5,116 research outputs found
Strategic patterns and firm performance: comparing consistent, flexible and reactor strategies
No full text
Purpose
Firms face the paradox of adapting change and remaining stable to control uncertainty simultaneously to maintain their competitive position because both aspects are essential for the firm’s effectiveness. This has raised a debate in the contemporary literature that whether firms should remain consistent or adapt flexibility in their strategic choice to produce better performance? The supporters of both the arguments provide substantial evidence in their favor. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the strategy-performance relationship in this context along with contingent effect of firm size and industry.
Design/methodology/approach
Empirical analysis using seven years financial data of 307 joint stock firms from 12 industries is done by applying Miles and Snow strategic typology. Scoring method is used to classify the strategic orientation of the firms. Univariate and multivariate regression models are applied to investigate the influence of strategy, firm size, and industry on firm performance both individually and collectively.
Findings
The results show that most of the firms in Pakistan are consistent in their strategic stance (43 percent) followed by flexible (40 percent) and reactors (17 percent). The mean differences in the performance of consistent, flexible, and reactor strategies show that both consistent and flexible strategies performed equally well and outperformed the reactors. However, there is significant variation in the performance of the strategic types due to the variation in firm size and industries whereas the contingent effect of firm size, industry, and strategy is statistically insignificant.
Originality/value
The methodology used for the identification of transition of strategic stance of the firms over time to know the consistent, flexible, and reacting behavior of the firms from archived data is the important contribution to the literature. The methodology can be replicated in longitudinal studies for identification of strategic groups in typological research.
</jats:sec
Customer Satisfaction for Cellular Phones in Pakistan: A Case Study of Mobilink
No full textCustomer satisfaction is a crucial element for the success of all businesses. One of the biggest challenges for a market is how to satisfy and retain the customers. The purpose of this study is to find the level of satisfaction and loyalty among the users of cellular phones. This study is based on Mobilink’s prepaid customers. The findings suggest that overall customer satisfaction and customer loyalty is comparatively low among the customers of Mobilink. The Customer loyalty in Pakistan’s mobile sector is relatively low because it is an emerging industry, new players are entering in this market and customers are more fascinated to try the new service providers. However it is expected that when the industry will be well established, the results will be more comparable to other studies.Customer satisfaction; Customer loyalty; Mobile telecommunication; Regression model; Drivers of customer satisfaction; Pakistan
Stakeholder preferences regarding sustainable aviation fuel technologies: Stakeholders’ preferences regarding different SAF technology pathways, in order to comply with the proposed SAF blending mandate by the European Commission
No full textThe airline industry is growing and so are its emissions. To diminish the airline industry's increasing emissions, carbon-neutral growth for this industry is adopted. Sustainable aviation fuels (SAF) are considered an important aspect to comply with these goals and a large upscale of the SAF industry is needed. Therefore, the European Commission recently proposed a SAF blending mandate which mandates the uptake of this industry. However, the SAF industry is still a relatively new phenomenon and faces multiple barriers of which one of which is the divergent perspectives of the stakeholder groups within the airline industry. This research aims to identify the preferences of these different stakeholder groups. The following research question has been formulated for this purpose: "What are stakeholders’ preferences regarding different SAF technology pathways, in order to stimulate the SAF upscale for 2030 and comply with the proposed SAF blending mandate by the European Commission?" To answer this research question, a qualitative approach is applied. As such, a Multi-Criteria Decision-Making (MCDM) approach is used, where the Bayesian Best-Worst Method (BWM) is applied to determine the stakeholder group preferences regarding different SAF technology pathways. These SAF technology pathways are scored on economic, environmental and technological criteria. The stakeholder analysis shows that the airline industry deviates from the other three stakeholder groups (SAF/aviation experts, SAF consumers and SAF producers) as this stakeholder group attains more value to SAF its economic performance, combined with a decreased importance of both its environmental performance and technological performance. It is also concluded that overall, SAF its performance on greenhouse gas (GHG) saving emissions and its production volume availability and scalability are both deemed critical for a SAF technology pathway. Also, the expected minimum selling price is an important criterion in the analysis. Given the considered criteria and their perceived importance, regardless of which perspective of the stakeholder group is considered, the Fischer-Tropsch technology performs well due to its good performance on environmental aspects and its high production volume availability and scalability. As this research shows the divergent perspectives within the SAF industry, future policies could focus on finding consensus between these stakeholder groups.Engineering and Policy Analysi
Diagnosis of Challenges and Uncertainties for Implementation of Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in Colombia, and Recommendations to Move Forward
No full textThis article reviews the current scenario and the main uncertainties and challenges associated with implementing Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) in Colombia, from which it determines the possible certified technologies under the ASTM D 7566 standard as well as co-processing technologies contemplated within the ASTM D 1655 standard, more suitable for the implementation of SAF production. Likewise, through the PESTEL tool (Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Environmental, and Legal), a diagnosis is made in order to obtain an updated overview of the implementation of SAF in Colombia. Based on the above, it provides recommendations to mitigate the uncertaintiesidentified, and it is complemented by the ECOCANVAS tool, which applies to businesses related to the circular economy, and also include the net production potential of SAF in Colombia, considering the production of feedstock, in agricultural residue of sugarcane, oil palm, corn, and coffee. Thisstudy concludes with some policy recommendations that can make SAF implementation viable and allow responsible institutions to organize themselves for better strategic action and identify the fields of research and the need for investment in R + D + i to strengthen the supply chain.BT/Biotechnology and Societ
Does location matter in determining firms’ performance? A comparative analysis of domestic and multinational companies
No full text
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of internationalization of investment on corporate policies through multinational firms (MNFs) and thereby variation in financial performances when compared to domestic firms (DFs) using 10 years’ (2004-2013) secondary data of 153 firms listed on Pakistan Stock Exchange.
Design/methodology/approach
This study applies regression and ratio analyses for testing of hypotheses and other statistics.
Findings
The results indicate that the performance of MNFs is better than that of DFs primarily because of internationalization of investments and inventory utilization. The rest of the factors included in the model, namely, cash conversion cycle and corporate governance (CG) indices, have less prominent role in determining firms’ performance.
Research limitations/implications
Sample size was restricted to 153 firms, as complete data for the period selected to carry out the study were available only for these firms. For determining the quality of CG, only sample average has been used as bench mark due to non-availability of industrial average.
Practical implications
The recommendations of the research can be used by economic planners and corporate experts as policy guidelines and bench mark for improving the corporate and economic performance of the country. Besides, these recommendations are beneficial for emerging economies particularly and developed economies generally across the globe.
Social implications
Economic and financial regulators can get guidance from the findings of the study to adjust national-level corporate planning. For example, State Bank of Pakistan (the central bank of the country) can amend its prudential regulations with regard to maintaining liquidity by corporate units according to the results of the study. Corporate units can directly get guidance and adopt the findings of the study in their corporate planning to improve their performance. The findings and methodology of the research can also be used by research students on further exploring the field.
Originality/value
Splitting the sample into domestic and multinationals firms, separately and jointly analyzing these firms and then comparing corporate strategies of these firms based on location are unique.
</jats:sec
Macroeconomic determinants of trade openness: empirical investigation of SAARC region
No full textPurpose: Trade openness plays a significant role in the growth process of countries. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of macroeconomic determinants on the trade openness of countries. Design/methodology/approach: The study focuses on the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries and the data used were from 1971 to 2011. Panel data econometrics techniques and two stages least square method (TSLS) are used to carry out empirical analysis and robustness testing. Findings: The main finding of the paper is that macroeconomic determinants such as investment both in physical and human capital and per capita gross domestic product (GDP) positively affect trade openness. Further, the size of labour force and currency exchange rate has also impacted trade openness negatively and significantly. Practical implications: It implies that efficient macroeconomic management matters for higher trade openness. The sampled developing countries are suggested to pay favourable attention to macroeconomic variables if they want to grow in the long run through outward-oriented policies. Originality/value: This paper is an original contribution in the context of SAARC countries by focusing on the relationship between macroeconomic determinants and trade openness
FAKTOR-FAKTOR YANG MEMPENGARUHI KEPUTUSAN PEMBELIAN FURNITURE PADA PT SAF MITRA ABADI DI KOTA BATAM
Full text linkAs we know, the development of the furniture business in Batam City in the early twenty-first century has been developing very rapidly and is still undergoing a process of continuous development. This encourages the emergence of many new types of businesses that can become one of the threats for PT Saf Mitra Abadi. PT Saf Mitra Abadi is a company engaged in the field of furniture that has been established since 2009 in Batam City. The purpose of this study is to determine whether there is an influence between promotion, service quality and product quality partially and simultaneously on consumer purchasing decisions at PT Saf Mitra Abadi. In this study, the authors used a descriptive quantitative research method using 155 populations. In this study, the authors used the Simple Random Sampling technique in determining the population used. SPSS (Statistical Product and Service Solution) version 25 is a program used by the author to process data obtained from respondents. The results in this study indicate that there is a positive and significant influence between promotion, service quality and product quality partially and simultaneously on the consumer purchasing decisions of PT Saf Mitra Abad
Sen lin lun li he duo jia zhi sen lin guan li
No full textText in Chinese.James Coufal, co-author, is in the College of Environmental Science and Forestry, State University of New York, Syracuse, and is former president of SAF.The Society of American Foresters (SAF) has long had an ethic of using forests to benefit society. Now many foresters, prompted by Aldo Leopold and his land ethic, are wondering if SAF does not need a forest ethic, respecting the integrity of natural systems, to complement its ethic for society. Forests are communities as well as commodities. Forest management ought to expand from an ethical of multiple use to one of protecting multiple values found in forests
- …
