The Role of Quality Assurance in Pahang Halal Food Industry in Malaysia

Transcription

1 Journal of Business Administration and Management Sciences Research Vol. 4(3), pp , April, 2015 Available online at ISSN Apex Journal International Full Length Research The Role of Quality Assurance in Pahang Halal Food Industry in Malaysia Ida Rizyani Tahir 1 *, Abubakar Sambo Junaidu 2 and Muktar Bashir 3 1 Faculty of Industrial Management, Universiti Malaysia PAHANG 2 Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, Usmanu Dan FodiyoUniversity,Sokoto 3 Department of Political Science, Faculty of Social sciences, Usmanu Danfodio University, Sokoto Nigeria. Acccepted 9 January, 2015; Published 18 April, 2015 Malaysia in its effort towards developing its various products for consumption particularly Halal foods for both domestic as well as international market developed and launched what is reffered to as Malaysian Standard MS 1500 General Guidelines on the Production, Preparation, Handling and storage of Halal food. The reason behind it is the fact that Malaysia needed a platform that will improve the standard as well as the quality of its products for consumption particularly Halal food. Quality control is a key determinant that covers and influence success in all aspects of modern industry, services, as well as manufacturing and the essence of quality control is to achieve high level of customer satisfaction which will boost thebusiness performance. This Paper therefore, examined the capability of quality control towards enhancing business performance particularly in Halal food industry in Pahang. The specieficobjectives of this paper is to examine the relationship between quality control and business performance and also to identify mean difference and years in the industry. In order to generate data questioniers were distributed between the managers and the owners of the companies. Also, in this paper reliability and pearson correlation was employed as the method of analysis, the paper concludes that quality control is very vital to the survival of the company in particular and the economy of the country in general. Finally, the paper recommend that crucial attention must be given towards constant improvement of quality control process throughout organizations to ensure high ends deliverables especially when it involved food based products and services. Key words: Halal Food, Business Performance,Quality control. INTRODUCTION Abdul Talib et al. (2008) Malaysia until 2007 has estimated 5,565 food manufacturers and wide variation of food services entities such as restaurants, fast food outlets, and stalls accounting over than 170,000 entities (Abdul Talib, Mohd Ali, and Jamaludin, 2008). 10% of what made Malaysia s output of manufacturing came from food processing industry with annual value of export reaches RM5 billion and at the same time contributed two-thirds of Malaysia s total food export across the globe to 80 countries worldwide easily sketch the amount of RM10 billion Abdul Talib, Mohd Ali, and Jamaludin, *Corresponding author. rizyani@ump.edu.my 2008). The advantage for Malaysia to grow bigger in the global food market particularly in Halal food due to the globally increased demand on Halal food estimated to be RM560 billion per annum as Malaysia has been recognized as a modern Islamic Country in parallel to the advantage of Malaysia becoming one of the world s important base for Halal food production. Global quality and safety assurance has revolutionized and currently on its way to transformation into implementing Halal products as the new benchmark of quality and safety assurance (SIRIM, 2004). This is due to that Halal products are readily consumable to not just Muslims but also consumers from other religions as the holistic approach of Halal concept does not only covers the Shariah requirement which is a must for Muslim s

2 Junaidu et al 061 but also covering wide variation of essential dynamics such as in terms of sanitation, hygiene, as well as other safety related aspects. Malaysia in the effort towards developing Halal products particularly Halal foods for both domestic and international market took one step further in terms of standards and quality of halal food by launching Malaysian Standard MS 1500 General Guidelines on the Production, Preparation, Handling, and Storage of Halal Food. The Malaysian standard MS 1500 prescribes and covers all guidelines for practical use in handling and preparing food as well as all essential requirements for food production and food trade business in Malaysia from the basics (SIRIM, 2004). The essence of quality is to achieve or exceeds the term excellence. In other words, common sense of quality is for the product or services that fulfills or exceeds expectations of customer (Abdul Talib, Mohd Ali, and Jamaludin, 2008). Quality has become worldwide idol due to the developing of manufacturing industries all over the world as well as more and more researchers and results pointed that quality is one of the key success in terms of deliverables and customer satisfaction. As stated by Stuart et al (1996), quality has become a key determinant of success in all aspects of modern industry, services as well as manufacturing. The point of this study is to pin-point the capability of quality control towards enhancing business performance particularly in Halal food industry in Pahang. It is clear that food industry in Malaysia is one of many other industries that plays major role in contributing towards the increase of Malaysian economy. But it is also important to dive deeper in the matter to further enhance the quality and current status to a better and perhaps more comfortable condition. Plus, even though food industry especially Halal food industry has grown it s wings not just domestically but also internationally, not all Halal food manufacturer as well as Halal food distributer in Malaysia can actually reached that level of business reaches. This here then presses the urge to incur quality control in the process to further enhance the standard of food manufactured and at the same time can help to increase performance of business entities to further ease their position in the market as well as help them to outreach international market and break existing boundaries. The utilization of quality measures towards not just the deliverables but also includes the whole process throughout the manufacturing of the desired deliverables. In terms of food or product to be consumed, quality is more appropriately termed as fitness for consumption and furthermore the totality of features and characteristics of a product or service that bear on its ability to satisfy implied or stated needs (Abdul Talib, Mohd Ali, and Jamaludin, 2008). Quality is an asset of a company that can help to increase value in organization where in the parallel result can also increase performance of organization or businesses. This is in parallel with the idea of King et al. (2002) that stated product quality as paramount towards the success of any consumer-product oriented company that competes whether domestically or internationally. From time to time, quality has become one of organizations worldwide strategy and sometimes treated as the single most important method to achieve success in business particularly in a highly competitive market. As stated earlier in the research background that Malaysia s food processing sector comprises 10% of Malaysia s output in manufacturing, whereas processed food are exported to 80 countries throughout the globe with more than RM5 billion of annual export value that amounts to two-thirds of total food export of over RM10 billion (Abdul Talib, Mohd Ali, and Jamaludin, 2008). This is an advantage for companies involved in Malaysia s Halal food industry to expand their market even bigger both domestic and internationally. In that effort, one key determinant can be an asset to create value towards achieving that which is quality. As like other manufacturing or other types of industries in not just Malaysia but throughout the world that has put appropriate weighting towards the importance of quality to achieve better performance in business and organization. Therefore, this study will examine the relationship between quality control and business performance particularly in Halal food industry alongside to examine the effect of quality control towards business performance and also the traits of quality recognized in Malaysia s Halal food industry just as stated in the MS1500:2004. Research Objectives The objectives for this study are as follow: i. To examine the relationship between quality control and business performance ii. To identify mean difference on gender and years in the industry LITERATURE REVIEW Quality control is the process of controlling all the processes and activities involved in producing deliverables or providing services in order for that particular deliverable and services to fit and meet with the requirement set up earlier and in accordance with any other standardization. Project Management Institute (PMI) (2008), defined quality control process as a process used to monitor and record all results from execution of quality activities across the organization as well as the process of assessing performance and providing recommendation about any necessary changes for the whole period of a particular project. Performing quality control is an essential element especially and

3 062 J. Bus. Admin. Manage. Sci. Res particularly in project management and it is listed as one of the 42 processes in project management consisted in monitoring and controlling process group in the project life-cycle (PMI, 2008). Performing quality control is also an element in project quality management, one of 9 project management areas of knowledge. Operations of companies have resulted in myriad changes nowadays due to the massively expanding global market. Even so, a company s success critically depends on deliveries of consistent product to customers domestically and internationally as delivering consistent product to customers still remains a crucial element of success of companies. In order to achieve that, one element play a role as part of what makes it possible to deliver consistent product as well as achieving and extending customers satisfaction which is quality control. Organizations around the world must have effective quality control programs and process in their organization as quality control can give great and massive positive influence towards organization s success in various corner of the organization (King, Titman, Ridgely, Gillette, and Adams, 2002). Product integrity is a paramount and need consistent and frequent maintenance considering the resources and efforts spent and invested by an organization. Furthermore, one of an organization s most prized assets is no other than quality itself which makes quality as a crucial element of organization that must be given proper attention so as not to cause any damage towards the quality of products or services that can be fatal towards the organization (King, Titman, Ridgely, Gillette, and Adams, 2002). King et al. (2002) further stated that delivering products that are similar over time is essential to the customer perception of quality, and key to brand loyalty. There are many ways of how to define quality control, but it all can be summed up into a conclusive meaning which is to achieve and maintain the quality of products and services. PMI (2008) defined quality control process as a process used to monitor and record all results from execution of quality activities across the organization as well process of assessing performance and providing recommendation about any necessary changes for the whole period of a particular project. Quality control as defined by Munoz (2002) is a process and a function that is closely related as well as aligned with manufacturing process which implements specifications of quality particularly in terms of intermediate, raw materials, and deliverables in accordance with specifications and requirement established by quality assurance process and carries out the whole operational techniques and activities in the effort to pursue and achieve products or services quality. Quality assurance is a planned and systematic action that are necessary in order to provide adequate confidence and guarantee that a product or service will satisfy the given needs (Munoz, 2002). Quality control can also be defined as a process that is necessary and crucial in the pursuance of conformance and confidence of products or services in accordance to particular specification (Prajogo and Sohal, 2006). In another study, Rungtusanatham (2000) defined quality in his own definition as a universally known symbol of total accordance and uncompromising standards to achieve high achievement beyond the previous achievement. In the same study, Rungtusanatham (2000) also defined product quality which is conformance of requirements, fitness for use, and meeting or exceeding customers expectation. There was several other definition of product quality as suggested by Rungtusanatham (2000) such as: i. Product quality is a precise and measureable variable such that differences in quality reflect differences in the quantity of some ingredient or attribute associated with the product ii. Product quality is an idiosyncratic and personal and at the same time is highly subjective matter iii. Product quality refers to whether or not a product s characteristics conform to specifications iv. Product quality is one that provides performance at an acceptable price or conformance at an acceptable cost There also exist interplay within three dimensions of product quality that was suggested by Rungtusanatham (2000) which is the product, the provision of training to customers, and the way customers actually use the product, and all these three can determine the level of satisfaction of customers about a particular product. These are dimensions of product quality suggested by Rungtusanatham (2000) among many other various literature of quality control that is used as the guidelines of achieving product quality while quality control being the process to achieve the objective towards product and service quality for better success of organization. More and more companies worldwide have established quality control programs in the past 20 years especially in the food industry where their quality control programs generally were more advanced than that of non-food industries (Munoz, 2002). Munoz (2002) suggested the reasons of why quality control programs are more aggressive in food industry manufacturing is because most food industry s corporation and organization has already advance in terms of sensory science making quality control measure considerably be the main instrument. Non-food product are more difficult to assess compared to the evaluations conducted for foods which result in many companies reluctant to incorporate skin feel or handfeel evaluation protocols at the plant level (Munoz, 2002). Munoz (2002) suggested the usage of 4 dimensions of how to effectively utilize quality control in an organization and those 4 dimensions are: i. Types of quality control programs

4 Junaidu et al 063 Table 1. Respondents Job Position. Item Frequency Percentage Valid percentage Cumulative percentage Manager Owner Total ii. Giving attention towards important quality control program s component iii. Sensory versus analytical/instrumental based quality program iv. Support and management of quality control program These 4 dimensions can be used to identify quality programs and their effectiveness towards business performance as done by Munoz (2002). However, the first dimension is just elaborations of quality programs among food industry and non food industry which is not suitable for use in detecting quality programs in an organization. The same goes to the third dimension where sensory versus analytical/instrumental based quality programs is just an elaboration and suggestion of which quality programs can be more effective depending on the type of industry a particular organization ventured into as suggested by Munoz (2002). METHODOLOGY This study focused on Halal food industry companies located in Pahang Darul Makmur. There are currently 143 companies in the Halal food industry that registered in Jabatan Agama Islam Pahang in 2012 until Therefore, the population size for this study will, be not less than 75 companies in Pahang that produces Halal food. Based on Kotrlik et al. (2001), most educational studies either use 0.05 or 0.01 alpha level in determining sample sizes, whereby the use of 0.05 alpha level is appropriate for sample sizes above 120. The t-value for alpha level 0.05 is Therefore, for this paper, alpha value of 0.05 which is 1.96 has been used. For acceptable margin of error, this study used 3% acceptable margin of error as suggested by Kotrlik et al. (2001) which stated that 3% margin error is acceptable for use of educational research. This paper adopted a 5-point scale and given that 4 standard deviations whereby 2 from each side of the mean would capture 98% of all responses (Kotrlik, Bartlett and Higgins, 2001). FINDINGS Job Position Based on Table 1, among overall 96 respondents for this study, 92 were managers and the other 4 are owners. Managers cumulated 95.8% of the overall total population and owners accumulated 4.2 % from overall total respondents. Managers were the most to answer the questionnaire as in one particular company have more than 1 manager with different responsibilities and authorities and it was easier to distribute questionnaires to managers than owners as meeting owners directly is a rare occasion especially for big companies handling big scale operations domestic and internationally. Gender As shown in Table 2 Among 96 respondents for this study, 83 of them were male respondents accumulating 86.5% of total respondents while the other 13 was female respondents accumulating 13.5% of total respondents. Among these numbers were managers and owners which showed that most of the managers being the respondent for this study were male respondents while only a few being filled by female respondents. Among these numbers also included 4 owners which are all male respondents. Age In section A of the questionnaire, respondents were required to fill their range of age which consist items as showed in Table 3. Among total respondents, only 1 respondent within the age of 21 to 25 years old which makes him/her as the youngest respondent of the total overall 96 respondents. Another 5 respondents are within the age range of 26 to 30 years old that counted 5.2% of total respondents. The rest of the respondents were above 30 that accumulated 93.8% of total respondents. This showed that most of managers and owners of company were above 30 years old. This may be due to their accumulated experience working their line of job which makes this age range as the most to sit on manager s Work Experience Table 4 showed the respondents work experience. The table consists of 5 items for respondents to fill which are 1 to 2 years of experience that accumulated 1% of total respondents being only one person in the total

5 064 J. Bus. Admin. Manage. Sci. Res Table 2. Respondents Gender. Item Frequency Percentage Valid percentage Cumulative percentage Male Female Total Table 3. Respondents Age. Item Frequency Percentage Valid percentage Cumulative percentage Above Total Table 4. Respondents Work Experience. Item Frequency Percentage Valid percentage Cumulative percentage 1-2 Years Years Years More than 6 Years Total Table 5. Years in the Industry. Item Frequency Percentage Valid percentage Cumulative percentage Below 1 Year Years Years Years More than 6 Years Total respondents that has only 1 to 2 years of working experience. This sole respondent is the one who was the youngest respondent among other respondents. 15 of the total respondents have 3 to 4 years of experience that accumulated 15.6% of total respondents and another 36 have 5 to 6 years of working experience and accumulated 37.5% of total respondents working experience percentage. The other 44 respondents have more than 6 years of working experience which showed that most of the respondents for this study were those who have more than 6 years of working experience. Years in Industry Table 5 showed the collected data of years spent by respondents working in the Halal line of industry. Among all 96 total respondents, 2 were new in the industry with below than 1 year of involvement in the industry. 15 has spent 1 to 2 years in the industry, another 45 has spent 3 to 4 years within the industry which accumulated 46.9% of total respondents and being the most common years spent within Halal food industry in this study. Another 24 respondents has been in the industry for 5 to 6 years already and only 10 from total respondents has been within Halal food industry for more than 6 years with accumulated percentage of 10.4%. Religion Section A in the questionnaire also require respondents to fill in their religion and based on the data collected and showed in Table 6, all of total 96 respondents answering

6 Junaidu et al 065 Table 6. Respondents Religion. Item Frequency Percentage Valid percentage Cumulative percentage MUSLIM TOTAL Table 7. Reliability Analysis Result. Variables No. of items No. of items deleted Cronbach s Alpha value Training Programs Quality Control Program Coordinator/ Manager Quality Metrics Quality Checklist Business Performance Table 8. Pearson Correlation Analysis. Independent Variables Pearson Correlation Sig. (2-tailed) N Training Programs 0.321** Quality Control Program Coordinator/ Manager Quality Metrics 0.958** Quality Checklist the questionnaire for this study were Muslim. Reliability Analysis Reliability analysis was done in order to determine whether the research instruments are reliable in measuring the variables tested in this study. Internal consistency reliability was tested by computing Cronbach s Alpha coefficients. Reliability test computed by referring to the value of Cronbach s Alpha coefficients measures a single unidimensional latent structure that measures the variable. A reliable variable are variable that have high unidimensional characteristic and this is presented in the form of high Cronbach s Alpha value. The values for Cronbach s Alpha for variables in this study are shown in Table 7. Table 7 presents the value of Cronbach s Alpha generated from reliability analysis. There are 5 variables used in this study including the dependant variable; business performance. All 4 predictors each consist of 3 items and all predictors showed satisfactory level of reliability. The first predictor is training programs with Cronbach s Alpha value of 0.748, followed by quality control program coordinator / manager with Cronbach s Alpha value of The third predictor is quality metrics with Cronbach s Alpha value, and quality checklist with Cronbach s Alpha value being the fourth predictor in this study. The dependant variable, business performance recorded Cronbach s Alpha value. There weren t any items being deleted in the reliability analysis due to the Cronbach s Alpha value being satisfied. Pearson Correlation Analysis Pearson correlation analysis is run to verify relationship of predictors and dependant variable. By running correlation analysis, it can be determined whether predictors have significant negative or positive impact towards the dependant variable or no significant relationship at all. The Pearson correlation value indicates how strong the relationships between variables are. Pearson correlation value ranged from 1 to -1. The nearer the value towards 1 the stronger the positive relationship is and the more nearer the value gets to -1 the stronger the negative relationship are and the nearer it gets to 0 the weaker the relationship is. The result of Pearson Correlation analysis is showed in Table 8. Table 8 showed the result of Pearson correlation analysis in the form of Pearson correlation value and the significance value for each predictor towards the dependent variable. Based on the result from Pearson correlation analysis, training programs has positive significant relationship with the significance value of and Pearson correlation value of Quality metrics also has a positive significant relationship with a

7 066 J. Bus. Admin. Manage. Sci. Res strong value of Pearson correlation significant at significance value. The other 2 predictors, quality control program coordinator / manager and quality checklist showed no significant relationship towards business performance with Pearson correlation value of 0.41 and 0.96 and significant value of and which are not the acceptable value to be significant. Therefore based on the Pearson correlation analysis, only 2 predictors managed to proved to have significant relationship with business performance which are training programs and quality metrics with quality metrics having strong positive relationship that carries the value of in Pearson correlation value. The other 2 predictors being quality control program coordinator/ manager and quality checklist proved to be insignificant towards the dependent variable, business performance. Conclusion The point of this study is to pin-point the capability of quality control towards enhancing business performance particularly in Halal food industry in Pahang. The utilization of quality measures towards not just the deliverables but also includes the whole process throughout the manufacturing of the desired deliverables. Based on this idea, there are two main objectives highlighted in this study to achieve which is to identify the relationship between quality control and business performance, and to identify the effect of quality control towards business performance. Based on the analysis done, there exist a significant linear regression between quality control and business performance and this was indicated in the regression analysis through the F value of and significant at 1% significant level. Based on this the first objective was achieved which is to investigate whether there exist any relationship between quality control and business performance. Quality control is a key determinant that covers and influence success in all aspects of modern industry, services, as well as manufacturing. Quality is the holistic term to go for in order for organization to achieve and even exceeds the term excellence in products and services that fulfills and exceeds the expectations of customer. One point of profiting organization is to achieve high end deliverables and high level of customer satisfaction which will at the same time boost the business performance. To achieve that main point, quality is the key to open the path towards higher standard of deliverables with more efficient cost incurrence and fulfill as well as exceeds customer satisfaction. Higher customer satisfaction points towards higher sales volume expectedly in a long run of business. The idea of quality being the key determinant to almost all aspects covering delivery of products and services as well as boosting customer satisfaction is supported by previous research done by Stuart et al. (1996) and Abdul Talib et al (2008) where these two authors highlighted the essentiality of quality in achieving standardized deliverables and higher level of customer satisfaction that directly pin points towards higher business performance. The result obtained in the previous chapter that points towards quality control having significant positive relationship with business performance had previously been proved and also research by various authors around the globe. King et al. (2002) in his research also stated that quality is a very valuable asset for organizations that can greatly increase value in organization which at the same time directly impact performance of organization in its businesses. The second objective of investigating the effect quality control bring upon business performance also achieved through the analysis done in the previous chapter through the analysis of regression between the predictors and independent variable. The regression analysis showed adjusted R square value of which indicates that quality control can explain 96.9% variances in business performance. Based on this findings, it can be concluded that quality control play the most role in influencing business performance whether negative or positively. All 4 predictors managed to contribute 96.9% influence towards improving business performance and significant at 1% significant level. Among all 4 predictors consisted in quality control, quality metric emerge to be the most sensitive predictor than other predictors with beta value of which indicate that every increase in quality metrics can also greatly increase business performance. Followed by training programs with beta value of also spells the same but only slightly sensitive towards changes in business performance. To boost business performance greatly, organization must appoint higher level of quality metrics. Such matter can be achieved by setting up stricter rules on specific terms of project attributes as well as specific criterion of a particular deliverable. Such matter must be strictly monitored especially when it involves food for consumption as being done by the scope of this study; Halal food industry. Halal food industry produces and provides food for consumptions to fulfill the requirements of a Muslim to eat only Halal food and drinks. This is the most crucial standard that a particular organization producing Halal food must abide, to provide a guaranteed Halal food not just for Muslim but also to any other individuals with different religion view. Strict quality metrics can ensure that all requirements for specific products meet the most crucial standard of being Halal. Halal products are products that are readily consumable to not just Muslims but also consumers from other religions as the wholesomeness concept of Halal products covers not only Shariah requirement but also covers the essence of hygiene, sanitation and other related safety aspects. This is the criteria that need to be strictly monitored and improved from time to time in terms of quality metrics. By following the metrics of being safe,

8 Junaidu et al 067 hygienic and most importantly Halal, organizations involved in producing Halal food can continuously improve their business performance directly in ways such as global market penetration. The simplest way to utilize strict quality metrics that follows standard Halal food production is by implementing Malaysian Standard MS 1500: 2004 Halal Foods Production, Preparation, Handling and Storage and tight up all loose ends in all processes related in production, preparation, handling, as well as storage. Stricter quality metrics is supported by efficient training programs given to personnel throughout the organization. Training programs proved to have significant impact towards business performance as were indicated in the previous analysis result of regression analysis where training program can significantly explain a portion of variance in business performance. Implementing training program within organization is a sign of commitment from the organization to deliver high end standard of products and services. Training program is also a sign of organizational commitment towards utilizing sound and effective quality control system within organization in their effort to deliver standardized deliverables to customers. Training program can greatly contributes towards the well-being and efficiency of business performance as agreed by Munoz (2002) where training programs are specially related towards quality control implementation and utilization which can give higher value addition in the effort to achieve higher level of business performance as well as run in parallel with value addition towards matters relative to investment needed. Training programs provide personnel with essential knowledge on how to perform specific tasks especially those that involve higher level of complexity within the prism of quality under required quality metrics. Knowledge and skills provided in training programs can greatly synchronize and synergized towards better result particularly in higher level of business performance. The other two predictors were proved to be insignificant towards business performance as the significant value for QCPCM and quality checklist showed large value which does not satisfy the requirement for predictors to be significant to the dependent variable. Beta value for QCPCM and quality checklist also showed negative value which indicate that every increase in these 2 predictors will reduce performance in business. This result is arguable as literature review revealed that these two predictors should have significant effect towards improving business performance in organization. Even though quality training programs can help to provide essential knowledge and skills to personnel in terms of utilizing and implementing standardized processes with satisfactory and excellent quality, but the need of professionals working closely with deliverables is still essential. The existence of professionals and expertise can help to address new issues, problems, product evaluations, implement new program as needed, conduct trainings, and etcetera. Even so, there are also literature and previous research that does not highlight the need for professionals and expertise to work closely with processes in producing deliverables as crucial as other elements such as training programs and quality metrics. In a research done by Munoz (2002) revealed that most companies and organization does not implement quality control program coordinator or manager for quality control activities as quality control programs can be coordinated and managed by any personnel as long as they were provided with sufficient training, management support, and authority needed. Quality checklist also arguable to have insignificant effect towards business performance as quality checklist is a structured tool that are component-specific used to verify set of required steps that has been performed and also a follow-up measures after having planned and execution of all required steps of quality control measures to make sure that each and every steps or processes of quality control has been done. If quality checklist were to be compared with quality metrics, these 2 elements is similar in nature as these 2 highlight the steps and processes needed to be done in order to comply with specific quality requirements. Therefore quality checklist may be redundant with quality metrics which made quality checklist insignificant with business performance as the variance that quality checklist explain in business performance can also be covered in quality metrics, except that quality metrics has more sensitivity towards affecting performance of business. Standardized checklist can be developed by personnel with appropriate knowledge, expertise, and experience within the organization but more standardized checklist that focus more deeply towards quality control can be found in a more standardized element such as Malaysian Standard MS 1500: 2004 Halal Food Production, Preparation, Handling and Storage. Recommendations In industry especially involved in producing food for consumption, quality is a very crucial factor influencing business performance. Crucial attention must be given towards constant improvement of quality control processes throughout the organization to ensure high end deliverables, especially when it involved food based products and services. The element that distinguishes between these kinds of companies is quality. Food products and services are very similar across companies but what made them different is the standard of quality each company provides in the form of their deliverables. Utilization and implementation of quality control can greatly increase efficiency in processes related to deliverables production which will directly increase performance of business. Increasing standard of deliverables can further provide organization the advantage to

9 068 J. Bus. Admin. Manage. Sci. Res penetrate both domestic and international market. The simplest way for organization to utilize effective quality control specifically in terms of standard requirement of deliverables is by implementing and utilizing Malaysian Standard MS 1500: 2004 Halal Food Production, Preparation, Handling and Storage, the standardize version of quality control for Halal food industry in Malaysia. This standard is known worldwide and has proved to be so by making Malaysia as the main hub for international Halal food in Asia. MS 1500: 2004 provides definitive, complete, and holistic approach of quality control processes for organization to comply and implement in the effort to further increase standard of quality which will directly point towards higher performance in business. Based on this study, traits and characteristic of quality control organizations should utilize and give the most attention is training programs and quality metrics. Quality metrics utilization must be strict and transparent and organizations can do so by applying to MS 1500:2004. The second trait is to introduce better training program related to quality control execution by personnel across the organization which points towards improving standard of deliverables. Personnel must be given appropriate knowledge, skills, and authority in handling processes related to production of deliverables that abide with all the requirements of quality measurement and processes. In order to provide personal that work closely with quality processes is by giving them training that focus directly towards quality. Even so it might cost the company greatly but it will help company to continuously improve performance in business in the long run thus providing competitiveness in market environment while at the same time ensuring the longevity of the well-being of the company itself. King, S., Gillette, M., Titman, D., Adams, J., Ridgely, M. (2002). The Sensory Quality System: a global quality control solution. Food Qual. Preference 13: King, S., Titman, D., Ridgely, M., Gillette, M., Adams, J. (2002). The Sensory Quality System: A Global Quality Control Solution. Food Quality and Preference, 13: Kotrlik, J. W., Bartlett ii, J.E., Higgins, C.C. (2001). Organizational Research: Determining Appropriate Sample Size in Survey Research. Info. Technol., Learn. Performance J., 10: Munoz, A.M. (2002). Sensory Evaluation in Quality Control: An Overview, New Developments and Future Opportunities. Food Quality and Preference, 13: PMI. (2008). A Guide To The Project Management Body of Knowledge. Pennsylvania: Project Management Institute Incorporation. Prajogo, D.I., Sohal, A.S. (2006). The Integration of TQM and Technology / R&D Management in Determining Quality and Innovation Performance. Omega 12: Rungtusanatham, M. (2000). The Quality and Motivational Effects of Statistical Process Control. J. Qual. Manage.,12: SIRIM. (2004, July-August). Standardisation for Halal Food. Standards and Quality News, pp REFERENCES Abdul Talib, H., Mohd Ali, K.A., Jamaludin, K.R. (2008). Quality Assurance in Halal Food Manufacturing in Malaysia: A preliminary Study. Proceedings of International Conference on Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering (ICME2008) (pp. 1-5). Johor Bahru: Faculty of Manufacturing and Engineering, Universiti Tun Husssein Onn Malaysia (UTHM). Abdullah, Z., Ahsan, N., Shah Alam, S. (2009). The Effect of Human Resource Management Practices on Business Performance Among Private Companies in Malaysia. Int. J. Bus. Manage., Huang, H.-C., Lai, M.-C., Lo, K.-W. (2012). Do founders own resources matter? The influence of business networks on start-up innovation and performance. Technovation 32: