William J. Baumol, Robert E. Litan and Carl J. Schramm. Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism and the Economics of Growth and Prosperity. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2007. 321 pp.

The central idea of the book is that Capitalism has many forms—some good, others bad, with entrepreneurial capital being the best. The authors argue that the spectacular economic performance of the developed world is owed to the ‘good capitalism’ practised over there and that the blame for the poor performance of many economies must lie with one or the other kind of ‘bad capitalism’, that these economies continue to practise. The authors identify policy tools that can help countries in making a transition from ‘bad capitalism’ to ‘good capitalism’. The introductory chapter ‘Entrepreneurship and Growth’ gives an overview of the key elements of an entrepreneurial economy. In the next chapter, the authors question ‘Why Economic Growth Matters’ and convincingly rebuff those who question the virtues of growth. To those who put limits on growth the authors’ answer is: “the same process of technological advancement that undermined Malthus’ dire prediction about population growth may be able to quiet the concerns of modern day Malthusians who worry about disappearing energy”. Chapter 3 conducts a comprehensive review of modern growth theories with special focus on innovation and institutions. After reviewing the work of Solow, the authors move directly to the influence of institutions on growth. They argue that institutions take time to develop and that growth depends on ‘home grown’ institutions. The long time required to develop growth promoting institutions may explain why dictators have been successful in Korea and Singapore in boosting growth, while the time horizon of the politician is shorter, at best extended up to the next elections. The authors’ emphasis upon ‘home grown’ institution is also a verdict against the Washington Consensus

An Investigation of the ‘Island of Bujan’ Motif in Russian and Scandinavian Tradition

This thesis focuses on the ‘Island of Bujan’ motif in Russian tradition and studies it with reference to the Yggdrasill myth in Scandinavian tradition. It examines some scholarly claims that state that owing to contacts between the Slavs and the Scandinavians during the early Middle Ages, myths and beliefs may have traversed geographical boundaries. The thesis begins with a detailed account of the proposed interaction between the Slavs and the Scandinavians and includes a brief summary of the Normanist controversy and the evidence that supports and negates it. It then proceeds to study Bujan in Russian incantations and Yggdrasill in the Scandinavian Eddaic texts to define the current state of information on them and to isolate similarities between them. In the process, the thesis also highlights the fragmentariness of the primary material available, which ensures that some questions relating to influence between cultural constructs of the two traditions are left unanswered

A Social Custom “Vani”: Introduction And Critical Analysis

This paper reflects an introduction and critical analysis of a custom called Vani. It is widely practiced with diverse names in different areas of Pakistan. This ancient tradition is tied to blood feuds among the various tribes and clans, where the females are forcibly married to the members of different tribes for the dispute settlement. Habitually Vani is affected in the cases of murder, kidnapping and robbery. Inequality/discrimination, law disregard, poor education, poverty, landlord system etc. are fundamental reasons for existence of such type norms. It has become an evil of the society. This is an un-Islamic practice as Islam does not allow a forced marriage. Having different comprehensive laws about every clash Islam has no example/direction to give Vani to settle a heated discussion. It is necessary only to awake the heartfelt public about such type of customs and to allocate their influence to stop it

Historical Study of the Socio-Religious Condition of Irani Civilization under Zoroasteranianism and the Impact of Islam

In the Middle East, the current Islamic Republic of Iran, bordering the Persian Gulf, is one of the few important countries whose people are considered to be the custodians of an ancient cultural and political heritage. Historically, Iran is one of the oldest countries in the world. Historically and culturally, the Iranian civilization is also considered a contemporary of the ancient Mesopotamian civilization. Apart from the social and cultural background, the Iranian Empire also has a prominent position in the region politically. The idea of ​​its beginning is that it was formed by Caesar the Great and its rise came in the time of Darius-I. When, the battle of Qadisiya in 16 AH decided the fate of Iran. The conquest of Medina was a declaration of the end of Yazd-e-Jard's rule. Politically, Iran was considered more developed than contemporary states. This dissertation describes the ancient Iranian political culture that culminated in the defeat of the Sasanids dynasty at the hands of the Muslims.&nbsp

Radical Innovation, Paradigm Shift and Incumbent’s Dilemma The Case of the Auto Industry

Radical innovations often upend the incumbents firms and even render them obsolete (Ansari & Krop, 2012; Benner, 2010), as these firms often have great difficulties in addressing the challenge posed by these innovations due to inertia (Ghemawat, 1991), tendencies to exploit existing competences (Levinthal & March, 1993; O’Reilly & Tushman, 2008), organizational rigidity (Beonard-Barton, 1992), complacency and internal culture (Tellis, 2006), problems in the incentive system and resource allocation process (Christensen, 1997), and gap in the organizational capabilities required for embracing the new technology (Henderson, 2006; Tushman & Anderson, 1986). However, as radical innovations become increasingly frequent across industries, responding to this serious threat has become a strategic priority for many incumbent firms.Research shows that incumbents survive or even prosper in the face of radical innovations by forging effective partnerships with challenger firms (Ansari & Krop, 2012), establishing a separate entity to fend off the threat (Christensen, 1997; Christensen, Raynor & McDonald, 2015), better evaluation and investment approach (Hill & Rothaermel, 2003), appropriately configuring organizational form and structure (Ansari & Krop, 2012), coupling their basic research function with applied research functions (Hill & Rothaermel, 2003), possessing downstream complementary assets critical for the commercialization of the new technology (Ansari & Krop, 2012; Hill & Rothaermel, 2003), and more importantly by possessing a high willingness to cannibalize their core business (Chandy and Tellis, 1998). Incumbents can also thrive or overcome the so-called incumbent’s curse by pioneering radical innovations by themselves (Chandy and Tellis, 2000).Previous studies on radical innovations focus primarily on a single product (e.g., Chandy and Tellis, 1998, 2000), technological or business model innovation (Ansari & Krop, 2012; Christensen, 1997; Hill & Rothaermel, 2003). These innovations may have the potential to shrink the incumbents’ marketspace, e.g., Gemesis’ synthetic diamonds challenging the natural diamonds (McAdams and Reavis, 2008), EasyJet challenging mainstream airlines such as BA, Netflix challenging the traditional movie rental business (Leonhartdt, 2006), or displace the incumbent market leader, e.g., IBM PC and its clones destroyed minicomputer makers such as DEC, Wang, Apollo and so on. Yet, they do not often disrupt the entire industry. But in recent years, more industry-wide disruptions have occurs due to emerge of not a single radical innovation but an array of them simultaneously from within or outside of a particular industry. In this process, it is not just the incumbent market leader or a few incumbent firms but the entire value chain, ecosystem or industry get displaced, the so-called paradigm shift, e.g., GPS device by software companies such as Google and Waze, desktop computing by mobile devices, and the traditional auto industry centered around the internal combustion engine by peer-to-peer service provider (e.g., Uber), consumer electronics (e.g., Apple), battery-driven vehicle (e.g., Tesla), and software companies (e.g., Google, Amazon). When this happens, incumbents are not fighting against a particular firm or a few firms that have introduced radical innovations based on similar technologies, but an army of very diverse entrants that are disrupting the entire industries from various directions, some of which are from remote industries with vastly different organizational capabilities, mindset and business model. How incumbents of the existing ecosystem should best cope with the massive and dramatic industry-level disruption induced by multiple radical innovations along a number of fronts or paradigm shift has largely remained unexamined. In the face of paradigm shift, can the above mentioned strategies or tactics for incumbents to combat single radical innovation or firm be adequate to deal with the fundamental existential threat? If not, what should be the appropriate strategies for them to survive or even thrive in the advent of a paradigm shift? In this paper, we attempt to sketch out a research framework to investigate this important issue

Impact of Organizational Virtuousness on Workplace Spirituality with the Mediating Role of Perceived Organizational Support

This paper aims to analyze the relationship between organizational virtuousness and workplace spirituality with the mediating role of perceived organizational support. Data was collected from 250 employees working in the telecommunication sector of Pakistan through a questionnaire. Data was analyzed using Hayes’ PROCESS macro (a statistical technique). The study reported a statistically significant relationship between organizational virtuousness and workplace spirituality and also proved perceived organizational support as a partial mediator between these two variables. The findings make an important contribution to the literature available on positive psychology / organizational behavior, especially positive organizational scholarship (POS). The findings also suggest the organizations to adopt practices and procedures that help to create a climate of virtuousness

Changing Revealed Comparative Advantage: A Case Study of Footwear Industry of Pakistan

The global export patterns are changing fast as a result of reduction in trade barriers and technological advancements that have led to gains in productivity and change in comparative advantage patterns in world economies. Asian economies such as China and India are enjoying a notable growth in changing circumstances across the world. Pakistan also has great potential for higher growth however the political threats, socioeconomic environment and lack of updated technologies are obstruction in the way of progress. Some sectors of Pakistan economy have shown a good performance in terms of production and exports. Footwear is one such industry which has increased its exports at large extent since 2003. This sector has pivotal importance in terms of providing and creating jobs, earning of foreign exchange with the help of exports and fulfilling the local consumption requirements. Both in Pakistan and around the globe, the demand for footwear is increasing. Pakistan is one of the most populous countries in the World and according to an estimate with an average population growth of 2.25 percent, about 3 million children have been born during the year 2005-06, signaling the growing demand for footwear in Pakistan. It is also estimated that about 60 percent of the World’s total consumption consists of simple footwear made entirely of non-leather materials and that for the remaining 40 percent only the upper part of the shoe is made of leather. In the manufacturing of footwear, most frequently used material consists upon leather, man-made materials, rubber / canvas / synthetic and textile along accessories. Different type of shoes are being produced by the local industry e.g. sportsmen, army, disabled persons and safety shoes for the industrial workers etc. The population of Pakistan is expected to be about 172 million in the year 2010. Keeping in view the growth in population, the growth in the demand of footwear industry is also anticipated

Chimeras of the ABC drug transporter Cdr1p reveal functional indispensability of transmembrane domains and nucleotide-binding domains, but transmembrane segment 12 is replaceable with the corresponding homologous region of the non-drug transporter Cdr3p

The molecular basis of the broad substrate recognition and the transport of substrates by Cdr1p, a major drug efflux protein of Candida albicans, is not well understood. To investigate the role of transmembrane domains and nucleotide-binding domains (NBDs) of Cdr1p in drug transport, two sets of protein chimeras were constructed: one set between homologous regions of Cdr1p and the non-drug transporter Cdr3p, and another set consisting of Cdr1p variants comprising either two N- or two C-terminal NBDs of Cdr1p. The replacement of either the N- or the C-terminal half of Cdr1p by the homologous segments of Cdr3p resulted in non-functional recombinant strains expressing chimeric proteins. The results suggest that the chimeric protein could not reach the plasma membrane, probably because of misfolding and subsequent cellular trafficking problems, or the rapid degradation of the chimeras. As an exception, the replacement of transmembrane segment 12 (TMS12) of Cdr1p by the corresponding region of Cdr3p resulted in a functional chimera which displayed unaltered affinity for all the tested substrates. The variant protein comprising either two N-terminal or two C-terminal NBDs of Cdr1p also resulted in non-functional recombinant strains. However, the N-terminal NBD variant, which also showed poor cell surface localization, could be rescued to cell surface, if cells were grown in the presence of drug substrates. The rescued chimera remained non-functional, as was evident from impaired ATPase and efflux activities. Taken together, the results suggest that the two NBDs of Cdr1p are asymmetric and non-exchangeable and that the drug efflux by Cdr1p involves complex interactions between the two halves of the protein