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Upon completion of this case study, students will be able to identify the key changes in the marketing environment affecting the industry, demonstrate the elements of the marketing mix in the fast-food industry, illustrate the crucial elements of customer value-driven marketing strategy, critique relevant marketing strategies that are crucial for business development and formulate effective market expansion strategies for Al-Chef Cafetaria to achieve sustainable competitive advantage in the VUCA world.

The Al-Chef Cafeteria, established by Ali Arif, one of the partners, became one of the most happening quick service restaurants (QSRs) in Patna. However, the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted the once-thriving fast-food market in the city as the government imposed lockdowns to restrict the onslaught of the pandemic. The relentless waves of the pandemic in the subsequent months severely impacted India and worsened the economic challenges. Consumer behaviour towards outdoor eateries, especially QSRs, became uncertain, which led to the exit of several smaller players in the industry. In June 2021, because of an uncertain future, Arif was forced to contemplate different business trajectories for survival and growth. Arif’s resilience was highlighted, as he endeavoured to revive his dream cafe. To start the café, Arif had quit a stable job in the Middle East. His journey mirrored the broader narrative of businesses navigating uncharted waters as the cafe transformed from a flourishing enterprise to one reeling from adversity and looking forward to undergoing a strategist lens for revival. Against an uncertain business landscape and wavering consumer sentiment, Arif grappled with the question of whether a return to normalcy was possible or if a new-normal system would emerge. This case study highlighted the challenges and uncertainties faced by the Al-Chef Cafeteria post-pandemic and the strategies needed to rewire the previous business model to chart a new growth trajectory.

This case is suitable for postgraduate-level marketing management or sales management (business development) courses in any of the following programmes: MBA programme, PG diploma in marketing management/PG diploma in hospitality and tourism management/PG diploma in sales management/PG diploma in food and beverage service/PG diploma in service management, part-time diploma programmes in management and executive programmes in management.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.

The purpose of this paper is to assess impact of destination brand experience (DBE) on destination advocacy (DA) and to assess the role of trust and loyalty as moderators in the relationship.

Data was collected from a sample of 595 tourists from destinations in India. This study used structural equation modeling and moderated regression analysis to test the hypotheses.

Results confirm the impact of all four dimensions of DBE (sensory, behavioral, affective and intellectual) on DA. Furthermore, the moderating role of loyalty and trust is established.

The study sample is drawn from only few Indian destinations. India boasts of several different types of destinations (wildlife, adventure, heritage, etc.). Future studies may do a comparative analysis of the influence of DBE dimensions across diverse destination types.

Although past studies have examined the association between DBE and outcomes such as visit intentions, intention to recommend a destination, there is paucity of research that explores the direct association between DBE and DA. The uniqueness of the study lies in associating loyalty and trust as moderators in the relationship of DBE and DA.

The qualitative study was conducted to examine work-family (W-F) balance practices in the collectivist culture of Pakistan. Keeping in view the context of Pakistan, three W-F practices, flexibility, childcare arrangement and social support, were studied by applying the theory of W-F balance.

In total, 16 In-depth interviews from the bank operating in three different cities in Sindh, Pakistan.

Data analysis showed that providing economic benefits and short working hours can achieve W-F balance. Nevertheless, the provision of flexibility in terms of short working hours is more important than economic benefits in balancing both domains of life. Secondly, the provision of childcare arrangements helps to balance work and home life. This practice favors females more compared to males. Thirdly, supervisor and co-worker support is most important in creating W-F balance than family support.

It is crucial to understand the W-F balance practices in developing countries; the bank should encourage policies related to flexibility, childcare arrangement and social support in Pakistan. In addition, banks should take the initiative to develop a way that facilitates the employees' social support, which should consequently help to achieve the W-F balance.

It is crucial to understand the W-F balance practices in developing countries; the bank should encourage policies related to flexibility, childcare arrangement and social support in Pakistan. Banks should take an initiative to develop a way that facilitates the employees' social support which should consequently help to achieve the W-F balance.

This research has a tremendous impact on society due to current changes in South Asian countries including Pakistan constitute a socio-cultural transition that directly affects working and family life.

Given the importance of W-F balance in recent times, the authors identified and extended the W-F balance practices in the collectivist culture of Pakistan. This study is novel and contributes to the W-F balance literature by considering most primary W-F balance practices that employees require.

Gossip spreads like wildfire, damaging relationships, decaying trust and creating a negative work environment. This study aims to investigate the relationship between negative workplace gossip (NWG) and quiet quitting (QQ), while considering the mediating effects of workplace stress and emotional exhaustion (EE).

Drawing upon the conservation of resource theory, the study aimed to comprehend this association in the context of 267 employees from diverse sectors in India, including health care, IT, banking and education. Through a three-wave time lagged survey design, using partial least squares structural equation modeling, significant findings were uncovered.

The results revealed a positive link between NWG and QQ. There was also a positive correlation between NWG and workplace stress. In addition, workplace stress and EE were found to mediate the relationship between NWG and QQ.

The findings have implications for both theory and practice. Organizations should consider implementing strategies to mitigate the prevalence of negative gossip and foster a healthier work environment, promoting employee well-being and retention.

The study reveals the “black box” between NWG and QQ, adding to the body of knowledge on the novel concept of QQ. Second, the study expands the literature on NWG, by examining impact path of how it leads to stress and EE, leading to QQ.

In this chapter, I uncover the jail diaries of a revolutionary woman of the 20th century Pakistan, Akhtar Baloch. Although feminism in Pakistan has oscillated between liberal and postcolonial camps, through reading Akhtar's diaries, compiled as Prison Narratives (2017), I center Akhtar's own struggles for Sindh, along with the resistance of the women she met in the prison convicted for the murders of their husbands, to better theorize Marxist Feminism in Pakistan that overturns the structures that commodify women through love and revolution. My article will show the commodification of women's bodies; the “sale” of women through marriage as the goal of this commodification; the lovelessness and alienation women experience in commodified marriages; the unexpected fall in love with someone whom it is subversive for the commodified wife to love; the subversion of this unexpected event that leads to the attempted resolution of this tension through murder; the separation of the lovers through the incarceration of the woman by the capitalist-patriarchal state; and finally, the unexpected outcome (albeit the most common one) that the male lover abandons his female lover once she's jailed, but the defiantly brave female lover finds platonic love in jail through close female friendships with other women who are similarly brave in both love and in revolution. Through this exposition, I show that Akhtar's diaries provide a way for us to build on Marxist Feminist theory through a theory of love and revolution from a Sindhi feminist perspective.

The purpose of this article is twofold: to identify the characteristics of research on organisation and management in Arab countries and to find out whether research results support the culture‐free hypothesis or not. A thorough search of sixteen journals, research monographs, books and theses produced only 35 empirical studies. Most of these studies were exploratory, descriptive, and used small convenient samples. Although some findings supported the culture‐bound hypothesis, major conceptual and methodological weaknesses in these studies throw doubt upon the validity of their results.

This study examines the impact of urbanization on growth and the role of international financial flows in the urbanization-growth nexus.

The study applies the panel least square estimation to examine the impact of urbanization on growth using panel data from 50 developing countries from 1980 to 2016. Further, addressing the endogeneity issues in panel estimations, the study applies the dynamic System-GMM approach to investigate the role of financial flows in urbanization and their impact on economic growth in developing countries.

Contrary to the conventional literature, we found a non-linear (U-shaped) relationship between urbanization and growth. Our findings demonstrate that growth is reduced at a lower level of urbanization due to less availability, concentration, and synchronization of production factors. The concentration of physical and human capital and technological advancement in urban areas help developing countries achieve economic growth at a higher level of urbanization. Robust estimations divulged that foreign aid spent on infrastructure development and expanding urban regions helps promote economic growth. Nevertheless, as a resilient factor, remittances buffer the rapid pace of urbanization and reduce growth by resisting the migration of labor and capital from rural to urban areas.

The paper's findings suggest policymakers promote urban infrastructure and development using local and international funds since its increased level spurs economic growth. Further, the results advise policymakers to reduce aid dependency, attract FDI, and facilitate the easy and low-cost transfer of money to promote remittance inflows since both FDI and remittances positively contribute to economic growth.

The paper contributes significantly to the literature by determining the U-shaped relationship between urbanization and growth and highlighting the role of international flows in the urbanization-growth nexus.

Pakistan, being a developing country, still has a long way to go to see progress in the field of research managers and administrators (RMAs). This chapter briefly explains the profession’s ecosystem in the country, its evolution, available data, and the future of the field. The type and quantum of extramural research happening in Pakistan are quite significant in terms of the number of grants as well as the total annual funding. Despite this progress, the growth of research management and administration as a profession is slow-paced because of the lack of recognition of RMAs as a profession, complemented by the dearth of schools that teach this formally in the country. The future, however, sounds promising as more and more people are gradually undertaking this dynamic field and working formally to acquire the knowledge and skills to become better research management and administration professionals.

This paper aims to study Qard-al-Hasan (QH) (good loan) from the stand point of its possible application to agricultural farming with a view to augmenting the sources of Riba (interest)-free agricultural financing for Muslim farmers of Islamic countries like Pakistan.

This paper is a study of QH (good loan) from the stand point of its possible application to agricultural farming with a view to augmenting the sources of Riba (interest)-free agricultural financing for Muslim farmers of Islamic countries like Pakistan.

The study reports that Riba-free financing is essentially needed by poor Muslim farmers who, owing to prohibition of Riba, do not rely on interest (Riba)-based financing. The study also shows that QH is a viable option for fulfilling this need and is beneficial for the farmers as well as for the Islamic banks or financial institutions.

The case of QH as a potential mode of agricultural financing, as presented in this paper, is based on a theoretical or conceptual framework. The findings need to be further substantiated with empirical evidence. A future study, based on reliable empirical data would certainly add value to the subject.

Islamic banks and financial institutions typically rely on Musharakah (partnership), Murabaha (sale with profit), Ijarah (leasing), Salam (advance payment sale), Istisna’ (manufacturing contract), etc., and they rarely use QH as a mode of financing. Despite its huge utility, QH is practically non-existent in its application as an agricultural financing instrument. This paper presents a case for QH that can be adopted by Islamic banks or financial institutions for provision of the much needed financing for the small farmers of Islamic countries, as well as those living in non-Islamic countries.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between uncertain political events and Pakistani Stock Markets from May 1999 to December 2011.

Using the mean-adjusted return model and event study methodology and by comparing the market efficiency between the two government style, i.e. autocratic and democratic, the authors determined that how uncertain political events are affecting Pakistani Stock Markets.

The empirical result shows that political events have an impact on the Karachi Stock Exchange (KSE) returns. Moreover, the paper derives from the results that the KSE is inefficient for a short span of time, after 15 days KSE absorbs the noisy information. The political situation in Pakistan was more stable in autocratic government structure than in democratic structure but it is difficult to state that the stock markets are more efficient in Autocracy because only few events took place during an autocratic regime and magnitude of events was not same in the autocratic and democratic government structure.

This study is unique in its nature as it examines the effect of multiple political events on stock market returns in Pakistan simultaneously and is expected to contribute significantly in the capital market literature of Pakistan in particular.