EDITORIAL

Volume 13, Issue 2, 2018

1. Technopreneurship in Industrial Revolution 4.0: A Wholistic Approach

- Dr Chua Eng Hwa & Professor K C Chan

This paper applies the principles of technopreneurship to a particular company making advanced technological devices founded by one of the authors. Over 30 years it has proved its strength to weather setbacks and crisis, to calculate risk and make decisions, and overall it is a story of success. Technology is an industry that changes in astounding ways, making it hard to make predictions, but the principles of technopreneurship apply throughout. The authors intermesh their model with those of other researchers, and common principles emerge. The process of change cannot get going until people accept there has to be change, let go of old assumptions, and think about what the future may look like. They then need to think about how and who, and think about the challenges ahead, including challenging themselves. The early stages are necessarily experimental and will bring feelings of insecurity. It's necessary to encourage, acknowledge small successes, and find ways to measure progress and define direction. When the change is embedded, there is the contradictory need to ensure it can be sustained, while being alert to the need for change at some point, possibly soon. That brings the first stage on again - acknowledging that more change is essential. And so on. The difficulty is knowing when the tried and tested will fail the next test, and to move on.

 

2. Towards New Rooms in a Potential Smart Home of 2050 through Strategic Value Creation

- Raj Sachdev

This is one of two related articles, the second of which will appear in the next issue: Volume 13, Issue 3.

'Smart' has changed its meaning from a simple 'clever' to advanced forms of technology that allow interaction between wants and provision of goods and services with preliminary human intervention and occasional adjustment. A simple form of this is a thermostat that switches itself on below a certain temperature and off above a certain temperature. This type of response has grown exponentially, both in type and quantity and it is estimated that there will be 75 billion connected devices by 2020. This paper looks at increasing possibilities, projected to the year 2050. For example, the day could start with a smart pillow which replaces a strident alarm clock with music, light and smell, as preferred by the customer. Smart fridges can already monitor contents, future ones might arrange the replenishment of food. Robot chefs may prepare meals, timing them to coincide with the diner's arrival home. The various developments described may not happen, but a paper that correctly predicted today's technology 30 years ago would have seemed like a story of pure magic.

Article 1 is about the value created by smart devices in the bedroom, kitchen, living room and bathroom in the potential smart home of 2050.
Article 2 will be about privacy and security concerns.

 

3. A Review of the Entrepreneurship Ecosystem of Oman

- Dr Mohammed Issa Ala eddin & Dr Basil John Thomas

Oman has been made wealthy by oil and gas, but with changing ideas about energy provision this may become less of an advantage. The economy of Oman, and indeed any economy, could fare better by increasing the number of entrepreneurs, from institutional to individual level. The concept of entrepreneurial ecosystems refers to attributes that promote or discard inclination to take risks. There is necessity entrepreneurship, where there are no existing jobs and people have to create their own employment by starting a business, maybe as sole worker. Opportunity entrepreneurship is when someone sees an opportunity and grasps it. Success doesn't automatically come in either case, even with extreme enthusiasm. There has to be a backdrop of a receptive business environment, support of various kinds at various points of development, general education and specific training, good administration and use of technology, and a solid infrastructure to back it all up. Having all this will lead to more entrepreneurship providing large and small organisations, as part of the entrepreneurship ecosystem, and is likely to be more robust as a result of the background support.

 

4 & 5 An Empirical Analysis on the Effect of Changes in Interest Rate on Different Sectors of Malaysian Stock Market

Dividend Analysis using Rent-Extraction Hypothesis: Empirical Evidence from Malaysia

- Irfah Najihah Binti Basir Malan & William Chua

In this issue are two papers by the same authors on financial aspects of business, on changes in interest rates, the other on dividend analysis. Both relate to Malaysia, but the principles are valid elsewhere. The first looks at the effect of interest rate on stock prices in various sectors and finds that only technology has a positive relationship with interest rates. An increase in interest rate makes loans more expensive and may indirectly affect share prices. The second paper looks at the effects of dividend announcements on the market, which reacts positively to increases and negatively to decreases. This is in line with the rent-extraction hypothesis, but there whether there are controlling or non-controlling shareholders makes a difference.