This study investigates the impact of strategic purchasing on purchasing performance in the presence of a mediating impact of supplier development with a special reference to Sri Lankan apparel sector. This study also examines how supplier involvement mediates the relationship between strategic purchasing and supplier development. A theoretically grounded conceptual model is proposed and empirically tested using structural equation modeling approach. Data collected from a random sample of 85 apparel sector firms located in the Western Province in Sri Lanka are used to test the proposed model. Findings reveal that all hypotheses tested in the model are supported. Thus, this study concludes that supplier development acts as a partial mediator to boost the positive impact of strategic purchasing on the purchasing performance of the buyer firms. It is also evident from the findings that the supplier involvement partially mediates the relationship between strategic performance and supplier development. Ultimately, this study helps the management of Sri Lankan apparel sector firms to better understand how to uplift the purchasing function and increase its role in the firm for better performance.

“Innovation” is a fashionable word in the current era of knowledge based economy, For today’s business organizations, creation and exploitation of knowledge has become a competitive advantage. Moreover, the global competition has been strengthened due to the rapid developments in information technology. Hence, organizations are searching for innovative products, processes, and technologies to win the markets due to this competition. Thus the importance of innovation performance in presence of R&D, knowledge management practices and market oriented organization culture. This paper intends to elaborate these dimensions which are expected to influence innovation performance of an organization. A conceptual framework is developed by accounting, direct impacts from R&D Management Practices, Knowledge Management practices, and Market Orientation on Innovation Performance. In addition, the proposed framework tests moderating impacts by Resource Support and Management Style & Leadership on the above mentioned relationships. The research framework is supported by well established literature and the conceptual framework is developed with a positivistic approach. The proposed model will be used to survey the software development industry in Sri Lanka. However, this research framework is capable of examining the same research problem in other industries.

Purpose This paper investigates the impact of the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008 on the interaction between the Sri Lankan stock market and neighbouring Asian stock markets. Literature Existing literature provide evidence for the interaction between Sri Lankan and other stock markets are mixed. This study extends this strand of literature by adopting multiple methods to examine the relationship between the Sri Lankan stock market and other Asian stock markets with special attention on the GFC. Methodology These market interactions are examined using cointegration, contemporaneous correlations, information spillovers, and impulse responses. This paper considers India, China, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan as neighbouring stock markets to the Sri Lankan market and uses daily data of leading stock indices for each country from 01st January 2000 to 31st December 2012. Findings Findings reveal that the Sri Lankan stock market is cointegrated with the Korean stock market but not with others. Contemporaneous correlations are mostly significant between Sri Lanka and other Asian countries due to the GFC and thereafter. Granger causality to the Sri Lankan market is mainly evident during the GFC. Extreme downside risks in Chinese stock market also Granger cause the Sri Lankan stock market but not during the GFC. Instead, volatility and extreme risks in the Malaysian stock market spillover to the Sri Lankan market during the GFC. Impulse response analysis reveals that a shock on other Asian stock markets impact the Sri Lankan stock market mostly for two days during the GFC but for a single day during non-crisis periods. Contribution Findings of this study must be interesting to the investors in stock markets to find a safe heaven for their investment during a crisis period.

This paper investigates the interaction of the Sri Lankan stock market with other Asian stock markets in terms of cointegration, contemporaneous correlations, information spillovers, and impulse responses. The study consider India, China, Pakistan, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan as neighboring stock markets to the Sri Lankan market. And it use daily data of leading stock indices for each country from 01st January 2000 to 31st December 2012. Findings reveal that the Sri Lankan stock market is cointegrated with the Korean stock market but not with others. Contemporaneous correlations are significant between Sri Lanka and other Asian countries such as India, Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, Korea, and Japan. Pakistan, Malaysian, and Korean stock markets Granger cause in mean to the Sri Lankan stock market while India and Korea Granger cause in variance. Extreme downside risks in Chinese stock market also Granger causes the Sri Lankan stock market. Impulse response analysis provides evidence for the following day’s impact on the Sri Lankan stock market due a current shock on other Asian stock markets. Findings of this paper provide insightful information to both policy makers and investors in order to understand the behavior of Sri Lankan stock market.

This study examines the impact of TQM practices on employee role stressors in the Sri Lankan apparel sector. We compare this relationship between two groups, middle-level and operational level managers. We collect data from 81 randomly selected respondents including 22 operational-level and 59 middle-level managers. Our sample represents 11 multinational organizations belong to the Sri Lankan apparel industry. We measure TQM practices based on well-established literature covering nine dimensions namely, leadership, customer focus, supplier management, strategic planning, process planning, employee empowerment, training, employee involvement, and teamwork. Role stresses are measured using well known three dimensions in role theory namely, role conflict, role ambiguity, and role overload. We adopt generalized linear models with log Gaussian and log Gamma link functions to investigate the relationships. We identify that role conflict in middle-level managers is influenced by TQM practices but not in operational-level managers. For operational-level managers, role ambiguity and role overload are influenced by TQM practices more than that of the middle-level managers. Role conflicts are negatively related with process management, empowerment, involvement, and supplier focus dimensions of TQM practices while training and customer focus are positively related for middle-level managers. For operational-level managers, empowerment reduces the level of role ambiguity while leadership and training tend to increase the same. Only teamwork affects on role ambiguity for middle-level managers. Moreover, supplier management, strategic planning, empowerment, and training increase role overload in operational-level managers. Leadership commitment and employee involvement reduce role overload in both operational-level and middle-level managers.