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This empirical analysis tries to examine determinants of private foreign direct investment (FDI) in Pakistan using the bounds test approach. Main determinants of FDI among them are the size of the market (Q) macroeconomic stability (r), political stability (PRS), real exchange rate (REX) and institutional quality (INQ).

This study used annual time-series data set starting from 1980 to 2016. This study has used time-series data with ARDL and error-correction model (ECM) and examined main determinants of FDI for Pakistan. The study used the Granger causality test (modified WALD test) to identify the causality among the variables.

Moreover, empirical findings indicate the long-run relationship between GDP, trade openness and institutional quality toward FDI. However, political instability, inflation and real exchange rate harm FDI in Pakistan. Furthermore, results of Granger causality indicate that the bidirectional causality running from FDI and Q toward FDI is significant, providing evidence of FDI-led growth hypotheses in Pakistan. This study determines the correlation between FDI and Q (GDP growth) related to the “feedback hypothesis” in the short and long run. This study also concludes that the short-run causal connection among FDI, REX, PRS, r and Q follows the “feedback hypothesis.” This describes that FDI, REX, PRS, r and Q variables are jointly determined and affected together.

This study also explores the causal association between FDI and its significant determinants, by using methods of Granger causality test and the approach of Toda-Yamamoto-DoladoLutkephol (TYDL) to examine the causal relationship and its directions among these variables.

Supply chain quality management (SCQM) has gained less attention in the Arab world, and there is a clear dearth in existing research on this topic, particularly in service organizations. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework for investigating the impact of SCQM and associated indicators on organizational performance (OP).

Empirical data have been collected through a survey distributed to a sample of major telecom companies in United Arab Emirates (UAE). To test the conceptual framework, structural equation modeling (SEM) has been used to analyze the data collected from 248 respondents of telecom companies.

The empirical data showed that SCQM practices are significantly correlated with innovation and operations performance. Statistical analysis through SEM also revealed that customer satisfaction has highest direct impact on OP.

External factors (government regulations, policies and culture) also affect the SCQM practices. Hence, future work should incorporate these parameters as well.

This is a contribution to the continuing research into SCQM, giving supply chain managers and designers a practical way for measuring and implementing SCQM practices across service supply chains.

The contribution of this research, through successive stages of data collection, measurement analysis and refinement, is a set of reliable and valid framework that can be subsequently used in conceptualization and measuring quality of service supply chains.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the dynamic causal relationship between foreign direct investment (FDI), gross domestic product (GDP) and trade openness (TO) on a set of five selected South Asian countries.

This study used newly developed bootstrap auto regressive distributed lags (ARDL) cointegration test to examine the long-run relationship among FDI, GDP and TO for selected South Asian countries for 1975–2016.

The economic growth (EG) is significantly related to TO for Bangladesh, India and Sri Lanka and the expansion of TO is crucial for growth in these countries. The results show that all countries (except Bangladesh) found the existence of long-run cointegration between FDI, GDP and TO, whereas FDI is a dependent variable. These results concluded that FDI and TO are contributing to EG in these selected countries.

This study is one of the first attempts to investigate the causal relationship and address the short and long dynamic among FDI, GDP and TO regarding five south Asian countries such as Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka.

Depleting reserves of crude oils and their adverse environmental effects have shifted focus toward environment friendly and biobased lubricant base oils. Natural oils and fats act as good lubricants but they have low oxidation and thermal stability which makes them unsuitable for modern day uses. This paper aims to produce trimethylolpropane ester biolubricant from cottonseed oil and study the effects of its use in spark ignition (SI) engines.

In this work, cottonseed oil is converted to TMP lubricant by a two-step based catalyzed esterification. The lubricants thermophysical properties are then analyzed and a 20% blend with synthetic poly-alpha olefin is used in an spark ignition engine.

The produced lubricant has viscosity @100^oC of 4.91 cSt, a viscosity index of 230 and a flash point of 202^oC. When used as a 20% blend in a petrol engine, the rate of oil deterioration was reduced by 18%, however, the overall wear increased by 6.7%. However, this increase is offset by its improved environmental impacts.

In its current state, such a biolubricant can be used as an additive to most commercially available lubricants to improve oil deterioration characteristics and environmental impact. However, further work on improving biolubricant’s wear characteristics is needed for the complete replacement of mineral oil-based lubricants.

The purpose of this paper is to present a new conceptual framework for service organizations to achieve sustainable business performance through strategic quality orientation and innovation capabilities on the basis of relevant literature review and integration of various innovation and business sustainability theories and models. The study tests if the strategic quality orientation enhances innovation capabilities in terms of exploitation and explorative innovation, which, in turn, can lead to sustainable business growth. Mediating impact of innovation capabilities between strategic quality orientation and sustainable business growth relationship is also examined.

A conceptual framework was developed to test and establish these relationships. Results were analyzed based on 442 questionnaires collected from five different service industries of Pakistan, and the structural equation modeling technique was used to empirically test the conceptual framework.

The results indicate that strategic quality orientation directly affects innovation capabilities and sustainable business growth and also indirectly impacts sustainable business growth through its effect on innovation capabilities.

The study suggests service organizations can jointly implement quality and innovation using a structured approach, with strategic quality orientation as the foundation. In this way, they can leverage from their strategic quality management, supplier relationship, corporate quality culture, continual improvement and people management in order to ensure innovation and sustainability in their business growth.

The study integrates strategic quality orientation and innovation capabilities, and validates a new organizational framework through empirical examination which can be used by service organizations to ensure their sustainable business growth.

This paper aims to explore key management actions for implementing security on the cloud, which is a critical issue as many organizations are moving business processes and data on it. The cloud is a flexible, low cost and highly available technology, but it comes with increased complexity in maintaining the cloud consumer’s security. In this research, a model was built to assist strategic decision-makers in choosing from a diverse range of actions that can be taken to manage cloud security.

Published research from 2010 to 2022 was reviewed to identify alternatives to management actions pertaining to cloud security. Analytical hierarchical process (AHP) was applied to rate the most important action(s). For this, the alternatives, along with selection criteria, were summarized through thematic analysis. To gauge the relative importance of the alternatives, a questionnaire was distributed among cloud security practitioners to poll their opinion. AHP was then applied to the aggregated survey responses.

It was found that the respondents gave the highest importance to aligning information security with business needs. Building a cloud-specific risk management framework was rated second, while the actions: enforce and monitor contractual obligations, and update organizational structure, were rated third and fourth, respectively.

The research takes a general view without catering to specialized industry-based scenarios.

This paper highlights the role of management actions when implementing cloud security. It presents an AHP-based multi-criteria decision-making model that can be used by strategic decision-makers in selecting the optimum mode of action. Finally, the criteria used in the AHP model highlight how each alternative contributes to cloud security.

The purpose of this study is to demonstrate how alertness enable small and medium scale enterprise (SME) owners to leverage their individual entrepreneurial orientation (IEO) such as risk-taking, pro-activity, innovation, passion and perseverance in a better way to recognize opportunities for financial resources as compared to their counterparts who are not alert. Moreover, it elaborates on the mediating role of opportunity recognition of financial resources between IEO and SMEs’ access to finance (AF).

A three-wave time-lagged survey from a stratified sample of 271 small and medium scale business owners in Pakistan was conducted and the data were analysed using PROCESS models 1 and 4.

The findings grounded in the theory of Action Regulation, signify that the IEO of small and medium scale business owners helps them attain financial resources through opportunity recognition capacity which is an action characteristic. Moreover, the IEO of SME owners, coupled with entrepreneurial alertness (EA; a cognitive pre-action state), amplifies their ability to recognize opportunities for financial resource availability.

This is one of the initial studies to test the IEO scale, including passion and perseverance. Moreover, it has added to the individual-level antecedents of AF in small and medium scale businesses through the role of EA and opportunity recognition.

This paper aims to focus on technical and economical analysis of small scale wind/solar hybrid system for domestic consumers. The analysis is carried out on HOMER II simulation software. Pakistan is one of those developing countries which are encountered with severe energy crises. The purpose of this paper is to introduce a technically and economically feasible system to meet the domestic consumer’s demand, as well as contribute to the central grid. HOMER Energy software is used to analyze different systems and to obtain the most reliable and feasible system for the customer. Simulation was carried out to find an economically and technically feasible system. Sensitivity analysis was carried out with hub height, PV De-rating factor, PV life, Wind turbine life. Change in hub height drastically affected energy production and economic prospect as the main factors of the system. Implementing such type of small hybrid systems on domestic level can be truly helpful to overcome energy shortage.

This study investigates both internal and external stakeholders' views on the objectives and measures of performance of Indonesian Islamic microfinance banks (IMFBs).

This study uses a qualitative approach. In-depth interviews were conducted with a wide range of internal and external stakeholders of IMFBs in Indonesia. The primary stakeholders interviewed comprised the board of directors of IMFBs located in several provinces in Indonesia, including rural and urban areas. The external stakeholders were the regulators/supervisors, represented by the Indonesian Financial Services Authority and Sharīʿah advisors of the National Sharīʿah Board as well as Muslim scholars. The data were analysed using CAQDAS, a computer-assisted tool for qualitative analysis.

The objectives of the IMFBs are seen to represent more than profits or economic well-being. Their objectives also comprise spirituality and daʿwah (Islamic propagation). Daʿwah is conducted through the provision of funding and services that are aligned with Sharīʿah (Islamic law), the dissemination of information about Islamic financing, which is based on Islamic values and principles, and the payment of zakat (Islamic alms) and charitable contributions. The measures of performance are considered to be more holistic than those of conventional banks. Profit and growth are deemed important as the means to achieve social well-being objectives.

Better insights into the objectives and measures of IMFBs could be achieved from interviews with other stakeholder categories, such as customers and the community. This could be the focus of future research.

This study added a new discussion to the limited empirical literature on IMFBs by investigating the views of stakeholders on the objectives and performance of IMFBs in Indonesia.

The purpose of current flow configuration is to spotlights the thermophysical aspects of magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) viscoinelastic fluid flow over a stretching surface.

The fluid momentum problem is mathematically formulated by using the Prandtl–Eyring constitutive law. Also, the non-Fourier heat flux model is considered to disclose the heat transfer characteristics. The governing problem contains the nonlinear partial differential equations with appropriate boundary conditions. To facilitate the computation process, the governing problem is transmuted into dimensionless form via appropriate group of scaling transforms. The numerical technique shooting method is used to solve dimensionless boundary value problem.

The expressions for dimensionless velocity and temperature are found and investigated under different parametric conditions. The important features of fluid flow near the wall, i.e. wall friction factor and wall heat flux, are deliberated by altering the pertinent parameters. The impacts of governing parameters are highlighted in graphical as well as tabular manner against focused physical quantities (velocity, temperature, wall friction factor and wall heat flux). A comparison is presented to justify the computed results, it can be noticed that present results have quite resemblance with previous literature which led to confidence on the present computations.

The computed results are quite useful for researchers working in theoretical physics. Additionally, computed results are very useful in industry and daily-use processes.