• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.3
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• pp.5-19
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• 2019

Purpose - The purpose of this research is to investigate the factors contributing to sustainable competitive advantage for multi-level marketing (MLM) firms in Malaysia. The selected variables in this study are company image, product innovation, leadership, distributor rewards system and distributor training system. Research design, data, and methodology - Quantitative research method is employed with collected sample size of 398 respondents using judgmental sampling technique. Normality and reliability test were performed in the first stage utilizing SPSS 22 and Confirmatory Factory Analysis (CFA) and variance analysis were obtained in the subsequent stage, following up with the overall fit of the measurement model, Structural Equation Model (SEM) using AMOS 22 with maximum likelihood estimation to assess the internal consistency, convergent validity and discriminant validity. Results - The research findings show that company image, leadership, distributor rewards system and distributor training system were supported and are factors affecting the sustainable competitive advantage of MLM companies in Malaysia. However, in this study, product innovation was not supported but this result does not depict that it is trivial and inconsequential in maintain sustainable advantage. Conclusion - Companies can build sustainable competitive advantage by focusing on these contributing factors. Several other comments and implications were brought to light and discussed in the paper.

• Journal of Korean Society of Transportation
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• v.27 no.6
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• pp.119-127
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• 2009

It has been known that bus route and company related characteristics have influences on punctuality, but fewer research have been conducted. Independent variables used in this study were selected using correlation analysis, and OLS(Ordinary Least Square) and HLM(Hierarchical Linear Model) were employed to identify factors affecting bus punctuality(headway deviation). The results showed that ICC(intraclass Correlation Coefficient) is 0.10, indicating that hierarchical linear models are more adequate for these data because there is effective variation in the subjects between companies. Punctuality was found to be negatively associated with the number of vehicles, the number of persons per vehicle, and total travel time. On the other hand, average headway and company size have a positive relationship with punctuality. Therefore, the number of vehicles per route, average headway, and the number of vehicles managed by a company should be considered for more accurately evaluating the management of piunctuality.