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In a broader sense, CSR became an issue mainly in the recent years. The evolution of this phenomenon is largely to be credited to the neoliberalist era that began in the last quarter of the 20th century and continues to dominate the new millennium. Not surprisingly, the conceptual and operational definitions of CSR are subject to as many controversies and disappointments as is the outcome of neoliberalist economics manifested in looming threats to social, economic and environmental sustainability. The scope of this study is, however, only limited to addressing the issue of CSR. The analysis is carried out by adopting an inductive approach while probing into both interconnected aspects and disconnected separate currents of the phenomenon. The interconnectivity of CSR relates the capitalist paradigm with the individual/collective human behaviour. The disconnection on the other hand refers to specific real world issues with local and global contexts involving simultaneous but unequal capitalist development in the North and the South. The paper is divided into three parts. Part 1 reflects on the relationship between instinctive and ethical behaviour of the entrepreneurs. The former is driven by the motivational force of self-interest exhibited in efforts to accumulate producer surplus, while the latter demands social responsibility under the influence of intrinsic and/or extrinsic regulations. Part II presents a brief review of the literature on CSR, largely relating to the corporate sector in the North. Finally, Part III of the paper analyses the literature on CSR in the developing countries and highlights its recent origins in a world where Technical Barriers to Trade (TBTs) are increasingly underscoring the North-South divide in gains from economic globalisation.

The argument of this study is philosophically rooted in the paradoxical Grand Design. The destiny of humankind, at all levels of existence and organization, is to optimally resolve omnipotent paradoxes in the universe of tangible as well as intangible phenomena. However, the instinctive behavior of the majority of humankind inherently favors shortsighted suboptimal resolutions. This is specifically so in situations where collective wellbeing and sustainability warrant proactive behavior of free and independent individuals and groups. The study traces back the genealogy of contemporary technology and sociology, the two broad realms of human society, and identifies the market as the central force in technological development and sociological evolution since the Industrial Revolution. Market hegemony, as one of the greatest factors, is apprehended to have overwhelmed the collective wisdom and undermined the individual and group ability to take action in the face of multi-prong threat to sustainable development, which is a great peril to civilization and society. Moreover, there is also that wizardly wheel warranting to be incessantly greased with fast depleting natural resources, many of which, including atmosphere, cannot be replenished. The study maintains that the species of the Homo Sapiens Sapiens must appreciate the difference between forward looking progressive moves and the rat race. It is recommended that unbridled market power should be saddled with pragmatic regulations, specifically aiming at curbing the magical power of electronic media in promoting, glamorizing and even sanctifying consumerism which is heedless as well as headless.

The advent of neo-liberalism in the last quarter of 20th century was a landmark development in the modern history of economic activity. One of the major features of the neo-liberalist counter-revolution, as opposed to the Keynesian interventionist revolution, was privatization of public utilities which were globally operating as natural monopolies in the state sector. The biggest of the latter universally existed in the power sector. Notwithstanding the global wave of power sector reforms and persistent deficit of financial resources and public trust in the corresponding sector of Pakistan, reforms of GENCOs and privatization of DISCOs in the country remain an unfulfilled promise and a wishful thinking respectively. This paper looks into the factors justifying the privatization of state monopolies in the power sector world over and attempts to make a similar case for Pakistan, advocating a consistent, gradual and sustainable process of reforms to protect societal welfare, save on public resources and help boost up industrial production. It is argued that vested interests are having formidable strongholds in the power sector of Pakistan, while economic theory and universal empirical evidence no longer favor the monopoly in electricity generation and distribution. The findings of study lead to the conclusion that world of 21st century is being led by enterprising investors with bags full of money and a preparedness to welcome risk wherever the niche exists in the market. It is recommended that tangibly concrete efforts should be made to build up the confidence of domestic and foreign investors in the profitability potential of large scale industry of Pakistan; specifically, power sector reforms ought to be the frontline item of public policy agenda, given the current state of affairs regarding electricity supply to domestic and commercial users.

The world is increasingly being divided into regions. The regional trading blocs are becoming more and more deepened and widened around the globe. The European Union (EU) has already reached a stage approximating to the trading relations usually found within a country rather than between the countries. The existence of regional economic groups, particularly in European and American continents, pose a range of theoretical, empirical and organisational questions for developing countries like Pakistan who depend on the countries of these regions for a significantly high share of their international trade. This paper focuses on the prospects of extended economic cooperation of Pakistan with the member countries of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC).1 The argument is structured around three parts. Part I reviews the theoretical rationale of regional economic cooperation and the recent developments shaping the trading relations within the cooperating blocs. Part II critically evaluates the relative size and significance of the external sector of the SAARC region countries, along with presenting statistical estimates of the major external determinants of the region's economic growth. Finally, Part III estimates the relationship of major directions of Pakistan's exports with the economic growth of the country and presents the growth projections by increasing and diverting the exports to the SAARC and ASEAN region countries.

The tail of the tail-end of the 2nd millennium has taught the
humankind two valuable lessons: democracy and the market, although
imperfect, have succeeded where other systems have failed. What is clear
is that the most successful systems are aligned to humankind's
predispositions rather than being inimical to them. Insofar as it aligns
itself with the predisposition to greed, consistently regulated
capitalism terms out to be the most efficient economic system hitherto
observed in human society. Likewise, democracy works by aligning many
people's desire for power with a governance system which on balance is
helpful to the general population, unlike various forms of
totalitarianism. But recent movements for both capitalism and democracy
in many developing countries largely do not subscribe to humankind's
predispositions, rather they appear to be a part of the headlong global
trend towards these paradigms. The reason being that the most important
ingredient, common to both recipes, is lacking in many developing
countries: that is the popular pressure and mobilisation which is
sufficiently informed of its duties and rights. This ingredient is most
important as it forces out the authoritarian rule whether, totalitarian
or 'democratic', and makes democratic governance drive the market to the
maximum benefit of society. The central thesis of this work is that this
most important ingredient is the result of an effective and efficient
system of public institutions for free and compulsory universal primary
schooling which, if the resource constraint could be overcome, ought to
be supplemented by free and compulsory secondary schooling.

The world is presently looking forward to embrace the greatest
moment of modern history of humankind, turn of the millennium. For
Pakistan, however, the millennium celebrations are going to be
accompanied by over half a century of missed opportunities and a serious
challenge ahead. The focus of this study is Pakistan's status as a
'single commodity' country and the life after 2004 in a post- Multifibre
Arrangement (MFA) era. This work intends to use the hindsight to argue
that MFA, a cat's cradle of bilateral textile import quotas, was a
blessing in disguise for the value added textiles sector of Pakistan.
And the difficulties beyond 2004, when all the quotas have gone, should
not be underestimated in a bipolar (NAFTA and the EU) and deregulated
world economy . The analysis is carried out in four parts. Part I
highlights the economic significance of Pakistan's textiles industry by
briefly analysing its contribution to different sectors of her economy.
Part II presents the past, present and future scenario of international
trade in Textiles and Clothing (T&C). The present situation of
Pakistan's textiles industry along with its foreign exchange generating
performance in the past is assessed in Part III. Finally, Part IV
analyses the prospects and challenges faced by the T&C sector of
Pakistan.

Purpose
This paper aims to examine the effects of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on customer orientation and competitive advantage.


Design/methodology/approach
Data were collected from 368 retail banking customers in Pakistan and analysed using partial least squares-based structural equation modelling.


Findings
Firstly, the research findings indicate that CSR has a positive and significant effect on customer orientation. Secondly, CSR and customer orientation were found to be the antecedents of competitive advantage.


Practical implications
Managers can use CSR activities strategically to enhance the perceptions of a firm's customer orientation in their minds. This can then lead towards achieving a competitive advantage over rivals. The trend of being socially responsible, as well as customer-orientated, can lead to a healthy ecosystem within the industry, which in turn will benefit its stakeholders.


Originality/value
Firstly, this is one of the pioneering studies that investigate the relationship between CSR and customer orientation. Secondly, it examines the under-explored roles of CSR and customer orientation as antecedents of competitive advantage.

One of the core tenets of foreign aid theory, particularly as
encapsulated in the two-gap model, is that the insertion of foreign
resources via free grants, loans, direct investment etc., into a
developing economy sets in motion a causal chain of positive influences
in the following broad mannerl: aid' ~ increase in investible resources
~ increase in domestic investment ~ more rapid rate of economic growth.
Spirited and specific challenges to this approach came from many
critics, supported greatly by a number of broad theoreticaF and
empirical analyses. For a large part of the latter, the available
evidence pointed to a negative relationship between aid and domestic
savings. The evidence was largely based on crosssectional data, 'showing
that, there was, in addition, reason to suggest a negative relationship
between aid and economic growth. 3 The aim of this study is to provide
some quantitative evidence on the relationship between foreign aid,
domestic savings and economic growth for Pakistan. The analysis is
carried out in three parts. Part one contains the methodology and the
description of the data. Part two explores the correlation between aid
and several other explanatory variables with Pakistan's savings rate,
while part three attempts to analyse and explain the regression findings
in terms of the effect of aid on economic growth.

Philanthropic activities have gained paramount importance in today's world. The purpose of this paper is twofold. Firstly, the authors propose a model to comprehend the process of philanthropy (corporate as well as celebrity) in creating word of mouth intentions (hereafter WoM). Secondly, it attempts to explore the interaction effects of these philanthropies on WoM intentions. A structural equation model is tested in a sample of 400 FMCG consumers in Pakistan. The results confirm that both corporate and celebrity philanthropy directly and positively affect WoM intentions. However, their interaction effect is found to be insignificant on WoM intentions. This study has meaningful implications that involving philanthropic celebrities in corporate philanthropy-based advertisements may garner favorable consumers' WoM intentions. It lies among the pioneering studies to empirically investigate the understudied model of corporate and celebrity philanthropy in order to understand the creation of WoM intentions.

This paper examines the factors behind low crop yield in
Cholistan. Both the quantitative and qualitative analysis show how the
low levels of agricultural productivity in this area may be linked to
material and climatic factors. The quantitative analysis is mainly
focused on physical factors. The qualitative analysis, however,
emphasises that relative inefficiency of agricultural activity in
Cholistan reflects the influence of physical, economic, social and, most
importantly, climatic factors. The quantitative findings provide
valuable insight into various 'sources of productivity' in terms of
acreage effect, capital input effect and irrigation water availability
effect. The size of the positive and significant coefficients on these
variables suggest the extent to which one or the other variable effect
is prominent in improving the crop yield. The qualitative analysis
examines multiple interrelated factors which can be blamed on for
relative inefficiency of Cholistani farmers. The hot climate of the area
turns out to be the most critical variable in this analysis. Many
specific technological drought-mitigating measures are proposed.
However, for consistent policy formulation, a thorough study and
quantitative evaluation of the potential and practicality of these
measures in Cholistan is suggested.