Abstract
The 7th Asian Management Research and Case Conference 2018 successfully concluded on 24 March 2018 at the beautiful mountain resort of PC Bhurban. The theme of the two-day conference was Convergence or Divergence: Emerging Trends in Management Research and Cases in Asia with a sub-theme on China’s One Belt, One Road Initiative: Implications for Management & Organizations in Asia. Out of the 142 submissions received for AMRC 2018, 78 research papers and cases were presented from 43 institutions. Dr Yusuf Sidani (American University of Beirut), Dr Ijaz S. Gilani (Gallup Pakistan) and Dr Shaista Khilji (The George Washington University) delivered the keynote addresses. The conference concluded with a case writing seminar followed by the conference awards. Sage Publications, India, graciously sponsored the awards for AMRC 2018. Selected teaching cases will be considered for publication in a special AJMC conference issue later this year. AMRC 2018 is a collaboration between SDSB-LUMS, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Universiti Sains Malaysia, the University of Wollongong in Dubai and University of Dhaka. For more information on AMRC, please email amrcconf@lums.edu.pk
I would also like to welcome our new international and national Advisory Board and Editorial Board. AJMC draws its associate editors, advisory board, editorial board and ad hoc reviewers from a distinguished panel of academics of international acclaim. In order to strengthen the review process, new international and national members have been added. In addition to this, AJMC is now accepting online submissions through Sage Track. This is an online peer review system uniquely tailored for AJMC, which will aid the editors of the journal in managing a rigorous and robust peer review process. The system is also designed to streamline the peer review process for authors, reviewers and editors.
In this issue, we have eight very interesting and diverse cases for your classrooms. In Vikram Rana at Margot Financial Securities, Shrivastava discusses conflict resolution, gender dynamics and performance standards in an extremely interesting case setting. This case can be taught in an organizational behaviour class. In Awais Model Farms: Crop Decision, the owner of Awais Model Farms has to decide whether to grow corn or cotton in the fall season. This is a decision analysis case, which highlights the use of PrecisionTree (a module of Palisade software) for managerial decision-making purposes. It is a brief and highly effective case which our operations teachers would like to teach. In the third case, Lighting Up the Bulb’s Station, authors, Nami, Bodolica and Spraggon, follow the entrepreneurial journey of a group of undergraduate students in the UAE and examine the decisions made and lessons learned. Based on their experiences, the partners now have to decide how to grow their business further. This case can be taught in an elective course in the area of entrepreneurship. It can also be used in courses on business policy and strategy. The case, Pakistan’s First Successful Launch of a Real Estate Investment Trust-Dolmen City REIT (A Shariah Compliant Rental REIT Scheme), can be taught in courses on microeconomics, corporate finance, investments, portfolio management, Islamic finance as well as financial statement analysis. It will provide the students with an opportunity to develop a basic understanding of REITs. A marketing case, Marketing a Taboo Product: Tackling the Consumer Mind-set in Pakistan, focuses on the marketing of contraceptives in an emerging market that is also culturally conservative. The case highlights the challenges of marketing a particular contraceptive brand and explores how a controversial product may be established strongly in such a society through strategic marketing. In A Tale of Two Moralities, the authors, Zahid and Lone, describe an ethical problem faced by the business owners of a reasonably successful business. It will give the students an opportunity to analyse the contrasting approaches of the two owners towards an ethical dilemma that is commonly faced by businesses when they have to pay heavy duties on imported goods. The case has been written for use in courses on business ethics and Islamic ethics. An HRM case, National and Professional: Anchoring High Performance in PTCL’s Culture, authors, Nadeem and Aziz, focus on Pakistan Telecommunication’s journey to bring large-scale structural and cultural changes in the organization to make it more performance-centric. The last case of this issue, Union Railways: Ad Spot Pricing Dilemma (B), is the second in a two-part case series that focuses on issues related to pricing while case A, published in Volume 13, Issue 2, focused on issues related to product definition and promotion. A team from Union Railways is tasked to look into existing industry practices and devise a mechanism to establish reserve prices for different ad spots at Union Railways’ assets. This case is suitable to be taught in the pricing module of the marketing management course at the MBA and executive MBA levels.
We appreciate the input and feedback from our reviewers and contributors. We are obliged to our readership for their continued support and encouragement. A reminder that you may contact the authors directly for the teaching notes to the cases published in the journal.
I hope that you enjoy teaching and reading AJMC 15:2.