PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between total quality management (TQM), market orientation and service quality in the Malaysian service industry.Design/methodology/approachData from 150 service firms were collected. Structural equation modeling was employed in this study to examine the associations between TQM, market orientation and service quality.FindingsThis study provides empirical evidence and confirms findings obtained from previous studies that TQM has a positive and significant relationship with both market orientation and service quality. Moreover, it was discovered that market orientation is also significantly related to service quality.Research limitations/implicationsThis research study implies that if firms are not able to comprehend the importance of TQM dimensions, by which the different dimensions of it can influence a firm's performance, they may not succeed in harvesting the full value of market orientation and service quality. Meanwhile, the findings may guide the service practitioners to understand the importance of TQM in their managerial actions in enhancing market orientation and service quality, which serves as a sound foundation for building a distinguished point of differentiation in their services.Originality/valuePast researchers have not looked into the tri‐dimensional relationship between TQM, market orientation and service quality and hence research is to be called for in this area. The paper provides practitioners with useful guidelines on the appropriate TQM practices to be implemented so that market orientation and the quality of service can be enhanced, creating superior value to the customers in a unique way, which subsequently improves a firm's competitiveness.

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The paper re-examines the determinants of foreign direct investment (FDI) in Malaysia, for the period 1970-2006. The cointegration results show that market size of both Malaysia and China have major, and a statistically significant impact, on FDI inflow to Malaysia. The results seem to support the argument that foreign investors tend to be more attracted to the country with a higher growth rate of gross domestic product (GDP) because it indicates a laglecrv potential demand for their products. In addition, the results also demonstrate that openness level of the country has a positive and statistically significant effect on FDI inflow, which supports the hypothesis that FDI can be attracted to a country with more liberalized economic reforms. Finally, the results show that literacy rate (human capital development) has significant positive effect on FDI inflow. The finding suggests the need for labor force expansion and education policy to raise the stock of human capital in the country. Using Granger causality test, we also find that there exist unidirectional causality from real GDP of both Malaysia and China, degree of openness and literacy rate to FDI inflow.Foreign direct investment, market size, literacy rate, cointegration, causality,

Abstract.The relationship between private capital flows and growth has been examined extensively in the literature, yet numerous controversies still remain. The study examines the relationships among private capital flows (foreign direct investment, portfolio investment and foreign debt), financial development and economic performance in a sample of 16 low-income developing countries over the period 1988-2006, by employing generalized method of moments (GMM) panel data analysis. We find that private capital flows have a positive impact on growth in low-income countries with well-developed financial sector but have a negative effect in the presence of poor financial sector development. Well-developed financial sectors are ones that are themselves crucial for economic growth. Our results indicate that private capital flows would be more effective if they were more systematically conditional on well-developed financial systems.

The growing market demand for medical tourism has triggered intense competition among the medical tourism industry players. Word-of-mouth has been recognised as one of the key acquisition channels among the thoughtful marketing tactics to attract medical tourists. The purpose of this study is to gain insight on the relationship between medical service quality, perceived value, and satisfaction on word-ofmouth generation in a medical tourism setting. A quantitative survey was conducted to collect the data. The data collected was analysed using the Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM). The results indicated that medical service quality is positively associated with perceived value, which in turn, affects satisfaction. However, perceived value and satisfaction are not positively related to wordof-mouth generation. The availability of resources, patient cooperation and collaboration among service providers do affect the outcomes of word-of- mouth generation. It is implied that effort must be directed by the healthcare institutions to enrich the value and satisfaction of medical services. Hospital management should emphasise the service quality and raise it to a high level in order to increase recommendation.