A Study On The Role Of Working Capital Management On Public Listed Companies In Malaysia

A steady increase in the office property vacancy rate has been detected in the previous years, resulting in a lot of underutilised and abandoned offices. This study analyses the relationship between the macroeconomic variables and the office property vacancy rate from the year 1992 to 2018. The macroeconomics variables are represented by the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), interest rate, inflation rate and unemployment rate. The data for the macroeconomics variables were collected from Bank Negara Malaysia, World Bank, Jabatan Penilaian dan Perkhidmatan Harta and the Department of Statistics Malaysia. EViews software was used to run the panel regression analysis on the relationships of the variables. The finding was that only one macroeconomic variable was significant in positively affecting the office property vacancy rate and it is the FDI. This result suggests that an injection of inward Foreign Direct Investment could increase the vacancy rate, although it technically brings more demand for office space. Based on this study, it is recommended that for future studies to include a breakdown of the sub-sectors within the office property, meaning to see which types of offices and business are more affected by the macroeconomics variables.