Finance

The Purpose of this research study is to measure the comparative financial performance of Islamic banking sector and conventional banking sector of Pakistan in terms of profitability, liquidity and risk & solvency. This research work also facilitate to all the stakeholders of Islamic banking sector and conventional banking sector including country heads of banks, branch managers, shareholders, creditors, investors, religious segment of population and regulatory bodies of Pakistan. Sample size consist of ten banks selected by using the conveyance sampling techniques including five leading Islamic banks (Meezan Bank, Bank Islami, Burj Bank, Dubai Islami Bank and Albarka Bank) and five conventional banks (MCB Bank Ltd, United Bank Ltd, Allied Bank Ltd, Habib Bank Ltd & Bank of the Punjab). The findings of the study indicated that conventional banking stream dominating on Islamic banking sector with respect to profitability at the cost of worst liquidity and high risk. Islamic banking sector dominated on conventional banking stream with reference to liquidity and risk & solvency at the cost of low profitability.

During the recent years, the efficiency factor has been focused by many institutions, organizations and companies as one of the key factors affecting on the manufacture; and therefore, manpower efficiency has been taken into much consideration as one of the components of whole efficiency. The improvement of efficiency, as a principle for developing the industry and consequently for increasing the employment level and the effect on many enormous variables, has found the special position in the economic literature and the improvement of efficiency as one of the best and the most suitable ways is considered for improving the situation of that unit and establishing and guaranteeing the profitability continuation of the company. This Article follows the examination of effective factors on manpower efficiency of vehicle-manufacturing companies and the rate of their effectiveness. Based on the arisen results, the manufacture variables, the rate of capital, salary, wages, bonuses and exports have the direct meaningful effect on manpower efficiency and the performed investment for development, researches and management changes arisen from the privatization have the negative relationship in proportion to the manpower efficiency.

SHG is the best-root for triggering IGPs in rural and tribal areas and especially areas not properly connected to mainstream living. Coined with the multi-pronged objectives of development and empowerment of weaker section of the society, the strategy and methodology adopted to address the issues are taking care of the need of the marginalized at different economic strata’s through creating enabling environment for addressing the issues. The study is broadly measuring the level and impact of micro credit interventions, functionality and viability of institutions to management the credit, Micro Credit Plans for Self-help Groups as well as the sustainability of the initiatives following a peoples approach.

Put your money in trust, not trust in money’ attracts the small investors who are risk neutral or risk averse. Small investors prefer some kind of collective investment vehicle which can pool their managerial resources, invest it in securities and distribute returns among them on cooperative principles. This led to the growth of mutual fund industry in developed and developing capital market. The mutual fund industry in India, which is a little over three decades old, has undergone a sea change since the introduction of mutual fund regulations in 1993.This research paper covers various aspects of mutual funds industry in India, Starting with the basic concept of mutual fund, it throws light on the growth of Indian mutual fund industry and its present status, the different types of mutual funds based on structure, investment and special schemes, performance, problems and future of mutual funds industry in India.

This paper analyzes and investigates decision making process of equity investors for trading in stock exchanges of Pakistan. Survey research technique has been used to analyze the investors’ attitude about the market’s efficiency and to test different theories of traditional finance like efficient market hypotheses (EMH), rational investors and random walk hypothesis (RWH). The survey questionnaire forms were sent to 510 individuals identified as equity investors in stock exchanges of Pakistan, out of which 248 survey questionnaire forms have been received back. The results of descriptive statistics have indicated that investors are not completely rational individuals as supposed by theories of traditional finance.

The decision to spend on Research and Development (R&D) is very crucial for the growth of any firm. This study explores the determinants of R&D intensities in selected Indian firms that spend on R&D activities. The impact of business house affiliation on R&D activities is also taken as a crucial factor determining R&D activities. The study found that R&D behavior for the period 2003-2009 is different from the year 2010. The year 2010 being the recovery year there has been significant rise in R&D spending among the selected firms. As there are some interrelated variables in the model, the simultaneity in the models is verified with Hausman tests and then two-stage least square method is applied for the empirical estimation and analysis. Outward orientation, profitability, imports of capital goods, advertisement etc. turned out to be important determinants of R&D intensity. Business group affiliation as such has a negative role in R&D intensity except for top-50 business houses in certain year.

With the public corporations in Kenya embracing strategic management which was heralded to bring the much needed improvement in their performance, the much awaited change has not been as widely seen as was anticipated but is rather slow and at times even retrogressive. There is still concern about poor performance of these public corporations. This can only mean one thing. The strategies are not working or in academic terms, the strategies have not been successfully implemented. Studies have shown the various aspects that contribute to the success of strategy and these have been adopted by the public corporation. This leaves one field not explored- The effect of stakeholder involvement on the successful implementation of strategy. However with public corporations, caution has to be taken on which stakeholder to involve and to what extent. This thus called for the present study to analyze the effect of involving each stakeholder in strategic planning and implementation on successful strategy implementation. Due to the number of public corporations and their homogeneity, a study on one should reflect on what happens in the others. This is the rationale for using KEBS. The study used a desk research design and explored much on the effects of stakeholder involvement on successful strategy implementation in public corporations.

The main purpose of this study is to examine the impact of the corporate governance on firm performance. The variables, employed in this study to measure firm performance, return on assets. And Board Size, Board Composition, CEO/Chairman Duality as indicator of corporate governance. For this purpose sample data collected for listed banks in Pakistan from 2005 to 2010. The empirical results indicate that firm performance have a significant relation to board Size, board composition, On the other hand, firm performance has insignificant impact on CEO/Chairman Duality.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the relationship between growth in agricultural sector and poverty in Pakistan. It explores that how much the poor people have gained from growth in agricultural sector of Pakistan by considering growth magnitude and benefits obtained by the poor people resulting from growth for the period of 1985 to 2005 through applying OLS Regression Technique. The results indicate that the variable of growth in agricultural sector is significantly and negatively associated with the variable of poverty, i.e., the growth in agricultural sector of Pakistan will result in reducing the level of poverty in Pakistan.

This study examines the causal relationship of selected bank financial ratios on lending to small and medium Enterprise (SMEs) in Nigeria. The data used for this study were gathered from Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) statistical Bulletin for a period of 27 years (1983 – 2010). Granger causality and OLS were applied to a set of differenced bank financial ratios and it was found that a critical gap in bank intermediation still exists in the lending to SME sector in Nigeria. A positive relationship exists between ratio of Rural Loan to Deposit (RRLD) and aggregate liquidity ratio (LR) while the causal relationship flows from cash reserve ratio to liquidity ratio. The result suggests that the excess liquidity in the banking system between 1983 – 2010 did not improve the flow of credit to SMEs in Nigeria. Consequently, the banks have failed in their social role of financing the SMEs by restricting the spread of fiat money contrary to the expectations of the Keynes – Schumpeter model. There is also no evidence to show that the banks are dealing significantly with the problem of information asymmetries through improved relationship lending to the SMEs in Nigeria. Monetary Policy should therefore target critically bank variables (LR, CRR and LDR) while ensuring compliance with prudential standards and balancing aggregate portfolios between large and small businesses. Restoring the mandatory credit allocation regime could also help in improving SMEs lending.