PurposeThis study has been undertaken to find as to how the Pakistan defense services being resource-intensive organizations can help to secure the natural environment and achieve sustained national development by adopting modern management concepts like the balanced scorecard (BSC) while not compromising on their core aim of achieving strategic national defense objectives. With this main purpose in mind, this study focused on locating the core functionalities of Pakistan armed services to be adopted as the key perspectives for building their BSCs.Design/methodology/approachThis study is quantitative in nature, and after the formulation of hypotheses by carrying out a thorough literature review, the distributed questionnaire collected quantitative data to test the hypotheses using computer-based SPSS software. Personnel of all the three arms of Pakistan defense service, namely army, navy and the air force, formed the population of this study.FindingsThis quantitative study has found that pursuit of national purpose, availability of resources, internal processes and building for future are the main core functionalities of Pakistan defense services and can be safely adopted as the main perspectives for the development of their BSCs to ensure sustained national development by exercising economy of resources without overburdening the natural resources and the environment.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings of this study are based on cross-sectional data rather than longitudinal; therefore, these are not a representative of a dynamic situation. As the data collection for this study is limited to Pakistan, its findings cannot be generalized globally.Originality/valueThis study is unique in a way as it endeavors to bring out empirically that how a public entity like defense force can contribute to the safe keeping of environment while achieving sustained development. Most importantly, it highlights that how BSC as a management tool can help the defense force leadership to achieve desired state of sustained national development through intelligent application of precious resources placed on their disposal.

Extant literature highlights the significance of the corporate governance (CG) mechanism in mitigating agency conflict. Literature also confirms the instrumentality of the board structure (measured as size, diversity, independence and CEO duality) in overcoming the agency problem. In this context, the present study examines the impact of board structure on a firm's cash holding (CH) levels. Likewise, the study tests the role of cash‐holding (CH) in the association between board structure and a firm's performance. Secondary data from 262 PSX‐listed manufacturing and servicing sector firms have been taken for analysis. Panel regression and Generalized Methods of Movement (GMM) were employed to test the modelled relationships. Results show that most of the CG variables, that is, CEO duality, board size, executive compensation, and diversity, do not affect a firm's CH levels in the service and manufacturing sectors. However, the results display a negative and significant impact of block holders (BH), measured as the ratio of the top five shareholders, on cash holding in manufacturing. Likewise, the sector‐wise analysis shows that cash holding significantly mediates between board size and ROA. In contrast, its role between other dimensions of CG and RoA was insignificant. The findings also revealed that firms with frailer CG structures tend to have less CH and can be prone to external environmental risk.

With the emergence of economic globalisation, HR executives strive to provide a fairer working environment as there is an unprecedented shift of increased participation of people with different demographic backgrounds, genders and belief systems at workplaces around the globe. Simultaneously, there has been a tremendous rise in the occurrences of abusive leadership behaviours leading to increased turnover ratios. Hence, this study aims to investigate the effects of abusive leadership and diversity management practices on turnover intention.   This study data has been collected from the employees of pharmaceutical companies based in Karachi, Pakistan using a non- probability  purposive sampling technique.  Data  was taken from  (n = 403) participants. The results show a significant negative relationship between diversity management and turnover intention and a significant positive relationship between abusive leadership and turnover intention. The results also indicate that job satisfaction mediates the relationship of both diversity management and abusive leadership with turnover intention. The study emphasises that organisations should consciously channel their resources effectively into creating an all-inclusive environment to cater the psychological needs of a diverse workforce. The study also implicated that organisational leadership should pay special attention to ensure that they treat their subordinates fairly across the board, as the behaviour of the leaders has far-reaching effects on the performance, productivity and psychological well-being of the employees.