E-procurement is one aspect in supply management that has become popular among companies in Malaysia. There is an argument whether adopting e-procurement technology is a strategic choice for companies' purchasing strategies. The objectives of this study are to investigate factors that influence the application of e-procurement technologies in selecting potential suppliers of agro-based SMEs in Malaysia and to determine whether these SMEs have the intention to increase the application of e-procurement in selecting their suppliers. An online survey was carried out and only 190 responses (63.3%) were received from selected agro-based SMEs. Statistical analyses such as descriptive analysis, factor analysis and logistic regression analysis were used to analyse the data. The results revealed selection efficiency, security and legal environment, commitment, delivery acceleration, cost and quality as the factors related to the intention of SMEs to increase the application of e-procurement. A vigorous use of e-procurement and strong support from the top management by providing sufficient e-procurement resources to be utilized in agro-based SMEs are a few among many relevant implications discussed in this paper.

The degree of environmental uncertainty (EU) continues to affect corporate financial performance. However, utilizing knowledge management capabilities (KMC)wisely can reduce this effect. The purpose of this study is to investigate the effect of EU's dimensions (market, technology, competitive threat, and region specific uncertainty) on financial performance and to see whether KMC mediates between the two. Of the returned questionnaires from senior managers of public listed companies (PLCs)in Malaysia, a total of 176 were usable and analyzed using AMOS. The findings showed that, amongst the EU variables, competitive threat and technology uncertainty have significant and negative effect while, the region's specific uncertainty has significant effect too but positive on financial performance of the companies. In addition, KMC showed a full mediating role between technology uncertainty and financial performance, while only partially between competitive threats and financial performance. Companies suggested utilizingKMC to improve performance and to reduce the effect of EU. � 2017 Serials Publications Pvt. Ltd.

Studies on knowledge management capabilities (KMC) focused on manufacturing and technological sectors while the service sector received less attention. This paper investigates the effect of KMC on the organizational performance (OP) of service public listed companies (PLCs) in Malaysia. It also tests the mediating effect of trust. Data was collected from 153 senior executive top management of Malaysian PLCs. Using the Partial Least Square (PLS); the finding indicates that KMC has a significant effect on OP of Malaysian PLCs. Its knowledge acquisition dimension is the most significant followed by knowledge sharing and utilization. Trust has a partial mediating role between KMC and OP and a full mediating role between knowledge sharing and OP only. To increase the role of trust, managers are advised to link the KMC process to the Key Performance Indicator (KPI). 2017 Serials Publications Pvt. Ltd.

This study investigates the moderating effects of geographical scope level (measured by number of regional bases) on the relationship between managers' prior international knowledge and working experience and international performance among small and medium enterprises in the Malaysian Halal Food Industry. Previous studies have stressed that experiential knowledge is an essential resource for a firm's internationalization process from both the traditional Stage Theory based on incremental and international entrepreneurship on born global rapid internationalization perspectives. Unfortunately, most of the studies did not empirically investigate the influence of scope level as a moderator on the relationship between international performance and managers' prior international knowledge and working experience. The findings of this study reveal that firms that export regionally (lower scope) have lower experiential knowledge and international performance compared to firms that export globally (higher scope). As a result, there are differences in terms of the internal capability among these two types of small and medium enterprises as a source of their competitive advantage in foreign markets. � Universiti Putra Malaysia Press.

Strategic flexibility, sourcing strategy and organisational performance are often a source of contention among firms in manufacturing sectors. This paper explores effects of specific types of strategic flexibility and product diversifications (related and unrelated) on strategic sourcing of make and buy. Questionnaires were sent to top management personnel of firms in four manufacturing sectors namely electrical and electronics, chemicals (including petroleum), food and beverages and fabricated metal. The results confirmed that the make or buy sourcing strategy acts as mediators and it partially does so on the relationship between related product diversification strategy and organisational performance. In addition, the buy strategy mediated partially the relationship between unrelated product diversification strategy and organisational performance. These findings go along with the theories that support both constructs, Industrial Organisation (IO) Theory, Transaction Cost Theory and Resource-Based View (RBV). All these findings should enable practitioners to make better manufacturing and sourcing decisions. Copyright � 2013 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Intense global competition has greatly influenced how organisations strive for survival and business success. The emergence of competitive intelligence (CI) and supply chain management (SCM) in dealing with such circumstances has resulted in the need to study further their subsequent impact on business performance. This study examined the use of intelligence in supply chain activities. It attempts to fill the gap in current research by investigating the role of supply chain intelligence (SCI) as a factor influencing a firm's competitiveness that is crucial for future business performance. Based on responses received from 174 firms, confirmatory factor and multiple regression analyses were used to test the research hypotheses. Results suggest that there are significant positive relationships between SCI and business performance. Thus, it validates SCI's contribution and emphasises its potential, if managed efficiently, to boost performance. This study has provided new empirical evidence concerning this. It is suggested that SCI should subsequently be adopted by business organisations as one of the measures to handle the increasingly competitive business environment.

The business environment has become more competitive due to advancements in technology and globalisation. Emphasising intelligence as a means for dealing with such circumstances, this study examined the role of supply chain intelligence (SCI), which embraces the process of competitive intelligence (CI) in the operations of a supply chain management (SCM). The integration is needed to ensure that this actionable information from CI has a 360-degree view of business activities amongst supply chains. What exactly is supply chain intelligence? How does supply chain intelligence influence business competitiveness in Malaysia? How does supply chain intelligence help businesses to achieve competitive advantages? This paper examined the contribution of supply chain intelligence on business competitiveness by: a) identifying and validating the dimension of supply chain intelligence components, and b) examining the levels of supply chain intelligence usage by businesses. A focus group was employed as a preliminary study to validate the supply chain intelligence components, and subsequently, for the development of the questionnaire for the survey in the study. The results contribute to the literature by emphasising the use of systematic intelligence in supply chain integration to improve business competitiveness. � Universiti Putra Malaysia Press.