M. Khurrum S. Bhutta

Owner characteristics and health of SMEs in Pakistan

Purpose – A major frustration for most policy researchers in the small to medium‐sized enterprise (SME) area is the virtual non‐existence of scientific data on this sector in the country. This paper aims to provide some data.Design/methodology/approach – A survey of 651 SMEs from the manufacturing sector of Pakistan was conducted in 2003 and statistical analysis was carried out to analyze the data. This paper focuses on the relationship between the health indicators namely, sales/employee, increase/decrease in sales, and investment plans and the different personal characteristics of the owner/entrepreneur.Findings – This analysis suggests that education, generation setting up the business, and number of partners have a significant relationship with the health of SMEs. Health of the firm is also dependent on owner habits like watching television, reading newspapers and using computers for office work. Other factors like caste of the owner and occupation of the owners relatives were also analyzed, but no s...

Electronic Waste: A Growing Concern in Today's Environment

Over the recent past, the global market of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE) has grown exponentially, while the lifespan of these products has become increasingly shorter. More of these products are ending up in rubbish dumps and recycling centers, posing a new challenge to policy makers. The purpose of this paper is to provide a review of the e-Waste problem and to put forward an estimation technique to calculate the growth of e-Waste.

SCM practices and the health of the SMEs in Pakistan

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to provide a window into the supply chain practices of the small and medium enterprise sector in Pakistan.Design/methodology/approach – The Small and Medium Enterprise Center (SMEC) at the Lahore University of Management Sciences undertook a survey in 2003 to gauge the health of this sector. A survey of 650 firms in ten districts in the country was conducted. This paper presents the results and analyses of the supply chain practices of these SMEs.Research limitations/implications – There is dearth of independent data and research in the field of SMEs in Pakistan. This paper provides a window to the supply chain practices of SMEs in Pakistan and will enable future researchers to use this research as a building block in understanding these practices and the factors that pertain to successful firms.Practical implications – The implications of this study are far reaching enabling trainers, consultants, donor agencies, and entrepreneurs in the SME sector to learn the...

An examination of the differential effects of transportation in supply chain optimization modeling

Purpose – It has been suggested that much of the potential inefficiencies associated with supply chain management (SCM) costs can be traced to wasteful practices such as inefficient, unnecessary, or redundant stocking practices, or inefficient transportation. The purpose of this paper is to develop a model which reconciles many of these inefficiencies by integrating production factors, purchasing, inventory, and trucking decisions for optimizing supply chain costs between first‐, and second‐tier suppliers and subsequent OEM customers.Design/methodology/approach – The modeling technique is mathematical programming tested in a simulation model. In an effort to determine the significance of the transportation component of the proffered model, the fully developed model is differentially tested, including standard production variables varying transportation costs, paired with similar instances of the model in which the transportation costs are fixed.Findings – Significant differences are found in the predictiv...

An exploratory study of the characteristics affecting the success of SMEs in Pakistan

There is an increasing recognition of the potential contribution of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) towards employment and economic growth in Pakistan. Unfortunately SMEs have a high mortality rate. A survey was conducted of the executive heads (CEO, Chairman, MD, GM, etc.) of target organisations and information related to different functions of SMEs was collected to try to identify the characteristics that make an SME successful. This paper presents the results.

From Green Buildings to Green Supply Chains: An Integrated Input Output Life Cycle Assessment and Optimization Framework for Carbon Footprint Reduction Policy Making

The purpose of this paper is to focus on tracing GHG emissions across the supply chain industries associated with the US residential, commercial and industrial building stock and provides optimized GHG reduction policy plans for sustainable development.,A two-step hierarchical approach is developed. First, Economic Input-Output-based Life Cycle Assessment (EIO-LCA) is utilized to quantify the GHG emissions associated with the US residential, commercial and industrial building stock. Second, a mixed integer linear programming (MILP) based optimization framework is developed to identify the optimal GHG emissions’ reduction (percent) for each industry across the supply chain network of the US economy.,The results indicated that “ready-mix concrete manufacturing”, “electric power generation, transmission and distribution” and “lighting fixture manufacturing” sectors were found to be the main culprits in the GHG emissions’ stock. Additionally, the majorly responsible industries in the supply chains of each building construction categories were also highlighted as the hot-spots in the supply chains with respect to the GHG emission reduction (percent) requirements.,The decision making in terms of construction-related expenses and energy use options have considerable impacts across the supply chains. Therefore, regulations and actions should be re-organized around the systematic understanding considering the principles of “circular economy” within the context of sustainable development.,Although the literature is abundant with works that address quantifying environmental impacts of building structures, environmental life cycle impact-based optimization methods are scarce. This paper successfully fills this gap by integrating EIO-LCA and MILP frameworks to identify the most pollutant industries in the supply chains of building structures.

Exploratory study of adoption of lean management practices in Pakistani textile firms

For Pakistani firms to remain competitive in the 21st century, they have to embrace and excel in practices that have brought considerable competitive advantages to firms in the developed world. Among these practices world class manufacturing (WCM), Lean management and just-in-time (JIT), just to name a few, have played a considerable role. A systematic approach needs to be devised to assess the level of adoption of these practices. In this piece of research we will limit our observations to Lean management practices. It is the objective of this research to gauge the level of adoption of Lean management practices in the manufacturing sector in Pakistan and more specifically to the textile industry.

The analysis of scheduling rules in a flexible job shop with non-zero setup costs

This paper evaluates the scheduling of parts in a Flexible Job Shop (FJS) with non-zero setup costs, varying arrival rates and multiple objective functions. The Shortest Processing Time (SPT), Longest Processing Time (LPT), First-in, First-out (FIFO) and Earliest Due Date (EDD) scheduling rules are evaluated with respect to minimising the number of early jobs and optimising the due-date performance while simultaneously approximating Just-in-Time (JIT) inventory levels. We show in this paper that when the setup costs are not zero, depending on which objective is given priority, different machine loading configurations optimise system performance.

The impact of e-taxation policy on state and local government revenue

The tax-free status of most items purchased online has resulted in significant loss of tax revenues to state and local government. Our research indicated that the loss of taxes amounting to

Survey of Lean management practices in Pakistani industrial sectors

13.3 billion in 2001 will rise to