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Determinants of Customers Buying Intention for Counterfeit Products : Case Study of Computer Market This research study aims to investigate the determinants of customers' buying intention towards counterfeit product like Tablet PC in PC industry by focusing on the effects of attitude and personality towards the buying intention for counterfeit products. Personality factor is conceptualized to have five dimensions namely Novelty Seeking, Status Consumption, Integrity, Pricing and Perceived Risk. A survey on 200 customers of Tablet PC was conducted in Rex City, a computer market, Faisalabad, Pakistan. Results revealed that Novelty Seeking, Status Consumption and Integrity were insignificant variables and had no influence on attitude toward counterfeit Products. Perceived risk also had no impact on customers buying intentions towards counterfeit products. While Customers' buying intention toward counterfeit was positively and significantly influenced by Attitude towards counterfeit product and attitude towards counterfeit was influenced by Pricing. Further investigation showed that attitude towards counterfeit product fully mediate the relationship between Pricing and customers' buying intention toward counterfeit products. This means, only pricing had favorable buying attitude towards counterfeit. Since the current study shows that only Price sensitive customers would buy counterfeit products, thus this finding is beneficial to genuine manufacturer in producing branded products at low and affordable price that are difficult to be counterfeited.
The study of Disparity between Motivational Desires and Motivational Outcomes: Demographic Analysis of Selected Organizations in Telecommunication Industry of Rawalpindi and Islamabad The motivational factors play an important role in analyzing disparity between motivational desires and outcomes. This research is inspired from the study of Heimovics & Brown (1976). The purpose of this research is to establish the role of disparity between motivational desires and motivational outcomes at both individual and organizational levels. This study examines the gap between 'Motivational Desires' demanded by employees and 'Motivational Outcomes' offered to the employees. This study contributes to our understanding of the differences in Motivational Desires' demanded by employees and 'Motivational Outcomes' offered to the employees in the government and privates sector organizations in telecommunication industry. This research also investigates the association of various motivational factors in term of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation based on expectancy theory as while comparing motivation at different levels, expectancy theory is most appropriate theory to measure disparity between desires and outcomes. To measure ranking through priorities is a new subject for research in Pakistan. This research based upon the expectancy theory that determines the desirability of outcomes. In this theory the individuals process the different motivational factors based on his/her own priorities. The survey is conducted on employees from middle and top level managers of government and private sector organizations in telecommunication industry in twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi. 'Adapted Structured Close-Ended Questionnaire' with ranking scale from 1 to 20 is used for this research. Non probability convenience sampling method is used for data collection. The sample size is 228 and response rate is 91.20 percent. The responses are statistically analyzed through Spearman Rank Correlation using the Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Among the key findings it is shown that recognizing the employee's accomplishments, through provision of career advancement opportunities translates into improved performance both at the individual and organizational levels. The hypotheses have proven true; out of twenty motivational factors in terms of chance to learn new things, chance to exercise leadership, further training and educational opportunities, good working condition, medical facilities, house rent, conveyance allowance, opportunity for advancement (promotion), sensible company rules, regulations, procedures, and policies and working as part of a team, some motivational desires and motivational outcomes are different at each level in gender wise, age wise, qualification wise, income wise, marital status wise, sector wise, managerial wise and experience wise comparative analysis in telecommunication industry. The motivational desires and motivational outcomes of employees are striking on two counts: first, the identical rankings of "Desires" and "Outcomes" employees are high salary, social status & high prestige, house rent, conveyance allowance, medical facilities, better working environment, opportunity for further training and education, appreciation in the meetings on work completed, job security, opportunity to utilize my unusual abilities, opportunity of learning new things and second, the significant level of disparity between "Desires" are chance to exercise leadership, friendly and congenial associates, promotion, sensible company rules, regulations procedures and policies and finally working as part of team as the motivational factors. The research concludes by advocating for the formulation and implementation of appropriate employees' motivational factors is an effort to improve performance at both individual and organizational levels.
Risk Analysis of Karachi Stock Exchange-100 Index Pre and Post 9/11.Application of Garch and its family Models (Tarch, Egarch, and Garch-M) The objective of this study is to investigate the volatility of Karachi Stock Exchange before and after incident of 9/11 by applying the RKSE=log (KSEt/KSEt-1) formula to calculate the change in daily return of Karachi Stock Exchange. Three sample periods have been chosen to estimate the comparative volatility of stock market; first, (31" August, 1996-1st September, 2001), second (31st August, 2001-1st September, 2006) and third (31st August, 2006-1st September, 2011). Purpose to choose these three samples is to estimate the volatility. First sample period refers to pre 9/11 period and second sample period during 9/11 period and third sample period is after 9/11 incident. Further, purpose to include the third sample period in this study is to investigate the volatility of KSE-100 index in longer time period. GRACH (1,1) model is used to estimate the volatility, GARCH (2,0) to estimate the past information effect on current volatility, EGARCH and TRACH model are applied to investigate the leverage effect on KSE-100 index. Moreover, these models are applied separately on each sample periods. From results it is concluded that after 9/11 period is more volatile than other because in GARCH model, both ARCH term and GARCH term are significant and greater as compare to other sample periods. Similarly, GRACH (2, 0) model shows that due to past information, volatility in after 9/11 period is greater. EGARCH and TARCH model both estimate the leverage effect on stock exchange. Comparison confirms that EGARCH model is best fit on data and estimated more significant results. Value of y is negative and significant in post 9/11 period that indicates that leverage effect exists in post 9/11 period. Whereas, there is no leverage effect exists in pre 9 11 period that shows that bad news effects on volatility are more as compare to good news in market. From the results it is also concluded that period after 9/11 (31st August, 2006 - September, 2011), volatility exist in the Karachi Stock Exchange but of low magnitude.
Challenges of Manufacturing Born Global SME : Evidence from Surgical Instrument Manufacturing Cluster, Sialkot, Pakistan Owing to their gigantic participation in global economic growth, the phenomenon of SMEs internationalization has become the centre of attention for numerous researchers. The firms operating from low-tech industry and from developing nation were largely ignored. Internationalization phenomenon from underdeveloped cluster of a developing nation facing daunting challenges that hinder SMEs performance and growth; turns out to be an attention-grabbing area – hence, worth-investigating. The purpose of this study is to investigate the challenges of manufacturing born global SMEs from surgical instrument manufacturing cluster Sialkot, Pakistan. More specifically, the objective is to explore the kind of challenges and their effect on the performance of these born global SMEs. To carry out this research, data was collected through a questionnaire from 100 respondents (managers/entrepreneurs). Based on the findings, the study identify the challenges like employees' loyalty, shortage of skilled technical workforce, retention of experienced and skilled workforce, staff motivation, staff recognition and promotion, staff development, and performance appraisals. The results of this study also support the hypothesis that poor management skills (FIRM, marketing, finance, and production) are challenges and contribute to the poor performance of manufacturing born global SMEs. Manufacturing born global SMEs are facing challenge of lack of government policy on born global SMEs, tax issues and reduced rebates, and shortage of skilled labor force.
Impact of Service Quality, Customer Relational Benefit and Relational Bonds on Customer Loyalty with the Mediating Role of Customer Satisfaction: A Study of Pakistan Banks in Multan Region. Banks are considered as the most prestigious financial institutions; their impact on economy is widely accepted and recognized. Customers are the most prominent factor which may affect the success of banks. Customer satisfaction and factors contributing towards customer satisfaction and loyalty become the most prominent studies in almost all types of organizations. Achieving customer satisfaction without customer loyalty is worthless. Customer satisfaction and loyalty have been empirically investigated in many ways and tested in numerous organizations. This study provides help in relationship marketing to retain the loyal customers. Objectives of Study are to find out the factors that play a key role to enhance the customer loyalty. To get and retain loyalty, different important variables service quality, customer relational benefits, relational bonds & customer satisfaction have been discussed in this study. This research investigates the role of service quality, customer relational benefits and relational bonds to enhance the customer satisfaction and customer loyalty as well. This study focuses and discusses empirically findings from 422 customers of different banks situated in Multan. AMOS and SPSS were used to analyze the data. Descriptive statistics, frequency distribution, correlation, confirmatory factor analysis and structure equation modeling tools were used to analyze the data. Major finding of this study indicates that service quality, customer relational benefits, relational bonds & customer satisfaction are key players that enhance and retain the customer loyalty. This study provides a comprehensive guide line for managers to access and retain the loyal customers.
Interrelationship Among Capital Structure, Corporate Governance Measures and Firm Value : Panel Study from Pakistan The aim of the study is to test most discussed relationship between capital structure and firm value by investigating the intervening impact of various corporate governance measures. Major objective of the study is to examine the moderating and mediating impact of selected governance measures (board size, board independence, CEO role duality, managerial ownership and ownership concentration) on the relationship between capital structure (leverage) and firm value (Tobin' Q). However, the study also investigated the impact of governance measures on firm value, and impact of leverage on these governance measures. The study used the 775 firm year observations of 155 non-financial companies listed at Karachi Stock Exchange for financial years containing 2008 to 2012. Keeping in view the nature of data (balanced panel), fixed effects regression method is employed to estimate the formulated relationships. To test the mediation and moderation impact of governance measures this research used methods suggested by Baron and Kenny (1986). For first relationship of interest (impact of leverage on firm value) the study found significant positive impact, but in case of corporate governance, only board independence and ownership concentration measures are found affecting firm value significant with positive sign. Intensity of relationship is also very high (more than 0.3 for both of the variables). For third relationship i.e., impact of leverage on governance measures, this study found no significant affects. While finding, moderation this study found significant positive moderation for board independence and ownership concentration. However for managerial ownership this study found significant negative moderating effect between leverage and firm value. Four steps of Baron and Kenny (1986) are followed to find mediation, but in second step (impact of leverage on governance measures) this study found no teneralizable effects, so as a result this research study concluded no mediation.
A Study of the Relationship Between Impulse Buying and Cognitive Dissonance in Pakistan This study attempts to test association between impulse buying and cognitive dissonance. Some of other results were unveiled. A high level of association was shown in females and impulse buying but not with the income level. Sales promotion was also highly associated with the impulse buying. Bank card payment demonstrated a positive behavior though it was not strong enough. Sample of 200 respondents was selected on convenience basis. A close ended questionnaire was used. Two hundred questionnaires were distributed to a convenience sample in the city of Lahore, Pakistan. 168 valid questionnaires were received and included for the analysis. Cronbach's alpha and Factor loading were used to check the reliability and validity of the data respectively. Linear regression and T-test were applied to determine the relationship among the variables. Normality was tested through pp plot, mean and standard deviation. The conclusion and suggestions given in this study will be helpful for the strategy makers and consumers both to avoid cognitive dissonance. Self-knowledge will be useful for the consumer for better understanding of market and to make prudent buying decisions in future. This research will be useful for marketers to understand consumer behavior in order to craft better strategies, which will keep the consumer satisfied, happy and stick with the organization. The new input of the study might come from the lack of research in the area of impulse buying, cognitive dissonance and their relationship.
Social Entrepreneurship& Social Entrepreneurs of Lahore. The present study was conducted to examine the performance of social entrepreneurs (NGOs) of Lahore in Pakistan. The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of social entrepreneurs (NGOs) on income level, standard of living and empowerment of those people who are getting facilitated by social entrepreneur's work, namely Beneficiaries'. The study was further divided into two studies. In both studies work of social entrepreneurs (NGO's) was the independent variable (x) and income levels (y1), standard of living (y2) and empowerment (y3) of vulnerable groups like children, women, religious minorities, and those who live below the poverty line were the dependent variables in order to get a clearer picture of the phenomena. In the study, purposive sampling technique was used to collect data from executives of the NGOs whereas in study II, data was collected from 250 beneficiaries of selected NGOs. Descriptive analysis was used to analysis the responses of respondents. It was extracted from this research that social entrepreneurs have a positive effect on the income levels, standard of living and empowerment of poor people. A large number of poor people came out of poverty and even became self-employed. Now people are even able to save some money from their incomes. Current research would be beneficial for social entrepreneurs and related population.
Impact of Business Ethics on Employees Affective Commitment and Employees’ Performance Via Trust in Organization : An Empirical Study on Cellular Operators of Pakistan This study examines how business ethics (Ethical leadership, Ethical Climate and Organizational Fairness) will have direct and indirect impact on Employees' Affective Commitment, Employees' Job Satisfaction and Employees' Job Performance. This study conducted on cellular operators (Mobilink, Ufone, Telenor, Zong and Warid) of Pakistan. Data were collected through survey questionnaires given personally to 600 employees working in regional and head offices of cellular operators of Pakistan located in four big cities of Punjab Pakistan i.e. Multan, Faisalabad, Lahore and capital city Islamabad. There were 545 questionnaires returned, out of which, 518 dully completed responses were used for the final statistical analysis. The results have shown that three dimensions of business ethics i.e. Ethical Leadership, Ethical Climate and Organizational Fairness are supported as significant predictors of Employees' Affective Commitment, Employees' Job Satisfaction and Employees' Job Performance. Moreover Trust in Organization partially mediates the causal relationship between the Business Ethics (Ethical Leadership, Ethical Climate and Organizational Fairness) and Employees' Affective Commitment, Employees' Job Satisfaction and Employees' Job Performance. Finally, the study also presents some theoretical and managerial implications, limitations and suggestions for future research.
A Study of Capital Structure Decisions : Comparison of Large and Small Firms of Pakistan This study is conducted to determine the any difference between the large and small firms listed at Karachi Stock Exchange regarding capital structure decisions. For this purpose, a total of 323 firms are selected as a sample. Firms are categorized into small and large firms on the basis of SMEDA definition. Debt ratio is the dependent variable for the study. The independent variables include Non debt tax shields, Liquidity, Tangibility, Growth, Profitability, Corporate Size and Dividend Payout Ratio. The different statistical techniques like Descriptive statistics, Correlation, and Regression have been applied and results are concluded on their basis. The study revealed that capital structure choice of Large and Small firms of Pakistan is same regarding NDTS, Liquidity, Growth, and Profitability while Tangibility, Size of firms, and Dividend payout ratio differently affect the small and large firms of Pakistan. Mostly, results are consistent with the capital structure theories. This study is the addition in the existing literature as this aspect has not been explored.
The Relationship Between Green Marketing and Customer Purchase Intentions Due to massive pollution in environment and its dangerous effects on health, consumers are becoming very much conscious in product selection. They prefer those products which are environment friendly. Green products not only increase the environmental friendly image of the products but also enhance corporate image seemingly contributing towards environmental cause as a volunteer social care. The activities of the green products not only satisfy physiological needs and wants of the customers but also the psychological ones. Similarly, green products process like research, production and promotion also serve environmental cause. Organizations adopt green marketing for many reasons. It helps in survival, creates soft brand image in the market as not only the user friendly but also the environment friendly product and helps to create value in the minds of the customers. Green purchase intentions literature advocates that customers consider greener products more important than other types of non greener products available in the market. However, the factors that influence green purchase intentions have been underemphasized in the literature. Current study strives to investigate the impact of green trust, green satisfaction, green corporate image and green product image on green purchase intentions. Data was collected from a sample of 250 customers of electronics and information products. The proposed model was then tested using regression analysis. Analysis of the proposed model revealed that green trust, green satisfaction and green corporate image positively predict green purchase intentions. On the other hand, green product image doesn't influence green purchase intentions. Academic and managerial implications carry deep insights both for academicians and practitioners.
Determinants of Stock Prices on Stock Market: The Impact of Macroeconomic Factors and Financial Ratios The main purpose of this research is to explore the relationship of stock prices with macro economic factors and financial ratios. Macro economic factors and financial ratio includes four variables in this study that influence the stock prices are inflation, exchange rate, interest rate and earning per share. The financial ratio earning per share (EPS) is taken from 100 companies which are listed in Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) and these are mainly KSE 100 index companies. For comparison purpose and further analysis the sample is divided into bank and non-bank groups. Correlation and regression analysis is used to analyze the relationship between above mentioned variables. The result revealed that all the variables are correlated with each other some are less and some are more but three factors (inflation rate, exchange rate and EPS) are strongly correlated with each other. Regression analysis showed powerful impact of EPS on stock prices. For all the research models of this study the results indicate that the EPS has significantly positive relationship with share prices. The findings are discussed and recommendations for further research are also addressed.
Impact of Service Quality on Brand Image and Customer Satisfaction : A Case of Telecommunication Organizations of Bahawalpur, Rawalpindi and Islamabad Service quality, brand image and customer satisfaction are the fundamental marketing constructs in the last two decades. In the past, they were unaccepted and unpopular concept because companies thought it was not important to focus on quality and image, for them it was more important to gain new customers than retain the existing ones. However, in this present decade, companies have gained better understanding of the importance of brand image, customer satisfaction and service quality (especially service related industries) and adopted these concepts as a high priority operational goal. This study aimed to explore those factors of service quality among these seven dimensions (tangibility, reliability, responsiveness, assurance, empathy, skills & professionalism and credibility & reputation) which are contributing and impacting significantly on brand image and customer satisfaction in telecommunication industry of Bahawalpur, Rawalpindi and Islamabad. For the analysis of study an adopted and modified questionnaire based on 5 point Likhert scale was distributed by convenience sampling among 280 respondents of the mobile phone subscribers. The statistical part of the analysis is based on the descriptive statistics, simple and multiple regression; results were conducted through SPSS version 14.0. In research findings, results indicate that (tangibility, reliability, skills/professionalism and credibility/reputation have a moderate relationship with brand image while responsiveness, assurance and empathy have the strong relationship with brand image), Further the results shows that skills/professionalism and empathy have the strong relationship with customer satisfaction; the results of this research is also indicating that overall service quality is having a very strong relationship with "brand image" and a strong relationship with "customer satisfaction. This research can be practically implemented and can be use in the telecommunication industry for identification of service delivery problems and improving service quality attributes by which telecom organization can improve their brand image and satisfaction level in their customers which leads to retention of customers in long run and getting the maximum business from them.
Impact of Transformational Leadership on Job Stress and Job Performance. Leadership is a significant factor affecting the performance of employees in organizations. Job stress is a serious problem faced by employees in the working environment that affects job performance and it is a major issue of all employees at present. This study examines the impact of an independent variable Transformational leadership, on two dependent variables i.e. job stress and job performance. The impact of transformational leadership on two dependent variables i.e. the job stress and the job performance is separately analyzed. In a survey, the data is collected using a questionnaire as research instrument. Survey is conducted on the banks located in Islamabad. The respondents are the middle and lower line managers of the banks of Islamabad. The sample size for this study is 300 respondents. The conclusion shows that either transformational leadership has any impact on the job stress and the job performance or not. Descriptive statistics and linear regression is used to draw results. Findings of this research study show that there lies a significant negative relationship of transformational leadership with job stress and transformational leadership has significant positive relationship with job performance.