Day 2 of the Lahore School of Economics Annual Conference on Management of the Pakistan Economy focused on issues related to innovation, female employment, skills development of workers and Pakistani trade.
Dr. Waqar Wadho and Dr. Azam Chaudhry of the Lahore School of Economics looked at the how family control of management in Pakistani textile firms affects productivity. They found that family controlled firm engaged in management practices that were as good as the management practices of non-family controlled firms and that better management practices led to greater labor productivity in firms. They also found that better management practices led to higher exports which is critical for Pakistan as it tries to increase exports. But they also found that family-controlled firms only benefited from better management practices if they delegated responsibility within the firm to professionals which provides important lessons for the business community as it attempts to expand production and increase exports.
Dr. Rabia Arif of the Lahore School of Economics looked at how innovation in the textile sector, the light engineering sector and the automotive sector differs. She found that most of the textile manufacturers surveyed were exporters and they engaged in product innovation to increase revenues and decreases costs. In the light engineering sector, firms engage in process and marketing innovations but this led to higher costs and lower revenues. In the automotive sector, larger firms engaged in product and marketing innovations to increase their revenues. The results showed that innovation in the textile sector, which is an export intensive sector, tend to be different from innovations in the light engineering and automotive sectors which mostly cater to the domestic market.
Dr. Hamna Ahmed and Zunia Tirmazee of the Lahore School of Economics and Rebecca Wu of the University of Chicago discussed the impact of a training initiative by the Punjab Skills Development Fund which focused on providing access to online training courses for workers in rural and urban Punjab. She found that workers who had completed the online training courses transitioned into work more than those who did not, and also gained more income after completing the courses. She found that the most commonly chosen courses were related to IT or finance related skills and that those who completed this most demanded courses tended to salaries of between Rs 40,000 and 75,000 per month. She then discussed the importance of incorporating online training to develop skills in Pakistan and how these skills can increase employment in Pakistan as well as potentially increase IT exports.
Dr. Zunia Saif Tirmazee of the Lahore School of Economics and Sakina Shibuya from the University of Wisconsin discussed the factors that may hinder firms from hiring women. They looked at the impact of social norms as well as economic factors like the cost of transportation for women and the cost of training for women in firms.
