Rules and regulations review on micro-takaful scheme development in Malaysia

Purpose This study aims to review Although the features of the first micro-takaful are slightly different from the customary long-established takaful settings, the rules and regulations remain unchanged following the original guidelines of operating insurance and takaful. Until Perlindungan Tenang makes its first premiere, the rules and regulations on micro-takaful are gaining ground. The dissimilarity of micro-takaful from the original takaful calls for updated guidelines, so that any micro-takaful scheme launched in the market meets the demand and needs of the targeted population. the current rules and regulations on micro-takaful in Malaysia to determine whether it addresses the basic principles of micro-takaful. Design/methodology/approach This study uses content analysis as the best method to review each guideline in the related rules and regulations across several documents such as microinsurance and micro-takaful discussion paper and guidelines on family takaful products. Findings Overall, the findings reveal that guidelines on micro-takaful operating in Malaysia support the micro-takaful requirement to be affordable, valuable, accessible, understandable and simplified. Matching the rules and regulations with this population feedback, the extended distribution channel may need further scrutiny due to deficit trust among public members toward insurance and takaful. Originality/value The insights presented are of important illumination to achieve long-term sustainability financial protection while preserving human well-being among those underserved.

Merchants Competing on E-Commerce Platforms

The importance of marketplaces in e-commerce has increased. More and more merchants are trying to use e-commerce platforms as a distribution channel. With the increasing competition, merchants are faced with the challenge of continuing to sell their products to consumers through marketplaces at a profit. This is especially true if the consumer has already chosen a certain product and now only decides from which merchant to buy the product. This chapter therefore examines for different customer segments which merchant-related factors — also and in particular apart from the price — influence the purchase decision. After reviewing relevant literature, various factors are identified through structured interviews. An online survey is then used to simulate a total of 3,485 purchase decisions with different factor characteristics. In addition to the price, the ratings of a merchant and the delivery time are identified as central factors influencing the purchase decision.

Importance of ICT Advancement and Culture of Adaptation in the Tourism and Hospitality Industry for Developing Countries

The influence of ICT on tourism and hospitality is related to the facilitation of contact with stakeholders, acting as an effective distribution channel, and providing an effective forum for marketing, among other things. Tourism and hospitality are heavily reliant on information and communication technology in developing countries as well as in the developed nations. ICT has had a major effect on this market. The primary goal of this research is to identify the difference in ICT advancement and adaptation between developed and developing countries, as well as to determine how developing countries can benefit from it and make recommendations. This research was conducted using a qualitative approach. Using various types of literature such as research papers, articles, and books, this study highlights and scrutinizes the significance of ICT and how these actions contribute to the tourism and hospitality sector to raise awareness among academicians, researchers, tourism businesses, and government officials about the effectiveness of ICT applications in tourism and hospitality.

THEIA

THEIA provides technical solutions for the construction industry, specializing in materials for thermal insulation. It is positioned in the middle of the distribution channel, between manufacturers and construction companies, and the profound changes that occurred in the sector had repercussions on the company's activity, forcing it to rethink its business strategy. THEIA repositioning was studied according to a specific methodology, combining analysis techniques to assess organizations' internal capacity and the exploration of external conditioning factors. The strategic plan used financial and commercial information from THEIA and from the sector where it operates, according to the following steps: analysis of THEIA's internal situation, external positioning of THEIA in the national market, definition of strategic objectives, elaboration of scenarios and recommendations.

Relationship Between ICT and Tourism

The relationship between tourism and information and communication technology (ICT) is called electronic tourism or e-tourism. The use of ICT makes markets from local to global and has a positive effect in increasing the market share of firms. Managing, planning, developing, and marketing tourism data through ICT increase the development and economic potential of tourism. ICT has provided the strategic management of all tourism-oriented companies and revolutionized the operations within the tourism distribution channel, causing tourism-related stakeholders to reassess their actions and positions. The purpose of this chapter is to reveal the relationship between ICT and tourism in the case of 14 Mediterranean countries from approximately 1995–2019. Dumitrescu and Hurlin Panel causality test was used for this analysis. The main findings indicate that ICT stimulates tourism that, in turn, boosts ICT even further in some countries (Algeria, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey).

EXPRESS: Service Provision in Distribution Channels

Consumers may need help using an inherently complex product after purchase. This paper studies a manufacturer’s and a retailer’s incentives to provide pre-sales service and after-sales support in a distribution channel. The authors consider a model in which a manufacturer makes wholesale-price and channel-service decisions. Subsequently, a retailer makes retail-price and channel-service decisions. They find that, in the equilibrium, both channel members provide pre-sales service. If the fixed-cost investment needed to enhance the effectiveness of after-sales support is small, the manufacturer lets the retailer provide after-sales support. But when it is above a threshold and the retailer becomes unwilling to invest in providing after-sales support, the manufacturer steps in and invests in providing it. As expected, when the fixed cost is too large, the manufacturer also opts out of providing after-sales support. Interestingly, when the retailer provides after-sales support, the level of pre-sales service and the demand for after-sales support can simultaneously be the highest among all configurations. Finally, the authors demonstrate the robustness of their main results by studying alternative channel-service configurations.

Marketing mix strategy determinants and social media in veterinary-based business: experience from Serbia

The paper is dedicated to testing the entrepreneurial idea of founding a service micro company in the field of veterinary medicine - Animal Care. The starting point is the theoretical aspect of marketing mix services observed through the prism of a specific company in the field of agribusiness. For the needs of the research, secondary sources were used and a survey was conducted which gave the results of the influence of the elements of marketing mix services on marketing communication towards the users of the company Animal Care. It was determined that the effects of promotion, especially in the field of digital marketing, directly affect the increase in sales of products and services, and thus the satisfaction of consumers & users in veterinary services. The results of the research provided answers to research questions and helped the entrepreneur to understand that selected elements of the marketing mix help in the promotion of products and services of Animal Care companies. Respondents showed interest in using the services of the Animal Care company with the help of the Animal Care android application and website as a selected distribution channel, but also for the promotion of new services and offers of the company

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY OF FORMING OPTION FOR LOGISTICS DISTRIBUTION CHANNEL CONFIGURATION RESISTANT TO EMERGENCIES

The problem and the main stages of choosing a rational configuration of a four-level logistics network that is resistant to the impact of emergencies forstrategic planning are considered. The problem under consideration belongs to the class of multicriteria optimization problems. Criteria related to thefinancial costs of building and operating a logistics distribution channel, as well as criteria related to the level of quality of customer service, arecontradictory. To solve the problem of stability of the logistics system configuration to emergencies, such as failure of intermediate warehouses,failure of transport arteries, etc., a strategic management information system was developed by integrating existing software components at the level ofenterprise software applications. The integration of the system was based on a service-oriented architecture, as all its components are heterogeneous innature. This approach allows you to reuse existing program code. To determine a sustainable configuration option, two criteria are used, which areconsidered equivalent: the level of costs for the maintenance of the logistics channel and the level of service quality in the event of differentemergencies. Since the probability of emergencies is unknown, the minimax criterion is used to minimize the risk when choosing a rationalconfiguration of the logistics network. For this purpose, losses from emergencies are calculated according to all criteria, and there is a variant of thelogistics network configuration that will be the least risky. That is, we will not be able to get a worse result than the one we rely on. The results of thestudy are presented in the form of a configuration variant of the logistics distribution system, which can be used in the future to determine businessoptions.

The Coordination of Multi-Stage Discounts in a Dual Channel Fresh Agricultural Pro-duce Supply Chain: Minimizing the Loss of Quantity and Quality

This paper explores the coordination of the agricultural cooperative to supermarket or E-commerce sup-ply chain, under the condition of quantity loss with a mixed decay function of exponential and logistical distribution. The nature of this process is analyzed, and the corresponding demand and supply functions with single- and multi-stage discount strategies are constructed respectively to create a working model. The optimal discount ratios for supermarkets and agricultural cooperatives in decentralized and central-ized decision-making modes coupled with single- and multi-stage discounts are calculated respectively. Finally, a universal optimal strategy is designed, which can be applied to various quantity decay scenarios and makes the discount strategy more generalized. The results show that discounts can coordinate supply chains more effectively; not only is fresh agricultural produce sold before it starts to rot, but the benefit conflicts arising from both supermarkets vs. cooperatives and traditional vs. E-commerce channels are equilibrated. Further, multi-stage discounts are more effective than single-stage ones, but optimal discount ratios rely on the initial quantity of fresh agricultural produce in the supply chain; its market share in the traditional distribution channel; the potential market size; retail price; the price sensitivity coefficient of the channel; the cross-elasticity coefficient of prices between different channels; and the properties of the quantity loss.