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Sebagai BUMN berorientasi bisnis, Bank Mandiri menerapkan sistem penetapan target dan pengukuran penilaian manajer unit kerja berbasis kinerja. Unit-unit kerja yang berada di garda depan dalam memberikan layanan terbaik kepada para nasabah atau debitur telah ditetapkan sebagai profit center bagi Bank Mandiri. Dengan demikian setiap unit kerja tersebut diharapkan memberikan keuntungan bagi perusahaan dan pemegang saham pada akhirnya sesuai dengan target masing-masing yang telah ditetapkan.

Pengukuran kinerja unit kerja Bank Mandiri dan manajernya menggunakan alat yaitu Balanced Scorecard (BSC). Implementasi penilaian berbasiskan BSC telah berlangsung sejak tahun 2004. Dengan penerapan BSC, tidak hanya kinerja keuangan saja yang dinilai tetapi juga elemen lain seperti perspektif pelanggan, proses bisnis internal serta pembelajaran dan pertumbuhan. Mekanisme pembobotan dan rincian keempat perspektif dapat saja berbeda di masing-masing unit kerja, yang ditentukan oleh kebutuhan dan target setiap profit center tersebut.

Yang menjadi elemen-elemen penilaian di setiap perspektif ditentukan oleh salah satu grup di Kantor Pusat, yaitu Strategic and Process Management (SPM) Group. SPM memiliki kewenangan untuk menentukan rincian faktor-faktor penilaian setiap penilaian berdasarkan permintaan grup-grup lain di kantor pusat yang membawahi seluruh profit center di seluruh Bank Mandiri. SPM menetapkan rincian pengukuran kinerja berbasiskan balanced scorecard seringkali terlambat, dirilis pada saat periode pengukuran kinerja telah berjalan yaitu sekitar Bulan Juni-Juli.

Periode penilaian kinerja di Bank Mandiri berlangsung dua kali dalam setahun yaitu Bulan Januari-Juni dan Juli-Desember tahun berjalan. Sebagai contoh, perilisan rincian pengukuran parameter penilaian keempat perspektif BSC terjadi biasanya di pertengahan tahun pada saat periode pertama penilaian sudah hampir berakhir atau diinformasikan di pertengahan Juli ketika periode pertama penilaian telah berakhir dan telah memasuki periode penilaian kedua. Ketidaktepatan jadual rilis parameter pengukuran penilaian telah menjadi permasalahan sendiri yang dialami oleh manajer-manajer profit center, karena mereka bekerja seolah tanpa tujuan dan target yang jelas dan terukur sebelumnya yang seharusnya sudah diketahui dari awal periode.

Penilaian tahunan biasanya ditargetkan selesai di akhir bulan Januari tahun berikutnya. Di sisi lain, pengukuran penilaian kinerja posisi 31 Desember belum selesai dilakukan oleh SPM Group. Pada akhirnya, kadang kinerja yang digunakan untuk penilaian adalah posisi tanggal 30 November, padahal pada periode tersebut banyak realisasi kinerja yang belum tercakup. Selain selisih realisasi kinerja waktu 1 bulan, terdapat beberapa indikator fee based income yang secara sistem dimasukkan ke dalam fee based cabang pada saat akhir tahun dan baru dapat diketahui nominalnya di Bulan Februari atau Maret tahun berikutnya. Sumber fee based income tersebut biasanya berasal dari perolehan MDR (Merchant Discount Rate) dari transaksi EDC (Electronic Data Capture) Bank Mandiri, lead perolehan reksadana, ataupun AXA Mandiri.

Penambahan jumlah fee based tersebut juga akan berpengaruh kepada realisasi contribution margin unit kerja. Dengan penambahan jumlah fee based besar yang baru dimasukkan di pengukuran kinerja paling cepat Bulan Februari tahun berikutnya sedangkan target penyelesaian pengukuran kinerja di akhir Januari, maka terdapat ketidakadilan dalam hal penjadualan dan dasar data yang digunakan dalam pengukuran kinerja. Tidak fairnya penilaian juga termasuk posisi pencapaian kinerja yang dijadikan dasar penilaian tidak mencerminkan periode penilaian kerja yang sesungguhnya.

Penentuan parameter penilaian keempat perspektif BSC dan pembobotannya bersifat top-down bersifat baku, given dan sangat sulit untuk dapat diubah berdasarkan dari saran profit center, padahal selama ini yang menjalankan kegiatan operasional dan yang lebih mengetahui praktek di lapangan adalah para manajer di level garda depan yang dijadikan profit center. Usulan dari profit center ke grup masing-masing di kantor pusat juga selama ini belum merubah penentuan elemen perspektif ataupun pembobotan yang diimplementasikan dalam BSC. Sedangkan penilaian kinerja tersebut sangat penting artinya bagi manajer dan unit kerja profit center karena berpengaruh kepada jumlah pemberian insentif di tahun berikutnya, promosi bagi manajer yang dinilai berprestasi hingga mutasi manajer unit kerja.

Permasalahan

Berdasarkan pemaparan yang telah dijelaskan di sub bab sebelumnya, maka dapat ditarik suatu identifikasi permasalahan yang terkait dengan penentuan parameter serta pembobotan yang digunakan dalam penilaian kinerja berbasiskan Balanced Scorecard. Yang menjadi pertanyaan penelitian ini adalah apakah jadual perilisan serta penentuan parameter dan pembobotannya masing-masing perspektif telah sesuai dengan hasil kerja yang benar-benar dilakukan oleh manajer unit kerja di lapangan? Sebab di sisi lain yang dirasakan di level berbagai profit center, pembobotan atau penentuan elemen penilaian dari SPM belum merepresentasikan pekerjaan riil yang telah dilakukan oleh para manajer unit kerja. Terdapat keluhan dari para manajer unit kerja bahwa mereka mengelola kegiatan operasional, termasuk di dalamnya sales/marketing, service dan administrasi, namun belum semuanya tercakup ke dalam parameter pengukuran penilaian dalam BSC yang ditetapkan oleh SPM.

Selain itu perlu dilakukan perbaikan dalam hal waktu perilisan, rincian parameter keempat perspektif beserta pembobotan Balanced Scorecard yang digunakan dalam penilaian sehingga benar-benar dapat merepresentasikan kinerja para manajer unit kerja yang dipandang sebagai profit center. Dengan jadual dirilisnya tepat waktu pada awal periode penilaian dan parameter serta pembobotan yang representatif diharapkan dapat lebih memacu segenap manajer agar bekerja sistematis dan terarah sesuai dengan target yang telah ditetapkan dalam Balanced Scorecard.

Tujuan Penelitian

Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk melakukan kajian penilaian berbasiskan Balanced Scorecard yang selama ini telah dilaksanakan terhadap profit center salah satu cabang Bank Mandiri, yaitu Cabang Surabaya Menanggal. Kemudian berdasarkan hasil penelitian tersebut akan dilakukan analisa serta pengajuan usulan perbaikan dalam hal waktu rilis, posisi kinerja yang dijadikan penilaian, ataupun penentuan pembobotan dan indikator masing-masing perspektif Balanced Scorecard.

Manfaat Penelitian

Berikut adalah beberapa manfaat yang dapat diperoleh dari hasil penelitian yang dilakukan, yaitu:

✓ Memberikan masukan kepada manajemen Bank Mandiri dalam hal implementasi Balanced Scorecard yang selama ini diterapkan agar benar-benar representatif terhadap berbagai jenis pekerjaan yang telah dilakukan oleh manajer unit kerja (profit center) selama periode berjalan. Dengan adanya pengukuran kinerja yang sesuai dan tepat waktu diharapkan dapat lebih memacu semangat dan kerja manajer dalam mencapai target yang telah ditetapkan manajemen atas sehingga pada akhirnya dapat mendukung tercapainya visi dan misi Bank Mandiri.

✓ Bagi akademisi, hasil penelitian ini diharapkan dapat menjadi salah satu dokumentasi implementasi Balanced Scorecard di dunia perbankan Indonesia, khususnya dalam pengukuran kinerja di unit kerja profit center, yaitu cabang. Data ataupun informasi diperoleh dari Kantor Pusat, Kantor Wilayah VIII Surabaya atau data dari Kantor Cabang Surabaya Menanggal sendiri sebagai obyek penelitian.

Keterbatasan Penelitian
Pembahasan serta analisa BSC hanya mencakup implementasinya di Bank Mandiri Cabang Surabaya Menanggal Tahun 2010 saja. Penerapan BSC di cabang-cabang lainnya atau di Kantor Wilayah Surabaya atau Area Surabaya Basuki Rahmat yang membawahi Cabang Menanggal.

Literatur

Selama ini banyak perusahaan yang hanya berfokus pada perspektif keuangan saja, dengan mengabaikan dimensi lainnya. Perspektif keuangan memang penting karena menggambarkan bagaimana perusahaan tersebut memperoleh laba, mengembalikan imbal hasil kepada pemegang saham. Namun angka yang dihasilkan pada perspektif ini diperoleh perusahaan pada masa lampau. Perspektif keuangan tidak memberikan pandangan mengenai apa yang sedang dan akan terjadi di masa mendatang. Oleh sebab itu, perusahaan sebenarnya membutuhkan alat yang tidak hanya mengukur perusahaan dari segi finansial, namun juga dari berbagai perspektif lainnya.

Salah satu alat yang dapat digunakan untuk mengukur dari berbagai perspektif adalah Balanced Scorecard. Penetapan target suatu unit kerja atau unit bisnis ditentukan dari 4 (empat) perspektif, yaitu:

1. Perspektif Keuangan, menggambarkan bagaimana suatu perusahaan berkinerja di mata pemegang saham, yang ditunjukkan dengan parameter-parameter seperti profit margin, return on assets, cash flow, return on investment.

2. Perspektif Pelanggan, melihat sebuah perusahaan dari kacamata pelanggan, dengan beberpa indikator yaitu customer loyalty, market share, indeks kepuasan pelanggan.

3. Perspektif Internal Bisnis yang menjelaskan apa yang menjadi kompetensi inti perusahaan bagaimana perusahaan tersebut menjalankan proses bisnisnya, Perspektif ini dapat dilihat dari nilai retensi pegawai, cycle time reduction.

4. Perspektif Pembelajaran dan Pertumbuhan yang mengukur apakah suatu perusahaan dapat melakukan perbaikan secara terus-menerus untuk menciptakan nilai yang berkelanjutan. Contohnya adalah jumlah persentase penciptaan atau penjualan dari produk atau jasa yang diciptakan perusahaan (Anthony, 2007).

Keempat perspektif Balanced Scorecard dapat digambarkan dengan suatu kerangka kerja sebagai berikut:

[pic]

Gambar 1. Kerangka Kerja Balanced Scorecard

Pada kerangka kerja tersebut, terlihat bahwa keempat perspektif Balanced Scorecard saling berhubungan dan mempengaruhi satu dengan yang lainnya. Di setiap perspektif pun harus ditetapkan secara terperinci apa saja yang menjadi tujuan, metode pengukuran, target dan inisiatif pelaksanaannya. Keseluruhan perspektif tersebut berada di sekeliling visi dan strategi perusahaan, di mana visi dan strategi menjadi inti dari pelaksanaan pengukuran Balanced Scorecard. Dapat dipandang juga bahwa visi dan strategi perusahaan diturunkan atau diterjemahkan menjadi tujuan, metode pengukuran, target dan inisiatif pelaksanaan yang telah didefinisikan di dalam setiap perspektif Balanced Scorecard.

Secara umum, implementasi Balanced Scorecard haruslah sesuai dan mendukung visi dan strategi umum perusahaan. Sebaliknya di sisi lain, visi dan strategi inisiatif perusahaan menjadi dasar dan jiwa penerapan Balanced Scorecard.

Perusahaan yang mengimplementasikan Balanced Scorecard dapat memperoleh berbagai keuntungan, yaitu:

• Jajaran manajemen dan pegawai lainnya dapat mendapat pemahaman terhadap hubungan yang lebih baik antara keputusan dan tindakan organisasi serta tujuan strategis yang dipilih

• Mendefinisikan kembali hubungan dengan pelanggan.

• Menkonstruksikan ulang proses bisnis dasar.

• Kemunculan budaya perusahaan yang baru mendorong usaha tim di antara fungsi organisasi untuk mengimplementasikan strategi perusahaan (Hendricks, K. 2004).

Balanced Scorecard sebaiknya diciptakan melalui kebutuhan perusahaan dan shared understanding di antara seluruh pegawai sebagai pengejawantahan strategi organisasi ke dalam tujuan, pengukuran, target dan inisiatif yang tertuang di dalam setiap perspektif. Dengan adanya rasa kebutuhan dan pemahaman yang sama, maka diharapkan implementasi Balanced Scorecard dapat diterima dengan baik di antara para pegawai. Hal ini perlu dilakukan sehinnga tidak akan terjadi resistensi pada saat pengukuran penilaian unit kerjanya.

Oleh karena itu perlu dibentuk tim berisi change agent yang akan melaksanakan sosialisasi atau cascading penerapan Balanced Scorecard kepada pegawai lainnya. Dengan dilakukan internalisasi, maka setiap pegawai akan memahami pentingnya Balanced Scorecard dan mengetahui apa saja yang menjadi pendorong kinerja di unit kerjanya masing-masing. Imbasnya adalah mereka akan bekerja fokus dan sistematis sesuai dengan apa yang telah ditentukan di masing-masing perspektif sehingga hasilnya akan signifikan bagi penilaian unit kerja mereka.

Secara konsepnya, Balanced Scorecard dapat dikatakan seimbang dari berbagai aspek sebagai berikut:

1. Menyeimbangkan pengukuran kinerja indikator-indikator perspektif keuangan dan non keuangan

2. Menyeimbangkan komponen internal perusahaan (pegawai, proses bisnis) dan eksternal perusahaan (pelanggan, pemegang saham) yang saling berkaitan secara berkesinambungan.

3. Menyeimbangkan antara lead dan lag indicator. Lead indicator adalah indikator pendorong kinerja yang biasanya berupa parameter pengukur suatu proses atau aktivitas yang berpengaruh signifikan pada kinerja, sedangkan lag indicator adalah indikator yang lebih menggambarkan kinerja masa lampau. Lead dan lag indicator saling berguna dan melengkapi. Lag indicator tanpa adanya lead indicator hanya akan menjadi data masa lampau tanpa menggambarkan bagaimana target di masa mendatang harus dicapai. Lead indicator tanpa lag indicator hanya menunjukkan perkembangan jangka pendek saja tanpa menjelaskan pengaruhnya terhadap indikator lain, misalnya yang berkaitan dengan pelanggan atau pemegang saham (Niven, 2002).

Metode Penelitian

Data yang digunakan adalah data penilaian unit kerja Bank Mandiri Cabang Surabaya Menanggal posisi 31 Desember 2010 yang telah didasarkan pada implementasi Balanced Scorecard. Data tersebut diperoleh melalui jaringan email intranet yang dikirimkan oleh Unit Kerja Performance and Budgeting Bank Mandiri Kantor Wilayah VIII Surabaya kepada Cabang Surabaya Menanggal di Bulan Januari 2011. Sebagai informasi tambahan, data penilaian unit kerja tersebut juga telah diterima untuk posisi tanggal-tanggal sebelumnya namun tidak rutin diterima oleh Cabang Surabaya Menanggal setiap harinya. Hal ini yang menjadi kendala bagi Kepala Unit Kerja dalam memonitor harian nilai KPI cabangnya secara periodik. Adapun data-data parameter setiap perspektif yang digunakan oleh Bank Mandiri tahun 2010 dalam menilai kinerja mencakup:

← Perspektif Keuangan: Contribution Margin (CM), Fee Based Income (FBI), Cost Efficiency Ratio (CER).

← Perspektif Pelanggan: Rata-Rata Dana Direktorat Micro & Retail Banking, Rata-Rata Low Cost Deposit, Komposisi Low Cost Fund, Indeks Kualitas Layanan

← Perspektif Internal Bisnis: Kelengkapan Data atau CIF (Customer Information File) Clean, Audit Rating

← Perspektif Pembelajaran & Pertumbuhan: Contribution Margin setiap pegawai di cabang.

Dalam melakukan analisa, akan ditelaah setiap indikator dari masing-masing perspektif dalam penilaian tersebut. Pekerjaan-pekerjaan yang sudah dilaksanakan oleh manajer cabang yang belum tercakup di dalam indikator penilaian selama ini akan dimasukkan. Pekerjaan tersebut juga akan diberi bobot sesuai signifikansinya terhadap imbas profit Cabang Menanggal. Penyesuaian bobot terhadap komponen lainnya pun nantinya akan dilakukan sesuai dengan kebutuhan.

Dengan data yang tersedia, penelitian dilaksanakan dengan melakukan observasi berupa studi pustaka terhadap literatur dan jurnal yang berkaitan dengan topik Balanced Scorecard. Selain itu penelitian juga dilakukan dengan metode wawancara kepada pegawai dari Unit Kerja Performance and Budgeting Bank Mandiri Kantor Wilayah VIII Surabaya yang bertugas untuk menyusun penilaian berbasiskan Balanced Scorecard. Wawancara dilakukan untuk menggali informasi mengenai kebutuhan dan implementasi penilaian berdasarkan kacamata dari Kantor Wilayah Surabaya.

Sistematika Pembahasan

Pembahasan hasil penelitian ini akan disusun dalam sistematika sebagai berikut, yaitu:

Bab I Pendahuluan. Bab ini berisi latar belakang permasalahan, termasuk pertanyaan penelitian yang mengusik dan menjadi dasar penelitian, perumusan masalah, tujuan penelitian, manfaat penelitian dan sistematika pembahasan laporan.

Bab II Tinjauan Pustaka. Pada bab ini memaparkan kajian literatur yang relevan secara logis, runtut serta kerangka berpikir pemecahan masalah yang telah dijelaskan pada bab sebelumnya.

Bab III Metode Penelitian. Bagian ini menjelaskan mengenai jenis dan sumber data yang diperlukan dalam penelitian dan evaluasi, metode pengukuran yang digunakan, serta teknis analisi dan evaluasi data.

Bab IV Analisis dan Evaluasi Data. Pada bab ini dibahas perihal gambaran umum profil organisasi PT Bank Mandiri (Persero) Tbk. dan Cabang Surabaya Menanggal sebagai obyek penelitian, kemudian dilanjutkan hasil analisis dan evaluasi data serta penerapan Balances Scorecard yang selama ini telah dilakukan sesuai dengan rancangan penelitian yang telah dikemukakan di Bab III.

Bab V Pembahasan. Bagian ini membahas perbaikan implementasi Balanced Scorecard termasuk rekomendasi yang dapat diberikan kepada manajemen Bank Mandiri untuk kemajuan di masa mendatang.

Bab VI Penutup. Bab terakhir ini menjelaskan tentang Kesimpulan dan Saran yang terkait dengan hasil penelitian.

Daftar Pustaka

Anthony, R.N. and V. Govindarajan. 2007. Management Control System. 12th edition,

McGraw-Hill.

Hendricks, K., L. Menor, C. Wiedman. 2004. The Balanced Scorecard: To Adopt Or Not To

Adopt. Ivey Business Journal.

Kaplan, R.S. and D. P. Norton. 1996. Using The Balanced Scorecard As A Strategic

Management System. Harvard Business Review.

Kuncoro, M. 2006. Strategi Bagaimana Meraih Keunggulan Kompetitif?. Erlangga.

Niven, P.R. 2002. Balanced Scorecard Step-By-Step: Maximizing Performance and

Maintaining Results. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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...Research Article Research is important to every business because of the information it provides. There is a basic process to researching information and that process begins by deciding what information needs to be researched. The next step is to develop a hypothesis, which describes what the research paper is about and what the researcher’s opinion is regarding the topic. The research article chosen for this paper is titled, “The Anchor Contraction Effect in International Marketing Research.” The hypothesis for this paper is, “This raises the issue of whether providing responses on rating scales in a person’s native versus second language exerts a systematic influence on the responses obtained.” Simply explained, the hypothesis of this paper is to determine whether research questions should be in a person’s native language rather than expecting them to respond to questions in a language in which they might not be fluent. The hypothesis of this paper was accepted based on the research data gathered by the research team. This hypothesis was supported by nine studies using a variety of research methods. The research methods provided data that demonstrated the level of inaccuracy based on questions being asked in a language that was not the respondent’s native language. The research data provided insight into the probability of more accurate results when the respondent was asked questions in a manner that related well with their culture. There are several implications...

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...ACE8001: What do we mean by Research? & Can we hope to do genuine Social Science Research (David Harvey)  What do we mean by research? What might characterise good research practice? There is no point in us trying to re-invent the wheel - other and probably more capable people than us have wrestled with this problem before us, and it makes good sense and is good practice to learn what they have discovered.  In other words - we need to explore more reliable and effective methods and systems for the pursuit of research than we have been doing so far. What is research? Dictionary Definitions of Research: * "The act of searching closely or carefully for or after a specified thing or person" * "An investigation directed to discovery of some fact by careful study of a subject" * "A course of scientific enquiry" (where scientific = "producing demonstrative knowledge") Howard and Sharp (HS) define research as:  "seeking through methodical processes to add to bodies of knowledge by the discovery or elucidation of non-trivial facts, insights and improved understanding of situations, processes and mechanisms".  [Howard, K. and Sharp, J.A. The Management of a student research project, Gower, 1983 - a useful and practical “how to do it” guide] Two other, more recent guides are: Denscombe, Martyn, 2002, Ground rules for good research: a 10 point guide for social research,  Open University Press. Robinson Library Shelf Mark: 300.72 DEN, Level 3 (several copies)...

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...solve analytic models or whatever, but they often fail to demonstrate that they have thoroughly thought about their papers—in other words, when you push them about the implicit and explicit assumptions and implications of their research models, it appears that they haven’t really given these matters much thought at all.[1] Too often they fall back on saying that they are doing what they are doing because that is the way it is done in the prior literature, which is more of an excuse than a answer. (Of course, once a researcher reaches a certain age, they all feel that youngsters aren’t as good as they were in the good old days!) Therefore, in this class we shall go beyond simply studying research in managerial accounting. For many of you, this is your first introduction to accounting research and to PhD level class. Hence, in these classes we shall also learn how to solve business problems systematically and to understand what it means to have thoroughly “thought through” a paper. We begin not with academic research, but with some real world cases, because we should never forget that ours is an applied research field: accounting research is a means towards the end of understanding business and is not an end in itself, in the way pure science research is. Developing a systematic procedure for solving a real world business problem is the starting point for developing a...

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...manger know about research when the job entails managing people, products, events, environments, and the like? Answer: Research simply means a search for facts – answers to questions and solutions to problems. It is a purposive investigation. It is an organized inquiry. It seeks to find explanations to unexplained phenomenon to clarify the doubtful facts and to correct the misconceived facts. Research is the organized and systematic inquiry or investigation which provides information for solving a problem or finding answers to a complex issue. Research in business: Often, organization members want to know everything about their products, services, programs, etc. Your research plans depend on what information you need to collect in order to make major decisions about a product, service, program, etc. Research provides the needed information that guides managers to make informed decisions to successfully deal with problems. The more focused you are about your resources, products, events and environments what you want to gain by your research, the more effective and efficient you can be in your research, the shorter the time it will take you and ultimately the less it will cost you. Manager’s role in research programs of a company: Managing people is only a fraction of a manager's responsibility - they have to manage the operations of the department, and often have responsibilities towards the profitability of the organization. Knowledge of research can be very helpful...

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...Volume 3, number 2 What is critical appraisal? Sponsored by an educational grant from AVENTIS Pharma Alison Hill BSC FFPHM FRCP Director, and Claire Spittlehouse BSc Business Manager, Critical Appraisal Skills Programme, Institute of Health Sciences, Oxford q Critical appraisal is the process of systematically examining research evidence to assess its validity, results and relevance before using it to inform a decision. q Critical appraisal is an essential part of evidence-based clinical practice that includes the process of systematically finding, appraising and acting on evidence of effectiveness. q Critical appraisal allows us to make sense of research evidence and thus begins to close the gap between research and practice. q Randomised controlled trials can minimise bias and use the most appropriate design for studying the effectiveness of a specific intervention or treatment. q Systematic reviews are particularly useful because they usually contain an explicit statement of the objectives, materials and methods, and should be conducted according to explicit and reproducible methodology. q Randomised controlled trials and systematic reviews are not automatically of good quality and should be appraised critically. www.evidence-based-medicine.co.uk Prescribing information is on page 8 1 What is critical appraisal What is critical appraisal? Critical appraisal is one step in the process of evidence-based clinical practice. Evidencebased clinical practice...

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...ISS334: Information Systems Security (Project Description) * Each student work alone in this project (individual project). * Each student is required to complete a mid-size project, which includes proposal, implementation, and final demo or paper. * Students will be grouped into teams for the sake of presentations at the end of the semester. Marks allocated for each individual piece of the project are as follows: a) Proposal – 10% b) Project write-up – 22% c) Presentation – 8% Projects include but are not limited to: * Research Paper * You can work on original research problems. The outcome should be a paper with original technical contribution. Your grade on this will be judged on originality, soundness of the approach, and quality of presentation.  * Example Topics: * Vulnerability Analysis * Wireless Security * Intrusion Detection  * Authentication * Access Control * Authorization * DNS Security * Digital Watermarking * New Attacks * Survey Paper * You can write a paper that surveys a particular field on information security. The outcome should be a paper that summarizes the trend in the field you have chosen. Your grade will be judged on the completeness of the survey, the quality of the trend analysis, and the quality of presentation. * Example topics: * Vulnerability Analysis * Wireless...

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...Marketing Department, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow G4 0RQ, United Kingdom e-mail: 1sh@ukm.my 1,3 ABSTRACT This study examined the adequacy of using undergraduate student samples in research on online consumer attitudes by comparing the attitudes of students (n = 161) towards online retailing services with the attitudes of non-students (n = 252) towards such services. A structured questionnaire administered online was used to gather data on perceptions, satisfaction, and behavioral intentions with regard to online retailing services. The t-test results showed that, in general, students' attitude towards online retailing services is similar to that of non-students. Therefore, undergraduate students may be reasonable surrogates for consumers in research on online retailing. Keywords: internet users, electronic commerce, online consumer attitudes, online retailing services, student surrogates INTRODUCTION The usage of the internet as a communication and transaction medium in consumer markets is growing rapidly (Castells, 2000; Hart, Doherty, & EllisChadwick, 2000). In line with this expansion, consumer-based electronic commerce has become an emerging research area (e.g. Demangeot & Broderick, 2006, 2007; Teo, 2006; Tih & Ennis, 2006a, 2006b). In particular, a stream of research addressing issues related to online consumer attitudes (e.g. George, 2004; Wang, Chen, Chang, & Yang, 2007) and behaviors (see Cheung, Chan, & Limayem, 2005 for a review) has emerged. Although...

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...Importance Of Research Research is tool, which is utilized by my organizations and co-operations to have a fundamental knowledge of goods, products, and also to finding out consumer behavior. It is also a systematic investigation into the study of materials and sources inn order to establish facts and reach new conclusions. Research informed the marketers of Glidden paint because it helped them start from were the audience was which was Walmart in this case scenario. A marketer finds out what you want, and creates or finds product that fits you. Research aided the marketers of Glidden paint to come to a conclusion that not only should you hypothesize, you should also carry out experiments as well. In this case we see that the help of experiments helped them realize that Walmart’s brand name of saving money was not deterring the perceived quality of the paints. Meaning that Walmart’s cheap pricing of goods played no part in the durability of the paint. Research helped the marketers of Glidden paint realize that they could revamp the Walmart paint section, which has been ignored for years. They are confident that Glidden paint will do great numbers because they have raised awareness and created a media platform that consumers can interact with the most. Not only has research helped in satisfying consumer wants, it also gives the marketer an in-depth knowledge on the frequent changes of consumer taste. Research helped Glidden paint marketers realize...

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