Challenges confronting the ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative: Social networks and cross-cultural adjustment in CPEC projects

The China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is the flagship program of China’s ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative, created to boost economic cooperation between China and Pakistan. The aims of economic efficiency and enhancement of national interests are widely acknowledged in the literature. Yet, critical issues of developing the capabilities of cross-cultural management in general, and cross-cultural adjustment through cross-cultural understanding and network building in particular, have been largely overlooked. The current research investigates the challenges confronting cross-cultural adjustment among the Chinese and Pakistani employees participating in the CPEC projects. Through a rigorous analysis, we highlight the importance of acculturation experience, cross-cultural networking (i.e. heterophilic), networking behaviour (i.e. guanxi vs. hawala), and factors influencing cross-cultural adjustment, which would enhance the overall performance of the CPEC projects. Our aim is to contribute to the understanding of contextual and condition-driven networking behaviour for cross-cultural adjustment, particularly the need for cross-cultural networking. We contend that organisations in cross-cultural/cross-border projects should encourage cross-cultural mentoring and facilitate cross-national networks to increase the efficacy of such collaborative projects.     

COVID-19 and business renewal: Lessons and insights from the global airline industry

The emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely affected the fortunes of multiple companies around the globe. Accordingly, questions are increasingly being asked about how organizations can revitalize during and after a crisis. Yet, we have limited understanding of how organizations renew themselves during crises over time. We explore this question through the lens and examination of two South-Asian airlines: Pakistan International Airlines and Sri Lankan Airlines. The cases offer important insights into the reasons behind underperformance of state-controlled enterprises and renewal activities. We shed light on strategic renewal (SR) in the wake of increasing liberalization and deregulations in the global airline industry. To this end, we propose a four-stage approach towards renewing such underperforming organizations to respond effectively to black swan events and external shocks.     

Addressing the sustainable development through sustainable procurement: What factors resist the implementation of sustainable procurement in Pakistan?

Sustainable Public Procurement is an integral part of sustainable development because of ever increasing government expenditures. Most of the developing countries lack the required infrastructure which may support public sector sustainability. The aim of this study is to assess the critical factors which resist the implementation of sustainable procurement in public sector of Pakistan. We used Interpretive Structural Model to investigate and rank the interrelationships among different factors of sustainable procurement. With the help of literature and Likert scale instrument, we found twelve key barriers that resist sustainable procurement implementation. We also examined tender documents of 75 different public sector universities of Pakistan but found absence of sustainability element in the documents. External factors namely government legislation and stakeholders' pressure are found most critical barriers as compared to inter organizational factors. The study is also important to highlight the hurdles in the way of sustainable development. First, the government must introduce rules and regulations to implement the sustainable procurement. Stakeholders and donors must put pressure on organizations for adopting sustainable procurement. Sustainability education should be made mandatory part of curriculum and employees should be given regular training on sustainability. Further, public procurement policies at government and institutional levels are required to be revisited towards a circular economy.     

Anticipating independence,no premonition of partition. The lessons of bank branch expansion on the Indian subcontinent, 1939 to 1946

We examine investment in bank branches on the Indian subcontinent in 1939 and 1946. In 1947, the states of India and Pakistan were created from the erstwhile colony of British India. Partition was destabilizing to both economies. We use branch expansion as a proxy for entrepreneur's pre‐partition predictions of the future of these regions. Our results indicate there were no premonitions of economic dislocation. Banks tended to deepen their presence in regions which were already developed. But controlling for the level of 1931 development, branch placement was highest in exactly those regions, Bengal and the Punjab, which were to experience the greatest negative consequences from political division. After 1947, multiple banks failed; most failing banks were registered in the Punjab or Bengal region. In United India, businessmen saw as much promise in regions which were to become Pakistan as in regions which were to become India. After partition, the Pakistan regions were immediately more economically fragile. This event provides a general lesson. Economic integration had intensified over the years of British rule. The abrupt stop to integration harmed especially the smaller, less diversified region. Politicians should be wary of politically dividing regions which have evolved to function as integrated economic units.     

Living on the edge: Household vulnerability to food-insecurity in the Punjab,Pakistan

This study investigates the prevalence, sources and distribution of household vulnerability to food-insecurity in the Punjab, Pakistan. Applying a multilevel model on a large dataset of about 90,000 households, we find that the share of households at risk of becoming food-insecure (vulnerability) is higher than the share that is current food-insecure. Households in rural areas are least vulnerable. In contrast, residents of cities and urban areas experience high level of vulnerability that exceeds the average in the Punjab. The risk-induced vulnerability is higher than the structural-induced vulnerability and vulnerability to idiosyncratic shock is higher than vulnerability to covariate shocks. Findings imply that households in the Punjab are vulnerable not as a result of poor resource endowments but because of risk. The Pakistani government should go beyond mere observed food-insecurity to address the needs of the relatively larger population that is at risk of being food-insecure in the future.     

Measuring Production and Irrigation Efficiencies of Rice Farms: Evidence from the Punjab Province,Pakistan

We employ a non‐parametric approach, data envelopment analysis, to estimate the technical and irrigation efficiency of rice farms in the Punjab Province of Pakistan. We use a cross‐sectional dataset of 80 rice growers, including 45 tube‐well owners and 35 water buyers. Mean technical efficiency scores show that tube‐well owners and water buyers are operating at fairly high efficiency levels, indicating that access to technology is not a major constraint. However, irrigation inefficiency is pronounced, with water buyers being more inefficient than tube‐well owners. A bootstrap truncated regression is used to investigate the determinants of technical and irrigation efficiency. We suggest that groundwater management policies should be designed to address efficiency enhancing factors such as knowledge of crop water consumption requirement, better credit opportunities, outreach extension services and training programs.     

The determinants of tax morale in Pakistan

This paper examines the determinants of tax morale in Pakistan, a country that has struggled with low tax effort over the past decade. We exploit novel data for individual taxpayers collected in 2014 by Pakistan’s Federal Board of Revenue to estimate a binary probit regression model. Our results are generally in line with the findings of the modern empirical literature on tax morale in other countries. Overall, groups with lower labor force participation show more positive attitudes toward tax compliance. Educated respondents exhibit higher tax morale than the illiterate, but only for those with very low or very high educational attainment is tax morale higher than for those with bachelor’s degrees. Tax morale is highest in major industrialized population centers that serve as seats of government. Females show generally higher tax morale than males, however, their attitudes tend to worsen with age to such an extent that elderly females have lower tax morale than elderly males. Our findings on gender suggest potential gains from increasing female labor force participation rates. More generally, addressing the current failures of tax administration and dealing with horizontal inequity arising from administrative weaknesses may contribute materially to improving voluntary compliance.     

I,me, and my everything: Self conceptual traits and compulsive buying behavior

Compulsive buying behavior is detrimental to the well-being of the consumers, brands, and the economy. Therefore, the current study aims to understand how the self-conceptual traits and values underline the corridors to the compulsive buying behavior of fashion apparel products. We collected self-administered data from systematically selected 744 young shopping mall consumers and employed structural equation modeling (SEM) via maximum likelihood method for analysis. Self-conceptual traits (physical and achievement vanity), materialism, and brand consciousness play a pivotal role in the development of compulsive buying behavior in young consumers of Pakistan. Furthermore, the presence of materialistic attitude and brand consciousness in consumers firmly explains vanity-driven consumer's excessive, chronic, and unneeded purchasing of fashion appeal products. Policymakers and fashion apparel marketers should limit the excessive use of self-oriented and self-defining appeals in their marketing campaigns and focus on strategies that build consumer relationships with brands based on mutual benefits and welfare.     

Injuries increase the amputee burden at the prosthesis centre: a 2-year retrospective survey of amputees in a low-income setting

The aim of this study is to survey different types of injuries as the cause for prosthesis fitting in the Institute of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation (IPM&R). This retrospective chart review was conducted at the IPM&R at the Dow University of Health Sciences, from the year 2007 till 2009. We selected all amputees who got enrolled in our institute for prosthesis fitting with major amputations, during the above mentioned period of time. Informed verbal consent was taken from each patient before recording their data at the IPM&R. Anonymity has been maintained. Data for this study was collected through a structured questionnaire, variables included: gender, age, town of origin, cause of amputation, level of amputation, limb involvement (unilateral or bilateral), level and causes of amputations. The data entry and analysis were done on SPSS (Statistical Package of Social Sciences) version 16.0. Of the amputee burden of our study, 55.9% was due to trauma, which is a preventable cause of disability. This is mostly affecting men in the productive age group. New strategies need to be devised in order to alleviate the burden of amputations resulting from preventable injuries.     

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.