Impact of Women Empowerment on Fertility Preferences in Pakistan

Reproduction is an important aspect of a women's life, unfortunately in Pakistan fertility rates are quite high in comparison to other developing countries as well as in comparison to the other South Asian countries. Different studies have suggested that women empowerment can help reduce fertility rates. The present study has attempted to analyze the role of women empowerment along with other socioeconomic indicators on three different dimensions of the fertility behavior i.e. Number of children born (current fertility status), ideal number of children and birth intervals (future fertility status. Data of Demographic and Health Survey (PDHS) 2012-13 has been used. The analysis consists of two levels, at level one a descriptive analysis is carried out. As three different aspects of fertility are the count data. Therefore at the next stage models will be estimated by using poison regression technique and Incidence Rate Ratios (IRR) are reported. It has been found that women’s being empowered in financial matters, seeking health care and in household decision making are helpful in reducing fertility. Furthermore, participation in job by women, living in urban areas, having secondary or higher education, access to awareness created by the media, married at higher age are also significant factors in reducing fertility. However, women facing incidence of miscarriage or death of a child tends to increase the fertility. Study had found that wealth of the household, education of husband and having sons have very limited role on the fertility behavior.

Challenges of Manufacturing Born Global SME : Evidence from Surgical Instrument Manufacturing Cluster, Sialkot, Pakistan

Owing to their gigantic participation in global economic growth, the phenomenon of SMEs internationalization has become the centre of attention for numerous researchers. The firms operating from low-tech industry and from developing nation were largely ignored. Internationalization phenomenon from underdeveloped cluster of a developing nation facing daunting challenges that hinder SMEs performance and growth; turns out to be an attention-grabbing area – hence, worth-investigating. The purpose of this study is to investigate the challenges of manufacturing born global SMEs from surgical instrument manufacturing cluster Sialkot, Pakistan. More specifically, the objective is to explore the kind of challenges and their effect on the performance of these born global SMEs. To carry out this research, data was collected through a questionnaire from 100 respondents (managers/entrepreneurs). Based on the findings, the study identify the challenges like employees' loyalty, shortage of skilled technical workforce, retention of experienced and skilled workforce, staff motivation, staff recognition and promotion, staff development, and performance appraisals. The results of this study also support the hypothesis that poor management skills (FIRM, marketing, finance, and production) are challenges and contribute to the poor performance of manufacturing born global SMEs. Manufacturing born global SMEs are facing challenge of lack of government policy on born global SMEs, tax issues and reduced rebates, and shortage of skilled labor force.