This work investigates the relational behavior of corporate social responsibility (CSR) and its effect on firms' financial distress (FD). The population of the study consists of all the non-financial firms presently listed in the equity market of Pakistan. The yearly data set of 213 non-financial companies is selected from 2005 to 2017 with total observations of 2769. The analysis of the study based on OLS regression, fixed effect, and random effect models. The study also uses the GMM technique to guard against potential problems of endogeneity and heteroskedasticity that arise from the use of panel data. Results indicate that higher investment in CSR leads to reduced/lower financial distress. It suggests that investment in CSR raises the reputation and creditworthiness of firms. Key findings are robust as confirmed by alternative proxies of financial distress. Overall findings advocate that CSR helps in reducing default risk or financial distress and creates a better corporate environment that ultimately improves organizations' economic outlook.

This paper identifies the mediating role of innovation and moderating role of size of enterprise on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation and performance of Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs). For the purpose of this study, the necessary data is collected from 384 MSE's operating in Punjab province, Pakistan. Initially the data are analyzed using SPSS 22 and then, for the development of structure equation modeling, Smart PLS-3 is used. Two aspects of entrepreneurial orientations; namely risk taking and pro-activeness are analyzed and innovation is considered as mediat-ing variable. The major contribution of the study is to identify any moderating effect of size of the enterprise on the relationship between entrepreneurial orientation, innovation and performance of MSEs. These elements basically show the contribution that is made by the innovation and performance of the MSE's. The results reveal that the size of enterprises moderated the relationship between risk taking and performance, pro-activeness and performance as well as innovation and performance.

The purpose of this study is to identify the influence of innovative cultural processes (ICP) on SMEs performance in Punjab, Pakistan. Data was collected through survey method. 60 usable questionnaires were used for collecting the information from SMEs CEOs/owners/senior managers from Punjab, Pakistan. Research design was consisted on developing the hypothetical framework with innovative cultural processes set as an independent variable to test SMEs performance as a dependent variable. Validity and reliability of the scale were assessed by experts and also a small set of the data was used for analysis through SPSS version 20.0 and PLS-SEM 3.0 for analyzing the effect. The results of the research confirmed the validity and reliability of the instrument used in this study. The findings of this study also validate the empirical linkage between capturing ICP and SMEs performance in Punjab, Pakistan. This study has some practical implications especially for SMEs in Pakistan and recommendations to have ICP for enhancing the performance of SMEs.

This paper attempts to predict financial distress companies in the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors in Malaysia using financial distress companies as the dependent variable and financial ratios and macroeconomic variables as the independent variables. Logit Analysis was used as the analysis procedure because ratios do not have to be normal if it is used. It is also suitable when the dependent variable is binary in nature. Furthermore, it can also provide the probability of a company being financially distressed. This study found that the independent variables that can be used to predict financial distress companies in the manufacturing sector in Malaysia were total assets turnover ratio, current ratio, net income to total assets ratio and money supply (M2). However, the independent variables that can be used to predict financial distress companies in the non-manufacturing sector in Malaysia were debt ratio, working capital ratio, net income to total assets ratio and money supply (M2). This study provides the prediction models of financial distress com-panies in the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors in Malaysia using financial ratios and macroeconomic variables as its independent variables.

This paper investigates the influence of total quality management (TQM) on export performance of manufacturing sector of Pakistani’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The data was collected from manufacturing SMEs participating in exports and three hundred sixty-four (364) responses were received and further used for statistical analysis. The statistical SEM analysis was evaluated through Smart PLS-3. The results of the study show that TQM had an influential role in SMEs’ export performance. Firms with the higher-level implementation of TQM will be more successful in the international market and can achieve better export performance. Thus, the study reveals that TQM is a valuable and dynamic intangible resource which can increase the SME export perfor-mance. The study presented the relationship between TQM and SME export performance and pro-vided some insights for the practitioners and the researchers. In other words, practitioners and re-searchers will be able to make a better decision about the implementation of TQM. Furthermore, the current study contributed to the literature of TQM and SME export performance, empirically. The absence of TQM can affect the firm performance in the international market.

This study investigates AI bias in financial technology (FinTech)-based supply chain management in Pakistan. The study employs Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) to analyze data from diverse respondents. Hypotheses examine the relationships between AI integration, algorithm diversity, employee training, data quality, regulatory compliance, organizational culture, and AI bias. The findings reveal that higher AI integration leads to increased AI bias, Algorithm diversity reduces AI bias, while employee training decreases bias, Quality and diversity of data negatively correlate with AI bias, and regulatory compliance lowers bias. In addition, organizational culture mediates the relationship between AI integration and AI bias. This research contributes a holistic understanding of AI bias factors, guiding ethical AI adoption. Policymakers can use these insights to shape regulations, and industry practitioners can make informed decisions.

This study investigates the impact of human resources (HR) practices, recruitment and selection, training and development, compensation and benefits, on employee’s job satisfaction in fertilizer sector of Pakistan. A pre-tested questionnaire was distributed and two hundred respondents pro-vided useable information. The result of the study shows a positive relationship between HR practices and job performance, which indicates fair recruitment and selection, better training and development opportunities and attractive compensation and benefit packages increase the level of satisfaction of employees.

Consumer’s values, Cultural values, Emotional Values and Word of mouth expressiveness, are good predictors for their buying decision satisfaction. In current study sample of 500 was taken to assess the consumer’s buying decision satisfaction in relation to the importance of their values associated with those decisions. This study also reveals how gender influences buying decision satisfaction. Consumer values have a positive and significant impact on buying decision satisfac-tion. While evaluation on the basis of gender and females have more emotional and word of mouth linkages than males, on the contrary to this, males are more concerned with cultural val-ues, and are less expressive and have a tendency to suppress their emotions while making buy-ing decisions.

Corporate social responsibility (CSR) is one of the important factors to increase the customer satisfaction. It is part of the economic, legal and moral exercises of a business element guided towards enhancing the business and societal desires. However, companies are facing various issues while adopting CSR practices, particularly Indonesian logistics companies. Challenges in the way of CSR practices affect adversely on customer satisfaction. Therefore, the objective of the present study is to highlight the role of CSR in customer satisfaction among Indonesian logistics firms. In this study, opinions of logistics customers were gathered through survey questionnaires. All the responses were analyzed through structural equation modeling technique. The findings of the study suggest that logistics companies should focus on two CSR practices, 1) environmental contribution and, 2) human resources. Environmental contribution and human resource promote community development which lead towards higher customer satisfaction.

The purpose of this study is to determine the critical success factors (CSF) of IT projects in Pa-kistan. The identified factors cannot only be functional to exact type IT projects but also to all types of IT projects, their success directly affects the achievement of whole organization. The proposed study of this paper has determined 15 factors influencing the most on the success of IT projects through multiple regression analysis. The survey has disclosed that many CSFs were found related to IT projects but these 15 factors are also the backbone of IT projects. The re-search results obtained clearly indicated that the Leadership Qualities played a significant role in obtaining Top Management support in order to access to resources however, the Leadership Qualities did not play any role on the trained and capable Project Team Members. Besides, it is undoubtedly defined effective communication of the project was established to be influential on the conclusion and contributing factor towards the Success of IT projects in Pakistan. Top Man-agement Support as a whole was not found to play a key role in the IT Project Success.