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IBA faculty and student co-author a paper on Sustainable Business Model for Small Businesses

Dr. Imran Khan, Assistant Professor, Department of Computer Science, along with Syed Waqas Ahmed, MS Computer Science student has co-authored a paper titled ‘Development of a Sustainable Business Model for Small Businesses Using Data Mining’ in the Journal of Islamic Economics and Finance.

The paper is based on the work of an intensive graduate course research project at the IBA Karachi and uses classic decision trees along with machine learning algorithms to analyze the data taken from SMEs and to understand the aspects of their decisions and workflow which leads them to become unsustainable.

Abstract

Small and Medium-Sized Enterprises (SMEs) are the foundational structure of the Pakistani economy. Irrespective of their type, whether they belong to a religious-based business structure or not, many are unable to build a sustainable model and thereby go out of business. Common reasons include being unable to balance the cash inflow and outflow while choosing projects with a long lifespan and little monetary rewards. The paper presents the integration of concepts from Data Mining techniques to help these businesses understand which areas they need to improve. Classic decision trees along with machine learning algorithms can be used to analyze data from SMEs to understand the aspects of their decisions and workflow which leads them to become unsustainable. An analysis of these decisions in the context of religious regulations and dealings shall be done to assess whether the adoption of a faith-based business structure can help a business or not. The paper also presents a comparison between secular and non-secular business approaches from the lens of sustainability and relating it to the success and the failure of SMEs all around the world. A brief analysis of the selected organizations is also included in the paper.

For more information: https://dergipark.org.tr/en/pub/jief/issue/62821/910563