Vol.2 No.1 (October) 2010
The performance of the firms in corporate sector is heavily dependant upon the corporate governance practices (Nazir et al. 2009) as well as consideration of social responsibility into the general managerial practices of firms, the dimensions of sociocultural environment into business procedures, and compliance with other ethical and regulatory issues. The researchers have focused on the incorporation of corporate environmental governance issues into business practices in order to gain a competitive advantage for the firms (Wise and Ali, 2008; Mitra et al. 2008). However, a little has been found on the corporate environmental governance issues and practices of Pakistani firms since the concept of corporate governance and corporate social responsibility is newer for the emerging economies like Pakistan. This study tells about the three companies and their corporate responsibility towards the Pakistani society, namely, Engro Chemicals, Fauji Fertilizers, and Dawood Herculees Chemicals. These companies are in the business of fertilizers which is riskier to health and environment, however; they are considering Corporate Social Responsibility and environment safety for generating goodwill in the minds of customers and stakeholders.
View Pdf
The purpose of this paper is to examine an empirical relation between inward foreign direct investments and (GDP) of Pakistan. The magnitude and relationship of Inward FDI on GDP is determined by using a time series data of three decades from 1976 to 2005. We found that Inward FDI has significant and positive effect on economic performance (GDP) of Pakistan in different perspectives like technological improvements, better methods of production, employment opportunities and capital accumulations. All kind of investment made by certain parties to control the resources in other countries may be referred as the FDI. The foremost purpose of this study is to explore the most important macroeconomic variable foreign direct investment, its fluctuations during the three decades, and its impact on economic performance (GDP) of Pakistan. The current study intends to find out the position of FDI in Pakistan and to determine the role of inward FDI in the overall growth of Pakistan. This study is conducted on time series data of three decades (1976 to 2005) which is taken from a reliable resource WDI (World Development Indicators 2007). We applied the linear regression model to determine the whether there is a significant relation between inward foreign direct investment and Gross Domestic Production of Pakistan. The relation of dependent and independent variable is measured using the software E-Views.
View Pdf
Purpose- The purpose of this study is to measure the services quality of Mobile Network Operators using SERVQUAL tool. Methodology- The revised SERVQUAL tool by Parasuraman, Zeithaml and Berry (1991) was used in a closed ended questionnaire on a five point Likert scale. The questionnaire consisted of 20 items, 3 items each for all the five dimensions of the services quality, 5 items to obtain the relative weighted importance of all the five dimensions of the SERVQUAL. Data- SERVQUAL being a generic instrument the questionnaire used to collect the data was customized in order to get responses for the five dimensions of services of mobile network operators. A total of 240 questionnaires were personally administered among the cellular services subscribers, out of the 210 questionnaires returned 6 were rejected and 204 were selected for analysis. Results- The reliability analysis of the scale revealed a Cronbach’s Alpha value of 0.794 for all the independent variables. For the overall industry the respondents showed the highest level of satisfaction with the tangibility dimension of services offered by the Mobile Network Operators. While the responsiveness dimension which was perceived to be below satisfactory levels but among all the dimensions of the overall cellular industry it was rated as the area with the lowest levels of satisfaction.Overall the study reveals mixed results with respect to customer satisfaction in the cellular services industry which points towards sufficient opportunities as well as risks. Main Contribution- This study highlights the emerging issues of service quality in the cellular services industry as it studies quality from the subscriber’s perspective as compared to the technical measures currently being employed in the industry. This study contributes significant insight into the state of the telecom industry both for the management of the each Mobile Network Operators separately and in terms of the whole industry for the telecom sector regulator (Pakistan Telecom Authority).
View Pdf
Purpose- The researchers have attempted to examine the attitude of viewers of television towards television advertising by Mobile Network Operators in terms of its hedonic/pleasure value, societal, personal, ethical, economic consequences and regulatory aspects. Methodology- The attitudes towards economic, ethical, personal, societal consequences, and regulatory aspects were measured using Polly and Mittal (1993), attitudes towards Hedonic/pleasure value were measured using a 3 item scale for measuring the same by Ramaprasad and Thurwanger (1998) while general attitudes towards television advertising by mobile network operators were measured using a 3 item scale by Muehling (1987). A five point Likert scale has been used in order to measure the respondent’s attitudes. Data- A total of 200 hundred questionnaires were personally administered among the students of two universities in Islamabad and one in Rawalpindi, out of the 195 questionnaires returned 6 were rejected and 189 were selected for final analysis. Results- The chi square test results of general attitudes of the respondents towards television advertising by Mobile Network Operators were not encouraging as the general attitudes of the viewers are not positive. Among the most important contributions of the television advertising perceived by respondents were the hedonic/pleasure aspect of the television advertising and the resulting increase in competition providing quality services at reduced rates. However the respondents generally rated television advertising by Mobile Network Operators as unbelievable, deceptive and damaging the values of the youth of the society. Main Contribution- This study is the first of its kind in Pakistan which gives valuable insight into the attitudes of mobile phone users towards multiple dimensions of television advertising by Mobile Network Operators in Pakistan. This study will help the Mobile Network Operators to shape their advertising strategies in order to make them more effective
View Pdf
Women in dual role, negotiate house work, child care and emotion work to support their partners and to maintain and developed their relationships. Dual roles also engage in status enhancement work to support their partner in their employment and face special challenges as they try to bane work and family responsibilities. The emotional responses are more significantly correlated to psychological stresses (Srivastava,1999) Long work hours, inflexible work hours less than positive work environment are some of the factors that can contribute to work family conflict. Occupational stress may originate from physical properties of work environment (Holt,1982). Parental demands also create stress, especially in situations. Where the level of social support is low (Ganster et al,1986). The multiple roles have negative implication for women but not for men (Biernat& Wortman, 1991); Greenlars, (1992). According to literature reviews, authors identified that the effects of occupational stress acts as two-in-one technique for developing both work-family balance and stress management. Hence this study was focused to investigate the influencing effects of occupational stress on the professional’s work life balance. Occupational stress scale – Srivastava Singh (1984). Work – Life – Balance Scale - Gen Fishers (2001).were administered on a sample of 150 professionals in Chidambaram, Tamil Nadu. Professionals were selected on stratified random sample basis by considering their different categories of lecturer’s, bank officers, doctors, engineers. With the help of SPSS package, Pearson’s Correlation Coefficient test was carried out. That the results revealed that there is a significant relationship between influence of occupational stress and work life balance dimensions of women professionals.
View Pdf
Till 1979, the knitwear was otherwise known as Hosiery which is mean to be only under garments such as Vest and Brief mainly used by Men in India. Later, knitwear products were identified as a fashionable product by the fashion industries of western countries, resulting in plain “T. Shirts” are made as a pioneer product of fashion in Indian Knitwear industry. In the process of evolution, the knitwear products reached different dimensions according to human anatomy, makes the knitwear products with highly fashionable, embellished and comfort to wear. At this juncture the consumers of western countries, realized that the quality of knitwear products are forced to seek and implement new techniques and methods to maintain durability, colour fastness, harmless chemicals etc,. Consequently, stringent quality policy such as ISO 9000, ISO 9002, SA 8000, TOTAL QUALITY MANAGEMNT (TQM) etc., were implemented in the knitwear industry all over the world. But implementing such systems in the Indian knitwear industries are cumbersome because the textile industry in India considered as by product of agricultural industries where great lack of quality awareness was found greatly, besides many other factors such as lack of unskilled executives and workers, lack of coordination between government and knitwear industries and educational institutions stood as a bottleneck for quality awareness, which is an urgent and imperative need of the knitwear industries to flourish in India.
View Pdf
Anyone who ever remained a student of business must know that the first thing they were taught about business was that the reason of companies’ existence is to earn and to maximize their profit. Though profit making is itself not a bad idea, the companies should prove themselves not to be so materialistic and fulfill certain social obligations. This aspect, called corporate social responsibility, is emerged as a momentous idea in the business community and also has gained attention of academicians and researchers. The following paper intends to find out the ways adopted by Coca Cola Company, a leading beverages corporation, to fulfill its social responsibility. This research explores the contributions of the company towards societal concerns and elaborates the bright side of the media campaign expedition-206 as an effort to connect the cultures of the globe.
View Pdf