Soomro Shabbir Ahmed, Saleem Laraib, Hesham Al-Khuwani

Since 1951 Pakistan and China have shared a very close and supportive diplomatic relationship. The developments in infrastructure, technology, and defense sectors are largely supported by China. Both countries have managed to sustain a very positive relationship and continued to pursue their partnership by signing various agreements and signing the Memorandum of Understudies (MoUs). The FTA (Free Trade Agreement) between China & Pakistan brought an opportunity for Pakistan to surge up to its trade percentage and penetrate in different markets via its export goods to more profitable regions. In this study, we will be analyzing the effectiveness and impact of FTA on the state of trade affairs between Pakistan & China. We will also conclude if the FTA brought out any changes in the dynamics of the economic and trade performance of Pakistan, we will also review the global outcomes of the agreement and how it has impacted Pakistan’s economy internationally.

Makaye Gongbé Blaise

This article analyzes the sectoral channels of inflation in Côte d'Ivoire, using input-output multipliers net of Leontief prices. The results show that the eight branches which propagate the most inflation in Côte d'Ivoire are respectively, in decreasing order of degree of net downstream interdependence, the branches the following branches: (38) Business services, (2) Industrial and export agriculture, (34) Transport and communication, (7) extraction industry, (20) refining and coking industry, (1) Food crops, (29) Electricity, gas, water and food ice and (37) Real estate services. These results can be explained by the strong dependence of the other branches of the economy on these eight branches in terms of intermediate consumption. Price regulators should pay more attention to the evolution of factor costs in these branches, because an increase in the prices of their outputs can generate a higher level of inflation, compared to other branches of the economy.

Abraham Demissie Chare

This article aims to examine the factors affecting the private sector involvement in Ethiopia’s sugar sector privatization process. The study is analytical and employs a mixed method. 78 participants filled out a questionnaire that comprises 30 items in 5 points scale, and 13 individuals took part in two rounds of Focus Group Discussions. The study reveals fifteen major issues relating to the legal and policy arrangement, political, socio-economic, and market that have been determining the success privatization initiative. While launching the initiative to privatize the enterprise government has solely owned for decades is taken as a strength, lack of commitment to create an enabling legal and institutional environment are identified as major pitfalls of the sugar sector privatization initiative in Ethiopia. Thus, it would be soon to confidently conclude the initiative would succeed in the absence of the pre-requisites for any successful privatization initiative.

Teguh Hari Nugroho, M. Fathorrazi, S. H. Santosa

The availability of the Southern Cross Road (SCR) infrastructure has facilitated the accessibility in local economic development activities. This study, aims to analyze the changing role and contribution to the Agriculture, Processing Industry and Tourism sub-sectors in Lumajang Regency after the Construction of the Southern Cross Road Infrastructure (SCR). The analytical method used to determine the changing role of the three sub-sectors is Shift-share analysis. The results of the Shift-share analysis provide an overview of the shift and the good role of the agricultural, industrial and tourism sub-sectors. SCR infrastructure development provides specialization and competitive advantage to the three sub-sectors. The contribution of the three sectors has an impact on the magnitude of the income multiplier.

George Kirigi

Partnership in leadership is a phenomenon with little research attention, until now. Partnerships are high on the international development agenda typically as goal 17 of global sustainable goal development agenda. The regional and intergovernmental research collaborators and NGOs are also represented. But public–private partnerships implementation lacks balanced collaborative leadership as the best pathway to improve in particular health outcomes. It is not clear in the medical research corporations on whether empirical data on partnerships reach organizational employees to utilize in building their case for sustainable futures. To gain more knowledge, this study used case study approach to obtain primary data and analyzed key informants’ feedbacks on partnerships processes on the basis of their positions and relation to partnerships within their own organization. Responsive approaches of measurements prioritize multiple partnerships strategy into two types: performance of partnership itself and outcome performance. The ideal leaders of this strategic direction in organizational change in respect to medical research institutes ought to be a collaboration of a symphony of specialized experts playing in harmony, the so-called the symphonic C-suite instead of a cacophony of experts who sound great alone, but not together. An organization need consideration of partner selection, portfolio management of partners, negotiation skills, execution of diversity and exit arrangements are important considerations. The success or failure of partnerships will depend on how the managers understand partnership as the new leadership for implementation of strategy in organizations. Findings have practical implications for managers and researchers.

Peter Rigii Gaitho

This paper is a critical review of literature on the influence of religion on leadership styles and leadership roles. The paper was motivated by existing lack of interest to pursue the link between religion and leadership despite the pervasive nature of religion in the world among individuals and organizations. The paper used the Kenyan political to demonstrate religious influence which manifests through leadership styles and the leadership roles. The paper found that religion influence manifests in leadership styles and the leadership roles in organizations. The paper concluded that the visionary aspect of leadership is intertwined with the visionary aspects of religions. The paper held that there is need for more religious knowledge among leaders and their followers to moderate on the negative influences of religion such as autocratic tendencies and scapegoating.

Arzi Fethi, Benachenhou Sidi Mohammed

This study was conducted to explore the determinants affecting the intention to accept the use of technology in the online services sector by customers. Based on the theoretical model that includes the theory of technology accepting model (TAM) in this study, a revised model was proposed for a better explanation of the online service. Furthermore, the purpose of the research was to determine the impact of perceived ease of use, perceived usefulness and customer attitudes on online purchase intention. The proposed model was tested using survey data of 220 respondents. SPSS 22.0 and Statistica 8.0 were used for the data analysis. The data was analyzed using structural equation modeling. The results of the analysis showed that the TAM model is appropriate in the context of adopting online sales services by the customer. In addition, attitudes and perceived ease of use technology for online reservation users have been identified as the most important factor driving customers to adopt online booking.com services. Our findings through the study can allow service providers (travel agents, hostels, transportation, etc.) to develop strategies and improve their services in order to increase the adoption of technology over the Internet and accepting its use by customers.

Adekunle P. A., Baba N. Yaaba, Stephen S. A., Ogbuehi F., Idris A., Zivoshiya P. B.

Using a multi-model approach including Johansen and Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) techniques, the study assesses the prevalence of the channels of monetary policy transmission mechanism in Nigeria to determine the position of asset prices channel with emphasis on equity channel of Monetary Policy Transmission Mechanism (MPTM). The study covers all the four prominent channels of MPTM in Nigeria – Interest rate, exchange rate, credit and equity channels – over the period 1985Q1 to 2017Q4. The data was used from two perspectives: raw and normalized data such that four set of regressions were carried out and the best model determined based on the one that yield the lowest information criteria. Overall, the results return exchange rate channel as the most prevalent, while equity channel occupies third position. Consequently, the study suggests close monitoring of the market by the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) so as to be able to take proactive policy decisions since disruption in the market is likely to affect the general price level which is the primary mandate of the CBN.

Qing Hu

Partial cross ownership is a widely observed activity in many industries. The conventional wisdom shows that partial cross ownership weakens the competition in Cournot competition, thus it increases the firms’ total profits. We investigate whether this conventional wisdom still holds in network industries. We find that this conventional wisdom reverses when the network effect is relatively intense. This finding is very meaningful for the firms in network industries to reconsider the problem of partial cross ownership. We also examine the partial cross ownership problems in a mixed duopoly market.

Peter Gaitho Rigii

This paper reviews the use of voice and vote in the County Governments of Kenya. The paper reviewed online sources using key word searches. The study finds that the use of vote as a blunt tool has been applied in the counties as 46% of the incumbent governors lost at the party primaries and the 2017 General Elections. The study also found that voice is exercised through several mechanisms including posting of Facebook and Twitter. The study further found that work boycott were a key feature of voice mechanism as used by county workers. The study found that vote and voice mechanisms as practiced in the Kenyan County Governments tended to disrupt service delivery. The study recommends that the county leadership find better ways of responding to the vote and voice mechanisms to ensure there is little disruption of services but rather harness these mechanisms for improved services.