Pakistan is full of business opportunities

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The second day of the Second Annual Business Research Conference held by Lahore School of Economics (LSE) marked the presence of management experts and academicians. The conference was held at its Main Burki Campus in collaboration with the CFA Society Pakistan, The Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan, JCR-VIS, PACRA and MAP. The theme of the conference was Managing Business in Pakistan-Challenges and Opportunities”.

The conference opened with the key note address of Saadia Naveed on “the importance of knowledge and self development for Career Service”. Saadia Naveed is the President Management Association of Pakistan and Deputy Managing Director, English Biscuit Manufacturers. The theme of the first session was Entrepreneurship and Innovation in Pakistan and was chaired by Saadia Naveed.

LUMS Suleman Dawood School of Business Assistant Professor of Entrepreneurship Dr Muhammad Sheharyar Shahid opened the discussion by presenting his paper. Dr Sheharyar discussed the factors that affected the formalisation of the informal entrepreneur sector in Pakistan. He asserted that lower levels of formalisation were almost always correlated with younger and less educated entrepreneurs who are concerned about public sector corruption, high taxes and have resentment towards the government. He concluded that the formal and the informal sectors of Paksitan should be treated and identified differently and efforts should be made to formalise the informal sector.

LSE Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Business Administration Dr Rizwan Ahmed took the discussion forward by discussing the positive impact of e-commerce on entrepreneurship and employment in the country. He asserted that despite the favourable growth in internet and mobile demographics, Pakistan’s e-commerce market size remains small. According to him, this potential growth was being hindered by the absence of institutions and trade bodies to support and promote ecommerce, lack of applied and market research, lack of capacity building and training in ecommerce, and absence of e-payment gateways. He concluded by stressing the fact that the government should develop such a policy to enhance the growth of e-commerce and implement it successfully. University of Central Punjab Business School Assistant Professor Dr Abdul Waheed presented a paper on the same lines. He tried to establish a link between the product/process innovation and the productivity of workers. The results of his research revealed that although there was a significant positive relationship between both the variables, Pakistani firms relied more on traditional productivity factors, labour and capital rather than innovation, for productivity enhancement.

The second session of the day was largely focused on Strategy, HR and Leadership in Pakistani Companies. The session was chaired by University of Amsterdam Business School Associate Professor and thesis coordinator Dr Wendelien Van Eerde. LUMS Suleman Dawood School of Business Assistant Professor Muhammad Shakeel Sadiq Jajja opened the discussion by discussing the impact of the supplier’s organisational culture on his social compliance. He asserted that despite pressures, varying from normative to coercive forms, from the buyers, competitors and regulators, the suppliers’ organisational culture had a positive impact on the social compliance which moderated all the pressures.

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