Reflections on the China-Malaysia Economic Partnership

The study aims to investigate whether Musharakah management has an impact on Chinese and Malaysian business partnerships. To estimate the relationship between Musharakah and the Sino-Malaysian partnership, this study uses a panel econometric technique namely pooled ordinary least squares. Ordinary Least Squares regression (OLS) is a common technique for estimating coefficients of linear regression equations which describe the relationship between one or more independent quantitative variables and a dependent variable. Data was retrieved from the annual reports (from 2009 to 2019) of non-financial firms listed on the stock exchange of China and Malaysia. Four partnership measures (i.e., Musharakah, Mudarabah, Tawuruq, and Kafalah) were used to estimate the impact of Musharakah on the Sino- Malaysian partnership. Empirical results reveal that Musharakah and Mudarabah are positively related to Kafalah but the relationship is statistically insignificant. Alternatively, Musharakah is positively and significantly related to Mudarabah. Musharakah and Mudarabah have a positive but insignificant relationship. The findings of this study suggest that management of partnership has a positive impact on firm partnership. Furthermore, it supports the hypothesis that improving partnership enhances Musharakah, which has a positive impact on the firm’s partnership.