Pakistan tourism industry and challenges: a review

Travel and tourism has great association with other industries in the national economy making major indirect earns and also enhances foreign investment, opportunities of trade, investments in private, local development, and public infrastructure. Pakistan has rich potential of tourism due to its rich culture, geographical and biological diversity, and history. Tourism has developed as an instrument for creating considerable economic gains. The country has various tourist destinations at Swat, Malam Jabba, Behrain, Kalam, Shangla, Balakot, Kaghan, Naran, Ayoubia, Murree, Chitral, Gilgit Baltistan, Hunza, and Neelam valleys, other mountainous ranges, and historical and archaeological sites. Pakistan has great potential and offers diverse opportunities for tourists, such as trout fishing in the glacial water of Gilgit Baltistan and Swat rivers, Shandur Polo traditional tournament, paragliding, rock climbing, and trekking in northern areas, Jeep and camel safari in the Cholistan desert, Wild Boar hunting, and crabbing in the Arabian Sea.     

High level of education builds up strong relationship between organizational culture and organization performance in Pakistan

Organizational culture is an important aspect to be considered by dynamic organizations in order to develop some competitive advantage to ensure enhanced organizational performance. This study aims to elaborate the dimensions of cultural construct in organizations of diversified sectors and their implications in Pakistan. Ten organizations were selected for the study. Four hundred and seventy eight questionnaires were received from these organizations. The questionnaires consisted of three parts, of these, the first part had nine elements that were related to organization and personal profile of the respondents, whereas the second part consisted of 60 elements of cultural construct, namely mission, adaptability, consistency, and involvement. In the third part, dependent variable appears as organization performance and was evaluated by asking eight questions. Results are revealed in two models: according to the first model, organization performance increases from negative 56% to positive 92% due to organizational culture with respect to education. And the second model is also significant at the 95% of confidence level (p < 0.05), and there is a positive relationship between independent and dependent variables. Organizational culture is an essential part of organizational success. Core organizational values typically emphasize special themes such as performance excellence, innovation, social responsibility, worker involvement, and quality of work life. Literacy rate in Pakistan is far below the literacy rate in developed countries. Educated employees play an important role in enhancing organizational performance, particularly in corporate setup. To measure affects of education on organizational performance through its construct involvement, consistency, adaptability, and mission have been endeavored in this study.     

Developing measures for performance excellence: is the Baldrige criteria sufficient for performance excellence in higher education?

The implementation of the education criteria for performance excellence (ECPE)—the education version of the Baldrige criteria—is driven by the growing need for performance excellence in higher education. Ironically the criteria meant for performance excellence have no theoretical underpinning and are based on normative performance improvement requirements. The lack of content and internal validity is reflected in some critical weaknesses in the criteria. Based on a critical review, this paper highlights potential improvements in the areas of aligning processes with the organisational mission, operations focus, customer focus, workforce focus, and performance measurement. To help enhance the ECPE, the paper develops performance measures for systematic implementation of the criteria. This is discussed in terms of defining desired outcomes, developing key measures, identifying specific indicators to track performance, and choosing methods to assess performance. The discussions provide a basis for future revisions to the ECPE.     

A model for total quality management in higher education

Total quality management (TQM) is widely recognised as a management philosophy for improving customer satisfaction and organisational performance. However, there is no consensus over the critical success factors of TQM, in particular, in higher education (HE) and developing countries. Literature shows mixed results on the success and applicability of TQM principles in education, thus, underlining the need to revisit the application of TQM principles in HE. This paper identifies the critical success factors of TQM in Pakistani universities. Data was collected from faculty members of universities through questionnaires. The findings reveal that ‘leadership’, ‘vision’, ‘measurement and analysis’, ‘process control and evaluation’, ‘programs design and resources allocation’ and ‘stakeholder focus’ emerge as the critical success factors of TQM in HE. The findings have implications at macro, meso, and micro levels of HE.     

Exploring the motives and success factors behind female entrepreneurs in India

Quality & Quantity - Encouraging women as entrepreneurs in the recent scenario are the government initiative over the globe. Some women started these small enterprises to support their living...     

Examining the extent of and determinants for sustainability assurance quality: The role of audit committees

This study examines the extent of and determinants for sustainability assurance quality. Data comprise sustainability assurance statements published by the top 100 listed companies in Australia and New Zealand from 2017 to 2019. The findings indicate that Australian companies lead their New Zealand counterparts in sustainability assurance. Although sustainability reporting has risen, assurance rates remain significantly low. Accountants dominate the market, and companies prefer to use their own auditors for sustainability assurance work. Sustainability assurance quality is poor and does not vary significantly among Australian and New Zealand companies. Low-quality sustainability assurance plays a limited role in mitigating potential stakeholder–agency conflicts. The regression analysis indicates that audit committee characteristics such as members' independence, industry/market expertise, and attending meetings enhance sustainability assurance quality, whereas audit committee size has no affect. These findings suggest that audit committee characteristics such as independence, industry expertise, and regular meeting attendance have the potential to reduce stakeholder–agency conflicts by improving the quality of sustainability statement assurance. Our findings build on the sustainability assurance literature by exploring current trends in sustainability assurance practices in Australia and New Zealand where corporate governance codes have been recently revised. Further, these findings are timely given recent changes in standards (International Standard on Assurance Engagements [ISAE] 3000 and Global Reporting Initiative [GRI]). Our study contributes to the audit committee literature and sheds light on the role played by audit committee characteristics on sustainability assurance statement quality. The study findings potentially offer useful insights for practitioners, standard setters, and regulators.     

Net-zero emission targets and the role of managerial environmental awareness,customer pressure,and regulatory control toward environmental performance

To avoid the worst effects of global warming, countries agreed to limit warming below 2.0°C and ideally to 1.5°C preindustrial level. This requires countries to drop half of their greenhouse gas emission by 2030 and reach net-zero emission by 2050. In this regard, current study explores the role of green production as a mediator in the impact of managerial environmental awareness, customer pressure, and regulatory control on environmental performance. The data collected from 381 managers was analyzed using structural equation modeling (SEM) technique. Results indicate that customer pressure, regulatory control, and managerial environmental awareness play a pivotal role toward green production, whereas only managerial environmental awareness among them directly influences environmental performance. Green production fully mediates the relationship from customer pressure and regulatory control to environmental performance. However, it partially mediates the relation between managerial environmental awareness and environmental performance. Similarly, the importance of green production for environmental performance is highlighted.     

Perceptions of instructors and administrators of English language on their professional development needs

The present study aims at investigating the professional development needs of instructors and administrators of English language in public universities in North Iraq. The study also attempts to evaluate the professional development of universities’ instructors in improving their personal and professional career while teaching English as a foreign language. Professional development provides teachers with more knowledge, skills, and experiences either personally or professionally throughout the process of teaching. In this study, qualitative research methods were used. There were forty participants involved in this study including English language and literature instructors, heads of departments, assistant heads of departments, and coordinators employed in the 9 public universities of North Iraq. The results showed that there are still no actual tendencies of professional development as a program to be implemented as a continual process of teaching and learning, and there is a lack of professional development opportunities in public universities in North Iraq. The participants also provided significant suggestions on their professional development needs.

     

Impact of asset preferences on firm performance over its life cycle: Is agency theory or neo-classical theory more relevant?

This study extends Dickinson's (2011) firm life cycle classification approach by linking it with the asset preferences and firm performance. This study also resolves the contention between agency theory and neo-classical theory. Based on the data of S&P 500 firms from 2000 to 2019, our results show: First, the effect of current assets on basic earnings per share (BEPS), return on assets (ROA) and Tobin's Q ratio (TQR) decreases from the introduction to decline stage. Second, the influence of fixed assets on TQR increases from the introduction to the declining stage. Our findings suggest that both theories are relevant, and asset acquisition influences the productivity and performance of the firms.     

Lessons for Development from the Japanese Experience

Economic class, defined in relation to its actual control over the economy’s productive assets, is the most useful lens for examining power distribution in the post-Soviet transition and clarifying the neoliberal nature of its social provisioning processes. Using Ukraine as an illustration, I argue that only ownership empowerment of economically powerless classes can democratize the oligarchic transition economies. As an exit strategy from oligarchic capitalism, I recommend that state capitalism be implemented, as a transitory condition only, to divest oligarchs of unlawfully acquired economic power. Then, progressive restructuring of oligarchic companies must be conducted through broadening property ownership to include shared ownership and worker participation in economic decisions. I conclude that only by nurturing the democratic fundamentals of the economy and promoting a social democratic welfare state could a government in post-Euromaidan Ukraine initiate its own social control and create a genuine political and economic democracy.