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EMPIRICAL ANALYSIS OF REFORMS IN PAKISTAN Public sector organizations have been significantly changed during the last few years because of the increasing environmental pressures, changes in community expectations of public sector organizations, political influence in their management and an increasing demand by governments for accountability. As a result, public sector entities have been forced to consider new management practices in order to provide more effective, efficient and economical public services, a trend which has been conceptualized under an umbrella of New Public Management (NPM). There are certain factors such as time needed, leader support, environment stability and continuation, resources needed and organizational culture that affect the effective adoption and implementation of the NPM or reforms. In this study three models have been used to explore the relationship among variables of performance measurement of reforms through hypotheses testing using correlation and regression analysis. The results show that time needed, leadership support and organizational culture have positive relationship with perceived benefits of PM whereas, goal clarity has negative relationship with perceived benefits of PM. Key Words: New Public Management, time needed, goal clarity, organization culture, leadership support, accountability, perceived benefits of performance measurement.
Integrating and Optimizing Multi-echelon Supply Chain Network To prevail in this highly dynamic and intensely competitive global business world, organizations are striving hard to establish their supply chains to timely satisfy customer’s demands and strategically collaborate to ameliorate the work efficiency of supply chain associates. To accomplish this objective, integration of supply chain is reckoned as a leading approach to mitigate variety of costs, losses, risks, disruptions, wastages and to maximize the net revenue. Owing to market development, product diversification, shorter product life cycles, technological boosts , and advances in manufacturing processes which are the aftermaths of globalization, the rivalry is no longer amid businesses but amidst supply chains. Developing competition arouses autonomous organizations to collaborate in a supply chain that permits them to achieve mutual benefits and it is usually contended that dynamic organization is one which has an efficient and leading supply chain. Accordingly the global integration of supply chain is essential to ascertain competitiveness and quickly respond to rapidly emerging demands. Furthermore, in today’s fiercely global competition amongst organizations, dealing with the common conundrum with regards to net profit maximization is a matter of survival for almost every organization. To address the problem explicitly, this dissertation sets out to establish a vertically and horizontally integrated profit seeking optimization model for supply chain integration (SCI) in a four-echelon supply chain network. The study encompasses many suppliers, manufacturers, distribution centers and vendors synchronized with a set of several kinds of raw materials and a set of different sorts of finished products. A demonstration and analysis are argued which experience preceding aspects. The study reckons and classifies several kinds of costs namely transportation cost, integration cost, wastage cost, distribution cost, raw material cost, production cost and setup cost. Through historical point of view regarding SCI literature we observed that authors mostly focused on vertical aspects while functional aspects on the other hand are given minimal attention. Therefore, In order to make a contribution to the research area, the current study reckons both the vertical and horizontal aspects of integration. The key intention of the model is to optimize the net revenue through network integration and cutting down of variety of costs as mentioned above. And ultimately an illustration was presented to further manifest and testify the feasibility and effectiveness of the model. Consequently a concordance amidst computational outcomes and evaluated results asserts that the efficiency and effectiveness of the proposed model is not in doubt. The model is expected to be employed by supply chain executives to have a significant appraisal for controlling the impact of variety of costs and to optimize net revenue. Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Supply Chain Integration; Optimization Model; Supply Chain Integration And Network Configuration.
Macroeconomic variables and their impact on stock return This study examines the impact of macroeconomic variables on stock returns of Pakistan, India and Sri Lanka for the period of 1997 M7 to 2010 M12. An ARDL approach is used to analyze the impact of macroeconomic variables on stock returns in the long run and VECM is used to capture this impact for the short run. Variables of the study were T-Bills, Exchange Rate, Consumer Price Index (CPI) and the Industrial Production Index (IPI). The results of study show that t-bills rate has negative significant impact and Exchange rate has a significant positive impact on the Stock Returns of Pakistan for the study period. T-Bills have negative significant impact, Exchange rate and Consumer price index having significant positive impact on the stock returns of the India and in Sri Lanka only T-bills rate having negative significant impact on stock returns. For the short run dynamics, the Vector Error Correction Model (VECM) shows the same result as in the long run. The estimated equation remains stable over the period of study as indicated by CUSUM and CUSUMQ stability tests. This study also provide policy implication for the policy maker T-Bills effect the stock returns in the short run but in long run.
Effects of Demutualization of the Stock Exchanges on expansion of Stock Market Growth (Empirical Evidence from Asian, American and European Demutualized Stock exchanges) Demutualization is the process whereby a shareholder enjoys proprietary rights and it is well taken wherever it has been practiced. This study empirically investigates the impact of demutualization on stock market growth. Literature review revealed that demutualization is strategic change which changes the objective, ownership and governance of the stock exchanges. The sample of the study was 13 demutualized stock exchanges out of 23 demutualized stock exchanges which were the member of Word Federation of Exchanges (WFE). Multiple Regression, Paired Sample T-test and Wilcoxon sign Rank are applied to test the hypotheses of the study. Statistical analysis revealed that demutualization and its indicators such change in objectives, ownership and governance of the stock exchanges significantly lead toward the better stock market indicator through controlling the market forces from inside trading, market abusing and window dressing. This study signifies the positive impact of demutualization on stock market growth indicators and requires the attention of executives and policy maker about the demutualization in Pakistan to take the step toward the demutualization of the stock exchanges. It demands that demutualization is positive signal for the stock market growth and regulatory control regarding the inside trading, market abusing and window dressing in the Pakistani stock market such as Karachi Stock exchange, Lahore Stock exchange and Islamabad Stock exchange. It also positive initiative toward the stock market growth by attracting the unlisted companies toward the stock market and availability of advance technology and cross listing all over the world. Keywords: Demutualization, Stock Market Growth, Financial Performance , Shareholder’s Primacy theory, Stakeholder Theory
RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENT & CORPORATE PROFITABILITY (MULTI-SECTOR ANALYSIS FROM KSE PAKISTAN) Every business needs adequate resources and assets especially liquid resources to maintain day to day cash flows. It needs enough to pay wages, salaries and account payable if it is to keep its workforce and ensure its supplies. Maintaining the adequate working capital is not just important in the short term. Adequate liquidity is needed to ensure the survival of business in the long run. Even a profitable company my fall without adequate cash flows and to meet its liabilities and due to the ineffective or inefficient management of working capital. The above study starts with the brief introduction and importance of the working capital management and how it impact and hamper the firm profitability either resulting profit or negative profit (loss).Working capital management an important area of financial management means the management of firm’s current assets and liabilities. The management of these assets and liabilities requires the great attention because it potentially impacts the firm’s profitability, liquidity, value, and risk in the form of financing of these assets. In today’s competitive business world majority of firms greatly focuses on long term financial management which involves greater uncertainly and risk and ignores the potential and key strategic area of concern to firm value addition principle which is either called by some financial expert as short term financial management or working capital management. The current assets of a typical manufacturing firm account for over half of its total assets, for a distribution company they account for even more. Due to the above reason the study selects the large sample of manufacturing firms from various sectors The above study findings are also based on the management of this important area known as working capital management. The study investigates the relationship between the management of working capital and its various components with profitability by taking into consideration the sample of various listed firms on Karachi Stock Exchange for the period 2005-2009. The sample consists of 264 firms from Textile, Chemical, Engineering, Sugar, Cement, Fuel and Energy and Tobacco sector. The relationship is investigated and tested through various accounting and relative valuation models such as return on investment, current ratio and cash conversion cycle etc. The financial econometrics PDRM (pool data model) are then used to construct the solid conclusion about the relationship between the working capital management and profitability.
Impact of leverage on financial performance with a moderating effect of firm size, growth and nature of industry The study is aimed at investigating the impact of Leverage on Financial Performance of the firms operating in various industrial sectors of Pakistan with moderating effect of Finn Size, Growth and Industry. Linear regression was applied to the Public Limited firms listed at Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE), operating in 22 industrial sectors of Pakistan during the period of 5 years 2004-2008. The results demonstrate that leverage measured by debt to equity ratio and total debt to total assets has a significantly negative impact on the financial performance measured by book measures (Return on equity (ROE), return on asset (ROA)) and market measures (market to book ratio, Tobin's 0. The moderating effect of firm size, growth, and nature of industry is also determined. The study is unique in its nature as it collectively measures the impact of size, growth and nature of industry by employing a wide range of diversified industrial sector from the growing stock market of a developing country like Pakistan. Key Words: Leverage, Financial Performance, Finn Size, Growth, Nature of Industry, Book Perfonnance Measures and Market Performance Measures
Evaluation of Supply Chain Strategies for Mass Customization This research thesis examines the interplay between mass customization and supply chain strategies. It answers the question whether Mass Customization is related to Supply Chain Strategies in context of Pakistan or not. Additionally the thesis attempts to answer the question, whether Supply Chain Strategies and Mass Customization are uniformly implemented across different ownership and industry structure. There are two areas of supply chain strategies selected to examine the impact on mass customization. The thesis scrutinizes the differences across industry and ownership structure in perusing mass customization and supply chain strategies. The methodology deploys quantitative investigation by collecting primary data from the respondents in both manufacturing and services firms. The data is collected from sample of 50 respondents and analyzed by using SPSS software. The results indicate that there are differences in implementation of Supply Chain Strategies and Mass Customization across Industry and Ownership. Furthermore, the results indicate that Supply Chain Strategy of Marketing area are related to Mass Customization.
Impact of Brand Experiences on Brand Loyalty: Mediating role of Brand attachment Thesis Title: Impact of Brand Experience on Brand Loyalty: Mediating role of Brand Attachment. This research investigated the impact of brand experience on brand loyalty. Mediation impact of brand attachment is as well under the investigation. Today, in the marketing strategy, branding is considered as the key role of organization. The brand experience has three dimensions which are behavioral, sensory and intellectual whereas brand loyalty has two dimensions attitudinal loyalty and behavioral loyalty. On Apparel brands, this study was conducted within the city of Faisalabad, Pakistan. The reason of choosing Faisalabad is the 3rd largest city of Pakistan by the size of population; it is also the textile center of Pakistan. For this study eight brands were selected which basis on their popularity amongst customers. 250 questionnaires were distributed with the easily reachable customer who visits at the various stores. As the outcome, the respondents returned back 238 questionnaire out of 250. 220 questionnaires were used in the analysis of data. Data was obtained using convenient sampling technique. Respondents are customers visiting brand stores. Mall intercept survey was used to gather this data. SPSS software was used to analysis this data. Different statistical methods such as Frequency, Cronbach Alpha, Correlation, Regression analysis and Mediation analysis were used to analyze this data in this research. Findings revealed that brand loyalty brand experience are driven brand loyalty through brand attachment. The relationship between all the variables are significant. Moreover this research is having some limitations as list of antecedents for brand attachment and its application in industries other than apparel sector. For managerial point of view, brand managers should adopt measures for customers’ engagement with brand. Two way communications can be base of this engagement. Furthermore brand managers should work on their brand relationship and brand images .
Impact of Intellectual Capital on Business Performance and Competitive Advantage in Banking Sector of Pakistan: The Role of Tacit and Explicit Knowledge Sharing Thesis Title: Impact of Intellectual Capital on Business Performance and Competitive Advantage in Banking Sector of Pakistan: The Role of Tacit and Explicit Knowledge Sharing The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of Intellectual Capital on Business Performance and Competitive Advantage in Banking sector of Pakistan. In this study two variables of Knowledge sharing (Explicit Knowledge sharing and Tacit Knowledge Sharing) are also included to check their mediation effect. The methodology involved in the study includes the collection of primary data using self-administered questionnaire adapted from the literature used and collected data from the branch managers and operations managers from total 347 bank branches of Islamic and Commercial Banks of Faisalabad Division Pakistan. Results of the study are shown that intellectual capital does not promote tacit knowledge sharing within the environment of Banking sector of Pakistan. Findings are found similar in comparison to various other studies on the subject which reveal very low level of IC disclosure, not yet receiving priority from the managers of banks. study reveal that not many managers recognize the need and significance of measuring and reporting IC, although it is recognized as a driver of competitiveness. For protecting business confidentiality, banks do not want to report information of sensitive nature. The analysis is limited to a single sector (e.g. Banking Sector). Future research can expand to other industries (e.g. manufacturing, technological, services) to enable a more comprehensive understanding of Intellectual Capital, Business Performance, Competitive Advantage, and Knowledge Sharing. The cross-sectional approach is also a limitation. Further research could apply research methods other than content analysis (e.g. questionnaire survey, interviews or mixed-methods) in order to obtain a more in-depth view of how the Bank managers increased business performance and competitive advantage by using intellectual capital and knowledge sharing. Keywords: Intellectual Capital, Business Performance, Competitive Advantage, Tacit Knowledge Sharing, Explicit Knowledge Sharing, Banking Sector, Pakistan.
Micro and Macroeconomic Determinants of Cost of Capital A Cross Industry Analysis of Non-Financial Firms of Pakistan Thesis Title: Micro and Macroeconomic Determinants of Cost of Capital A Cross Industry Analysis of Non-Financial Firms of Pakistan The research on the macro and microeconomic determinants of cost of capital: A cross industry analysis of non-financial sector of listed firm in Pakistan. The main objectives of this study are to find out the impact of microeconomic determinants on capital cost and to find out the impact of macroeconomic determinants on capital cost. In this research we selected the eight growth able industries from the all industries which are listed at Pakistan stock exchange. From the chemical, energy, cement, sugar, textile, paper, motor vehicles, and food sectors 102 firms selected as sample. The proportional sampling technique is used for the selection of sample size and collected the six-year data from 2011 to 2016. In our study we use the weighted average cost of capital (WACC) as dependent variable and we considered the eight independent variables and divided into the two categories. The independent variables are the current ratio (CR), Debt-to-equity ratio (DB), earnings per share (EPS), asset turnover ratio (AT), institutional ownership (IO), firm size (SIZE), as microeconomic based determinants and interest rate (IR), industrial production index (IPI), as macroeconomic based determinants of cost of capital. In this research, used the different statistic tools such as descriptive, regression analysis, correlation analysis for the investigation of relation between independent and dependent variables. The results of this research show that the debt to equity, earning per share, interest rate and industrial production index have the positive relation with the capital cost of companies. The size of companies and institutions ownership has the negative relation with capital cost of Pakistani companies. We also find the insignificant relation of current ratio and assets turnover. Key words: Macroeconomic, Determinants, Cost of capital, WACC
Determinants of Earnings Response Coefficient: Evidence from non-financial Sector of Pakistan Thesis Title: Determinants of Earnings Response Coefficient; Evidence from Non-Financial Sector of Pakistan. The study provides new evidence between the relationship of unexpected earnings and abnormal return. Earnings provide the information reflected in stock price and investors react over the available information provided by the firm. The earnings response coefficient is obtained by the regression of stock price and accounting profit. The aim of this study is to examine the determinants of earnings response coefficient as default risk, systemic risk, growth opportunities, firm size, profitability, financial leverage, inflation rate and interest rate and its impact on non-financial firms listed at Pakistan Stock Exchange. The study used the multiple regression models for the period of 2011 to 2016. Data gathered has been processed and analyzed by E-views 9 package. This study applies proportionate sampling technique for the selection of 160 listed non-financial firms of Pakistan Stock Exchange. The empirical results of the study confirmed that the default risk has significant negative impact on earnings response coefficient. Growth opportunities, firm size, profitability and financial leverage have positive and significant impact on earnings response coefficient. But systemic risk, inflation rate and interest rate has insignificant impact on earnings response coefficient. Moreover, the earnings response coefficient has direct or positive relationship with growth opportunities, firm size, profitability and financial leverage and has inverse or negative relationship with default risk. Thus, the determinants of earnings response coefficient study has provide an additional extension to literature, as there is no considerable work on earnings response coefficient being Pakistan is a developing economy. Keywords: Earnings response coefficient, surprise earnings, default risk, financial leverage, cumulative abnormal return.
Impact of Perceived Service Quality on Repurchase Intention and Word of Mouth: Mediating role of Customer Satisfaction and Customer-Company Identification Thesis Title: Impact of Perceived Service Quality on Repurchase Intention and Word of Mouth: Mediating Role of Customer Satisfaction and Customer-Company Identification The current study provides and tests an integrated model that examines two relationship quality constructs (customer satisfaction, customer-company identification) as mediating variables between Pakistani hotels service quality perceptions and two outcomes (repurchase intentions, word of mouth). The results of a study with domestic Pakistani hotel guests provide support for the proposed model. Specifically, the results indicate that customer satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between perceived service quality and repurchase intentions and word of mouth, respectively. The nature of this study is quantitative, while type is cross sectional and non-contrived. The technique used to select sample is called convenience sampling. Information was gathered from 210 consumers who obtained services in hotels. For data analysis, correlation, regression techniques and descriptive statistics tests were carrying out with the help of SPSS. Findings approved that symbolic benefits and functional benefits have limited impact on perceived service quality, while perceived service quality, customer satisfaction and customer company identification has more significant impact on repurchase intention and word of mouth. Findings also show that Customer-company identification fully mediates the relationship between perceived service quality and repurchase intentions and partially mediates word of mouth, respectively. We provide empirical validation that customers do, indeed, identify with hospitality providers, and this, in-turn, provides positive consequences for both the service provider (i.e., repurchase intentions) and the customer (i.e., word of mouth). Keywords: Service quality, Customer satisfaction, Customer-company identification, Repurchase intentions and word of mouth.
IMPACT OF CASH FLOW, DIVIDEND PAYOUT AND INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES ON INVESTMENT UNDER FINANCIAL DISTRESS: EVIDENCE FROM NON-FINANCIAL SECTOR OF PAKISTAN STOCK EXCHANGE Thesis Title: Impact of Cash Flow, Dividend Payout and Investment Opportunities on Investment under Financial Distress; Evidence from Non-Financial Sector of Pakistan Stock Exchange The purpose of study was to check the Impact of Cash Flow, Dividend Payout and Investment Opportunities on Investment under Financial Distress. The dependent variable in the study was investment and independent variables are cash flow, dividend payout and investment opportunities. Three control variables used in this study were Leverage, Return on assets and Financial expenses. The type of this study was empirical, with random sampling technique was used and all non-financial firms listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange are under the umbrella of population from 2007 to 2016. Data was gathered from different sources, as from Balance Sheet Analysis of SBP and financial statements provided on the websites of the firms. In methodology, correlation and panel data regression was used for data analysis. To check the normality unit root test was used in this study for each variable. Two different regression models were used in this study. First regression model run only on the dependent variable and independent variables (excluding control variables) under financial distress and random effect model was used for this purpose. Second regression model was run on the dependent variable and independent variables (including control variables) under financial distress and fixed effect model was used for this purpose. According to the results, the relationship between cash flow and investment was positive and significant under financial distress. The relationship between dividend payout and investment was positive and insignificant under financial distress. The relationship between investment opportunities and investment was negative and significant under financial distress. On the other hand, control variables sales growth showed positive and significant relationship and efficiency also showed positive and significant relationship with investment under financial distress. v Keywords: Cash flow, dividend payout, Investment opportunities, investment and financial distress.
Impact of Ownership and Board Structure on Dividend Payout Under High and Low Growth Opportunities: Evidence from Textile Sector of Pakistan Thesis title: Impact of Ownership and Board structure on Dividend payout under high and low growth opportunities; Evidence from textile sector of Pakistan The equilibrium among management and shareholders can be formed by improving the quality of corporate governance, as it can mitigate agency conflicts by compelling the management to follow an optimal dividend policy. Dividend is one of the rewards to the shareholders for their contribution in raising funds for a company and for bearing the relevant risks. The objective of this study is to examine the impact of board structure and ownership structure on dividend pay-out under high and low growth opportunities of manufacturing firms listed at Pakistan stock exchange. Board structure is measured in terms of board independence and CEO Duality, and ownership structure is measured in terms of managerial ownership, foreign ownership, institutional ownership, and minority ownership. This study used panel data of 82 manufacturing firms that covers the period of 2011 to 2016. Purposive sampling technique is applied to select firms as a sample for analysis. The firms that paid consistent dividends from 2011 to 2016 are selected from the population. After screening of data on the bases of above criteria, there were 92 firms that comply with that benchmark. After that 10 firms out of these 92 firms were excluded due to abnormality issues in the data and finally the data of 82 firms was used for the analysis. The study applied descriptive statistics, correlation and panel regression on panel data. Among random effects, fixed effects, and common effects model, fixed effects model is used to run the regression analysis. The study also applied panel unit root test to find whether the data is stationary or not. Furthermore to examine the impact of board structure and ownership structure on dividend pay-out of listed manufacturing firms under high and low growth opportunities, the data is divided into high and low growth categories. The median value of Tobin Q is used for classification of data. Firm size, debt ratio, return on asset, and Tobin Q were used as control variables in this study. The final results revealed that under high growth opportunities, all the dimensions of board and ownership structure except minority ownership are positively and significantly v related with the dividend pay-out. While under low growth opportunities only foreign ownership, board independence and minority ownership are significantly related with dividend pay-out. These findings suggest that the impact of board structure and ownership structure on dividend pay-out is more significant and positive under high growth opportunities as compared to low growth opportunities. Keywords: Board structure; Ownership structure; dividend pay-out; institutional ownership; managerial ownership; foreign ownership; minority ownership; CEO Duality; board independence.