Rural finance for growth and poverty alleviation

Pakistan's rural sector accounts for more than 70 percent of employment, and roughly two-thirds of rural employment is in agriculture. Less than a third of rural households get loans, only 10 percent of which are from institutional sources. Pakistan's credit institutions are not helping the country accelerate agricultural growth and reduce poverty. To improve performance in the rural economy and efficiency in financial institutions, rural credit markets must be liberalized. The government needs to initiate the following reforms: 1) produce and price controls must be replaced by prudent regulation and supervision, combined with policies to stabilize the economy; 2) commercial banks must operate in a competitive environment. They must be allowed to set interest rates for rural lending that cover their transaction costs; 3) credit must be available to support productivity growth for agricultural smallholders and small producers of the rural nonformal sector, where Pakistan's growth potential lies; and 4) credit must be available to women and to the rural poor for consumption-smoothing and for sustainable income-generating activities. Policy should be directed at developing a market-based financial system for rural finance, but because of market failures to support disadvantaged groups, a special-priority program may be needed to get credit to women, smallholders and the rural nonformal sector. Subsidizing interest rates is not the way to help marginal borrowers. Instead, they can be helped through fixed-cost subsidies and self-selected targeting. Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) should be encouraged to help. Commercial should be encouraged to lend on other bases than the mortgage and passbook system. They could experiment with wholesaling credit through input suppliers, marketing agents and NGOs. They should consider lending for such downstream agricultural activities as agroprocessing. The biggest challenge facing rural finance is the restructuring of cooperatives. The next important step for the Agricultural Development Bank of Pakistan would be a portfolio audit - the results of which will determine next steps, such as major restructuring of its portfolio and changing its ownership. To improve rural financing, the system of property rights, title and default enforcement must also be strengthened, among other reforms.Environmental Economics&Policies,Banks&Banking Reform,Payment Systems&Infrastructure,Financial Intermediation,Economic Theory&Research,Financial Intermediation,International Terrorism&Counterterrorism,Banks&Banking Reform,Environmental Economics&Policies,Economic Theory&Research

5D Parameter Estimation of Near-Field Sources Using Hybrid Evolutionary Computational Techniques

Hybrid evolutionary computational technique is developed to jointly estimate the amplitude, frequency, range, and 2D direction of arrival (elevation and azimuth angles) of near-field sources impinging on centrosymmetric cross array. Specifically, genetic algorithm is used as a global optimizer, whereas pattern search and interior point algorithms are employed as rapid local search optimizers. For this, a new multiobjective fitness function is constructed, which is the combination of mean square error and correlation between the normalized desired and estimated vectors. The performance of the proposed hybrid scheme is compared not only with the individual responses of genetic algorithm, interior point algorithm, and pattern search, but also with the existing traditional techniques. The proposed schemes produced fairly good results in terms of estimation accuracy, convergence rate, and robustness against noise. A large number of Monte-Carlo simulations are carried out to test out the validity and reliability of each scheme

An Empirical Study of Technology Business Incubation on Economic Growth of Pakistan

Technology Business Incubators (TBIs) are seen as a mechanism that could create supportive and entrepreneurial environments for technology-based start-ups, helping them to increase their survival rates. TBIs are designed to offer start-ups the technological support and services and a solution in bridging the knowledge gap to help them develop their own viable businesses, by providing are source-based necessary for supporting their development in early and critical stage. Many TBIs have been established in hoping to promote national economic growth. To promote the success of TBIs in emerging markets, it is therefore important for the incubator management team or policy makers to understand the necessary resource required to support the development of their start-ups in order to help them to become viable businesses. The purpose of this paper is to determine enabling factors influencing the success of technology business incubators (TBIs) with respect to existing and acquired resources, and describe how these enabling factors have been implemented in practice to increase the economic growth of Pakistan. Keywords: Technology, business Incubators, Entrepreneurship, Innovatio

The Role of Technology Entrepreneurship towards Economic Growth: An Application of RFID in Livestock Sector of Pakistan

Over the last three eras, technology entrepreneurship has turned into an essential driver of economic development. The interconnection between entrepreneurship and technology is valuable to distinguish the most applicable techniques for competitiveness in the business areas and supporting new ventures. In today’s competitive environment, Technology entrepreneurship is considered to be an essential element by which an organization can accomplish maintainable development and solve confronting issues related to its processes. In fact, the technological entrepreneurial approach is predicted to add to feasible development and growth toward Knowledge economy. The expansion and diffusion of technology is an essential component which might influence the fate of any industry. In this modern era, one of the significant contribution of  information and communication technology (ICT) in livestock sector is advancement of electronic labels for distinctive ID of animals by utilizing Radio frequency identification (RFID) chips, which are inexpensive, distinctive and tamperproof. Automatic identification of animal assists in enhancing the farm administration practices and prosperity of animals. The foremost goal of this paper is to familiarize the reader with the hypothetical lens of technology entrepreneurship approach with an emphasis on livestock sector of Pakistan. Therefore, this study is an endeavor to find out what opportunities Technological Entrepreneurship and particularly RFID offers to entrepreneurs to exploit current scientific and innovative knowledge to address market issues that will bring business achievement and economic growth by using the secondary data. This paper will first give an ephemeral introduction of technology and Entrepreneurship. Specifically, the relationship between technology and entrepreneurship is scrutinized. Additionally, it will address the issues confronted by livestock sector in Pakistan while executing RFID, thus emphasizing the shortcomings and deficiencies of the RFID in Pakistan. At last, detail argument shall be made on the role of technologies entrepreneurial and its overall impact on the economy growth. Keywords: Technology, Entrepreneurs, Economic growth, Technology entrepreneurs, Livestock, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)

Relationship of Computer Usage and Work Self-Efficacy of Employees in the Organizations

An individual’s perceived ability to adopt computer or information technology successfully has been shown to be major factor affecting his or her willingness to accept new technology. Hence, the relationship of self-efficacy with information system usage (computer, Internet, new information technology, etc.) is noteworthy. This research aims at studying exactly that. Four major constructs of self-efficacy presented by Albert Bandura are discussed in the paper. The literature review and the relevant researches, mentioned previously, all suggest that a relationship exists between Computer/Information System Usage and Self-efficacy, both in learning institutions and workplace environments. This study, however aims at interrogating this relationship at workplace environments of Rawalpindi/Islamabad regions of Pakistan, in particular. To conclude the results 150 questionnaires were distributed out of which we received 127 back. The participants have matriculation to doctorate qualification; however, majority had master’s degree which is sixteen years of education in Pakistan. This study and its findings are significant on another level as well. Throughout the literature review, the researches that have been quoted have all been carried out abroad. Although, there is an advent of Information Technology in Pakistan and individuals are getting to be computer savvy, little to no research can be found that has been conducted here. This may be an initial step and that too in the small cities of Rawalpindi/Islamabad; the results nonetheless are promising and can pave a way for more thorough and large scale future investigations on the matter. In conclusion, the findings can also assist in creating awareness regarding the association between computer self-efficacy and work self-efficacy amongst the population. This in turn, can help bring about a change in the opinions and attitudes of individuals thus, creating a constructive and optimistic approach toward Information System and Computer usage whereby, increasing employee productivity and performance. Keywords: Self-Efficacy, Technological Self-Efficacy, Work Self-Efficacy, Information System’s Usage, Organizations and Computer Usage

The Role of Technology Entrepreneurship in Higher Education Sector of Developing Countries: A Case Study of Pakistan

In modern theories of growth and development, technological innovation has taken the focus stage and such innovations are commercialized by technology entrepreneurs. Colleges and universities are investing heavily in the development of their student’s entrepreneurial skills and have tremendous impact on innovation and entrepreneurial development. Universities today equally function as an important driving force to enhance economic value by creation of networks with innovators across a region through their incubators and scientific and technology parks. In developed countries many entrepreneurs start up their companies at their universities but in developing countries there are so many challenges yet to be faced by new starts up. Technology entrepreneurship in education basically explores how technology entrepreneurs are applying business practices or technology innovations to transform education to lead to higher performance. As higher education industry is changing radically and that transformation is worth for commercial benefits of businesses and also for innovative startups. Today the presence of colleges and universities are not only meant to be the gatekeeper of knowledge and information instead various innovators are in flowing as entrepreneurs in education industry. This study will explore that in what ways technology entrepreneurship is facilitating the educator sector of the emerging economies specifically in Pakistan. Keywords: Technology entrepreneurship, High Education Sector, Developing economies, Business Incubation Centers

Impact of Knowledge Management on Organizational Learning in Telecom Sector of Pakistan

This study aims to investigate the emerging trend of Knowledge Management (KM) system on organizational learning in telecommunication industry.KM is the propagating issue of concern for management, it’s the outcome of practice and research and it’s still emerging as an essential concept. This paper is going to address KM concerns related to human capital and ICT in the telecom sector. It would help the telecom sector to have a good insight at KM discipline in order to prioritize KM practices by facilitating its adoption. Academicians can employ the outcomes of this study to fabricate replica models and it would further aid to inflate the KM realm. This research is significantly the foremost to steadily establish the importance of knowledge management in the Telecommunication industry of Pakistan. It proffers a favorable reserve of salient information to the telecom sector as it is still sheathing far behind in application of Knowledge Management Tools and practices. Keywords: Organizational Learning , Knowledge management, Telecom Sector, Pakistan