Empirical Analysis of Determinants of Economic Growth: Evidence from SAARC Countries

This study investigates the factors that determine and enhance economic growth. The factors to determine the economic growth of South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries are foreign direct investment, total debt, gross domestic investment and inflation. Simple ordinary least square is applied to analyze the determinates of economic growth with the help of panel data for 39 years with annual frequency from 1971 to 2009. The economic growth may gain boost by the factors not only by these but also many others. In this study foreign direct investment and inflation are found having inverse relationship with economic growth while gross domestic investment and total debt are found positively associated with economic growth. This study may prove useful contribution for policy making for South Asian countries

Evidence of Market Discipline Through Operational Risk Disclosures in Commercial Banking Sector of Pakistan

This study investigates the evidence of existence of market discipline through Operational risk disclosures under Basle Accord-II among commercial banks of Pakistan during years 2006 to 2014. Content Analysis of operational risk disclosure words is conducted to ascertain extent of market discipline. The findings indicate that the banks have growing awareness about operational risk and its disclosures. The results reveal that most of disclosures are narrative and of voluntary nature, showing existence of market discipline over study period.The results have given useful implications for risk managers to exploit risk information as risk management tool and for regulators as to how market discipline may be used in supervisory review. 

Intellectual Capital and Organizational Performance: Mediating Role of Entrepreneurial Orientation in SMEs Sector of Pakistan: Chaudhry Abdul Khaliq, Muqqadas Rehman, Hassan Mobeen Alam, Munazza Amin, Nauman Aslam

The emergence of modern societies has created many challenges for organizations to counter hyper competition in the market. In this regard, firms that are innovatively using their intellectual resources have not only preeminent chances to grow and sustain in intensive competitive milieu but also reap significant performance in the marketplace. Therefore, the main endeavor of this study is to investigate the impact of intellectual capital on organizational performance of small and medium enterprises of Pakistan. Further, the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation which is recently recognized as the most crucial factor in ameliorating firm performance is also empirically tested in the model. The study has employed structural equation modeling (SEM) and principle component analysis (PCA) to test the mediating model. It has been found that human capital and relational capital have direct and indirect effect on organizational performance while structural capital does not show any direct relationship with organizational performance. The findings of this research facilitate the policy makers, practitioners and entrepreneur’s/owner mangers of Pakistan in particular and other developing country in general to formulate strategies that can accelerate performance and strengthen SMEs operations across borders

Comparative Analysis of Islamic and Prevailing Insurance Practices

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