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Prolonged hospital stay in the course of management of microbial keratitis patients has been a burden to the resources of a multi‐disciplinary tertiary hospital. The paper aims to evaluate the impact of streamlining the workflow and increased cross‐disciplinary interactions on the average length of hospitalisation. It also seeks to study secondary outcomes including the average time for initiation of therapy, microbial culture positive rate, patients' satisfaction and resource savings.

The authors employed the model of clinical practice improvement (CPI) (New South Wales Health Department) methodology for a systematic approach to improve processes of care and service delivery. A team consisting of ophthalmologist, microbiologist, pharmacist and nursing staff was formed to brainstorm and highlight the problems. A new workflow was formulated and data were prospectively collected to evaluate and to identify areas where improvements could be made.

The average length of hospitalisation stay was reduced from 7.43 to 5.93 days with a mean difference of 1.50±0.63 days (p<0.05). The microbial keratitis culture positive rate increased from 54.6 to 73.0 per cent (p>0.05). The average time taken to initiate antibiotic eye drops after first contact with the doctor was 26.1 minutes (n=28), and 74.4 per cent of the patients surveyed were satisfied with their length of stay.

Intervention was carried out on the top 20 per cent of areas for improvement after voting by the team members.

The reduction in average length of hospitalisation can be improved by strict adherence to a formulated workflow and coordinated cross‐disciplinary interactions.

The management protocol discussed in the paper for microbial keratitis enables more effective and efficient treatment for the inpatients. Increased cross‐discipline and nursing coordination decreases length of hospitalisation of microbial keratitis patients and achieve better care for these patients.

This paper adopts an existing body of theory (gaps model of service quality) and aims to further contribute to it. The theory building within this paper is expected to represent an extension to the existing theory, particularly with regard to the reconceptualisation and redefinition of service quality in sustainable banking.

The case study was based on primary data collected through a series of qualitative interviews with the 35 bankers who were from different departments. In addition, available secondary data such as academic books and journals, government and regulatory authority’s publications, website publications, Maybank’s annual reports and sustainability reports were reviewed to obtain a more comprehensive understanding of the Maybank’s sustainability banking operating system.

This paper has documented various findings identified with the aspects of sustainable banking in Maybank. Essentially, these findings are focussed on filling the gaps that currently exist in the literature and in the practice of sustainable banking in Maybank. Maybank is in the phase of preventive banking because, in recent years, it has been observed that Maybank is moving towards the initiative to embrace sustainability in their banking operations. Maybank has used the sustainability criteria for the credit risk management process and socially responsible investing. When viewed from this perspective, it is possible to say that a transition process has started towards offensive banking. In addition, this research’s findings imply that the determination of the service quality level of customers focusses not only on the homogenous customer’s quality evaluation, but it also includes the examination of heterogeneous customers. Heterogeneous customers are those who have an indirect interest in the bank; they are indirectly affected either positively or negatively by the actions of the bank.

The reconceptualisation and redefinition of service quality, which embeds the novel concept of sustainable banking, can be attributed to a handful of distinctive financial institutions which have been proactively and gradually shaping their corporate images as advocates of socio-environmental sustainability.

The limited literature on sustainable banks and to the best knowledge of the researchers, no other researcher has examined sustainable banking in the Malaysian banking industry to date. This study is designed to address this gap with the central objective to investigate the aspect of sustainable banking operating system provided by Maybank by using the gap model of service quality which was developed by Parasuraman et al. (1985).

This paper aims to provide a more holistic perspective on rationales that motivated Maybank to move toward a sustainable banking operating system.

The case study was based on primary data collected through a series of qualitative interview with 35 bankers who were from different departments. Besides, the secondary data such as academic books and journals, government and regulatory authority’s publications, website publications, Maybank’s annual reports and Maybank’s sustainability reports were reviewed to obtain a more comprehensive understanding on rationales that motivated Maybank to move toward a sustainable banking operating system.

Within the corporation studied, the rationales for moving Maybank toward sustainable banking operating system are driven by macro-, meso- and micro-level drivers. In terms of macro-level drivers, the pressures come from the bank’s external environment. A PESTLE analysis is used to discuss the drivers for change present within the macro environment. The different national government bodies and non-government organizations are calling upon financial institutions to implement more socially and environmentally friendly lending policies. In terms of meso-level drivers, stakeholders are viewed as important driving forces for Maybank to integrate sustainability into banking operations. Internal driving forces are likely to emanate from employees, the board of directors and shareholders. External driving forces result from pressure from customers, governments, competitors, NGOs and society at large. Micro-level drivers are drivers of sustainable banking that include pressures generated from within the bank’s internal environment. Maybank is largely motivated by its mission statement and vision statement, which is articulated in their sustainable banking agenda.

Viewing the rationales that motivated Maybank to move toward a sustainable banking operating system through multiple perspectives – macro-, meso- and micro-level drivers present an interesting approach for research.

The rationales for moving Maybank toward a sustainable banking operating system are driven by macro-, meso- and micro-level drivers. This paper provides fresh insight into rationales that move toward the sustainable banking operating system.

In recent times, there has been some disquiet within certain sectors of the Singapore business community over the role of auditors in detecting corporate fraud. The cause of this concern can perhaps be attributed partly to the Barings collapse in February 1995 and the subsequent suggestions that the auditors of the Barings subsidiary in Singapore, Barings Futures Singapore Pte Ltd (BFS), may have been negligent in their audit work. More recently, in mid‐1996, a substantial locally listed company, Amcol Holdings Ltd (Amcol), was placed under judicial management amid rumours alleging possible misdeeds by senior executives and directors. The Amcol saga has, once again, focused some attention on the role of auditors and their duty to detect fraud in company accounts.

The main purposes of the study were to investigate the ethical banking operations based on the award-winning the UK Co-operative Bank which has successfully brought significant implications on sustaining the nation’s (the UK) socioenvironmental development. The Co-operative Bank operations are conceptualised into a solid ethical banking operations framework (EBOF) to contribute theoretically into enriching the body of the knowledge. Besides, by understanding the EBOF of an ethical banking system, the other banking players like the Malaysian bank can learn from this best practice and gradually shape its operation to become more ethical.

The case study on the UK Co-operative Bank was based on primary data collected through a series of qualitative focus group conducted on 20 senior bank managers who were interested and were supportive of this research project. These experienced respondents are actively involved in the Co-operative Bank’s “Corporate Ethical Policy” formulation, as well as the implementation of this policy into the Co-operative Bank’s daily operations. Besides, secondary data are reviewed to obtain a more comprehensive understanding on the Co-operative Bank. The research began in December 2012 and was completed in August 2014. The main reason the researchers opted for qualitative studies is to comply with the criteria of inductive approach, whereby the final outcomes (EBOF) include the crystallisation of the ethical banking operations, which could be generalised theoretically and empirically.

At the end of the study, EBOF based on the Co-operative Bank’s ethical operations (as the case studied) is constructed. As a conclusion, the Co-operative Bank has done tremendously well in sustaining the UK’s socioenvironmental development, which justifies the reason why the Co-operative Bank has won numerous prestigious awards and is being well recognised nationally and regionally.

The novelty concept of ethical banking is driven by the global socioenvironmental initiative that influences some of the major financial institutions which are proactively and gradually shaping their corporate image in safeguarding the community around the environment. This research has successfully attained the ultimate objective to foster knowledge transfer through learning from the best (from the UK Co-operative Bank) in shaping local (Malaysia) ethical banking.

This study constructs the EBOF based on the Co-operative Bank’s ethical operations that could be empirically disseminated and adopted in other banks’ operations (across the globe). This is aimed in shaping the local banking industry to become more ethical (learning from the best practice of the UK Co-operative Bank) in wealth creation that places high emphasis on socioenvironmental benefits rather than economic gain on profit maximisation alone. Besides, the EBOF contributes and enriches the body of the knowledge about ethical banking operations.

Presents over sixty abstracts summarising the 1999 Employment Research Unit annual conference held at the University of Cardiff. Explores the multiple impacts of globalization on work and employment in contemporary organizations. Covers the human resource management implications of organizational responses to globalization. Examines the theoretical, methodological, empirical and comparative issues pertaining to competitiveness and the management of human resources, the impact of organisational strategies and international production on the workplace, the organization of labour markets, human resource development, cultural change in organisations, trade union responses, and trans‐national corporations. Cites many case studies showing how globalization has brought a lot of opportunities together with much change both to the employee and the employer. Considers the threats to existing cultures, structures and systems.

By applying a non‐parametric Malmquist Productivity Index to a sample of all post‐merger Malaysian banks over 2001‐2003, this paper attempts to investigate to what extent the inclusion of OBS items in the output definition of banks affect the estimated total factor productivity change indexes. It is found that the inclusion of OBS items results in an increase in estimated productivity levels for all banks under study. However, the impact seems to be the largest on technological change rather than efficiency change.

Discusses various cultures around the world and examines some models of national culture particularly those of Hofstede and Schwartz. It reports some findings on cultural differences between the main ethnic groups in Malaysia (Malays, Chinese and Indian) using an instrument based in part on Schwartz's seven dimensions. Further, differences between managers and their subordinates are examined. Two conclusions are that there are few significant differences in cultural values between the three ethnic groups but there are highly significant differences between subordinates and their superiors, in the sample of 324 Malaysians investigated.

Gives an in depth view of the strategies pursued by the world’s leading chief executive officers in an attempt to provide guidance to new chief executives of today. Considers the marketing strategies employed, together with the organizational structures used and looks at the universal concepts that can be applied to any product. Uses anecdotal evidence to formulate a number of theories which can be used to compare your company with the best in the world. Presents initial survival strategies and then looks at ways companies can broaden their boundaries through manipulation and choice. Covers a huge variety of case studies and examples together with a substantial question and answer section.

This study examines the country of origin effect of products made in Germany. The study focuses on the questions of the sources of information in evaluating products; the evaluation of specific product dimensions by Malaysian consum ers; and consumers’ assessment of different product categories. Results based on the analysis of data relating to 240 responses indicate that the most highly rated source of obtaining product information was through newspaper and magazines. Products made in Germany had been rated highly for their quality. Automobiles were generally found to be the most highly rated product category by Malaysian consumers. The managerial implications of these are discussed, limitations of the study are highlighted, and further research is suggested.