Journal of Business & Financial Affairs

Policy makers Aggressiveness and conservativeness regarding designing optimal capital structure (especially working capital) is a debatable matter from last 50 years. The phenomenon is still vague especially in Pakistan because of the information asymmetry and failure of perfect market hypothesis. The study investigates capital structure of all non-financial listed firms on Pakistan Stock Exchange (PSX) for the period of 2008 to 2014. To test the relation between dependent (ROI and ROA) and independent variables (AIP and AFP), the study employ control variables (ROE, ROCE, GROWTH, SIZE and AGE) and uses exponential generalized least square regression. Results reveals that financial managers aggressiveness regarding financial policy negatively, while aggressiveness regarding investment policy positively effecting the firm’s performance. The study also found that with the passage of time, firms in Pakistan devastating their performance. That’s why study found negative relation between firms’ age and dependent variables.

The study is conducted in Tsegede wereda found in the western zone of Tigray having the objective of assessing the determinants of youth migration in the wereda. The deal with the study, questionnaires and interview data gathering instruments were applied to collect data from the primary. The collected data were presented, analyzed and interpreted though both qualitative and quantitative methods of data analyzing. The data’s are presented and discussed in tabulations using numbers and percentages beside to the description of finding from the interview. Most of the adults in the study area have good knowledge on migration simply but they do not have enough knowledge on the overall impacts of migration. This is to mean that have no enough knowledge on migration. According to the data, the most frequently migrated part of the society are the adults, the most reproductive one. In the area under the study the adults are migrating because of different reasons like shortage of income, absence of good work opportunity, lack of land of plough to be a modern farmer, the desire to be rich in a short period of time because of some people get rich with such kind of opportunities, and lack of awareness on the social, political, economic and academic and psychological consequences of migration. The adults only show what is there in terms of money but not consider what is there in relation to the above mentioned problems.

This exploration study was directed to make correlation of money related execution of 5 Islamic banks and 5 routine banks in Pakistan from 2008-2015. To survey the money related execution of Islamic and routine banks enlightening insights was utilized for the inner determinants of CAMEL model. To check whether there is critical distinction or not in execution of Islamic and traditional banks one way ANOVA was used. To assess those components which impact the execution of banks Regression was implemented. On the premise of discoveries it is reasoned that there is noteworthy contrast in execution of Islamic and conventional banks in significant terms.

There has been lesser evidence regarding the factors driving the commitment from countries like Pakistan. The purpose of present research was to find out the factors affecting the organizational commitment of the officers in the banking industry of Pakistan. The hypothesized relationship between variables rests on the foundations of social exchange theory, the perceived organizational support theory, and the Gouldner’s norm of reciprocity. The quantitative data was collected through self-administered closed ended questionnaire. The questionnaire was filled by 47 Grad II officers of different banks in the Metropolitan city of Lahore. The criteria for inclusion in sample were those having passed their probationary period. The data was analyzed using SPSS version 16.0. The correlations showed that the strength of relationship between factors affecting commitment and organizational commitment is higher. There are five factors which affect the organizational commitment of bank officers. These factors include organizational rewards both monetary and non-monetary, supervisor support, career development opportunities, work-family support, and favorable job conditions. The results of study may be beneficial for devising such policies as to reduce the employees’ turnover which has been an area of major concern for the human resource professionals especially in the context of Pakistani banking sector.

The delivery of service quality within the tourism, hospitality and leisure industry is located firmly within marketing. Since services within the tourism, hospitality and leisure industry are intangible, the only option that can easily provide a competitive advantage to these restaurants and other sectors in this industry is the quality of service provided to clients. Human contact are necessary for the delivery of service, it is at this moment that front line staffs or employees need to show their best in order to sell the image or reputation of the firm, and there will be a repeat of purchase by the customers when they feel satisfied with the quality of services rendered to them. Quality enhancement is increasing and that service quality and customer satisfaction is central and vital to any business. The Ministry of Tourism and Leisure in collaboration with some proprietors have been carrying-out nationwide training to improve on guest satisfaction during the 2016 and 2019 African cup of Nations for female and male respectively.

This study examines the contribution of information communication technology to poverty reduction among women. The study assessed availability and accessibility of ICT infrastructures, the role of ICTs in poverty reduction among womenand determine factors that hinder accessibility of ICT tools among women. The study was done in kilosa Morogoro and involved a total of 50 respondent. The study used survey research methodology to collect data. Three instruments were applied to facilitate data collection, that is structured questionnaire for interview, observation and documentation (secondary data) collected from household as a base of data collection as well as ICT telecentre and other sources of data. The data was collected and analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Scientist. Findings show that male respondents were 38% while females were 62%. Of the sample population who use ICT 60% were females while 38% were males.

This study provided a first look on the role of ICTs to poverty reduction among women by identifying the benefits of ICT which are: job creation, banking services, improvement agriculture by ensuring availability of market, prevent middlemen exploitation, expanding and strengthening social networks and ensure accessibility and ownership of assets.

The conclusion of the study calls for increasing investment in education, creating awareness among women regarding the range of services provided, improvement of ICT infrastructure, reduces cost in ICTs services provision, public and private investment is a vital tool therefore maximization of employment opportunity, including physical infrastructure, and entrepreneurial skills.

The study suggests one area for further research: one is the extent to which ICTs infrastructures helps women in poverty reduction compared to those who do not use by specifying indicators of development brought by ICT tools.

Ten accessions of Ricinus communis were grown in derived agro-savannah ecology for two cropping seasons in randomized complete block design. The seeds harvested from them were subjected to chemical analysis with the aim of determining the chemical composition and characterizing the seed oil. The analyses were done at Springboard laboratory, Awka, Crop Science Department, University of Nigeria, Nsukka and National Research Institute for Chemical Technology, Zaria. The results showed free fatty acid compositions of linoleic 0.5%; stearic 1.3% and palmitic 1.5%; others are oleic, linolenic and ricinoleic with percentage values of 3.5%, 7.5% and 84.2% respectively while the result of physicochemical analysis showed that castor seed contains saponification value of 182.9 mg/g. Others include moisture content 4.4%, acid value 3.085 mg/g, viscosity 110.41 cP, pH 6.11, iodine value 8.46 mg/g, specific gravity 0.962 and refractive index of 1.477°C. Since seeds contain high nutrients with high potassium content, the use of the seeds as food condiment can be justified. However, one important limiting factor in the use of castor as a complementary nutrient is the presence of the poisonous ricin content of the seed. Therefore, it is advisable that the seeds should be well fermented and properly treated before they can be used either as food condiment or feed for animals.

“In global world the investment in capital market plays a vital role of an economy especially in emerging countries”. The researcher found the influences of three independent economic variables i.e., foreign exchange, foreign direct investment and inflation (CPI) at SAARC countries and China and comparison of these results into two groups with high frequency monthly data of all dependent and independent variables, since last five years practice data obtain from various authentic sources. To reach these research objectives author uses the ordinary least square (OLS) to estimate the Pearson's correlation coefficient and multiple regression models. And results show that in first group, significant (positive) influences by foreign exchange & inflation while FDI has insignificant (negative) influences on stock market return in Bangladesh. And in Pakistan, foreign exchange and inflation have significant (negative) influences while FDI has insignificant (positive) influences on stock market return. In Sri Lanka significant (positive) influences by foreign exchange while FDI and inflation have significant (negative) influences on stock market return. In second group, India and China both have significant (negative) influences by foreign exchange and inflation while FDI has insignificant (positive) influences on stock market return. The high value of R² show that variations in all independent variable have explained the all countries capital markets in all models. All-encompassing model admirable by probability of F-statistics which 95% of interval confidences. There are no serial correlation issues in all models by Durbin-Watson statistics value.

This paper examines the central problem of authority as illustrated through the lenses of philosophical anarchism. The justification of authority constitutes the paramount problem of political philosophy. The philosophical debate on political obligation, initiated by defenders of the state and anarchists, concerns the justification of a special bond between citizens and political institutions and lies at the centre of the discussion on authority. Philosophical anarchism’s criticism of political obligation creates great difficulties to state justification. Yet, this anarchist strand has been dismissed as a merely negative critique of political authority, with no alternative positive proposal of its own. In disagreement with this view, this paper aims at improving our idea of authority by revealing the value of the anarchist approach.

For this I focus on the position of critical philosophical anarchism and on three theorists each of whom relates in a significant way to this position. I discuss Rousseau as a traditional theorist whose view is a basic inspiration for the anarchist approach to political institutions. Joseph Raz’s theory is analyzed as a view largely compatible with critical philosophical anarchism’s perspective on state authority. Finally, I discuss Simmons as a representative critical philosophical anarchist, from whose approach, however, I depart in my defense of critical philosophical anarchism.

My conclusion is that critical philosophical anarchism sheds a new light on the important insights on authority offered by the above theorists and helps us adopt a new perspective on political institutions. In contrast with political anarchism, it does not propose to overthrow the state. Yet it justifies the former by establishing an everlasting criticism of authority. The absence of political obligation reaffirms the responsibility of citizenship. This entails a responsibility on our part, whether anarchists or not, to participate in evaluating continually authority’s decisions and practices, toward a better political world.

The main focus of each ruling government has always been to improve the level of savings and investments in the economy. The government of India is always concerned about the capital formation by common people through making time to time suitable amendments in tax laws and to promote financial inclusion. There are variety of investment options available in the market but a best investment option can be something which is beneficial to the investor from the point of view of good returns as well as tax saving. This paper compares the Equity Linked Saving Schemes over other fixed income investment options in the light of Income Tax Act 1961.

This study was set to determine the relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction in Banque Populaire du Rwanda, Kigali branches. It was based on both descriptive and cross-sectional survey designs. A selfadministered questionnaire was used to collect primary data from 498 customers, using convenient sampling technique. Data were analyzed using SPSS’s frequencies and percentages, means, and Pearson’s Linear Correlation Coefficient.

The study was based on five research objectives: (a) to determine the profile of respondents in terms of gender, type of account, educational qualification and banking experience, (b) to determine the level of service quality in BPR, (c) to determine the level of customer satisfaction among BPR customers (d) to determine relationship between service quality and customers’ satisfaction in BPR and (e) to recommend strategies enhance customer satisfaction basing on the study findings.

The findings revealed that majority of the respondents were female, over three equators with current type of account, over half of the respondents had no professional education qualification and majority of the respondents had been customers for BPR for relatively a long period of time that is from three years and above. It went ahead to revealed that both the level of service quality and customer satisfaction was at mean ≈3 (high level). The findings from PLCC showed a significant and positive relationship between service quality and customer satisfaction while comparing dimension like customer loyalty with reliability, responsiveness and assurance. On the other hand, comparison based on positive word of mouth with service quality sub-variables like Reliability, Assurance, tangibles, empathy and responsiveness, revealed that there was no significant relationship between the variables.

The researcher recommended that if BPR is to improve on service it offers to her customers to ensure their satisfaction, BPR staff should: (a) maintains on error-free records service, (b) handle customer problems in constant manner, (c) be willing to solve customer problems promptly and (d) understand specific needs of individual customers.

This study focuses on the exploration of the performance of the UK SRI funds. The current research occupied the recent data ranging from 2001 to 2013, including the “UK and Global economic recession periods”. The data set was mainly based on the returns of the 227 screened SRI funds of 70 fund managers on monthly basis. Moreover, it employed more than one estimation model in a research with the aim of finding recent evidence and reaching more robust conclusions. The research focused on the five hypotheses developed. The first finding indicates that there is no difference in the performance between the SRI funds and market. The second finding implies that the performance of the SRI funds is indifferent not considering whether they are grouped by “large-size” firms or “small-size” firms. The third finding is similar to the previous ones, as it cannot be concluded that the performance of the SRI fund portfolios differs from each other by various values of a book-to-market ratio. The result implies that the SRI fund portfolios grouped by their sector weighting significantly underperform the market. And the final finding is that SRI fund managers have positive selective ability, yet this skill does not assist to have a “right market timing” ability. The investigation reveals some recent evidence that draws immediate attention to the special characteristics of the SRI funds. Another feature of the study is highlighted by the demonstration of a negative correlation among risk factors, thereby it shed light on the fact that, when the SRI funds tend to outperform the market, volatility lowers, the “small-firm” effect swaps for “large-firm”, the tendency for “growth-orientation” strengths, and the momentum strategy weakens.

Finally, it is concluded that the SRI funds could mainly be used as an “insurance” tool rather than an “investment” instrument.

Efficiency of banking system leads to efficient allocation of scarce resources by the financial system of a country. Bank’s efficiency is ascertained through different mechanisms. One of the mechanisms uses the aspect of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). Considerable literature exists on KPIs for non-financial organizations. However, for the financial sector, deliberation on KPIs is uncommon. This research paper endeavors to fill this gap especially for Pakistani Commercial Banks belonging to the private sector. A total of 25 Pakistani commercial banks are listed with the State Bank of Pakistan, out which five are owned and controlled by the Government of Pakistan. The remaining 20 belong to the private sector. Out of these 20, secondary data of top 10 private sector banks selected on the basis of asset size was analyzed for the five year period from 2011 to 2015. Statistical technique of Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was applied on 28 different financial ratios to uncover four categories of possible KPIs.

This study aims to investigate the relation between Islamic banks performance and economic growth. It attempt to answer the question whether Islamic banks are a perquisite for economic development or whether their financial stability a consequence of it. The study follows quantitative method by employing cross sectional data context analysis. The data is collected from six banks over six countries through the period 2011-2013. Pearson regression is used to measure causal relation between GDP and banks performance representing in Islamic modes of finance, Z score. The regression tests shows significant relation between modes of finance and GDP R=0.79, there is negative causal relation between Z score and GDP, negative relation between Ijara, Murabah modes and GDP. Also the test shows significant negative relationship between modes of finance except Mudaraba and Z score R=0.93. However there is insignificant relationship between Zscore and Murabahah, Mudaraba. Two models are developed according to regression tests.

In this paper weak form efficiency is tested in ten European country indices. For this purpose Run test and Autocorrelation test are used. Run test clearly supported the dependent behavior of majority of countries. Run test has inherent weakness as only sign are conceded not how much amount of increase or decrease. The coefficients are obtained for 1-16 time lags to examine results for varying periodicity. Serial correlation coefficient statistics indicates the majority of indices are not in weak form efficiency. This study also shows that significant auto correlations are converted into insignificant with increases time lags.

The family business is the most frequently encountered ownership business model in the world and their impact on the global economy is considered significant. It is estimated that the total economic impact of family businesses to global GDP is over 70%. Family businesses are recognized as one of the engines of the post-industrial growth process since they are given credit for developing across generations' entrepreneurial talent, a sense of loyalty to business success, long-term strategic commitment, and corporate independence. This transformation can be achieved if the micro, small and medium scale enterprises (family owned businesses included) are encouraged to grow through the provision of finance and human capital. The key result of this study shows that Family firms are an integral part of Nigeria’s economy and have contributed significantly to GDP of the country which sustains economic growth.

The paper establishes the factors considered when making labour-leisure time decisions among employees in the Small and Medium Enterprises. A qualitative study was conducted using two different interview guides, one for shop floor employees and the other one for managers who acted as key informants. Twenty two employees were interviewed and four key informants also took part in the study. Participants were selected using purposive sampling. Data were analysed using thematic analysis. It has emerged from the study that employees in SMES sector know the factors that affect labour-leisure time decisions but they do not affect their work and non-work activities decisions. Some participants also highlighted that wage rate; culture, substitution and income effect affect labour-leisure time decisions but in reality they do not consider these factors due to unemployment and low wage rate in the industry which forced them to attach more value on work than leisure. Participants also revealed that due to low wage rate they prefer to work during weekends and holidays because are guaranteed of an extra income than going for leisure. As recommendations, it is argued that employees value leisure time as it reduces work related stress and death from exhaustion and companies must intervene in some of these extreme cases whereby employees go for years without taking leave days by forcing them to utilize their leave days (forced leave).