http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/7699 2026-04-07T21:41:29Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/13970 Business Confidence Survey 2015 Dr Azam Amjad Chaudhry; Michelle Tanwir; Kamran Saeed; Tariq Raza; Mahvish Faran In March 2015, Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry (LCCI) and the Lahore School of Economics signed a Memorandum of Understanding which established a link between academia and the business community. As part of this collaboration, the Lahore School and the LCCI conducted its first annual business confidence survey to understand the perceptions of the business community regarding the prevailing economic conditions. Almost 200 firms completed the survey and results from these responses shed light on the prevalent economic conditions facing firms in Pakistan as well as the sector specific issues facing the business community. Firms that responded were put into different sectors (manufacturing, services and retail sectors) in order to see the differences in the economic performance across various sectors. Some of the key results from the survey were: • A majority of the survey firms said that their sales were higher over the past year and they also expected sales to be higher in 2015. • A significant number of firms in the manufacturing sector said that their export sales increases over the last year and they expected it to increase again in 2015. • A majority of firms said that investment increased over the last year and the largest increase in investment in 2014 came in the manufacturing sector where around 70% of firms were able to increase their investment. • Across all firms, the increase in investment in 2014 was not financed by bank borrowing but by the enhanced sales revenues. • More than 60% firms in the manufacturing and services sectors plan to increase their investment in 2015. A significant majority of firms do not plan to utilize bank borrowing for financing their higher levels of investment in 2015. • A significant proportion of manufacturing and service sector firms managed to increase their number of employees in 2014 and both these sectors seem optimistic about further increases in their employment levels in 2015. • There was significant optimism when firms were asked about their expectations about Pakistan’s Economy, with approximately 50% of the firms expecting the economy to do better in 2015. • Access to finance was considered a critical element for conducting business since 58% of the firms (in the sample) found “access to finance” to have a major impact on their business. • 52% of the firms considered shortage of skilled labour to have a major impact on business and this proved to be a key issue for the manufacturing and services sectors. • Slow or ineffective mechanisms to enforce contracts were significantly more important for firms in the services sector as compared to the firms in the retail and manufacturing sector. • As expected, energy shortages have had the most significant impact on firm level growth with about 8 out of 10 firms surveyed in the manufacturing and retail sector finding this to be their greatest constraint. • The survey found that problems of law and order are almost as important to firms as energy shortages with almost 7 out of 10 of the firms considering law and order to have a major impact on business. • 75% of the firms considered provincial taxes to have a major impact on business. • 69% of the firms considered federal corporate tax policies to have a major impact on business and 76% of firms considered import or custom duty policies to have a major impact on business. PP.32; ill 2015-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/13969 The Football Industry In Pakistan Challenges and Opportunities Overall, Pakistan has lost a significant share of the global production of footballs. To keep up with the industry, Pakistan producers have to focus on the opportunities of the market. • Pakistan’s main competitor is China. However, China’s labor costs have been increasing these last years, which may constitute a comparative advantage for Pakistan. Also, Pakistan produces higher quality hand-stitched balls while China produces machine-stitched balls. Pakistan has to promote the quality of its balls and differentiate his product from the lower quality machine stitched balls. • Other smaller exporters as Vietnam and Indonesia have also increased their share of the market in the last years. Their labor costs are also among the smallest in Asia. These two countries are the most threatening competitors. • Pakistan exports its footballs to North America and Europe (Germany and Belgium), but the demand has been rising in other countries and will soon form a rising market in need of producers. These countries are primarily in Latin America and Brazil is the biggest one. • Asia also has an interesting rising market. Two countries have substantial levels of imports: Japan and Korea. These countries have seen an increase in their net imports of inflatable balls and are a new opportunity for Pakistan’s exports. • In Pakistan, managers in the industry have been reluctant to adopt the new technology and to provide training to their workers. The industry needs to focus more on the technological changes while keeping the high quality of its products. Pakistan has the capacity to regain leadership power in the football industry, but it needs to respond to changing markets. This report highlights some key trends and points to several areas of potential growth. PP.13; ill 2015-03-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/10774 Foreign economic aid : a review of foreign economic aid to Pakistan Government of Pakistan. PP.132; ill 1962-01-01T00:00:00Z http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/10718 Pakistan statistical year book 1957 Pakistan. PP.344; ill 1957-01-01T00:00:00Z