In first sixty years of its existence financial sector of Pakistan has experienced two prominent episodes. One, there was an experimentation with the ownership structure of financial institutions which started with promotion of ownership by the private sector and then in 1970s they were nationalized. Subsequently the process was reversed in the 1990s transferring most of the banking assets back to the private sector. Two, on the political front, for long 33 years autocrat have interrupted the democratic order many times. The objective of this study is to take stock of the performance of banking industry when it was in private hands vis-à-vis when banks were nationalized, and, as a supplement, to evaluate the impact of dictatorship versus democracy on the performance of banking industry. Using historical dataset this study offers analysis of banking sector performance by using CAMEL parameters. Our main findings are that when banks are in private hands their profitability is positively related to quality of their assets and management, and it has negative relation with capital adequacy and liquidity. However when banks are under government ownership asset quality and liquidity become irrelevant in determining the profitability whereas capital adequacy, management quality continue to impact bank profitability. This implies that government ownership works like implicit guarantee for banks (a) that they would remain solvent in the short run], and (b) that it would absorb losses emanating from deterioration of bad assets. As regards political regimes the study finds that there is no noticeable difference in the impact of bank specific parameters whether a democratic government is in place or dictatorship is imposed in the country. These findings have implications for bank regulations, monetary policy and for instituting legal reforms in the financial sector.

Branding is at best a complex phenomenon in conventional commercial settings and even more so in social marketing where the application of branding concepts and techniques are fairly recent but nevertheless gaining momentum. Against the backdrop of contraceptive social marketing programs implemented in Pakistan over the past 2 decades to promote the use of contraceptives, this article examines ways in which social marketing organizations used branding in a variety of ways to achieve positive behavioral changes and stronger market positioning. Using 3 illustrative case studies, our article provides a review of issues influencing branding in a highly regulated market-space. It finds that the development of trademarks and logos is fundamental to building a memorable brand, as is consistency of design and colors. Much of the techniques applied can be described as “pseudobranding”; (Hall & Jones, 2007) — conveying the identity of the product while not actually naming it.

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The paper aims to study the factors that influence online purchase intention among university students in Pakistan. A cross-sectional study was conducted between March 2020 and April 2020 to collect quantitative data on the role of six factors on online purchase intention and their degree of influence among a sample of 513 university students in Karachi with or without online shopping experience. Findings suggest that perceived benefits, shopping orientations and customer satisfaction have a significant and positive impact on purchase intention while perceived risk has a significant but negative impact. Subjective norms and e-WOM do not affect purchase intention. Results suggest that customer satisfaction is the most prominent positive influencer of online purchase intention and perceived risk is the most dominant restraining factor. The results provide a detailed insight on factors influencing online purchase intention. This is the first set of empirical data on online purchase intention among university students in Pakistan and can be used by practitioners in design and implementation of online marketing strategies in similar environments.