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Business success and religious principles: new study

October 10, 2006

KoteyKamaru.thumb.jpgA three-month appointment as Visiting Scholar at The University of New England has helped a Malaysian researcher in her exploration of relationships between business success and religious principles.

Suzilawati Kamarudin is a lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in Johor. She has anecdotal evidence linking the success of some Malaysian businesses with the policy-shaping religious principles of their managers.

“Now I want to test that relationship empirically,” she said. “Are people who adhere to the ethical principles taught in the Qur’an more – or less – successful than others?

She was able to gain a clearer, more structured perspective on her project during her time at UNE’s Centre for Business Research working with Dr Bernice Kotey, who is a Senior Lecturer in the New England Business School and Interim Director of the Centre. “Before my visit to UNE I didn’t quite know how to approach the subject,” Mrs Kamarudin said. “Dr Kotey has helped me to develop a research framework that will allow me to collect meaningful data on relationships between religious values and business performance.”

“If I can demonstrate a positive relationship,” she explained, “it could help the Malaysian Government to draw on Qur’anic principles in its efforts to promote business activity within the strongly Muslim, Malay-speaking sector of the community. After all, according to the Qur’an, nine-out-of-ten sources of wealth are based on business.”

Mrs Kamarudin arrived at UNE in July, and returned to Malaysia in early October. UTM has invited Dr Kotey to visit Johor to work with her – an invitation Dr Kotey intends to take up next year. “I’ll also be looking around Malaysia for other collaborative research opportunities,” she said.

THE PHOTOGRAPH displayed here shows Suzilawati Kamarudin (at front) with Dr Kotey.

Posted by Jim Scanlan at October 10, 2006 02:04 PM