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Lahore School of Economics Conference on Management of the Pakistan Economy

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Lahore School of Economics’ 12th International Conference on Management of the Pakistan Economy concluded here this evening. The theme of the two-day Conference was “Technology, Entrepreneurship and Productivity Growth – Where Pakistan stands and where it must go.” The Conference was attended by renowned academicians from abroad and Pakistan, local industry captains, senior officials from the Ministry of Science and Technology, officials from the State Bank of Pakistan, and faculty and young scholars from the Lahore School. 


The second day of the conference started with a session on Entrepreneurship and Innovation in the Technology Sector: Constraints to growth. Dr. Naved Hamid (Professor of Economics and Director, Centre for Research in Economics and Business, Lahore School of Economics) and Mr. Faizan Khalid (Visiting faculty, Lahore School of Economics) highlighted the rapid growth of the digital economy globally since the 1990s. While this phenomenon reached Pakistan with a lag, the IT companies can be a major source of investment and growth for the country in the next decade, and thus it is important to identify the constraints to growth of this sector.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/31/2016 03:22:00 PM,

Technology, Entrepreneurship and Productivity Growth – Where Pakistan stands and where it must go

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The Lahore School of Economics is hosting its Twelfth International Annual Conference on Management of the Pakistan Economy at its Main Burki Campus on  March 30-31, 2016. The theme of this Conference is “Technology, Entrepreneurship and Productivity Growth – Where Pakistan stands and where it must go” and the two-day event will be devoted to discussions on the challenges and constraints faced in accelerating technology and productivity growth in Pakistan.


The first day of the Conference started with welcoming remarks by Dr. Naved Hamid (Professor of Economics and Director, Centre for Research in Economics and Business (CREB), Lahore School of Economics). He remarked that the timing of this year’s Conference fit well with the need of the hour as all the issues the Conference aimed to address are very relevant to the issues confronted by Pakistan’s economy at present.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/30/2016 03:40:00 PM,

Twelfth International Conference on Management of the Pakistan Economy - Images

Live, also here and here



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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/30/2016 10:41:00 AM,

Scientific Research Imperative for Entrepreneurship and Sustainable Development

Bilal U. Haq

Indigenous scientific research is crucial for long-term economic growth and simple transference of technology or buying of expertise has its ultimate developmental limitations. Examples from the hydrocarbon industry clearly illustrate this paradox.

Oil-rich developing countries can afford to import expertise with ease, but rarely develop the new technologies needed for the next methodological breakthrough or paradigm shift. Lack of a culture of open scientific enquiry often underlies this failing. For resource-deficient countries this is compounded by dearth of infrastructure and an often-cited reason is unaffordability. Yet, scientific research does not always require large investments of funds, software development is an apt example. Deficit of scientific research in Pakistan may stem from many of these issues, as well as other encumberments. Innovation and entrepreneurship requires a special mix of encouragements and incentives from the government and industry. In my presentation I will outline some of these issues based on my own experience of over 25 years of research leadership and funding in the US and Europe and my involvement with transference of knowledge to both developing and developed countries. I will also review the reasons for my own scientific career choice and the sense of discovery and fulfillment, as well as the perks, associated with the scientific option.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/26/2016 01:47:00 PM,

Productivity growth-technology-entrepreneurship nexus: Implications for Pakistan

Irfan ul Haque, South Centre, Geneva

The paper's starting point is that labour productivity growth does not receive the attention it merits in economic policymaking. Productivity growth is the foundation for rising living standards and a country’s ability to compete in the world market. It improves when producers’ seek to improve their production methods and the quality and range of products they produce. This entails a constant search for areas of improvement, tapping new technologies and finding innovative ways of producing and delivering the output to consumers. And that is what entrepreneurship is all about.

The paper will consist of three parts. The first part will seek to clarify the importance of productivity growth as a key objective of economic policy and show how productivity growth, technological advance and entrepreneurship are all inter-linked. The second part will discuss the empirical basis of this linkage. And the third part will discuss the need to reorient economic policy towards productivity growth, technological upgrading, and innovation.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/26/2016 01:45:00 PM,

Costs, Capabilities and Cash: The Problem of Technology and Sustainable Economic Growth in Pakistan

Matthew McCartney, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

Growth in Pakistan has been surprisingly sustainable. GDP growth of 5% p.a. since independence and no recession since (at least) 1960 according to World Bank data represents a creditable performance when compared to all but the most successful developing countries. Pakistan has significantly transformed the structure of its economy during these same decades; in 1950 99% of its exports were agricultural goods and by the 1990s exports were largely manufactured goods. This very success indicates a growing constraint on sustaining growth into the future or a the concern that Pakistan may be headed for a Middle Income Trap. Although there does exist scope for continued growth based on further structural changes - in particular the large number of people still employed in agriculture or else the women not currently engaged in the labour force - for growth to be sustained a more intensive or productivity oriented growth will be necessary. This paper first outlines the importance of productivity growth for sustaining GDP growth in Pakistan, then examines the historical and comparative productivity performance of Pakistan, and explores a number of case studies of successful technological change particularly in South Asia and finally attempts to draw some lessons for contemporary Pakistan.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/26/2016 01:43:00 PM,

Lahore School of Economics Entrepreneurial Exhibition


Every year, Lahore School of Economics Entrepreneurship Society hosts an Entrepreneurial Exhibition where students put up displays for various business ideas. It is a highly anticipated event for the student body of the Lahore School who take part in this exhibition with full zeal and enthusiasm.


This year, around 80 students displayed their innovative product ideas in areas such as shoes, clothing, food as well as various service ideas such as online photo framing, automated control for home appliances, among others in the Entrepreneurial Exhibition this year. Notable figures of the industry and Entrepreneurs were invited as judges who evaluated the ideas put forward by the students. Various awards for different categories including Best Product Idea, Best Service Idea, and Entrepreneur of the Year were given to the students based on the evaluation by the judges.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/25/2016 08:46:00 AM,

Firm Level Analysis of Technological and Non-technological innovation, Sources of Knowledge Spillovers, Constraints, and Economic Returns

Waqar Ahmed Wadho, Lahore School of Economics

Azam Amjad Chaudhry, Lahore School of Economics

In recent years, information technology has led to extraordinary increase in access to information and new markets for firms in many developing countries. This coupled with increased globalization is constantly changing the landscape of innovation and firm’s competitiveness. It has also resulted in greater international competition and in new organizational forms for the effective management of global supply chain. As a result, knowledge has taken a central place as the main driver of innovation and economic growth. In such knowledge-based economy, it has become increasingly important to better understand critical aspects of the innovation process, such as innovation activities beyond the R&D, the interaction among different actors in the market and the relevant knowledge flows. Using sample of 614 textiles manufacturers, this study explores the dynamics of firm’s innovation activities by analyzing the innovation behavior, the extent and types of innovation, the resources devoted to innovation, sources of knowledge spillovers, factors hampering technological innovation, and the returns to innovation for three years 2013-2015.

Our results showed that 56 percent of firms introduced technological or non-technological innovations. 38 percent firms introduced new products, however, these innovations were generally incremental in nature as vast majority of innovations were only new to firm. There were six enterprises who introduced products that were first in the World and all the six are from Sialkot. 30 enterprises introduced new product on their market. Innovation rate increases with firm size; large firms have innovation rate of 83 percent, followed by medium sized firms (68 percent) and small sized firms (39 percent). Technological innovative firms spent on average 10 percent of their turnover in 2015 on innovation expenditure. Acquiring newer vintages of capital with a purpose to introduce new/improved product and processes was the dominant innovation activity. Acquisition of machinery and equipment was the main innovation activity with 56 percent of innovation expenditures devoted to it. 31 percent innovation expenditure was on R&D (25 percent on in-house and 6 percent on external R&D).
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/24/2016 01:42:00 PM,

Structural Change and Economic Growth: The Experience of the East Asian Economies

Rajah Rasiah, University of Malaya, Malaysia

The East Asian economies have attracted attention from policy makers following their successful efforts to quicken economic development. Rapid growth in these countries has been achieved through structural change from low to high value added activities. In all of them the share of manufacturing rose as the economies grew rapidly. With the exception of China and Vietnam where the share of manufacturing in GDP is still growing, it has gradually fallen in the others. However, while deindustrialization in Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Taiwan began to occur only after these economies had become developed, deindustrialization in Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Thailand have taken place while they are still developing. This paper attempts to analyze these different experiences against host country policy interventions with a view towards elucidating lessons for other latecomer economies, such as Pakistan.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/24/2016 01:41:00 PM,

Innovations in Austrian SMEs: Attitudes-Motives-Impact-Implementation-Cooperations

Hanns Pichler, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Austria

The study, based on a comprehensive sample focusing – for the first time – on the SME sector specifically, tries to depict entrepreneurial and business potentials as to prevailing innovation-oriented attitudes and related activities, differentiated by relevant sizeclasses (EU definition) and major sectors. 

The term „innovation“ thereby follows the commonly accepted and widely used Oslo/OECD definition which – with a kind of Schumpeterian touch – has proved itself more readily being applicable also to smaller and entrepre-neurially driven entities.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/24/2016 01:39:00 PM,

Measuring Differences in Technology and Productivity in a Sample of Jeans Manufacturers in Pakistan

Theresa Chaudhry and Mahvish Faran, Lahore School of Economics

Textiles account for over half of Pakistan’s exports, with ready-made garments making up more than half of textile exports. Recently, there has been optimism about higher exports in the textile sector after the EU granted Pakistan GSP (Generalised Scheme of Preferences) Plus status. In order to increase the market share of ready-made garments in the European market, it is essential for developing countries, like Pakistan, to increase manufacturing productivity in order to achieve higher economic growth. At present, the readymade garments sector of Pakistan faces tough competition from other countries such as Bangladesh and China.

In our paper, we will focus our analysis on the denim garments sector which is a key export sector that has the potential to grow vertically (from weaving to finished garments). In particular, we will map the jeans’ production process and also calculate differences in productivity across firms at each stage of the production process. We will then see if the use of different types of technologies across firms in each stage of the production process can explain productivity differences across firms.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/24/2016 01:33:00 PM,

Measuring Technology Differences across Football Manufacturers in Sialkot

Tariq Raza and Azam Chaudhry, Lahore School of Economics

The existing literature shows that SMEs are more inclined towards labor-intensive technologies, whereas larger enterprises are more capital intensive which is one reason why production capacity varies across different sized firms [You (1995), Kitching (1982)]. Firms operate under different environment and SMEs may experience conditions and circumstances which may differ with the settings in which larger firms function. For instance, SME’s may face certain constraints which, relatively considering may not be that big an issue for larger firms [Yang et.al (2007)]. Given that firms function in dissimilar environment, a major concern may be; are smaller firms less efficient and/or are smaller firms not rational in their decisions?

An interesting case study in the context of Pakistan is the production of footballs which is focused in the city of Sialkot. China and Pakistan are considered the world’s pre-eminent experts on football production. Both countries have proven to be a chief source of inflatable balls (of which footballs are the largest single component) for premier global brands [Atkin et.al, 2015a]. Sialkot possesses a niche for high-quality hand stitched footballs [Golvine et. al, 2015]. Sialkot’s commendable market position in the premium hand-stitched footballs is being abraded with the presence of hand-stitching production in China [Nadvi, 2011]. Khalid Nadvi writes, “What has not been studied at any length is the nature of technological change within the industry, and its consequences for, inter alia, the geography of production. This has implications for the local industry and its ability to retain its global position.”
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/24/2016 01:29:00 PM,

Technology Adoption in the Sialkot Sport Gloves Industry: A cross comparison between Small, Medium and Large Enterprises

Saba Fazal and Azam Chaudhry, Lahore School of Economics

The last two decades have witnessed a remarkable spread of technology in all spheres of economic activity. The change has been so rapid that firms are finding it difficult to keep pace with ever-changing market situations. The issue of technology adoption and technology mapping is particularly relevant for export-oriented manufacturers who face tough competition in international markets and must maintain a competitive edge by adopting latest product and process technologies to meet the requirements of upscale global markets. It is generally believed that Pakistani firms have lagged behind their competitors in international markets in terms of technological advancement and consequently Pakistan’s exports continue to remain concentrated in low value-added and low quality product segments. However the question of technology adoption and technology mapping by export-oriented manufacturers has received little attention in the empirical literature. This study is an attempt to explore the determinants of technology adoption and technology mapping on Sialkot gloves industry in Pakistan. According to Woodside and Biemens ( 2005), the term technology adoption refers to the decision-making process of an individual firm Technology adoption is a complex phenomenon and depends in large measure on firm characteristics and the economic environment under which the firms operate On the other hand, Technology mapping is really about determining the current technological and competitive position of a firm, and identifying areas of future investment that will yield long-term competitive benefits

In Pakistan, the export of sports goods increased from $177.055 million in July-January (2012-13) to $176.505 million in July-January (2011-12), according to the data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics (PBS). Among sports goods, the highest increase of $25.06 million was witnessed in the trade of gloves, exports of which increased from $57.796 million in 2012 to $72.280 in 2013. At the same time, the exports of footballs decreased by 2.81 percent during the period 2013-12 to 2012-11 decreasing from $79.206 million to $76.679 million while the exports of other sports goods also decreased from $39.503 million in 2011-12 to US$ 27.796 million in 2012-13.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/24/2016 01:24:00 PM,

Promotion of innovation and S&T: The role of finance

Saeed Ahmed and Mahmood ul Hassan Khan, State Bank of Pakistan, Karachi


Promotion of innovation and S&T enables economies to achieve sustainable economic growth. In addition, firms engaged in medium- to high-tech production tend to gain more from innovation and are, on average, more productive compared to enterprises which are limited to low-tech systems. Innovation is, in turn, inextricably linked to the availability and nature of financing. Empirical studies in developing countries reveal that bank financing and FDI play a vital role in this regard. This paper provides an overview of: (a) the role of financing in facilitating S&T and innovation; (b) State Bank of Pakistan’s policy initiatives to make financing available, both in general, and also to specifically facilitate S&T and innovation in the country; and (c) the role of innovations in expanding access to finance in Pakistan.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/24/2016 01:22:00 PM,

Public Policy Innovation and Economic Growth: An Economic and Technology Perspective on Pakistan’s Telecom Industry

Inayat U Mangla, Lahore School of Economics
Musleh Ud-Din, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad
Muhammad Jamil, Independent Researcher

At a time of rapid technological advancements in every field, Pakistan must develop a comprehensive strategy for harnessing science and technology to promote economic growth on a sustained basis. In recent decades, successful economies have moved away from factor accumulation models of economic growth to productivity led growth that is underpinned by technological advancements and innovations. To this end, we provide a synthesis of literature review for developed and developing economies on numerous visions that have been advanced about the role of Schumpeter’s (1949) entrepreneurship in a capitalist society. Following Solow’s (1956) seminal work, the endogenous growth theory emphasizes knowledge as a key driver of economic growth besides traditional factors. Using the endogenous growth theory as a framework of analysis, the paper will provide a macroeconomic perspective on the importance of technological modernization and innovation for sustainable economic growth.

We argue that public policy must be geared to generate robust growth by encouraging investment in research and development (R&D) and human capital. The paper will conceptualize the role of technology in the process of economic growth and identify policy areas that can be instrumental in promoting technological modernization and innovations. The discussion on policy will focus on the role of domestic commerce, services sector, trade policy and macroeconomic policy in promoting technological modernization and innovations. In specific, in this paper, we show that there are patterns of innovation occurring in developing countries like Pakistan that have been overlooked in the conventional literature on modernization and innovation.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/24/2016 01:19:00 PM,

Innovation in Information Technology (IT) Industry

Aezaz Hussain, Systems Ltd, Lahore

In the mid-nineties a group of Nobel Laurates working for IBM Research Lab were asked to foretell the use of computers in the 21st century. Their thoughtful response was that this question would be best answered by a science fiction writer rather than the scientist working on improving the technology.

Innovation in the use of Information technology is driven more by the discovering new ways of using it rather than by the developments in the technology itself. Had someone with foresight foretold the current capability of smart phones 20 years ago, the computer scientist would have said that of course it is very possible as the technology does already exist.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/24/2016 01:16:00 PM,

Status of Innovation and Technology in Pakistan Tractor Industry

Irfan Aqueel, Millat Tractors Ltd, Lahore

Tractors and farm machinery usage in Pakistan started in the early 1960’s by importing completely built-up tractors and machines. After initial experiments, it was felt that these machines were either too expensive for our farmers or not suitable for our requirements - small farm size and complicated irrigation system. However, advantages of farm mechanization versus traditional bullock farming were well accepted and recognized by the farming community.

The local entrepreneurs saw a gap between the available hardware and the farmers need hence the initiation of a gradual process of local development with the help of foreign partners. This shift was well planned in the light of Govt. of Pakistan indigenization policies and under the technology transfer agreements between the local industry and their foreign partners. The process of indigenization helped in developing a strong engineering infrastructure in the country and exposure to the new manufacturing technologies.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/24/2016 01:12:00 PM,

Competitiveness through Foreign Technology

Sikandar Rahim, Ex World Bank, Washington D.C

Pakistan’s lack of industrial progress over decades should be cause for concern about the future. The goods the economy produces competitively are the typical goods that yield so little income that they are only exported by economies that have low wage labour. They are much the same manufactures now as during the 1960s and have been kept competitive by keeping wages down through repeated devaluation. Income per head will rise slowly, at best, if the economy does not learn how to produce goods that yield more income, and that means acquiring the up to date technical knowledge needed to be competitive from the foreign producers who produce such goods. But that is knowledge obtained through R&D and is not provided freely, least of all to would-be competitors. Pakistani firms can try to do their own R&D, but, even with public sector collaboration, they cannot catch up with the established foreign firms, which continue to do their R&D and have more money, experienced staff and facilities.

The two possibilities are to attract foreign direct investment and for Pakistani firms to insert themselves into the production processes of foreign firms. Experience shows that the first, though it has worked well in several countries, can be ruled out for the present; there has been no FDI in Pakistan for making exportable manufactures. But economies like South Korea and China acquired the technical knowledge they needed through subcontracting and joint ventures with American, European and Japanese firms and moved on from there. There is no realistic alternative and task ahead is to determine what has to be done to realise it.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/24/2016 01:07:00 PM,

Which Public Policies can Promote Technology Management, Productivity and Innovation in Pakistan

Shaukat Hameed, COMSTECH, Islamabad

How do we manage technology in Pakistan? While numerous public announcements are made about moving towards a knowledge economy, the reality is that our competitiveness is falling, organisational changes are slow, our workforce skill levels are inadequate and there is a stalling in productivity and innovation. In fact, Pakistan faces a serious risk of de-industrialisation, unless the dynamics and disruptive nature of managing modern technology are understood, and are embedded as a key pillar of public policy which can lead to enhancing innovation and productivity.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/24/2016 01:02:00 PM,

The role of public policy – The government’s perspective

Bio - Fazal Abbas Maken, Ministry of Science & Technology, Islamabad

Mr. Fazal Abbas Maken completed his Graduation from Government College, Lahore with Economics and Statistics as his major subjects. Mr. Maken joined the Pakistan Administrative Service (formerly known as District Management Group) in 1983. Apart from holding district-level administrative assignments, relating to law & order and revenue collection, he has held mid-management and senior management positions related to planning & development, project management, policy making and promotion of Pakistan’ s international trade.

Mr. Maken served as Secretary, Irrigation and Power Development, Government of NWFP (now Khyber Pukhtunkhwa) from August 2000 to September 2002. During his tenure, he led the formulation and implementation of the Development Plans and various policies for these sectors. He successfully steered the Malakand-III Hydel Power Project and initiated the procurement process for its construction. He also worked with WAPDA for preparation and approval of PC-1 for GomalZam Dam Project.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/24/2016 12:56:00 PM,

Twelfth International Conference on Management of the Pakistan Economy - Program and Brief



Download Conference Program and Conference Brief (pdf)

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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/24/2016 11:09:00 AM,

Celebrating Pakistan Day with Door of Awareness


Lahore School of Economics Corporate Social Responsibility celebrated Pakistan Day with Door of Awareness (DOA) - an educational welfare organization aimed at providing access to free education to the underprivileged. Our volunteers organized a talk session imparting the historic importance of 23 March and why do we celebrate it. The event started off with our National Anthem, sung by our own team of singers and musicians along with DOA budding crowd cheering to national anthem. This was followed by a popup quiz. Lahore School volunteers also distributed homemade munchies and other gifts including face painting.

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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/23/2016 11:58:00 AM,

Mphil in Economics

Lahore School Mphil Economics Programme - Admissions 2016
(2 Year Programme)
Last Date: June 29, 2016

Courses

Econometrics I: Theory
Mathematics for Economics
Seminar: Economic Development I & II
Econometrics II & III: Applied
Advanced Macro Economics I & II
Advanced Micro Economics I & II
Seminar: Applied Development I
Thesis

Requirements

— 4 year undergraduate degree in Economics with a minimum CGPA of 3.0
— NTS GAT–General admissions test
— Lahore School admission test
— Interview

Scholarships

— Full tuition fee waiver for first semester and all subsequent terms for students maintaining a CGPA of 3.0 at the end of each semester
— Need Based Scholarships

Faculty

Azam Chaudhry, Ph.D, Brown University
Naved Hamid, Ph.D, Stanford University
Theresa Thompson Chaudhry, Ph.D, University of Maryland
Waqar Ahmed Wadho, Ph.D, Aix-Marseille School of Economics (AMSE)
Ayesha Afzal, Ph.D, Lahore School of Economics
Rabia Arif, MPhil Economics, Lahore School of Economics
Farah Said, MSc, University of Oxford, Said Business School

Placements

Further Graduate study abroad:
Boston University, Duke University, Fordham University, University of Warwick (with full scholarship), University of Sheffield, Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva, University of Kent, etc.
Multiple Fulbright Scholarship Recipients

Commonwealth Scholarship Recipient

Job Placements: World Bank, IMF, Urban Unit (Government of Punjab), State Bank of Pakistan, Sub-National Government Project (DFID, UK), ASER, Association for Social Development (NGO)

Local Teaching Institutions: Lahore School of Economics, Forman Christian College University, Lahore College for Women University, University of Central Punjab

Email: msyed@lahoreschool.edu.pk Tel: +92-42-35873629

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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/22/2016 03:30:00 PM,

Lahore School Wins Synergies Supply Chain Competition


Winners of LUMS Synergies Supply Chain competition held over the weekend (March 19-20, 2016). Team comprised Awais Khan, Nida Muzammel, Zoya Baig, Habiba Ahsan and Mahin Butt.

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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/22/2016 03:28:00 PM,

Marketing Matters

Mr. Omar Malik, General Manager Snacks, PepsiCo delivered a session to the MBA students of the Lahore School of Economics on Thursday, March 3, 2016. He focused on snacks, rather than on beverages, but highlighted important areas of marketing.


At the outset, he said he was proud of PepsiCo because his company did things “the right way”. As an example, he cited the case of a company official who had warned the company that they should be paying more custom duty on some item – the company had been paying less due to an inadvertent error which had not been corrected by the government. The company agreed to pay more duty and even awarded a pride of performance prize to the employee.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/21/2016 02:20:00 PM,

Strategic Management

Mr. Haroon Waheed, HR Head Fatima Group delivered a lecture to the graduating BBA students of the Lahore School of Economics on March 09, 2016. He explained the foundation of strategic management and differentiated between thinking vs. strategic thinking, Action vs. Strategic Action and planning vs. strategic planning. He advised the students that as a manager one should take a step back and strategically plan out things which are better for the company. He also said that in professional life a person is judged by his attitude and a person’s positive attitude is the most important factor behind his success.


Haroon Waheed summarized the presentation by saying that strategy sets direction, gets everyone on the same page, simplifies decision making, aligns the company and it helps to communicate the message throughout the company.

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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/21/2016 02:19:00 PM,

Pakistan Milk Market

Mr. Asad Rizvi, Managing Director Walter Pakistan, delivered a lecture to the graduating MBA students of the Lahore School of Economics on March 08, 2016.


Asad Rizvi with a comparison of Nestle and Haleeb milks in terms of brand and advertising and how the two positioned themselves in the market in Pakistan - the fourth largest milk producing country in the world. Engro Foods’ launch of Olpers in 2005 challenged the status quo prevailing in the market. They positioned themselves as “All purpose milk”. Eventually it became so popular that it resulted in total shutdown of Haleeb and gave tough competition to Nestle.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/21/2016 02:19:00 PM,

Consumers’ insights


Mr. Umer Ghumman, Business Development Manager Tetra Pak Pakistan visited the Lahore School of Economics on March 03, 2016 to deliver a lecture to the graduating MBA class. The talk revolved around brands and consumers’ insights. Mr. Ghumman explained the evolving nature of consumer needs and how marketers adapt to them.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/21/2016 02:18:00 PM,

Major Powers and Greater Asia: The New Game

The Fourth Annual Social Sciences Conference was held at the Lahore School of Economics from the 17th to 18th of March, 2016. The second day of the conference was dedicated to discussion on political and international relations and brought together leading analysts and academics of Pakistan. The title of the conference was “Major Powers and Greater Asia: The New Game”, and the talks were centered around the role of major powers like US and China in South Asia and how Pakistan features into their politics. 


The keynote speaker was Ambassador (Retd) Riaz Hussain Khokhar, who has served as Foreign Secretary of Pakistan as well as Pakistan’s Ambassador to the US, China and India. The topic and context of the conference was introduced by Prof. Sajjad Naseer, Senior Fellow, Department of Social Sciences. He said that the principal actors in the region were burdened by the weight of territorial disputes, including China, India, Afghanistan and Pakistan with no resolution insight. Additionally, Russia is pursuing aggressive policies towards Ukraine to secure its immediate border and the Chinese posturing, and its soft power projection through “One Road, One Belt” is raising disturbing issues. In view of the above, the conference focused on the competing perspectives of the major actors to make sense of the emerging reality in the region.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/18/2016 05:06:00 PM,

Lahore School of Economics Annual Social Sciences Conference

The Social Sciences Department, Lahore School of Economics hosted its Fourth Annual Social Sciences Conference on April 17, 2016 at Burki Campus Lahore. The theme on the first day of the conference was ‘Beyond Boundaries: Language and Literature in a Globalized World.’ This theme stems from the fact that we are living in an interconnected world which has affected culture, education and learning from multiple perspectives with the massive expansion of media and technology. These effects were highlighted specifically from the viewpoints of linguistics, literature, gender and cultural studies. Renowned scholars, academician and researchers took part in the conference.


The first day of the conference began with the welcome address by the Rector of Lahore School of Economics Dr. Shahid Amjad Chaudhry. The Keynote address was delivered by Dr. Sabiha Mansoor Professor of English at the Lahore School.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/17/2016 04:51:00 PM,

How to make an impact during interviews

Ms. Fatima Asad, Regional Director Human Capital Excellence Abacus Consulting visited the Lahore School of Economics on March 02, 2016 to deliver a lecture to the graduating BBA class. The topic of discussion was “How to make an impact during interviews”.


Ms. Fatima emphasized the importance of interviews in the recruiting process. She advised the students to position to highlight what they could offer to the organisation and how they could contribute towards its progress.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/09/2016 03:47:00 PM,

You are driving Maple Leaf

Mr. ArifIjaz, Advisor to Chief - Kohinoor Maple Leaf Group, delivered a session to the graduating MBA class of Business Policy on March 1, 2016 at the Lahore School of Economics.


Arif discussed the relevance of strategy both for large and small firms. In doing so, he emphasized the significance of Porter’s ideas and contributions in the discipline of business policy and strategy. For instance, he discussed the Porter’s Five Forces model by exemplifying the textile and cement industries of Pakistan.
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posted by S A J Shirazi @ 3/09/2016 03:46:00 PM,

City Campus

104 - C, Gulberg III,

Lahore, Pakistan.

Phones: 92-42-35714936, 38474385

Fax: 92-42-36560905

Main Campus

Intersection Main Boulevard Phase VI

Burki Road

Lahore, Pakistan.

Phones: 36560935, 36560939


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