Managerial Commitment towards Shareholder’s Value: An Empirical Study on Listed Cement Firms of Pakistan

This research study establishes a relationship among shareholder’s value, board size and board composition. This study is conducted on the cement sector of Pakistan. The balance sheet analysis is done and Market Value Added is used to measure the shareholders’ value. The results show that the independent variables, board size and board composition (non-executive directors) have a negative relationship with the dependent variable, Shareholders’ value. This shows that with the increase in the number of non-executive directors and the board size, the board does not remain efficient and well informed and hence the shareholders’ value decreases. The regression analysis depicts that the impact on the shareholders’ value caused due to the board composition (non-executive directors) and the board size is up to 10%. Keywords: Shareholders’ Value, Board Size, Board Composition, Market value added

Market Skimming Pricing: An Examination of Elements Supporting High Price for New Products in Pakistan

Market skimming is a very important pricing strategy for the companies making innovative and technology based products. Market skimming pricing can be best practiced when the company is highly reputable, providing great quality and innovative products and the customers give a great value to the introduced technology and readily adopt it. The objective of this paper is to find out the factors responsible for market skimming pricing. In this research, the individuals using personal computers are taken as the population whereas Product quality, Brand image, Innovation and Technology adoption are taken as the variables responsible for practicing Market Skimming Pricing. A questionnaire is designed and the survey is conducted. The results showed that all the four variables significantly and positively influence market skimming pricing. The practice of market skimming pricing is explained up to 27% by the independent variables considered. Keywords: market skimming pricing, product quality, brand image, innovation, technology adoption

Impact of Organizational Resistance to Change on BPR Implementation: A Case of State Bank of Pakistan

The purpose of this research study is to find the impact of organizational resistance to change on BPR implementation. This paper proposed that Human related factors, Organization related factors and IT training are responsible for explaining the organizational resistance and have a positive impact on the success of BPR implementation. A questionnaire survey is conducted in the State Bank of Pakistan where BPR is done. The results have shown that explanatory factors influence the BPR implementation up to 65.7% and have a significant and positive impact on the latter. When the human related factors and organizational factors are taken care of, and proper IT training is given to the employees, it helps the organization to manage any resistance coming up with a change process, and hence it results in the successful implementation of BPR. Keywords: Business Process Reengineering, Organizational Resistance, Change, Organization Related Factors, Human Related Factors, IT Training.

Technical Efficiency Determinants of Islamic Banks: How Do Countries Differ

Purpose: This paper analyzes the determinants of technical efficiency of Islamic banks in eight of the Islamic countries. These include Brunei Darussalam, Jordan, Indonesia, Pakistan, Malaysia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and the UAE. Design/Methodology/Approach: A quarterly panel data on eight Islamic countries’ banks during the period of 2014 to 2019 is used for the analysis.   Findings: The overall outcomes of the study indicate that banks in KSA, UAE, and Malaysia are found to be more efficient than their counterparts in other five countries in the sample. Banks from KSA and UAE have the same average technical efficiency scores while banks in Malaysia and Jordan tend to share similar average technical efficiency scores. Findings of the study reveal that variables like bank size, return on equity, and liquid asset ratio have a positive and significant bearing while factors like GDP growth rate, Z-score, and capital adequacy ratio have a negative and significant impact on technical efficiency of Islamic banks. Implications/Originality/Value: The study puts forward some useful policy implications both for managers of banks and policymakers of countries in the sample

Frequency of Common VKORC1 Polymorphisms and Their Impact on Warfarin Dose Requirement in Pakistani Population

Polymorphisms in vitamin K epoxide reductase complex subunit 1 (VKORC1) gene lead to interindividual variability in warfarin dose requirement. The characterization of genotype frequency distribution is required in different populations for construction of customized dosing algorithms to enhance the efficacy and reduce the toxicity of warfarin therapy. This study was carried out in Pakistani population to evaluate the contribution of common VKORC1 polymorphisms to warfarin therapy. A total of 550 stable patients taking warfarin were enrolled after medical history, physical examination, and laboratory investigations. Single blood sample was collected after informed consent. Genomic DNA was extracted and genotype analysis for VKORC1 1173C>T and VKORC1-1639G>A polymorphisms was done by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. A number of samples were also analyzed by direct DNA sequencing for validation of results. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Genotype frequency distributions of VKORC1 1173C>T and VKORC1-1639G>A were found to be different from other populations. Both of these polymorphisms did not demonstrate significant effect on warfarin dose requirement. Although Cytochrome P450 2C9 (CYP2C9) and VKORC1 polymorphisms together attributed only 3.8% variability in warfarin dose but it was statistically significant (p value = .004). It is concluded that there is a need to study genotype frequency distribution and their effect on warfarin dose variability among different populations due to diversity in outcome. At the same time, no effect on warfarin dose variation explained by VKORC1 polymorphisms and small variability explained by studied genotypes stresses the need for exploration of more genetic and nongenetic factors in Pakistani population

Frequency of Common CYP2C9 Polymorphisms and Their Impact on Warfarin Dose Requirement in Pakistani Population

Polymorphisms in cytochrome P450 (CYP) 2C9 (CYP2C9) gene result in interindividual variability in warfarin dose requirement. There is a need for characterization of genotype frequency distribution in different populations for construction of customized dosing algorithms to enhance the efficacy and reduce the toxicity of warfarin therapy. This study was carried out in Pakistani population to evaluate the contribution of common CYP2C9 polymorphisms to warfarin therapy. A total of 550 stable patients taking warfarin were enrolled after medical history, physical examination, and laboratory investigations. Single blood sample was collected after informed consent. Genomic DNA was extracted, and genotype analysis for CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3 polymorphisms was done by polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism assay. A number of samples were also analyzed by direct DNA sequencing for validation of the results. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 20. Genotype frequency distribution of CYP2C9*2 and CYP2C9*3 was found to be different from other populations. Of these 2 polymorphisms, CYP2C9*2 did not demonstrate significant effect on warfarin dose requirement, whereas CYP2C9*3 did show significant effect (P value = .012). It is concluded that there is a need to study genotype frequency distribution and their effect on warfarin dose variability among different populations due to diversity in outcome

Self-reported health and smoking status, and body mass index: a case-control comparison based on GEN SCRIP (GENetics of SChizophRenia In Pakistan) data

Introduction Individuals with schizophrenia are at a high risk of physical health comorbidities and premature mortality. Cardiovascular and metabolic causes are an important contributor. There are gaps in monitoring, documenting and managing these physical health comorbidities. Because of their condition, patients themselves may not be aware of these comorbidities and may not be able to follow a lifestyle that prevents and manages the complications. In many low-income and middle-income countries including Pakistan, the bulk of the burden of care for those struggling with schizophrenia falls on the families.Objectives To determine the rate of self-reported physical health disorders and risk factors, like body mass index (BMI) and smoking, associated with cardiovascular and metabolic disorders in cases of schizophrenia compared with a group of mentally healthy controls.Design A case-controlled, cross-sectional multicentre study of patients with schizophrenia in Pakistan.Settings Multiple data collection sites across the country for patients, that is, public and private psychiatric OPDs (out patient departments), specialised psychiatric care facilities, and psychiatric wards of teaching and district level hospitals. Healthy controls were enrolled from the community.Participants We report a total of 6838 participants’ data with (N 3411 (49.9%)) cases of schizophrenia compared with a group of healthy controls (N 3427 (50.1%)).Results BMI (OR 0.98 (CI 0.97 to 0.99), p=0.0025), and the rate of smoking is higher in patients with schizophrenia than in controls. Problems with vision (OR 0.13 (0.08 to 0.2), joint pain (OR 0.18 (0.07 to 0.44)) and high cholesterol (OR 0.13 (0.05 to 0.35)) have higher reported prevalence in controls. The cases describe more physical health disorders in the category ‘other’ (OR 4.65 (3.01 to 7.18)). This captures residual disorders not listed in the questionnaire.Conclusions Participants with schizophrenia in comparison with controls report more disorders. The access in the ‘other’ category may be a reflection of undiagnosed disorders