Shahid Latif

This study seeks to explore how enterprise resource planning (ERP) adoption in a manufacturing SME strengthens management accounting and controls, and how ERP-driven changes are sustained to ensure sustainable survival. A single holistic case study design was adopted to explore the ERP adoption process under an extended Burns and Scapens framework and dynamic capabilities as theoretical lenses at ABLT (a manufacturing SME in Pakistan). Fourteen semi-structured interviews, observations and documents were analysed using Gioia’s methodology to surface first-order codes, seven second-order themes and four aggregate dimensions. The findings reveal a multi-stage process. ERP adoption was triggered by the convergence of internal manual frustrations and external customer-driven pressure for traceable information. During implementation, managers negotiated financial, production and technical logics and embedded real-time accounting routines while drawing on existing standard operating procedures to reduce resistance. Once stabilized, these routines enabled team learning that built sensing, seizing and transforming capabilities. Dynamic capabilities, in turn, allowed the firm to reconfigure rapidly when COVID-19 disrupted supply lines, thereby protecting cash flow and accelerating post-crisis growth. A conceptual model shows how institutional alignment and capability building interact recursively rather than sequentially. The study contributes by integrating the extended Burns and Scapens framework with dynamic capabilities theory to understand ERP-driven management accounting and controls in the context of SMEs. For practitioners, the study highlights the significance of aligning customer expectations, internal policies and team learning to turn ERP from a technical project into a platform for ongoing resilience and growth.

This study intends to explore the change process in developing management accounting systems to ensure economic sustainability under the theoretical underpinnings of dynamic capabilities. A single case study design has been incorporated to explore the change process at a sportswear manufacturing small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) based in Sialkot, Pakistan. The rationale for choosing this case site is that this firm has undergone a recent change in the form of developing and using management accounting systems to address economic sustainability concerns. Data were collected via interviews and documents. We conducted 10 interviews and reviewed some internal documents to comprehend the change process. Due to the involvement of multiple organizational actors, the study finds that dynamic capabilities are reflected collaboratively. Due to the collaborative nature of interactions among organizational actors, sensing, seizing and transformation capabilities were termed collaborative dynamic capabilities. Under these dynamic capabilities, the case firm has successfully implemented the change process by developing management accounting systems. The CEO also arranged two training sessions for the workers to facilitate the change process. Furthermore, replacement and production innovation decisions were taken to reflect the change process by bringing change to the existing resource base. This research has contributed theoretically by addressing recent calls to comprehend the change process in the form of management accounting systems to address economic sustainability in the context of SMEs.

Purpose: This qualitative inquiry sheds light on using management accounting systems to address economic sustainability concerns in small and medium enterprises (SMEs) of Pakistan. Building on the dynamic capabilities (DC) theory, this research endeavors to address the recent calls on management accounting and economic sustainability in the context of SMEs.Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative research design was adopted in which 13 semistructured interviews were conducted with SME owners of Pakistan. The transcribed interviews were coded and thematic analysis was performed via NVIVO-12 to generate themes.Findings: Based on the DC theory, the findings revealed that SME owners in Pakistan use management accounting systems to ensure economic sustainability. The authors found that DC are a co-created phenomenon and refer to them as collective DC. Furthermore, the authors found the theme of accounting literacy which played a critical role in the exhibition of DC in a collective manner.Originality/value: This is one of the earliest studies on management accounting systems that examine economic sustainability in Pakistani SMEs. This research provides novel insights into the use of management accounting systems in Pakistan from the perspective of DC. In Pakistani SMEs, dynamic capacities are co-created and contingent on accounting literacy.

HRMARS is well established journal publisher based in Pakistan. It is publishing prominent journals in social sciences since 2011.

This conceptual paper proposes a new framework for ensuring Pakistani SMEs' sustainable survival. SME owners always strive to survive in the long run, but most SMEs cannot sustain themselves due to resource constraints. In the ensuing survival of SMEs, the role of management accounting is critical. Management accounting provides financial and non-financial information for planning, controlling and decision-making. This information can persuade SME owners to think in a strategic way which can enhance their strategic thinking. Arguably, management accounting can cognitively engage SME owners by enhancing their strategic thinking, leading SMEs to enhance sustainable survival. Based on these arguments, a conceptual framework has been proposed in which strategic thinking mediates the relationship between management accounting systems and sustainable survival. This conceptual paper has endeavored to advance the understanding of strategic thinking in management accounting scholarship. Furthermore, this paper has also provided practical guidelines for SME owners to concentrate on sustainable survival by developing management accounting systems and focusing on strategic thinking.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of Conscientious personality on women entrepreneurs’ behavioral biases by focusing on financial literacy which is taken as a mediator while the mindfulness as a potential moderator. A random sample of 210 female entrepreneurs working in Pakistan was collected through stratified sampling technique and data are analyzed by using Structural Equation Modeling through SMART-PLS. The results divulged a significant mediating impact of financial literacy in reducing mental accounting bias among consciousness personality possessing women entrepreneurs; however, financial literacy was found related to the risk aversion bias through mindfulness. The moderation analysis further revealed interesting indirect impacts, such that financial literacy strongly reduced mental accounting and risk aversion bias for women who were more conscious of proper financial mindfulness. Nonetheless, financial mindfulness did not catalyze financial literacy and herding bias relationship. By encompassing the concepts of financial literacy, mindfulness, and behavioral biases in consciousness personality’s women entrepreneurs, we offered a comprehensive theoretical framework with practical implications for women entrepreneurs in Pakistan. Thus, we suggest new avenues for the longstanding dilemma related to the factors instigating suboptimal financial decision-making in women entrepreneurs in developing markets.

This article aims to determine the intervening strength of financial mindfulness between financial literacy and behavioural biases in women entrepreneurs. The literature has an enduring discussion regarding the profoundly unique financial behaviour of women. Financial literacy and behavioural biases constitute a recurrent research topic, yet how this nexus exists in the premise of women’s entrepreneurship is not well known. Building on this gap, we examined the impact of financial literacy on women entrepreneurs’ behavioural biases by focusing on financial mindfulness as a potential moderator. A random sample of 346 women entrepreneurs operating in Pakistan was analysed using structural equation modelling through AMOS 21. The results revealed a significant direct impact of financial literacy on reducing anchoring and herding bias; however, financial literacy was found to be unrelated to mental accounting bias. The moderation analysis further revealed interesting indirect impacts, such that financial literacy strongly reduced mental accounting and herding bias for financially mindful women. Nonetheless, financial mindfulness does not negatively catalyse the relationship between financial literacy and anchoring bias. By encompassing the concepts of financial literacy, mindfulness and behavioural biases, we offer a unique theoretical strand with practical implications for women entrepreneurs. We suggest new avenues for the longstanding dilemma related to the factors instigating suboptimal financial decision-making in women entrepreneurs in developing markets.