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Purpose Success in export ventures has been linked to managerial capabilities. The purpose of this paper is to examine the influence of exporting motivators on managerial perceptions of UK manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) by investigating the links between export motivators and decision bias (i.e. predictable behavior). Design/methodology/approach Based on the Uppsala and resource-based view perspectives (using a sample of the UK’s independent manufacturing SMEs and utilizing a survey, correlation analysis, and factor analysis), this study finds and describes the effect of the most recurrent motivators and clusters of motivators from the literature on the SMEs’ decision to export by investigating the dimensions (research, external, reactive). Findings This study finds that export motivators can be separated into specific dimensions leading to potential selection bias. In addition, the importance of size, knowledge of foreign markets, and unsolicited orders show an association with the perceptions of motivator stimuli toward specific dimensions (research, external, reactive). Practical implications Government policy and SME export strategy need to understand managerial perceptions and bias better in order to allocate resources efficiently toward stimulating exporting. Originality/value The literature and empirical work on the topic have been fragmented and conflicting focusing on specific motivators but not necessarily explaining the selection or origin of motivators even less on SMEs. Dimensions have not been taken into account as clusters of motivators.

Purpose A global reach in exporting has been linked to profitability. The purpose of this paper is to answer the influence of EU regulations on exporting decisions of UK manufacturing small- and medium-sized firms (SMEs) by investigating the home and host country-based motivators behind SMEs’ choice to export, and export regionally, within the EU. Design/methodology/approach Contrasting the Uppsala and resource-based view perspectives (using a sample of UK independent manufacturing SMEs and utilizing a survey, correlation analysis and factor analysis), the paper finds and describes the effect of the most recurrent motivators from the literature on the SMEs’ decision to export within the EU or not. Findings The paper finds that SMEs whose latest international market entry was not in the EU scored significantly higher in the factor scorings for the motivators in the external dimension than participants whose latest entry was in the EU. Several motivators show an association with the choice to export per se. The importance of regionalization to export initiation (and EU membership) within the EU is emphasized in the results. Research limitations/implications The sample size is limited. Practical implications In the current climate, how can SMEs reduce market research costs for managers by relying solely and proactively on home country and internal advantages and motivators and being more aware of their surroundings? Managers and policymakers can direct their strategy, resources and policy more efficiently according to motivators; internal home country motivators (e.g. strengths of prices of products) direct the SME to overcome inter-regional liability of foreignness, while host country motivators (e.g. legal restrictions in the host country) direct them to regional ventures. Originality/value The theoretical and empirical work on the topic, until recently, has been fragmented and inconsistent focusing on specific motivators but not necessarily justifying the selection or origin of variables even less on SMEs.

The emergence of Web 2.0 has created the new phenomenon in business strategies as it allowed two-way communications between companies and the consumers. Nowadays, the business practitioners tend to use the social media marketing to create awareness and promote their brands to the customers. Nevertheless, the main point in sharing the information through the social media is about the content itself to attract more consumers engage with the brands. Social media content marketing (SMCM) also plays an important role in conveying effective information to the consumers thus attract them to keep engaging with the brands. Meanwhile, brand health is the evaluation from digital audiences about the brands and products. It measures the awareness of the brand for long-term period thus develop the brand equity. There are few indicators in measuring the brand health such as time on site, repeat visitors, social likes, subscriptions, and bounce rates. There are still limited studies on the impact of social media content marketing (SMCM) towards brand health. The purpose of this study is to investigate the role of SMCM in increasing the brand health score

Today, mobile phones are no longer devices for one-to-one communication through voice and text messaging services. This phenomenon has increase the awareness to the new dynamic market environment which caused many business entities or companies constantly looking for ways and means of expanding and retaining their market share. Many marketing experts consider that the mobile device is an extremely promising marketing tool to overcome the major challenges of getting time and the attention of consumers. Those aggressive and extrovert companies have gone beyond adding mobile-sites, they create and introduce their own apps to remain competitive in the global market. In its introduction stage, the consumers’ response is very positive whereby many people have subscribed the mobile shopping application and the number of consumers that visit the website via mobile application was also very high. But unfortunately, actual purchase and transaction rarely takes place via mobile application in which the number of actual purchase and transaction was very low as compared to sales recorded via the company's official website. Therefore, this research attempts to determine consumers’ attitude which include feelings and beliefs towards mobile shopping that have substantial impact on consumers’ attitude and also examined the consequences of consumer's intentional behaviour such as using the mobile shopping application to seek information, share information or actually make purchase transaction. Data were collected through online survey and a total of 218 usable respondents were analysed using Partial Least Squares (PLS). The findings revealed that mobile application features is the most influential predictor to consumers’ attitude meanwhile security and confidentiality is the least influential predictor. It was also found that the main consumers’ intentional behavior is to share the information.

In this study, we demonstrate that web-based surveys are suitable for data collection in academic Business-related research. Using one of our datasets from an online study on entrepreneurial orientation, we investigated the construct validity and reliability of the instrument used to collect the data. Our analysis supports that for 28 Likert-scaled questionnaire items, a sample size of 332 people was adequate to conduct principle component analysis (PCA) and load the items into five components that are supported by literature. Cronbach's alpha was consistently high $\pmb{(\alpha=0.92)}$ , with no evidence that the reliability would increase if any of the survey items were dropped. We therefore conclude that for short web-based surveys ( $\pmb{ items), a sample size of $\pmb{> 300}$ is suitable for exploratory factor analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to examine social network among SME firms in Malaysia. Specifically, this paper aims to investigate the usage of social network among Malay ethnic entrepreneurs in the start-up phase of SME firms in manufacturing sectors. Secondly, this paper aims to investigate the relationship between social network and business performance of the start-up manufacturing SME firms in Malaysia. The research data were collected through self-administered and mail questionnaire with a stratified random sample of 83 SME firms around Malaysia. The hierarchical regression was used for hypothesis testing. The result shows that Malay entrepreneurs used extensively business contact in their social network. For the hypothesis testing, the hierarchical regression shows that social network has significantly positive relationship with business performance. This paper contributes to the body of knowledge especially to the social network theme in Malaysia which is considered to be in the infant stage still. The discussions of the results, the contribution to the body of knowledge as well as limitations of the study are also discussed.

Since the advent of globalisation, advertisers are faced with a dilemma regarding whether to standardise or localise their advertising strategy. Both strategies present advantages and disadvantages, and the decision is strongly influenced by culture. This paper examines the impact of culture on international advertising from an ad content perspective by interpreting advertising messages and transcribing the embedded values on advertisements. Quantitative content analysis is used to infer a pattern of advertising practices for MNCs. Specifically the ads aired in the UK are compared to those in Malaysia in terms of creative strategy and execution and with locally produced ads in automotive, fast moving consumer goods and banks. Subsequently, the difference of the cultural values embedded in Malaysian ads against UK ads was evaluated. Findings indicate either a partial adaptation or full localisation strategy is necessary for advertising in the Malaysian market. When compared with a local competitor, the results showed a mixed outcome. For some MNCs, creative strategies applied were similar while some were different to those of local companies. Interestingly, the executional elements applied were different from locally produced ads for all MNCs. Findings suggest that more cultural cues were visible in MNC ads in Malaysia as compared to MNC ads which support the idea that culture does have an impact towards international advertising.

The concept of market orientation has received attention because of its conceptual and practical values. In general, market orientation focus on customer orientation, competitor orientation, and inter-functional coordination to achieve organizational success. Thus, it is assumed the practices of market orientation will lead the organization into market-driven and consequently lead to superior organizational performance. Failure to develop market orientation may adversely affect business performance. However, the context in which the concept is been applied need to be considered. This study examines the aptness of market orientation on business performance among project contractors in a northern state of Malaysia. The focus is on the level of market orientation practice by the contractors, relationship between market orientation and business performance, and the difference between contractor's demographic factors toward market orientation. The results show that larger project contractors tend to practice more market orientation compared with smaller project contractors. Nevertheless, there was no difference in market orientation practice between contractors' categories and contractors' (company) age. However, this study found that market orientation has significant negative correlation with work value received. Therefore, this study would be useful for the contractors to evaluate their practices of market orientation.

The function of road markings is to provide guidance and warnings to motorists. These markings should be clearly visible at all times. It is empirical that the materials used should be durable especially on roads with heavy traffic to ensure that the safety and comfort of motorists are not compromised at all times, and to avoid the need to repaint regularly which is cumbersome and requires a significant amount of funds. This paper highlights some good and bad practices in laying the road markings which result in satisfactory and poor performances respectively. Field trials have been carried out using thermoplastic and cold applied plastic produced and installed by various applicators. Various factors which could possibly affect the brightness and durability of the road markings such as the quality of the inter-mix and drop-on reflective beads, different techniques in incorporating the drop-on reflective beads, variation in the laying temperature and thickness of the road markings, and the conditions of the road surface during laying, are discussed. Test results have shown that cold applied plastic provides higher retro-reflectivity than thermoplastic after four years which indicates that the former type could hold the reflective beads more firmly.

Smartphone has become a core part of how people live their lives. Pathological Smartphone Use (PSU) or addiction to a smartphone is an emerging phenomenon that needs to be implicitly understood and addressed effectively. There are extensive studies on Pathological Internet Use (PIU) but empirical research on PSU is still lacking. In terms of identifying PSU effects, several studies have emphasized on the negative outcomes of PSU that make it impossible to see the positive side of this technological innovation. In response to this issue, the primary goal of this paper is to identify the attributes of PSU. Focus groups are used to collect a broad qualitative understanding of perceptions and to gain richer insights pertaining to core issues of PSU. Panels involved are among smartphone users’ age: 20s, 30s and 40s. The focus groups are conducted in three different sessions and thematic analysis has been carried out. By identifying the factors that contribute to PSU, government and relevant agencies could formulate guidelines and policies to curb the negative outcomes of PSU and capitalize on the benefits gained. This initiative is in tandem with the nation’s NKEA of developing innovative human capital in accelerating the innovative economy, enhancing the quality of life and wellness of the citizen. The findings showed that time spent could be the factors in rating a person as addictive to smartphone and the small screen size is found to be the main drawback towards mobile shopping adoption which link directly to the future direction of the research.

This article reports the study on career commitment of the academic staff of a local public university in Malaysia. The findings indicate that the academic staff of this university has higher level of career identity, low level of career resilient, and slightly high level of career planning. In addition, the results indicate that the respondents’ organizational tenure and annual salary have significant impact on their career resilience commitment. Other demographic variables showed no significant differences on career identity, career resilience, and career planning of the respondents. Implications for management and recommendations for future studies are highlighted.

During the last decade, smartphones have gained popularity all over the world. It is reported, over 50% of mobile subscribers in the US and 65% of mobile subscribers in South Korea are using smartphones, and these percentages keep on increasing. Many studies had been carried out to determine the impact of technology addiction and other related problems and had found that these users exhibit disturbed behavior on the usage. Noticeably, there is a dearth of study to examine the positive impact of technology addiction in Malaysia. Likewise, little is known about the positive effect of mobile device pathology. As such, this research aims to investigate this phenomenon from the other side of the coin, which is to hypothesize that smartphone pathology may positively affect a person's well-being to be a smart consumer.