ and ‘Journal of Economic and Administrative Science’. Her current research interest includes Consumer Behavior, Services Marketing, Green & Sustainability Marketing, Social Marketing, Macro Marketing, and Work Ethics & Values.

Dr. Jihad Mohammad is a senior lecturer at International Business School, UTM, Malaysia. He has received his DBA degree from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He has presented papers at various international and national conferences and published articles in peer-reviewed international journals. He has versatile career exposure. He has conducted workshops for postgraduate students regarding research methodology and PLS-SEM. His area of research interest includes organizational citizenship behaviour, psychological ownership, psychological capital, leadership, innovation, and Islamic work ethics.

Dr. Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin is a Senior Lecturer at UTM International Business School. She has received her Doctorate degree in Shariah Economics from Universiti Malaya. She has published in Journal of Islamic Marketing, Journal of Islamic Accounting and Business Research, International Business Management, Jurnal Teknologi, among others. Her main research interests lie in Islamic Banking and Finance, Takaful, Islamic Economics, Islamic Marketing and Consumer Behaviour.

Dr Arif Hassan is a Professor at Department of Business Administration, International Islamic University Malaysia. He has received his Doctor of Philosophy from Patna University, India. His research works, which spans over three decades, relate to behavioural issues in organisation and human resource management. He is a senior Fulbright fellow and has served several distinguished academic institutions in India before joining IIUM. He has published four books and over 50 research papers in peer reviewed journals. He has received several best paper awards during conference presentations, including the best paper for international implication award and a finalist for the Caroline-Dexter award during Academy of Management conference, 2016. Dr. Hassan has interest in case writing and case teaching methods and has served as the founding Chief-Editor of the IIUM Journal of Case Studies in Management.

Preface

A Handbook of Malaysian Cases: Contemporary Issues in Marketing & Management is the compilation of 11 Malaysian cases which provides significant insights to its readers about the problems and prospects faced by Malaysia based companies. These cases highlight the issues pertaining to Marketing, Human Resource Management, Business Ethics, Strategic Management, Entrepreneurship and Leadership.

The first case entitled ‘Leading Talents at ZKHM: When Pay and Benefits Matter!’ demonstrates the dilemma of a project manager in handling issues of poor company performance and strained employer-employee relationship. The case will be useful to improve and enhance student understanding about issues related to Human Resource Management and Leadership.

The second case entitled ‘On the Cross-Road of Career and Wellbeing’ focuses on the issues related to workplace relationship between a young, hard-working, and ambitious employee and her immediate, bossy superior. The case can be used in teaching Organizational Behavior course in order to provide practical example in relation to supervisory behavior, interactional justice, incivility etc. and their impact on employees’ work outcomes such as job satisfaction, morale, motivation, and turnover intention.

The third case which is ‘Amethyst: From New York to Kuala Lumpur’ demonstrates the need of a business founder to possess necessary strategic analytical skills to expand the business in different region. The case fact is positioned in the event management industry. This case will be useful to teach in the Marketing Management course where the topics will cover market positioning, marketing mix and/or market expansion related issues.

The fourth case entitled ‘When CEO Allegedly Misconducts: A Case of Vierna Vesta Limited’ exposes students to the issue of corporate governance. The case is centered to a public listed company based in Indonesia which was involved in developing and selling of school management system software. This case is suitable to teach for the issues related to Business Ethics and Corporate Governance.

The fifth case entitled ‘Project Delays in Merdaz Goil: Who Gets the Blame?’ is positioned in gas and oil industry. The case starts when the company has been suspected to be involved in white-collar crime which affects company profit and performance. The case is useful to advanced undergraduate and MBA/MSc students, taking courses of Business Ethics and Financial Management.

The sixth case entitled ‘Rainstah: When Turnover is High, Who’s at Fault?’ is centered to the issues pertaining to managing and retaining Generation Y workers in a casual dining restaurant in Malaysia. The case can be used in human resource management and strategic management subjects. The case will be useful to enhance students understanding about issues in managing Human Resources.

The seventh case which is ‘Sales Challenge of Orix: How to Deal With It?’ focuses on the struggle of a sales team to sell a drug Orix for the treatment of Osteoporosis. This case is suitable to teach the issues related to sales force management and market positioning.

The eighth case entitled ‘The Fekshta Welding Solutions’ Ethical Dilemma’ is centered on ethical issues in a welding company. The main issue revolved around a misconduct which was done by one of the staff in the company. The case is useful to advanced knowledge of undergraduate and postgraduate students, taking courses under Business Ethic and Human Resource Management.

The ninth case entitled ‘Oil Pilferage in Fimani Sdn Bhd: Finding an Acceptable Solution’ demonstrates on how a General Manager in one of the companies in Palm oil industry having problems related to missing of five metric tons of crude palm oil. This case is suitable to teach the issues pertaining to Business Ethics and Human Resource Management.

The tenth case entitled ‘Buana Island Shipyard Sdn Bhd (BIS): It Is Time for a Strategic Move’ reflects a series of several events that portrays the needs of the assessment of BIS business activities especially the Shipbuilding Division in developing a strategic direction for the company. This case is suitable to teach the issues related to Strategic Management and Management Accounting.

The last case entitled ‘Sweet Temptation: A Chunky Bite Story’ demonstrates the dilemma of an operator and snack food franchisee in handling problems relate to business expansion. The case will be useful to advanced undergraduate and MBA students, taking courses of Entrepenuership and Venture Capital.

Enjoy reading!

Value of This Book

This book is appropriate and useful for the college and university lecturers, practitioners and students who are undertaking courses in business studies. It is widely acknowledged that, only theoretical discussion does not provide the comprehensive understanding about the business decision. This book will contribute in teaching as a tool to provide practical knowledge to the students and/or participants. Apart from the lecturers and students, practitioners also can be benefited from this book since it will provide them understanding about the problems and challenges faced by different types of companies.

There is a growing need of reading and understanding the challenges faced by the managers from developing country perspective. Compared to the developed countries, the documentation of local cases are very few. As such, the present book taken the initiative to provide a selection of high-quality cases on Malaysia based companies and MNCs operating in Malaysia about their marketing and management related decision making issues.

This book is unique in many ways. These cases not having been published before, provide a pool of fresh cases for teaching purpose. All eleven cases demonstrate different company issues and different managerial problems which certainly will enrich its readers’ understanding about the phenomena. At the end of each case, suggested case assignment questions are provided so that the facilitator will have some preliminary understanding about the questions that can be discussed. Lastly, a brief synopsis of all cases is presented at the end of the book. It is hoped that, this book will provide the practical knowledge to its readers.

Acknowledgement

First and foremost, all praises be to Allah, the Almighty, the most merciful the most benevolent for His guidance and blessings for giving us the inspiration and opportunity to embark on this project and to make this dream a reality. Also, we would like to thank three key persons without whose teaching and mentoring this book would not be a success: Professor Dr Aliah Hanim M. Salleh, Associate Professor Dr Khairul Akmaliah Adham and Professor Dr. Zainal Abidin Mohamed.

Many people have contributed to the creation and completion of this book. We would like to express our gratitude to all case contributors who made this book a success. We also express our humble gratitude to the companies who have provided their invaluable information to write cases about their company issues. We are indebted to those who provided us their support and feedback to improve the quality of this book. The special appreciation goes to our family members for their unconditional love and support to allow us to devote ourselves to the completion of this case book.

Farzana Quoquab

Jihad Mohammad

Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin

Arif Hassan

LEADING TALENTS AT ZKHM: WHEN PAY AND BENEFITS MATTER!

Rosmini Omar, Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin,

and Farzana Quoquab

INTRODUCTION

I joined ZKHM in April 2007 after completing my contract with another domestic construction company where I was the operations manager cum project manager to the Malaysian government Open Construction initiative. The offer was made to her by the then CEO of ZKHM, Datuk Aldrian Patrick Sheikh Fikri. I called him APSF, as everyone in the company did. APSF asked her to lead a Managed Construction Services (MCS) project in Manila, the city of Philippines. I knew APSF back then in 1998 when I was attached with ICS Malaysia and she was the Head of the Project Management department in Danvos Furner Sdn Bhd. The business relationship had turned into a personal one due to our mutual respect of each other’s successes, credibility, trust, and emotional bank account deposits.

Prior joining, I had a few meetings with APSF to understand the overall situation at ZKHM, specifically the Manila assignment. I learned what was expected of me. Through those meetings, it became clear to her that ZKHM was experiencing a severe cultural