• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.18 no.4
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• pp.97-106
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• 2020

Purpose: Participation of firms in Global Value Chains (GVC) has contributed significantly to the improvement of economic outcomes for firms in developing countries. However, evidence suggests that these economic outcomes are gained at the cost of labourers' poor working conditions. This research contributes to existing literature on GVCs by investigating the influence of different governance structures on economic and social upgrading of firms participating in GVCs. Furthermore, the research attempts to understand the relationship between economic and social upgrading in GVCs. Research design and methodology: Detailed qualitative primary research was carried out in the football industry of Sialkot, Pakistan. The case study approach was employed, and football firms were the unit of analysis. Semi-structured interviews with firms' representatives were conducted. Results: Findings reveal that most firms were found in captive, relational and market governance structures. Furthermore, product and process upgrading were witnessed in all firms; however, social upgrading was observed mostly in captive and relational GVCs. Moreover, social upgrading was linked to economic upgrading in captive and relational networks. Conclusions: The findings from the Sialkot football industry reflect that buyers pay higher prices and margins to their suppliers once they upgrade their products and processes.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.8 no.11
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• pp.223-234
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• 2021

This study aims to examine whether operating cash flows influence banks' financial stability in Pakistan. The study employed annual panel data collected from annual reports of 20 commercial banks listed on the Pakistan Stock Exchange for the year 2011 to 2019. Free cash flow yield was taken as the dependent variable while cash flow ratio was selected as the independent variable, and net interest margin, income diversification, asset quality, financial leverage, the cost to income ratio, advance net of provisions to total assets ratio, capital ratio, financial performance, breakup value per share and bank size were taken as control variables. The study performed ordinary least square technique, random and fixed effects models, Hausman test, Lagrange multiplier test, descriptive and correlation analysis. Results showed that operating cash flows and net interest margin significantly and positively influenced banks' financial stability while the cost to income ratio and advances net of provisions to total assets ratio significantly and negatively associated with banks' financial stability. To improve financial stability, banks should become more cost-effective and enhance their liquidity levels by lowering lending activities. In the future, it would be useful to compare commercial and investment banks, also Islamic and conventional banks in the same research setting.

• The Journal of Asian Finance, Economics and Business
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• v.9 no.6
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• pp.219-230
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• 2022

The goal of this research is to look into the relationship between social media marketing activities and brand attachment in the online marketing business, based on the indirect effect of perceived value and self-brand connections. For this reason, the study has used self-administered questionnaires to collect the data from 425 males from the major cities of Pakistan including Islamabad, Karachi, Lahore, and Sialkot. Furthermore, based on the PLS-SEM technique the empirical findings show that social media marketing activities positively affect perceived value, self-brand connections, and brand attachment. Perceived value has a significant positive impact on brand attachment and mediates the influence of social media marketing activities on brand attachment. In addition to this, self-brand connections have a positive effect on brand attachment, and self-brand connections mediate the relationship between them. Thus, firms employing social media marketing activities successfully in their branding build upon a positive perception of the brand in the customer's mind resulting in customer attachment with the brand. This study can assist the e-commerce managers and brand managers in building strong customer attachment via perceived value and self-brand connections.

• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.26 no.12
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• pp.752-761
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• 2023

Genetic diversity serves as the basis for selecting and genetically enhancing any culturable species in aquaculture. Here, two different strains of wild (River Ravi and River Kabul) and six captive-bred strains of Labeo rohita from various provinces were se- lected, and genetic diversity among them was evaluated using three different microsatellite markers, i.e., Lr-28, Lr-29, and Lr-37, and one mitochondrial CO1 (Cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1) gene. Different strains of L. rohita were collected, and part of their caudal fin was cut and preserved in ethanol for DNA extraction and determination of genetic diversity among them. Results in- dicated that selected markers were polymorphic with polymorphic information content (PIC) content values above 0.5 with the highest in Lr-28 followed by Lr-29 and then Lr-37. The observed heterozygosity (Ho) of all strains was higher (Avg: 0.731) but less than the expected heterozygosity (He). Moreover, TMs and WRs showed the highest He, while TKs showed the lowest, He. Over- all, inbreeding coefficient (FIS) values observed for all strains with selected markers were positive. The DNA barcoding with the CO1 gene revealed genetic variation among various strains, as demonstrated by the clades in the phylogenetic tree separating the strains into two distinct clusters that then divided into sub-clusters. In conclusion, TMs showed the highest heterozygosity as compared to other strains. Overall results provide the baseline data for the initiation of the genetic improvement program.