Search results

1. Understand the impact of macroeconomic factors on investment portfolios:Students will learn how macroeconomic conditions, such as changes in policy rates by central banks, influence investment decisions and portfolio performance. They will analyze how these factors can lead to significant financial challenges for managed funds.2. Develop strategic financial decision-making skills:Through examining the case, students will practice making strategic financial decisions under uncertain and volatile market conditions. They will explore various options for managing an underperforming investment fund and the potential outcomes of these choices.3. Evaluate risk management techniques:The case provides a platform for students to understand different risk management strategies, including the trade-offs between holding long-term bonds versus reinvesting in short-term securities. They will assess the risks and benefits of these strategies and how they impact fund stability and performance.4. Enhance skills in portfolio management:Students will gain practical experience in portfolio management by examining the fund’s investment decisions, performance metrics and the process of presenting and defending investment proposals. This will involve analyzing the financial and strategic implications of different asset allocations.5. Apply theoretical concepts to real-world scenarios:The case encourages students to apply theoretical concepts such as yield to maturity (YTM) calculation, discounted cash flow analysis, capital asset pricing models and benchmarking against indices to real-world scenarios. This helps bridge the gap between academic principles and practical application in finance.

The case study centered on the Sukkur IBA University in Pakistan, highlighting the challenges faced by its student-managed fund (SMF). From November 2015 to January 2023, the case study offers a comprehensive examination of the fund’s activities in the financial services and higher education domains. Mr Shankar Talreja, the fund manager, contemplating with significant investment losses because of macroeconomic fluctuations, specifically the rising policy rates by the State Bank of Pakistan. These losses challenge the sustainability of the SMF, which serves as a practical learning platform for students. The primary dilemma revolves around whether to continue operating the fund amid consistent losses or to dissolve it, redirecting resources to other educational programs. This case focuses on financial decision-making, risk management and investment strategies, tailored for academic settings.

This case study is intended for use in graduate- and undergraduate-level courses on corporate strategy, investment management and finance. It is appropriate for graduate students who are looking to apply these concepts more deeply as well as undergraduate students who have a strong foundation in finance due to the complexity of the financial concepts involved, such as risk management, portfolio strategy and macroeconomic impacts.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS1: Accounting and Finance.

This study aims to test the Kuznets curve between economic growth and child labor, along with the influence of exports, household size and rural population in the context of Pakistan.

To achieve the research objective, this study applied the unit root test, bound co-integration test, and autoregressive distributive lags (ARDL) method for the period of 1972–2021.

The findings show an inverted U-shaped relationship between economic growth and child labor indicating that at the beginning stage of economic development, child labor increases due to lower per capita household and subsequently, in the long-run of economic development, child labor decreases due to the higher per capita households. Moreover, the results also show that exports, household size and rural population have a positive influence on increasing child labor.

The policymakers and government of Pakistan need to focus on long-term economic growth policies, ensure free quality education and cheap equipment which practices minimum manpower to reduce the threat of child labor.

Having long-run economic growth, the government of Pakistan need to equally benefit the households and the poor population to reduce child labor and enhance the social welfare of society.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that investigates the Kuznets curve relationship between economic growth and child labor in the context of Pakistan. Moreover, this study contributes to the reduction in child labor through long-term economic growth in the context of Pakistan.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2023-0387

Achieving sustainability goals for manufacturing firms depends on green human resource management practices and green intellectual capital. This study explores how sustainable approaches, such as green human resource management practices, green intellectual capital, sustainable leadership and green innovation, enhance sustainable performance. Therefore, this study aims to determine whether green intellectual capital and innovation mediate between green human resources management practices and sustainable performance in Pakistan’s manufacturing industry.

The data were collected from 458 executives representing 155 (SMEs) in the manufacturing sector in Pakistan using a self-administered questionnaire. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was employed for the data analysis.

The results indicated that green human resource management practices positively impact green intellectual capital, green innovation and sustainable performance. Additionally, green intellectual capital significantly affects both green innovation and sustainable performance. Furthermore, green intellectual capital and innovation mediate the relationship between green human resource management practices and sustainable performance. Results also reveal that sustainable leadership significantly moderates the relationships between green human resource management practices, green intellectual capital and green innovation.

The results of this study assist practitioners in appreciating and assessing the significance of green intellectual capital and green human resource management techniques. It also emphasizes the importance of green innovation and sustainable leadership in fostering sustainable performance.

This study guides managers and policymakers on how green human resource management practices, intellectual capital, innovation and sustainable leadership enable firms to achieve sustainable performance goals.

The aim of this research is to examine the moderating impact of financial development (FD) on the relationship between remittance inflows and economic growth in 82 developing countries.

This research utilized dynamic panel data estimation, specifically the system generalized method of moment (GMM), on a panel data set comprised of 82 developing economies from 2000 to 2022.

The findings indicate that the interaction of remittances and FD proxies by size and depth creates a substitute effect to reduce economic growth. In contrast, the interaction of remittances and FD proxy by efficiency creates complementarity by attracting remittances that accelerate economic growth. The robustness of the findings is further checked across upper- and lower-middle-income countries, respectively.

This study assists policymakers in attracting remittance inflows through FD and spending them in sustainable, productive ways to boost economic growth in developing economies.

The policymakers should have interactive remittances–FD policies to improve not only economic growth but also the social welfare of the developing economies.

This work contributes significantly to the underexplored literature on the moderating impact of FD on the relationship between remittance inflows and economic growth in the developing countries context. This research utilizes maximum proxies of FD that not only examine the remittance but also investigate how FD various proxies shape the relationship between remittances and economic growth.

Amidst the stressful work environment in the healthcare sector, employees struggle to maintain prosocial behavior and work reattachment. The potential role of awe and mindfulness in addressing these issues remains unexplored. This study investigates how coworker prosocial behavior affects work reattachment while considering the mediating role of mindfulness and the moderating role of awe.

Using a quantitative research design, data were collected through a survey questionnaire from 356 healthcare professionals in Pakistan. The data were analyzed in SPSS and AMOS for reliability and validity statistics, as well as for hypothesis testing.

The findings revealed a significant link between coworker prosocial behavior and work reattachment. Mindfulness acted as a mediator between coworker prosocial behavior and work reattachment, while awe had a positive moderating effect on these relationships.

The findings emphasize the need for fostering these elements to manage stress, support employees and improve work reattachment.

The existing literature lacks empirical evidence regarding the impact of coworker prosocial behavior on employee outcomes, and this study contributes by examining the roles of awe and mindfulness in the healthcare sector.

The authors examined how employee led exchange benefits the organizations. Specifically, the authors aim at investigating the mediating role of family supportive supervision between employee performance and taking charge behavior. The authors further examined leader-member exchange (LMX) as a boundary condition between employee performance and family supportive supervision.

The authors collected data from 295 employees and their supervisors working in various public sector organizations of Pakistan on a convenience basis. Specifically, data on family supportive supervision and LMX was collected from employees; whereas, data on employee performance and taking charge was collected from their supervisors between June–September 2021.

The statistical analysis reveals that high-performing employees are reciprocated by the high family-supportive supervision which increases their work-life balance and they further reciprocate by showing a propensity to take charge. In addition, LMX is noted to strengthen the association between employees' performance and family supportive supervision.

This study explains how managers can extend the stream of employees' performance by highlighting the role of family-supportive supervision and LMX. The managers through high LMX and provision of family-supportive supervision can boost the employees' outcomes from job performance to extra-role performance (i.e. taking charge).

This study adds value to the existing body of knowledge by considering performance as a predictor of various organizational-level consequences. Recent studies have considered the negative consequences of employees' performance, while the positive aspect has been called for an investigation.

Academic research is now moving toward understanding best practices that may be coped up by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to increase their performance. However, the implementation of CG is not free from cost and other prevalent issues that create hindrances in the implementation of CG practices in SMEs. However, there is a lack of literature related to these issues and costs that may hinder in implementation of effective CG practices. There is also a need to incorporate new theory with the literature of corporate governance to define cost, issues and hindrances in the process of corporate governance of SMEs. Hence, this chapter is written purposively to describe these limiting factors concerning SMEs to increase research and improve policymaking. Therefore, the significance of this study has several folds, and with epistemology as the base of the study, this work is a rare study that tends to improve academia, research and policy-making.

This paper aims to investigate how employees’ perception of the ethical conduct of their leaders affects their level of job stress and job satisfaction in the restaurant industry, specifically in the context of Pakistan. Therefore, this research investigated the relationship between ethical leadership and job satisfaction, and job stress as a mediator between ethical leadership and job satisfaction.

This research is based on a quantitative method, employed a survey strategy, utilized a cross-sectional research design, and data was collected using a convenient sampling technique. In all, 236 questionnaires from the front-line employees of the restaurants were used for data analysis. Initially, normality (univariate and multivariate), demographic description, descriptive analysis and common method bias were computed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v23) software. Moreover, direct and indirect effects were conducted using SmartPLS v3 software.

Results of this research indicate a (i) negative relationship between ethical leadership and job stress, (ii) positive relationship between ethical leadership and job satisfaction, (iii) negative relationship between job stress and job satisfaction and (iv) job stress play a mediating role in the relationship between ethical leadership and job satisfaction.

This study highlights several theoretical and practical implications, thereby providing more insight into how job satisfaction can be maximized in the restaurants of Pakistan.

This research is novel, as it highlights the direct and indirect effect of ethical leadership behavior on job satisfaction, specifically in the context of the restaurants of Pakistan.

The study examines the influence of quality management practices (QMP) on project performance (PP) and the indirect association of QMP with PP through the mediating role of intellectual capital (IC). QMP may be one of the most successful strategies to improve project performance. Drawing on the resource-based view (RBV) and institutional theory, the study examines the impact of QMP on PP through the mediating role of IC.

The sample frame of 329 employees in different NGOs and public healthcare organizations was selected. Data were analyzed on SmartPLS 3.2.7 by applying SEM.

The outcome reveals that QMP has a significant impact on PP. The results found partial mediation of IC on the linkage between QMP and PP.

The key research limitation was that it examined only two antecedents (QMP and IC) of project performance based on RBV and institutional theory, which did not yield deep insights from other institutional forces that could influence the model, such as mimetic pressure, institutional pressure and business orientation.

QMP is highly significant in the healthcare sector; however, research on the relationship between QMP, IC and PP is lacking. Thus, this research is an initial attempt to investigate these relationships empirically. We add to our understanding of RBV by investigating the role of IC in mediating the QMP-PP linkage.