Instructor’S Guide: A Handbook of Malaysian Cases: Contemporary Issues in Marketing & Management

By Farzana Quoquab, Adriana Md Rizal, Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin and 2 more

This book is ideal for teaching subjects related to marketing, management, entrepreneurship, and business ethics. It can be used as the tool to teach students/trainers in advanced undergraduate and MBA/MSc classes. It is widely acknowledged that, only theoretical discussion does not provide the comprehensive understanding about the business decisions that are taken by the managers and/or other parties involved. And thus, use of cases are common in business studies which not only provides students understanding about the practical aspects of the concepts that are being taught in text-books, but also it introduces students with several aspects of the real-life dilemma, complexities and challenges while working in a business environment.

This book contains teaching notes of the book titled A Handbook of Malaysian Cases: Contemporary Issues in Marketing & Management in which eleven local cases were presented. The teaching notes serve as a guide for instructors who intend to utilize these cases in their classes. Each teaching note includes a brief synopsis of the case, learning objectives, the case's target audience, information about the case leading strategies, relevant concepts/subjects, suggested assignment questions, and their corresponding suggested answers. In this way, the instructors will have greater understanding about the use and applicability of the said eleven cases. It is hoped that university lecturers, practitioners, and students who are undertaking courses in business studies will benefit from this book.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Partridge Publishing Singapore
• Release date: Feb 1, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543743210

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.

Book preview

Copyright © 2018 by Farzana Quoquab, Adriana Md Rizal,

Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin, Jihad Mohammad and Arif Hassan.

ISBN:                  eBook                           978-1-5437-4321-0

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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CONTENTS

About The Editors

Acknowledgement

Preface

Chapter 1     Leading Talents at Zkhm: When Pay and Benefits Matter!

Rosmini Omar and Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin

Chapter 2     On the Cross-Road of Career and Wellbeing

Arif Hassan and Adriana Mohd Rizal

Chapter 3     Amethyst: From New York to Kuala Lumpur

Noor Iqtiyani Abdul Karim, Farzana Quoquab, Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin, and Shathees Baskaran

Chapter 4     When CEO Allegedly Misconducts: a Case of Viernavesta Limited

Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin and Farzana Quoquab

Chapter 5     Project Delays in Merdaz Goil: Who Gets the Blame?

Jihad Mohammad, Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin, and Farzana Quoquab

Chapter 6     Rainstah: Whenturnover is High, Who’s at Fault?

Vikneswary A/P Gunasagaran, Rohaida Basiruddin, and Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin

Chapter 7     Sales Challenge of Orix: How to Deal with It?

Mitchell Raji, Farzana Quoquab, Nazimah Hussin, and Norjaya Md Yasin

Chapter 8     The Fekshta Welding Solutions’ Ethical Dilemma

Jihad Mohammad, Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin, and Farzana Quoquab

Chapter 9     Oil Pilferage in Fimani Sdn Bhd: Insearch of an Acceptable Solution

Jihad Mohammad, Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin, and Nomahaza Mahadi

Chapter 10   Buana Island Shipyard Sdn Bhd (Bis): It is Time for a Strategic Move

Amir Syazali Amir Sharifuddin and Siti Zaleha Abdul Rashid

Chapter 11   Sweet Temptation: A Chunky Bite Story

Ruzilla Ibrahim, Adriana Mohd. Rizal, Ong Choon Hee and Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin and Zarina Abdul Salam

Contributors

ABOUT THE EDITORS

Dr. Farzana Quoquab is an Associate Professor at Azman Hashim International Business School, UTM. She has received her Doctorate degree from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Being an active researcher she 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, Sustainability Marketing, Macro Marketing, and Work Ethics & Values.

Dr. Adriana Mohd Rizal is a senior lecturer at Azman Hashim International Business School, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur (UTM IBS). She obtained her doctorate degree in Business Administration from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia in 2013. Prior to her doctoral study, she enrolled in Executive Master of Business Administration at MARA University of Technology (UiTM) and graduated in 2007. In 1997, she completed her bachelor degree in Business Administration at University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, USA. Adriana has conducted several research projects, consultancy, and presented and published works in the area of Strategic Entrepreneurship and Innovation, Resource Construction and Development, and Social Entrepreneurship.

Dr. Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin is a Senior Lecturer at Azman Hashim, UTM. 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. Jihad Mohammad is a senior lecturer at Azman Hashim 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 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.

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. The INSTRUCTOR’S GUIDE: A Handbook of Malaysian Cases – Contemporary Issues in Marketing & Management is the second part of our case book series. It compiles the teaching notes of 11 Malaysian cases.

This is the outcome of one year of hard work of editors, chapter contributors and reviewers. We are indebted to all chapter contributors who made this book a success. We are deeply grateful to the reviewers who reviewed the manuscripts several times. We also express our humble gratitude to our Gurus who have taught us the art and craft of writing cases. 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

Adriana Mohd Rizal

Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin

Jihad Mohammad

Arif Hassan

PREFACE

This book is an anthology of 11 teaching notes of the cases that were published in the "A Handbook of Malaysian Cases – Contemporary Issues in Marketing & Management". These cases highlight the issues pertaining to Marketing, Human Resource Management, Business Ethics, Strategic Management, Entrepreneurship and Leadership.

The guides have been prepared by the case writers in order to provide the instructors some suggested approaches to use during classroom discussion. It is not the intention of the authors to inhibit the application of other approaches. Moreover, users of these teaching guides should be aware that these guides are not meant to reflect the ‘best’ answers and/or approaches.

The teaching notes include the case synopsis, target audience, subject, learning objectives, concepts to be used, type of the case, case leading strategy, suggested case assignment questions and their accompanied answers. In using these cases, the emphasis should be on the process of deriving solutions and not on the accurateness of the answers. Students should be encouraged to use reasoning and facts from the case to derive a view or solution. Finally, it is expected that, the course instructors will benefit from these teaching notes.

CHAPTER 1

LEADING TALENTS AT ZKHM: WHEN PAY AND BENEFITS MATTER!

Rosmini Omar and Maizaitulaidawati Md Husin

CASE SYNOPSIS

This case demonstrates the dilemma of a project manager in handling several issues related to poor company performance and strained employer-employee relationship. The case is centered on construction industry when Datuk Aldrian Patrick Sheikh Fikri (APSF), the CEO of ZKHM Berhad (subsequently referred as ZKHM) was responsible in leading the Managed Construction Services (MCS) project in Manila located at the city of Philippines. In fact, ZKHM originated from a research group established at a university with core business to provide construction solutions to businesses, including the government, banking and finance, telecommunications, as well as oil and gas sectors. With that, this group has built a strong track record in both the public and private sectors with more than RM200 million worth of construction projects in Malaysia and abroad. The MCS project that was secured by ZKHM had been worth more than RM2.9 million aimed at constructing a new building for the National Commercial Bank of Philippines. The project was consisted of a 3-phase implementation; planning, construction, and operation, with an estimated duration of 18 months. However, the project was faced with severe cultural transformation effects to the point that it had taken a huge toll on the overall poor company performance, remunerations, strained employer-employee relationship, and division leadership issues. On top of that, the planning phase was delayed for about 2 months from the initial plan. As a result, ZKHM could not meet the demands of the client due to the stalled phase. Hence, in the attempt to resolve these issues, APSF decided to employ his close friend, Maria Natasha Azman, who was the operation manager cum project manager to the Malaysian government. Maria was given 6 months to meet the project deadline or the image and reputation of ZKHM Berhad could be tarnished.

TARGET AUDIENCE

This case will be suitable for advanced undergraduates and MBA/MSc students enrolled in courses of human resource and management.

SUBJECT

The case is useful to improve and to enhance students’ understanding regarding issues related to Human resource management and leadership.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES

It is expected that by reading this case, the students should be able to:

1) Understand the issues that revolve around poor company performance and strained employer-employee relationship.

2) Evaluate the role of project managers in dealing with relationship issues with the human resource department.

3) Explore possible ways of motivating and encouraging employees that could lead to great outcomes.

4) To propose suitable actions that will solve and prevent future problems pertaining to project management.

5) To analyze leadership style based on the characteristics and traits of a leader.

THEORIES/MODELS/CONCEPTS TO BE USED

1) Herzberg’s two-factor theory: The Herzberg’s two-factor theory depicts the presence of certain factors at the workplace that promote job satisfaction, while some lead to dissatisfaction. Furthermore, Herzberg classified these job factors into two groups; hygiene factors and motivational factors. Hygiene factors are job factors essential in promoting motivation at workplace, although they may not lead to long-term positive satisfaction. However, the absence of such factors from workplace can lead to dissatisfaction. In fact, hygiene factors include salary, company and administrative policies, fringe benefits, physical working conditions, status, interpersonal relations, and job security. Motivational factors, on the other hand, refer to psychological needs perceived as additional benefits. These motivational factors include recognition, sense of achievement, growth and promotional opportunities, responsibility, and meaningfulness of the work.

2) Maslow’s hierarchy of needs theory: Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs Theory suggests that people are motivated to satisfy five essential needs, which are: physiological, safety, belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization. The first four levels are considered deficiency or deprivation needs, whereby lack of those aspects could cause a deficiency that further motivates people to meet these lacking needs. Physiological needs, the lowest level on the hierarchy, include necessities, such as air, food, and water. These tend to be satisfied for most people, but they become predominant when unmet. Next, safety needs,