ANTECEDENTS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE ORIENTATION

Customer service orientation is about knowing customers and willingly responding their expectations. Research efforts are underway to identify antecedents of customer service orientation. This concept is essential for service sector organizations. This study has examined the impact of  Transactional leadership, Transformational leadership and perceived organizational support as antecedents of customer service orientation in the banking sector. Data from 278 respondents was gathered from bank employees in Islambad, Pakistan. Results have shown a positive and significant impact of all three antecedents on customer service orientation. This study will help banking sector organizations to design policies for enhancing customer service orientation by improving employees performance with effective leadership and supportive work environment.Â

ANTECEDENTS OF CUSTOMER SERVICE ORIENTATION

Customer service orientation is about knowing customers and willingly responding their expectations. Research efforts are underway to identify antecedents of customer service orientation. This concept is essential for service sector organizations. This study has examined the impact of  Transactional leadership, Transformational leadership and perceived organizational support as antecedents of customer service orientation in the banking sector. Data from 278 respondents was gathered from bank employees in Islambad, Pakistan. Results have shown a positive and significant impact of all three antecedents on customer service orientation. This study will help banking sector organizations to design policies for enhancing customer service orientation by improving employees performance with effective leadership and supportive work environment.

Organotin(IV) esters of 4-maleimido-benzoic acid: synthesis, characterization and in vitro anti-leishmanial effects

Six new diorganotin(IV) esters with the general composition R2SnL2 (where R: Me(1), Et(2), Pr(3), Bu(4), Ph(5), Bz(6) and L(7): p-N-maleimido-benzoic acid) have been synthesized. Solid state FTIR and 119mSn Mössbauer spectra revealed bidentate behavior of L towards the diorganotin(IV) centre in the distorted octahedral products. ¹H, 13C and 119Sn NMR spectra in CDCl3 indicated hexacoordination in 1-4, penta-coordination of 5 in skew-trapezoidal geometry, and absence of hypercoordination in tetrahedral 6. Elemental analyses data have been found to corroborate the stoichiometry of the title organotin(IV) compounds. In vitro anti-leishmanial screenings have been conducted on five leishmanial strains of L. major, L. tropica, L. infantum, L. mex. mex. and L. donovani. Promising results have been observed and, on the basis of the data obtained during these assays, a structure-activity relationship has been suggested. The increasing size of the R groups in the {R2SnIV}2+ moieties increased the lipophilicity of organotin(IV) complexes, which thereby enhanced the anti-leishmanial activity

An Examination of Challenges and Prospects of Microfinance Sector of Pakistan

Abstract The aim of this study refers to highlighting the key challenges and prospects for the microfinance sector of Pakistan. This study has been carried out using the following four steps: present scenario of microfinance in Pakistan, identification of internal and external challenges, prospects in microfinance, and policy recommendations to boost microfinance sector in Pakistan. In this research, microfinance framework has been used to better understand the process of building a sustainable microfinance institution. The findings have been obtained through Primary data, which has been collected through questionnaires. The participants are banks and other financial institutions. This research contributes in three ways: First, microfinance institutions will be facilitated in highlighting the challenges and prospects that are being neglected in the process of analyzing the problems and 147 European Journal of Economics, Finance and Administrative Sciences -Issue 31 (2011) opportunities faced by this sector. Second, other financial institutions and banks, realizing the significance of this business, will get encouragement to enter this sector with more innovative products and better standard practices. Thirdly, it will help the country in coming up with new strategies for micro financing. Moreover, microfinance sector may start conducting more training sessions to enhance the skills of the clients, which will affect positively this sector

Impact of opioid-free analgesia on pain severity and patient satisfaction after discharge from surgery: multispecialty, prospective cohort study in 25 countries

Background: Balancing opioid stewardship and the need for adequate analgesia following discharge after surgery is challenging. This study aimed to compare the outcomes for patients discharged with opioid versus opioid-free analgesia after common surgical procedures.Methods: This international, multicentre, prospective cohort study collected data from patients undergoing common acute and elective general surgical, urological, gynaecological, and orthopaedic procedures. The primary outcomes were patient-reported time in severe pain measured on a numerical analogue scale from 0 to 100% and patient-reported satisfaction with pain relief during the first week following discharge. Data were collected by in-hospital chart review and patient telephone interview 1 week after discharge.Results: The study recruited 4273 patients from 144 centres in 25 countries; 1311 patients (30.7%) were prescribed opioid analgesia at discharge. Patients reported being in severe pain for 10 (i.q.r. 1-30)% of the first week after discharge and rated satisfaction with analgesia as 90 (i.q.r. 80-100) of 100. After adjustment for confounders, opioid analgesia on discharge was independently associated with increased pain severity (risk ratio 1.52, 95% c.i. 1.31 to 1.76; P < 0.001) and re-presentation to healthcare providers owing to side-effects of medication (OR 2.38, 95% c.i. 1.36 to 4.17; P = 0.004), but not with satisfaction with analgesia (beta coefficient 0.92, 95% c.i. -1.52 to 3.36; P = 0.468) compared with opioid-free analgesia. Although opioid prescribing varied greatly between high-income and low- and middle-income countries, patient-reported outcomes did not.Conclusion: Opioid analgesia prescription on surgical discharge is associated with a higher risk of re-presentation owing to side-effects of medication and increased patient-reported pain, but not with changes in patient-reported satisfaction. Opioid-free discharge analgesia should be adopted routinely

New Bioactive Oleanane Type Compounds from Coriandrum sativum Linn.

Five (1–5) new bioactive oleanane type triterpenoids have been isolated from ethyl acetate soluble fraction of ethanolic extract of Coriandrum sativum Linn. of Umbelliferae family. Ethanolic extract of the whole plant was fractionated in organic solvents. Ethyl acetate fraction was subjected to column chromatography on HPLC RP-18 to get 1-oxo-11β,21β-dihydroxy-oleanane (1), 1-oxo-11β-hydroxy-21β-O-acetyloleanane (2), 1-oxo-11β-hydroxy-21β-O-angeloyloleanane (3), 1-oxo-11β-O-angeloyl-21β-O-acetyloleanane (4), and 1-oxo-11β,21β-O-dibenzoyloleanane (5). The structures were elucidated after analysis of spectroscopic data, UV, IR, NMR (1H, 13C, 1D, and 2D), and mass measurements. Suspension in water of crude ethyl acetate extract was employed to treat sheep with ringworm disease. All isolated compounds (1–5) displayed excellent activity in terms of inhibition zones, MICs, MBCs, and MFCs against both bacteria and fungi. Ethyl acetate extract showed excellent antiringworm activity in sheep