School of Business and Economics (SBE)

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Influence of ownership pattern on outsourcing practices
(2009) Khurram Aziz Fani
Civilization and organization theory: a new eistemological discourse
(2010) Naveed Yazdani
Culture, nation state and society are generally employed in contextualizing organization theory. The construct civilization which transcends national, cultural and societal boundaries is not used in indigenization of organization theory. This thesis employs civilization as a theoretical construct to study and analyze organization theory of Western civilization. The analysis is undertaken by using discourse approach. Two parallel discourses, historical and organizational, are constructed for the Western civilization. The historical discourse presents the major thoughts and ideas of the civilization. The organizational discourse shows the impact of historical discourse on organization theory of the civilization. The historico-organizational discourse of civilization is used to construct the reflexive relation between civilization and organization theory. Three elements research model is used for conducting this study. The epistemology of constructionism and theoretical perspective of interpretivism is used to formulate discourses of the Western civilization. The discourse analyses are followed by a discussion on the reflexive relation between civilization and organization theory,grounding of civilization in the contemporary organizational theories, rational of positioning civilization as an organizational epistemology, concluding remarks, major future research implications and basic limitations of the study. A four-tiered conceptual framework is represented to posit civilization as an episteme for organization theory.
No business setup by women entrepreneurs in the remote areas
(2010) Anzil Masood Khan; Aaminah Shahid Siddiqui
In Pakistan, the women have always been a remained a deprived group of individuals. They have never been given importance in the national economy. In many rural areas of Pakistan, women are doing the private businesses at their homes. It is traditional perception that if women will run business, that business will not grow. This traditional thinking has to be changed. The women entrepreneurs are carrying on their businesses from many years but their businesses are not showing any pace. The Women Entrepreneurs are of much importance for the national economy, and ignoring their struggle will be an unjustified affair. They make a meaningful percentage of our total population and without upgrading their entrepreneurship will not lead to economic growth. The purpose of our research study is to explore on the area that why the women entrepreneurs are unable to setup their own businesses in the remote areas, and to back up the current status of women entrepreneurs by inquiring about the problems which are currently being faced by the women entrepreneurs in the remote areas of Pakistan. The identification of the problem will be helping hand for us to develop strategies for the growth of private businesses of the Women Entrepreneurs. The growth of the women entrepreneurs will upgrade the social status of the women in the society and the overall morale of the women will also promote, eventually it will help in boosting of our national economy.
The impact of human capital on organizational innovative capability in a private commercial bank of Pakistan
(University of Management and Technology, 2010) Malik Umer Ayub
Organizational collective knowledge plays an important role in innovation and also provides a competitive advantage. Human Capital (HC) is the sum total of intelligence found in individual human beings and consists of individual's learning and education, experience and expertise, and personal creativity and innovation. Many researchers believe that only knowledgeable and innovative organizations are going to survive in future in the knowledge based economy. The present study is focused on a Pakistani private commercial bank and is aimed to study the impact of its HC on its Innovative Capability (IC). In this survey based research, four hypotheses were empirically tested. The survey instrument comprised of a 25-item Human Capital Construct, and 27-item Innovative Capability Construct. Using a systematic random sampling design of probability sampling technique, 170 participants from a Pakistani private commercial bank completed this survey. Multivariate data analysis techniques like exploratory factor analysis, multiple regression, and simple regression were used to analyze the data. All four hypotheses for the present study were supported. Findings from the present study reveals that (a) Human Capital (HC) is influenced by bank officers skills/competence, bank officers transformational leadership role, bank officers knowledge, bank officers ability, and bank officers personal mastery; (b) Innovative Capability (IC) of the bank was found influenced by support for innovation available to bank officers, bank officers innovative behavior, and tolerance for difference available to bank officers; (c) bank officers leadership role, bank officers personal mastery, and bank officers ability were significant and positively related to bank's Innovative Capability, whereas, bank officers knowledge was significant and negatively related to bank's Innovative Capability for the present research; and finally (d) bank's collective Human Capital was found to have positive relationship with bank's Innovative Capability. The research limitations of the present study regarding generalization, along with recommendations for future academic research are included as well.
Toward an indigenous perspective on HRM
(University of Management and Technology Lahore, 2011) Ali, Qamar
The purpose of this study was to identify external and internal forces shaping HRM practices in textile industry of Pakistan. The study aimed to describe the context specific HRM practices in textile industry. Interviews were used as a source of primary data collection. Taking Faisalabad city as a case, top HRM officials from ten respondent organizations in textile industry were interviewed. An interpretive approach to research design was adopted using ‘human as an instrument’ for data analysis. Findings of this study illustrate that due to extensive competition in last few years HR planning has received serious attention in textile industry. Recruitment is challenging in case of hiring of skilled workers, because skilled labor is not abundantly available in labor market. Selection is centralized as far as mainstream hiring is concerned. Mostly candidates are selected on reference basis, because of the political backgrounds of most of the textile owners. Industry is male dominated which is mainly because women are reluctant to work in a highly male dominated work settings where language and behavior of seniors do not suit to females. Training is found dormant in current circumstances, due to financial setback in industry. Energy crisis has struck badly to the industry and organizations are not in a position to invest in activities like training and development. Moreover, raises in salary are not given on regular basis and performance appraisals are mostly kept confidential which create a feeling of stress and disharmony among workers. Textile industry is largely affected by its customers who are its leading stakeholder. Compliance to minimum wage rate, child labor regulations, overtime of workers, and quality standards etc. are some of the areas where customers demand their expectations to be met by organizations. Moreover, customers are expecting the organizations to establish backup units overseas to reduce the risk of delayed and/or poor quality supplies. Countries like China, India, and Bangladesh are posing huge threats to the industry. The industry is at best dominated by family owned businesses and now the young generation, after education from abroad, is taking charge of their parents. Assumptions about workers are getting transformed. Fresh leaders are thinking different from their predecessors. However, there is a state of inertia in textile industry where young leaders have an uphill task ahead to remove the obstacles in the course of change. This study suggests that organizations should acquire as well as develop international level workforce as they are moving overseas. Employees should be considered as a critical asset in this competitive global environment. Young leaders, with positive assumptions about workers, should transform their organizations from typical seith-type cultures towards decentralization, autonomy, mutual trust, and respect.
Sources & level of work stress: Study of businesses in Lahore
(University of Management and Technology, 2011) Khuram Shahzad
This thesis aims to provide an insight of the sources and level of work stress present in the business organizations operating in Lahore, a metropolitan city of Pakistan. Differences among demographic groups in work stress experiences are also investigated. Individuals from management positions participated in this study. Data is collected from private sector organizations by using survey method. Six factors namely role ambiguity, role conflict, quantitative role overload, qualitative role overload, career development, and responsibility for othersas identified by literature as potential sources of work stress are taken for this study. Gender, age, experience, and education are taken as demographic variables to identify the differences among individuals in level and sources of works stress. All the variables in instrument score high on reliability tests. Results reveal that 87% of the employees have experienced moderate to high level of work stress because of the mentioned stressors. In general, all the factors used in this study cause employees above average level of work stress. However, events related to responsibility for others and career development, are found as the most stressful factors. Whereas role ambiguity is found to cause the least amount of work stress. Significant differences in level of work stress against different sources of work stress are also found across gender, length of experience, and age.
In-depth analysis of recruitment and selection process at premier agencies
(2011) Saba Tariq
Premier Agencies is one of the largest distribution firms in Pakistan. Premier Agencies of Companies are set in a manner of Branded Food products and pharmaceutical products, toiletries etc. They deal with different items and exporters of food items. Premier understands this need and continuously strives towards being a customer-creating and customer-satisfying organization. The purpose of this project was to revise the process of Recruitment and Selection of Premier Agencies. In Premier Agencies, Recruitment and Selection plays a vital role in this situation. Shortage of skills and use of new technology are being considerable pressure on how employers go about Recruiting and Selecting staff. It is recommended to carry out a strategic analysis of Recruitment and Selection procedure .This report enlightens the type of recruitment opportunities offered by Premier Agencies. Positive thing about Premier Agencies is they have experienced and qualified recruiters who are organizing the process in a smooth way. Premier Agencies is using quite worthy Recruitment Sources to attract the worthy applicant as well as these sources are cost effective too. Recruitment and Selection Process starts from the vacancy identification and ends on the final meeting. Premier Agencies conducts the semi-structured interviews, one-to-one. Over all this process is seems effective but there are some issues gaps, which can affect future. So to avoid the inconvenience they need to bring changes in some of their previously used practices like EXIT interviews, pre-employment testing and etc. In a nut-shell it can be stated that Human Resource Department in Premier Agencies, is the primary cohesive force which binds all departments together. It provides an efficient communication channel between all levels of the organization's hierarchy, thereby creating an environment which helps to foster employee growth and development and eventually promote organizational success.
Feasibility study of public warehouse
(University of Management and Technology, 2011) Waqas Ashraf
For many companies, improved warehouse and distribution center productivity remains a goal to gratify the maximum profit and advantages not only in one dimension of the firm but for the overall improvement. At the present companies are focusing and moving towards the public warehouse facility rather than to invest and built their own warehouse. As per the market trend and requirement, the report focused to establish the public warehouse. To initiate Public Warehouse, which will provides Storage, Handling, Scanning, Housing, Stacking, other valuable services to different companies. Like a range of labor solutions including picking, packing, inventory control software and dedicated workforce. The warehouse will operate as contractual party to provide services to contractual companies. Study also draw attention how important it is and beneficial for companies to hire Public Warehouses to handle their operation this will result in reduction of cost, financial risks, Lead time and increase in efficiency and effectiveness of product. Many of today's manufacturers are turning to public warehousing for the bottom line advantages. It provides to their businesses, including flexibility, transportation consolidation, variable cost of operations, preservation of capital, channel customization, market knowledge, postponement, agility, customer intimacy and intelligence, business focus, human resources management, information technology, expertise, control and purchasing power. To justify the study it contains research methodology tools and techniques like qualitative and quantitative research including primary and secondary research and further analysis in order to bring results that are more tangible.
Faculty expectations and employers perceptions in business education
(University of Management and Technology, 2011) Muhammad Salman Shabbir
Not Available
Quality management & supply chain performance relationship: an empirical study
(University of Management & Technology, 2011) Haris Aslam
There is a dearth of empirical evidence related to the relationship between Quality management and its impact on performance in Pakistan. Current study was conducted with the purpose of identifying the critical quality practices and their relationship with the performance of pharmaceutical supply chains. A cross-sectional survey based approach was used for the study. Data were collected from the managers working in the functional areas of supply chain and quality in pharmaceutical manufacturing companies in Pakistan. Total 68 responses were received through an email survey. Factor Analysis was used to identify the critical quality practices and supply chain performance indicators in the pharmaceutical supply chains. Eight quality practices and four supply chain performance indicators were identified. Regression Analysis was employed to find out which quality practices impact the supply chain performance. The results show that quality practices such as management leadership, training, process management, supplier quality management, and quality data and reporting significantly impact the supply chain performance. The results of this research show that quality practices are still relevant to the modern organizations. Implications and future research directions have been discussed.
Advertisement and Islam: a muslim world perspective
(New South Wales Research Centre Australia (NSWRC), 2011) Adeel Bari; Rana Zamin Abbas
Contemporary advertisement practices have created many social and ethical problems due to their materialistic focus. The effect of these problems can also be seen in many Muslim countries including Pakistanin terms of diversion from their cultural and religious values. This paper attempts to integrate the Islamic business ethics in contemporary advertisement practices to find the solution of the ethical dilemma which is created by these materialistic advertisement practices. The focus of Islamic way of business is not just to earn profit but to serve the society. The human welfare is the gist of Islamic business ethics. This paper attempts to evaluate advertisement in terms of Quran and Hadiths of the Holy Prophet (PBUM) and discuss unethical aspects of the contemporary advertisement practices.
Feasibility study of Baskin Robbins in Lahore region
(2011) Ahad Ali; M. Yasir Naim
This paper presents the feasibility study of Baskin Robbins in Lahore. The purpose of this report is to prepare a business plan for an ice cream parlor if Baskin Robbins in Pakistansince it has not many ice cream parlors at the moment. In last few years the concept of ice cream parlors is increasingly becoming popular. Baskin Robbins is world's number one ice cream brand and enjoys 98% brand awareness throughout the world. They have over 6000 outlets all over the world but not a single outlet in Pakistan. PakistanIce cream industry has been experiencing growth from last quiet number of years. Many local and international brands had been launched and are presently enjoying a good run of success. Especially the trend of ice cream parlors has made rapid strides in last few years. A survey was conducted in order to know the demand, basic market trends, awareness, location and competition in the market. Questionnaire method was used to conduct this survey. A complete marketing plan was designed keeping in mind the premium position of the brand and also the survey results. The segmentation, target and positioning strategies were designed according to company policies while marketing mix strategies were designed based on the mix of company policies and survey results. The operations of the franchise are a critical factor for its success. So, emphasis was given in designing the inventory model, warehouse location and the process of placing orders. Based on the annual demand calculated in the operations section a complete financial analysis was performed, including the three basic projected financial statements i.e. Income Statement, Balance Sheet & Cash Flow Statement. The project is based on a 100% equity based model, as company itself provides easy installment payment procedure over a desired period of time. It is recommended that the Baskin Robbins should be launched as the IRR and positive NPV of the project showed that it is feasible. The gap in the market is still to be covered and one can safely say that it will enjoy a good run of success over a long period of time.
Job satisfaction and organizational commitment as antecedents of organizational citizenship behabvior (OCB) in banking sector of Punjab-Pakistan
(University of Management and Technology, 2012) Kashif Iqbal
Organizational Citizenship Behavior is important phenomenon in the present era where everyone thinks that he should be treated fairly and there should be an environment of mutual cooperation and help. Organizations are expecting more from their employees and personnel are expecting a lot from their organization. There are several studies witnessed the impact OCB on organizational effectiveness and efficacy. The focus of this research is to investigate some antecedents of OCB by determining the impact of job satisfaction and organizational commitment on organizational citizenship behavior in banking sector of Gujranwala a famous city of Punjab province in Pakistan. Constructs defined by Williams and Anderson (1991), Brayfield and Rothe (1951) and Balfour and Wechsler (1996) has been used in this study. Data is collected from public & private sector banks by using survey method. 400 self administered questionnaires were distributed among employees of different banks in Gujranwala , the 5th largest city of Pakistan(TDCP), out of which 200 useable questionnaires were received at a response rate of 50%. All the variables in instrument score high on reliability tests. It is found that Job satisfaction and organizational commitment have strong and positive relationship with organizational citizenship behavior. Individuals who are satisfied and commitment to their jobs are more likely to involve in organizational citizenship behavior. It is recommended to repeat this study with more antecedents so that more clear picture of OCB could be seen. The study is limited to the antecedents of OCB only however, a separate study is recommended to include consequences of OCB. This research is limited to one division of Punjab and in banking sector. The results may be dissimilar in different business sectors in different places.
Performance measurement of higher education institutes: A comparative analysis of public and private sector to develop an academic scorecard
(University Of Management and Technology, 2012) Sadaf Ashraf
Education sector plays a vital role in the development of a nation. And is considered to be responsible for meeting the demands of skilled labour force. This study focused on the performance measurement of different higher education institution and tried to outline an academic scorecard for measuring institutional performance in Pakistan. In developing the academic score card, the idea was taken from balance score card but its use was very minimal in this study. Its major emphasize was on producing initial portfolio for key performance indicator that will serve as springboard for measuring performance in academic institutions. Data was collected from the twenty five universities of Lahore from both public and private sector. Results revealed that performance measurement system is considered to be an important tool for higher education institutes’ growth and the leaders of the various institutes do realize its importance in the education sector. But the performance indicators set by the two sectors are different. The academic score card obtained at the end ranked internal growth perspective to be the most important performance indicator for the higher education institutes in comparison to the financial perspective.
Direct and moderated effects of justice dimensionality on organizational outcomes
(University of Management and Technology, 2012) Shahida Jahangir Niazi
No one can refuse or deny the importance of justice whether it is experienced in societies or in organizational systems. The term Justice has been of great interest and discussed in philosophy, theology and political science throughout the history but its ultimate goal is to keep harmony and peace by maximizing of welfare across all interrelated individuals. Researchers have argued that organizational justice always affect in stimulating or shaping employees’ behaviors or attitudes towards organizations and their immediate supervisors. This can either be positive or negative depending upon the experiences of the employees in absence or presence of justice perceptions. The primary focus of the current study is to investigate the direct relationship of justice dimensions with different employees’ behaviors and attitudes at workplaces in the Pakistani context. This study has included one employees’ behavior and two attitudes (OCBI, job satisfaction, & affective commitment respectively) as moderators based on their correlation with specific justice dimensions (distributive justice, procedural justice, and interactional justice) as found in two recent Meta analytic studies conducted in the area of organizational justice. Each moderator has strong correlation with one specific justice dimension than other two dimensions. The second purpose of the study is to find out how employees’ attitudes and behavior (job satisfaction, affective commitment and OCBI) moderate the relationship between organizational justice dimensions and workplace outcomes (performance and turnover intentions). Data was gathered from 350 employees of Telecom sector of Pakistan by administering self-reported questionnaires. Total eight hypotheses were proposed in the current study. Five hypotheses were regarding exploring main affects on the outcomes and three were regarding to explore the moderated ii effects of justice dimensions on outcomes. All hypotheses got empirical support from the data except first hypothesis which got partial support. The findings showed that job satisfaction, affective commitment and OCBI moderated the relationship between justice dimensions and workplace outcomes. This study explored the importance of fairness perceptions in understanding the development of employees’ behaviors and attitudes and how these behaviors and attitudes affect employees’ job performance and turnover intentions at workplace ultimately.
Impact of employee engagment and work experience on turnover intent of medical practitioners in healthcare sector
(University of Management and Technology, 2012) Muhammad Iqbal Jawaid
Ever changing workforce had even shackled the thoughts of policy makers in the public sector. Due to depleting resources and consequent economic pressure, the Human Resources gained the status of key resource in the success or otherwise of any organization. Medical practitioners in the public sector hospitals in Pakistanfaced perturbed situations, so did the ailing people. Employee engagement was thought to be on of the solution initiatives. Turnover intention had variously been studied with many variables; to relate this concept with employee engagement was a unique brain wave. The study explored the impact of engagement on turnover as well as the moderating effect of work experience on both of the above variables was assessed. Primary data was collected through paper survey from the medical practitioners working in public sector hospitals located at Lahore (n=305). The hypothesis were deduced which were tested through simple regression and correlation analysis. The results of this non experimental study had shown a significant relationship between the variables under study. Work experience had been found to have no significant moderating effect on the other variables.
The skill set necessary for a business graduate
(University of Management and Technology, 2012) Marriam Malik
Textbooks and academic articles have much to say about what leadership expect from the future work force and the soft skills that the employees should have for fitting into a job but how do their constructs relate to actual leadership expectations. Corporate vision and mission statements and the leaders who stand behind them invariably state that “people are our most important asset.” This qualitative study presents reality from the perspective of CEO's and Top Executives seeking that, Are employers interested in soft skills? Identifying important soft skills that employers look for when recruiting employees? Identifying the most important skill set for employers? This study through triangulation strategy content analyzed the literature, interviews with CEOs and Top Executives that appeared in 2011-'12 in The New York Times "Corner Office" series (n=30) and in-depth interviews from the national representatives (n=8) to investigate these questions. The study uses a purposive and non- probability sampling technique. NVIVO a qualitative software tool was used to transcribe, read, review, code, enter and analyze the data. The findings suggest that soft skills are considered vital by the corporate world. The findings identified 19 soft skills and 104 sub skills and grouped them into 5 clusters, Analysis indicated that cluster of relationship and service skills is considered as most important by the top executives of the corporate world. The thesis offers insight and direction to executives in all areas of the organization, but especially to senior HR executives so as to enhance organizational effectiveness.
How autonomous are state-companies in Pakistan: The Case of electric supply companies
(University of Management and Technology, 2012) Maryam Qureshi
Autonomous organizations are structurally disaggregated enterprises that operate at an arm's length from government. The level of autonomy determines the performance of these agencies. This research was conducted to determine the level of autonomy of state enterprise and special case of electric distribution companies was studied. Eight electric distribution companies were taken and data was collected from all key decision makers of these organizations through surveys to compare them with ideal agency type proposed by Pollitt. The results confirmed that the eight electric distribution companies are enjoying moderate level of autonomy when compared to ideal type agency model. It is finally recommended that more strategic level autonomy must be granted to these agencies to perform better.
Effect of market orientation on channel strategy-an empirical analysis of pesticide industry
(University of Management and Technology, 2012) Mobin Ul Haque
Market orientation literature posits that there exist positive relationship between MO and organization's performance. Research in market orientation has overlooked the importance of market orientation's impact on various aspects of marketing strategy especially on distribution channel strategy. Using narver and Slater (1990) framework of measuring MO. Using pesticide industry of Pakistanas a context, the thesis explores the relationship between various constructs of MO with channel strategy. The hypotheses were tested empirically and the results reveal that level MO has a positive relationship with channel strategy. Findings of the thesis are that higher level of MO is associated with low intensity of distribution and selective channel strategy, while at the same time depicting higher channel control. The thesis also find out that there exist a positive relationship between MO and organizational profitability in the Pakistan's context. The results also suggest that right channel strategy helps organization create differentiation and improve performance in a commodity market.
Measuring customer based brand equity (CBBE) for extended brands
(University of Management and Technology, 2012) Manqoosh ur Rehman
Customer Based Brand Equity (CBBE) is a widely used concept in marketing literature in the recent past. Measurement of CBBE has become critical for the evaluation of brands worth in the minds of the consumers. There are various studies that have discussed the importance of measuring the CBBE in the process of brand management. Literature discusses four major models of CBBE (D. A. Aaker, 1991; Agarwal & Rao, 1996; K. L. Keller, 2003; Lassar, Mittal, & Sharma, 1995). Companies adopt different strategies for their growth. Extensions made by different companies are among those strategies adopted by the companies. Extensions are differentiated as line extension, brand extension, horizontal extension, vertical extension, upscale extension, and downscale extension (Pitta & Katsanis, 1995). This study mainly focuses on the measurement of CBBE for extended brands. The focused study area has got enough attention of the researchers in the recent past. The study mainly focuses on different cellular brands operating in Pakistan’s market and their CBBE is measured. Model suggested by Lassar et al. (1995) is adopted to measure CBBE of different brands. The model suggests five different constructs of CBBE namely Performance, Social Image, Value, Trustworthiness, and Attachment. Extension intensity and price level of different brands following any of the extension strategy are also determined using Quartile technique. Population for the current study is the students of different HEC recognized Universities / HEIs in Karachi and Lahore as the teledensity is highest for these two cities (PTA, 2011). Ten universities / HEIs served as clusters to draw 500 respondents from which 41 were disqualified and analysis on the data of a final sample of 459 is performed. Analysis revealed a significant difference in CBBE of different extended brands. The difference between CBBE of different extended brands is also found significant for different cities which leads to the conclusion that varying culture of different cities has a moderating impact on the measurement of CBBE of different extended brands. However, gender indifference is found in CBBE scores of different extended brands as the CBBE score differential for male and female respondents is found insignificant. Extension intensity appeared to have no significant impact on CBBE scores. Whereas, price level has a significant impact on CBBE scores of different extended brands. A longitudinal study is recommended to measure the impact of different extension strategies on CBBE of different brands involving the varying impact of different moderators. Focus group should be conducted to identify different brands following different extension strategies. The recommended study should involve brands from different sectors and industries.

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