Abstract Purpose Leaders have been facing serious challenges in managing organizations during COVID-19, which has brought the need for implementing sudden technological change across the globe. Hence, it was important to identify effective leadership styles to successfully manage the transformational process during the period. Therefore, the current study aims to explore and compare the effectiveness of transformational and ethical leadership (EL) in terms of achieving organizational goals during COVID-19 in public and private sector organizations in Pakistan. Design/methodology/approach Comparative research was carried out to find out the effectiveness of transformational and EL during and pre-COVID-19 in public and private sector organizations using the lens of social exchange theory. Data was collected from 214 respondents representing 67.6% of public and 32.4% of private sector organizations of Pakistan at two different points in time. Detailed comparative analyses were conducted in AMOS version 24 to assess the effectiveness of leadership styles before and during COVID-19 times. Findings On the whole, transformational leadership (TL) was found to have a greater impact on organizational effectiveness (OE) in comparison with EL in both pre-and during COVID-19 situations. Moreover, the effectiveness of TL significantly increased and the same decreased for EL during COVID-19. Additional analyses indicated that TL was effective for the private sector and EL for public sector organizations during COVID-19. Research limitations/implications The study has not considered the mediating mechanisms of employee motivation, engagement and performance in the relationship between transformational and EL styles and OE, which can be explored in the future. Practical implications These results have important implications for private and public sector organizations and suggest that the adoption of a TL style will generate better results in the private sector and an EL style in public sector organizations to achieve OE in uncertain situations such as COVID-19. Social implications The study shows that leadership with more care and concern for humanity tends to perform better in terms of generating results for OE. Therefore, both transformational and EL are based on individualized consideration for employees and are effective during COVID-19 in private and public sector organizations in Pakistan. Originality/value The study has carried out the comparative analyses in three different ways, including leadership styles (transformational and ethical), type of organization (private and public) and time frames (pre and during COVID-19), which is a true contribution of the research in the Pakistani context.

Abstract: Initial Public Offerings are, by definition, not seasoned securities. They have not been subjected to valuation by the community of investors. It is often difficult or impossible to forecast their future cash flows because most do not have a long history of publicly disclosed financial information. Consequently, valuing IPOs in any market is more difficult than valuing seasoned equities. In this paper, we address the valuation of IPOs in the Alternative Investment Market, (hereafter the AIM.) The purpose of this study is to determine the observable factors that affect valuation in the AIM. We apply OLS, LASSO regression, and Extreme Bounds Analysis (EBA) techniques on historical accounting data to test our theory of valuation. The statistical sample consists of 2,185 IPOs issued on the AIM between 1995 and 2020. Our findings suggest that the market valuation of IPOs in the AIM is systematically related to a multiplicity of factors. These include earnings per share (EPS) in the after-market, operating cash follow per share, and the percentage of shares issued to the public. The findings of the study have a practical value for investors who are interested in buying IPOs in the AIM.

Resumen: Las ofertas iniciales de venta al público (IPOs), por definición, no tienen historia y no han sido valoradas por inversionistas. Por ello, es difícil o imposible realizar proyecciones de flujos futuros, al no existir información financiera pública. Este trabajo centra la valoración en el Mercado de alternativo de inversiones, determinando los observables que afectan la valoración. Aplicamos distintas técnicas econométricas a datos contables de 2,185 IPOs entre los años 1995 y 2020. Nuestros resultados sugieren que las valoraciones se relacionan con diversos factores.

Abstract: This study empirically examines the spillover effect from US monetary policy to nineteen European economies using Markov-switching models. The results of the univariate Markov-switching models validate the presence of two distinct regimes for both US monetary policy and the stock markets. We find mixed results when applying the multivariate Markov-switching models. The results report a positive relationship between the US interest rate and developed stock markets except for the Finish, Swiss, Swedish and UK stock markets whereas our findings confirm a positive relationship with the developing stock markets except for the Slovenian and Ukraine stock markets. Importantly, the nature of this effect varies during the economic crisis period. This study also compares the spillover effect between Asian and European stock markets and concludes that the effect of US monetary policy varies from market to market, however, changes in US monetary policy have greater effects on developed markets.

Resumen: Este trabajo evalúa el efecto rebalse de la política monetaria de Estados Unidos en diecinueve economías europeas, utilizando modelos de cambios markovianos. Modelos univariados validan la presencia de dos regímenes, tanto para la política monetaria de Estados Unidos como de los mercados accionarios. Encontramos una relación positiva entre la tasa de Estados Unidos y los mercados accionarios de economías desarrolladas (con la excepción de Finlandia, Suiza, Suecia y Reino Unido) y mercados accionarios de países en desarrollo (excepto por Eslovenia y Ucrania). A su vez, la naturaleza de este efecto varía en períodos de crisis. El trabajo también compara el efecto rebalse entre economías asiáticas y europeas, demostrando que los efectos son distintos entre mercados. Sin embargo, la influencia de la tasa de interés de Estados Unidos es mayor en mercados desarrollados.

This paper estimates the short-run performance of IPOs issued on the Karachi Stock Exchange in Pakistan. The present study extends the existing literature concentrating on the degree of underpricing over a 3-month period lasting from the listing date to the 3-month anniversary showing significant evidence of IPO underpricing. The analyses support the investors’ sentiment and underwriters’ prestige hypothesis but not ex-ante uncertainty. The EBA technique has been used to examine fifteen explanatory variables of IPO underpricing. The study finds that the aftermarket risk level of the IPO, the oversubscription ratio, the offer price, the return on assets, post issue promoters’ holding and size of the firm are six robust determinants of IPO underpricing.

Este trabajo estudia el desempeño de corto plazo de las ofertas públicas iniciales de acciones en la bolsa de Karachi (Pakistán), mostrándose subvaluaciones de precios desde la fecha de la oferta hasta los tres meses. Se encuentra soporte a las hipótesis de percepción y prestigio, pero no de incertidumbre ex ante. La técnica de análisis de límites extremos permite analizar quince potenciales determinantes de la subvaluación de manera robusta.