This paper examines the perceived ethical values of Malaysian managers. It is based on the opinions of 15 hypothetical ethical/unethical business situations from the 81 managers who agreed to participate in the survey. The findings of this study showed that these Malaysian managers have high ethical values. However 53% of the respondents believed that the ethical standards of today are lower than that of 15 years ago. Apparently, this is related to the existence of many unethical business practices prevalent in the modern business world. The behavior of one's immediate superior is the most important factor in influencing managers to commit unethical practices. The results also indicate only a slight variation among the managers in terms of perceived ethical values by virtue of job position, job specialization, type of business activity or the size of the business organization.

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This article examines the extent of planning and the key essential characteristics of planning in the Malaysian insurance industry. A survey was conducted with the support of the Malaysian Insurance Institute. A total of 59 insurance companies involved in life, general and composite businesses were given the questionnaire. A total of 36 companies responded the questionnaire. The findings showed that all the insurance companies conducted formal planning. However, only one quarter have a planning unit/section. The extent of planning conducted varies according to the type of insurance business and existence of planning unit/section. The Chief Executive Officers are highly involved in the planning activities. Planning activities are focused at the functional level, short term, and the medium term. There are more firms conducting an internal analysis than an external analysis. As for corporate objectives, underwriting profit is rated as most important and the sum insured as least important. It was also found that nearly 89 % of the firm pursed a combination strategy of growth and stability. Overall, nearly 75% considered the effectiveness of the planning system in achieving corporate goals, and about 37% considered it as most important towards better performance. Implications of the findings are also discussed.

The Malaysian farmers' selection criteria of a ricultural inputs, attitudes towards selecting the inputs, and the in f f uence of socio-demographic factors in the selection of inputs were examined by using a personal interview with vegetable faners. It was found that farmers perceived quality as most important criteria in selection of inputs, while advertising was perceived as least im ortant. Vegetable farmers have favourable attitudes towards quahy, product availability and fair prices, and less favourable attitudes towards advertising ~nfluence. The socio-demographic factors such as income, f a n size, geographical distribution, education level, and ethnic group (race) have some influence on farmers' selection criteria of agricultural inputs. ---A. R. M. %bid and M. S. Samsinar are Lecturers in the Department of Manaeement and Marketine. Facultv of Economics and Manaeement. Universiti Pert k a n Malaysia, 4340kerdang, Selangor, Malaysia. M. r. ~a n s b r is Lecturer in