The stock market is the barometer of the economy that reflects the overall health and direction of the economic development and is affected by different factors including social, environmental and ...political. It is important to investigate the effect of the political instability on the stock market performance, especially on emerging economies. Therefore, we aim to study the relationship between political instability and stock market performance in Pakistan. To meet our objectives, we used past data from 1996 to 2021. Data are collected from the DataStream data base. MSCI indices are used as the proxy for the Stock market performance of the selected country. World governance six indicators are used in the study as the explanatory variable concentrating the political instability index as the main explanatory variable. Regression analysis is used but two-way robustness analysis was done for the accuracy of the findings through GMM methods and taking GDP as another endogenous variable. Our findings shows that the political stability has significant positive impact on the stock market performance while, political instability has negative impact on stock market performance. Moreover, other governance indicators has a significant positive impact on performance. However, political instability disrupts the operations and economical activities that leads to decrease the investor confidence and also decrease the foreign investment with the increment of the risk in the country. Moreover, our study has some implications for investors to develop the diversified portfolio to minimize the risk and policy makers can increase their foreign direct investment within the economy by controlling the political instability.
In the new era of modern flexible and bendable technology, graphene-based materials have attracted great attention. The excellent electrical, mechanical, and optical properties of graphene as well as ...the ease of functionalization of its derivates have enabled graphene to become an attractive candidate for the construction of flexible devices. This paper provides a comprehensive review about the most recent progress in the synthesis and applications of graphene-based composites. Composite materials based on graphene, graphene oxide (GO), and reduced graphene oxide (rGO), as well as conducting polymers, metal matrices, carbon-carbon matrices, and natural fibers have potential application in energy-harvesting systems, clean-energy storage devices, and wearable and portable electronics owing to their superior mechanical strength, conductivity, and extraordinary thermal stability. Additionally, the difficulties and challenges in the current development of graphene are summarized and indicated. This review provides a comprehensive and useful database for further innovation of graphene-based composite materials.
Purpose
Absorptive capacity being an emerging field of research has been studied in different perspectives both in technological aspects and soft issues. Although an original study of absorptive ...capacity placed employees as playing pivoting role in the development of absorptive capacity (Cohen and Levinthal, 1990), unfortunately, there are limited studies on behavior of employees toward this emerging construct. This study aims to explore the impact of employees’ behavior in the development of absorptive capacity. Specifically, impact of knowledge sharing, learning adaptability and organizational commitment on absorptive capacity has been evaluated in this study.
Design/methodology/approach
This cross-sectional study was conducted at the pharmaceutical firms of Pakistan. The data were collected through random sampling from middle managers as a unit of analysis of this study. The rationale of the unit of analysis is that the maximum information is handled/accessed by the middle managers in the perspective of Pakistan. The data were collected from 170 respondents on a five-point Likert scale with the response rate of 66.7 per cent. Data were collected from different genders and different age groups with different qualification levels.
Findings
All independent variables showed significant positive correlations with overall absorptive capacity (ACAP). At the same time, different relationships of all independent variables were found in different ways with different significant levels. The results showed that different strategies may be adopted to manage the external knowledge for competition in turbulent environment. For example, organizational commitment may be incorporated at strategy formulation only, whereas the Adaptability at both routine and strategy formulation stage. As all independent variables showed no correlation with Acquisition it is concluded that Acquisition is purely a routine function, and instead of coordination, the routine processes must be emphasized.
Research limitations/implications
This study focused on the data from the middle managers of the pharmaceutical firms only. The results may not be generalized to the sectors. Another limitation is that the respondents of the study were middle managers. It was made intentional to see the impact of management aspects other than organizational mechanisms, as discussed by Cohen and Levinthal (1990) and Jansen et al. (2005) in their studies. The results on the basis of the data collected from other entities of the organization may differ. This is a cross-sectional study, and a longitudinal study may give different results.
Practical implications
Absorptive capacity has the capability to absorb new knowledge and plays an important role in the development of organizational processes to compete in the turbulent environment. It is dependent not only on technological infrastructure but also on the employees’ behaviors and attitudes. This study gives insights about the knowledge process activities and employment of human resource at each phase of absorptive capacity in relation to their behaviors toward knowledge process.
Social implications
Development of organizational process with knowledge management plays an important role in the capacity building, which ultimately enhances social paradigm of activities.
Originality/value
Pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan acquire technologies from foreign countries and have very limited research and development of their own. As technology is upgraded by the foreign companies as a continuous improvement process, local firms of Pakistan are required to absorb the new knowledge with the same pace. The study highlights importance of human capital in the development of this capability.
The objective of this study is to determine optimum machining parameters during high-speed turning (up to 1500 m/min) of Al 6061 T6 alloy. The chosen machining parameters optimize the trade-off ...between three competing responses: specific cutting energy, material removal rate, and surface roughness. These responses were first analyzed independently to establish their conflicting nature. Individual responses were then combined to formulate a multi-objective function using gray relational analysis augmented with analytic hierarchy process. Multi-objective function was optimized using regression analysis and response surface optimization. Analysis of variance results revealed cutting feed to be the most significant machining parameter affecting multi-objective function, followed by cutting speed and depth of cut. The proposed machining parameters resulted in reduction of specific cutting energy by 5% and an improvement of 33% in material removal rate while surface roughness remained unaffected.
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the roles of middle managers (MM) in the knowledge-intensive environment as perceived by the employees, MM and principal decision makers (DM) in the ...context of the absorptive capacity process. Design/methodology/approach In this qualitative study, the data were collected from pharmaceutical companies of Pakistan by using purposive sampling and the results were analyzed based on the thematic analysis approach. Findings The results show that employees and principal DM have a strong agreement between them regarding the roles of MM; however, MM have contrasted views. Some of the roles were agreed to by all the respondents. Research limitations/implications This study has focused on the roles of MM (common and conflicting) in knowledge-intensive pharmaceutical companies of Pakistan. The results of other studies on the roles of MM in the context of traditional and hybrid organizations may differ from this study. Practical implications The results of this study show the importance of role specificity of MM for the smooth absorptive capacity process. While dealing with complex knowledge structures in pharmaceutical companies, this study gives strong input to HR mangers and consultants and practitioners as they continuously handle complex knowledge process activities. Originality/value The study has explored the specific roles of MM by using the thematic analysis approach.
Flexible Job Shop Scheduling Problem (FJSSP) is an extension of the classical Job Shop Scheduling Problem (JSSP). The FJSSP is known to be NP-hard problem with regard to optimization and it is very ...difficult to find reasonably accurate solutions of the problem instances in a rational time. Extensive research has been carried out in this area especially over the span of the last 20 years in which the hybrid approaches involving Genetic Algorithm (GA) have gained the most popularity. Keeping in view this aspect, this article presents a comprehensive literature review of the FJSSPs solved using the GA. The survey is further extended by the inclusion of the hybrid GA (hGA) techniques used in the solution of the problem. This review will give readers an insight into use of certain parameters in their future research along with future research directions.
With the growing social and environmental concerns, the integration of sustainability in supplier selection and order allocation is of paramount importance. This research presents a holistic ...multi-phase decision-support framework to solve the sustainable supplier selection and order allocation problem for the multi-echelon supply chain. The framework comprises a multi-objective mixed-integer nonlinear programming mathematical model augmented with fuzzy multi-criteria decision making techniques and forecast demand. The various economic, environmental and social objectives were optimized for a multi-modal transportation network of a multi-echelon supply chain. The results of the mathematical model highlighted the impact of multi-modal transportation on the total cost and total travel time. The results also demonstrated the relationship between the multi-modal transport network and the environmental impact of the supply chain. The proposed multi-phase holistic decision support framework can be used in the comprehensive sustainability-based analysis of supply chains.
The winter fog/haze events in northeastern Pakistan and surrounding regions of India are often mixed with pollutants to form smog, and consequently damage human health and hampers daily life in the ...form of fatalities through road accidents, road blockages, and flight delays. The persistent anti-cyclonic conditions can further trigger the temperature inversion and prolong the smog event from days to weeks. The present study provides characteristics and lasting mechanisms of two persistent winter fog events (2016–2017) in Lahore, Pakistan, by using the fifth generation of European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecast (ECMWF) ERA5 reanalysis data and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Hybrid Single-Particle Lagrangian Integrated Trajectory (HYSPLIT) model simulated with Global Data Assimilation System (GDAS) meteorological data. The results showed the presence of strong low-level anti-cyclonic circulations with wind speed less than 1.5 m/s from November to January over Eastern Punjab for two foggy winter seasons. The deep inversion during the fog events was observed that prevented the natural ventilation of air in the upper atmosphere and ultimately the smoke and heavy pollutant accumulated in the lower atmosphere. Furthermore, high relative humidity greater than 83% near the ground indicates a high condensation rate for water vapors to form fog near the ground. The analysis of the NOAA HYSPLIT trajectory model at different vertical heights revealed that smoke from stubble crop burning in the first week of November 2017 in Punjab and Haryana mixed with fog under favorable stable conditions that lead to intense smog over Lahore. This study will help to understand and to develop a forecasting mechanism of fog events by characterizing the meteorological conditions of the study area and to minimize the adverse impacts of smog on public health.
PurposeThis study aims to investigate the various systems in logistics industry of Pakistan through the lens of the World Bank's logistics performance indicators (LPI) and understand their impact on ...the China–Pakistan economic corridor (CPEC) that is a vital part of China's belt and road initiative (BRI).Design/methodology/approachIn this study thematic analysis was performed on twenty-three semi-structured interviews with experts in Pakistan's logistics and supply chain sector to gain an in-depth insight into the logistics performance relative to CPEC.FindingsA performance gap exists in the logistics systems in Pakistan, both for hard and soft infrastructure. The significant challenges are the inefficiencies of the government, minimal use of information and computing technology (ICT), and an incapable workforce. It is essential to be cognizant of the ground realities and amendments required in the existing policies and practices in light of the challenges faced and best practices adopted by developed and developing countries with good standing in logistics performance. This study will guide policymakers and practitioners for hard and soft logistics infrastructure improvement, which may benefit economic corridors in general and CPEC in particular.Originality/valueThis study contributes to the existing literature by highlighting the role of ICT in improving both soft and hard logistics infrastructure, which can lead to significant development of economic corridors. The study makes use of a case study of the CPEC to demonstrate the lack of ICT can hamper the growth of an economic corridor despite billions of dollars of investment in the hard infrastructure development projects.
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