Companies In Pakistan Research Articles

Selection of Logistics Service Provider for the E-Commerce Companies in Pakistan Based on Integrated GRA-TOPSIS Approach

Recently, the demand for third-party logistics providers has become extremely relevant and the key subject for businesses to enhance their service quality and minimize logistics costs. The key success factor for an e-commerce business is product delivery, and the third-party logistics service provider is responsible for that. Each 3PLP has its own business characteristics, meaning it is important to select the most suitable logistics provider for the e-commerce business. This study uses a combination of grey relational analysis (GRA) and the Technique for Order Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) method, assisting decision makers in choosing the best logistics service provider for their e-business. A case study of an e-commerce company based in Faisalabad, Pakistan, was selected to demonstrate the steps of the proposed methods. In this process, seven criteria of logistics suppliers were considered, and then the best alternatives among four logistics provider companies were selected using the proposed method.

EFQM enablers and business performance relationship: Examining mediating role of organizational learning culture in Pakistani textile sector

Purpose This paper aims to determine the influence of the European Foundation for Quality Management (EFQM) excellence enablers on the financial, market and non-financial performance of the textile companies in Pakistan. Moreover, the mediating role of organizational learning culture is also tested in EFQM enablers and performance relationships. Design/methodology/approach Using a multi-respondent strategy, the data was collected from 254 textile firms registered with All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) using a highly structured questionnaire. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling via AMOS v.22. Findings The results reveal that EFQM excellence enablers significantly influence financial, non-financial and market performance. Furthermore, organizational learning culture (OLC) significantly positively mediates the relationship between EFQM excellence enablers and business performance. Research limitations/implications This study enhances the literature of EFQM enablers and microfoundations of institutional theory in the textile industry of developing countries and proposes a way forward to the effective utilization of such enablers for higher performance. Originality/value This research is the first of its kind that empirically tests the microfoundations of institutional theory concerning EFQM, OLC and performance in the textile industry of Pakistan.

Does Corporate Governance Practices Effect on Cost of Debt: Cross-Country Comparison of Pakistan and India

This study empirically examines the association between corporate governance practices and the cost of debt in Pakistan and India. By law, both Pakistani and Indian firms are required to publish their annual reports with recommended Corporate Governance Codes. Corporate governance practices were pivotal in the U.S. stock market crash of 1929. In this study, we used data from 2014 to 2017 of published compliance from 100 nonfinancial companies in Pakistan and India. This study discloses the essentiality of better corporate governance to decrease the cost of debt and offers additional empirical evidence through a comparative analysis of the links between corporate governance and the cost of debt in Pakistan and India.
 Keywords: corporate governance, cost of debt, Pakistan, India

EFFECTS OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE ON HUMAN RESOURCES MANAGEMENT A STUDY OF IT SECTOR IN PAKISTAN

Purpose: The study examined effects of artificial intelligence on human resources management
 a study of it sector in Pakistan
 Methodology: The tool used for the purpose of gathering the data for this thesis was a questionnaire The content of the questionnaire had to be necessarily validated by a PhD professor .In order to fulfill the need of the research of finding out the relationship, which might exist between the given dependent and independent variables, correlation analysis was conducted using SPSS.. The research was also based upon facts and arguments based on the non-numerical data which is gathered through different articles. The respondents chosen for filling the research questionnaire were selected from the top ranking IT companies of Pakistan because of the fact that these companies, some of them being multi-national, would have the understanding of the modern challenges related to technology and the complexities of the recruitment.
 Result: Technology is the main focus of the whole world today. Companies who wish to survive in the modern industry must make their recruitment processes digitized by incorporating the modern technology so that not only the processes can be made faster but also their performance can be made better.
 Unique contribution to theory and practice: Artificial intelligence is the result of the modern world of complexities and new technological advancements which have allowed new entrant to enter new markets anytime. The biggest challenge of artificial intelligence is that it has made everything quick. Recruiters want to be catered quickly for this purpose, companies ought to have highly responsive HR system so that the hiring is on time

NEXUS BETWEEN PERFORMANCE MEASUREMENT SYSTEMS AND PSYCHOLOGICAL EMPOWERMENT IN THE PHARMACEUTICAL INDUSTRY

Purpose of the study: The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of interactive performance measurement systems on the employees’ psychological empowerment in the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan.
 Methodology: This research used a survey and the respondents were medical representative/detailer employees in the pharmaceutical firms in Pakistan. Data was collected from 390 responding out of 650 distributed questionnaires and analyzed by using Smart PLS.
 Main Findings: The outcomes of this study showed that the interactive performance measurement system has a positive and significant impact on the employees’ psychology in the pharmaceutical industry in Pakistan.
 Applications of the study: This research showed that the interactive performance measurement system is a tool that can open the communication network between the managers and the employees which must be supported by maximum employees’ psychological empowerment so that can reach the company’s vision and mission, especially for the medical representative/detailer in the pharmaceutical company in Pakistan.
 Novelty/Originality of the study: This research showed how important psychological empowerment is for lower-middle level employees especially for the medical representative/detailer in order to improve the company’s performance by using the interactive performance measurement system in a pharmaceutical company in Pakistan.

The Effects of Agile Methodologies on Software Project Management in Pakistani Software Companies

Agile methodologies are always tends to increase the quality of software and also handling the complex software projects. However, the software companies in Pakistan have recently felt the disparity of producing successful software. In this context, an extensive survey has been conducted in 52 prominent software development companies of Pakistan to identify this remedy and the motivation behind this production discrepancy. It is revealed from the survey that there is a lack of empirical evidence in the relationship of agile methodologies with the effective and progressive management of software project management factors including, schedule, scope, risk, budget, quality and resources. Therefore, the proposed study delivers an extensive statistical comparison to determine the effectiveness of agile methodologies in terms of their effects on the project management factors. The results suggest that in general all agile methodologies play a significant role towards the successful software development in the software company. However, Extreme Programming, Scrum, Kanban and Agile modeling are the main determinants of production disparity among software companies. Furthermore, it is determined that the quality factor has a positive correlation with the rest of the factors. It is also found that the budget factor has significantly correlated with other five factors, while rest of the factors has insignificant correlation. We have also compared agile methodologies in terms of project management factors, which specify that each agile methodology has its own importance and effect with respect to managing different factors of project management.

Reciprocity or negotiation in the psychological contract: a power perspective

PurposeThe psychological contract literature is generally based on the assumption of reciprocity between employee and employer. The emphasis on reciprocity, however, largely downplays the implications of power dynamics in the employment relationship. In order to bridge this gap, the current research investigates psychological contract from the lens of power particularly focusing on reciprocity.Design/methodology/approachIn total, 43 semi-structured interviews are carried out with 37 employees and six managers of three call center companies in Pakistan. The technique of template analysis is used for data analysis.FindingsIn contrast to the assumption of reciprocity, the research findings highlight employees' perceived inability to reciprocate the employer's inducements on parity basis, because of their view of power asymmetry in the employment relationship. The results further suggest the high tendency among employees to attribute employer reciprocity largely to their managers. The findings also point toward divergence in the reciprocity perceptions of employees and managers in relation with the employers.Research limitations/implicationsThe emphasis on call centers bounds the generality of results. Future research is needed to further explore the impact of power asymmetry on reciprocity in organizations of other industries. With significant implications for the employment relations, negotiated contracts consider the exchange between employee and employer as an obligation rather than a voluntary act of kindness, as emphasized in reciprocity.Originality/valueThis research contributes to knowledge by emphasizing the significance of negotiation rather than reciprocation in the psychological contract. The negotiation approach efficiently recognizes the implications of power asymmetry that remain generally under-researched in the psychological contract literature.

How Transformational Leadership Influences the Knowledge-Sharing Process

This study aims to investigate the mediating effects of both affect-based and cognition-based trust on the relationship between using a transformational leadership style and the effectiveness of followers' knowledge sharing processes (i.e., knowledge donating and knowledge collecting). Using data collected from 287 employees at 32 pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan, the structural equation modelling (SEM) technique was utilised to analyse the hypothesised relationships. The results showed that leaders with a transformational leadership style directly affect their followers' knowledge donating and knowledge collecting processes. In addition, affect-based trust was found to fully mediate the relationships between transformational leadership and followers' knowledge donating and knowledge collecting processes, while cognition-based trust produced insignificant mediation effects. From a social exchange perspective, these findings demonstrate the importance of focusing on building affect-based trust between leaders and followers in order to develop transformational leadership that could positively influence the knowledge sharing process.

Board Gender Diversity and Corporate Expropriations: Evidence from Pakistan Stock Exchange

This research study investigates the role of board gender diversity in mitigating the risk of corporate expropriation of listed companies in Pakistan. For this purpose, data from 2009 to 2019 has been collected for 223 firms randomly selected from 24 non-financial sectors. The current study used panel data analysis techniques i.e. random vs fixed-effect regression models were estimated for testing the relationship of board gender diversity and corporate expropriations. The results of the panel data analysis showed that Hausman test results support the random effect models for the analysis of the data. The results of the random effect models showed that board gender diversity has a negative significant effect on the dividend ratios and director loans, which are used as a proxy for corporate expropriations. Moreover, external audit quality, growth, and leverage are also found to hurt corporate expropriations. However, managerial ownership, net profit margin, and size variables are found to have a positive effect on corporate expropriations. The results of the study will be helpful for the corporate managers and policy makers regarding the corporate governance and provide a deep insight in to the role of the gender in managing and aligning the benefits of the outsider shareholders by reducing the corporate expropriations of controlling large shareholders. The study is novel in its nature as being the first study that has been conducted in the context of Pakistan and has studied the role of gender in managing corporate expropriations.

Impact of Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure on Financial Performance: Evidence from Pakistan

Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure (CSRD) Guidelines (2012) constituted by the Security and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) for all listed companies in Pakistan. The purpose of this study is to explore post guidelines effects over firms’ CSRD level as well as CSRD association with financial performance of Pakistan’s automobile sector from 2013-2019. CSRD has been measured by developing CSRD index of 45 items from six CSR dimensions (employee, customer, community, environment, energy and investor). Financial performance has been measured by return on assets (ROA), return on equity (ROE) and Tobin’s Q (TBQ). Study considered firm age, firm size and financial leverage as control variables. Descriptive statistics has applied for measuring CSRD level. The association between CSRD and financial performance has measured by multiple regression models. Findings of the study show an increasing trend in the CSRD level during the study time period except 2019. Study also provides an evidence of significant positive association of CSRD with financial performance with all financial performance measures.

Construction of Brand Identity through Language in the Video Advertisements of Pakistani Telecom Companies

This research explored the construction of brand identity in the video advertisements of Pakistani telecom companies. Brand identity is constructed mainly by showing competitor’s submissive and weaker image rather than by using creative and unique advertising techniques. Data for this research was collected from five advertisements of five telecom companies. Positioning theory was applied on these advertisements. The data showed that all cellular companies of Pakistan were using positioning techniques to make their advertisements and construct the language of their ads to communicate with the society at large. The cellular companies have engaged in such kind of social communication due to the competition in the market of cellular services. This type of positioning in the language of advertisements is helpful in the conflicting and competitive business environment and explicitly or implicitly promotes competition. The research found that the cellular companies are using second order acknowledgement status and putting competitors in the third order status in their advertisements. The study found that Ufone is the company using this language technique mostly in its advertisements.

The effect of corporate governance and financial leverage on efficiency of Pakistan textile sector

This research observes the effect of corporate governance and financial leverage on the efficiency of listed companies in Pakistan. The variables return on assets and return on equity are chosen as the firm’s efficiency of the textile sector for this research. Measures of corporate governance used are board size, director’s remuneration, and Audit committee members, whereas financial leverage is used as a control variable. The data of corporate governance, financial leverage, and efficiency variable are composed of annual reports of the top ten listed textile companies from Karachi stock exchange. The research consists of the period from 2012 to 2017. Panel data is used to examine four hypotheses and to test the significance of corporate governance and financial leverage on a firm's performance the OLS regression models are applied. The finding of this study revealed that board size, audit committee, director's remuneration is positively correlated with a firm's performance ROA and ROE, and conversely, financial leverage is negatively correlated with a firm's performance. Overall regression result of this study discovered that the audit committee members and financial leverage are statistically insignificant, whereas board size and director’s remuneration are statistically positive significant. This concludes that there is no significant association between corporate governance and firm’s performance as well as financial leverage with the firm's performance. The sample size of this study was small and this research is limited to the textile sector of Pakistan. Future researchers may have included more determinants of corporate governance such as women on board, board meeting, family ownership structure, etc.

Dynamic managerial capabilities and sustainable market competencies: role of organisational climate

Purpose Managerial capabilities are one of the primary resources in every organisation that have peculiar strategic objectives to fulfil. The purpose of this paper is an effort to dig out how managerial cognition, human capital and social capital as underpinnings of dynamic managerial capabilities (both separate and composite) affect sustainable strategic market creation (SMC) in nascent industries. Moreover, this study unfolds the role of dynamic managerial capabilities (sensing, seizing and reconfiguring) as a key mechanism through which these underpinnings lead to SMC. Design/methodology/approach For this purpose, a sample of 497 respondents was collected from top and middle-level managers of insurance companies in Pakistan. Structural equation modelling was used to test a set of direct, indirect and moderation hypotheses. Findings Findings revealed that DMC underpinnings have a direct positive impact on marketing and research and development competence dimensions of SMC. Results also confirmed significant mediation paths and substantial moderation of aforementioned organisational climate factors between dynamic managerial capabilities (DMC) and its underpinnings. Originality/value It offers a first examination of the possible moderation impact of innovation, flexibility and outward focus between DMC and its underpinnings as essential organisational climate factors.

A Journey to Cherish; How Transformational Leadership Affects Project Success through Team Performance

Purpose: The study aims to explain the role of transformational leadership style in mediating team performance and its affect on project success.Approach/Methodology/Design: The method of determining the sample used is random sampling. The study population is construction companies in Pakistan. The sample used was a size of230subordinates as respondents. Data collection is done through survey by distributing questionnaires offline that have been tested for validity and reliability. The data analysis technique used is the SEM-PLS Analysis.Findings: The results showed that transformational leadership variable positively and significantly affects project success.Transformational leadership has a positive relationship with team performance and team performance also has a positive relation with project success. This study also proves the direct and indirect affect of transformational leadership on project success.Practical Implication: Therefore, transformational leadership provides a clear understanding to improve rate of project success and team performance.Originality/Value:Increasing team performance strategy can significantly mediate the affect of transformational leadership on project success in construction sector of Pakistan.

Analyzing the Determinants of Employee Retention: A Case of Pharmaceutical Companies in Pakistan

Employee retention could be a crucial issue within the pharmaceutical industry of Pakistan. As of now workplace and workers both are influenced at the same time with this genuine issue. Therefore there is a need of research to retain the assets of the company. The main cause of the following research is to demonstrate the factors which influence the employee retention. The variables we are using are job satisfaction, salary & rewards, career development & superior support. Sample size of the study was 250 out of 250 questionnaires was filled by 214 employees in which 89.0% were male and 11.0% were females of different pharmaceutical firms of Pakistan. In this we use quantitative research the study is based on mono method research. The collected primary data has been analysed through SPSS & Smart PLS and correlational analysis. If the result of the study is been concluded so it has been shown that all the variables have significant relationship and alternative hypothesis are accepted. 
 As a result the uniqueness of the research study is also significant which shows that working on their talented people (employees) and to keep them satisfying is important for the productivity of organization. The study has different indication as it has given new ways to the pharmaceutical sector to retain their employees and reduce the cost of hiring by retention.

Corporate governance and capital structure as driving force for financial performance: Evidence from non-financial listed companies in Pakistan.

Corporate governance and capital structure as driving force for financial performance: Evidence from non-financial listed companies in Pakistan.

The nexus between global disruption due to the covid-19 and performance of the construction project

In the current COVID-19 pandemic, this paper attempts to empirically find out the increasing workplace bullying effect on project performance with employee deviant behaviour as a mediator, internal, and external locus of control as moderators. The random sampling technique was used to gather data from 777 employees, working in construction companies in Pakistan. The examination was established using WarpPLS software version 7.0. The results revealed that workplace bullying is positively associated with employee deviant behaviour which in return negatively affects the project performance. It can be inferred from the results that the “moderating role” of internal “locus of control” is insignificant; whereas the external “locus of control” significantly moderates the relationship between workplace bullying & employee deviant behaviour. The proposed research and hypotheses support social exchange theory and social behaviour exchanges. This study has clarified some unique points that are equally important for the managers, employees, and project-based construction organization as a whole. It is also recommended that once the pandemic COVID-19 passes, it would be the dire need of that time to re-evaluate that, what has been changed in terms of professional thinking, working & behaving as for as their project work and communication between the team members is concerned.

Design, Implementation, and Deployment of an IoT Based Smart Energy Management System

Growth of population and the inception of new devices every day comes with an incessant rise in energy consumption and has brought great challenges in terms of energy management at the consumer side. With the evolution of technology, smart meters (SMs) are not only considered merely as tools to measure energy consumption but act as a main resource of energy management systems. The application of SM spans over a wide range of advantages, including accurate billing data, information of utilization at the user end, the establishment of two-way communication and remote control of the user equipment. SM is the most essential element of a smart power grid that with the help of any smart energy management system (SEMS), assesses, measures, controls, implements and communicates power allocation, utilization, and consumption at both, single device, and network level. Data provided by the SMs is used by power supply companies to revolutionize power distribution and consumption through various techniques such as, non-intrusive load monitoring and demand-side management (DSM). For efficient data gathering and utilization, internet of things (IoT) is emerging as a key partner in the power industry leading to effective resource management. This paper provides presentation, deployment, and validation of an IoT based SEMS strategy and its related benefits to overcome challenges of energy management at consumer side. The presented SEMS incorporates various communication interfaces and protocols to integrate with any software-based smart solution. In this work, Entrack software is used for data gathering and analysis. As a proof of concept, the presented system is tested and implemented in 4 different buildings of a well-known private company in Pakistan, i.e., Stylo Pvt. Ltd. The case study analysis in this work shows the effectiveness of the presented IoT based SEMS.

Supervisor's capability and aptitude to supervise Health and Safety (H&S) induction training to site workforces: A case study of the construction industry of Pakistan

Health and Safety (H&S) is a professional approach to substitute harmless and vigorous work conditions for any industry. The construction industry is of utmost importance because it is associated with elevated accident rates compared to the other sectors. To some extent, cultural progression is also reliant on communication among all the groups inside a corporation. Effective communication happens in a construction corporation, among upper management and the employees arbitrated by the supervisors. Therefore, if the construction supervisor's capabilities are ignored, the plans to progress the satisfactory H&S culture may be unsuccessful. The aptitude for conducting H&S induction training to employees is one of the construction supervisor's abilities, and in developing countries, the supervisor's capabilities are ignored. Moreover, the organization's eagerness on H&S, which corresponds to the induction training, is relatively less. The current research reports an examination to analyze how the supervisors possess H&S capabilities and skills to oversee site H&S induction training to workforces successfully. For the analysis, Pakistan's construction industry was targeted, and numerous construction firms were contacted in this regard. The data for the intended objective was accumulated through talks and surveys with site supervisors in construction companies of various extents from all over Pakistan. The outcomes exposed insufficient training, an absence of management dedication, and an inadequate familiarity or usage of visual/audio communication assistance by construction companies in Pakistan. Thus, it is suggested that there is a need for the supervisors to understand the use of multilingual skills and current technologies to assist valuable site H&S induction training that can progress a path towards an optimistic H&S culture.

Impact of Individual Life Assurance System (ILAS) on the Net Benefits of EFU Life in Pakistan

This case study explored the impact of the Individual Life Assurance System (ILAS) on the net benefits of EFU Life, a leading insurance company in Pakistan. EFU Life implemented ILAS in order to overcome the challenge of technical limitations and unavailability of modules. The study conducted a survey of people across all departments in EFU Life to assess the performance of ILAS on the company net benefits. The research framework was formulated based on the Delone Model in the context of Pakistan [13]. This study added the Service Quality to the existing System Quality and Information Quality that are used to gauge the Organizational Impact in the original Delone Model [13]. Moreover, our model also incorporates Top Management Support as an antecedent of Quality, User Satisfaction, and Net Benefit. The ultimate aim is to find a way to enhance Net Benefits. The research argues that improved Quality as a result of Top Management Support reduces /eliminates wastage of resources and helps the organization in achieving profits, hence, the increase in the Net Benefits. It is found that Top Management support enhances user benefit and therefore recommends top managers to be fully involved and support a suitable environment and culture for the positive change in the organization’s image that is extremely important for user satisfaction. It is suggested that there is a need for top managers to arrange resources required by the users and encourage a user-focused organizational environment to promote user satisfaction. Involvement and support of top managers can also make the overall organization succeed, and its evidence can be seen in current research in the form of top management support’s positive effect on the net benefit of organizations.