S.No ISBN TITLE Buy From Nbcindia Series CE1 CE2 Rel_Dt Pages PB (US$) PB (Rs) HB (US$) HB (Rs) Snapshot
1 978-81-314-1561-0 Lean Transformation – Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Jaya Krishna S 18-Oct-08 344 20 500 0 0 Today, ‘lean’ is an enterprise-wide concept although it has originated and evolved in the manufacturing plants and factory floors. It has become pervasive throughout the organization and an overriding principle that guides every activity in the organization. On the other hand, it has evolved as a vital tool to become competitive. Broad insights into success factors, nitty-gritty’s, prerequisites and capabilities for transforming an organization or function into lean can make the difference between lean winners and losers. Hence, organizations and their people need to know what it requires and how one should approach to successfully transform into lean. This book can act as a potential resource for those forward-looking firms and professionals in such critical situations. This book, while introducing the concept of ‘lean transformation’, highlights the potential of transforming into ‘lean’ at large and offer guidance in transforming certain critical functions or organizations into ‘lean’. It is an attempt to address what, why, where and how of lean transformation to empower the concerned. It tries to enlighten the concerned with the lessons learnt from previous experiences of transforming into lean. Further, the lean transformation initiatives and/or experiences of some organizations (predominantly the manufacturing firms) are being included with an aim to offer practical insights to prospective readers. The book is targeted at various interest groups, including practising professionals/executives in the areas of Business Process Reengineering (BPR), Total Quality Management (TQM), Lean Management, production and operations, which are the primary audience for this book. It can be of use for academicians and students of operations, and process management.
2 978-81-314-1536-8 Ecosystem Management: Issues And Trends www.nbcindia.com Simantee Sen 18-Oct-08 252 17 425 0 0 Today, we are undergoing a fundamental shift in our attitude to natural resources and the environment from the focus on the production of commodities to the focus on the ecological conditions of the land. Scientists, land managers, and others are increasingly proposing the ecosystem management as the best way to manage our planet’s resources. It is a management philosophy that depends as much on understanding political and social factors as it does on understanding biological information. Further, ecosystem management calls for a shift in the way humans approach the natural world; it requires an explicit examination of the relationship between humans and nature, our patterns of politics, and methods of scientific inquiry. Humanity has always depended on the services provided by the biosphere and its ecosystems. Further, the biosphere is itself the product of life on Earth. The composition of the atmosphere and soil, the cycling of elements through air and waterways, and many other ecological assets are all the results of living processes—and all are maintained and replenished by living ecosystems. The human species, while buffered against environmental immediacies by culture and technology, is ultimately fully dependent on the flow of ecosystem services. Patterns of politics suggested by ecosystem management include public deliberation of values toward the environment, cooperative solutions, and dispersion of power and authority. These are all avenues to lessen social hierarchy and domination. The significance lies in the fact that ecosystem management maintains the flow and balance between environment, economic as well as social goods and services. Institutions as well as every global citizen must, therefore, cooperate towards this end.
3 978-81-314-1548-1 Urban Water Supply and Sanitation: A Management Perspective www.nbcindia.com Mallikarjun Janardan Iyyer 18-Oct-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 Access to water is a human right as declared by UNESCO. Civilizations have developed at the proximity of rivers and other fresh water sources. Water is a basic human need and its availability has governed the survival of human existence and, therefore, the civilizations. The provision of water supply and sanitation services in the urban areas continues to be one of the core functions of the urban local bodies. Rapid urbanization in the last few decades has brought the sector providing these services under stress. Improved investment in water sector infrastructure, which is accorded high priority, needs to be supported by efficient management of the day-to-day operation and maintenance. This poses a major challenge with fresher elements contributing to its efficacy. Training personnel in water management and bringing about awareness of the scarcity of water to public attention are the need of the hour. The book has tried to bring to the fore some of the challenges in water management. It provides the reader with various perspectives on the issues posed by water management and discusses the best practices being evolved by the local governments in consultation with their country’s Governments to overcome them.
4 978-81-314-1957-1 Medical Ethics: Issues and Implications www.nbcindia.com Ethics and Corporate Governance Asis Kumar Pain 18-Oct-08 232 16 400 0 0 “Medical ethics is a field of applied ethics that deals with the study of moral values and judgments in the area of healthcare and medicine. It encompasses its practical application in clinical settings apart from that in history, philosophy, theology and sociology. Looked at from a historical perspective, Western medical ethics can be traced from the Hippocratic Oath apart from early rabbinic and Christian teachings. During the Medieval and early modern period, the field was indebted to Islamic physicians such as Ishaq bin Ali Rahawi and al-Razi, Jewish thinkers, Roman Catholic scholastic thinkers such as Thomas Aquinas.
During the 18th and 19th centuries, medical ethics emerged as a more self-conscious discourse, enriched with the writings of such authors as the British doctor Thomas Percival (1740-1804) of Manchester. Based on his thought, the American Medical Association instituted its first code of ethics in 1847. However, in the 1960s and 1970s, medical ethics went through a dramatic shift by confining itself into bioethics through appropriate development of liberal theory and procedural justice. Medical ethics tends to be understood narrowly as an applied professional ethics, whereas bioethics appears to have more expansive concerns, touching upon the philosophy of science and the critique of biotechnology. Still, the two fields often overlap and the distinction is more a matter of style than professional consensus. The aforesaid discussion sets the tone of the proposed book wherein the concept and development of medical ethics along with its implications are perused upon. Also, the practical aspects of medical ethics reflected in its practice in different countries of the world are taken a look.
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5 978-81-314-1460-6 Economic Sovereignty and Global Capital Flows www.nbcindia.com Economy Fikret Causevic 17-Oct-08 276 18 450 20.5 525 This book Economic Sovereignty and Global Capital Flows has three parts. The first part treats financial liberalization, analysing its development, the opportunities and risks involved in financial globalization, fundamental problems within the international financial system, and the consequences of financial liberalization and globalization, drawing on standard studies in the field. The second part addresses the theoretical basis of contemporary monetary policy, how financial asset prices affect economic policy implementation, basic controversies regarding exchange rate policy, and the interdependence of exchange rate, monetary, and fiscal policy under conditions of free capital movement. The third part presents a review of the results of economic development in a sample of 122 countries, between 1980 and 2004. The methodological basis for the analysis is a national Wealth Coefficient, which expresses the ratio of a country’s share in world GDP to its share in world population. As GDP growth does not necessarily have a sound economic basis, the data from the 20 countries with the highest rates of Wealth Coefficient growth was supplemented by data on GDP, foreign debt, foreign reserves, and import-export ratios to allow conclusions to be drawn regarding the sustainability of relative prosperity growth in high-growth economies. Finally, growth rate data was compared to the speed of financial liberalization and openness to international capital flows. Comparison of Wealth Coefficient growth rates with the dynamics and degree of financial liberalization allowed conclusions to be drawn regarding financial liberalization’s impact on economic policy’s real results.
6 978-81-314-1550-4 Cisco s Growth and Business Strategy www.nbcindia.com Business Strategy Kalai Selvan N 17-Oct-08 252 17 425 0 0 Cisco system, Inc was founded by a small group of computer scientists from Stanford University in 1984. It has now become a multinational corporation and a leader in networking for the Internet employing 61,000 people all over the world, with an annual turnover of US$ 35 billion. In 2007, it ranked 74th in the Fortune 500 list of companies. With a unique networking system and solution, Cisco has created a big revolution in the Internet networking industry. Its growth strategy has focused on three market segments such as, Core technologies based market like routing and switching; the Service provider based market segment; and Advanced Technology market segment. Cisco’s product development has evolved based on customer needs and wants. It has successfully implemented their customer friendly strategies which have enabled it to become the market leader. Cisco Systems have used acquisition as a strategic business weapon. It has made more than126 acquisitions since 1993 to broaden its product offerings and secure talent pool in the extremely competitive networking industry. It has transformed its business through strong business strategy, focusing on the technology and dotcom boom in the last decade to become a market leader in the field of computer software, hardware, and networking and communication industry. This book discusses how Cisco gained its competitiveness in the market place through its innovative business model, technology innovation, product innovation, and customer management.
7 978-81-314-1565-8 Audit Committees – An Insight www.nbcindia.com General Books Padmavathi C Aparna Bellur 17-Oct-08 212 15.5 400 0 0 Audit Committees today face the onerous task of overseeing the dynamics, and metamorphosed corporate reporting process resulting in increased responsibilities and accountabilities. An Audit Committee is viewed as the cornerstone of the shareholder’s protection. This new facet can be attributed to changes in regulatory reforms, corporate governance environment, dynamic business environment and heightened expectations of market players. Its functions, role and responsibilities vary from company to company, even though, in essence, its objectives of overseeing the company’s processes related to risk and control environment, financial reporting and evaluation of internal controls and audit process remain same. This book, ‘Audit Committees – An Insight,’ is an effort to bring together Audit Committee practices and responsibilities, as also the worldwide practices in various sectors. To be effective, Audit Committees must have the right structure and process in place. But in the absence of strong leadership and good group dynamics to promote a culture of challenge and engagement, they may not be able to fulfil their role effectively. Audit Committees, in general, are to meet the expectations of the committee members themselves, the board, the shareholders, the regulators and capital markets. The maximization of their contribution to corporate governance and capital market calls for an efficient and appropriate design of Audit Committee practices. Independence is the cornerstone for effectiveness. The success of their functioning depends on the skills, knowledge and ability of their members, committee’s mission, which is tailor-made to company, and the tone set at the top. To be effective, Audit Committee members should be dynamic, proactive and should possess a wide range of knowledge, strong interpersonal skills, and willingness to take up challenges.
8 978-81-314-1556-6 Management Control Systems in Competitive Environment www.nbcindia.com Satyanarayana Y 17-Oct-08 188 14.5 375 17 425 Having winning strategies is very important for a company. Executing these strategies is the key to business. Studies have shown that most companies fail more on account of their inability to implement strategies than, perhaps, their not being able to have the right strategies. Here comes the role of management control. Under the management control system, managers play a key role in implementing the company’s strategies. In fact, they influence other members of the organisation/company in executing this task. Imperfect design or inadequate implementation can even result in failure to achieve the objectives of the organisation. This keeps the managers on tenterhooks. They should have a clear understanding of the management control system. According to studies, though many organizations have been making efforts for improving their performance through conventional methods, like lower-cost, improved quality, etc., they have not identified any strategic processes. Many of them do not link their performance management systems to strategy. Current trend is that most innovative companies implement management control more effectively than their lesser innovative counterparts. This shows the need for management control and innovation. This book makes a study of the issues pertaining to management control, which will be useful for both practicing managers and students of management.
9 81-314-1287-8 Case Studies on Strategies for Foreign Markets – An Anthology www.nbcindia.com Business and Finance Specials Bharathi S.Gopal 17-Oct-08 360 0 0 50 1250 Companies that aim to extend their operations to other countries face unique challenges. Entering into a foreign country market requires a clear mindset as to what the company wants to achieve. This determines the mode of entry that the business wants to adopt. The mode of market entry chosen will also have implications in the marketing strategies that the company wants to implement in the foreign market. If the company intends to enter indirectly, like exporting, its control over marketing is limited. On the contrary, if a company wants to control marketing of its products or services, it needs to have a foresight of how the business will develop in the future. Equally daunting is the task of developing a foreign market. It is important that companies understand the local business environment before formulating strategies for the foreign market. Companies that have shown greater commitment at the early stage of market entry, made long-term plans and focused on localizing their marketing programs have succeeded in foreign countries. This book “Case Studies on Strategies for Foreign Markets – An Anthology” is a compilation of case studies that chronicle the strategies in foreign markets of various companies across industries. The book is divided into two sections. The first section comprises case studies that deal with strategies pertaining to entry or re-entry into foreign markets, while the second section consists of case studies on strategies to develop foreign markets.
10 978-81-314-1491-0 India and Japan: Economic and Strategic Partnership www.nbcindia.com Economy Sukhvinder Kaur Multani 4-Oct-08 268 17 425 0 0 The Indo-Japanese relationship has witnessed a major transformation since the end of cold war. The bipolar system resulted in greater interdependence among nations. The concept of security became more comprehensive and included non-military elements. Above all, globalization created new opportunities and united the whole world by integrating and breaking barriers. All these transformed the Indo-Japanese relations which hitherto seemed stagnated. India’s economic liberalization also played its role by throwing new opportunities. Since liberalization, both the countries have reaffirmed to continue to promote commonalities and identify areas of convergence for mutual cooperation between them in a constructive manner. With common values and broad convergence of our interests, India-Japan partnership has the potential to create a ripple effect, leading to positive developments – not just for them but for Asia as a whole and, in turn, the world as well. Of late, the Indo-Japanese relations have broadened and included security along with economic aspects. One important lesson that both the countries have learnt from their past experiences is that they should improve the quality of their relationship. In future, it would be interesting to see how the bilateral relationship between the two countries would have an impact on Asia. Focusing on the Indo-Japanese relations, the book is designed in two sections. The first section delves into economic relations between India and Japan and focuses on Trade, business, investments, etc. The second section exclusively deals with the strategic aspect of their relationship.
11 978-81-314-1506-1 Shareholder Value – Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Finance Keerti Mallela 4-Oct-08 248 16.5 425 0 0 It is often said in the world of finance and management that the role of the CEO of an enterprise encompasses something more than just delivering profits. It stretches to the intention of creating and maximizing shareholder value. In this context, value-based management has come a long way in helping enterprises and managers create, measure and enhance shareholder value. It has prescribed many an antidote to overcome major hindrances in processes, operations and systems inside an organization and at the same time pay singular attention to processes that enhance shareholder value. Adhering to and establishing organizational goals by understanding the ultimate goals and objectives of the enterprise may come a long way, according to experts. This involves many inter-related and mutually dependent functions like managing risk, strategy initiation and development, earnings improvement and most importantly focusing and capitalizing on growth opportunities. Things that help goals fall in line with maximizing shareholder value may be some reference points like review of historical performance, comprehending competitors’ strategies, taking note of stock market expectations, due diligence towards ensuring that the current risk factors are all met with realistic and executable measures and preparing for future economic and value-based performance. This book covers some very vital aspects of shareholder value creation at enterprises, what enterprises ought to do in order to create shareholder value and maximize it. Firms that have undertaken shareholder value creation and enhancement on a serious measure are illustrated in the form of cases.
12 978-81-314-2073-7 Customer Service in Hotel Industry www.nbcindia.com Marketing Amitabha Ghose Ishita Mukherjee 4-Oct-08 200 15 375 0 0 The rapid pace of globalization has caused increasing consciousness among customers. Due to growing competition and improved job opportunities, especially in the private sector, coupled with improved buying power (which is a direct impact of regular employment generation), consumers have become more demanding. Therefore, to attract and retain customers, cost and quality control continues to be the keywords as hospitality remains primarily a service catering to the business as well as leisure customers. It is, therefore, vital to focus on the planning and delivery aspects related to effective customer service in the hotel industry. Associations of hotel and restaurant owners have been established by those who create and enforce quality standards, and many of those associations are honored as corporations, that embody the philosophies of effective quality management. As per the principles of total quality management, accomplishment of service quality is a continuous process. It extends throughout every stage of the client’s lifecycle. This is applicable for all in business, and the delivery of service that meets or exceeds customers’ expectations becomes an increasingly significant differentiating factor in business development. Therefore, continuous efforts have to be made to reassess the gap between expectations and delivery of service. What constitutes service quality is a matter of concern as it is a relative concept, referring to the demand and expectation fulfilment of customers. Reduced price coupled with a tailor-made service is one strategy to attract and retain customers by service provider.
13 978-81-314-1897-0 Addressing Health Issues: Financial Perspectives www.nbcindia.com General Azmal Hussain 4-Oct-08 216 15 375 0 0 “As applicable to any other development paradigm, finance often forms the lifeline of health intervention and therefore, merits prudent considerations. But, government commitment allegedly falls short in healthcare funding in resource poor countries for several reasons, the most conspicuous of them being modest tax revenues limiting spending on healthcare services. This leads to a gap between ideal and affordable investments. Another factor which often escapes the attention of the authorities concerned is the seemingly sub-standard quality of public services and the low motivation of public servants dealing with those services grossly undermining and compromising the value of public investments. The erstwhile evidences are suggestive of manifold issues hinging around the financial aspects of health interventions. This book provides a practical know-how of the issues and dimensions in healthcare financing through suitable examples.
Structured into two sections, this book covers the conceptual and generic aspects of healthcare financing, besides providing a close look at the issues and dimensions in healthcare financing through suitable country experiences. This book will be useful for development professionals, policy planners, grass-root level organizations including NGOs devoted to health issues (especially the implementing organizations), administrators and social activists.
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14 978-81-314-2034-8 Case Studies on Retail Store Strategies: A Repertoire www.nbcindia.com Supply Chain Management Menaka Rao 4-Oct-08 376 0 0 50 1250 Unlike never before, companies have to constantly watch out to maintain that edge over competition, which sometimes is essentially a break or make situation that a company finds itself in. As Cases occupy a prominent place among pedagogical tools for teaching, this book with a repository of 19 case studies extends over 3 sections showcasing the technical segmentation and in-store strategies used by retailers to drive growth, increase profit margins, beat competition and grab market share. The cases chosen in this book serve as excellent vehicles to project an integrated view of retailers, to blend theory with practice, and sharpen the analytical skills of the readers. Compared to the large number and wide range of marketing topics covered in marketing books, this book focuses on the “Store Strategy” in retailing and in tune with the current needs of the industry. Rich in pedagogic content, the book navigates through case studies to provide a deep understanding of the retail industry and the challenges faced by retailers like 7-Eleven stores, Wal-Mart, Metro cash and carry, Starbucks, McDonald’s, Amazon, to name a few. The book helps in discussing retail strategy, customer centricity, in-store facelifts and makeovers, the shift to virtual shopping, the advantages of on-line shopping and the fortitude borne by companies during challenges. With real time people and happenings, each case study comes alive before the reader. What, perhaps, is a significant take away from the book, apart from its intrinsic pedagogic objectives are the thoughts and opinions of great retailers like Sam Walton, founder of Wal-Mart, Bezos, founder of Amazon, Brad Anderson, CEO of Best Buy Inc., Kishore Biyani, the Indian retail pioneer and others.
15 978-81-314-1435-4 Case Studies on Business Ethics and CSR Initiatives www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Krishna Kumar Lekha Ravi 4-Oct-08 224 0 0 50 1250 Business Ethics relates to value-based and ethical business practices. Business ethics defines “how a company integrates core values – such as honesty, trust, respect, and fairness ¬- into its policies, practices, and decision making. Business ethics also involves a company’s compliance with legal standards and adherence to internal rules and regulations”. The last decade has witnessed extensive awareness among companies of their responsibilities toward the communities they impact on, which has evolved into the concept of CSR and allied notions such as ‘corporate sustainability’. Many companies have grown globally and are adopting ethical practices to preserve a sustainable business. If a company’s main purpose is to maximize the returns to its shareholders, is it unethical for a company to consider the interests and rights of anyone else? The book attempts to be an eye-opener to the business firms’ sensitivity to the society and environment. It analyses the issues faced in this dilemma of business vs. ethics. This case book discusses opportunities and constraints in engaging the private sector in demand-driven community development programs. The book aims to provide readers with a critical analysis of CSR to question the underlying assumption that companies, as currently constituted, can be part of a shift to a more sustainable and socially just society. The book hopes to provide a meaningful edge to the debate around CSR. As such, while it does not claim to have all the answers, it hopes to serve as an eye-opener to these issues.
16 978-81-314-1449-1 Global Scenario on HIV and AIDS: Is there a way out? www.nbcindia.com General Naveen Kumar Agarwal Ramani V V 30-Sep-08 340 20 500 0 0 AIDS is the new epidemic of 80s, which destroyed many families and communities and posed a threat to the modern world. Most of the countries hit by this epidemic suffered from mortality search and drop in life expectancy. This epidemic is causing harm to the productive citizens that too between ages of 15 and 35. Kids are becoming orphans because of the untimely death of their parents and families are losing their talented young lot, who are the key earning members of the family. AIDS ranks fourth among the leading causes of death worldwide and first in sub-Saharan Africa. The most affected countries are located in Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and Asia. The key challenges of the epidemic are how to control the epidemic, arrest the spread among infants and adults, provide low cost treatment facility, obtain support from the society for the infected and check impact on poor countries. Collective effort should focus on the prevention of HIV and also provide access to Antiretroviral Treatment for the affected people. The civil society and the government together have to combat HIV and AIDS in developing and under developed countries. With this background, the book has been divided into two sections. Section-I consists of Global Perspectives of HIV and AIDS and Section-II covers Mitigation Strategies. The book attempts to give an overview of the status of HIV and AIDS in regions like Africa, Asia, America and Europe. Efforts have also been made to include the experiences from these regions to know how far they have been able to treat their HIV infected people and mitigate this chronic and intimidating syndrome.
17 978-81-314-2065-2 Economic Downturns – Lessons from Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Economy: World Jayshree Bose Keerti Mallela 30-Sep-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 An economy’s prosperity is generally measured by specific indicators like international prices, costs of external financing, capital flows and trade flows. Rise in interest rates, tightening monetary conditions, nevertheless, natural calamities and disasters like the 9/11 and the resultant global imbalances in recent times have led economists worldwide to think of an impending recession. The year 2006 saw the US stating a Current Account Deficit of more than US$800 billion and, on the other hand, the oil-exporting countries reaped surpluses. In 2008, the world at large is expected to watch out for continuing stock market falls, less of foreign direct investment in both developing and developed economies, oil price shocks, further fall in house prices and, therefore, gloomier credit markets. Erosion of investor confidence is on the way given the huge losses reported by Banks, given the shattering aftermath of the subprime crisis. It is widely opined that even if the Fed keeps cutting interest rates, these cuts may not really be able to offset the rate cuts in the previous recessions, since consumers and businesses may not be able to borrow enough to keep up their spending. A long-standing view point is that a flexible economy, with maximum competition as its driving force is the most sought after method to withstand recession. In that continuum, flexible market-driven economies have been cited to be more resilient towards recessions. This book on Economic Downturns focuses more on some vital concepts of economic recessions, policy changes brought about by nations that ran into profound recessions and some country-experiences. In its various segments, it covers some important preventive measures prescribed by leading economists and experts.
18 978-81-314-2014-0 Globalization: Latin American Experience www.nbcindia.com Globalization Asis Kumar Pain 30-Sep-08 236 16 400 0 0 After the “lost decade” of the 1980s, the 1990s were a distinct improvement for Latin America with the continent embracing the structural reform process. GDP growth rose as high as 4 percent in 1997 prior to the outbreak of the crisis in Asia and in the emerging markets. On a country basis, 17 countries were found to have raised their average annual growth rate in the 1990s (average per capita income in the region grew 1.5 percent per annum in the 1990s) compared to the 1980s. Besides, 24 countries showed a reduction in the volatility of their growth performance while 13 countries achieved both higher growth and greater stability of growth. Inflation was also brought down to single-digit-level after decades of double-digit inflation. These enhanced economic performance had its reflection in the various parameters of social progress. Between the period 1975 and 1997, the gap in the UNDP’s Human Development Index was reduced by more than 20 percent, reflecting a substantial improvement in social indicators. Despite these positive directions of economic development, the extent of poverty still affected 36 percent of Latin Americans. Income distribution across quintiles or deciles continued, thus presenting a discouraging picture. The aforementioned portrayal brings up the Latin American development initiated with the globalization process. The present volume is a modest effort at capturing some essence of this process wherein the basic idea of the circumstances for embracing globalization and economic development ushered thereon, supplemented with individualistic experiences, are examined.
19 81-314-1292-4 Case Studies on Business Ethics and Corporate Governance- Promoting Social Responsibility www.nbcindia.com Ethics and Corporate Governance Harish R 30-Sep-08 332 0 0 50 1250 There is a growing awareness and realization about the need for industry to be more ethical and responsible in its actions, whether towards its employees, suppliers or customers; or towards the environment and the society at large. Adhering to appropriate norms and regulations pertaining to corporate governance and maintaining financial and fiscal integrity are also gaining importance. Shareholder groups too have become more active and are raising their voices whenever they observe that companies may not have been adequately ethical and fair in their behavior and dealings. Several movements aimed at ethical and fairtrade practices have gained ground, and products with fairtrade and/or environment friendly/organic labels are beginning to command significant market demand and price premiums. Given this background, Business Ethics and Corporate Governance have become important subjects of study in many business schools across the world. It is, therefore, felt that a book of cases pertaining to the concepts and issues typically dealt with in such a course would be of immense help to both faculty and students. This book attempts to fill this need by presenting a bouquet of cases on a cross-section of topics that may be covered in a course on Business Ethics and Corporate Governance. The cases are selected from different industries and geographic regions of the world, thereby adding to the diversity and richness of content.
20 978-81-314-1459-0 The Icfai Handbook Of Behavioral Sciences www.nbcindia.com General Anamika Sharma 27-Sep-08 356 21 525 0 0 The Icfai Handbook of Behavioral Sciences is addressed to the undergraduate & postgraduate students of behavioral sciences and its allied disciplines. They include psychology, social psychology, psychobiology, social neuroscience, cognitive organization theory, consumer psychology, management science & operations research besides ethology, anthropology, organizational studies & psycho-economics, memetics, organizational behavior, social networks, and organizational ecology. Psychologists, behavioral scientists, management consultants, sociologists, anthropologists, OD consultants and the faculties in the concerned areas and general readers whose daily work demands some familiarity with terminology of Behavioral Sciences like history and meaning of Behavioral Sciences and its allied areas are expected to benefit by this handbook. The handbook also addresses terms from the conceptual level to the advanced level. It aims to provide a comprehensive companion to support other readings in a discipline, which employs remarkably similar terminology. This handbook is an authentic, accessible and alphabetical reference resource for the main ideas and teaching connected to the basics of and advances in Behavioral Sciences. The book is designed to cover the salient facts and features of various terms of Behavioral Sciences and its allied areas. It also explores conceptual development in various sciences from professional perspective. Over 3000 entries define and explain clearly the salient facts within the context of Behavioral Sciences. It incorporates up-to-date information which is sure to appeal to active psychologists, behavioral scientists, management consultants, and the faculty and students of Behavioral Sciences.
21 978-81-314-1527-6 Perspectives on Inclusive Growth in India www.nbcindia.com Economy: Issues in Economic De Dholakia J R 27-Sep-08 356 21 525 0 0 Inclusive growth is a major concern for human development in India with rising inequalities. Despite tremendous growth of economy, failure on distributive front has aggravated the progressive journey towards collective well-being. Inclusive growth has become the buzzword in policy-spheres with recent phenomenon of rapid growth with characteristic patterns of exclusion. The sectoral, social and spatial inequalities have raised questions about welfare approaches of Government planning, and emphasized the role of the private sector in addressing development issues in the country. Employment generation, social and developmental infrastructure, health-care and rural diversification are some of the major suggestions from experts. Due to faulty approaches and often politically motivated policies, growth has generated inequalities. It is imperative for the planners and policy-makers to make growth inclusive through adoption of pragmatic policies. The journey towards balancing the outcome of economic growth involves many challenges. The dominant challenges include the imperative of maintaining the acceleration of economic growth without compromising on human development and sustainability. The book analyses various policy and programming issues about inclusive growth in India. With indepth overview of human development issues surfaced by various researches, the book outlines certain policy issues pertinent to inclusive growth. This book specifically looks at the issue in broader framework of sectoral, social and regional inequalities which form the macro framework for inclusive growth.
22 978-81-314-1529-0 Addressing Health Issues: Role of Participatory Research and Action www.nbcindia.com General Azmal Hussain Nirbachita Karmakar 27-Sep-08 308 19 475 0 0 It is clear for all to see that in the attainment of sustainable growth and development, health plays a crucial role. The question of accessibility of the health benefits by the poor brings to the fore the role of participatory research and action. This book attempts to show how different participatory approaches are useful in improving mass health, and document practices in health intervention through participatory action and research. Approaches like Participatory Action Research (PAR), Community Participation (CP) and Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR) are discussed in possible detail wherever deemed necessary. CBPR is particularly viewed as consistent with the goals of “result-oriented philanthropy” of various national as well as international funding agencies who often become discouraged by the modest or even disappointing results of more traditional research and intervention efforts in many low income communities. Supporters of participatory approaches, however, face challenging issues in the areas of partnership capacity and readiness, time requirements, funding flexibility, evaluation and so on. The book intends to identify strategies for addressing such issues through documentation of desirable practices justifying participation as an important tool for effectively addressing health issues. It is expected to be of use for development professionals, policy planners, public administrators, applied anthropologists, social work professionals and other social scientists.
23 978-81-314-1542-9 Community Investing www.nbcindia.com Economy: World Swapna Gopalan 27-Sep-08 316 19 475 0 0 Community investing refers to financing that creates resources and opportunities for economically disadvantaged people and people under-served by traditional financial institutions. Capital generated through community investing initiatives enable local organizations to generate jobs, fund small businesses, create affordable housing and provide financial and other vital community services to financially disadvantaged people. Community investments are known to make a greater impact in helping communities in need than charitable giving. It is perhaps for this reason that community investing has become an attractive investment option for wealthy individuals, interested in making a social impact, even earn monetary gains. Corporates have also found a good avenue in community investing to fulfil their social missions. Today, community investors are playing a crucial role in alleviating poverty in many countries like the US, the UK, South Africa and India. In fact, community investors have been at the forefront of rehabilitation efforts in the aftermath of the disastrous tsunami, hurricane Katrina and after the war in Afghanistan. This book captures the recent developments in the area of community investing across the globe. It is divided into three sections: the first section titled “Introduction” introduces and explains the concept of ‘Community Investing’, the second section “Experiences” showcases a few country experiences and the third section “Corporate Community Investments” is devoted to studying the progress of corporate community investing initiatives.
24 978-81-314-1545-0 Dubai Economy: Insights www.nbcindia.com Economy: World Radha Krishna G 27-Sep-08 276 18 450 0 0 Dubai, with its geographical location and modernized port facilities, created an advantage in the Asian region. Its resources made it a cynosure for various business propositions of different countries to operate and vie with Dubai economy. The success story of Dubai Inc. can be ascribed to various factors such as Monarch rulers and their vision to see Dubai among top economies of the world. Polity, designed as Federal National Council (FNC), plays a catalytic role in making decisions of policies for creating business opportunities and a platform for Dubai’s economy to progress at a fast pace. The shopping habits and consumption patterns of people from different nations and cultures create different business opportunities to serve these consumer markets. The emerging service sectors such as financial services, banking, stock exchange, insurance and hospitality services, consultancy and advertising are in nascent stage. At present, tourism contributes a major portion to the GDP. Dubai is a benchmark for a successful economy in spite of recent formation as an independent federal state. The Sheikh’s vision of making Dubai ‘first in first’ (FIF), emergence of sectors ranging from infrastructure to port modernization, airport with millions of passengers boarding and alighting, constructing large malls make Dubai a happening economy.
25 978-81-314-1458-3 The Icfai Dictionary Of Business Process Re-engineering Terms www.nbcindia.com BPO Pradeep Kumar 27-Sep-08 268 17 425 0 0 The Icfai Dictionary of Business Process Re-engineering Terms is addressed to students, teachers, practitioners and general readers who want to follow Business Process Re-engineering (BPR)/Business Process Improvement (BPI)/Business Process Management (BPM) discussions in the class and elsewhere, or whose daily work demands some familiarity with terminology of BPR/BPI/BPM. The dictionary also addresses terms from the conceptual level to the advanced level in a precise manner. It aims to provide a comprehensive companion to support other reading in a discipline which employs remarkably similar terminology. It also assists students from the examination point of view. It is quite handy for students and professionals engaged in this area. This dictionary is a guide to the main ideas and teaching connected to the basics of and advances in BPR/BPI/BPM. The book is designed in such a way that it covers the salient facts and features of various points of BPR/BPI/BPM and also explores BPR/BPI/BPM development from technology and business perspectives. More than 2000 entries define and explain clearly the salient facts within the context of Business Process Re-engineering (BPR)/Business Process Improvement (BPI)/Business Process Management (BPM). Its store of up-to-date information is expected to appeal to active managers, teachers and students of information technology and operations.
26 978-81-314-1524-5 Combating Water Borne Diseases : A Global Perspective www.nbcindia.com General Azmal Hussain 27-Sep-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 Water is the most indispensable natural resource in the world for every living being. The entire life-support system is dependent upon this vital resource. it has been observed by scientists that 97.5 percent of water contained by the earth’s hydrosphere is basically saline in nature and hence not usable. Hence, only 2.5 percent is usable fresh water and within this 2.5 percent, 68.7 percent can be available in the form of permanent snow cover and ice caps in the polar and high mountainous regions and therefore, unusable. The remaining 31.3 percent of that tiny 2.5 percent of available fresh water can only be usable. Within this 31.3 percent of usable fresh water 29.9 percent is held by the underground aquifers and the rest 1.4 percent is captured in the lakes, river systems and reservoirs. It is most important to all as it is directly consumed by all living entities. From that point of view, water is particularly related with health. Though drinking water and its health significance is much talked about over the decades, this issue happens to have a weak point of the present regulatory approaches meant for defining the quality of drinking water. There comes the question of provision of safe drinking water. Among them, contamination takes place from synthetic materials, pesticide infiltration, through presence of different by-products resulting from disinfection, elevation of sodium levels from natural resources and so on. It has been pointed out that globally, diarrhoeal diseases account for a considerable share of the total disease burden. At the same time, in about ninety percent cases, this burden is reportedly attributable to the supply of unsafe drinking water coupled with improper sanitation, and poor hygiene. This book is a sincere attempt to demarcate the magnitude of health challenge posed by unsafe drinking water and identify the strategies those are currently underway to minimize the health challenges by ensuring drinking water safety in different ecological settings. The book has been divided into two broad sections. Section I discusses the issues and perspectives related to drinking water and health. The second section discusses the country experiences related to drinking water and health.
27 978-81-314-1533-7 Changing Face Of Footwear Industry www.nbcindia.com General Management Anil Varma 27-Sep-08 248 16.5 425 0 0 Footwear is no longer viewed as a commodity that just offers protection for feet. What was hitherto considered a ‘want’ is today a basic ‘need’. Today, the footwear trade is a vast and dynamic operation involving huge economies of scale. The low-cost countries are gaining foothold in international markets leading developed countries to import and outsource so as to meet their requirements. The footwear product has proliferated into many brands and now caters to the needs of disparate customers. Footwear is something that has always been taken for granted. But today footwear, being considered a ‘need’ is also considered by many to be an ornament or a fashion statement. On the other hand, the major players are getting aggressive on their marketing, expansion and turnaround strategies and also producing innovative products in line with their social obligations. The footwear industry is vast, dynamic and yet rarely noticed. The effort here is to cover the changing face of the commerce of footwear. Emphasis is laid on the fact that the major economies now face a threat from the emerging economies as a location of production for international markets. The ‘low-cost’ countries are now gaining a strong foothold in the international market and the major economies are either importing or outsourcing which leads to the view that strong measures should be adopted against these ‘low-cost’ countries. The marketing, expansion and turnaround strategies used by the major players are significant to help us understand the dynamics of this unnoticed industry.
28 978-81-314-1547-4 Shared Services Management: A Global Perspective www.nbcindia.com Management Padma Srinivasan B 27-Sep-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 The present state of globalization is creating a greater level of economic interdependence than the world has ever seen. The global economic power is now more distributed among the global companies which were once centered in a few industrialized nations. Now, companies are looking to achieve and sustain success in different ways, like serving customers, attracting talent, running operations and driving innovation. Shared Services is a notable option to companies in the new era of globalization. Both the private and public sector organizations are scaling up using the shared services that can deliver efficiencies and improve both effectiveness and the employee or customer experience by regulating, simplifying and merging service position. Shared services often begin with corporate services, e.g., IT, HR, Finance, etc; however, possibilities exist across all operational support and front line services. This book attributes significance to the paradigms in evolving shared service systems across the globe. The MNCs and global organizations are realizing seamless benefits of adopting shared services organizations support to strengthen their non-core activities as well as centralize HR activities. The book focuses on the emerging shared services organizations/centers and their relevance to public and private organizations. The latest method being adopted by the companies to cut the business costs, improve quality and maintain flexibility of products and services is to avail the service of shared service providers. It also emphasizes the key factors which shall be taken into account by companies before adopting services of shared service organizations.
29 978-81-314-1543-6 E-Voting: Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Jaya Krishna S Naveen Kumar Agarwal 27-Sep-08 232 16 400 0 0 From time immemorial, ‘by the people’ in a democratic set-up has been facilitated through a mechanism called ‘Election.’ Electoral process involves ‘voting’ by the eligible electorate and the voting system should facilitate people’s true verdict. Till recent times, ‘paper ballot’ method continued as a widely practised voting system across the world. But in today’s changing political situation, ballot box is no more a valid approach. In view of the limitations of paper ballot method, many countries across the world are exploring the potential of Electronic voting. Today, ‘E-voting’ has emerged as the major driving force of democracy, that has come to the attention of many countries in their movement to reform elections. The book unleashes the concept and potential of ‘e-voting’, while highlighting the growing significance of electronic voting route. Broadly, it covers various country experiences and also highlights the status and overview of E-voting across the world. Keeping in view that E-voting has both potential advantages and associated risks, the book also attempts to look into the negative effects of E-voting. While offering an immense learning value to the academicians, researchers and students of public administration and public policy, this book, it is hoped, will help administrators, bureaucrats, Election Commissions (ECs), Government executives, policy-makers and the society to better understand far-reaching applications and implementation insights of E-voting. Various nations across the world can greatly benefit from the thoughtful insights provided in this book.
30 978-81-314-2060-7 Consolidation in the Banking Industry: Global Perspective www.nbcindia.com Banking Santap Sanhari Mishra 26-Sep-08 300 19 475 0 0 Consolidation of banks is the means for growing economies towards improving the efficiency and reforming the structure of the banking industry in accordance to the contemporary requirements of corporate culture, ownership patterns, profitability and diversifications. Deregulation measures as a result of liberalization and globalization have resulted in increasing competition. This forced the banking industry to go for restructuring and reframing. Profit maximization is the major motivating force for private bank mergers. The rationale of acquisition of weaker banks by the public sector banks lies in increasing efficiency and competitiveness and safeguarding the interests of depositors and other stakeholders. Bank mergers have reduced the number of banks and increased the size of the banks enhancing the volume of business. However mergers should be planned and strategic. Technological and cultural aspects along with human resource management are areas that need to be handled carefully. The book is a modest effort at capturing the essence of this process of consolidation of banks. It explains the circumstances for embracing the policy of consolidation and also highlights the impact on the economy. The book brings into focus some country’s specific cases where consolidation of banks has taken place. The positive and negative impact of bank consolidation in various countries is evaluated and hence various ways for a balanced move are captured in this book.
31 978-81-314-1496-5 Rebranding: Concepts, Cases and Applications www.nbcindia.com Branding Kunal Gaurav 26-Sep-08 260 17 425 0 0 Nowadays, we are living in the epoch of globalization where companies are free to move anywhere across the globe. Competition has become an inevitable part of our life. At the same time, customers’ needs and preferences are changing endlessly and companies are expected to deliver enhanced value to their customers that should be striking, faster and at lower price; otherwise customers can usually find someone else who will do the same. Modern marketers understand very well that the unique brand image can offer sustainable competitive advantage to companies over their competitors operating in the same market with similar products and services. With this backdrop, rebranding has emerged as one of the strong marketing tools that believe in changing corporate identity, logo, punchline and advertising in order to give a fresh image to the companies. The first section of the book is committed to elucidating the concept of rebranding, reasons for rebranding, various mistakes marketers commit at the time of rebranding their companies. Finally, it offers a conceptual framework to help companies make their rebranding victorious. The second section of the book is intended to facilitate the understanding of readers on various issues viz. what, when, why and how of effective rebranding through discussing contemporary applications and cases. This section also highlights as to how companies are rebranding themselves to build and maintain strong and unique brands in order to occupy a specific place in the minds of the stakeholders.
32 978-81-314-1993-9 Containerization – Indian and Global Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Infrastructure Padmanabhan Nair Ramani V V 26-Sep-08 220 17 425 0 0 Containerization is a system of intermodal cargo transport using standard ISO containers that can be loaded on container ships, railroad cars and trucks. It has revolutionized cargo shipping. Today, nearly 90% of non-bulk cargo moves by containers put on transport ships. Containerization is an important cargo-moving technique developed in the 20th century. It has formed an integral part of logistics the world over, India is no exception too. The idea of containerization and its reaping benefits in handling freight transport in both developing and developed economies will help open ways for global trade practices. The major objectives, the successful cases of container ports, products and models of containers, infrastructure, capacity challenges, economic aspects, increased customer value through containerization and the private sector involvement in handling containers will form the outline of the book. The Indian Railway Minister, Shri Lalu Prasad Yadav has taken the initiative for Private-Public Partnership between the Indian Railways and 14 private container train operators to look up various issues because containerization is treated as a sunrise industry. This is aimed at not only increasing the rail share of container traffic but also introducing competition in the intermodal rail freight market leading to service improvements. It also contains enabling provisions to meet the future requirements in terms of infrastructure and technological developments. This book will help the emerging economies in reducing time and costs in freight transport either through rail, road, container ships or planes. It will also help increase the volume of international trade possible and more happening through complex supply chains in India.
33 978-81-314-1534-4 Attrition in IT and IT Enabled Services Sectors: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Anil Varma 26-Sep-08 232 16 400 0 0 In the best of worlds, employees would love their jobs, like their coworkers, work hard for their employers, get paid well for their work, have ample chances for advancement, and flexible schedules, so that they could attend to personal or family needs when necessary, and never leave the company, but then, there s the real world. And in the real world, employees do leave either because they want more money, hate the working conditions, hate their co-workers, want a change, or because their spouses get a dream job in another state. So, what does that entire turnover cost? And what type of employees are likely to have the highest turnover? Who is likely to stay the longest? Attrition is a universal phenomenon and no industry is devoid of it, but the degree fluctuates from industry to industry on the basis of their capacity to manage low attrition rate. Attrition not only affects the quality of service; it also leads to increased expenditure on training and development, thereby affecting the overall organizational performance. Several companies are trying out different ways to manage low attrition rate. Be it an IT sector, or BPO, they are trying out their ways to manage lower rate of attrition by creating a healthy work environment, work-life balance, corporate brand building and so on. Attrition seems to be one of the areas in which HR can make a difference – one that can be measured in quantifiable, financial terms against targets.
34 978-81-314-1530-6 Apparel Industry and Retailing in India: Insights and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Marketing Tripat Kaur Smitha Ramachandran 26-Sep-08 220 15.5 400 0 0 India is a country with diversified customs and cultures; so diverse that Indians differ in their dressing too. Right from the salwaar-kameez to the sari and from lungi to dhoti, our own Indian wear has been vivid and varied. The market of branded garments is growing up. With favorable events like end of multifiber agreement, entry of foreign retailers and textile companies into the country and the growth and acknowledgement of the Indian fashion industry throughout the world, apparel marketing has become one of the interesting and tough jobs in the arena of marketing. The study emphasizes as to how over the last several decades the face of retail and the distribution of apparel have changed dramatically. India ranks among the top target countries for any company sourcing textiles and apparel. Indeed, apart from China, no other country can match the size, spread, depth and competitiveness of the Indian textile and apparel industry. Moreover, with the global elimination of quotas at the end of 2004, entry of foreign retailers and textile companies into the country and the growth and acknowledgement of the Indian fashion industry throughout the world, a thorough study of apparel retailing has become necessary. This book will focus on examining the recent trends of apparel retailing in India, including role of shopping malls, private brands marketing, impact of fashion and movies and other related areas. The book will help readers know about the retail scenario of apparel, the importance of the merchandising philosophy, outlines devising merchandise assortment plans, the atmospherics and visual merchandising and investigation of the promotional process
35 978-81-314-1544-3 Marketing of Insurance Services in India www.nbcindia.com Marketing Radha Krishna G 26-Sep-08 220 15.5 400 0 0 Insurance industry is emerging competitive in the Indian context particularly after floodgates of secured monopoly markets are opened up to private players. Marketing insurance services in the Indian context has become a different ball game altogether as various companies are adopting different marketing strategies and there has been a shift from selling orientation to marketing orientation – agents becoming advisors and relative role shift of seller to marketer. This changed scenario has made the industry adopt different marketing strategies. Customizing the products, pricing, channel strategies as direct selling, E channel, company advisors, company agency channels, cross-selling and Bancassurance are becoming contemporary strategic tools for present Indian insurance scenario. The latest competition among different players such as ICICI Prudential, LIC, AVIVA, TATA AIG, MAX NEWYORK etc., has made the insurance industry move towards better service deliverers. The positioning of themselves with a USP, using advertising as a tool to communicate the same and building brands have become an inevitable marketing exercise in Indian insurance industry. This promotion is a fight not only for market share, but also for mind share. The combination of channel and the promotion has become a dominant strategic tool for Indian insurance companies. India’s liberalized economy has solicited all private players to serve the Insurance market. Now the challenge and success for the insurance marketer lie in exploring the market with a balancing marketing strategy among consumers, competitors and the IRDA.
36 978-81-314-1532-0 Counseling for Different Phases of Life www.nbcindia.com General Sangeetha K Devi R J and Vasuki Mathivanan 26-Sep-08 212 15.5 400 0 0 In the present modern and competitive world, the need for counseling people in various fields for different purposes is on the rise. In the current fast-paced competitive world, technology, globalization and the 24x 7 work-life stress has changed people’s life style – the way one works, communicates and maintains relationships during one’s lifecycle from childhood to old age. The surmounting pressure, turmoil and tension at work and in personal life negatively impact upon the personal efficacy and behavior of the person, which can also be a cause for social stigma. This has made counseling an impeccable tool that renders help to an individual to overcome one’s difficulties and problems; it guides one to overcome the turmoil, maintain relations, and to emerge as an optimistic, confident person. Counseling and guidance that is given to a person for the betterment of his life are child counseling, career counseling, sexual abuse counseling, trauma counseling, marriage counseling etc. An effective counseling helps the counselee understand the holistic nature of life that encompasses psychological, physical and social characteristics. Besides, the success of counseling (by a counselor) lies in bringing about an affirmative behavioral change in the counselee and ensuring that he/she becomes autonomous in solving her/his problem. This has a significant impact upon the person’s behavior, performance and productivity. The benefits reaped by people by investing comparatively less amount of time, money and energy are so significant that it is hardly surprising that counseling is being increasingly sought by a large number of people around the world to save their lives and relations. This book is designed to capture the concept and significance of counseling, the techniques and various types of counseling offered to a person during his/her lifecycle in order to help him/her lead a positive and happier life.
37 978-81-314-2079-9 Demographic Dividend: Concepts and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Economy: Issues in Economic De Rajagopalan S 26-Sep-08 224 15.5 400 0 0 Every society undergoes a ‘demographic transition’, which is characterized by a decline initially in the mortality rates followed by a decline in the fertility rate, albeit after a time-interval. The decline in the mortality and the fertility rates bring about changes in the age-distribution of the population, gradually leading to a bulge in the working-age population (15 – 64 years) for a significant period of time, thus creating an opportunity for higher economic growth. This economic opportunity arising from a large working-age population is referred to as the ‘demographic dividend’. The demographic dividend represents the phase in the demographic transition when the growth rate of the labour force is significantly higher than the overall population growth rate. The dependency ratio, that is, the ratio of the non-working age population to the working age population, is low during the demographic dividend phase. The economic benefits during the demographic dividend phase include increased labour supply, savings and human capital, and therefore, increased resources for investment and welfare. The enhanced economic growth is reflected in the higher per capita income. This book examines the concept of the demographic dividend, and presents experiences of different countries in reaping the demographic dividend.
38 81-314-1385-3 Case Studies on Brand Management www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Menaka Rao Brinda G 26-Sep-08 276 0 0 35 875 Brand Management connotes different meanings to companies and to different people within the company. It could be a technique to maintain or improve market shares, creating awareness, building on the image of a brand or a combination of all the above. Brand Management in actuality is efficiently managing a brand. It is the art of creating and maintaining a product or service by characterizing it with a specific image or personality called a “Brand”. And with more savvy and generic players in the market, companies recognise the importance of strategies. Recognition comes in a variety of ways- like the name, logo or slogan, to get the product registered in the customer’s mind. In a real market scenario, managing a brand has the task of managing the tentacles of the brand extending both to and from the product or service that the brand represents. A few of the tentacles are quality, price, image, uniqueness and so on. Creating a mind space for a brand facilitates a circle of associations and expectations. This has led organisations to invest more of their mind, manpower, money and time in brand building and maintenance. The case studies cascaded in this book comprehend the different brand building and maintenance strategies, like launching, positioning, cannibalisation and extension. The cases featured in the book conceptualise the risks, challenges, prospects and success factors.
39 978-81-314-2074-4 Microfranchising – Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Management Jaya Krishna S Naveen Kumar Agarwal 25-Sep-08 204 15 375 0 0 ‘Microfranchising’ is relatively a new term, currently used to describe income-generating opportunities for the poor through franchising that can be easily replicated. This practice takes the existing products and services and bundles them as stand-alone microfranchises that serve as easily managed business opportunities for citizens of poverty-stricken countries. It involves the principles and practices of traditional business franchising model (where there is a franchisor and a franchisee and the franchisor provides training, marketing and branding that lead to success). The obvious distinction is that microfranchising model works on a ‘no-profit’ motto with an intention to provide economic self-reliance to the poor. The impetus behind the idea of “Microfranchising” is to provide sound business opportunities and services to the poor by introducing scaled-down business concepts found in successful franchise organizations. With the awarding of the 2006 Nobel Prize for Peace to Professor Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank, Bangladesh, for their efforts to create economic and social development from below, attention has increased on this remarkable concept around the world. This book, while introducing ‘microfranchising’, focuses on its concepts, significance, applications and perspectives. It presents the overview and status of microfranchising across the world and further includes the experiences of social institutions and corporates across different regions/countries. The book is targeted at various interest groups, including international and national non-governmental organizations/ agencies, corporate houses, individual entrepreneurs and social consultants. Researchers, academicians, policymakers, institutions and organizations involved in poverty reduction globally can also be benefited with the insights provided in this book.
40 978-81-314-1502-3 Social Innovations – Concepts and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Society and Development Sujatha B 24-Sep-08 376 22 550 0 0 Social innovations are new responses or new solutions to social and economic problems. Social innovation as a concept has figured in the writings of several reformers from the 19th century such as Robert Owen, Karl Marx and Max Weber. However, it gained prominence only in the 20th century and was part of the discussions of eminent personalities like Peter Drucker and Michael Young. It has further grown to become a sustainability tool in the 21st century, blending with corporate activity. Companies are increasingly investing in social intent to reach new client groups. It is also supported by growing academic interest in the subject. This book on social innovations is about new ideas that have worked in rendering economic and social justice, with a large-scale impact, bringing about sustainable changes in society. The book endeavors to signify the need for catalyzing social change, trace how new ways of thinking have led to a great social change, identify and analyze the role of social enterprises and the non-profit sector in bringing about social inclusion and cohesion. Mahatma Gandhi said: “You must be the change you wish to see in the world.” This book underlines the theme of the quotation, and reaffirms that a change in cultural consciousness from one of unmet needs and inability to a proactive culture of contribution and participation has the power to make the world a better place.
41 978-81-314-1511-5 Co-operative Banking – Indian and Global Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Banking Ramakumar T N 24-Sep-08 288 18 450 0 0 “If co-operation fails there will fail the best hope of rural India”- Royal Commission on Agriculture in India 1928 These brave words uttered almost eight decades ago still carry a prophetic ring. So much so that when the Vaidyanathan Committee, which studied this problem of rural credit, said rural credit was skewed in favor of the rural rich and this observation was reinforced by many other such studies, the Reserve Bank of India had to think of reinventing the institution of village money lender by lending him a measure of legitimacy. India has a chequered history of co-operative movement and this book is a journey into this exciting area of banking which accounts in volume for about a tenth of Indian banking. It tries to look at the genesis of the co-operative bank movement and its typical operational problems as perceived by practitioners, academicians and regulators. Co-operative bank failures have been a recurring problem in the 1990s and these problems are discussed and solutions offered in this book. Various studies as well as the economic history of co-operative banking in Canada and a host of European nations also prove that given the will, co-operative banking can be resilient, vibrant and yet fulfilling their historical role. Their unique contributions to green finance, triple bottomline financing, sustainable development, community development and SME financing are all captured in this book. The book leaves the reader wondering if Indian Co-operative banks can be made equally vibrant.
42 978-81-314-2027-0 Marketing to Children : Issues and Concerns www.nbcindia.com Marketing Amitabha Ghose Mookherjee S N 24-Sep-08 252 17 425 0 0 In the present era of consumerism and continuous fight for market shares, an ever growing number of business organizations are indulging in overt and covert child-directed marketing activities, in myriad ways, to get higher and higher levels of children attention. In what is known today as ‘the commercialization of childhood’, children are getting coaxed than ever before in shopping, product placement, media, celebrity, brand and other consumer practices. At the core of all these attempts is children’s growing role as both independent consumers and influencers in family buying decisions. The situation is not vastly different in developing countries such as India. Such rampant and indiscriminate marketing efforts to influence the tender minds at their early ages have raised serious concerns at various quarters. Different voluntary and self-regulatory mechanisms should be adopted to reorient the marketing practices to reach a holistic solution to build a generation of healthy and well-informed future citizens of the world. This book discusses current marketing practices and their impact on various overt and covert marketing programs that have targeted children. The fact that marketing exploits children’s developmental vulnerabilities is highlighted. This book also draws attention to the regulations and solutions adopted by the marketers in the face of mounting criticism and help readers to form well-informed viewpoints on a contemporary issue, which affects various segments of business and also the ethical issues involved, to help the marketers.
43 978-81-314-2089-8 Telemedicine: Concepts and Applications www.nbcindia.com General Management Michael Vimal Pillai 24-Sep-08 252 17 425 0 0 Telemedicine is the use of information technologies and electronic communications to provide clinical services when participants are based at different locations. Telemedicine involves the amalgamation of computer and telecommunication technology with medical knowledge and makes it possible to transfer information for providing diagnostic and consulting services to patients who are based at different locations from their physicians. Telemedicine enables the provisions of healthcare to remote areas throughout the world. It enables health professionals to examine patients by viewing their medical images and records that have been electronically transmitted from one location to another. The application of telemedicine has extended to a variety of medical specialties such as dermatology, surgery, psychiatry, pediatrics and many other areas. Telemedicine enables doctors to diagnose and monitor their patients from remote locations. Apart from establishing communication with their patients, who may be located at far-off places, telemedicine enables doctors to assess patients’ health status for the necessary care and treatment. Remote consultations and home monitoring are two major approaches of telemedicine. The book contains two sections. The first section includes articles on the concept of telemedicine and various aspects relevant to it. The second section comprises articles on some applications and experiences of telemedicine.
44 978-81-314-2077-5 Asset Liability Management-Contemporary Perspectives and Practices www.nbcindia.com Finance Sohani AK Nageswara Rao Katuri 24-Sep-08 232 16 400 0 0 Several financial institutions have realized that to gain competitive advantage they have to resort to better management practices. Financial institutions, facing newer challenges and regulators throughout the world, are adopting and prescribing more stringent rules and procedures than before. There are macro-level shifts such as changes in consumer dynamics, change in and workforce demographics and advances in technology that threaten to make whole business models obsolete. And added to it are the everyday micro-level dynamics of industry and market forces operations which organizations need a look to gain market share. Facing increasing competitive pressures, they need to innovate and adapt to the new changing scenario. New or differentiated products and services are being offered to deliver the expected growth. ALM as a tool of management is one such mechanism to stay in business; financial institutions today are facing challenges not only from competitors but also from their stakeholders. In order to compete with rivals, institutions need market intervention, remaining competitive. Market intervention is not only for their survival but also to know the latest practices and procedures. A new insight into(ALM) brings out new thought process in management and therefore, this book can act as ready reference on the subject. Hence, this book about ALM and the latest insights can be a potential knowledge resource for the practitioners. The book confines not only to the introductory insights, but also, at large, takes through various contemporary issues on the subject to the prospective readers while throwing light on the related and emerging practices.
45 978-81-314-2078-2 ICT in Rural India: e-Governance www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Meetali Saxena 24-Sep-08 224 15.5 400 0 0 E-Governance as a concept defines and assesses the impact of technologies on the practices and administration of governments and the relationships between public servants and society. E-government solutions have the ability to reduce the costs of providing government solutions while also improving their quality and extending their reach. E-governance in rural India is a major focus area as it can steer India towards an inclusive growth. Effective governance is now synonymous with E-Governance. It is the use of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) that enables better communication and interaction between various dimensions of governmental operations vis-à-vis citizens, business and within different government agencies, and provides better services. This book explores how e-governance initiatives of Government of India transformed the rural masses. The changing face of Rural India with the help of application of Information technology is brought out. The open and transparent approach of government is easily understood by its people. The e-governance not only focuses on the governance but also on the improved and efficient public services and the management of right information. The book focuses on the implementation and benefits of e-governance for the rural sector. It looks at the different initiatives taken by various state and central governments across the country. It also focuses on offering insights into the challenges faced in the implementation and measures for sustenance and enhancement of these e-governance projects.
46 978-81-314-2095-9 Ethnomedicine: Global Perspectives www.nbcindia.com General Azmal Hussain 24-Sep-08 216 15.5 400 0 0 Ethnomedicine encompasses the aspects of anthropology, sociology, biology and medicine, and is embraced by a cultural, sectoral or regional frame. Primarily it deals with the study and practice of traditional medicines, not only the written sources. In countries where the leading health care system is based on allopathic medicine, or where traditional medicine (TM) has not been incorporated into the national health care system, TM is often termed “complementary”, “alternative” or “non-conventional” medicine. Against this backdrop, the present book has been conceived with the objective of providing a practical know-how of the global perspectives in Ethnomedicine. The focus of this book is the perception and context of use of traditional medicines, and their main aspects of interest, according to the countries or regions where they originate from and are being practiced. Traditional systems of treatment, based on medicinal plants, are playing an important role in providing health care to a large section of population, especially in the developing countries. Interest in them and utilization of herbal products based on them are increasing in developed countries also. To obtain optimum benefit and to understand the way these systems function, it is necessary to have a minimum basic information on their different aspects. The book is expected to be of use for development professionals, especially those dealing with the development issues pertinent to indigenous communities, over and above healthcare administrators, researchers including economists, applied anthropologists and other social scientists.
47 978-81-314-1507-8 Rural Tourism www.nbcindia.com General Subir Ghosh 24-Sep-08 208 15 375 0 0 Throughout the world the rural economies are facing economic crisis. Since 1990s, with the transformation in the socio-economic culture through globalization, various countries in the world experienced decollectivisation, privatization, and reestablishment of free market economy in their rural territories. As a result, the global economy and other factors have negatively affected the viability of traditionally rural activities such as mining, forestry, agriculture, and manufacturing. In response, many rural towns have turned to the service sector, investing in retirement, recreation, and leisure industries. Almost all rural societies in the world are suffering from economic crisis. Challenges facing in rural areas are numerous and have interconnected nature. Ageing, depopulation, decline in agricultural employment are just few to mention. So, the promise of a reinvigorated economy through tourism is certainly a strong lure to come across the economic slump faced by the rural communities throughout the world. Tourism, in particular, is often proposed as a relatively benign development strategy that can offer rural regions a new foothold in the broader economy. Therefore, rural tourism is considered one of the activities to be supported to ensure rural development. It can develop a win-win situation among rural communities. Rural tourism is experience oriented and location specific and solely dependent upon natural environment. With this background, this book tries to highlight the improvement of living standard of rural masses through the provision of tourism facilities. The experiences of rural tourism in multifarious country perspectives have also been focused in this book.
48 978-81-314-1971-7 Case studies on Corporate Transformation & Turnaround Strategies - Managing in Difficult Times www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Harish R 24-Sep-08 328 0 0 40 1000 “Difficult and hostile external environmental circumstances, as well as internal weaknesses and failures some times tend to push companies into adverse situations. Even the largest, the most well-established and world renowned corporate giants are not immune to this. However, those which can garner the necessary resources and managerial capabilities manage to come out of the dumps, through appropriate and effective response to the situation on hand. The process by which such reversal of fortunes is achieved is referred to as – corporate transformation and turnaround, which forms the common thread that links the cases included in this book.
Corporate Transformation can be defined as a strategy by which a company manages under difficult circumstances, often through business or financial restructuring. This action may be prompted by challenging conditions posed by external and internal environments. Turnaround Management is the process of moving from deterioration in performance to enduring success. However, there are also situations when companies do not succeed in emerging out of their difficulties, in spite of diligent efforts.
This book provides a powerful compendium of sixteen cases on corporate transformation and turnaround strategies from diverse industries and business environments, so as to facilitate a clear understanding of the subject through real life examples. The cases narrate the struggles and tribulations faced by globally renowned, successful corporate giants such as Volkswagen, Sony, Gucci, Levi Strauss, Du Pont, Motorola, Ford, Coca-Cola and Wal-Mart among others, and would be of particular help in supporting the study of Business Strategy, as part of the management curriculum.
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49 978-81-314-1485-9 Case Studies on Collaboration www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Devi Rajnikanth 24-Sep-08 128 0 0 40 1000 “Collaboration is the new competitive edge. It’s no longer a choice. Rather, it’s now or never. It’s an operational necessity in industry after industry. The reasons are not rocket science. It’s all about resources. Many organisations in today’s global world are unable to compete with their own resources and they look for other alternatives to manage the competition. When you can’t beat them, join them!
The corporate world is replete with illustrious examples of collaboration. Competitors are turning into collaborators. When viewed with business logic, companies benefit immensely from fruitful collaboration. Andrew Carnegie said, “Teamwork is the ability to work together toward a common vision; the ability to direct individual accomplishment toward organisational objectives. It is the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results.” Why should companies collaborate? When to collaborate? What precautions to be taken while venturing into a collaborative arrangement? In what kind of industries and at what stage of the industry life cycle, is collaboration desirable and meaningful?
The articles, interviews and case studies included in this book address these very issues. Covering a wide area of the collaboration canvas, this book would be of great help for you to become an effective collaborator.
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50 978-81-314-2050-8 Case Studies on India Inc. : The Competitiveness www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection K Ramanathan 24-Sep-08 240 0 0 50 1250 “The opening of Indian economy in the early 1990s not only made many multinational companies enter the Indian soil but also had many Indian companies explore the global opportunities. Today, apart from posing a tough competition to the multinational companies within the domestic boundary, the Indian companies are proving their feat in the international arena too.
Indian companies which were once considered by the multinationals as a boon for low cost production, have advanced in the learning curve. Indian companies are highly innovative. At the global level, many breakthrough innovations – ranging from automobiles to pharmaceuticals – are from the Indian companies. Besides, many Indian companies are making their presence felt in mergers and acquisitions at the global level. Many multinational giants are acquired by the Indian companies leading to cross-pollination of skill and giving access to larger economy of scale.
This book recounts the journey of many Indian companies that are soaring high in the global arena. It reflects the confidence of the Indian companies and their ability to compete with the global giants.
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51 978-81-314-2002-7 Joint Forest Management: Issues and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Management Meenu Bhatnagar 20-Sep-08 232 16 400 0 0 Joint Forest Management is one of the most important initiatives for protection and regeneration of forests in India. It involves a partnership with the local forest-dependent communities based on mutual sharing of benefits accruing from the forests. It focuses on the decentralized approach of participatory forest management based on the principle of ‘Care and Share’. It supports the socio-economic development of tribals and other forest-dependent communities. The book covers Joint Forest Management and its relevance, challenges, performance, emerging practices and state experiences. It highlights the concept of JFM being used for conservation, sustenance and regeneration of degenerated forest resources. It examines the National Forest Policy and guidelines for Joint Forest Management. It gives details about benefit-sharing and livelihood generation issues of the forest-dependent population. The role of institutions, communities and NGOs in organizing and implementing JFM has been discussed across different states. The book would prove immensely useful for scholars, researchers of forest management, policymakers, planners, Government agencies, NGOs, journalists and general readers interested in the conservation and regeneration of India’s forest wealth. It is hoped that the articles would provide an in-depth understanding of Joint Forest Management, leading to better implementation and success of the programme.
52 978-81-314-1429-3 Total Quality Management – Contemporary Perspectives and Cases www.nbcindia.com Management Rajmanohar T P 19-Sep-08 308 19 475 0 0 Total Quality Management (TQM) the world over is a management philosophy which is increasingly being adopted by companies. TQM ensures that the customer’s requirements are satisfied. A number of western thinkers, including Deming and Juran, were responsible for developing it. During the 1960s, a number of Japanese companies adopted TQM and got a competitive edge over western companies. By the 1980s, some Indian companies had adopted TQM philosophy and a number of Indian companies won the Deming award. Initially, most companies used total quality control to implement TQM. These included hard tools like statistical process control, Pareto analysis, histograms and fishbone diagram. However, this has changed and a lot of companies are using concepts based on soft tools. Some of the newer tools used include total employee involvement, continuous improvement, teamwork and empowerment. In India, among the critical success factors for successfully implementing TQM are customer focus, process management, training, top management leadership, quality planning, supplier management, employee management and information availability and usage. Adoption of TQM by companies will enable them to become more competitive. As world trade becomes globalized, only the most competitive companies will be able to survive. Hence, adoption of TQM will enable a company to increase its market share. Currently, TQM has been adopted by most of the major Japanese and Korean companies.
53 978-81-314-1510-8 Brand Building: New Dimensions www.nbcindia.com Brand Management Bala Krishna A V 19-Sep-08 324 19 475 0 0 Brand building embodies well-defined positioning and repositioning strategies. The current changing competitive landscape is witnessing intense brand-building campaigns undertaken by the corporate world. The proliferating competition coupled with fragmenting markets and media are making it difficult for corporates to brand without innovating. Advertising, sales promotion, publicity, celebrity endorsements, sponsorships, events, corporate social responsibility, cause-related marketing and charities are increasingly used by the corporate world to build and reinforce their brands. While advertising has always occupied a prominent position in brand-building efforts of the corporate world, Corporate Social Responsibility and Cause-Related Marketing and below-the-line advertising methods have gained new prominence. The advent of Internet and Web technologies have revolutionized the brand-building activities of many companies. Many corporates are emphasizing on building and reinforcing identities based on deep-rooted customer relationships. Many brand-building campaigns are also moving beyond functional benefits and are focusing on emotional benefits. Drawing from the experiences of an entire gamut of corporate world, the book focuses on approaches, applications and case studies.
54 978-81-314-1411-8 Microsoft Way: A Growth Strategy www.nbcindia.com Business Strategy Kalai Selvan N 19-Sep-08 292 18 450 0 0 With a unique operating system and software solution, Microsoft has created a big revolution in the software industry. Microsoft has invented Microsoft Window allowing the company to gain market share. Today, Bill Gates has become the role model for many entrepreneurs across the world for his leadership and entrepreneurial skills. Under Gates’ leadership, Microsoft s mission has been to continually advance and improve software technology, and to make it easier, more cost-effective and more enjoyable for people to use computers. Microsoft’s business strategy has mainly focused on development of a broad line of software products for information technology (IT) professionals, knowledge workers, developers and consumers, marketed through multiple channels of distribution. Microsoft also involves various business activities, including licensing consumer software programs, selling hardware devices, providing consulting services and researches, and develops advanced technologies for future software products. Microsoft was attempting integrating everything from software to hardware to services in a particular market with the expansion into various new businesses like video gaming and music industry. After experiencing the video game industry, Microsoft wanted to leverage its competencies and resources in the portable music industry. Microsoft has footholds in other markets besides operating systems and office suites, with assets such as the MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia. The company also markets both computer hardware products such as the Microsoft mouse and home entertainment products such as the Xbox, Xbox 360, Zune and MSN TV. The book highlights the Microsoft evolution, various business strategies successfully implemented by Microsoft & issues and challenges on the road to success.
55 978-81-314-2070-6 Flexible Working – Concepts and Practices www.nbcindia.com General Management Sujatha B 19-Sep-08 272 17 425 0 0 “Adopting sound Equal Opportunity and flexible work policies are more than just a wise move, it is critical, especially for large professional organizations who wish to attract and retain the best people.” … John Colvin, CEO, Blake Dawson Waldron One of the modern revolutions that has transformed workplaces and the way we work is ‘Flexible Working’. Flexible Working is a comprehensive term that includes various non-traditional work practices brought about by changes in the nature of employment and development in technology. These practices have added variety and flexibility to working arrangements in the form of flexi-time; part-time work, job sharing, fixed-term contracts, subcontracting, and career/employment break schemes. Flexibility at work is a major tool in enhancing economic performance by improving productivity, increasing job satisfaction and competitiveness. Employees value flexible work option as one of the best perks to come their way. Companies are amending their HR policies to offer various flexi-work options in a bid to attract and retain the best of talents. Interestingly, what began as a concession aimed at wooing the women workforce is now attracting a lot of men. This book will briefly relate what is flexible working and the reasons for introducing new ways of working. It discusses the components of flexible working and various flexible work tools and assesses the various flexible work options. It identifies the challenges and issues in implementing flexible working practices. It also draws examples of flexible working arrangements and policies followed in universities, organizations, supermarkets, etc. Thus it highlights how the work environment is getting transformed and how flexibility is becoming the defining dimension in determining the employer of choice.
56 978-81-314-1910-6 Case Studies on Corporate Transformation www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Priti Krishnan 19-Sep-08 208 0 0 25 625 “Corporate transformation echoes in our ears the word – ‘problem’. Whenever a company is transformed, it must have been to resolve a problem. But is it so? Many companies in the past were transformed as it was the need of the hour. However, as troubled businesses are multiplying by the day, reinvention has become the norm. To stay on the top and grow further, companies have to constantly improve ways to run the show, be it strategic, operational, organisational or financial. However, how easy is it to transform a company that has been running in a particular way for years? History records many corporates that have been victims of failed transformations. If resistance from employees is common, costs involved in restructuring are also sometimes humongous. Experience suggests that successful transformation requires long term rather than quick fix solutions and a sensible vision. Above all, successful transformation calls for a leader who can indentify the key problems, strengths, weaknesses and resources of the company. It requires a leader who knows the science and art of corporate transformation.
In this book, fourteen case studies reveal the art of corporate transformation. The book especially focuses on the cultural challenges that corporates face while restructuring. Providing a short theoretical framework, this book provides insights on how companies have successfully repositioned themselves amidst problems and obstacles. Corporate transformation is a must read for all those executives desiring and managing transformations.
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57 978-81-314-2045-4 Case Studies on Retailing Industry – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Sushma T 19-Sep-08 280 0 0 50 1250 “Since 1990s, the global retail industry was padded by radical changes – mainly because of the transforming global economy and changing consumer behaviour. New retail formats and offerings were invented, upsetting traditional retailing. As the wealthiest markets saturated, retailers foraged for new growth zones. So, there was consolidation and in turn globalisation – two things that continue to define and shape the global retail industry.
With a huge customer base and vast untapped potential in the developing markets, these retailers started foraying into these markets. Flexibility, detailed analysis of its consumer base, getting the right retail format and product mix are the key success factors for the retailers in these markets. Some retailers imported their traditional business model while others customised it to suit the local environment. And for their saturated home markets, they identified innovation as the key differentiator.
But retailers, in the coming years, would have to tackle an altogether different setting where there would be limited growth opportunities and more demanding consumers. This book compiles case studies that help us understand how retail industry is evolving, the challenges it is facing and how the retailers are addressing these issues.
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58 978-81-314-1986-1 The Agronomy and The Economy of Cardamom:The Queen of Spices www.nbcindia.com Agriculture Prabhakaran Nair K P 16-Sep-08 404 23 575 25.5 650 The Agronomy and Economy of Cardamom – The “Queen of Spices” Cardamom, popularly known as the “Queen of Spices”, has a checkered history, dating back to the Vedic times (ca. 3000 BC) and is among the ingredients poured into the sacrificial fire during the Hindu marriage. Today, cardamom commands a leading position among the spices of immense commercial importance and is finding its way into the dietary habits of millions around the world, even among people in the European and the North American continents. As a spice of global importance, it comes next to Black pepper, which is known as “The King of Spices”. The book is a unique compilation of several aspects relating to cardamom production, cardamom plantation establishment and management, processing, world markets, its industrial uses, its medicinal value etc with the latest researched data. In short, the fifteen chapters, which are catalogued in the book are the A to Z of cardamom and would be an invaluable resource book to students of agriculture, entrepreneurs planning to go into cardamom production and its related value-added products, economists, policy planners in the ministries of agriculture and commerce, and end users across the world.
59 978-81-314-2090-4 Clinical Research Environment In INDIA www.nbcindia.com IT Umakanta Sahoo Faiz Kermani 16-Sep-08 280 20 500 22.5 575 This Book “Clinical Research Environment in India” is an eye opener for those who are new in this business as it gives an understanding of the key business segments and discusses key factors in the environment surrounding the business. In today’s scenario, there are many entrepreneurs who are looking at venturing into this business and they are unaware of the status of clinical trials conducted in India, the regulatory environment, the competitors in the market, and other support service providers in the country. This book will help them understand the logistics of the clinical research business in India. It will also help the practicing entry level professionals such as monitors, Clinical Research Associates, medical research associates and data entry associates to gain an overall insight into the clinical research industry, which will facilitate their career growth. This book can be a student’s guide and a trainers’ reference book in the classroom and teaching set-up. It will be of benefit for those wanting to hone their knowledge and skills in clinical research. This book is likely to be of interest to: 1.Corporate pharmaceutical companies and medical colleges/hospitals conducting clinical research, both in the private and the public sectors 2.Academics 3.Students and Researchers in clinical research 4.Students pursuing pharmaceutical management and hospital management courses 5.Persons working in regulatory bodies in Government both at state and central levels 6.Non Government organisations dealing with experimental studies in India This book should be an asset to those working in pharmaceutical, CRO, biotechnology, device, and study site and SMO organisations.
60 978-81-314-1501-6 Changing Dynamics of Human Relationships in Workplaces www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Laurainne Theogaraj 16-Sep-08 252 17 425 0 0 People need people. Such is the human condition. And yet, there are workplaces where employers are concerned only about the bottom line and not about their employees, where employees are in conflict with their peers, where inequity, politics and disengagement make the workplace a toxic space to be in. If the underlying assumption is that business is only a matter of making profit, then what about the value of work relationships? The book briefly dwells upon the evolution of human relations approach to management and how highly successful companies have discovered the human side of their enterprise. They see the value of making relationships the new bottom line. Positive, caring and respectful relationships translate to performance and productivity. In the 21st century workplace with its emphasis on teams, flexibility, workforce diversity, virtual teams and business competition, stress, conflict and problems in relationships are inevitable. How can corporate leaders and managements create an organizational climate that nurtures human relationships as the foundation for business success? Skill in handling human relationships will greatly influence one’s success in satisfying personal needs and achieving organizational goals. The aim of the book is to create an awareness of the very foundations upon which human relationships are built. This is the starting point to developing relationship skills. In this regard, the book explores the dynamic interplay among psychological and social dimensions such as personality, perception, emotions, groups, communication etc. that underlie relationships, and highlights the key ingredients of the human relationships recipe, viz. emotional, social and spiritual intelligence as well as trust, sensitivity and empathy in communications which form the bedrock of positive human relationships. The topic is not just contemporary in nature but transcends time and cuts across all borders. It would be of immense relevance as it deals with concepts that offer value for individual and organizational success at all times and in all settings.
61 978-81-314-2091-1 Social Networking – Trends and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Management Sangeetha K 16-Sep-08 228 16 400 0 0 Social networking is a concept that is based on shared learning through mutual support, exchange and advice. It helps an individual find new opportunities and be distinct; this is more so for young business entrepreneurs for whom establishing and amplifying their contact base globally is of prime importance for a winning future. The rapidly changing scenario of social networks for seeking and building relationships and the gamut of technological inventions have changed the scenes of people in collaboration and community formation. It has been overwhelmingly used by people as a medium of communication where networking relationships and membership are sought from likeminded people around the globe for various reasons – to maintain contact with their friends, colleagues or with anyone to be connected globally, for sharing information, to build online communities and to have a discussion of matters of general concern. Now, with new inventions in mobile technology, the future of social networking is moving towards mobile social networking. Such being the benefits sought, its increased usage among teenagers, business entrepreneurs and also academicians does not come as a surprise. An effective ongoing social networking process positively yields huge returns for the time and energy that is invested in the networking process. The net workers’ base can further be increased on properly addressing the networking issues of security, privacy and online identity. In a nutshell, social networking enables one to find and retrieve anything from lost friends to finding your soul mates or your business partners; to get referrals and be connected with people with whom you like or love to have an enduring relationship for personal or business reasons. This book is designed to capture the significance of social networking and its benefit and to analyze various tools and strategies for building and maintaining network for social and business reasons.
62 978-81-314-1423-1 Issues in National and International Agriculture www.nbcindia.com Agriculture Prabhakaran Nair K P 16-Sep-08 216 15.5 400 18 450 The 47 articles of the book cover a range of topics from food crisis, wheat import, global warming, R&D in agriculture and GM technology, with specific reference to Bt Cotton, Bt Rice and Bt Brinjal. Indian agriculture is at a cross-road. The most worrying aspect is the crisis on the food front. Post reform period food grains production has plummeted to 1.6 per cent per annum, while population growth is now at 1.9 per cent per annum, which has clearly set in the “Malthusian Phenomenon” of population growth outstripping food production growth. The author, through his writings, which have been captured in this book, has been warning the nation on the impending food crisis. The wheat import for the second year in succession vindicates his warning. Industrial agriculture, euphemistically called the “green revolution”, though produced food in plenty in the initial phase of its launch, has run into a road block with irremediable problems on the soil front. Degraded soils, drying aquifers and vanishing bio diversity due to continuous monoculture of rice-wheat, have all been too big a price to pay. The GM technology is no panacea for the ills of Indian agriculture. Instead of “targeting” the farmer through a “package of practices” which the agricultural fraternity develops on the experiment stations, which is nothing but an artefact, and which is relied upon since decades, the farmer has to be at the center of developing any innovative system of cropping. As clearly pointed out in the latest report by the Economic Advisory Council to the Prime Minister, “Economic Outlook for 2007-08”, which puts India in poor light compared to China, the “traditional excuses” for India’s “sub standard performance in the farm sector”, are not only “tired”, but “inadequate”. The book is a critical analysis of where India’s agriculture went wrong and where it ought to go from now on.
63 978-81-314-2028-7 National Happiness-Thinking Beyond Gdp www.nbcindia.com Economy Ravikant S Wawge 16-Sep-08 208 15 375 0 0 GDP and GNP are some of the standard economic measures widely used all over the world. However, the emerging scenario has compelled economists and policymakers to think beyond GDP and other well-established quantitative measures. An obvious question comes to our mind: What is the ultimate goal of human life? Everyone wants to be happy, and happiness is certainly a missing factor in the economic measures like GDP and GNP. These well established economic measures are unable to define the level of happiness we attain through our economic growth and development. Thus, there is a need to have an alternative measure of our economic activities. Many measures have been taken by various organizations in this regard. But a tiny kingdom, Bhutan, has come up with a more holistic approach called “Gross National Happiness” (GNH). Bhutan is following economic policies based on the philosophies enshrined in Buddhist culture. This trend has led its people towards holistic well-being. In 1972, His Majesty the King of Bhutan conceptualized the idea of GNH as an alternative to GDP. Earlier, Bhutan was not open to discuss its initiative, but as the concept has begun delivering the desired results, Bhutan wants to make this a global movement. Bhutan’s experiment with this concept has invited the attention of the world to this small kingdom. This book is an attempt to understand Bhutan’s initiatives, and it critically examines the concept of Gross National Happiness in light of the current global scenario and developments.
64 978-81-314-2058-4 The Icfai Dictionary of Human Resource Management Terms www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Pradeep Kumar Anupama D Raina 6-Sep-08 360 21 525 0 0 “The Icfai Dictionary of Human Resource Management Terms is addressed to students, teachers, practitioners and general readers who want to follow HRM discussions in the class and elsewhere, or whose daily work demands some familiarity with terminology of Human Resource Management, HRM and its related subjects, Development of HRM, HR Implementation, HRM Market Place, Strategic Human Resource Management, International HRM, HRM Present and future and Emerging Trends in HRM etc. The dictionary also addresses terms from the conceptual level to the advanced level in a precise manner. It aims to provide a comprehensive companion to support other reading in a discipline, which employs remarkably similar terminology.
This dictionary is a guide to the main ideas and teaching connected to the basics of and advances in HRM. The book is designed in such a way that it will cover the salient facts and features of various points of HRM and, also explore HRM development from business perspective. Around 3400 entries define and explain clearly the salient facts within the context of Human Resource Management. Its store of up-to-date information will certainly appeal to active managers, teachers and students of General Management.
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65 978-81-314-2009-6 Migration – Health – Linkage: Emerging Issues www.nbcindia.com Anthropology Azmal Hussain 6-Sep-08 284 18 450 0 0 In the present-day world, migrants and other mobile individuals like migrant workers, asylum seekers etc. form an ever-expanding global population with growing socio-demographic as well as political importance. Disparities are found very often between a migrant population s place of origin and its destination, especially with relation to health determinants. The effects of such disparities are observable at individual as well as population levels. Epidemiology of certain diseases is amply influenced by migration, both globally and in nations receiving migrants. Though the outcomes may vary with specific morbidities peculiar to certain migrant groups and their geographical origin and distribution, general epidemiological principles may have a much wider applicability. Another issue that very often faces the present-day world is the mobility of health professionals across different geographical locations thereby exerting influence on human health and allied aspects. The book is expected to provide an overview of the above issues having relevance to the contemporary global demographic dynamics. It is a serious attempt to elucidate the issue of population mobility with the focus on migration-health interaction, which has been accommodating a range of sub-themes such as theoretical issues in migration-induced health outcomes, migration of health professionals and the corresponding health policy implications and development of program strategies linking migration and health, particularly migration and HIV/AIDS.
66 978-81-314-2072-0 HR In Knowledge Era www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Devi R J 6-Sep-08 276 18 450 0 0 Knowledge, Knowledge workers and Knowledge Management have created a lot of interest among the corporate leaders in the recent past. The changes in the present industrial scenario with increased emphasis on knowledge management have resulted in significant shifts in the working environment and HR policies pursued by organizations. The primary focus of Human Resources Management is to match the job profile with the skill set of people in order to achieve the organization’s goals. There is understandably a considerable overlap between human resources and knowledge management, since knowledge creation is a human activity and managing humans is a HR activity. Knowledge Management and Human Resources Management initiatives are focused on harnessing the available knowledge assets and to prevent knowledge from walking out of the door. Hence, there is a need for integration between the Knowledge Management initiatives and the HR policies of the organization. The function of the HR department is to select and recruit individuals who would subscribe to the culture of sharing information and knowledge dissemination. An Organization’s HR policies and practices must be aligned to fortify the Knowledge Management practices to maximize the organization’s intellectual asset. HRM should provide a platform for the employees to realize the “Ultimate Experience” by transforming all their tacit knowledge into explicit knowledge through educating them and building their skills and competencies.
67 978-81-314-2098-0 Central banks – Roles, Functions and Challenges www.nbcindia.com Finance Ravi Kumar Jain B Sohani AK 6-Sep-08 296 18 450 0 0 Central banking system (of any country) has an indelible impact on the micro and macro economy factors of a country. The strategies implemented by central banks form the basis for analyzing the significant contributors of economic welfare. It ensures smooth functioning of the economy by protecting the economic interest of a country. As an apex institution a central bank is responsible for streamlining the flows of capital, trade, investment and currencies across GDPs (Gross Domestic Products) and broad moneys and establishing a balance among these factors, which largely influence economic prosperity of a country. On the whole, a country’s economic system is largely dependent on the functioning of its central banking system. Central bank performs several functions – as a regulator, as a facilitator, as an advisor and so on. It is important to understand the nature and objectives of a nation’s apex financial institution and its contribution to the welfare of nation. This book is significant in its contribution as it proposes to offer insights into the importance of a central banking as a concept, the significance of central bank and various roles that it performs, issues and challenges it addresses in furthering national economic objectives. This book brings out various issues and challenges that a central bank (of any country) faces while delivering its functions, especially in the changing business and economic environment. The objective of the book is to make the reader understand the need and importance of central banking in an economic system.
68 978-81-314-2026-3 Common Property Resources: Concepts and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Books Sridhar Krishna Sumitra Acharya 6-Sep-08 272 17 425 0 0 Property has become the most longed possession one would dream of. The property regime has passed through open access system to that of highly controlled access/ownership system. The possession and ownership of property varies from place to place depending upon its nature. That which is used collectively by a community gets the identity of common property. It could be the river, pond, well, forest, land etc. Such properties cannot be exclusively owned by any individual or even by State. State can only be the trustee of those properties, but not the owner. Community-used property remains part and parcel of theirs and any development may not result in privatizing these resources. In the present era, apart from tribal communities, forest dwellers, village pasture grounds, ponds, river users and the urban communities are considered to be equally enabled to represent their claim against privatization or misuse of these community-used natural resources. The book gives rich information regarding the common property resources as well as the modes of community management of common property resources nationally and internationally, highlighting lack of decentralization of power and financial support to these communities. The book also deals with the issues related to international management of common property resources. The relevance of this property regime in the present urban space and public (community) responsibilities are also discussed. So, the book will be of great benefit to those who deal with property issues, whether in the private sector or the public sector, Academicians, students, industrialists, environmentalists, natural resource-based research centers, organizations working on development issues, state town and country development authorities so on and so forth.
69 978-81-314-2082-9 Inventory Optimization – Introduction www.nbcindia.com Operations Management Rajmanohar T P 6-Sep-08 264 17 425 0 0 Inventory has been a hotly debated subject for the last fifty years. There were a lot of models, including ABC analysis and EOQ models. However, the first real breakthrough was JIT purchasing which was practised in Japan in the 1960s but was known in the western world only in the 1970s. A lot of US and European companies adopted JIT as they felt that it would reduce their inventories drastically. However, very few companies enjoyed the benefit which was achieved by the Japanese companies. The reasons given for this were that the corporate culture in western companies was not amenable for implementing JIT. In the 1980s and 90s some Indian companies also implemented JIT with limited success. In the 1990s a new technique called inventory optimization was developed in western countries. Inventory optimization was a technique which was developed for reducing the inventory across the entire supply chain. This included suppliers, all manufacturing plants, distributor points and retailing points. Along with inventory optimization, the science of network design of the supply chain became popular. In addition to inventory optimization other methods of reducing inventory include vendor-managed inventory (VMI) and consignment inventory model. Over a period of time, a number of software companies have developed packages to implement inventory optimization. Most of these packages use the data from an existing ERP system or other systems, and fix the inventory levels across the supply chain. The main approach of inventory optimization is to minimize investment in inventory for a given service level.
70 978-81-314-2080-5 Urbanization – Insights and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Economics Amit Singh Sisodiya Janardhan Rao N 2-Sep-08 304 19 475 0 0 Formulating an effective urban planning on account of urbanization is a major issue facing India, today. Rising population coupled with growing migration from rural areas is putting an enormous burden on the country’s cities, already faced with poor and deteriorating infrastructure; according to the latest census data, the urban population at 286 million constitutes about 28% of the country’s total population of 1028 millions. The problem is further worsened by rising growing income levels in the country that have also pushed the demand for housing, transportation, water, sanitation and other basic amenities. The unprecedented urbanization is thus posing a challenge to build and augment cities’ infrastructures that include mass of affordable housing, water, transportation, power, and sanitation among other basic amenities. With several reports forecasting growing significance of cities as the engines of growth and emergence of several what UN Habitat Report 2006-07 calls mega-cities in the future, it poses a significant challenge to the cities which are ill-equipped and lack funds to tackle the issue effectively. All this calls for a huge effort on the part of the government, the policymakers and the private sector. Against this backdrop, the book aims to explore the concepts and trends in urbanization, related issues, and possible solutions such as increased thrust on public-private partnerships to effectively deal with the challenges of urbanization. The book also offers important lessons drawn from some success stories within the country as well as abroad.
71 978-81-314-2088-1 Ethics in Organ Transplantation: Perspectives and Challenges www.nbcindia.com General Books Nirmala Rao Khadpekar 2-Sep-08 288 18 450 0 0 This book examines the ethical issues related to organ transplants from the points of view of bioethicists, anthropological researchers and legislative issues. Altruism, as is still a primary player in blood donation, is increasingly losing its hallowed place, where solid organs are concerned. The human body is increasingly being viewed as a repository of organs available for harvesting, governed by principles or commerce or reward by the body owners, agents and beneficiaries. Pro-health and pro-choice issues are discussed, along with the role of preventive medicine. The fact is that immunosuppressant pharmaceutical interventions have made this double edged choice a real possibility. Illicit trade in human organs is considered to be a result of global capitalism that tempts the impoverished and disenfranchised populations of the third world for whom a body organ is one thing that requires no labour to produce in order to fetch a monetary value. Market dynamics is changing the rules of the game and all of us need to cope with the dilemma whether to opt for what was heretofore seen as graceful, dignified death as against offering up the mortal body for organ harvest or medical research.
72 978-81-314-1932-8 Small and Medium Enterprises - Global Experiences and Cases www.nbcindia.com Management Amit Singh Sisodiya Janardhan Rao N 2-Sep-08 280 18 450 0 0 The small-scale industries are viewed as an important vehicle for meeting both growth and equity objectives of developing economies. The last two decades have witnessed the steady re-emergence of small-scale industries in both industrialized and industrializing countries, reducing the importance of economies of scale in mass production. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to continually innovate and seek competitive advantages in order to exist, sustain and grow. They are faced with pressures to slash production costs, increase productivity and have to be necessarily more knowledge-driven. Globalisation has created more pressures on the one hand while on the other, greater incentives and opportunities have opened up giving access to overseas markets and knowledge sources. This enables leveraging of these multifarious options to build lasting competitive advantages and to support continuous innovation. In most developing countries SMEs constitute the bulk of the industrial base and contribute significantly to their exports as well as their GDP and GNP. For instance, India has nearly three million SMEs which account for almost 50% of industrial output and 42% of India’s total exports. SMEs play a crucial role in the development of all developing economies. SMEs are considered to be the base of every national economy, generating about 50 percent of the countries’ gross national product. The main reasons are that they are capable of quickly adapting to exacting customer demands as also they are capable of generating large employment potential.
73 978-81-314-1521-4 Payment for Environmental Services:Some Concepts and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Meenu Bhatnagar 2-Sep-08 284 18 450 0 0 Payment for Environmental Services (PES) is the latest policy innovation that is attracting a lot of attention in both developed and developing countries. Collectively, the value of global environmental services has been estimated at US$ 33 trillion, higher than the entire world’s gross national product. The services which currently stand out are Carbon Sequestration and storage; Bio-diversity protection; Watershed protection and Landscape beauty. PES is a voluntary conditional transaction where there is at least one seller, one buyer and a well-defined environmental service. PES is an emerging concept and tool for achieving conservation of ecosystem and improving livelihoods of environmental service providers. Expansive assessments have praised the absolute advantages of PES over traditional conservation approaches. The basic principle of PES is that those who ‘provide’ environmental services should be rewarded by the beneficiaries. Markets for environmental services differ in geographic scope, strength and structure of demand, the competitiveness, nature and price of commodities sold and the number of transactions. Having an enormous potential to encourage and fund conservation efforts, the PES may succeed where other conservation approaches have failed. It could increase the appeal of conservation practices to landowners and farmers through provision of monetary incentives. This book introduces the concept of payment for environmental services. It highlights the subject by examining the basic principles of the payment for environmental services while addressing the livelihood issues for the poor, conservation of resources, preservation of flora and fauna etc. The book richly draws on the environmental service schemes being implemented in different countries across the world.
74 978-81-314-1522-1 Glocalisation of Brands www.nbcindia.com Marketing Amitabha Ghose Ishita Mukherjee 2-Sep-08 276 18 450 0 0 Organizations across the world are constantly striving to achieve boundaryless branding in order to attain top recall value. This refers to a situation where companies internationalize their image and global companies localize theirs to match the local market conditions. Thus companies have realized the importance of getting international flavors in their brands as it reflects the values of the enterprise. “Think global, act local” is a critical strategy for most global companies and modifying one’s core business culture and practices to suit a new market is the key to survival. A global company with a local strategy but adapting locally is known as “glocalisation”. Global brand management has assumed greater importance with increased globalization. Therefore, global brand building needs to be carefully managed by taking into account the brand’s salience, performance and imagery. The strategy should be modified to suit local needs and expectations for appropriate judgment and feelings for the brand among local consumers. This book deals with the nitty-gritty of glocal branding which is important in today’s globally competitive market place. It outlines the concept and evolution of the term glocalisation, essence of glocalisation of foreign brands for succeeding in the local market. The new wave of glocalisation and strategies to be adopted for succeeding in glocalisation of brands in the globally competitive market have been comprehensively discussed in the book through relevant case studies. This book will serve as a valuable reference for Brand Managers, Marketing Managers, Advertising Agencies, Marketing Consultants, Media Managers, Marketing Management Teachers and Students.
75 978-81-314-2075-1 Health Economics: Concepts and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Economy Asis Kumar Pain Somnath Hazra 2-Sep-08 260 17 425 0 0 Health economics focuses on the efficiency (maximizing possible outputs from given inputs) and effectiveness (benefit from treatment or care) of resource allocation in the provisioning of health services infrastructure to meet health needs of individuals and society. Embodied in its domain is health care, which is multi-dimensional in character having such elements as public good with externalities, social merit want, private consumption good, human capital good, altruistic mind-set, etc as its components. Understanding health economics entails viewing it as a dependent variable based on such factors as (i) income (ii) education (iii) changes in the age structure (iv) improvement in medical technology (v) degree of illness of a patient and (vi) availability as well as accessibility of health care institutions etc. In such a framework, demand for or quantity of health care depends on the quality of medical care. Greater the quality of care, greater is the willingness to pay for the services received. The aforesaid discussion sets the tone of the present volume wherein different facets of health economics as well as its implications in different countries are delved upon through a bi-sectional approach. While the first section details the domain and scope of health economics apart from prescribing policies to ward off the lacunae, the other section portrays the economic impact as a result of differential health status in different parts of the globe.
76 978-81-314-1995-3 Employee Morale: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sangeetha K 2-Sep-08 252 17 425 0 0 The rapidly increasing fierce competition and employee attrition levels across various industries globally have made businesses take care of their employees as never before to boost their morale and enthusiasm in order to retain them. Companies that have high workplace morale have accomplished wonders in terms of innovation, superior talent pool, good quality products, increased productivity and soaring revenues. Building and sustaining morale in an organization is concerned with raising a strong business through its positive-minded people who always look forward to going to work every day; producing better products and services and creating an environment that attracts talented workforce to emerge as ‘employer of choice’. The management must be aware that transmitting optimism, security and appreciation down the line can work wonders for the company – it surpasses the competition in the stock market with high market gains and increased employee satisfaction levels in comparison with firms having medium-to-low morale workforce. An organization’s interest in knowing what the employees expect from their leaders, their work, the workplace and implementing those desired needs and expectations create an infinite energy, interest and zeal among the workforce, which is repaid to the organization via loyalty and commitment towards their job and the management. The more the leaders or the managements invest their time and money on good people practices that provide equity, accomplishment and comradeship in their organizations, the more definite are the chances of employees being retained and being productive. In a nutshell, companies that invest more in morale-building exercises will earn enduring and successful leadership positions and are winners in the competitive business market. This book is designed to capture the essence of employee morale, its significance and to analyze various strategies for building and maintaining employee morale in an organization.
77 978-81-314-1519-1 IUP Series on Investing in Mutual Funds: Emerging Avenues www.nbcindia.com Finance Dhandapani Alagiri 2-Sep-08 256 17 425 0 0 Mutual funds, over the years, have evolved into various schemes that reflect the risk-return profile of investors. These have further turned into schemes that concentrate on different sectors of the economy. The schemes also invest in such a mix that reflects the attitude of investors. These schemes provide investors with a wide range of opportunities and avenues to invest their money in. Some of the schemes that have been introduced in recent years include real estate schemes, exchange traded funds, infrastructure funds, money market mutual funds, arbitrage funds, gold schemes; socially responsible investments etc. From the late 1980s and early1990s, as the financial reforms set in, an increasing number of banks and financial institutions set up mutual funds. The rules and regulations for operating a mutual fund are formulated by the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI). Industry has been growing steadily and has achieved good volume in recent years. The assets under management have crossed the 5 lakh crore mark. The growth of mutual funds and the introduction of new schemes and specialized funds have been on the rise and this has drawn a lot of attention in financial circles In this context, this book, The Icfai University Press on Investing in Mutual Funds: Emerging Avenues will make useful reading as it captures recent developments and practices of mutual funds in the market place. The book presents a series of well-written articles that bring out the essence of the happenings in the field.
78 978-81-314-1525-2 Fragile States: Global Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Governance Sudha V Menon 2-Sep-08 264 17 425 0 0 ‘Fragile States’ is the term used for countries facing serious development challenges such as weak institutional capacity, poor governance, political instability and frequently on-going violence or the legacy effects of past conflict. Fragile states contain 14% of the world’s population but account for nearly 30% of people living on less than $1 a day. One person in three is undernourished. This is twice as high as in other poor countries. Fragile states cannot or will not deliver what citizens need to live decent, secure lives. They cannot or will not tackle poverty. As such, they significantly reduce the likelihood of the world meeting the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. Fragile states are the hardest countries in the world to help develop. Working with them is difficult and costly and carries significant risks. Aid programmes in fragile states pose difficult policy dilemmas. Since the mid-1990s, a stronger donor emphasis on rewarding countries with relatively effective governments and stable macroeconomic policies has led to further neglect of fragile states. Even taking account of their poor performance, fragile states have received 43% less aid than what would have been appropriate, given the extent of poverty within them. Against this context, this book attempts to explain the basic concept of fragile states, diverse perspectives and approaches towards them and the main factors which cause fragility. The book is divided into two sections. The first section discusses major theoretical and conceptual issues related to fragile states. Section two presents country experiences of Liberia, Sudan, Cambodia, Haiti Somalia etc.
79 978-81-314-2067-6 Tyre Industry in India – Issues and Outlook www.nbcindia.com Industry Rajmanohar T P Gowri Shankar K 2-Sep-08 248 16.5 425 0 0 The Indian tyre industry is around eighty years old. One of the first companies to set up manufacturing facilities in India was Dunlop. In the pre-Independence period, the tyre manufacturers were mainly foreign companies. Raw material in the form of natural rubber was easily available and labour was cheap. Sometime in 1956, based on the recommendations of the Tariff Commission, the Government encouraged domestic companies to set up their manufacturing facilities. A number of companies set up their plants in India, usually with technical support from foreign companies. Over a period of time the tyre industry was dominated by Indian players. After the onset of liberalization a few foreign companies entered India. However, they were not able to make a dent in the market share of Indian companies. Some foreign companies like Michelin, Continental Tyres and Pirelli are planning to enter India in the near future. Over the last few years, import of tyres into India from countries like China, South Korea and Thailand has been on the rise. The tyre manufacturers feel that due to the inverted duty structure foreign tyre manufacturers have an unfair advantage. The Indian tyre industry has grown over the last ten years. The reasons for growth are the robust growth of the economy and the automobile industry. Besides domestic growth, there has been a smart growth in the export of tyres also. The future is likely to see more growth in exports as the supply of natural rubber goes down. It is expected that the Indian tyre industry will have a very bright future.
80 978-81-314-1499-6 Agribusiness – Transforming Indian Agriculture www.nbcindia.com Agriculture Janardhan Rao N Amit Singh Sisodiya 2-Sep-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 Agribusiness promises to be the next sunrise sector for India. Agribusiness sector consists of businesses that either supply farm inputs or are involved in the marketing of farm products through warehousing, processing, wholesaling and retailing. It can hence be thought of as consisting of economic activities relating to the supply chain of agricultural inputs and the supply chain of agricultural products. The sector can play a major role in linking farmers to global supply chains in agriculture. Though the concept of agribusiness is not new to India, there were hardly any takers for it until recently. However, thanks to the retail revolution and entry of big corporate houses like Reliance, Bharti, ITC, and PepsiCo, it has galvanized the agribusiness landscape in the country, literally. This vindicates the huge untapped potential of the country’s farm sector. But on the other side the sector also faces several challenges. For instance, the cultivable land for foodgrains has remained stagnant at 120 million hectares and there has been no improvement of this land either in terms of profitability or size of land holdings. Also, it is estimated that a third of perishable produce like fruits and vegetables is lost in the absence of food-processing facilities, storage and transportation. Against this backdrop, the book attempts to provide insights into agribusiness in India, its prospects and major challenges. Besides, the book covers some major trends such as contract farming, food retailing, e-agribusiness, agri-clinics, role of technology in agribusiness and glocalization and the measures needed to boost agribusiness in the country.
81 978-81-314-1492-7 Watershed Management:case Studies www.nbcindia.com General Management Sudha V Menon 2-Sep-08 248 16.5 425 0 0 Watershed is the area of land from which water drains into a body of water such as river, lake, stream or bay. Watershed Management refers to the conservation, regeneration and the judicious use of all the resources – natural (land, water, plants, and animals) and human – within a particular watershed. It tries to bring about the best possible balance in the environment between natural resources on the one side, and human and other living beings on the other. It is also envisaged as the strategy for protecting the livelihood of the people inhabiting the fragile ecosystems experiencing soil erosion and moisture stress. Experiments with watershed management have so far yielded rich dividends and provided valuable insights into the aspects of management of natural resource base, particularly land and water. Strategies in management range from purely technical approaches to those that emphasize participation of social organizations. Little systematic analysis exists, however, on the success of the different approaches. Against the context of increasing water scarcity, this book brings to the fore emerging issues and innovative methods in watershed management. The book attempts to focus on case studies of watershed management projects, country experiences and innovative models across the world that would provide an insight into the sustainable practices of watershed management. While taking case studies from Asia, Africa and Latin America, the book indeed makes a modest effort to sensitize the readers to the need for sustainable watershed management programmes in an era of water scarcity and desertification.
82 978-81-314-1417-0 Online Networking – Connecting People www.nbcindia.com General Management Sangeetha K 2-Sep-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 In the constantly changing scenario of globalization, Internet inventions have made online networking a hot trend among people. Online networking is no more a teenage phenomenon; it has become a fundamental aspect of life for all segments in the society globally, for communication, getting information and cultivating relationships. It is an art of meeting and knowing people or collaborating, striking a rapport and finally establishing a long-lasting relationship with them for both social and business reasons. It encourages individuals or entities to share a common interest and offers an opportunity to stay connected. Relationship and membership are sought from like-minded people across the globe and enable one to reap escalating reward in terms of new contacts, information, job or advice to solve a problem or crisis. Online networking not only helps a person to socialize but also aids business entrepreneurs in creating a competitive advantage. It serves as a prime strategic resource to explore new avenues for businesses. A networking individual’s growth, at both personal and professional levels depends upon one’s situation, goals for networking, a right proportion of attitude and behavior; and following proper net etiquettes and optimal use of online networking tools. Success at networking also depends upon the strong practice that ‘networking should be carried on a continuous process’. On the flipside, there exist problems in terms of privacy; security and a hub for malevolent activities, such as cyber crime, cybersex, vandalism and loss of intellectual property too. On properly addressing these issues socially, technologically and legally, it is certain that online networking will become a centrality to all for interacting and building relationships. This book is designed to capture the significance of online networking and analyze the various tools and strategies for building networks and the way to handle the issues faced during online networking.
83 978-81-314-1535-1 Changing role of top management in the era of globalization www.nbcindia.com General Management Simantee Sen 2-Sep-08 236 16 400 0 0 Today, effective leadership is commonly viewed as central to organizational success, and more importance is placed on the role expansion of the “Top-chair” leaders than ever before. This top-management role expands horizontally, vertically and also diagonally. Increasingly, leadership is defined not as what the leader does but rather as a process that engenders and is the result of relationships—relationships that focus on the interactions of both leaders and collaborators, instead of focusing on only the competencies of leaders. It is also more about the role expansion and enrichment, especially for the top chairs. The theme of the book is how the role of top level managers in an organization, namely the CXOs (CEO, CMO, CIO, CFO), has been undergoing significant changes in recent times. With the implementation of new legislations like the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, to avoid frauds and malpractices, and with the increased demands of stakeholders, the job of top management is becoming more tedious and enormous. As Top Leaders are expected to be omnipresent throughout the company, they tend to implement many control techniques in the workplace, especially in decision-making areas. Today’s top management are ‘business’ leaders, not merely of their own domain (marketing, IT, finance, etc). The objective of this book is to trace the role of top level “Leadership” over the years, increasingly occurring within the context of work; and also to obtain critical expression about the role and competencies in the new age top organizational positions. The significance of this book holds true for business leaders in every function within the organization.
84 978-81-314-1418-7 Agrofuels: A New Frontier www.nbcindia.com General Books Subir Ghosh 2-Sep-08 228 16 400 0 0 Biofuels seems to be a very good option in the face of climate change and declining fossil fuel reserves, but it is raising environmental concerns. Far from being sustainable, the spread of what is more accurately called ‘agrofuels’ – liquid fuel produced from biomass grown in large-scale monocultures – is compromising biodiversity and fuelling the issue of human rights violations. As industry expands, it is encouraging intensified, industrial agriculture, providing a new promotional vehicle for GM crops, and posing a serious threat to food sovereignty. The argument that the ‘biofuels’ will mitigate climate change is unproven – indeed, the destruction of rainforests, peat lands and other ecosystems to make way for agrofuels plantations may well accelerate global warming. It is discovered that the stampede into biofuels is causing enormous environmental and social damage, much more than what is realized earlier. Because of massive use of biofuels, ecological balance is being destroyed and thousands of indigenous and peasant communities are being thrown off their land. Therefore, biofuels is no more considered to be a viable solution in Latin America. Agrofuels is a much better option in this scenario. The Government of India is taking initiatives to plant jatropha in over 14 million hectares of land. With this background, the book tries to examine the positive and negative aspects of agrofuels throughout the globe in terms of opportunities and challenges.
85 978-81-314-1419-4 Understanding Multiculturalism www.nbcindia.com General Nirmala Rao Khadpekar 2-Sep-08 232 16 400 0 0 This book on multiculturalism is a collection of valuable readings presented in perspectives and experiences. It examines multiculturalism and diversity in the modern nation state as economic and political pressures put a lot of stress on noble ideas, inclusive schools of thought and celebration of diversity. Increasing flux and subsequent movements of people across the world in search of pursuing better opportunity is causing all sorts of grouping and regrouping to assert separateness within the chosen lands of opportunities. Moral values of cultures need to be taken into account as these values cause complexities in multicultural societies. The need to establish superiorities of culture and feeling threatened by the number and proliferation of ‘others’ across the world is creating feelings of vulnerability, leading to hardening of stances. Newly settled people need to understand that some assimilation within the residence of choice is required for acceptance and harmony. Indigenous people also need to see this influx as an opportunity while retaining their own intrinsic cultures and even familiar landscapes. Cultural differences, instead of being a source of conflict, can be a path leading to creative change and cross-cultural stimulation. We need to create a common cultural ground without one ‘civilization’ biases and reach what is universal and become aware of the shared ‘humanness’ of human beings. There is a particular ‘Us’ against ‘Them’ syndrome that is leading to deformations in thinking which become complex due to shades that colour it from the point of view of civilizations and races. Multiculturalism is looked for its value and relevance today.
86 978-81-314-2018-8 Micronutrient Interventions: Perspectives and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Anthropology Azmal Hussain 2-Sep-08 212 15.5 400 0 0 Micronutrient deficiencies represent a formidable health challenge for people of developing countries. Deficiencies of vitamin A, iodine and iron are known to be especially prevalent and are associated with a range of mild (and often reversible) to severe (and often irreversible) health consequences. Known clinical outcomes of micronutrient deficiencies include impaired growth and cognitive development, poor birth outcomes, anemia, cretinism, and blindness. On the other hand, reducing micronutrient deficiencies can reduce the rate of maternal and child mortality, morbidity, and disability and increase adult physical work capacity and productivity. Particularly in school age children, micronutrient deficiencies have been shown to reduce a child’s ability to attend school and pay attention to studies. Besides, micronutrient supplements are valuable for meeting acute cases of deficiency diseases. Cultural, economic, geographic, climatic and political conditions can influence the suitability of particular interventions or combinations of interventions. The book is focused on micronutrient intervention as an important global health issue that deserves serious attention from a range of stakeholders including Government, aid agencies and communities to name a few, along with highlighting the avenues to address the same as a major component of human health. It is expected to be of interest to policy planners and health administrators, researchers, development professionals, including community-level health workers, and applied anthropologists over and above general readers.
87 978-81-314-1497-2 Globalization and Developing Countries – Economic Implications www.nbcindia.com Globalization Preeti Phuskele 2-Sep-08 224 15.5 400 0 0 Globalization has been dominating the world economies since the latter half of the nineteenth century. It has brought in new opportunities to developing countries. Greater access to developed country markets and technology transfer hold out promise and higher living standard. But globalization has also thrown up new challenges like growing inequality across and within nations, volatility in financial market and environmental deteriorations. The pace of globalization is taking speed with lower barriers to competition. The precise definition of globalization is still unavailable. A few economists define it as the reduction of cost for trans-border movement of goods. A few say that the process has opened up world trade, developed advanced means of communication and increased the movement of people, goods, capital and ideas. The book highlights several positive and negative implications of globalization for developing economies. In true sense globalization has intensified inter-dependence and competition between economies. Developing countries can no longer so easily play the protectionist card and ensure their development in the globalized regime. The captioned book attempts to analyse the issues and challenges faced by developing countries to catch-up with globalization. Globalization of world economies faces two contradictory trends. While a globalized market opens the prospects of unimagined wealth, it also creates new vulnerabilities to political turmoil and the danger of a new gap. The author tries to find the gap between the rich and the poor caused by globalization. Articles by a few renowned economists suggest steps developing countries can follow to lessen the impact of growing globalization.
88 978-81-314-1523-8 Millennium Development Goals And Health: A Global Perspective www.nbcindia.com Anthropology Azmal Hussain 2-Sep-08 216 15.5 400 0 0 In the present decade, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) have overwhelmingly captured the attention of the health and development community all over the world, as they provide a vision for development that accommodates health and education squarely at the centre. Health plays the key role in determining the human capital. Better health improves the efficiency as well as the productivity of the labor force, thereby contributing to the economic growth and leads to human welfare. To attain better, more skilful, efficient and productive human capital resources, governments subsidize the health care facilities for its people. Health is prominently represented in the MDGs, with three goals directly concerned with three major health parameters. The success of the MDGs needs ample improvements in health systems as well as health outcomes across the developing world. Achieving the Health MDGs by 2015 is a complex and challenging task, which calls for rapid progress. Experts feel it as a demanding agenda even in stable, well-governed low income countries. Though international agencies are instrumental in helping different governments to achieve the health MDGs, the situation is particularly challenging for many low-income countries fraught with precarious economic and social conditions, and ineffective government-donor relationships. The present book is an attempt to provide an insight into all the above issues of utmost contemporary relevance.
89 978-81-314-1420-0 Gender Digital Divide www.nbcindia.com Gender Issues Mannar Indira Srinivasan Ramani V V 28-Aug-08 284 18 450 0 0 Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a pivotal role in the socio-economic development. When the world is galloping towards a welfare society, with people centric policies, a vast section of population, particularly women, are unable to participate in the development process due to lack of access to information, communication and its relevant technologies that are empowering the other half of the world in achieving their goals. A book on ‘Gender Digital Divide’ is quite significant at a time when the disparities in gender due to lack of access to ICT are hotly debated across the globe. It is further significant as it is investigating the current challenges of achieving the millennium development goals of equality of gender and universal female literacy and how this can be achieved using ICT. The authors analyze the issues of gender inequalities in the field of ICT and the way it is creating the gender digital divide. They further discuss the current status of women in the field of ICT. The book is aimed at examining the experiences from across the globe that could successfully implement gender sensitive policies with the help of ICT in enhancing opportunities for women in equal participation in every aspect of her uplift. It examines further the ways to bridge this gap while searching for the solutions that can promote gender parity and social justice using ICT. The book is mainly targeting policymakers, researchers, administrators and both genders.
90 978-81-314-1520-7 Development – Induced Displacement: Issues and Implications www.nbcindia.com Anthropology Azmal Hussain 28-Aug-08 256 17 425 0 0 Evidences suggest that for a vast majority of the indigenous people displaced by big development projects, the experience has been extremely negative in cultural, economic, and health terms. They face a range of consequences including loss of assets, unemployment, debt-bondage, hunger, cultural disintegration and so on. It is often alleged that while people pushed away from their homes by war or natural disasters like earthquake may be favorably viewed by the media or international humanitarian aid agencies, the victims of development-induced displacement normally win no such sympathy. This is so, despite the fact that the consequences of development-induced displacement may be in all likelihood as severe as those faced by people who are displaced by conflict or natural disaster. In all instances, displacement should not threaten life, dignity, liberty, or security. Besides, the conditions of adequate shelter, safety, nutrition, and health should be ensured way before, if at all displacement takes place.Development is seen as a right to which all people should have access, but people also have a right to be protected from development’s negative effects, including arbitrary eviction and the loss of economic, political, civil, and human rights. This book has tried to cover these and other aspects which caution us against manifold challenges of development-induced displacement, in addition to minimizing the risks before displacement takes place.
91 978-81-314-1498-9 Multiple Intelligences for Inspired Workplaces www.nbcindia.com General Books Anitha Arunsimha 28-Aug-08 260 17 425 0 0 When we witness a basket ball player’s inexplicable maneuver in the air or a classical singer extracting another shimmering high C from the gristle of the vocal chords, we don’t classify them as being intelligent. These talents seem to be tangential to intelligence than proof of it. But, Dr. Howard Gardner, Father of Multiple Intelligences theory, disagrees. In both the player and the singer, Gardner sees intelligence – kinesthetic intelligence in the case of the basket ball player and musical intelligence in that of the classical singer. Gardner does not limit intelligence to the traditional realms of logical reasoning and the ability to manipulate words and numbers. Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences identifies eight distinct forms of intelligence, which have their own core component processes and end states. MI theory that has greatly influenced the domain of education has now made a foray into the business world as a valuable lens for business leaders to view the inner world of employees. This book “Multiple Intelligences for Inspired Workplaces” showcases the role of MI in the field of business. MI is depicted as a user-friendly tool for the identification of individual skills and uncovering the mosaic of skills needed for various business applications, such as able leadership, better personnel relations, collaborative teams/creative culture, intelligent decisions, excellence, multi-skilling, multi-tasking, feel inside customer’s emotional experience and for an alignment between employee and job profile for the best fit. The book, with its numerous illustrations, anecdotes, MI models and analogies is an earnest, engaging and educative endeavor to create MI-inspired workplaces.
92 978-81-314-1490-3 IUP Series on Investment Strategies for Individual Investors www.nbcindia.com Finance Sujoy Kumar Dhar Arindam Mukherjee 28-Aug-08 268 17 425 0 0 Investment is the surrender of certain present value for some uncertain future reward. Investment decision is a trade-off between risk and return. Investment analysis describes techniques, vehicles and strategies for planning, implementing and overseeing the optimal allocation of the fund of the investor. Despite increasing investments in different financial markets due to rapid progress in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and media, common people suffer from a misconception that investment is a scary activity. They are puzzled by the profusion and proliferation of investment alternatives, rattled by the fluctuation of financial asset prices, overwhelmed by the presence of mighty institutional investors, confounded by exotic instruments and complicated investment strategies, confused by the intricacies of tax system and frustrated by financial scams that periodically rock the market. Fresh Investors are not confident due to their lack of awareness and inadequacy of subject knowledge. There are different forms of investment such as fixed deposits, shares, derivatives, money market instruments, mutual funds, real estate, insurance, gold and bullion etc. This book analyzes in a nutshell, the different investment opportunities available to a retail investor; a layman household investor will get an in-depth knowledge regarding the investment criteria after going through this book. The readers will come to know how they can diversify their portfolio to hedge their risk and how return can be maximized, subject to a certain risk. In a nutshell, an investment strategy must be stress-free and enjoyable. Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a popular meditation teacher once said, “Do less and accomplish more”. Being aware of how, where, why and how much to invest, a conscious investor will have the time to enjoy his/her success.
93 978-81-314-1466-8 Marketing Baby Care Products: Issues and Concerns www.nbcindia.com General Books Simantee Sen 28-Aug-08 256 17 425 0 0 “The baby market is jumping; it’s such a huge growth market.” A mother would rather spend some dollars on her baby than herself. Innovation was the key factor behind the unparalleled growth of this sector. With innovative products and lateral ideas, baby food manufacturers were successful in luring customers to buy their products. More than ever, parents are concerned about every aspect of their kids’ well-being, from safety to nutrition to physical fitness. There are so many pollutants in society today that moms are worried about their kids, they are extra careful about the chemicals in baby products. Parents are increasingly turned on by the idea of organic products – food, clothing and creams – made without chemicals that they feel are too harsh to be used on their children. The appeal of organic products, which typically cost more than their non-organic counterparts, comes from the perceived health and environmental benefits, because the produce and clothes are made with little to no pesticides, chemicals or other irritants. Why only organic products? …baby clothes and furniture and toys are all getting trendy and designer. In fact, the BABY has become a prime ‘customer’ for marketers today. Entrepreneurs are capitalizing on this trend by offering products and services designed to give parents the ultimate guarantee peace of mind. The objective of this book is to throw light on all these aspects for this ever-growing, fast-emerging market, and to educate consumers on the same.
94 978-81-314-1518-4 Customer Service In Airline Industry www.nbcindia.com Customer Relationship Manageme Amitabha Ghose Ishita Mukherjee 28-Aug-08 248 16.5 425 0 0 The rapid pace of globalization has caused increasing consciousness among customers. Growing competition and improved job opportunities, especially in the private sector, coupled with improved buying power (which is a direct impact of regular employment generation) have made consumers more demanding. Therefore, to attract and retain customers, cost & quality control continues to be the keyword, as airline remains primarily a service catering to the business as well as leisure customers. It is, therefore, vital to focus on the planning and delivery aspects related to effective customer service in the airline industry. This book deals with the importance of customer service, pricing and promotion of customer service, training and development of employees, CRM and customer delight in the airline industry and strategies adopted to achieve them. Further, the airline industry experience and cases for customer service and strategy to attain customer delight for long-term retention have been highlighted. The book is target to the business and marketing managers of the airline industry, marketing consultants, marketing management teachers and students.
95 978-81-314-1422-4 Enjoy IIT-JEE www.nbcindia.com Technical Education Girijesh Pathak 28-Aug-08 248 16.5 425 19 475 This book is mainly for those who aspire for undergraduate studies in IIT. An early reading of some of the chapters will be beneficial in generating strong motivation and fine-tuning the thought process to suit enjoyable preparation style. It is recommended that parents and near by people also read some of the chapters to understand the kind of environment they should provide to the aspirant. This book will benefit other students as well because having a correct strategy and temperament control is important for every one. The entire concept discussed in the book has been practiced by candidates and have been found to be useful. It can help in replicating the success story of many who cleared IIT-JEE in enjoying way. This book provides a motivational reading. It helps in setting the strategies right. It describes a model for self-preparation plan and monitoring the progress. It helps in better temperament control and also provides necessary assistance in taking many important decisions. Exercise on important topics takes the student through the process of detailing the roadmap to the success in JEE.
96 978-81-314-1415-6 Melting Glaciers And Rising Sea Levels: Impacts and Implications www.nbcindia.com General Management Prabha Shastri Ranade 28-Aug-08 232 16 400 0 0 The melting of glaciers has become a major focus of concern in global warming. An overview of retreating glaciers presents an alarming scenario with potentially devastating consequences. Over two third of the earth’s area consists of oceans. Sea level rise due to glacier melting is associated with damage to coastal infrastructure and the likelihood of displacement of coastal communities. Understanding the impacts of retreating glaciers and sea level rise is essential to plan at the local, national and international level. The book focuses on the economic and ecological impacts of melting glaciers and problems associated with rising sea levels. A wide range of adaptations and mitigation measures will be required to assist policy makers to cope with the root cause of the problem. Truly, global effort can save glacier melting. The efforts have to be backed by financial and administrative will. The policy issues arising from these impacts and the response of policy to this challenge are analyzed in this book. It brings out an urgent need for Polar research. The book is divided into two sections. Section 1 presents an overview of melting glaciers and rising sea levels in a global perspective and Section 2 gives impacts and mitigations. The articles cover glacier retreat and subsequent impacts in Nepal, India and China, Tarim basin, European Alps, the shrinking of Kilimanjaro and Antarctic ice, tourism in polar regions, understanding sea level rise and variability, Keeping afloat: A strategy for small island nations.
97 978-81-314-1467-5 Preferential Trade Agreements: Global Experiences www.nbcindia.com Economy Santap Sanhari Mishra 28-Aug-08 236 16 400 0 0 Preferential trade agreements (PTAs) are accord among a set of countries involving preferential treatment of trade between any two parties to the agreement relative to their trade with the rest of the world. Preferences, however, need not extend to all trade between the two, and the coverage could depend on the type of PTAs. Customs unions and the so-called free trade areas are common forms of PTAs. PTA is established through trade pact and it is the weakest form of economic integration. Members of most PTAs belong to a well-defined geographical area such as, for example, the European Union (EU), the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA) and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). For this reason regional PTAs are called Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs). The most common form of RTAs are the euphemistically named Free Trade Areas (FTAs), with a few Customs Unions (CU) which require the partners to maintain a common external trade policy, in addition to free trade with each other. Despite the advantages of PTAs, many economists view it critically; the most important being by Jacob Viner and the famous “Spaghetti Bowl Effect” by Jagdish Bhagwati. Hence, though it is believed that PTAs are useful for trade, they also pose some obstacles for the same. This book is an attempt to illustrate some of PTAs/RTAs in addition to its concepts, developmental implications and changing landscape.
98 978-81-314-1512-2 Whistleblowing: Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Reena Raj 28-Aug-08 224 15.5 400 0 0 The divulgement and deterrence of fraud and mismanagement is one of the vital challenges that the business conglomerates have constantly been confronting with, from times immemorial. Today’s businesses are also in no way different. And the lines of attack by which this challenge is dealt with irrefutably show the way to either the enhancement or the impairment of the corporate reputation. Whistleblowing, an essential constituent of corporate governance framework, which directs and regulates organizations, plays a significant role in curtailing organizational wrongdoings and promoting a culture of transparency, openness, accountability and corporate fairness. ‘Whistleblowing’, the expression entered in the lexicon of laws, politics, and corporate governance, with diminutive attention towards it, gained the real momentum in the recent past. Society has witnessed a tremendous shift in its approaches towards whistleblowing, specifically in this decade, when whistleblowers are perceived as an essential constituent of society’s self-repair system. The book “Whistle Blowing – Perspectives and Experiences” attempts to examine various aspects such as the need and significance of encouraging whistleblowing, the detrimental actions towards whistleblowers and the imperativeness of establishing codes of conduct as part of the governance system. It purports that whistleblowing may be perceived as a constructive mechanism that sanitizes the businesses environment by straightening out the prevailing as well as the potential organizational misconducts. Case studies portraying the experiences of whistleblowers how they blow the whistle, the repercussions of the act and the whistleblower protection legislation in various countries have been depicted in the book.
99 978-81-314-1495-8 Reality Television: How Real does it get? www.nbcindia.com Media & Entertainment Salonee Priya 28-Aug-08 220 15.5 400 0 0 The current popularity of the compelling and dominating phenomenon called Reality Television has drawn interest from all corners. Reality TV entered a new phase around the turn of the present century and has rapidly come to the forefront of international television today. It is a staple for most of the networks’ primetime line-ups. The shift to this genre in television has a lot of implications – economical, technological, social and cultural. The book captures this relatively quick change in the television landscape and brings out the essence of the reality flavors. Reality TV shows emerge as rich advertising vehicles with a large amount of moolah riding on them. The basic reason for people to watch these shows is also related to the psychosocial aspects of human behavior. Consumptive ideologies as well as neoliberalism and emotional labor are translated into Reality TV shows. Reality TV opens the Pandora’s Box – issues related to Surveillance, Consumerism, TV ratings, Ethics, Voting patterns, Health etc., which are dealt with at length in this book. Global images from countries like America, UK, China and India are captured in order to give a clear picture of such shows across the world. Though the adaptations of these shows are very much in vogue; there is, at the same time, a lot of creativity involved to frame them according to the needs of the country and its culture.
100 978-81-314-1494-1 Diversity in the Workforce: HR Perspective www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Pramod Rao Pallavi Kate 28-Aug-08 220 15.5 400 0 0 Workforce diversity has become the order of the day, as more and more organizations cross their domestic barriers and enter the international market arena with their products, services and even building manufacturing facilities, apart from entering into business alliances with foreign companies. Diversity needs to be embraced more as a concept rather than to meet any statutory requirement. Culture sensitive issues and conflicting situations have to be handled very carefully to avoid future complications. Open and transparent communication and easy accessibility of the managerial staff are the essential features that no organization with a diverse workforce can afford to ignore. Managing diversity is a challenge for the HR fraternity. Various processes may have to be customized while not losing the balance of equality. Maintaining a supportive work environment is a critical need of the hour, in addition to attending to culture-specific requirements of the workforce. The HR manager needs to advocate a diverse workforce by making diversity evident at all organizational levels. He/She must also show a high level of commitment and be able to resolve issues of workplace diversity in an ethical and responsible manner. The challenges faced by the HR in managing diversity, effects of diversity on business performance, and the best practices for HR in managing diversity issues, constitute the theme of this book.
101 978-81-314-1503-0 Climate change and its effect on human health www.nbcindia.com General Asis Kumar Pain 28-Aug-08 220 15.5 400 0 0 While the world is nearly unanimous about the adverse effect of climate change, there is difference of opinion between the developing and developed countries about their causes and mitigation policies. Most of the increased human activities are concentrated mainly in the high income industrialized countries of the world. Such a finding is evident from the fact of the per-capita carbon dioxide emission from the consumption and flaring of fossil fuel. Such mercuric rise in global warming had a strong negative impact on health, more so, human health on account of creation of congenial atmosphere for fast propagation of various diseases. Warmer, wetter conditions promote the spread of both the mosquitoes that transmit malaria and the pathogens that cause the most serious forms of diarrhea in developing countries. In line with this trend, the present volume deals with the impact of climate change caused by warm climate on human health. The book also addresses the emission of excessive greenhouse gases and its effect on health. In other words, the volume seeks to describe the context and process of global climate change, its actual or likely impact on health, and how human societies and their governments should respond, with particular focus on the health sector. The book has been structured in two sections to explain the sources and impact of climate change on human health, besides looking at some initiatives taken throughout the world to overcome the problem. This book is believed to serve the interests of postgraduate students and researchers on human health and environment, public health specialists, government officials and medical practitioners.
102 978-81-314-1500-9 Meditation and Wellbeing www.nbcindia.com Healthcare Srikant Kapoor Prasad B V S 21-Aug-08 272 17 425 0 0 In today’s competitive world, where everyone seems to be in a rat race to attain their goal, earning a livelihood generally brings in anxiety, tension, mental fatigue and this increases the possibility of lifestyle diseases. People are beginning to experience the emptiness of a materialistic, consumer focused, high pressure lifestyle and beginning to say NO to that way of life. The corporate world has recognized the need for employees to relax, recharge and regain their focus to achieve maximum productivity. According to the, English poet, John Milton, the mind is its own place, and in itself can make a heaven of Hell and a hell of Heaven. Meditation has entered the realm of health care as a method of stress and pain reduction. It helps to increase physical relaxation, mental calmness, and psychological balance and, thereby, create a feeling of overall wellness. It provides one of the best solutions without any side effects whatsoever. Even healthy people can find a sense of inner peace and satisfaction with the training and practice of meditation. The book is composed of select articles that provide both the eastern and western perspectives on meditation. The book discusses various meditation exercises like OM yoga meditation, transcendental meditation, vipassana meditation, metta meditation, mindfullness meditation and chakra meditation, besides providing the basic instructions to practice meditation in a very simple manner and highlighting its benefits. The book would be useful to people in all walks of life as everyone is in need of a panacea for the ills of fast paced life and meditation can easily be inculcated as a habit and become a part of daily routine.
103 978-81-314-1517-7 The Indian Cement Industry – Issues, Trends and Cases www.nbcindia.com Industry Bala Krishna A V 21-Aug-08 256 17 425 0 0 The Indian Cement Industry is the world’s second largest after China’s Cement Industry. But, percapita production and consumption are low as compared to the world standards. On the technological front, Indian cement Industry can be regarded as highly competitive and is comparable with the best in the world, in terms of quality standards, fuel consumption etc. Indian cement plants, which depended heavily on wet technologies in the sixties and seventies, have subsequently shifted to modern energy efficient dry technologies. This trend is more perceptible in the last decade. The latest surge in the demand for cement is driven by the boom in the housing sector and infrastructure sector. The post deregulation scenario is marked by major reorganization of many of the capacities in the Indian cement industry. Consolidation has become the latest buzzword of the industry. Acquisitions, mergers and demergers have been the order of the day for the industry. Many major Indian players have acquired small companies and MNCs have also entered the industry through have acquisitions route. This book focuses on the technological, commercial and marketing aspects. It discusses the post deregulation scenario of the Indian Cement industry from the perspective of acquisitions, mergers and demergers. It also deliberates the government policies and their implications for the industry and the buyers.
104 978-81-314-1489-7 Evolutionary Economics www.nbcindia.com Financial Economics Krishna Kishore Puranam Ravi Kumar Jain B 21-Aug-08 268 17 425 0 0 Economics has evolved over a long period of time. It has seen the emergence of various schools of thought enriched with the ideas of great philosophers. In recent times, a new branch of economic theory called Evolutionary Economics has emerged drawing new dimensions into the explanation of economic phenomena. It is based on the principles of evolution and biology. What makes Evolutionary Economics distinct from the mainstream economics is its opposition to the explanation of economic phenomena from rational choices of profit-maximizing firms and utility-maximizing agents. Traditional economic theories are based on the assumptions of human rationality, self-interest and judgment. Evolutionary Economists have challenged these assumptions by arguing that human rationality is bounded and, as such, decisions of firms and consumers are habitual in nature. This evolving field of economics has benefited from the contributions of Joseph Schumpeter, Veblen, Hayek and others. This book is an interesting collection of articles discussing the concepts and various perspectives of Evolutionary Economics.
105 978-81-314-1515-3 Special Economic Zones: To Be Or Not To Be www.nbcindia.com Economy: India Naveen Kumar Agarwal Ramani V V 21-Aug-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 In this global village, most developing countries are shifting to export promotion policy to compete with the developed world. As part of their policy instruments, many of these countries are promoting export-processing zones (EPZs), which are seen as a key instrument for promoting exports, earning foreign exchange, stimulating economic growth through additional investment, technology transfers, and employment generation. Later, these EPZs are transformed into SEZs to deal with infrastructure development, monetary, fiscal, trade and labour policies and account for an increasing share of international trade flows and employment. The Special Economic Zones (SEZs) scheme introduced by the government of India in April 2000 has its genesis in the Export Processing Zone (EPZ) scheme, which was introduced way back in 1965, when the first zone was set up in Kandla (Gujarat). However, the new SEZ policy and the costs and the benefits of SEZs have generated an intense debate, touching on almost every possible aspect of SEZs. In view of the ongoing debate, this book is timely and enables the readers to have a better understanding of the various dimensions of SEZs. This book has three sections; Section I covers the overview of SEZs and salient features of the special economic zones act, 2005, Section II covers the basic issues and Section III covers the positive impacts of SEZs. This book is expected to be useful to policy makers at national and international levels, bureaucrats, government officials dealing with export promotion, corporates, independent consultants, environmentalists, NGOs having concern about labour laws and environment of the country. Apart from those, it will be a valuable reference book for researchers, academicians, students, investors, small and medium farm holders, etc.
106 978-81-314-1504-7 Girl Child: Issues, Perspectives and Initiatives www.nbcindia.com Gender Issues Debashree Mukherjee 21-Aug-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 Illustrations of deprivation and infringement of rights of the girls are mostly recorded from developing countries, but the stark reality is that they continue to be manifested in diverse forms in diverse countries. Their unequal status is reflected in innumerable countries across the globe but the other story of the happy girl child with a smiling face is seldom noticed or projected. This is because the happy stories are not projected evenly with the sad stories. The present book has tried to cover those illuminating situations and mechanisms by which the different dilemmas encountered by the girl child, in the formative years of her life can be either prevented or cured. Intended to be read by the general masses, concerned with social contemporary issues affecting the world, the book intends to be of help to organizations which are committed to social issues affecting children, the government authorities working in the area of empowerment of children and women, human rights organizations operating in various areas for the promotion of human rights, researchers and academicians working in the premises of social sciences including sociology, human rights, law, psychology and economics. It has been conceived in two Sections; while the first Section emphasizes the problems and the solutions to the problems faced by the girl child, the second Section establishes the same with experiences from diverse countries cutting across continents. The book through its various articles also tries to find answers to two very intriguing questions: Is it only education that plays the dominant role in uplifting the girl child from her miseries? And Is the girl child in misery or mirth?
107 978-81-314-1516-0 Challenges of Attrition and Retention Strategies www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Anil Varma 21-Aug-08 208 15 375 0 0 Human resources are the only source of long-term competitive advantage for any business organization. Thus, human resources are rightly known as the real assets of an organization. However, retaining employees is proving to be a Herculean task for most organizations in the modern era of globalization and competitive business. Therefore, employee retention has become a major concern for organizations. It is very frustrating for an organization to go through the entire process of hiring and training, only to find employees leaving after two months or sometimes even quitting after the training period is over. The words ‘attrition’ and ‘retention’ are profoundly significant in the context of corporates and large companies. Thus, managing of human resources, particularly retaining them, is an art that calls for special skills and strategies. The growth of attrition rates has been a major concern for the last couple of decades. Many experts believe that attrition rates can be lowered through effective hiring systems, while others believe that the problem lies with the nature of the organization’s systems. Retention of excellent employees is one of the most important challenges in organizations today. On the one hand, with increasing work opportunities, organizations which provide challenging and competitive work environments are seeking intelligent employees with relatively higher IQs. On the other hand, retaining these key employees is becoming a vital task for the long-term success of any organization.
108 978-81-314-1484-2 IUP on Personality Development – The Cutting Edge for one s Personal and Work Life www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Jegadeesan G Santana Krishnan R 20-Aug-08 308 19 475 0 0 Personality is what makes individuals unique and a study of several personalities reveals different behavioral traits. Personality may be understood as the characteristic patterns of behavior and modes of thinking that determine a person’s adaptation to the environment. Personality is the dynamic organization of those psychological systems within an individual that determine his unique adjustments to his environment. Thus, personality is the sum total of several characteristics which manifest themselves in an individual. A successful individual has an ability to organize, integrate and consolidate all the qualities of positive behavior and adapts himself to individuals and organizations. A pleasing personality is a combination of a person’s attitude, behavior and expressions. It is imperative that each and every human being should realize the importance and intensity of personality development and promote it with great care and continuity in all walks of life. In the era of globalization, organizations focus on the development of human resources by developing personalities through proper training and thereby increasing the human efficiency of their employees to gain competitive advantage over other companies. This book details various concepts of personality, discusses techniques and methods of developing personality and emphasizes how important training is in this regard. Various issues faced by organizations in developing personality of employees are also dealt with. Case studies which give experiences of various organizations in nurturing personality development in terms of gaining competitive advantage are also included.
109 978-81-314-1479-8 Rehabilitation Of Persons With Disabilities www.nbcindia.com General Management Bhanushali Kishorekumar D 20-Aug-08 272 17 425 0 0 The United Nations estimates that 10 percent of world population in underdeveloped countries faces the problem of disability of one or the other type. Considering the size of population with disabilities, it is necessary to have proper rehabilitation strategies. In the absence of proper rehabilitation strategies persons with disabilities become a burden on their families, society and nations as a whole. Carefully designed and implemented rehabilitation strategies help in converting this army of persons with disabilities from unproductive burden to productive manpower and equal partner in social and economic development. Strategies for the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities followed in different countries differ widely depending on the level of social and economic development. In designing country-specific rehabilitation strategy, knowledge of rehabilitation practices followed in different countries and the best practices world over is of significant importance. The main objective of this book is to highlight various approaches for the rehabilitation of persons with disabilities and experiences of different countries in terms of process of rehabilitation followed by them. This cross country experiences help in designing better rehabilitation strategies for specific country. It is hoped that the book will be of great help to Government departments, non- government organizations, policymakers, planners, researchers, social scientists and developmental and social organizations active in the areas of rehabilitation of persons with disabilities.
110 978-81-314-2020-1 Shareholder Activism: An Emerging Paradigm www.nbcindia.com Corporate Finance Madtha Cyril Marcel 20-Aug-08 236 16 400 0 0 Shareholder activism is the way in which shareholders exercise their ownership rights to influence a company’s behavior. Activist investors, dissatisfied with certain aspects of a company’s management, seek to cause a change within the company by resorting to various forms of activism, ranging from selling off shares to acquisition of controlling interest in the company. In between these extreme steps, other actions like issuing private or public communications to the management and the board of directors demanding change in the company decisions, submitting shareholder resolutions, filing legal cases etc., are also taken by activist shareholders. Shareholder activism is growing very fast after the spectacular business scandals like Enron and WorldCom revealed at the turn of this millennium. Shareholder activism is exhibited by individual investors as well as institutional investors like pension funds, mutual funds, hedge funds, and labor unions by exercising their shareholder rights to influence the decisions of companies either individually or in collaboration with other shareholder groups. Shareholder activism is also supported by many labor unions and environment groups as an approach to achieve social and environmental change. Shareholder activism may have both positive and negative effects on companies. This book is divided into two sections. The first section focuses on the issues and concepts of shareholder activism and the role of institutional investors. The second section deals with cases and experiences with regard to shareholder activism.
111 978-81-314-2053-9 Case Studies on Globalization Strategy www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Kumar Satyaki Ray Arindam Mukherjee 20-Aug-08 308 0 0 25 625 “”"Globalization can be reshaped, and when it is, when it is properly, fairly run, with all countries having a voice in policies affecting them, there is a possibility that it will help create a new global economy in which growth is not more sustainable and less volatile but the fruits of this growth are more equitably shared.”"
¬– Joseph Stiglitz, Author, Globalization and its Discontents.
This book enshrines a few case studies and attempts to capture a glimpse of the globalization strategies followed by different multinational companies in modern times. In this era of cutthroat competition, companies are bound to look at the global market, so that they can enhance their market share as well as growth rate. The most daunting task faced by the managers of the twenty first century is to know how to enhance the scope of their business and, in doing so, they are bound to concentrate on the global market. Companies choose different competitive strategies according to their business situation and market. So, the companies are open to global market in order to sustain and grow. Globalization is the process of relating not just the economies but also the culture and technology. Globalization has fundamentally changed the game of business. Companies choose different globalization strategies according to their business situation and market. Keeping this in mind, the book is an attempt to explore the different globalization strategies adopted by the MNCs in order to grow and it tries to capture many dimensions of globalization through case studies across industries.
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112 978-81-314-2044-7 Case Studies on Fashion Retailing www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Priyanka Ramgopal 20-Aug-08 216 0 0 50 1250 “Fashion has seen many seasons from Gucci and Armani to Gap and H&M. It’s no longer elite who can be fashionable. With the emergence of fashion retailing, fashion is mass-marketed through various designers. Retailers are all into low-cost fashion now. And the industry has visibly grown over the years. Value chain dynamics have morphed over the years to suit changing customer needs. Hence, retailers focus on the supply chain management to eat into each other’s market share.
Case studies in this book explore a seminal change in the industry. Aspects of value chain, including manufacturing and retailing, business models and other strategies of fashion houses are extensively discussed. It covers themes and issues like globalisation, fast fashion, competitive forces, luxury fashion, offshoring, sourcing, supply chain management, logistics and strategy. Ideal for fashion retailing and fashion management programmes, this book will also be invaluable for courses on fashion, textiles, apparel and retailing management.
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113 978-81-314-1471-2 Innovations in Banking: Some new concepts and cases www.nbcindia.com Banking Sohani AK Nageswara Rao Katuri 12-Aug-08 300 19 475 0 0 Greater focus on increasing the customer base, its retention, use of various technological tools and integrating different delivery channels are high on the agenda of banks. These delivery channels are working on a common platform to provide information to the management. In this context, the strategies adopted by different banks for remaining competitive are different. Product innovations help keep the organization from remaining competitive. The impact of product innovations on balance sheets of the organizations can be seen as it impacts the Net Interest Income, i.e., nothing but the profitability of the organization. With Basel II implementation, banks face a stiff challenge in raising capital for which each organization comes out with new product line. The strategies adapted by different banks for bringing new customers into its fold and retention of the existing customers are thus different. This book is significant as it focuses on the importance of product innovations and the challenges banks face while implementing new products, and highlights some new products developed by banks. At large, the book deals with the concepts, role of the financial institution in product innovation and different areas of innovation. Through this book the authors attempts to explore various issues and challenges that a financial institution faces not only in developing the new product line but also delivering the same. The book is targeted to students, researchers, professors and scholars in the fields of banking, finance and economics. The target group also includes professionals and executives from banking, finance and financial services industries.
114 978-81-314-1514-6 Building Emotional Competence – Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Management Sujatha B Vasuki Mathivanan 12-Aug-08 312 19 475 0 0 “”"Emotional competence is the single most important personal quality that each of us must develop and access to experience a breakthrough. Only through managing our emotions can we access our intellect and our technical competence. An emotionally competent person performs better under pressure.”"
– Dave Lennick, Executive VP, American Express Financial Advisers
Emotional competence refers to a person’s ability to express or give release to his/her emotions in a natural or normal way, depending on the situation. EQ (Emotional Quotient) is fast tipping IQ (Intelligence Quotient) as a critical factor contributing to high performance in all spheres of life – be it school, workplace or home. The degree or level at which individuals and teams are able to understand and manage their own and others’ emotional states, will have a direct impact on their effectiveness and productivity in the organization. This has led to organizational focus on EQ practices to get the best out of their human capital. Similarly, EQ tools are being increasingly used by teachers, trainers, psychologists and hospitals in meeting the educational, family, health and social needs and to create positive results.
This book gives an introduction to the concept of emotional competence, highlights its significance, identifies the emotional competency gaps that limit performance effectiveness and suggest ways to build emotional competency in individuals/teams. It tries to bring out the impact of formative early experiences on the emotional competency levels among individuals. It elicits the special features unique to Indian culture, like the joint family system, social framework of value and ethics, spiritual learning, and their role in building emotional competency. The highlight of the book is the illustration of the significance of emotional competency through real life case studies.
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115 978-81-314-1508-5 Customer Management in Retail Banking www.nbcindia.com Banking Smitha Ramachandran 12-Aug-08 256 17 425 0 0 “Banking industry includes a number of businesses such as corporate banking, investment banking, wealth management, capital market etc. Retail banking is one of the segments in the banking industry. Retail banking is a typical mass-market banking. The individual customers make use of the local branches of larger commercial banks for their financial service needs.. Services offered include: savings and checking accounts, mortgages, personal loans, debit cards, credit cards, stock-broking, investment and so forth.
Retail banking is identified or characterized by large customer base, high transactions and high levels of cooperation between banks, retailers, customers and consumer. The retail banking industry is facing a very high competition and the current scenario is that of the survival of the fittest. All the banks are trying to increase their customer base and are developing their own strategies to be in the market. Consolidation in banking industry continues in various countries as many smaller banks could not withstand the keen competition in this field.
To withstand the stiff competition, retail banks have to go for product differentiation and develop strategies for customer retention and to have a large customer base. The buzz word in the retail banking segment is the cross-selling and up-selling. This calls for a good customer relationship and the role of relationship marketing. To achieve a high degree of customer satisfaction and management the retail banks should pay heed to the role of information technology.
The book tries to give a glimpse of why retail banks should adopt information technology and the strategies employed by retail banks in different countries to execute their banking operations. The book also throws light on the consideration of those factors that contribute to the customer management.
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116 978-81-314-1487-3 Central Banking Governance-Issues and Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Finance Ravi Kumar Jain B Sohani AK 12-Aug-08 252 17 425 0 0 “Central bank autonomy and accountability facilitate price and financial sector stability, which are conducive to sustainable economic growth. In the literature, autonomy is sometimes preferred to the frequently used term independence, as autonomy entails operational freedom while independence indicates a lack of institutional constraints. A central bank must have clearly defined and prioritized objectives, sufficient authority to achieve these objectives and be autonomous to remain credible. At the same time, it must be accountable for the authority delegated to it to ensure checks and balances. Reforming the legislative framework for a central bank—often after a crisis—can help boost the credibility of central bank policies (e.g. monetary policy). The concepts of authority, independence, autonomy, transparency and accountability collectively define central bank governance. These together should form the basis of the legal framework governing a central bank and on which central bank governance should rest. It is very important to understand the need, importance and impact of good governance of a central bank in ensuring smooth functioning of a country’s financial and economic systems. This book shall be a significant contribution as it intends to explore and present various aspects of governance in central banking.
This book will essentially focus on the need, importance and impact of good governance of a central bank in ensuring smooth functioning of financial and economic system and achieving overall economic welfare. It also highlights various structural, policy and political issues and challenges that a central bank faces in achieving good governance. It also puts forward the initiatives and experiences of central banking governance in various countries (US, UK, Japan, and India etc). The book is targeted to students, researchers, professors and scholars in the fields of banking, finance and economics besides professionals and executives from banking, finance and financial services industries.
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117 978-81-314-1478-1 Air Pollution and Health www.nbcindia.com Healthcare Debashree Mukherjee Somnath Hazra 12-Aug-08 252 17 425 0 0 “The industrialization of society, the introduction of motorized vehicles and the explosion of population are factors contributing to the growing air pollution problem. Their effects include premature death as well as increase in chronic heart and lung diseases. Estimates of the health damage associated with air pollution are important because they can provide both a momentum for environmental controls and a means of evaluating the benefits of specific pollution control policies. Combustion of fossil fuel is the primary source of air pollution.
The book basically addresses the specific air pollutants and their effect on health. It deals with the impact of air pollution caused by vehicles, industry and waste sites on human health. The book focuses on possible methodologies adopted by different countries for exploring the impact of particulate matters and their toxicity on human health, and specially looks into the cardiovascular diseases caused by air pollution.
In order to develop our knowledge regarding the impact of air pollution on human health, this volume has strong panel of authors who have treated the issues meticulously and at the same time suggested remedies which can minimize the effects of air pollution. The book has been structured into two sections with the following objectives: Section I comprises 6 articles to explain the sources and impact of air pollution on human health and Section II comprises 7 articles, based on the initiatives taken throughout the world to overcome the problem of air pollution. This book is valuable to postgraduate students and researchers on human health and pollution, public health specialists, Government officials and those of Central Pollution Control Boards across the country and in the Ministry of Environment and Forests and medical practitioners.
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118 978-81-314-1473-6 Managing Multicultural Teams www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sumati Reddy 12-Aug-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 Global managers face numerous challenges due to cultural differences that manifest in their work life. With increased mobility, managers face more challenges in managing global business since the values and beliefs held by individuals vary from one country to another and even the way the organization is managed differs drastically from one nation to other. Globalization of businesses requires employees to equip themselves with cross-cultural skills. Managing a cross-cultural team in itself is a skill very much required for today’s global managers. This book will enable managers to equip themselves with the knowledge needed to address issues of multiculturalism in today’s work context. A multicultural team can be described as a team whose members are from different cultures, backgrounds, and nations. In today’s world of globalization, multicultural teams are very common in any multinational organization. This is more so due to the increased mobility of labour across geographical boundaries, increase in the use of teamwork and increase in the number of virtual teams used by organizations. It is found that various aspects of cultural differences pose challenges to the global executive in global organizations. Cultural differences can influence work values, motivation, and job attitudes. That is the reason why the multicultural teams require special management tactics and this is one of the major challenges faced by multinational organizations today. The book focuses on managing multicultural teams in an organization. The core content includes perspectives on the effective management of multicultural teams and ways of handling challenges of cross-cultural communication, conflict management etc. It aims to serve as a guide for managers to build effective working relationships within multicultural teams.
119 978-81-314-1951-9 Economic Integration – New Global Dynamics www.nbcindia.com Economy Preeti Phuskele 12-Aug-08 236 16 400 0 0 “Economic integration explains how different economies are integrated together and in what way it decreases the barriers of trade among countries. The most independent and integrated economy today is the EU or European Union. The pace of global economic change in recent decades has been breathtaking, indeed. Economic and technological changes are likely to shrink effective distances still further in coming years, creating the potential for continued improvements in productivity and living standards and for a reduction in global poverty. The challenge for policymakers is to ensure that the benefits of global economic integration are sufficiently widely shared
This book tries to cover the implications of economic integration globally in various countries. A thorough study has been conducted to present the global experiences of economic integration. Also, the major economies have been covered and the book highlights on SAARC, NAFTA, OPEC in detail. Economic integration by itself is sufficient to achieve broad-based gains in income growth both within and across countries. The relative prosperity of nations reflects different choices made by Governments about a range of policies and institutions beyond the realm of trade and financial restrictions
Economic integration is essential for achieving sustained growth. Global integration cannot be the primary solution to all global economic problems, but it can contribute significantly to sustained growth, rising incomes and declining poverty rates.
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120 978-81-314-1450-7 Displaced People : Some Issues and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Demography Azmal Hussain 12-Aug-08 224 15.5 400 0 0 Development programs frequently cause population displacement and raise the issues of resettlement – voluntary or involuntary – mostly accompanying many an intricacy. Likewise, conflicts and other socio-political phenomena often cause massive population displacement calling for prudent mitigation strategies. The present book intends to delineate the above issues and some more, especially those pertaining to rehabilitation and resettlement of displaced people. It tries to identify and document the issues that deserve the utmost attention, while planning and executing any resettlement or rehabilitation program for displaced people. The implications and impact of the policy of rehabilitation, repatriation and resettlement of displaced people make the main focus in this book. The importance of resettlement policies and their implementation is duly emphasized in this book, as this is a major factor that determines whether local people will risk resistance or risk resettlement. The curtain raiser attempts at identifying the different contexts of displacement and subsequent needs of mitigation strategies like rehabilitation, resettlement and voluntary repatriation. In the other articles, the respective authors have put forward their deeply researched understanding and some splendid solutions demonstrated through various country level experiences. The book is expected to be of use to policy planners and administrators, researchers, and those who are involved in the mitigation of refugee problems over and above the laity.
121 978-81-314-1474-3 Global Challenges for HR Professionals www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Kumar K B S 12-Aug-08 200 15 375 0 0 “Despite the regional, cultural, managerial differences and practices at the workplaces, reports by the global consultants like PWC and Watson Wyatt suggest unanimity among their respondents, when it comes to the issues being faced by the HR professionals. With Human Resources Management being accepted as a strategic tool, the HR professionals now have an immense responsibility of keeping track of the employee status and identifying those issues/challenges/concerns that threaten to bring the employee morale down, thereby disturbing employee productivity.
This book is preceded by a brief study of the existing reports of the aforementioned global consultants, thereby identifying the global HR issues. The theme of the book revolves around some of the major challenges that organizations face in terms of their human resources and human resource management. The book captures the assorted collection of as many as 20 challenges that HR professionals, across the globe, face.
The book thus brings to light those workplace issues that every HR professional must be inevitably aware of and emphasizes how the HR manager can address these issues with appropriate solutions. The book aims to help the HR professionals to sharpen their focus on challenges that are being experienced globally and thereby, provide a rationale for changes that can be adopted within their own companies, regions and countries.
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122 978-81-314-1486-6 Outward Foreign Direct Investment: Issues and Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Business Strategy Gopalakrishnan P S 6-Aug-08 268 17 425 0 0 “The flow of capital from developing countries to developed or other developing countries is termed as ‘Outward Foreign Direct Investment’ (OFDI). Earlier, developing economies followed protectionist policies. But the winds of globalization and liberalization have swept away many of the barriers that are coming in the way of economic growth and overall development. Of late, many of the economies around the world, including India, have adopted more liberalized and investment-friendly measures to facilitate Inward and Outward FDIs.
By internationalizing operations, companies can upgrade their competencies and performance levels apart from getting access to new technologies, new markets and/or scarce natural resources. The flow of FDI has helped several companies in developing nations increase their revenues and profits. Some of the prospering companies in these countries have begun venturing across the borders as their future growth depends on the share that they can garner in the world market. Some of the large Indian corporations acquired overseas assets in the recent past. In 2004-2005, the outbound FDI surpassed the inward FDI marking a perceptible growth in the number of overseas acquisitions made by Indian corporates.
This book is a compendium of thirteen articles that provide a deeper understanding on the topic of OFDI – six articles highlighting the concepts, drivers, issues, challenges, benefits and barriers of OFDI and seven articles explaining country-experiences focusing on India, China, Thailand and ten new member-states of the European Union.
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123 978-81-314-1476-7 Financial System In Hong Kong: The New Dynamics www.nbcindia.com Finance Nageswara Rao Katuri 6-Aug-08 252 17 425 0 0 “Hong Kong became the ‘Special Administrative Region’ (SAR) of China on July 1, 1997. Almost immediately, the South East Asian crisis ensued. Hong Kong suffered but more than survived.
Hong Kong provides the gateway for Mainland China for business, commerce, banking and financial services, thanks to the “Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA)” between these two entities.
While the recent sub-prime crisis has spared Hong Kong, the global significance of a slowdown, or a recession in the US economy, should not be underestimated. Hong Kong’s Dollar debt market is fast rising with multicurrency instruments.
Its financial services industry accounts for about 6.5 percent of the workforce and contributes over 12 percent of the output of the economy. Hong Kong has to use its natural market strengths to further develop the financial services sector and achieve sustainable long-term growth.
Hong Kong has one of the largest representations of international banks in the world. 76 of the world’s 100 largest banks have their presence here. Hong Kong is Asia’s 3rd largest international banking centre in terms of external transactions. Its foreign exchange market contributes to Hong Kong’s status as the world’s 6th largest foreign exchange centre. The stature of Hong Kong as a key financial centre is built on its high standard of market transparency, disclosure and prudently supervised financial institutions.
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124 978-81-314-1477-4 Corporate Disclosure: Concepts and practices www.nbcindia.com Finance Pankaj M Madhani 6-Aug-08 256 17 425 0 0 “As financial reporting and disclosure are potentially important means for management to communicate firm’s performance and value to outside investors, increased disclosure practices will help in reducing information gap between firm and its stakeholders. The main reason behind emphasis on this new emerging issue is that enhanced disclosure and transparency are the twin cornerstones for protecting shareholder’s right. Full disclosure practice along with transparency in financial reporting can build a climate of trust and boost confidence of investors’ community. The book emphasizes crucial role of increased corporate disclosure in the current age of information economy. Enhanced disclosure improves efficiency of capital allocation and reduces the cost of capital. Full disclosure and transparency are driving forces for the success of businesses and sustainable performance and helps in maximization of wealth of shareholders.
The book is presented in three sections. The first section includes articles on role of voluntary disclosure, motives for disclosure and non – disclosure, new models for financial reporting, segmental disclosures and accounting standards AS 1 and AS 9. The second section contains articles on empirical study on accounting standards and disclosure practices, corporate disclosure and firm characteristics, factors influencing voluntary disclosure practices, voluntary reporting practices and environmental accounting disclosure. The third section discusses sectoral practices for corporate disclosures by studying ten sectors of economy viz. FMCG, IT, banking, capital goods, power, metal products, and pharmaceuticals, oil, automobile and telecommunications, disclosure practices in Indian software industry and non-mandatory disclosure practices of banking companies in India.
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125 978-81-314-1488-0 Experimental Economics www.nbcindia.com Financial Economics Krishna Kishore Puranam Ravi Kumar Jain B 6-Aug-08 256 17 425 0 0 “Over the last few decades, a new domain called Experimental Economics has emerged introducing the concept of experimentation and empirical evidence in economics. Experimental Economics involves testing economic theories in controlled laboratory settings. It provides an opportunity to compare the behavior of economic agents with the economic theories. Experimental trials are replicated on different groups to confirm the results of initials tests. Financial incentives are offered to participants to reduce performance variability. Experimental evidence facilitates verifying consistency of behavior of agents under experimental settings with the economic theory. Experimental economics also provides a platform for test-bedding potential economic policies. As such, it facilitates introducing those government interventions which may be useful, eliminating or modifying those that have not shown promising results under test conditions.
Experimental economics has received wide recognition in recent years with Vernon Smith being awarded the Nobel Prize for Economics in the year 2002. It is now used in a wide range of areas, which include market theory, game theory, environmental markets, designing auctions, allocating resources to airports and space missions. Experimental Economics is useful in testing economic theories, understanding policy problems and questions.
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126 978-81-314-1475-0 Dynamics of Cross Cultural and Intercultural Communication www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Srikant Kapoor Prasad B V S 6-Aug-08 236 16 400 0 0 “Cross-cultural, refers to the comparison of different cultures and intercultural communication is a field of study that looks at how people from differing cultural backgrounds endeavor to communicate. A fundamental understanding of culture differentiators i.e. relationships, social framework, time and power dimensions help avoid pitfalls and cultural faux pas.
Ignorance or misinterpretation of cultural differences leads to serious misunderstandings which result in unpleasant consequences from frustration, anger, to hostility and lost profits. Greater comprehension of intercultural differences and communication as well as informed planning and effective training will certainly lead to a much higher probability of achieving a competitive advantage in the global economy.
The book seeks to provide a unique perspective in the understanding of cross cultural and intercultural communication. Well-written articles focus on the need to develop the knowledge and skills to communicate more effectively in different cultural environments and to work more effectively with people from cultures other than their own. It covers the importance of language, written, non verbal communication and negotiation to bridge the gap between people from different cultures.
Key Features
Cross cultural and Inter cultural communications produce basic guidelines with which people from different cultures can communicate better with one another.
It introduces the key elements of western and eastern cultural concepts which illustrate the cross cultural differences or similarities that exist between them.
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127 978-81-314-1480-4 Pension Reforms: Some Concepts and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Santap Sanhari Mishra 6-Aug-08 216 15.5 400 0 0 Pension reform is a subject of hot debate all around the world. Over the last few years, the world has witnessed a marked increase in public awareness of the need for retirement income planning. Struck by the looming financial crisis of most public retirement income programme, individuals and governments alike have started to give the retirement income issue a second look. The pension reform proposal varies from country to country depending upon the nature of the workforce, socio-cultural environment etc. But economists throughout the world have zeroed in upon the fact that Chilean model of pension system is the ideal one. Not only Chile but also many Latin American countries have been experiencing solvency issues with their own pension system. In the US, pension reform is linked with annuity market. Chile, the pioneering country, which introduced its individual accounts system in 1981, has recently introduced reforms in the distribution phase to discourage too-early retirement. By continuing to work and contributing to the system, the participants will be able to buy an annuity (or arrange a programmed withdrawal, which is somewhat like a certain annuity) that will provide a more adequate retirement benefit. Similarly, the Indian government introduced a new pension policy in January 2004, based on the recommendations made by the OASIS (Old Age Social and Income Security) report. Under such circumstances, the theme of this book is to focus on various pension reform schemes and also the pension undertaken in different countries.
128 978-81-314-2076-8 Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation www.nbcindia.com Finance Padmavathi C 5-Aug-08 492 26 650 0 0 Fraud investigation is not just the accumulation of facts and evidence but is more of an art. Investigation of financial frauds is complex. Larger the financial transactions, the more complex the investigation. Forensic investigators are rightly referred to as the “bloodhounds” of the accounting profession. This book, ‘Forensic Accounting and Fraud Investigation’, attempts to present a comprehensive literature on a few investigative techniques forensic investigators use to determine the truth – the ultimate goal of an investigator. A forensic accountant’s investigative services extend to cover a wide spectrum – revealing accounting violations, exposing tax evasions, financial misappropriations, employee fraud investigations, undertaking criminal investigations, resolving partnership disputes, marital dissolutions, bankruptcy, investigation into breach of fiduciary duty, capital market frauds, undertaking business valuations, investigation into family disputes, wrongful termination, and countering terrorism. A forensic investigator not only requires the knowledge of accounting, auditing and law but also requires the investigative competence, interpersonal skills, communication skills and other attributes like patience and intuitiveness in order to unravel and solve any complex corporate fraud. The book provides insights into the various forensic investigative techniques such as public document reviews, techniques of interviewing, physical and electronic surveillance, data analysis, and other reporting techniques that enhance the performance of a forensic investigator of his engagement.
129 978-81-314-2015-7 Climate Change And Biodiversity:Perspectives and Mitigation Strategies www.nbcindia.com General Management Prabha Shastri Ranade 5-Aug-08 280 18 450 0 0 Every year 22nd May is celebrated as International Day for Biological Diversity. The theme of this day in 2007 was “Biodiversity and climate change.” Global climate change is the most severe environmental threat in the 21st century. The effects of climate change on biodiversity are far-reaching. Biodiversity is the foundation for the goods and services provided by ecosystems that are crucial to human survival and well-being. Forest diversity is threatened by climate change. Animals are migrating to new areas; coral reefs are threatened by global warming. The livelihoods of communities are affected by climate change impacts on biodiversity. This book focuses on these issues. It assesses the existing and rapidly worsening impact of climate change on biodiversity and examines the challenges posed by climate change for the conservation of biodiversity. It outlines the management strategies to preserve habitats and protect forests to facilitate adaptation of biodiversity to climate change. The book contains 15 articles presented in two sections: Perspectives and Impact and Mitigation Policies. The articles deal with the climate change impacts on East Africa, climate change and biodiversity in Europe, wilderness conservation in Canada, climate change and upland biodiversity, effects of global warming on invasion of alien plants and mammals, endangered species recovery plan, good practice examples for the integration of climate change activities in various ecosystems and biodiversity areas. How we can avert dangerous climate change and the efforts made by the Smithsonian’s Global Earth Observing Network for protecting forest biodiversity are also included.
130 978-81-314-2005-8 Category Management: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Supply Chain Management Simantee Sen 5-Aug-08 276 18 450 0 0 Every year, the retail landscape looks a little different. Next year, what format will appeal to what market? Should retailers care about international expansion? Or should they make the most of their home market? As store saturation becomes a reality and early movers produce tangible results, retailers need to address this sizable opportunity—quickly. Retailers have difficulty assessing the product sales performance, considering a competitive mix and hitting revenue and profitability targets. Category Management presents an opportunity to gain competitive advantage by implementing technology with the ability to increase the understanding and optimization of assortments, including product assortment performance at different store segments as well as monitoring assortment performance. A key benefit to the adoption of any formal category management process is that retailers must explicitly define the role that each category plays in the overall store portfolio. Being clear about category roles: be it traffic builder, transaction builder, cash generator, profit contributor, image or excitement creator, it leads to a disciplined approach to space management, everyday pricing policy, and promotion tactics. Category management also requires the retailer to define roles for their store brands, both at the chain level and within any specific category. In essence this process involves management of a category like an independent profit centre in all respects of sourcing, pricing and buying to selling to deliver customer satisfaction and strategic advantage to the store. A category manager may have separate team members to handle product management, buying and merchandising. Such a retailer is able to successfully differentiate its merchandise based on its consumer’s needs and wants. And such a retailer is one who is bound to succeed in today’s competitive retail environment.
131 978-81-314-1999-1 IUP Series on Risk Management in Banks: Current Developments www.nbcindia.com Banking Dhandapani Alagiri 5-Aug-08 264 17 425 0 0 Financial markets have always been risk-driven to a certain extent and there has been an underlying risk taking perception in financial markets, and banking also has this norm. The aim has been to maintain commensurate returns with respect to the risk taken. However, the risk scenario has changed considerably over the last two decades as a result of increasing complexity in the deals made and the varied nature of the financial instruments used. In the Indian context, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has issued guidelines based on the Basel II recommendations for the Indian banks on the risk management approaches to be followed in due course. In the current scenario, where banking is becoming more and more competitive, adoption of the best practices is critical for the Indian banks to survive in the market. There has to be a proactive approach in countering major credit, operational and market risks. The banks that develop a proper risk management system will gain competitive advantage over others and with a proper understanding of the risk mitigation techniques and instruments can aim at better prospects in the years to come. In this context, this book, The Icfai University Press on Risk Management in Banks: Current Developments will make useful reading capturing the important perspectives of risk management and its practices in the banking sector. The book presents a series of well-written articles that bring out the essence of the happenings in the field.
132 978-81-314-1973-1 Indian Capital Markets: Recent Trends and Reforms www.nbcindia.com Finance Arindam Banerjee 5-Aug-08 264 17 425 0 0 The book “Indian Capital markets in Early 2007 Trends & Reforms” is the third in a series that seeks to capture the contemporary happenings and the regulatory measures adopted in the Indian capital markets in the first half of 2007. Primarily, the book is divided into two sections namely, recent trends in the Indian capital market followed by various regulatory reforms initiated by Sebi. Having reached the phenomenal 15,000 mark, many expect the Indian stock markets to continue its upsurge over a period of time. Well, amidst all enthusiasm, it is important to note that anything that rises necessarily needs to come down, and this basic physical law is applicable in all its forms in the capital market. Apart from the much discussed volatility, various other factors such as role of (FIIs), IPO grading, pension funds, private equity investors, hedge funds and participatory notes, shortsale by institutional investors and the importance for PAN as unique identification number, Gold ETFs, impact of budget on the capital markets are of major interests to the investor class and analysts that are discussed in detail in the book. In a rapidly rising and volatile market like our; the regulator’s role becomes all the more important. Thus, Sebi has made continuous effort in order to protect and sustain investor confidence. Thus, the second part of the book seeks to bring out various regulatory measures taken by Sebi in this regard.
133 978-81-314-2017-1 Corporate Financial Reporting – Changing Scenario www.nbcindia.com Financial Reporting Dhandapani Alagiri Keerti Mallela 5-Aug-08 272 17 425 0 0 In a globalized economy, the need of the hour for investors is total transparency in disclosure practices. It is expected that corporate financial reporting, a disclosure process through which a business enterprise communicates with third parties, should serve that purpose. It is gaining importance because only through corporate financial reporting would the investors gain genuine knowledge about a company’s performance. In the era of transparency and strict disclosure practices, even the reporting of non-financial items like human capital and intellectual capital are taken as factors of total transparency. Sustainable reporting is also considered a part of Corporate Financial Reporting. Today’s organizations are concerned not only with the issues related to transparency but also with the need of using a single set of reporting standards. It will eventually help the investors make a comparison between the companies and organizations to curtail costs and avoid the complications in reporting. Therefore, it is also opined that data in the financial statements and financial reports must provide as good a picture of the enterprise as possible. An enterprise s performance, responsibility of its owners and its usefulness to its managers must all be evidently presented in its financial reports. It could be said that there has been good progress in the field of convergence of accounting standards. Developments like the treatment of business combinations, the treatment of inventories and various other amendments and adjustments have come up to give the accounting world a brighter future. This book on corporate financial reporting addresses issues like quality in financial reporting, ethics in financial reporting, sustainable financial reporting and the harmonization of accounting standards and its effect on financial reporting. Some financial reporting applications are also discussed here.
134 978-81-314-1998-4 Employment Relations: Changing Scenario www.nbcindia.com HR Bharti Thakar Meenu Bhatnagar 5-Aug-08 268 17 425 0 0 Employment relations have its roots in employment contracts; when an individual steps into an organization with an intention of being employed or to work in the premise for money, he enters into the arena of employment relations. Throughout the world employment relations are born out of industrial environment. Governments play a dominant role in its evolution and growth. Each country, however, has its unique pattern of employment relations. The governance followed by the local government has an impact on the types of employment relations of that particular country. The changing profile of the labor force is the second important factor which has its impact on employment relations. The need for fair labor practices is also raised. The changed times emphasise a need for social justice in the working environment. China has undergone significant changes in employment relations since the implementation of the “Four modernization” reform program in 1978. Influence of Japan on the Korean employment relations has led to its emergence as the world’s 12th largest economy. There is uncertainty in the outlook of employment relations in the US, more so due to it being completely capitalist in nature. In Germany and France, the main characteristic lies in the undermined length of the employment contract. In Italy, employment relations have been shaped by the conflicting combination of state interventionism and weakness in Government, with a series disparate and unstable coalitions making policy consensus very difficult. These policies and practices have been researched in the book. Experiences of more than 35 countries have been researched and their issues have been brought forth. The evolution in each country is visible and so is the changed profile of the worker. Three sections cover the introduction to the subject and employment relations experiences in the US, Europe and Asia.
135 978-81-314-1907-6 Women Entrepreneurs: Substance, Strength and Success www.nbcindia.com Management Pramod Rao Medha J Gore 5-Aug-08 256 17 425 0 0 Woman Entrepreneurship is one of the key elements of growth in any economy. New enterprises contribute to the creation of a dynamic business environment through economic growth, the opening of new job opportunities and innovations in production processes and products. Naina Lal Kidwai, Anita Roddick and Indra Nooyi of PepsiCo are well-known and successful woman entrepreneurs. Their successes and the success of other woman entrepreneurs have changed perceptions and brought about paradigm shifts, calling upon the women of the nation to cherish the spirit of entrepreneurship. Woman entrepreneurship augments the wealth of the country in general and that of the family in particular. Therefore, provision of the necessary support systems in production, finance and marketing and improvement in the socio-cultural environment is of prime importance. In spite of constitutional provisions regarding gender equality and equal opportunities for development provided by the Government, women are still marginalized, particularly among the poorer sections of the community. NGOs have setup self-help groups and are facilitating the generation of income through various projects. They also take the issues to the Government. Their efforts in many cases herald a brighter future for women in business. This book aims at helping women improve the quality of their lives by helping them realize their latent talents and potential. It highlights the measures taken by the Government, and enumerates certain promotional schemes that have been instated with a view to promoting woman entrepreneurship. This book cites exemplary examples of woman entrepreneurs in order to motivate and inspire woman readers. This book is divided into three sections. The first section discusses the concepts of woman entrepreneurship. The second section illustrates the experiences of woman entrepreneurs. The last section, cases, states success stories of Martha Stewart, Naina Lal Kidwai, Indra Nooyi, Anita Roddick and the groundbreaking women’s organization– Lijjat Papad.
136 81-314-1400-0 Environmental Accounting – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Corporate Social Responsibility Vijayalakshmi S Aparna Bellur 5-Aug-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 In recent years there has been a trend in many public corporations to provide more information on environmental matters both within the management accounting system and in annual reports. This is in response to increased concern by the stakeholders and public awareness of environmental issues. These factors have put pressure on listed corporations to measure environmental costs and expenses and to develop and enhance environmental disclosure to different stakeholder groups. The process of environmental accounting seeks to embed the responsibilities of the senior management towards shareholders as well as other stakeholders in the company’s accounting and reporting procedures. Environmental accounting reveals the environmental conservation activities undertaken by a company or organization in a given period. The main focus of the book is on the role of environmental accounting as a management tool. It also analyses: ·How it will be applied in the corporate annual reports as a tool to measure the corporate performance; ·How the accounting profession is playing a vital role in tracing and accounting the role of environment in the corporate books and also how accounting standards are giving importance to the disclosure practices; ·How the users of financial statements are taking this information in analyzing as well as decision-making; and ·How the environmental accounting is practised in different industries and different countries.
137 978-81-314-2083-6 Open Innovation: The New Business Strategy www.nbcindia.com Management Gopalakrishnan P S 5-Aug-08 248 16.5 425 0 0 In 2003, Professor Chesbrough of Harvard University popularized the ‘Open Innovation’ business model through his famous book on the subject. He propounded the theory that companies need not discover all things nor generate all ideas through an in-house R&D. The advent of the Internet and other faster communication media/tools has been instrumental in shrinking the world into a global village. There is an increased diffusion of knowledge. Companies have realized that they cannot employ all the experts and talented people for themselves. The Open Innovation model aims at getting ideas from anywhere and from whomsoever, an expert or a lay person. The value of an idea lies in its implementation. Technology will be of no value if not utilized and converted into useful processes and products. Open innovation enables companies to network with other companies, even with their competitors, to develop and market new products and services at much lesser costs. At the same time, companies need not write off expenses against unsuccessful R&D efforts. They can sell or license out ‘unused’ ideas and ‘unfinished’ products/processes to others who can use at their own will and ability. Hence, OI is a two-way street providing a win-win situation for companies. This does not mean that there is no role for the internal R&D. It can scout for productive ideas to solve critical problems and in innovating and creating new products/services. Open innovation enables companies to achieve high performances by utilizing the creative capability/ideas of all their stakeholders apart from the people at large, around the world, in a profitable way. Renowned multinational corporations like P&G, HP, IBM, Nokia, Apple, Philips etc., which follow open innovation principles, have reaped immeasurable and unimaginable benefits.
138 978-81-314-2051-5 The Icfai University Press on Corporate Turnarounds: Indian and Global Experiences www.nbcindia.com Strategic Management Dhandapani Alagiri 5-Aug-08 228 16 400 0 0 “Companies falling sick can be analogous to persons falling sick. Companies too are living organisms that depend on a lot of factors, such as good management, financial health, employee satisfaction etc. If internal factors such as these go wrong or if adverse external factors such as competition affect them, companies may fall sick. The process, that tries to prevent the company from going further down towards bankruptcy and eventual liquidation and nurse the company back to its productive health, is the essence of corporate turnaround.
A proper leadership goes a long way at the time of crisis. The process of turnaround, usually, involves a combination of one or more of the following phases of activity: Stabilization, Financial restructuring and refinancing and Operational turnaround. Corporate reorganization forms another important strategy. It entails restructuring, re-staffing, re-skilling and turnaround leadership revitalization to yield improved leadership, management, organizational structure, organizational alignment and culture. Corporate turnarounds have been catching up with the companies across various industries and successful turnarounds are being effected. The trend is increasing and specialist turnaround managers are being increasingly sought after.
This book, IUP on Corporate Turnarounds: Indian and Global Experiences, will make useful reading, capturing the important perspectives of corporate turnarounds and highlighting practical cases in corporate turnarounds. It presents a series of well-written articles that bring out the essence of the happenings in corporate turnarounds.
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139 978-81-314-1922-9 Brands In Retailing – Trends, Opportunities and Challenges www.nbcindia.com Branding Naveen Das Arindam Mukherjee 5-Aug-08 212 15.5 400 0 0 With liberalization of the economy, the retail scenario has changed to a great extent; many sectors have opened up to private players. In hitherto government controlled industries, too, we have seen a spate of private activity. The increased marketing efforts of private players coupled with the changed stance of the incumbent public or government players, have given rise to an unprecedented scramble for customers. There was a time when only the national players were allowed to operate in the market and, at that time, the brands had a great edge over the retailers but, now the retailers are coming up with their own brands which are known as store brands. Now, with the coming of store brands, the national players are facing a strong competition from them. In the case of store brands, the profit margin is also very high; so, from the retailers’ point of view, store brands are generating higher revenues. But, at the same time, we cannot ignore the presence of the national brands as it is the national players, who are known to the consumers in a broader concept. Thus, books also have brought the reference of hybrid brands which is a combination of national brands as well as store brands. This book gives insights into the various roles played by the brands in retail industry. Its contemporary approaches towards branding in retailing sector also help in enhancing brand awareness, creating a favorable and consistent brand image, leading to a long-lasting relationship with the customer.
140 81-314-1162-6 Case Studies on Brand Management: How to Break the Clutter www.nbcindia.com Marketing Naveen Das Kumar Satyaki Ray 5-Aug-08 188 0 0 35 875 The late nineties witnessed a plethora of brand proliferation across categories either in the form of introduction of new brands or brand extensions. On the contrary, the market for product and services, though grew revenue –wise, became more competitive, particularly in the developed world, like US, Japan, Europe, etc. The pressure to differentiate and concomitant absence of differentiating factors that would allure customers, gave a significant jolt to the revenue growth path of the companies. Companies that had gone rampant on brand extension found their portfolio unmanageable. Very often, different value price segments give birth to different brands, without being clearly differentiated. Moreover, with an exploding number of communication vehicles, it has become increasingly cumbersome to break the clutter. With rising advertising cost and fragmented viewership, traditional brand management has started embracing the otherwise different communication vehicles like event marketing, viral marketing, product placement etc. But, however different the methods may be, the crux of branding exercise remains the same. Branding from its inception remains an interface between buyers and sellers. Brands effectively perform the function of reduction for buyers like reduction of search, evaluation time, reduction of perceived social, psychological and financial risks, whereas for sellers, brands perform the role of facilitator like identifying and re-identifying products, introduction of new products, premium pricing by enhancing the level of differentiation. The essential of brand management boils down to creating the brand identity and communicating it effectively. When the brand over a long period delights customers, it transcends into a Meta brand.
141 978-81-314-1509-2 Marketing for Social Change – Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Marketing Jaya Krishna S 3-Aug-08 336 20 500 0 0 “Scientific approach leveraging principles of management and marketing, promises social marketers the desired social changes. Social marketing is essentially a marketing program designed to bring social change or change in social behavior by using the practices and concepts of commercial marketing.
Why social change is crucial, how social marketing is an effective mechanism for achieving the desired social change and how marketing principles can be applied in social campaigns are comprehensively dealt within this book. Insights that practically help social marketers in the design, implementation and evaluation of social marketing programs form the central part of this book. While throwing light on some of the myriad challenges faced by social marketers, the book presents how social marketing principles can be applied in different domains such as public health, environmental protection and conservation, traffic behavior and transportation demand management and other areas of social relevance. The book also provides insights into the experiences of various programs initiated by different NGOs and/or Govt., institutions across different countries with an aim to bring into limelight the practices and lessons learnt so far.
While offering an immense learning value to academicians, researchers and students of marketing and social development, this book, it is hoped, will help professionals, Government executives, policymakers and society to better understand the far-reaching applications of social marketing practice. Social reformers, social entrepreneurs, researchers, social marketers, development practitioners, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), non-business enterprises (NBEs), the Government etc. can immensely benefit from the thoughtful insights provided in this book.
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142 978-81-314-1505-4 Urbanisation-Issues and Perspectives www.nbcindia.com General Books Dholakia J R 3-Aug-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 “Urbanisation is a global phenomenon with varied patterns based on the context specific realities. Urbanization is synonymous with growth, development and modernization of a country. The dominant process of urbanization is migration of people from rural to urban cities for employment, education and better quality of lifestyle. There exists both positive and negative correlations between urbanization and socio-economic consequences. On the positive side, urbanization promotes growth of service sector, trade, commerce, transport, communication, real estate, hotels, tourism, thereby creating job opportunities. On the negative side, it leads to regional imbalance, unemployment, disparity in income, increase in slum population and environmental deterioration. Indian urbanization in number, shape and size is formidable. In India, the major issue is unplanned, unchecked expansion and growth of urban area beyond the capacity it can bear with, in terms of its infrastructure facilities and geographical limitations.
The book focuses on various positive and negative fallouts of urbanization with its correlation with economic development.The integrated analysis in the book draws attention to various social and economic issues pertinent to human development and wellbeing in the rapidly urbanizing Indian context. With pragmatic perspective of the processes of urbanization and economic development in India and across the globe, the book outlines policy prescriptions rooted in twofold objectives of human development and economic growth.
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143 978-81-314-1464-4 Mutual Funds Industry: Issues and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Finance Tamal Datta Chaudhuri Jayanta Kumar Seal 31-Jul-08 304 19 475 0 0 The Indian Mutual Fund Industry has come of age. It has grown over the years in terms of total assets under management (AUM), number of AMCs, number of schemes and types of schemes aimed at different segments of households with varying risk appetite. Mutual funds hold a significant share in total funds deployed in the capital market. It has grown to such an extent that a separate regulatory body is being contemplated for this industry. However, this industry is still urban-oriented with a few major cities contributing to its growth. The extent of penetration in the rural and semi-urban areas is low and thus investor education has been chosen to be a major thrust area by the Association of Mutual Funds in India (AMFI). The purpose of the book is investor education. It blends in well with the current thought process between AMFI and Mutual Fund Managers that in order to increase fund penetration, investor education is a prerequisite. It deals with contemporary issues in this field and makes cross-country comparisons. The need for new generation products and how the developments in the macroeconomy help in the process are analysed. Performance of schemes introduced recently like Real Estate Funds, Country Funds, Thematic Funds, Value Funds, Fund of Funds, Capital Protection Funds, Gold ETFs etc., are explained with a detailed account of the schemes and their characteristics. It is hoped that this book will make the reader thoroughly conversant with this industry.
144 978-81-314-2006-5 Culture of Creativity and Innovation – Concepts, Applications and Cases www.nbcindia.com Innovation Santanu Ray 31-Jul-08 320 19 475 0 0 Creativity and innovation are often used as keys to the success of a business. Creativity is a process of producing new ideas or combining old ideas in such a way that it produces something unique. In today’s ever changing and dynamic business environment, creativity and creative problem solving have become the thrust areas. For the betterment of the company, managers are now trying to build the culture of creativity within the organization. In order to bring innovation, stay at the top and gain competitive advantage, companies are now searching for new talents and new skills relentlessly. But the biggest challenge for a company lies in integrating the need for short-term results with the vision for long-term futuristic growth. The creativity of individuals coupled with structured and well-managed innovation projects create a sound base from which organizations may operate effectively within their inter-organizational and societal environment. The changing business scenario and the infallibility of some basic truths about marketing in general and brand in particular have prompted the creation of this book. The book emphasizes the significance of creativity and innovation in management. It throws light on the need for creativity in modern-day organization. The objective of the book is to explain the importance of creativity in the contemporary dynamic business environment. Further, this book demonstrates how to harness this creative energy and institutionalize innovation thus attain competitive advantage.
145 978-81-314-2013-3 Alternative forms of farming in India www.nbcindia.com Agriculture Subir Ghosh Divya Nigam 31-Jul-08 284 18 450 0 0 Generally, farmers practise conventional system of farming with the help of fertilizers, pesticides and other inputs to meet increasing demand for foodgrains. But the excessive use of these agrochemicals hampers the ecological balance and causes health hazards. Therefore, conventional farming system is harmful in maintaining sustainable living and thereby creates a need of alternative farming system. Alternative farming refers to the alternative forms of farming system. It goes beyond the conventional farming system at the same time; it incorporates the farms’ natural cycles, biological interactions while maintaining environmental balance. This form of farming system includes contract farming, organic farming, corporate farming, sea farming, dryland farming, shifting / jhum farming, permaculture, peri-urban agriculture and aquaculture, livestock farming, integrated farming, precision farming, alder based farming system etc. With this background, this book tries to focus the alternative forms of farming for sustainable agricultural practices in the Indian context. The book also studies these alternative forms of farming adopted by farmers and the Indian experiences derived in such farming.
146 81-314-1410-8 Management Some Contemporary Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Management Kumar K B S 31-Jul-08 284 18 450 0 0 Management is an all-pervasive domain. Management is everybody’s business. Drucker says that it is the ability to do the right things rather than doing things right that makes an executive, effective. Drucker opines that executives who do not manage themselves properly cannot be expected to properly manage others either. However, one needs to understand as to what is the span of this term called management. Management, as a word, may sound abstract unless it is prefixed or suffixed with a practice or a function at workplace viz., change management, people management, time management etc; And taking a cue from Drucker’s works, an effective executive today has no choice but to master the art of management in all the possible functions, personal as well as professional. One must understand as to what it means to be a normal and mature human being and what actually constitutes success. This book offers an anthology of works by experts in various functions/domains of management. It offers reviews of those celebrated books on management by various thought leaders. The book comprises the expert opinions and research findings of experts on various management functions like change, performance, leadership, ethics, governance, culture and managing oneself.
147 978-81-314-1996-0 RBI and financial reforms www.nbcindia.com Banking Parchure K M 31-Jul-08 256 17 425 0 0 The role and functions of RBI have radically changed during the last 15 years. There is a paradigm shift due to a major overhauling of the macroeconomic policies of the country – from a mixed economy with bias towards socialist welfare to the acceptance of open and competitive market economic forces. Prior to 1991, the role of RBI was ‘nation-centric’, but it has now become ‘world-centric’, to be in tune with the norms and conditions laid down by IMF (International Monetary Fund), IBRD (International Bank of Reconstruction & Development), & WTO (World Trade Organization) for opening up the economy to global competition. The RBI, in its new ‘avatar’, very successfully sorted out all the above problems. It helped the country’s economy march on the growth trajectory of an annual 7-8% income growth. It brought about price stability by achieving an annual inflation rate within the range of 3%-5% and by administrating the ‘low-interest regime’, attuned to global banking interest rates. The RBI brought about monetary stability by encouraging flow of foreign capital and foreign exchange reserves. It helped in maintaining a stable exchange range. The RBI successfully integrated the Indian banking system with the global banking and financial systems. The RBI has, therefore, emerged as the main facilitator for the accurate implementation of macroeconomic policies rather than being a mere facilitator of monetary and banking policies. There has been a sea-change in its ‘nation-bound’ functions because the RBI has a new commitment; that of international sensitivity. Therefore, it is essential to study the radical change in the role and functions of the RBI, particularly during the period of economic reforms.
148 81-314-1293-2 Digital Institutional Repositories: Case Studies www.nbcindia.com Information Technolo Smitha Ramachandran Gayatri Doctor 31-Jul-08 268 17 425 0 0 There is a growing interest among academic institutions in collecting, preserving and creating value-added services from digital content produced in teaching and research. Institutional repositories are a new concept for collecting, managing, disseminating and preserving scholarly works created by faculty and students in individual universities and colleges. In a developing country like India where there are many academic and research organizations and with the shortage of resource materials to these organizations, it is imperative that the available materials be preserved and made visible to all professionals in various streams of academic or research areas. The book is a collection of articles pertaining to the experiences of various institutions and is divided into three sections, namely Introduction, Academic Institutions and Research Organizations. Introductory part gives a glimpse of various digital institutional repositories in India, talks about the growing need of digitization of scholarly materials and setting up of these repositories. The second and third sections cover various digital repositories set up by different academic and research organizations.
149 978-81-314-1959-5 Global Warming: Significance and Impact www.nbcindia.com Economy: World Chandra Sekhara Raju A.B Ramani V V 31-Jul-08 212 15.5 400 0 0 “Global warming is largely due to emissions of greenhouse gases. The human race is facing the threat of global warming and its adverse effects. In the past few decades, there has been a growing concern about global warming that the climate change would affect the basic elements of life for people and the wildlife around the world, that is, access to water, food production, health and environment. Hundreds of millions of people would suffer from hunger, water shortage and coastal flooding because of global warming. The articles explain how greenhouse gases effect would lead to global warming and how the greenhouse gases would act as an insulating medium by preventing the escape of reflected radiations into outer space and ensuring earth’s average temperature around 150o C.
It has, therefore, become imperative to reduce emissions and maintain environmental sustainability for the future generations. There is need for striking a balance between economic development and environmental sustainability, to save future generations from the adverse effects of emissions. There is also need for public policies to accelerate technical change to promote balanced environment.
The book predominantly focuses on the concept of global warming at large and its consequences on socio-economic, political and environmental aspects. It provides the basic aspects of global warming to make the readers understand and be aware of its consequences. It also examines the impact of global warming on global economy.
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150 978-81-314-1463-7 Understanding Body Language www.nbcindia.com General Management Pramod Rao Pallavi Kate 31-Jul-08 220 15.5 400 0 0 We can easily be misled by words but not by body language. Words are relatively easy to control, while body language, facial expressions and voice characteristics are not. By paying attention to these nonverbal cues, we can detect deception or affirm a speaker’s honesty. If we can read other people’s nonverbal messages correctly, we can interpret their underlying attitudes and intentions and respond appropriately. Body language has been gaining importance rapidly in various walks of life. It is pursued as an art of living in today’s societal conscious world. The body language of an individual is influenced not only by his inner personality and behavior, but also by his culture, religion, and nationality. The book sets out to explain what is known from research findings about the skills and techniques of body language. It examines how this knowledge is applied at workplaces and how it can be applied in a variety of contexts and that too for better effect. The book is designed to be a handbook for people who want to recuperate their overall personality with an emphasis on nonverbal communication. The degree of desire we have for self improvement is what determines our success or failure in life. The determination to be achievers in our life definitely calls for effective speaking on the one hand and powerful use of body language on the other.
151 978-81-314-1994-6 Fun and Laughter at Workplace: A New Perspective www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sangeetha K 31-Jul-08 192 14.5 375 0 0 In the current radically transforming business world and increased war for talent, attracting and retaining talented employees has become very crucial. Fun and Laughter at Workplace is one of the vital tools that can be used in an organization to motivate the employees to enjoy work. A shared joke or introducing games that evoke fun and laughter in the workplace results in multiple benefits to both the employer and the employee – physically, emotionally and psychologically. A sense of humor allows the employees and the leaders to recognize and understand the incongruities of the workplace and life in general; and bring in a feeling of freshness and delight that promotes team spirit, creativity and esprit-de-corps. It inculcates the right attitude in them and helps them take pride in their job. Adding this element of fun and laughter at workplace creates a competitive advantage to the company in the marketplace as it boosts employee morale and kindles their enthusiastic spirit to work sincerely and to give of their best potential that has a significant impact upon the company s profits. Laughter not only makes the external environment happy but also makes the workers work to their best potential with high quality that helps in the realization of the organizational goals. In a nutshell, a fun and laughter filled work environment will make the company a successful one and help them emerge as an employer of choice or to be a great place to work for. This book is designed to provide a logical exposition of the role and significance of fun and laughter at workplace and how it influences employee wellness, workforce productivity and company s profits. It also presents the various strategies for promoting fun and laughter at workplace.
152 978-81-314-1444-6 Netlingo: The Metamorphosis of Language www.nbcindia.com IT Salonee Priya 30-Jul-08 276 18 450 0 0 Language is a system of communication. The living and changing nature of our languages is nowhere more apparent than in newer forms of electronic discourse. The dawn of Internet has brought in a new system of communication. It undoubtedly has a direct impact on language. The increasing number of cyber-words in the dictionary and the fledgling number of websites and books on Internet terms are indicators of this change in language. Internet recaptures the spirit of oral culture and the same is reflected in its language. This book entangles the web to give a clear picture of the language used in e-mail, instant messaging, blogs, search engines, websites etc. It deals with various issues and concepts related to net mediated communication and focuses on the changing style of the language used on the Internet. Apart from bringing in a lot of change, Internet has facilitated the functioning of certain professional areas viz., business mail, foreign language learning, online search engines, etc. The book gives a finer picture of different professional areas where the language of the Internet has had an impact. Internet has ushered in a cross-language environment and multilingualism. Global images from different countries as they attempt to promote the use of their own languages are depicted. Though there is a lot of linguistic diversity on the Internet, the early lead of English is likely to continue.
153 978-81-314-1456-9 Cruise Tourism: Indian and Global Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Marketing Srikant Kapoor Prasad B V S 30-Jul-08 288 18 450 0 0 An estimated 70,000-80,000 Indians set sail on different International cruises plus 55 cruise ships visit Indian ports (2007). Indian cruise tourism has seen a transition from travelling to a more complex fuzzy product i.e., which is dynamic, involves customization and personalization. Everyone who wants to venture out for a sea vacation on a cruise will enjoy the in-depth views of the business tourism and travel articles in this unique book. It is really amazing to read as to how much effort, imagination and work go in to create a perfect carefree cruise vacation. Marketing a cruise product includes creating the right blend of 5 A’s, e.g., attraction, amenities, accommodation, activities and access. The book is composed of selected articles on cruise tourism which are fascinating and delightful to all those interested in the travel and tourism business. Care has been taken to ensure that the facts and figures are sourced from internationally acclaimed and approved sources to present different perspectives to the readers. Key Features:• Provides a researched compilation on Cruise tourism in India.• Articles selected from highly reputed sources- Deloitte, CRISIL, WTO, WTTC etc.• The book is logically divided into three sections: Introduction, Indian Scenario and the Lessons from International Experience and covers important contemporary issues in a unique perspective.• New conceptual models like the Nine pointed star T’s – Temptation, Treasure, Team, Transit, Tenure, Technology, Theme and benefits and promotion strategies have been suggested to provide a deeper insight on cruise tourism.Happy Cruising!
154 978-81-314-1445-3 Genetically Modified Crops: Issues and Perspectives www.nbcindia.com General Debashree Mukherjee 22-Jul-08 348 20 500 0 0 The deficiencies in conventional agriculture have opened up new vistas in the domain of farm biotechnology, one of which is genetically modified crops. Devised to meet the challenges of conventional agriculture, which ranges from poverty reduction to food diversity, from social uplift to economic gains, genetically modified crops have created a niche for themselves but with the passage of time, there has been a divergence of opinion as regards the necessity and utility of the said crops. Proponents of transgenic crops (the name by which they are also known) are of the view that the said crops promote sustainable livelihoods, empower the indigenous communities and thereby address the economic stability of the nation as also help in the alleviation of poverty, malnutrition and hunger. Opponents contradict the above stand by exerting that all such observations are not the outcomes of any study conducted in the area but merely a hype generated by the multinational seed and agro-based industries. To resolve the issue it, therefore, becomes obligatory that extensive research is conducted to ascertain the relevance of the crops in the present day. This book attempts to cover the entire scenario governing genetically modified crops beginning its introduction to the risks and rewards associated with their growth. It also reflects on the divergence of opinion relating to the crops and provides an overview of the distribution of the crops across the globe. Finally, it endeavours to discern solutions for addressing the shortcomings linked with the crops to establish their relevance in the present day.
155 978-81-314-1967-0 Groundwater Management: Sustainable Approaches www.nbcindia.com Infrastructure Meenu Bhatnagar 22-Jul-08 332 20 500 0 0 “Ground water, a limited natural resource, is primarily used in the areas of domestic consumption, agriculture and industries. Being part of the hydrological cycle, it is closely linked with surface water resources. It offers relative ease and flexibility of exploitation as compared to other sources of water. The cost of developing ground water is very less in comparison to surface water resources, a fact which has led to its frequent overutilization. This has been a cause of reduction in the ground water reserves as reflected in the lowered water table.
The purpose of the book is to present an understanding of the management of ground water resource so as to support its sustainable use. The book provides an in-depth analysis of the core issues. It highlights planned development, conservation and scientific exploitation of ground water. Conservation of ground water through adoption of drip irrigation technology has been examined. Specific planning and management strategies have been discussed for different hydro-geological conditions. Planned development is relevant to agriculture, irrigation, industry, health, land use etc while unplanned exploitation results in environmental degradation. The issues of conjunctive use of surface and ground water, control and preservation of ground water quality, salinity prevention and effect of urbanization have been explored.
Some of the other key issues focused are viz., ground water ethics crucial for its protection and water laws and rights and policy suggestions for managing ground water in a sustainable manner.
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156 978-81-314-1428-6 Entrepreneurship and Rural Development in India www.nbcindia.com Economy: India Jegadeesan G Santana Krishnan R 22-Jul-08 288 18 450 0 0 Entrepreneurs are people who create and grow enterprises; entrepreneurship is the process through which enterprises are created and grown. Entrepreneur development refers to the infrastructure of public and private policies and practices that foster and support entrepreneurship. India is the 5th largest economy in the world and it ranks above the UK, France, Italy and Russia and has the 3rd largest GDP in the entire continent of Asia. But in India, 390 million people still live on $1 a day or less. The distribution of wealth may or may not be equitable. But in creating the possibility of making it in rural India itself through entrepreneurship, the new rural prosperity is transforming rural India’s image from economic nonentity to emerging market within the emerging markets. The book attempts to give a clear picture on various perspectives and issues affecting development of rural entrepreneurship. It discusses entrepreneurship in rural India in the context of integrated rural development, role of entrepreneurship, woman entrepreneurship and meeting of capital needs of entrepreneurs by financial institutions like NABARD, nationalized banks and Khadi and Village Industries Corporation. Factors relating to marketing, micro finance, innovation and awareness of science and technology and ways to develop entrepreneurial skills for rural masses are also discussed. It highlights factors that lead to or promote entrepreneurship under different perspectives as sustaining development, empowering women, enabling means of livelihood, role of NGOs, establishing gender equity by eliminating risks and hurdles faced by rural woman entrepreneurs in particular and male entrepreneurs in general.
157 978-81-314-1434-7 IUP on Indian Financial Markets: The Regulatory Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Finance Dhandapani Alagiri 22-Jul-08 296 18 450 0 0 The Indian financial sector has become vibrant over the last decade and a half since liberalization. The markets have become more diversified with more players coming in and newer instruments being introduced. The markets have been liberalized and the regulations have been rationalized to a large extent in tune with the global scenario. In this context, there have been many developments in the regulatory realm that have been done in order to make the markets more vibrant and at the same time investor-friendly and in alignment with the developments in the global financial markets. The regulatory developments have been continuous, reflecting the prevailing situations. The major regulatory bodies – RBI, SEBI, FMC and IRDA – have been making their best efforts in regulating and developing the markets. The banking regime is evolving with the best practices across the world as a benchmark. Several new rules and amendments have been introduced by SEBI for regulating the capital market. Similarly, there have been many regulatory developments from FMC and IRDA as well. There have also been discussions on the benefits of having a unified regulator for all the financial markets in the country and its practicality. In this context, this book, “The Icfai University Press on Indian Financial Markets: The Regulatory Perspectives”, will make useful reading, capturing important regulatory developments of Indian financial markets. The book presents a series of well-written articles that bring out the essence of the happenings in the field.
158 978-81-314-1462-0 Commercial Microfinance: Trends and Cases www.nbcindia.com Finance Rajagopalan S Radha Purswani 22-Jul-08 276 18 450 0 0 For the past three decades, the microfinance sector has remained an important source for providing finance to the poor and the marginalized sections of society. This sector has been driven primarily by social objectives, led by non-governmental organisations and charities, with funding largely in the form of donor money or subsidized credit. But, today, a new paradigm of ‘commercial’ microfinance’ is taking shape: on the one hand, commercial banks are entering the field, and on the other, MFIs (microfinance institutions) are going public and raising money from equity and debt capital markets, or transforming themselves into for-profit entities from non-profit bodies. This influx of private capital into a hitherto donor-money-driven sector is largely due to the recognition of microfinance as a profit-making proposition, as evidenced by the high repayment rates (over 95% on an average, with some even recording rates as high as 98%) in microfinance. This new trend is also helping the microfinance sector in accessing the much-needed funds; donor money ultimately is limited and can only fulfill so much of the demand, which far outstrips supply. If the microfinance sector has to grow and meet the potential demand, private investment is but necessary. In this context, commercial microfinance serves both objectives: one, it serves the poor, and two, it fetches a return for the investor. This book introduces the new paradigm of ‘commercial microfinance’, examines the emerging trends and challenges in commercial microfinance, and presents case studies on implementation of commercial microfinance.
159 978-81-314-1958-8 Indian Cooperatives Issues and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Rajmanohar T P 22-Jul-08 272 17 425 0 0 “The Indian cooperative sector is more than hundred-years-old. It was launched primarily to enable farmers to get out of the clutches of moneylenders. In the pre-independence period the cooperatives saw good growth. After Independence also the Government gave good support to cooperatives. Some of the cooperatives like AMUL, IFFCO and KRIBHCO took advantage of the Government’s support and saw good growth. Post-1991, after the Government liberalized the economy, the cooperatives were not given special treatment because of which some of the cooperatives were not able to face competition from the private sector. The cooperative banks also had problems because of politicization and a great deal of Government control. Some of the cooperative banks wound up and the depositors lost confidence in them, especially those, that were being run by Government nominees. Thus, over a period of time members of the cooperatives were not actively involved in the management of their institution. This led to sickness among cooperatives which attracted the Government’s attention.
The Government appointed a task force to look into the problems of the cooperatives, especially the credit cooperatives. Among the recommendations of the task force was a financial package to revive the cooperatives. The other major recommendation was the need for the cooperatives to manage their affairs themselves without Government intervention. The sickness of the cooperatives has affected the agriculture sector very much as the best way to reach the agriculture community is through cooperatives. The prosperity of India’s farmers depends a lot on the revival of cooperatives, especially credit cooperatives.
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160 978-81-314-1441-5 National Rural Employment Guarantee Act: Issues, Challenges and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Management Sudha V Menon 22-Jul-08 268 17 425 0 0 The current economic growth is seemingly bypassing the 2/3rd of India’s rural population. The high level of poverty in the rural areas is also exacerbating the urban-rural divide. With the agriculture sector experiencing a continuous squeeze and the decline in livelihood opportunities for rural unskilled laborers, policymakers in India face significant challenges. Many policies that have been formulated and implemented to address these issues have not had any significant impact so far. One of the most recent policies aimed directly at improving rural livelihood is National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA). If implemented properly, this has the potential of transforming the livelihoods of the rural poor. Introduced in February, 2006, the NREGA guarantees at least 100 days of employment to every household at a minimum daily wage of Rs.60. Each State Government is required, under the Act, to launch a rural employment guarantee scheme within six months of the law coming into force. In areas where the NREGA is being implemented, several critical issues that have limited its impact have been highlighted. Important among these are lack of or low awareness among rural people about the entitlements and basic features of the Act, absence of skilled staff members, limited number of people actually getting jobs (despite having job cards) due to lack of awareness of the work application process and inefficient and ineffective delivery mechanism and monitoring systems. Implementation issues have proven to be a major hindrance to realizing the potential of the NREGA. Against this context, the present book focuses on explaining the basic concept of NREGA, its uniqueness, diverse perspectives, operational dimensions, availability of finance and attitude of bureaucracy. On the basis of micro-level experiences in different states, the book analyzes and critically evaluates the effectiveness of NREGA in securing guarantee of rural employment, eradicating rural poverty, providing rural asset base and checking migration to the urban areas.
161 978-81-314-1443-9 Mercury Contamination: Causes and Concerns www.nbcindia.com General Management Preeti Phuskele Sameer A Zodgekar 22-Jul-08 252 17 425 0 0 One does not think much about using mercury thermometers. If a member of the family falls sick, we quickly take out mercury thermometer and measure the temperature. Similarly, dental filling is a routine process for most of us. It never occurs to us that dental filling or thermometers can cause toxicity. But it is a fact. Breaking of mercury thermometer spills mercury beads that are difficult to collect. Dental amalgam contains mercury which may accumulate and cause chronic toxicity. Preservatives such as thiomerosal, used in children’s vaccines, may lead to mercury toxicity. Even fish such as albacore tuna, swordfish and king mackerel may cause mercury toxicity. Mercury is a heavy metal that is liquid at room temperature. Spilled mercury beads may vapourize and can possibly be inhaled. Inhaled mercury is highly toxic. It may cause typical metal fume fever. Similarly, eating particular kinds of fish may cause ingestion of methylmercury- an organic form- which may significantly damage the nervous system. Children are especially prone to mercury toxicity. Children born to mothers with high level of mercury show slower development. This book explains how mercury contamination occurs; what are the symptoms of mercury contamination and how contamination can be avoided. It also has a look at some of the ways to reduce the toxic effects of mercury contamination.
162 978-81-314-2029-4 Motivation as a Retention Strategy www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Ramana P S V Ramani V V 22-Jul-08 272 17 425 0 0 Increasing competition among the corporates for the right talent seems to have made the process of attracting and retaining talent, a Herculean task more than ever before. As the highly talented workforce in organizations enhance their skills and job-hop from one company to another, managers seem to be feeling the heat in battling abnormally high attrition rates. Motivating employees and retaining them in the current scenario is altogether a different ball game as compared to about five years ago so much so that employee retention has almost become synonymous with employee motivation. A motivated employee is satisfied with his job, more productive and more likely to stay with the organization. Therefore, a key issue to address while handling employee retention is the ways and means of motivating them. As is often said, employees do not leave an organization because it is bad; they leave with a hope to get a better set of people in another organization. If there is somebody who can make the difference, it is undoubtedly the leaders with adequate backup from the HR team and the management. The main objective of the book is to provide useful insights into various aspects of employee motivation and how motivation can be successfully used as a means to retain employees in an organization. The book also provides experiences in various industries/sectors as to how motivation can be helpful in enhancing the employee productivity and in retaining talent which, in turn, would improve the overall performance of an organization. This book attempts to capture those aspects of motivation which play a pivotal role in keeping the employee morale high, which will help mangers keep him bonded with the organization. An attempt has been made to explore various tools for motivating employees, which may be handy for the practising managers in dealing with attrition. The theme of the proposed book focuses on the well-established fact that motivated employees are not only productive but also committed to staying on with an organization.
163 978-81-314-1991-5 Privatization of Water Sector: Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Infrastructure Menaka Rao 22-Jul-08 268 17 425 0 0 Water, being crucial to life, have people ready to spend a major part of their income on it. It is this irreplaceable and unique quality of the resource that makes its availability so very important. Water as a resource and the debates and controversies that surround it have many in disagreement on how and who should manage this all important and scarce resource. Should it be recognized as a public good and a human right or as a commodity to be traded for financial gain in the open market? This is the big question with no concrete answers. Despite these debates, many countries have gone in for privatization hoping for greater efficiencies to their water supply as well as to cope better with this meagre and depleting resource. This book takes a look at privatization, the rationale behind privatization. Various dimensions of privatization and its implication are cover in the first section. The second section focuses on country experiences which include both success stories and experiences that have not been so good. Water privatization experiments in different parts of the world are covered in this book. The power to bring out emotions while reading the failures of privatisation and knowing that millions of people are deprived of this right induce the reader to ponder as to how this precious resource can be conserved, rather than expend wasteful energy on debating and fighting over who owns water and who needs to control the resource.
164 978-81-314-1468-2 US Subprime Market – Evolution, Growth and Crisis www.nbcindia.com Business and Finance Specials Amit Singh Sisodiya Janardhan Rao N 22-Jul-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 The word ‘Subprime’ was voted the word of the year in 2007 by the American Dialect Society. And fittingly so. Subprime crisis remained the most talked about and debated issue among policymakers, central bankers, media and the public, not just in the US but in other continents like Europe and far-off countries such as China and India. The fears of a contagion effect became evident after the British lender, Northern Rock, disclosed in September, 2007, that it sought emergency funding from the British central bank, Bank of England. But it was BNP Paribas, France’s top bank, which set the alarm bells ringing across Europe as it froze 1.6bn euros ($2.2bn) in August, 2007, citing the problems in the subprime market which prompted the European Central Bank (ECB) to add emergency liquidity. The crisis has impacted the who’s who of financial institutions – from Citigroup to Merrill Lynch in the US to UBS, BNP Paribas, Swiss Re in Europe, from Mitsui Financial Group and Sumitomo Mitsui in Japan to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China to Bank of China. Even some of the Indian banks have been hit by the crisis although the extent of losses is small as compared to the US and other international banks hit by the crisis. The effect of subprime crisis is felt across a wide spectrum of industries. Hence for now, the challenge before the central banks across the globe is to prevent any further damage to the financial services sector and hence the global economy. The book offers insights into the world of subprime, tracking its development since its evolution to the recent crisis and its after-effects, and the remedial measures needed to prevent such crisis in future.
165 978-81-314-1431-6 World Bank, IMF and WTO : Role in Global Economy www.nbcindia.com Finance Preeti Phuskele 22-Jul-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 The entire International economic architecture was founded after the World War II. The World Bank, IMF and the WTO were loaded with issues like globalization, trade disagreement and rising economic powers. The World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization have incredible power and influence. Funds regulations at the World Bank and the IMF and agreement at the WTO are the result of bargaining and pressures from the rich and prosperous countries. The new rules for trade relation between major industrial states of International Monetary System were made by the Bretton Woods System. In July, 1944, 730 delegates from 44 associated nations gathered in Bretton Woods with an objective of restructuring the international economic system. They agreed upon and signed the Bretton Woods Agreements at this conference. And the result was establishment of the two institutions –IBRD and the IMF. Bretton Woods’s conference agreed on the combined package of regulations for trade and tariff, which is known as the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) in 1947. The GATT was restructured into World Trade Organization (WTO), which came into existence in 1995. This book discusses the contributions of the WTO, the IMF and the World Bank, and pinpoints the areas needing improvements in these three institutions.
166 978-81-314-1426-2 Mediation: An Effective Dispute Settlement Machinery www.nbcindia.com Law Jegadeesan G 22-Jul-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 Conflicts affect the smooth flow of business and, therefore, settlement of disputes is imperative. Heaps of disputes are referred to courts for resolution. Settlement through courts may be time-consuming and highly expensive. Alternative dispute resolution (ADR) is an important alternative to litigation. Commercial disputes have become an international concern with the increase in trade relations allover the world. ADR plays a vital role in the settlement of commercial disputes arising from relationships of commercial nature, whether contractual or not. ADR processes and techniques help settle disputes between parties by applying any one of the methods such as arbitration, mediation (conciliation) or negotiation. Mediation is a method of peaceful settlement of disputes through the participation of a third party in negotiation between the disputing parties. In the process of mediation, as the agreement arrived between the parties is with the consent of both, it is a win-win situation. Here, the mediator must be acceptable to both parties and should have no interest in the dispute other than that of achievement of a peaceful settlement. The significance of ADR system is perceived the world over. This Book explores the concept, evolution, legality, adoption, procedures and future outlook of mediation (conciliation) under ADR. Various case studies which deal with practices relating to mediation (conciliation) in various countries are also included. Perspectives of different countries like India, China, the United States of America, the United Kingdom and Sweden are analyzed.
167 978-81-314-1451-4 Organic Farming: A Global Perspective www.nbcindia.com Agriculture Subir Ghosh 22-Jul-08 232 16 400 0 0 Organic farming has now become a prime topic of discussion and concern in the agricultural sector. It is a method of farming that requires farmers to operate a system based on ecological principles and which imposes strict limitations on the inputs that can be used in order to minimize damage to the environment and wildlife. So, emphasis is given on natural methods of production and pest control. Organic agriculture has developed rapidly worldwide during the last few years and is now practised in approximately 120 countries. The total area of land that was organically managed, either fully organic or in-conversion, fell by 8.1 percent between January 2005 and January 2006 to 619,000 hectares, having peaked in March 2003 at 741,000 hectares following several years of notable increases. The late 1990s and early 2000s saw increase in the area of organically managed land for various reasons. Significant factors operating during this period were: farmers seeking alternatives to conventional farming in response to the decrease in farm incomes, the scope of organic farming being extended by the European Union to include livestock production, in July 1999 and payment rates under organic farming support schemes being substantially increased. The market for organic products is also growing rapidly not only in Europe and North America (which are the major markets), but also in many other countries, including several developing countries. With this background, the present book tries to introduce socially, ecologically and economically viable production system through organic farming and its impact on the economy.
168 978-81-314-2069-0 Global Banking- Emerging Trends www.nbcindia.com Banking Nageswara Rao Katuri 22-Jul-08 232 16 400 0 0 Global banking faces many challenges. While internationally active banks are the order of the day, small and medium banks have a role to play. Operational risk in banks acquires greater significance in the context of major frauds committed in the recent past. The US sub-prime crisis teaches banks not to dilute loan pricing and risk management standards, not to relax credit standards because of excess liquidity and not to resort to securitization and credit transfer mechanism, without proper appreciation of the attendant risks. Banking in the US will continue to experience a favorable environment but may face inadequate safeguards in the use of technology. In Europe, bank consolidation may provide a mixed bag. The EU accession countries have to continue with extensive structural and institutional reforms. Chinese banking has opted for public ownership through IPO route as a measure to strengthen banks through foreign ownership. It is a turnaround story for the major banks in Japan, which have embarked on radical reforms. Indian banking is strong, stable and vibrant but it faces the challenges of convergence, consolidation and competition. In future, customers will redefine the rules of the game and banks face intensified regulatory burden. While technology will be a critical element of success, banks need to focus on their core strengths and partner for everything else. Effective performance management and optimizing the potential of each customer relation are also the strategic imperatives. Global banking witnesses a paradigm shift and to manage transition, market participants need to understand the changing nature of risk in the context of increasing use of innovative and complex instruments. Bank disclosures need to keep pace with market developments and banks need to enhance governance standards.
169 978-81-314-2007-2 Human Trafficking- Challenges And Initiatives www.nbcindia.com General Debashree Mukherjee 22-Jul-08 228 16 400 0 0 This book provides a glimpse of a grave social issue that has plagued nations all over the globe. Trafficking in persons at present is a social debacle. It is an organized industry that is operating in the underground economy worldwide. Both the developed and the underdeveloped world are plagued by the shackles of trafficking of women and children. The international borders have become highly permeable so that human beings are routed from one nation to another as commodities and then used in illegal activities like prostitution, bonded labor, forced slavery and illegal servitude. Thus, human trafficking poses serious challenges in myriad forms. The sex industry is one of the prime destinations of the trafficked victims. Mostly women from a fragile economic background are taken into an alluring trap with promises of legitimate employment, safe and secured future. Children are attracted with hopes of luxurious life, education facilities etc. They are ignorant of their fate and actually land in illegal servitude, sex trade, crime groups etc. The governments of the destination countries and international bodies are aware of the severe threats of such practice of trafficking human beings and have taken several initiatives on this front. The book tries to throw light on such anti-trafficking initiatives adopted in various regions with special reference to USA, Africa, South Asia, United Kingdom and India. It aims at stirring social and public awareness of a social debacle, because it is only the combined efforts of the masses, policy makers and international agencies that can put an end to such a social malpractice.
170 978-81-314-1452-1 Bioinformatics – The Future Science www.nbcindia.com Science Sameer A Zodgekar 22-Jul-08 236 16 400 0 0 Prima facie, there seems to be no similarity between biology and information science. Yet, bioinformatics is one of the most happening disciplines now. It combines biological knowledge with computational tools. Biological molecules are immensely large and incredibly complex! Describing them in terms of worksheet requires a large number of fields.Human genome project has amassed tremendous amount of data. The challenge now lies in deriving knowledge out of this data. For this, sophisticated tools are required to query on the database. The databases or datasets themselves are currently present in widely varying formats, and use different methods of classification. Integrating these datasets is an important yet challenging task. Bioinformatics hopes to do this and much more. The final output will be in the form of a new drug discovery, especially in the field of genetically transmitted diseases such as Huntington’s Chorea. Or, it may be manifested by producing a strong, pest-resistant variety of a crop. Bioinformatics may also throw light on genotype-phenotype equation and answer such intriguing question as “how speciation occurs”? This book is conveniently divided into two sections. The first section introduces the readers to the science of bioinformatics, and discusses its applications. The second section elaborates upon the anticipated future challenges in bioinformatics.
171 978-81-314-2030-0 Trade Blocs: Reflections www.nbcindia.com FINANCE Ravi Kumar Jain B Satish D 22-Jul-08 196 14.5 375 0 0 In the complex world of international trade, to sustain the competition from developed countries and to achieve competitive and strategic benefits, developing countries are resorting to trade alliances among themselves, which make them combat the hegemonic powers with a collective strength. During the dawn of the twentieth century and after the world wars, many regional economic blocs have been formed to promote trade among nations. Trade blocs come in different forms – free trade areas, common markets, customs unions and economic union. Some of the common trade blocs are NAFTA, ASEAN, SAARC, AU, Agadir, EU, CARICOM, EFTA, GCC, PARTA and Unasur. Trade blocs have become very important for the economic development of not only the member-countries but also for the overall development of the region. Trade blocs have become major nerve centers for economic progress. While the benefits are enormous, there are also many articles which talk about the negative side of trade blocs. In a larger perspective they also seem as hindrances to WTO where nations are abandoning WTO and are pursuing regional blocs. The present book focuses on types of trade blocs, history, evolution, advantages and disadvantages, success factors, failure reasons, trade blocs and WTO and some popular trade blocs.
172 978-81-314-1453-8 Environmental Accounting:Concepts and Practices www.nbcindia.com Accounting Arup Choudhuri 16-Jul-08 316 19 475 0 0 In the past century, the world had witnessed large-scale damage to the natural environment championed by the corporate world. This destruction of nature was never reported to the stakeholders. The companies used to send annual reports to its shareholders. These reports comprised accounting information only. Financial reporting usually provides information on assets, liabilities, incomes and expenses. Financial accounting stands on a fundamental concept called “money measurement”. Money measurement concept prescribes to value anything, which can be translated in terms of money. The large-scale manufacturing companies occupy land by destroying natural environment. They cause pollution in every possible way. But nothing of it is reported in annual report as the natural assets and pollution cannot be valued in monetary terms. It was not only the limitation of accounting; most of the companies deliberately do not report these issues because it may lower the reported profit of the business. In the last decade, pressure from environmentalists, social groups and scientists made the management of some of the companies to realize that that they havd a role to play to save the mother earth. Corporate social responsibility and corporate environmental responsibility became two major decision areas of corporate management. Various frameworks of environmental management and reporting emerged in different corners of the world. The format put forward by GRI (Global Reporting Initiative) was considered to be easily acceptable. The format is known as “Triple Bottom Line” (TBL) accounting. This new method has challenged some age-old principles of financial reporting principles. This book provides the origin and development of this concept and endeavours to show the future of this corporate environmental concern with some well-conceived contributions from authors of different background.
173 978-81-314-1447-7 E-Justice: Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Jaya Krishna S Naveen Kumar Agarwal 16-Jul-08 260 17 425 0 0 E-justice is use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the judicial system. Use of ICT in justice system primarily helps increase administrative efficiency and access. Integration and automation of court procedures create accountability and transparency in the judicial processes. Besides immensely improving the timeliness, the Internet offers potential opportunities to deliver information – advisory, legal and financial services online and thereby, help increase legitimacy. More than that, the confidence of the public in the judicial system can be improved a lot, while achieving economic and social objectives of the country. This book introduces the concept and focuses on the need, potential value, applications, challenges and other meaningful insights related to the use of ICT in justice. How streamlining and improving the delivery of court services can be achieved with the use of ICT and how the delivery of court services can be far more efficient, at local, regional, national and global levels are discussed, at length. The book also introduces the concepts viz., Online Dispute Resolution (ODR) and ‘access to justice by the disabled.’ Practical lessons learnt and other useful insights from the experiences of EU nations and select countries like USA, Netherlands, Argentina, Brazil, Chile, El Salvador, Mexico, Venezuela, Italy, Bhutan, India, etc.,are also captured. While offering an immense learning value to the academicians, researchers and students of law, this book, it is hoped, will help law-related professionals, Government executives, policy-makers and the society to better understand far-reaching applications and implementation insights of e-justice. Judges of various courts, legal representatives, public prosecutors, advocates, legal consultants, various ministries dealing with law and justice of the country can benefit considerably from the thoughtful insights provided in this book.
174 978-81-314-1448-4 Migration and Remittances in Developing Countries www.nbcindia.com Economy: World Naveen Kumar Agarwal Ramani V V 15-Jul-08 292 18 450 0 0 Migration is a global phenomenon. According to a study, it is estimated that about 3% of the world’s population is migrants. It is a massive movement of people across the globe i.e., almost 175 million people living outside their country of origin. If all the migrants lived in the same place, it would be the world’s fifth largest country. Remittances, an inextricable facet of migration, are the sum of money that migrants regularly send to their families who have remained in their countries of origin. Remittances are generally targeted towards poor families and individuals. There is a wide consensus that remittances play an important role in alleviating poverty, increasing consumption, bettering education for children and in healthcare as well as some investment purposes. Emigrant households are more likely to send their children to schools. Remittances are productively invested in micro-enterprises, used to build housing and local infrastructure, such as schools and clinics, to buy land or materials to work the land or seeds to plant. By providing an additional source of income, remittances are crucial for enabling poor families to improve the standard of living. Therefore, remittances function as a social safety net for poor families. The book exclusively concentrates on the overview and status of migration and remittances and the impact of remittances on socio economic development of the countries like India, Philippines, China, Bangladesh, Nepal, Indonesia, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Somalia Mexico, Nigeria and Macedonia.
175 978-81-314-1469-9 Carbon Trading – Some Insights and Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Finance Radha Purswani 15-Jul-08 296 18 450 0 0 Carbon trading, which is a market-based approach designed to address the climate change concern, has led to the development of international carbon markets. ‘Carbon’ or “CO2” has received an identity makeover, from a mere greenhouse gas – polluting environment to a new asset class for investors and speculators. International carbon markets are the world’s fastest growing markets, and have strongly emerged as a reliable tool for curbing greenhouse gas emissions. The international market in carbon credits has evolved to cover various trading schemes, and has facilitated achievement of annual emission reduction targets of annex-I countries. The annex-II countries have been benefited by increased foreign investments, technology and knowledge transfers. Beyond the regulated carbon markets, developed under the aegis of the Kyoto Protocol, voluntary carbon markets have gained a strong foothold in the international set-up. Voluntary carbon markets have emerged as critical support for regulated markets and have contributed significantly in securing the successful existence of the market-based approach for mitigating climate change. Carbon trading has come far, but it has a long way to go. The carbon markets, voluntary or regulated, have facilitated trading of allowances and other carbon instruments, and thus, have infused liquidity and depth in trading carbon instruments. But these markets have emerged in a very fragmented manner. Moreover, these markets currently lack inter-linkages and face other issues like volatility and disparity in prices of carbon instruments.
176 978-81-314-1457-6 Service Learning: Perspectives and Applications www.nbcindia.com General Shalini S 15-Jul-08 252 17 425 0 0 The world of education has thrown open a plethora of opportunities for youngsters to get skilled, gain employment and move ahead in life. At the same time, to a certain extent, it has failed to address issues concerning society and mankind in general. There is very little human touch in the way in which professionals go about doing their work. This kind of mechanical interaction would do very little to solve the problems of mankind, to say the least. Imparting skills without sensitizing the student community to issues, people and the community at large will do very little to make the planet a better place to live in. This book talks about incorporating elements of human interaction at the grass root level in the education process itself. The term service learning talks of imparting education with meaningful understanding of various societal issues added to it. It discusses community interface with a purpose. Skills learnt in an institution do not necessarily inculcate human values in a student. This is aptly addressed in the book. It needs to be adopted, if institutional education has to be made meaningful and beneficial to thousands in society. This book points out the difference between a particular pedagogy and the most conventional method adopted in the higher echelons of learning-internship. For the layman, the path may look similar but there is a difference, which the book rightly points out. The beauty of this concept lies in its utility to disciplines as varied as engineering to medicine to humanities. It is expected to benefit academicians and visionaries who would like to bring in a human element while imparting education. It shows the power of sensitivity in interacting with people in day-to-day life.
177 978-81-314-1437-8 Human Rights And Intellectual Property www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Manoj Kumar Pattanaik 13-Jul-08 268 17 425 0 0 The first ever industrial revolution started in world, made labor and raw materials the key issues of its development. In the same way, the technology-led information and knowledge-based economic world is now centering its whole intellectuality on Intellectual property, which is a generic term that refers to intangible objects like copyrights, patent etc. In the new world economy of knowledge, ideas, access to creative works, ownership, scientific knowledge and control have tremendous economic impact and increased competition on the so-called knowledge wars. But the recent attempt made by the scholars and policy-makers at the international level to relate this knowledge-based rights to the human rights framework is noteworthy. In an international initiative, the United Nations Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, adopted a resolution addressing this topic at its August, 2000, session. It declares that: “Since the implementation of the TRIPS Agreement does not adequately reflect the Fundamental nature and indivisibility of all human rights… There are apparent conflicts between the intellectual property rights regime embodied in the TRIPS Agreement, on the one hand, and international human-rights law, on the other.” Hence, this book discusses the aspect that the policy-makers must meet the challenges making human rights framework of intellectual property positive and constructive dialogues should be there to bring the intersection. The success of this framework will not only help individuals achieve their protection of moral and material interests in intellectual creations, but also provide a mechanism to harness the intellectual property system to the states to protect human dignity and to promote full realization of human rights.
178 978-81-314-1427-9 Pricing and Branding of Financial Products – The Road Ahead www.nbcindia.com Banking Ajay Pathak Ghosal S N 13-Jul-08 228 16 400 0 0 In today’s economic scene the strategy and technique of pricing and branding of products and services have become significant marketing strategies for banks in India. In fact, under deregulation and globalization it has not only become a necessity but also provided an opportunity to banks to develop appropriate pricing and branding policy to optimize their business and revenue. It has, therefore, become necessary for banks to develop the necessary expertise and technology to help build pricing and branding models for their products and services. An effort has been made in this book to provide methodological processes, current scenario and the road ahead for banks to develop pricing and branding of their name, products and services. The book is, therefore, not only of topical interest but also highly significant as it provides a new base to build and adopt a strategy that has not been in practice at least in developing countries, if not in developed countries. In fact it is expected that this book would help develop a sophisticated pricing-branding strategy by banks to provide competitive edge to counter successfully growing intensity of competition. It would help executives build the necessary expertise and also upgrade their technology in line with advanced countries. No doubt, these ways only banks can attain the much sought-after competitive edge to survive and counter the growing competition arising from globalization and liberalization of economy.
179 978-81-314-1430-9 Culture Shock www.nbcindia.com General Ravikant S Wawge 13-Jul-08 204 15 375 0 0 When a person moves to a new culture, he faces many challenges due to differences between his own culture and the new culture. If a person fails to understand, manage and overcome those challenges, he may get a culture shock which can badly affect his life. We all are prone to culture shock. When we get used to certain situations and suddenly need to adapt and adjust to different situations, we may find it difficult. The reason may be a culture shock. When a person, after his return from another culture, finds it difficult to adjust in his own home culture it is another a kind of culture shock called reverse culture shock. The degree of cultural differences, person’s psychological development and maturity play a major role in determining the intensity of culture shock. Cultures vary across the world. Lack of cultural understanding may make one mistake others. The best preventative measure against and the best remedy for culture shock can be proper inter-cultural education and awareness. This book aims at bringing about awareness on culture shock and educating people on preventing culture shock from ruining their life.
180 978-81-314-1454-5 IUP on Dell Business Strategy:Growth and Success www.nbcindia.com Business Strategy Kalai Selvan N 11-Jul-08 308 19 475 0 0 Dell Inc., is one of world’s largest computer hardware companies with nearly 80,000 employees across the world. Dell Inc., was founded by Michael Dell on November, 1984 at Texas, United States. Under the leadership of Michael Dell, Dell has grown from a small PC maker to a giant hardware company. His strategy made Dell align its business well with the computer technology market boom and eventually, Dell has become the market leader. It gained its competitiveness in the market place through its innovative business model, technology innovation, product innovation, supply chain management, and customer management. Dell has adopted an innovative business model which contributes to its exceptional growth and success. Its success in the global market is primarily because of its state-of-the-art and well-planned operational strategies and business model. Dell’s business strategy was focusing on low cost, quick delivery, and customer service. Dell realized the importance of supply chain management trend in the initial stage itself and became one of the most successful PC companies in the world by putting emphasis on its supply chain, orchestrating its build-to-order and direct sales strategies. It has developed its supply chain strategy which integrates the entire operation including supplier management, manufacturing, customer delivery, inventory management, logistics, etc. Michael Dell’s innovative direct-sales strategy together with efficient supply chain management has been successful in allowing his company to sell computers at competitive prices.
181 978-81-314-1455-2 Soft Skills: An Essential Ingredient For Success www.nbcindia.com Human Resource Management Dharmesh K Mishra 11-Jul-08 288 18 450 0 0 For years, the widespread belief has been that technical knowledge and technical certification contribute most to career development success for corporate professionals. According to recent surveys, however, soft skills are far more important than technical skills to reach the top of the career ladder. In fact, IT Training magazine reports that 96% of survey respondents judged soft skills as the most important contributor for achieving career success. There is a lot of argument in the industry whether it is possible to enhance soft skills in a few hours of training, especially, when one considers the fact that a person has lived with those traits all his life. To this, the answer is harsh but real – a professional who wants to do well in his/her career does not really have a choice. More and more corporations around the world are recognizing the fact that, in order to gain competitive advantage, in addition to the obvious skills, they also need to make sure their people know how to handle themselves at work and relate with their customers and peers. Empathy, optimism, self-awareness and knowledge of what’s going on around them are the vital competencies employees of a progressive organization need to possess. All these constitute what we call ‘soft skills’. The book is divided into 2 sections. The first section is titled “Soft Skills – Self Perspective” and the second section is titled “Soft Skills – Organizational Perspective”.
182 978-81-314-1432-3 Dynamics of rural labor market www.nbcindia.com Economy Sridhar Krishna 11-Jul-08 260 17 425 0 0 Employment generation is possible in the rural areas only through access to land but rural labor markets all over the world are having a transformation where there has been a diversification of employment opportunities with non-farm employment having gained importance. Investment in services such as education and health are of prime importance in strengthening the capacity of rural people to leave the remote areas and compete in higher skill markets. Actually in 40 percent of Latin America and three quarters in parts of Sub-Saharan Africa rural income is generated in the rural non-farm economy. Agriculture and rural non-farm activity are interlinked. In Sub-Saharan Africa most rural families are engaged in small farms in varying degrees as one component of diversified livelihoods. Rural labor markets can be improved only through recognizing the importance of human resources and building it up through education, health and skills enhancement. Many rural labor markets are highly segmented on caste, tribe, age and gender lines. In rural labor markets in South Asia there is prevalence of work contracts and predominance of casual workers. The National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme implemented in India is an intervention in rural labor markets. NREGA raises the reservation wage of all workers in the rural sectors thereby providing bargaining power to rural workers. The book will prove useful to Government functionaries, economists, research scholars, and students of rural management and NGOs involved in rural development and political functionaries with a rural background.
183 978-81-314-1438-5 The Global Manager www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sudhakar G P Sumati Reddy 11-Jul-08 264 17 425 0 0 Current day organizations are becoming more global in nature. Many organizations require their managers to spend considerable amount of time managing overseas business. These assignments can range from short business trips to lengthy business assignments. Working in a foreign culture poses its own challenges, which these global managers have to face in addition to their business responsibilities. Some of these challenges include managing in a multicultural environment, which involves managing people from diverse backgrounds. Other challenges include linguistic challenges, culture shock, corruption, enabling the family to adjust in the new environment, etc. Managers being sent on assignments overseas need special training and orientation to prepare for these challenges. Companies can offer language courses, courses on cultural differences, and relocation training for the manager and his/her family. Further, global managers need to be assisted to bring about attitudinal adjustments to absorb cultural differences and to interact with colleagues in the new location, as all these factors will have a bearing on his/ her performance. Global managers can therefore be defined as those who operate across cultures. Some of these managers would have worked in as many as 20-30 countries or can have responsibilities spanning a 100 countries. More the number of countries included in one’s span of responsibility, more complex is the global manager’s work. This book makes a humble attempt to present some of the myriad challenges encountered by global managers in the course of their work. It also includes perspectives of the skills and competencies required of a global manager to be successful. This book will serve as a useful reading reference for business managers, human resource managers, management consultants, business teachers and business students.
184 978-81-314-1440-8 Heritage Brands www.nbcindia.com Marketing Madhavi Garikaparthi Bala Krishna A V 11-Jul-08 268 17 425 0 0 Heritage Brands are the brands that have withstood the times and become icons in the eyes of the consumers. They have become immortal brands by associating themselves with the customers for many decades. They carry brand heritage mark with them by surviving for many decades against all odds and competitive forces. However, many of world’s well-known brands today have become brand icons, not merely because they are very old and survived for many decades but because they have been quite responsive to the consumer needs all the way. Heritage brands built up their brand values and brand equities by associating emotionally with the customers. This emotional bonding with the customers coupled with their technological upgradation placed these brands where they are. There are many global heritage brands that have become beacons of the societies in which they operate by emphasizing quality, value, relationship management etc. Many Indian brands have attained the heritage status by being deeply interwoven with rich Indian culture, heritage etc. All these brands have something in common: they appealed to all age cohorts and enjoyed the unblemished customer loyalty. This book on Heritage Brands focuses on heritage brands from the perspective of brand management. It looks into various aspects of heritage brands by drawing from the experiences of well-known heritage brands.
185 978-81-314-1433-0 Business Networking – Strategies and Cases www.nbcindia.com Business Management Sangeetha K 11-Jul-08 236 16 400 0 0 In the current scenario of globalization, liberalization and privatization, networking has become a vital tool for an individual to be connected with the industry and with people across the globe; and this is crucial for new entrepreneurs who aspire to boost their contact base globally. Networking enables the net worker to: spot opportunities for business; provide for joint ventures and growth process; hire best talents; get referrals and the best of financial networks. Business Networking can be done through attending parties, trade fairs and professional seminars and conferences. But, the hot trend is the online business networking, the future resting on mobile networking. Successful networking depends upon having the right people in the right network, according to the environment and goals pursued, that will result in maximization of the company’s performance and business profits. A right mix of personality, attitude and networking tools and skills will make an individual distinct and be one step ahead of others in the competitive market place. Thus, a successful formula for an effective networking is ‘networking should be on an ongoing basis’ — a process that yields huge returns for the time and energy that are invested in the networking process. Besides, if online networking issues, such as protocol standardization, communication policy, data security, safety of intellectual property and user privacy are properly addressed, it is for sure that it can expand collaboration and relationship building in a safer and unlimited environment that unites the countries into a global village for making business operations easy. This book is designed to capture the significance of Business Networking and its benefit and analyzes the various tools and strategies for an effective building and maintaining of network for business and social reasons.
186 978-81-314-1442-2 Green Marketing Strategies www.nbcindia.com Marketing Amitabha Ghose 11-Jul-08 232 16 400 0 0 One business area where environmental issues have received a great deal of discussion is marketing. When the society becomes more concerned with the natural environment, businesses have begun to modify their behaviour to address the society’s “new” concerns. Terms like “Green Marketing” and “Environmental Marketing” have become more popular. Many Governments around the world have become so concerned about green marketing activities that they have attempted regulation. Unfortunately, majority of the people believe that green marketing refers solely to the promotion or advertising of products with environmental characteristics. Pesticide free, Phosphate free, Recyclable, Refillable, Ozone-friendly and environment-friendly are some of the terms consumers most often associate with green marketing. Thus, green marketing incorporates a broad range of activities, including product modification, changes in the production process, packaging changes, as well as modification of advertising. This book captures the history of green marketing since the early 1990s and provides a strategy of both theory and practice in order to understand how the marketing discipline may yet contribute to progress towards greater sustainability. The market of ecological or green products is growing exponentially at global level with a focus on international marketing strategies of eco-companies. The book highlights the issues surrounding the marketing of ecological products in the international marketplace, the challenges and opportunities for the eco-companies for international marketing, including some case studies. Issues related to product modification, changes in the production process, labeling and packaging changes, modifying advertisement, certification for international market that conform to the green marketing norms are also dealt with.
187 978-81-314-1436-1 IUP Series on Marketing of Financial Services : Trends and Cases www.nbcindia.com Finance Dhandapani Alagiri Keerti Mallela 11-Jul-08 220 15.5 400 0 0 The financial services marketer of today must have the intent to understand the customers’ needs, their financial priorities and the resultant increase in the financial institution’s profit. For this purpose, strategies like cross-selling, third party selling and many other techniques have been developed by financial institutions. Marketing financial services has become a retail trend in India and has been attracting many investors into its domain, due to each service’s unique profit-making capabilities. The financial services marketer is challenged with marketing these services using different strategies and techniques. Right from lead generation for sales to post-sales services, the financial services marketer has the responsibility to carefully review the customer and understand his needs. A customer’s financial priorities play a vital role in his purchase of the financial service – right from products and services like savings accounts to advanced services like mutual funds. Good communication skills are considered essential to build, nurture and expand customer relationships and selling services. By asking the right questions, opportunities quickly become apparent. By learning how to listen, needs can be fulfilled and relationships can be cemented. Nowadays, the major initiative taken by today’s financial institutions and banks is towards data and information security. Many software packages and techniques have been developed to facilitate financial institutions to secure their customer data as well as internal data and statistics. This book of marketing financial services gives an overall perspective of different marketing strategies followed in marketing different services like banking services, mutual funds and insurance.
188 978-81-314-1439-2 IUP on Essentials of Leadership www.nbcindia.com Leadership Sumati Reddy 5-Jul-08 212 15.5 400 0 0 Every leader wants to be equipped with the magic formula to be successful. What makes a leader successful? Many books have been written with an aim to offer the magic potion that will help them become successful. Many broach the theme of whether leaders are born or made. Going with the belief that leaders can be made, this book presents perspectives on the essential characteristics required of any leader to be successful. A leader with a strong character is a prerequisite to make a difference. Without a strong sense of integrity and ethics, a leader cannot bring about any change. Moreover, since he/she serves as a role model for employees as well as external stakeholders, he has to have a strong sense of ethics. In addition to character, there are other elements of behavior which he must pay equal attention to. These behaviors pertain to interpersonal conduct, being perceived as an approachable and likeable leader, being sensitive to others’ values etc. While leaders have to be equipped with technical skills and business skills to be able to achieve success in their chosen fields, they need to be equally good in the art of interpersonal skills. This book focuses on the essential skills required of a leader to be successful. Business teachers, business students and anyone who holds a leadership position in any capacity would find this book to be worthwhile reading.
189 978-81-314-1446-0 Ecological Impact of Road Transport www.nbcindia.com Infrastructure Asis Kumar Pain 5-Jul-08 200 15 375 0 0 Ecology and economy have long been linked with each other. At the same time, economic development and ecology are somehow inversely related. It is because technological developments create pressure for environment and, in turn, destroy ecology. Economic growth and development comes through the development in agricultural sector, industrial sector and through development in the tertiary sector. But to effectuate such development process, the role of transportation sector is primal. The fruits of development are translated among the common masses through the help of transportation sector. Within the transport sector, the role of surface transport is an essential ingredient for development to take place. Turning to the present situation, it can be unambiguously said that the current trends in the transport sector are environmentally and therefore, economically and socially unsustainable as transport operations, especially, the surface transport pollutes the environment in many ways. It has direct as well as indirect impact on health in terms of accident occurrence, respiratory problem and raising the propensity of lung diseases. This book is a modest attempt to capture the impact of surface transport on ecology and environment. The book has been divided into two sections. The first section gives a brief idea about the concepts of surface transport’s impact on ecology whereas the following section deals with country experiences, ecological impact of surface transport and the remedial measures.
190 978-81-314-1465-1 Indian Rural Markets and Marketing Practices – Recent Developments www.nbcindia.com Marketing Swapna Gopalan 5-Jul-08 204 15 375 0 0 India is a land of great contrasts. On the physical front, the country’s northern border is marked by the barren, snow-capped Himalayas, south of it lies the low, fertile Ganges Plain, the west is made of the Great Indian Desert, while the eastern region, in sharp contrast, is the recipient of some of the highest rainfall in the world during the monsoon. Cultures, traditions and habits of people of each of these regions have developed around the resources they enjoy and hence, the differences between them are as vast and different as the physical terrain they occupy. Linguistic, religious and economic differences have only added to the diversity of this second most populous nation in the world. The urban-rural divide is another manifestation of the existing contrasts in the country. Rural India, home of more than 70 percent of the country’s population, is considered to be the largest rural market in the world. Yet, corporate houses in India, for long, neglected this vast potential market, because of the inherent difficulties associated with catering to such a large, scattered and diversified consumer base. Factors like low standards of living, people’s traditional outlook, and socio-economic backwardness only aggravated the marketers’ lack of inclination to reach out to the rural poor. They preferred, instead, to make profits from the large margins they receive by selling to the elite categories living in urban areas. However, increasing competition and saturating Indian urban markets have now forced companies to seek out rural markets that promise to be an extremely viable alternative. Very few companies have really managed to understand and exploit these territories with success. Undeterred though, many companies like HLL and ITC have used innovative strategies to win over rural customers with great success.
191 978-81-314-2031-7 Banking and The Law – A User s Manual www.nbcindia.com Banking Murty G R K 4-Jul-08 460 25 625 27.5 700 “The present work… covers the whole network of issues, small and big, that a banker is confronted with, and provides authentic, easy-to-access, pragmatic and reliable solutions. The applicable provisions (from various Acts) have been discussed with exceptional clarity and pithy analysis, and presented to the banker with even non-legal background, avoiding the unnecessary legal jargon, in a manner that he will be able to apply them to a situation and find a ready-made solution. The author has taken care to enlighten the professional readers with various stages of civil litigation like pre-filing, filing, interface with advocates and so on. A lesser author would have been lost in the labyrinth of a bewildering range of legal problems involved, but GRK Murty has ensured that the discussion has always been pruned and focused to suit the particular requirements of the reader.”
192 978-81-314-1470-5 Medical Tourism: Perspectives and Specific Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Jayshree Bose Sumathi B 4-Jul-08 380 22 550 0 0 This comprehensive book on medical tourism focuses on many crucial issues that have not been detailed earlier. Medical tourists travel as cross-border patients to other countries to avail of internationally benchmarked healthcare services at considerably low costs. This is mainly on account of some restrictive factors in their own country of origin: cost disadvantage, under insurance or lack of insurance, long wait periods, or, inadequate healthcare facilities for rare or even common diseases and therapies. This book is a compilation of informative and insightful articles that capture various aspects of medical tourism in India and in other countries. It also demolishes some common myths about medical tourism, for the first time, ever. The highlight is an exclusive interview with Dr. Prathap Reddy, Chairman of Apollo Hospitals (India), and articles from very senior professionals from Apollo and Wockhardt, two of the three hospital groups in India to have acquired the prestigious Joint Commission International (JCI) accreditation. The book provides comparative cost analyses, and highlights aspects – many for the first time – such as cross-border legal issues, insurance, and the crucial role played by therapeutic hospital design and architecture in fulfilling cross-border patient expectations. It also presents deep insights into healthcare accreditation, affords a global perspective of the importance of alternative medicine in medical tourism and presents detailed experiences of countries that have emerged as forerunners in medical tourism. The book would be of great interest to doctors, patients, hospital administrators, health department officials, healthcare architects, legal professionals, venture capitalists, private equity funds and other lenders, accreditation agencies, Ministries of Tourism, medical tourism intermediaries and others.
193 978-81-314-1962-5 Cluster Initiatives: Engine of Economic Growth www.nbcindia.com Industry Bala Bhaskaran P 4-Jul-08 268 17 425 0 0 “‘A chopstick can easily be snapped, but a dozen is hard to break’
This Chinese adage is true for the development of industrial clusters. ‘Clusters’ are geographic concentrations of inter-connected firms, specialised suppliers, service providers, associations or institutions in a specific field that are inherent in a region or a nation. Clusters can emerge out of specific resources of the region like raw materials, or out of specific group of products like auto components or out of specific skills like jewellery and so on.
Since time immemorial, clusters have been emerging at various places and at various times based on the inherent natural factors. They arise because they enhance productivity through networking and through sharing of information and skills; this leads to better scale economies, market access, competitiveness and sustainability. Development and upgrading of clusters is very often an important agenda of policymakers, governments and development institutions.
Initiatives of cluster development have emerged as an important direction of economic policy, building on prior initiatives of macro-economic stabilisation, privatisation, market access and decreasing the cost of doing business.
The book will explore the concept of clusters, its emergence in various parts of the world, the nature of the initiatives taken by various governments and the experiences in developed and underdeveloped countries. The book is designed to be a primer for anyone who desires to understand the concept of clusters and the prospects of development through cluster initiatives.
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194 978-81-314-1968-7 The Icfai Dictionary of Industrial Psychology and Ergonomics www.nbcindia.com General Anamika Sharma 4-Jul-08 248 16.5 425 0 0 “The Icfai Dictionary of Industrial Psychology and Ergonomics is addressed to the undergraduate & postgraduate students of industrial psychology, organizational behavior and ergonomics (human factors engineering), industrial & organizational psychologists, behavioral scientists, management consultants, OD consultants and the faculties in the concerned areas and general readers, whose daily work demands some familiarity with terminology of Industrial Psychology, like meaning of I/O (Industrial/Organizational) Psychology and its allied areas, research methods, recruitment, selection, training & development, work climate, applied motivation in industries, role of cognition, psychometrics, psychophysics, methods, measures, tools and techniques in human factors, quality management, organizational re-engineering, and labor and industrial relations, etc. The dictionary also addresses terms from the conceptual level to the advanced level in a precise manner. It aims to provide a comprehensive companion to support other reading in a discipline which employs remarkably similar terminology.
This dictionary is an alphabetical, authentic and accessible reference guide to the main ideas and teaching connected with the basics of and advances in Industrial Psychology & Ergonomics. The book is designed to cover the salient facts and features of various terms of I/O Psychology and Human Factors Engineering and, also explore psychological development in industries and organizations from technology and business perspectives. Over 2400 entries define and explain clearly the salient facts within the context of I/O Psychology. It incorporates up-to-date information which will certainly appeal to active psychologists, trainers, human resource managers, teachers and students of industrial psychology, organizational behavior and ergonomics.
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195 81-314-1285-1 Case Studies on Mergers and Acquisitions in Manufacturing Sector www.nbcindia.com Mergers & Acquisitions Kumar Satyaki Ray Arindam Mukherjee 28-Jun-08 300 0 0 50 1250 Manufacturing remains the most attractive sector. Many multi-national companies are increasingly considering corporate restructuring and mergers and acquisitions as a necessary condition for continued growth and success. Firms decide to merge with or acquire other companies for various reasons. Some transactions may be motivated by firms trying to take advantage of free cash flows. Others may be explained by the strategies pursued by multinationals to enter new markets and extend their competitive advantage abroad, to seek strategic assets such as technology and management capabilities, to realize economies of scale and scope by restructuring their businesses on a global basis and, last but not the least, to eliminate actual or potential competitors. Merger activity can have substantial and complex effects on the economy. The strategic and financial opportunities arising from combining the businesses may create synergies, which maximize benefits to both parties. The pooling of assets through mergers and acquisitions can lead to efficiency gains, with benefits to all stakeholders involved. At the same time, mergers and acquisitions are not without risks. Corporations need to secure the right deal at the right time and price, and integrate the acquisition to realize their strategic objectives. The success or failure of the whole process depends on the right balance of tangible attributes like corporate governance strategies, value creation strategies and financial strategies with intangible attributes like human resource strategies and management policies. The global M&A deals amounted to $3.7 trillion with 31825 closed deals in 2006. During the first half of 2007 the value of global M&A deals had leaped to $2.5 trillion in the first quarter. This clearly shows the accelerated pace in M&A activity across the globe. This book is an attempt to decipher the important elements of success and reasons for failure of mergers and acquisitions in manufacturing industry in general, with specific cases from cement, medical equipment, beverage, consumer goods, computers and white goods industries.
196 81-314-1194-4 Selected Essays in Macroeconomics: A Study www.nbcindia.com Economy Bhaskara Rao B Venkata Seshaiah Sakalya 25-Jun-08 280 19.5 500 22 550 This book consists of 19 selected papers of Professor Rao. In the first part, on the methodological issue, he argues that the aggregate demand and supply model (ADAS), which is the current dominant macroeconomic textbook model, is logically unsatisfactory. Easy to understand, these methodological essays clarify many confusions of lecturers in macroeconomics. The second part consists of several econometric papers on the estimation of the disequilibrium macro models for the USA and UK. It is shown that the Keynesian and neoclassical models can be nested within the disequilibrium framework, and the econometric results favour the Keynesian model. The final part consists of several recent papers in which time series, econometric techniques based on unit roots and cointegration have been applied to a number of topics. These are easily comprehensible to any applied economist with only a modest background in the econometric theory.
197 81-314-1245-2 Global Exports: An Overview www.nbcindia.com Economy Ishita Mukherjee Debjani Mitra Sarkar 25-Jun-08 276 18 450 0 0 Trade facilitation has become a vital issue for developed and developing nations across the world. The issue is so important that it was discussed in various rounds of WTO proceedings. Globally, export promotion is seen as an important strategy for economic growth. Export promotion consists of activities that assist in greater acceptability and marketability of the export items. Nowadays, every country is emphasizing export promotion, to increase its volume of export. This eventually helps the country to overcome the real or perceived obstacles to exporting. This book highlights various drivers of export performance (both positive factors and constraints) and also issues related to the latest WTO meeting at Hong Kong. In the light of the factors influencing exports, the book throws light on the success stories of various countries that are boosting their exports through appropriate measures and strategies in a systematic format. For example, China has witnessed a rapid growth in manufacturing and India in software exports. The export promotional strategies and initiatives of Governments and different institutions of countries to enhance their export competitiveness, have been discussed comprehensively in this book. This book will serve as a valuable reference for scholars, entrepreneurs, export firms, policymakers, and those who are interested in the vital determinants of exports.
198 978-81-314-1989-2 Issues and Experiences in Service Sector Growth www.nbcindia.com Economy Rashmi Joshi 10-Jun-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 “According to various theories of economic development, the growth of an economy is intrinsically linked to the changes in the structure of production. Most economies follow three stages of economic development: primary, secondary, and tertiary. The primary stage is propelled by labor- and natural resource-intensive agriculture, the secondary by capital-intensive industry, and the tertiary by knowledge-intensive services. Countries around the world have undergone structural changes in their economies which explain the changes in the relative shares of the three sectors in the GDP.
Service sector has emerged as the largest and the fastest-growing sector in the global economy since the last decade and its contribution to employment generation is also substantial. The present book brings out the role of the services sector in the process of economic growth of an economy. The issues and challenges facing the sector are also highlighted, so that a comprehensive policy framework can be adopted so as to bring about a balanced growth of the services sector. The characteristics of the Indian and country experiences of the services sector growth is the major highlight of the book.
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199 978-81-314-1977-9 Virtual Leadership – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com HR Aparna Bellur Harsh Bhargava 10-Jun-08 236 16 400 0 0 ‘Virtual’ organisations are a reality. How do real life leaders adapt to become ‘Virtual Leaders’ in such organisations? How do we nurture such virtual leaders? How have industries like IT coped with the demands of managing virtual teams dispersed across the globe? How do global corporations use technology to help manage operations across continents? These are some of the questions this book on ‘Virtual Leadership’ attempts to address. Be it the knowledge or technology sector, banking, financial institutions, manufacturing or even the United Nations organisations of today not only need to deploy outstanding leaders but also need to nurture leaders for replenishment and attrition. Although attrition has always been there, it has become acute in sectors such as IT, BPOs, retail etc. Many of the characteristics of leadership are true for ‘Virtual Leadership’ also. The book brings out the peculiarities of operating in a virtual environment and the demands it places on Virtual Leaders. This multi-disciplinary book aims at providing a bridge between the traditional perspective of leadership (as viewed from theoretical Organisational Behaviour angle) and the best practices in building leaders in the industry (as viewed from technology and process perspectives). The book further documents another dimension of ‘Virtual Leadership’ as practised by a leading NGO in India for connecting global experts to their roots for a chosen social cause. The book would be of interest to CXOs in industry, academia, NGOs and researchers in the area of leadership in today’s virtual organisations.
200 81-314-1254-1 Trust Management in Virtual Environment www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Ravi Kumar Jain B 10-Jun-08 228 16 400 0 0 To date, “Web Security” has been associated with debates over cryptographic technology, protocols and public policy, obscuring the wider challenges of building trusted Web applications. Since the Web aims at being an information space that reflects not just human knowledge but also human relationships, it will soon realize the full complexity of trust relationships among people, computers and organizations. This has led to a new breed of systems – electronic trust management systems – which are quickly becoming an indispensable component of every successful digital community. Trust Management (TM) is an emerging framework for decentralizing security decisions that help developers and others in asking “why” trust is granted rather than immediately focusing on “how” cryptography can enforce it. Trust management is an attempt to design and evaluate reliable systems whose objective is to help create trust among online communities. The efficacy and sustainability of new age Internet applications that facilitate community building on the Internet – wiki, blogs, collaborative publishing, virtual communities – are essentially based on mutual trust among the participants. Given the anonymity one can enjoy on the Internet and the virtual nature of the WWW space, the significance of trust management need not be overemphasized. Trust is a precondition for the continued existence of any market or organization or a community in general. Furthermore, several properties of online interaction are challenging the accumulated wisdom of our communities on how to create trust and calls for the development of new mechanisms and systems. This book attempts to do just about that by providing insights into this new emerging framework on the Internet.
201 81-314-1386-1 Forensic Accounting and Financial Frauds – Volume I www.nbcindia.com Accounting Padmavathi C Sunitha T 20-May-08 356 21 525 0 0 Forensic Accounting is not a new discipline. Its history can be traced back to the 1890s. The word “forensic” has an exotic connotation. Just as forensic medicine, which supports court cases, forensic accounting is an accounting discipline used in a court of law. A forensic accountant is essentially an investigator who unravels the truth using financial intelligence. Forensic Accounting is an investigative accounting and auditing procedure that provides an analysis suitable to the courts, and which will form the basis for discussion, debate and ultimately dispute resolution. In other words, it is the application of accounting knowledge and investigative skills necessary to identify and resolve legal issues. Financial records of different entities (non-profit organizations and charities) have been used to reconstruct the financial transactions and operations and to reduce the flow of money for terrorist activities. This book attempts to present a comprehensive literature on Occupational Frauds. An occupational fraud is ‘the use of one’s occupation for personal enrichment through the deliberate misuse or misapplication of the employing organization’s resources and assets. This reveals victimization of an organization by insiders. They take the form of misappropriation of assets and falsification of statements etc.
202 81-314-1382-9 Prosperity Index: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Economics Asha Joshi 20-May-08 328 20 500 0 0 Prosperity Index is an open-ended concept which includes and focuses on the overall development of the nation by approaching and governing the well-being, development and growth of an individual. Human prosperity basically includes the satisfaction level attained by the individual in material, monetary, physical and mental forms. Prosperity is relatively a new subject discussed by the economists considering the connection between individual happiness and economic outcomes. The wealth of the individual needs to be considered in its relative terms as the increase in income does increase well-being up to a specific point, but has insignificant effect after that point. Research surveys carried out on happiness and economics generated many noteworthy policy implications for improving, raising the well-being of an individual. Indicators like economic, religious and political freedom and civil liberties, economic growth and economic development play a fundamental and distinguished role in measuring the economic prosperity of any nation. Several Indexes like Human Development Index, Happy Planet Index, Genuine Progress Index, Gross International Happiness and Gross National Happiness are discussed in the book, which are developed by various international organizations and institutions for measuring human well-being. The book has three sections which explain the evolution of the concept ‘Prosperity Index’ the factors supporting it, and the rising awareness about the same world over they are titled I) Road to Prosperity II) The Pillars of Prosperity and III) Country Perspectives. The book looks into a very contemporary issue which will take the reader to a total thoughtful journey towards happiness, well-being, and economic freedom through the road of prosperity index.
203 978-81-314-2048-5 The Icfai University Press on Gender Discrimination: Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Gender Issues Jayshree Bose Sushuma G 20-May-08 328 20 500 0 0 “After the World Bank came out with alarming statistics in 1993 that revealed the true intensity of violence and discrimination against women (VAW), and its impact on global health, economic growth and progress, it triggered off a spate of debates about why VAW should not be regarded as a domestic evil, but as a national and an international problem. This was followed by the Beijing Summit, also in 1993, which recognized VAW as a major violation of basic human rights, for the first time ever. VAW has come to occupy centre stage since then. The book discusses a wide gamut of burning issues such as female foeticide and infanticide, the social impediments to women’s inheritance to property in spite of a reformed legal system, women and unpaid labour and its negative impact on GDP and the various faces of discrimination against women in the workplace such as The Glass Ceiling and The Maternal Wall syndrome. It also includes cases of professional discrimination against women in high profile corporate America, as well as other countries’ experiences.
Presenting the other side of the picture, one of the articles discusses in detail how men are playing an exceedingly important role in eradicating VAW. It also profiles women who have shattered the Glass Ceiling. Finally, the book ends with a comment on the importance of gender budgeting and its role in empowering women, and extols the effective style of communicative management being practised by women managers.
This book gives a holistic view of the most crucial aspects of the gender divide and discrimination so that the real magnitude of the problem comes through. It will be of interest to policymakers, academicians, corporate managements, legal practitioners, economists, social activist groups and NGOs, and all ordinary citizens-be they women or men.
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204 978-81-314-2046-1 Marketing of Organic Products: Global Experiences www.nbcindia.com Agriculture Bhaskaran S Suchitra Mohanty 20-May-08 316 19 475 0 0 “In the past few decades, demand for organic food and non-food products has expanded rapidly on a global basis, motivated by consumer perceptions that organic products are safer, cleaner and healthier when compared to conventional products. The demand for organic products is growing at a fast rate in the key organic markets of the World, like United States, Europe, Japan, Turkey, China and France which are major consumers of organic food products. Consumer demand for organic products is outstripping supply, with most categories experiencing product shortages. The US market has reported accelerated growth since the USDA implemented the National Organic Program (NOP) in the year 2002. Some of the largest organic food companies in the world are based in North America. Companies like, Hain Celestial and Whole Foods Market are expanding internationally.
The market for organics continues to grow in all food categories. The demand for all organic food products, that includes the market for processed foods and prepared organic meals remains strong. The potential for profits in the organic food sector exists for all industries along the supply chain. This is especially true of products in the social choice market segment. Though the demand for organic products is increasing, the farmers are still sometimes, looking for support of the government to popularize and increase the consumption pattern. Due to the environmental benefits & positive health factors, organic farming is poised for a quantum leap in the coming years.
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205 978-81-314-2056-0 Cultural Industries: Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Management Bala Krishna A V Ramani V V 20-May-08 238 16.5 425 0 0 “Cultural industries are the industries that develop and commercialize content based on culture and heritage. These industries embrace all the cultural contents that include publishing, printing, arts, crafts, advertising, multimedia, films, audio-video, painting, and performing arts. More industries – architecture, design, fashion industries etc., are embodied under the purview of cultural industries. Globalization opened up new opportunities for producers of cultural goods and services. Twenty first century’s economic conundrum coupled with the advent of new technologies in the areas of media and communication, led to new enigmas for cultural industries.
Immense growth in international tourism and service sector along with increased spending from the visiting tourists on procuring cultural goods/services and the increasing potential for commercialization of original contents opened up new opportunities for cultural industries in the international context. Potential to generate huge employment opportunities and environment-friendly sustainable development prompted many governments to accord top priority for cultural industries on the domestic front. Integration and sharing of traditional knowledge sought more cooperation among partners in the international summits.
Jodhpur initiatives signals increased regional cooperation and world bodies UNESCO, WIPO, UNIDO etc., work in the direction of promotion of international cooperation in the field. Emerging economies of Asia, Africa, Latin America, UK and Western Europe with rich cultural heritage signify the development of cultural industries and their flourishment in the ensuing century. This book focuses on perspectives and experiences against the backdrop of changing economic priorities.
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206 978-81-314-2057-7 The Icfai Dictionary of E-business Terms www.nbcindia.com E-Business/E-Gov/E-Learning Pradeep Kumar 13-May-08 468 25 625 0 0 “The Icfai Dictionary of Electronic Business (E-Business) Terms is addressed to students, teachers, practitioners and general readers, who want to follow E-Business discussions in the class and elsewhere, or whose daily work demands some familiarity with terminology of E-Business, E-Business and its related Technologies, Development of E-Business, E-Business Patterns, E-Business Design, E-Business Architecture, Enterprise Applications, Integrating Processes to Build Relationship, E-Business and ERP, Supply Chain Management and E-fulfillment, E-Procurement, E-Business Design, Strategy Formulation, E-Business Present and future, and Advances in E-Business etc. The dictionary also addresses terms from the conceptual level to the advanced level in a precise manner. It aims to provide a comprehensive companion to support other reading in a discipline, which employs remarkably similar terminology.
This dictionary is a guide to the main ideas and teaching connected to the basics of and advances in E-Business. The book is designed in such a way that it will cover the salient facts and features of various points of E-Business and, also explore E-Business development from technology and business perspective. Around 3300 entries define and explain clearly the salient facts within the context of E-Business. Its store of up-to-date information will certainly appeal to active managers, teachers and students of information technology and operations.
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207 81-314-1176-6 Corporate Governance and Sarbanes Oxley Act: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Corporate Finance Asis Kumar Pain Nirbachita Karmakar 13-May-08 280 18 450 0 0 In July 2002, the U.S. Congress passed the Sarbanes Oxley Act, particularly designed to make the US Corporations more transparent and accountable to their stakeholders. The main objective of the Act is to re-establish the confidence of the investors by providing good corporate governance practice to prevent corporate scams and frauds in business corporations. The SOX aims to improve the accuracy and transparency in the financial reporting, accounting service of the listed companies, enhance corporate responsibility and independent auditing. The applicability of the Act is not confined only to the publicly owned US companies, but also extends to other units that have registration with the Securities Exchange Commission. Corporate America has been blotted by many business failures like Enron, WorldCom, and there had also been earlier instances of failure. However, there is a common thread running between them, i.e. the governance ultimately matters. Unless corporate governance is integrated with strategic planning and share holders are really willing to bear the additional expenses that may be required, effective governance cannot be achieved. The above events encouraged the development of the present volume where the different aspects of the Sarbanes Oxley Act, its effects, limitations, internal control after the Act was passed and what lies beyond the compliance are delved into. Also discussed are the varied applications of the Act in areas like IT, fee structure of the Big Four Accounting Firms, the Mid-Size Accounting Firms, the Supply Chain management, and finally, the Insurance industry.
208 978-81-314-1963-2 Global Environmental Agreements: Insights and Implications www.nbcindia.com Governance Asha Joshi 13-May-08 284 18 450 0 0 “In this era of dramatic change in international affairs, which revolve around trade, environment, economics, politics, etc, specific mechanism is needed for their resolution. International agreements, as it says: inter-national is about agreements between countries. International environment problems are of common concern and know no boundaries, cooperative solutions are inevitable at international level which are to be implemented and enforced through international environmental agreements.
International Environmental Agreements are enforced and accepted by countries to address the environmental problems. The process of negotiation and mediation has become a customary form of international activity mutually acceptable by the countries to resolve or manage environmental disputes by non-violent means. International environmental agreements are part of global environmental governance under which risky environmental policy decisions are taken for the uncertain and risky environmental issues, disasters through the multilateral treaties, conventions, declarations and protocols. More than 150 international environmental treaties have been adopted since the 1972 Stockholm Conference on Human Environment, which illustrated global attention to the dangers of transboundary pollution and rapid resource depletion.
The book has two sections which introduces and discusses the evolution of various international environmental issues, agreements and perspectives between various countries focusing on the principles of sustainable development they are I) Introduction II) Issues and Perspectives
The book discusses the formulation, implementation and enforcement of transboundary environmental agreements. The issues sand perspectives addresses under various existing treaties in form of resolving, preventing the global environmental issues. The book highlights some of the successful treaties implemented and its functioning which may provide direction for new policy decisions.
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209 978-81-314-2047-8 Medical Tourism – A Growth Industry www.nbcindia.com General Rishi Anand Smita Gupta 13-May-08 228 16 400 0 0 “India has emerged as one of the most preferred destinations for medical tourists – A truth or a myth? This book tries to answer the question with the help of several case studies and cost comparative data. India is fast becoming the medical hub for foreign patients, offering instant treatment, quality services and round-the-clock service with tender loving care. India is trying to carve out a distinct niche for itself by leveraging on its existing strengths. Apart from surgical procedures, India offers traditional wellness and ayurvedic therapies and Kerala is the preferred destination. India has developed its brand for heart, orthopaedic, dental, eye and neurosurgeries. Due to globalization corporate interests in the healthcare sector are looking for opportunities beyond the national boundaries.
This book highlights the fact that if various players in this sector walk hand in hand they can create a better brand image of hospitals. With most modern equipment, specialists manning them and speciality hospitals, Indian hospitals have become the preferred destination – “the Mecca for healthcare”. A few new concepts like “Doctor Shopping” or “Doctor on call” are emerging.
India is becoming a favorite destination for medical tourists around the world because of the plethora of advantages it offers. It is expected that the number of tourists visiting India for the purpose of medical treatment will reach one million by 2012. India’s share in global tourism is expected to reach 1.5% by 2010.
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210 81-314-1392-6 Product Design – Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Marketing Suresh K 13-May-08 228 16 400 0 0 Design is a specialized discipline that needs a distinctive study. Usually it is considered a component of new product development. Product design has now emerged as a distinct discipline, due to its growing importance. As an integral part of new product development, design plays an important role in the commercial fate of products. What makes design stand out is the need for it to integrate several aspects. These include the basic product functionality, aesthetic looks, ergonomic features, manufacturing capabilities, customer sensibilities, cultural nuances, composition of materials, etc. Crucial for converting ideas into products, design influences brand positioning and corporate image also. This book covers the basics of product design, along with some of the challenges. These include the essentials of good design, stages involved, different levels of design, integrating design with research and innovation, etc. Apart from these, applications of product design in the following sectors are provided: ·Automobiles ·Aviation ·Semiconductors Approaches of BMW and IDEO to product design are also captured, besides case studies on Samsung, Motorola, Electrolux and Lenovo.
211 978-81-314-2040-9 Build-Operate-Transfer: Concepts and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Finance Azmal Hussain Santap Sanhari Mishra 13-May-08 216 15.5 400 0 0 All over the world, booming economies with high growth trajectory is necessitating tremendous spurt in basic construction, infrastructure and public utility system. This, coupled with massive outlay of resources leading to severe constraints, led to the genesis for alternative models for project funding, completion and delivery. The latest of such models is the emerging Build-Operate and Transfer (BOT) model. This, along with a few allied models, has been very successful in the infrastructure and construction industry. The model works on outsourcing the early stages of the projects execution to specialists, and once the projects start running smoothly it is taken over and run by someone else like the sponsor in this case. This book focuses on various aspects of the BOT mechanism and in the process traces the evolution of the BOT concept and its acceptability across various countries in many forms and applications. Attempts have also been made to elucidate various intricacies involved in the process because of the enormity of the factors and constraints involved. The contents of the book are expected to provide infrastructure professionals as well as anybody else concerned a practical know-how about the emerging model of project financing. The examples construed in the second section are expected to serve as lessons for those who are venturing into such kind of financing innovations.
212 978-81-314-2059-1 Knowledge Integration: Concepts, frameworks and applications www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Vishakha Munshi Ravi Kumar Jain B 13-May-08 204 15 375 0 0 “In organizational context, data represents facts or values of results and the structured relation among them is known as knowledge\information. To avail oneself of benefits from such knowledge, that must be understood, and when understood it must be applied. Knowledge is increasingly recognized as a crucial organisational asset. However, how to integrate knowledge is a challenge among knowledge workers. Integration is highly essential for ‘Leveraging Knowledge for Sustainable Advantage’. Many pioneering companies have realized the value of knowledge integration to enhance their products and customer service. Therefore, the level of interest for integration of knowledge has dramatically grown. Knowledge integration is a step ahead in the process of knowledge management. In essence, ‘knowledge integration’ is a set of revitalization initiatives that will help in achieving remarkable improvements in business capabilities, competitive advantage and long-term sustainability, ultimately resulting in sustainable market leadership, substantial financial benefits and radical business growth.
Knowledge integration is the explicit and systematic integration of vital knowledge and its associated processes, which translate personal knowledge into corporate knowledge. This integrated knowledge can be widely shared throughout an organization and aptly applied for sharing of best practices, successful Innovation, etc. This practice of integration broadens the path of organisational learning and helps in building superior knowledge capital. Thus, the key for achieving exceptional market position, sustained growth and enhanced profitability that will ensure dramatic, rapid and sustainable growth with better business performance to evolve as a market leader, firms should strive to integrate specialized organizational knowledge.
This book presents the concept of ‘Knowledge Integration.’ Fundamentally, It focuses on the concepts, frameworks and applications of Knowledge Integration. The book is targeted at various interest groups, including knowledge management professionals and Information technology and management professionals performing at all levels of organizations. Students, researchers and academicians in the domain of IT and management would also benefit from this book.
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213 978-81-314-1965-6 Corporate Social Responsibility in India: Past, Present and Future www.nbcindia.com Corporate Social Responsibilit Sanjay Kumar Panda 26-Apr-08 404 23 575 25.5 650 Business houses and corporate have been taking up social welfare activities from time to time. Recently, priority of business is getting widened from 1 P to 3 Ps by inclusion of People and Planet with Profit. Short-term, charity-based welfare interventions are being replaced by long-term, empowerment-based Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). Based on the realization, “Business cannot succeed in a society that fails”, CSR is being considered as an imperative for carrying on business in the society rather than as a charity. While CSR is relevant for business in all societies, it is particularly significant for developing countries like India, where limited resources for meeting the ever growing aspirations and diversity of a pluralistic society, make the process of sustainable development more challenging. CSR interventions – based on commitment, mobilization of employees-voluntarism, innovative approaches, appropriate technology and continuing partnership – have been making lasting differences in the life of the disadvantaged. Further, synergy of corporate action with the government and the civil society are making the CSR interventions more effective and facilitating the corporate carrying on business in the society. Covering a wide range of subjects from theory to practice, this book has outlined steps to be taken by the major stakeholders – the Corporate, the Government and the Civil society- for making CSR effective in the Indian context. Based on case studies and best practices, this handbook on CSR seeks to provide valuable insights and pragmatic solutions to the corporate managers. It will be of interest to government officials, NGOs and media and helps in making development sustainable in general and growth inclusive in particular.
214 978-81-314-1961-8 Changing role of trade unions – A paradigm shift www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sanjeev Kumar Singh 26-Apr-08 268 17 425 0 0 The male “breadwinner” model, on which much of trade union organization was based, has become increasingly inappropriate. Due to globalization, structural changes, the trend to individualism, new information and communication technologies, demographic changes, the more widespread adoption of neoliberal policies, changes in the character of work and the reform of production regimes, trade union membership and density have declined. The book serves to review the explanations of declining trade unionism focusing on both external threats and inadequacies of union organization, thereby identifying the challenges faced by unions if they are to increase membership. The book also reviews some features of the trade union response to decline and the wide range of reforms that have to be implemented, if trade unions are to reverse the decline. One of the major criticisms of contemporary union movements concerns their inability to come to terms with the social composition of an evolving labor market. Thus, trade unions require “renewal”, “revitalization”, “remaking” or “rekindling”. The reconfiguration of global production systems is certainly one of the most visible faces of the restructuring of work and employment with which trade unions now have to contend. Ultimately, the trade unions would have to embrace and reflect the aspirations of new labor market identities if they are to meet the challenge of renewal. This book will cater to the needs of labor economists, policy planners, employers, trade union leaders, HR consultants and practising managers.
215 978-81-314-1988-5 Indian Pharma: Going Global www.nbcindia.com Globalization Prasad B V S 26-Apr-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 Indian pharma companies are going global and emerging as MNCs. Even though Indian pharma started to internationalize in the 1960s, it gained momentum only in the 90s and the trend continues to increase in the current decade. Initially, Indian companies targeted emerging nations to globalize and now they are focusing both on developed and developing countries. There are huge opportunities available for Indian companies to tap worldwide due to the increase in population and disease. As the developing countries embrace globalization and urbanization, the lifestyle of people in there is undergoing major changes and it causes many diseases that are similar to those of the developed world. Hence, tremendous opportunities exist for Indian companies in developed markets like the US, Europe and Japan as well as developing markets like Brazil Russia, India, China, South Africa, and Mexico. Most of the pharma majors’ blockbuster drugs will go off patent in the coming years. This also spells out great opportunities especially for generic drug manufacturers. In order to tap these opportunities, Indian companies are going global through exports, Joint Ventures, Mergers & Acquisitions and Greenfield Investments. Indian companies are also engaging in Contract Research and Manufacturing Services. On the other hand, Indian companies are also out-licensing their products to global pharma firms. This book “Indian Pharma – Going Global” gives insights into the various strategies followed by Indian companies to go global, various markets tapped by them and their experiences in globalization.
216 81-314-1403-5 Managing Emotional Appeal in Advertising – Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Advertising and Media Pramod Rao Ravikant S Wawge 26-Apr-08 232 16 400 0 0 Emotions play different roles in making advertising effective. Different emotions and emotional-stimulators like happiness, curiosity, sorrow, humor, fear, beauty, etc., have been portrayed in advertisements. A punchline in an advertisement accompanied with strong emotional appeal, touches customers’ psychological needs and influences the perception about the brand image. In many advertisements, without actually conveying the product qualities, beautiful people (models) are used to connect with the audience at an emotional level. The audience then associate the brand with a specific emotion. Thus, human feelings are transferred towards a product or brand. This is an important and widely used process. In the advertiser’s world, this is termed emotional transfer. It is important to note that not all emotional appeals and emotional brands are successful. For advertisers, it is a matter of research to find the correlation between lifestyle-trends and emotional attachments and to answer questions, like why the audiences notice some advertisements and tend to forget others. There are many perceptions in the advertisers as well as the audience about emotional appeals in advertising. Particularly varied perceptions are observed in people regarding the use of fear or the use of sex appeals in advertising. With the changing lifestyles, emotional appeals used in the advertisements have also been changed. In today’s highly competitive world, emotional appeal to the customer is very critical and needs a thorough study of the lifestyle of the target audience, as the emotional preferences of customers make a difference in decision making. This book focuses on the above issues and throws light on the use of various emotional appeals as a strategy in advertising and its impact. The book is divided into two sections. The first section is about Concepts and the second section is about Cases.
217 978-81-314-1960-1 E-Government in Developed Nations: An Insight www.nbcindia.com E-Governance Vishakha Munshi 26-Apr-08 236 16 400 0 0 In today’s dynamically automated and constantly progressing world, there is cutthroat competition among companies and business houses in the world. This book explores how advanced IT tools can enhance the level of Government services. Electronic Government has the powerful ability to change the Government’s interaction with its citizens and businesses in a new style. The book deals with E-government as an upcoming trend in Government automation processes. The book content concentrates on building an efficient E-government, thus making it more competitive, efficient and productive. The book focuses on implementation of E-government in developed nations. The book, which is spread across three sections, captures the essence of modern Information Technologies such as World Wide Webs, Internet and Mobile Computing to reach out to citizens with its relevance in the internal functioning of the Government. The articles in these sections also throw light on the difference between E-Governance and E-government. The last section concludes by offering future visions for E-government applications around the globe. The book consists of several excellent articles touching upon different aspects in E-government adaptation processes. The articles highlight the need for an effective framework for building efficient E-government applications. It provides a list of developed nations who have successfully implemented E-government. The book observes the conditions that give rise to the efficient implementation of E-government in different developed nations across the globe. This book is an effort to discuss the main aspects of the implementation of E-government in various developed nations in a comprehensive manner for the readers. The book will form an interesting read for academicians, bureaucrats, software professionals, research laboratories, politicians & decision makers and Government organizations and institutions.
218 978-81-314-2093-5 The Complete Kritis of Sri Thyagaraja www.nbcindia.com General Books Maddali Venkata Subbaya 25-Apr-08 652 25 625 0 0 The inspiration to add one more book of Sri Thyagaraja’s compositions arose in the mind of the compiler, when he attended Thyagaraja Aradhana festival some time back. The inspired singing of the great vidwans and the enthusiastic response of the truly international audience sparked the idea in the compiler’s mind, that the saint-composer’s goal and the heart-felt enjoyment and enlightenment of the audience would be even better served if the text was available in English script and the original Telugu, with the full meaning in English. When he mooted the idea with late Dr. G. Venkatadri and his uncle Dr. R. Venkataraman, they welcomed and backed it. In brief, the idea is: to present in the composer’s original medium all the songs of Thyagaraja available to date, from the labors of previous compilers like Dr. Manchala Jagannatha Rao (published by TTD) and Sri T.S. Parthasarathy, with an occasional reference to the monumental work of Sri Govinda Rao, when necessary. This book serves the multiple objectives, such as: To provide for the lovers of Karnatic music, — and particularly Thyagarajs’s—who do not know Telugu, a version in English script notation. The saint-composer conceived of ‘Svara, raga sudharasayuta BHAKTI’ as heavenly. Indeed, in the next line of the song he proclaimed that those who stop with enjoying the great music alone are like herons and frogs sitting on a red lotus, missing the honey within. The heart melted by the music, is meant to receive the Bhava, the Bhakti. The vast circle of ardent lovers of Thyagayya’s music in India and abroad needed to be furnished with accurate and complete meaning of every line of his compositions. Not a single line has been left unclear in this book. It is appropriately being inaugurated at the 2008 annual celebration of the Thyagaraja Aradhana Samiti at Cleveland USA.
219 81-314-1387-X Forensic Accounting and Financial Frauds – Volume II www.nbcindia.com Accounting Padmavathi C Sunitha T 25-Apr-08 372 21 525 0 0 Forensic accounting is the application of specialized knowledge and specific skills to stumble upon the evidence of economic transactions. The ever-increasing corrupt business practices, corporate frauds, the much talked about financial statement frauds at Enron and WorldCom and other crimes have brought ‘forensic accounting’ to limelight. Rapid advances in technology sector transformed the nature of frauds. Countering sector-specific frauds require an overarching strategy distinctive to certain sectors. It has been recognized across all sectors that internal control reviews help prevent frauds. Specific internal control procedures designed with focus on frauds and managements’ stance in combating frauds partly solve the problem. However, the inherent limitations of audits and reviews bring to limelight the importance of the role of a forensic accountant. A forensic accountant is a professional who goes beyond the numbers and combines his financial expertise with investigative prowess to uncover frauds of all magnitude. A forensic accountant’s investigative services extend to cover a wide spectrum – from accounting violations, exposing tax evasions, financial misappropriations, employee fraud investigations, undertaking criminal investigations, resolving partnership disputes, marital dissolutions, bankruptcy, investigation into breach of fiduciary duty, capital market frauds, undertaking business valuations, investigation of family disputes, wrongful termination and countering terrorism. This book, the second in a series of volumes on Forensic Accounting and Financial Frauds, attempts to present a comprehensive literature on some specific white-collar thefts pertaining to specific sectors.
220 978-81-314-1945-8 Financial Market Innovations – Emerging Trends www.nbcindia.com Finance Radha Purswani 25-Apr-08 284 18 450 0 0 Innovations in financial markets have played a crucial role in shaping the economic landscape of the leading and also emerging economies of the world. In the past few decades, capital markets, risk management tools and techniques and financial services have witnessed many successful innovations leading to better integration and greater maturity of world financial markets. These financial innovations have promoted efficiency and growth of financial markets and provided low-cost and effective financial tools and instruments, have created new opportunities and thrown up new challenges for all market participants. The main objective of this book is to cover major innovations in the capital markets, risk management, banking and financial services. The book is divided into four sections. The first section gives an overview of significant innovations and trends in capital markets, risk management and financial services, explores the changing nature of financial markets and discusses a few recommendations for growth through innovations. The second section focuses on the changing scenario in the banking industry and various innovations like ULIPs, prepaid cards, mortgage innovation, microfinance, etc. The third section explores innovations and new developments in capital markets worldwide and covers some significant innovations like a new trading system at NASDAQ, hedge funds, exchange traded funds and real estate investment trusts, etc. Different derivative products which are in the spotlight in risk management are discussed in the last section.
221 978-81-314-1947-2 Ecotourism: Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Books Prabha Shastri Ranade 25-Apr-08 296 18 450 0 0 Ecotourism or nature travel has become the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry. Taking into consideration the growing importance of ecotourism at the global level, the United Nations had declared 2002 the International Year of Ecotourism, and organized the first Global Ecotourism Conference in 2002. The next major global conference on ecotourism was organized at Oslo by UNEP in May, 2007. It reviewed the achievements in the ecotourism field and assessed challenges facing the industry to strengthen the unique contribution of ecotourism to conservation and sustainable development. Various countries have brought out practical strategies in addressing challenges facing the ecotourism community. This book focuses on ecotourism experiences and strategies of these countries, ecotourism and local economic development, how ecotourism can generate employment options and economic benefits and its implications for nature and culture conservation. The book is divided into two sections and includes sixteen articles and one annexure. The first section discusses the concepts of ecotourism, (green travel or nature travel) ecotourism challenges within a sustainable development agenda, evaluating ecotourism from the perspective of host community and local tour operators, ecotourism and employment generation, luxury ecotourism which includes ecolodges in remote unspoilt locations. The second section includes country experiences and studies on India, Sri Lanka, China, Costa Rica, Malaysia, New Zealand, Finland and Uganda. The Oslo Statement on ecotourism by International Ecotourism Society and Global Ecotourism Conference 2007 is included as an annexure.
222 978-81-314-1948-9 Industrial Relations: Global and Indian Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Jegadeesan G 25-Apr-08 280 18 450 0 0 Healthy and orderly industrial relations in an enterprise generate democratic attitudes which lead to progress and stability. Eventhough workers demand equal say in decision-making, employers can and do resist these demands. This resistance has resulted in great dissatisfaction, distress and distrust among workers which they express through violent activities. This creates differences between employers and employees in the industrial world. Industrial disputes disturb the economic, social and political life of the whole country. So, in the interest of workers, employers and society at large, minimization of conflicts in various sectors is very important. Maintenance of industrial harmony is the need of the hour for enhancing labour productivity and developing Indian economy. Collaboration and cooperation is necessary to achieve organizational objectives. Therefore, it is essential that those who manage man-power resources understand human behavior. Modern industrialization has created a vast gap between the management and labour because of the workers’ lack of control over means of production. As employers are economically and socially powerful, workers are incapable of getting their grievances redressed. The evolution and approaches of industrial relations, its advantages, factors influencing it and the strategies employed are discussed in this book. Legislation relating to industrial relations, dispute resolution policy and role played by trade unions in maintaining good industrial relations are detailed. The purpose of industrial relations is to secure the highest possible level of mutual understanding and goodwill among the several groups which participate in production and other associated activities.
223 978-81-314-1906-9 The Global Paper Industry: Challenges and Social Dimensions www.nbcindia.com Industry Simantee Sen 25-Apr-08 296 18 450 0 0 Paper is used for writing, wrapping and packaging and for a variety of other applications ranging from kitchen napkins to the manufacture of building materials. In modern times, paper has become a basic material, one of the essential daily use products in the world. The development of the paper business has been a significant factor in the increase in literacy and the raising of educational levels of people throughout the world. The basic process of making paper has not changed in more than 2,000 years. It involves three stages: the breaking up of raw material in water to form a pulp, the formation of sheet paper by spreading this suspension on a porous surface and drying. However, the stages may have remained the same, but the process and concerns have transformed over the years. The life of a magazine or newspaper begins with trees being cut down in a forest and ends with the burning or recycling of old magazines or papers. The most harmful part of the process is paper production. Breaking down wood fiber to make paper consumes a lot of energy, which has to be managed well in order to comply with the environmental norms. Social implications and electronic facilitators are the key challenges faced by the paper industry. This book is divided into three sections, namely: the industry perspective, the global scenario and the social dimensions of the industry. Various aspects of the paper industry covered are: evolution of this industry, challenges faced due to changing customer wants, major global players and their competitors in this industry and its future.
224 978-81-314-1917-5 Gender Equality – Economic Implications www.nbcindia.com Economics Pheba Anandan Pillai 25-Apr-08 252 17 425 0 0 Gender inequality was prevalent in the society for ages. Gender inequality led to inequalities on social, economic and developmental fronts. The socio-economic inequalities affect lives of females, children and males as well, benefiting none. The seeds of gender equality were sowed during World War I. Thus emerged the concept of gender equality which means, “freedom for both men and women to develop their abilities and make their choices without restrictions and gender roles and prejudice”. United Nations officially declared ‘Gender Equality’ as its global goal, which was a landmark initiative. UN’s initiative and support from international organizations, federal governments and non-governmental organizations have enabled gender equality to progress. However, no country in the world has still been able to attain absolute gender equality. Gender equality in economic aspects includes economic opportunities and participation in economic activities. According to World Economic Forum’s Gender Gap Report (2006), only a little more than 50% of the countries have been able to reduce gender gap in accessibility to economic opportunities and participation. Women’s participation in economic activities has increased, but, a close look gives an insight into the stark realities; females’ work is undervalued, and they are forced to work more than men and pushed into low status jobs. Pay gaps continue to exist between males and females for the same job. Globalization has aggravated the challenges and issues of gender equality. In this context, this book presents an economic perspective of gender equality. The economic aspects covered are economic empowerment and progress of women, trade and financial capability and progress of nations, impact on savings, concept of gender budgeting, new aid modalities with gender equality in focus, impact of globalization and challenges towards gender equitable economic policies in the global economy. The book comprises experiences of economic gender equality in Canada, Norway, South Asia and India.
225 978-81-314-1904-5 Employee Discipline – Concepts And Issues www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Jegadeesan G 25-Apr-08 268 17 425 0 0 Discipline is the very basis of a well-organized and stable society. It forms the backbone of industrial management. No institution, howsoever progressive, can work effectively with indisciplined employees. The employee-employer relationship depends upon the overall control that an employer exercises over his employees, not only with regard to their performance of work in the establishment but also with regard to their conduct and behavior. Managements have to ensure proper maintenance of discipline for the smooth functioning of the organizations as well as for productivity enhancement. It is a reality that there are always many infirmities in an organization, and sometimes conflicts between the interests of two groups become inevitable. If such incidents do happen, they can be amicably settled with the help of appropriate machinery available in an organization. It is important to remember that whatever the points of difference, indiscipline on the part of the employee or employees will not be justified on any ground. The book delves into the concept and importance of employee discipline, causes of misconduct, disciplinary procedures, punitive model, progressive discipline model and positive discipline model, role of disciplinary committee, code of conduct, whistle-blower policy, investigation, documentation of the disciplinary procedure and punishment action which should be consistent and considerate. Issues like bullying, theft, below-standard performance and online data theft are discussed. Constructive disciplinary procedures like counseling and employee assistance programs can enhance the probability of a more beneficial outcome in terms of organizational effectiveness, enhanced learning and building a just culture.
226 978-81-314-1987-8 Soft Power: An Introduction to Core and Corporate Soft Skills www.nbcindia.com Management Anitha Arunsimha 25-Apr-08 256 17 425 0 0 We live in dynamic times when this morning’s innovation becomes afternoon’s commodity. Organizations put their best people in charge of opportunities for tomorrow rather than problems of today. Strategic capabilities and competencies rank high on the list and hence the Human Capital management endeavors to maximize the human capital. Unequivocally, human capital is the greatest resource of the world’s economy. Competency mapping and competency development have become essential Human Resources initiatives and interventions. Competencies include soft skills that influence human behavior such as emotional intelligence, decisionmaking, communication skills, conflict resolution, team work, perceptual skills, leadership and cross-cultural adaptability. Soft skills are the making of the human capital. They provide energy and cohesion. In a soft skills-enabled company, decisionmaking is smooth, HR systems are optimized, negotiations go well, communication has the passion and leadership is sustained. Right now it is the soft skills way and the highway. Soft skills comprise core soft skills and corporate soft skills. The core soft skills define the human side of doing business and form the premise to develop the corporate soft skills. This book “Soft Power: An Introduction to Core and Corporate Soft Skills” captures the synergy of the core and the corporate soft skills that nourish and nurture each other to tide over various challenges of the industry. It seeks to explore soft skills as an alternative paradigm that can optimize and sustain human resource for both professional and organizational success. Various core soft skills and corporate soft skills are featured in the book, depicting soft skills as a greater intelligence that is seen operating in and through everything.
227 978-81-314-1918-2 Abrupt Climate Change: Causes, Consequences and Policies www.nbcindia.com Environment Amrita Chakraborty 25-Apr-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 The book portrays the phenomenon of abrupt climate change in its present precarious state. Although mankind has been experiencing adverse weather conditions which have taken a severe turn in the last decade, there is still a blur in the minds of people regarding the grave cost and consequences of this climate “flip-flop”. In the recent past abrupt and unforeseen climate events had caused immense loss to life and property. For instance, Texas experienced the worst drought conditions ever recorded from autumn 2005 through spring 2006. There was unprecedented wild land fire, several, very large and complex, burning millions of acres in Texas (a combination of climatic conditions and a variety of human activity). Texas is not alone. Similar forest fires raged Greece. The city of California blazed in engulfing fires recently. Severe regional heat waves are becoming more frequent in a changing climate. European heat waves have become a cause of great anxiety. There has been severe decline in rainfall in South West Australia. India too has not been exempted by freak/unexpected weather conditions. Mumbai experienced unprecedented rainfall two years ago. Rajasthan, where even grannies hadn’t heard of floods, experienced unprecedented floods last year. In neighboring Surat, an 80-year-old was seen repeatedly in news channels, flummoxed by the intensity of floods in 2006. This book is an attempt to bring to light the severity of abrupt climate events and the policy measures being adopted to mitigate them.
228 978-81-314-1941-0 IUP Series on FDI Inflows in India and China – Sectoral Experiences www.nbcindia.com Economy Jayshree Bose 23-Apr-08 304 19 475 0 0 Countries have exploited the advantages of a globalized world and thrown open their economies to Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), which is a major driver of economic growth, today. FDI is crucial for the overall development of a country because it augments capital, employment and productivity within a country. This book is a comparative study of two countries, India and China. Although the two countries are a study in contrast, as far as their approach to attracting FDI inflows are concerned, there are some crucial common factors. One is that neither of these markets is saturated and, therefore, both offer enormous growth potential. The other is their advantage in terms of lower costs and skilled manpower. Both China and India have, therefore, been attractive destinations for FDI. But, whereas China’s model has been one of super fast track growth in terms of FDI inflows, surpassing all global standards, India has followed a model of gradualism. This has curbed FDI inflows into India as compared to China. This book deals with the experiences of India and China with FDI in various sectors, compares their respective experiences and points out the lessons each could learn from the other. One of the articles also focuses on FDI outflows from both the countries and provides a comparative study. China’s capacity to attract phenomenal volumes of FDI has its downsides too, as pointed out here. It has attracted the attention of researchers who conclude that between 25 per cent and 50 per cent of it could be attributed to roundtripping, or, circulation of capital. But are all forms of roundtripping backed by malafide intentions? The book provides a totally contrarian approach and, for the first time, emphasizes that certain forms of roundtripping are actually conducive to economic growth, although it also states the need for transparency and standardisation. The book would be of interest to foreign investment boards, policymakers in the government, economists, the corporate sector, central banks, faculty and students of finance and economics and others.
229 978-81-314-1969-4 e-Governance Today www.nbcindia.com E-Governance Sadagopan S 23-Apr-08 324 19 475 21.5 550 “E-Governance Today” is a comprehensive, optimistic and immensely useful survey of the accomplishments and promises of e-governance in India and abroad, written by one of India’s most knowledgeable scholars. It is essential reading for all those interested in how modern information and communication technologies can improve the relations of citizens to government and the operations of government itself.As expected from the foremost thought leader in the field of e-Governance in the country, the book brilliantly captures the state-of-the-art of e-Governance in India and provides a crisp view of the key issues of e-Governance. The case studies provided in the book are highly educative and make the book a must read for practitioners. Policy makers for IT adoption in the government will find the book to be an indispensable tool.
230 978-81-314-1925-0 Advergaming and Ingame Advertising – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Advertising and Media Mary Ipe 23-Apr-08 252 17 425 0 0 The greatest challenge to advertisers is gaining and maintaining eyeball time of the target audience. They use every gimmick to capture the attention of potential customers. The latest weapon in the advertiser’s arsenal is games. The process of blending advertisements into games is creating tremendous hype in the industry. Games – video, Internet, console, PC – which were considered geek boys’ toys are now successful tools to breakthrough the media clutter. The two variants of in-game product placements include advertising around the game (Advergaming) and advertising in the game (In-Game Advertising). This new marketing concept is gaining popularity, as the young tech savvy generation is increasingly connected to the Internet through computers and wireless devices such as mobile phones. The world of advergaming has opened up new business models and exciting advertising opportunities. According to Yankee Group, a Boston-based research firm, the advergaming industry is expected to reach a figure of $312.2 million by 2009. This book explores games as an advertising medium. It looks at the current and potential market for advergaming, the trends, and examines its effectiveness as an advertising tool. It also tries to give some insight into the players’ receptiveness to in-game ads and advergames. The book further expands on the emerging trends and applications in this promising area.
231 978-81-314-1975-5 Business Ethics: A Holistic Approach www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Kumar K B S 23-Apr-08 268 17 425 0 0 Today’s business environment has powerfully reinforced the importance of ethical behavior in business. Over the past several years, we have been bombarded with stories of corporate scandals from the accounting scandals at corporations such as Enron and WorldCom to the misleading analysis of powerfully conflicted stock analysts at firms such as Merrill Lynch and Goldman Sachs to the most recent charges of big-rigging by the United State’s largest insurance brokerage, Marsh & McLennan. These scandals have focused sustained attention on the issue of ethics in business and there is much to be learnt from them. However, understanding of ethics is still in inchoate stage. This book facilitates a comprehensive interpretation of ethics in a broader perspective, with a view to explaining and sensitizing the target audience about the significance of ethics from various domains’ point of view. Considering the importance and the inevitability of ethics at workplace, we realize that there is still a significant gap between the expected and realized application of ethics at workplaces. Much of the gap can be attributed to the lack of understanding and complacency towards ethics. The proposed book would appraise the role of ethics in various domains like finance, accounts, HR, leadership, marketing etc. The book provides a comprehensive picture of ethics, and discusses the responsibilities of managers towards the workplace ethics in each of the disciplines.
232 978-81-314-1982-3 Identity Theft, A High-Tech Menace www.nbcindia.com General Sameer A Zodgekar 23-Apr-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 You regularly use credit card to shop and dine. You pay your bills regularly. One day, you experience a shock of life to see an astronomical bill. After enquiry, you learn that your identity is stolen. Someone else has purchased goods! Sounds unbelievable? It is not! Incidences like this occur fairly regularly in markets such as the US and the UK. Now, they are assuming alarming proportions in India too! The crooks exploit the vulnerabilities in the system and carelessness of individuals and steal! There are ingenious ways such as phishing, skimming, shoulder surfing, keystroke logging and dumpster diving. Mail is sent to unsuspecting customers which look as if they are sent from authentic financial service provider. In reality, they are sent by thieves who ask passwords for important transactions. The websites are duplicated; and users are directed to those websites, which asks sensitive information. Individuals look over shoulders and note down your credit card numbers, date of birth and CVV numbers, while you are busy talking over phone. Enterprising thieves rummage through the garbage can to know the account numbers. Whole excel sheet of sensitive information is hacked. The thievery is becoming increasingly sophisticated. These phenomena have worried the Governments who are busy cautioning people and preparing laws to prevent identity theft. The book throws light on this sophisticated thievery and ways to prevent it. The first section takes readers through the ways by which the crime is perpetrated, while the second section provides useful information about ways to prevent identity theft.
233 978-81-314-1953-3 Participatory Natural Resource Management: A New Paradigm www.nbcindia.com Participatory Develo Azmal Hussain Arindam Mukherjee 23-Apr-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 “Participatory management of natural resources can offer a promising way of improving resource user-efficiency. Many countries have ventured into this with varied degrees of specificity and have often proved successful, whereupon participatory natural resource management (PNRM) has become a central strategy of different countries’ policy, laws and programs. The Governments of different countries have decided to mainstream service delivery through national and local government institutions, supported by direct block grants to local governments. It has become a generally accepted principle in international law that indigenous people should be consulted as to any decision affecting them, a norm which is reflected in articles 6 and 7 of I.L.O. Convention No. 169 and has been articulated by United Nations treaty supervision bodies of cases concerning resource extraction.
Moreover, participatory approach, which involves the wisdom and involvement of all stakeholders, including local knowledge, has been proved effective in many issues relating to land as well as other natural resources. This book focuses on the effectiveness of involving all stakeholders, particularly the indigenous people, in management of various natural resources. In this book, some of the experiences of institutionalizing and promoting participatory management of natural resources are compiled. The book also outlines the challenges for the process against the backdrop of the Government’s decentralization and local government reforms alongwith other impeding factors.
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234 978-81-314-1954-0 Social Justice: Concepts and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Social Development Azmal Hussain Santap Sanhari Mishra 23-Apr-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 “With an idea of just society, social justice gives individuals and groups fair treatment and a just share of the benefits of society. Everyone wishes to live in a just society, but different ideologies have different conceptions of what a ‘just society’ actually is. All the advocates of social justice tend to agree on the importance of rule of law, human rights, and some form of a welfare safety net. The assumption of some advocates of social justice that the pursuit of social justice requires the creation of an egalitarian society has been challenged by the new political-economic realities of globalization. The assumption that the maintenance of individual rights complements the pursuit of social equality has been challenged by racially-based attacks on social welfare benefits and civil rights. Most significantly, the assumption that a socially just society is one in which different groups share a compatible vision of social justice is also fraught with diverse challenges.
The purpose of this book is to propose some possible framework for conceptualizing the efficacy of the system of social justice. The first section attempts to conceptualize social justice and identify its different dimensions. The second section presents the current dynamics of social justice peculiar to various countries.
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235 978-81-314-1979-3 Forex Reserves in Asia: New Realities and Options www.nbcindia.com International Finance Jayanta Kumar Seal Sankhanath Bandyopodhyay 23-Apr-08 236 16 400 0 0 Central banks of emerging markets in Asia started making large stocks of forex reserves especially after the financial crisis of Asia (1997-98). Now the question is, whether they need to keep so much of reserves or not. Experts who are against keeping so much of reserves are of the opinion that, since most of them are invested in US Treasury bills, the return is very low. Therefore, opportunity cost of maintaining a large reserve is very high. They also argue that, instead of investing the forex reserves in the US Treasury bills, reserves can be utilized in high-yielding and high-risk assets. The risk factor can be ignored given the huge amount of reserves. The potential return from these projects would have been higher. On the other hand, supporters of the high forex reserves argue that low forex reserves may lead to devaluation of the currency which, in turn, might lead to financial crisis in the emerging markets. The foreign currency loan repayment and import become costly when the currency depreciates against foreign currency. This book is a unique attempt to capture the reasons and implications of the substantial increase of foreign exchange reserves of these economies. Particular emphasis is laid on analyzing the opportunity costs of holding such reserves and possible utilization of such reserves so as to obtain higher returns from them. Therefore, foreign exchange reserves are now not only for ‘self-insurance’ but also as an instrument for profitable investment for Asian economies.
236 81-314-1209-6 Case Studies on Financial Markets www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Chiradeep Chatterjee 23-Apr-08 248 0 40 1000 The days, when sovereign governments used to administer almost insulated economic systems, are gone. And gone with them is the age of savings by individual investors, secured and guaranteed by their respective governments. Post-globalisation, financial markets have become highly relevant to human society. Individual investors today look up to financial markets and have become savvy enough to tuck in the trends. From the macroeconomic viewpoint, interesting trends are the influence of the dollar on other nations, consolidation in financial markets, and the resurgence of Asian markets. The dollar’s influence persists mainly due to the continued acceptance of the dollar as the anchor for international trade. This makes US domestic economic policy effects to spill over into the distant economies. On the one hand, globalisation – abetted by proliferation of Internet – has influenced this. To counter US supremacy, capital markets – especially in Europe – have resorted to integration. They have embraced modern technology in a big way, worrying the US capital markets. On the other hand, globalisation has helped Asian countries benefit from the proliferation of manufacturing technology; also making them economic powerhouses. Resurgent Southeast Asian economies were dubbed as ‘Asian Tigers’. These nations – saddled by the vestiges of old practices – smacked of red tape and nepotism. But economic imperatives have made them embrace professional management practices. Of late, India and China emerged as potential economic superpowers. Experts predict they will exert greater influence on financial markets. The book has been divided into three sections: US financial markets, European financial markets, and Asian financial markets. There are cases related to market innovations and how advantages from them have been ified by human greed. Cases highlight issues relating to accounting principles and market regulations. Cases on European markets focus on how private equity has helped transform conservative businesses, integration of European bourses to counter US supremacy and other regulatory aspects. Finally, the Asian section focuses on the problems faced by Southeast Asian economies. Innovative instruments in Indian financial markets and inherent problems have also been discussed. This book will interest those people who want to get a deeper insight into the functioning of world financial markets.
237 978-81-314-2094-2 IT Today- Technologies,Products, Careers, Trends and People www.nbcindia.com IT Sadagopan S 23-Apr-08 408 0 25.5 650 IT (Information Technology) has been at the center stage of the society since 1995 – with the arrival of the Internet – E-mail, Web, Java, Google and the mobile phones are changing the very life-style of people across the globe, in every continent. This period also saw India emerging — Indians like Narayana Murthy, Infosys’ Chairman and Azim Premji, Wipro’s Chairman are hitting global headlines of The Economist and BusinessWeek. Indian IT companies TCS, Infosys and Wipro are Billion Dollar Corporations employing nearly 100,000 professionals each and operating in dozens of countries. Most global IT companies have direct presence, that too with significant number of employees in India. Global products (Apple iPod, Nokia phones and i-flex Flexcube) have “India Inside”. This book “IT Today – Technologies, Products, Careers, Trends and People” captures the fascinating story of Information Technology from an India perspective through a carefully chosen set of 83 articles (selected out of dozens of articles that appeared in The Times of India, The Economic Times, The Financial Express, Deccan Herald and other publications) penned by the author in the years 2006 and 2007. Technologies covered include multi-core processors, virtualization technology, search technology, place shifting, recommendation technology, flash memory and wearable computing. Products reviewed include Apple iPhone, Intel Classmate PC, Amazon Kindle, Microsoft HealthVault, Curriki and Visual Radio. Careers outlined include research, signal processing, electronics, engineering software, tech support, technical writing, software testing, and IT infrastructure management. Applications include MCA21, citizen service centers, electronic land records, countrywide CET and online admissions. Trends include the monthly snapshots of IT over the years 2006 & 2007 and yearly summaries. Perspectives include articles on Tata Eka, IT and Nobel connections, Computer Science as basic science, industry-academia interaction and the exciting products of the year. Milestones include the launch of Apple iPhone, mobile phones in India crossing 100 million, HP acquiring Mercury Interactive, and fifty years of Indian IT. People include a special article on IT icon NR Narayana Murthy.
238 978-81-314-1919-9 Public-Private Partnership and Health Sector – Challenges and Opportunities www.nbcindia.com Economy Amrita Chakraborty 1-Apr-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 The belief that every human being – no matter where they live – deserves a healthy life is the chief impetus to the movement of Public-Private Partnerships in health. It is unconscionable that the better-off members of the planet usurp the existing facilities in health for their betterment and leave the poorest at the mercy of life-threatening diseases. Public-Private Partnerships in health are gaining in importance in many parts of the world. The importance has evolved out of the need to address demanding issues of health equity and the failure on part of the public and private bodies (separately) to resolve such issues due to respective constraints. To provide good health to their teeming millions, many of whom cannot even afford two square meals a day or a roof over their head, governments in the developing world need enormous resources, financial, human etc, which are often woefully wanting. The diversity of objectives, arrangement of funding and the level of interaction between the partners give the Public-Private Partnerships in health a very multi-dimensional nature. Undoubtedly, Public-Private Partnerships have many strengths and address the individual weaknesses of public and private bodies (separately), but this fledging mode of organization has also begun showing its own weaknesses. Some of these weaknesses are threatening to be grave potential challenges. Yet, as the book delineates, they are the silverlining in an environment fraught with new and deadly diseases like AIDS, malaria, encephalitis, SARS, Avian Flu and many more that are threatening to evolve.
239 81-314-1389-6 Efficiency in Commercial Banks – A Global Perspective www.nbcindia.com Banking Gopala Krishna Murthy G 28-Mar-08 308 19 475 0 0 In globalised markets, competency has become a universal parameter for organizational application, while assessing the current performance and future outlook as well. The banking system of any country is the central nerve of its economy. Towards the end of the 20th century, the majority of nations across the globe initiated reforms in their financial sectors. The process is still on, with a view to strengthening the banking system and enhancing its operational efficiency, to meet the envisaged challenges in a competitive global economy. Capital adequacy and management of liquidity through compliance of sound Basel principles, best practices of risk management, effective spread management, efficiency in productivity and profitability and technological advancements are some of the competencies registered by banks in recent times. The prime objective for a bank is to create and maximize wealth for its stakeholders. Assessment of efficiency can, therefore, provide valuable insights into the investors vis-à-vis prospects of the banks, in terms of providing attractive returns to the shareholders. Such an endeavour would also enable all concerned, to estimate how far banks would go in meeting the expected challenges and fulfil the aspirations of the stakeholders at large. By presenting the systemic and performance features, this book attempts to bring to light the multi-faceted efficiency and competency perspectives of banks globally.
240 978-81-314-1972-4 Indian Industry and Environment: Policies and Practices www.nbcindia.com Economy: India Naveen Kumar Agarwal Ramani V V 28-Mar-08 316 19 475 0 0 Several factors are driving the need for businesses to integrate environmental issues with their business strategy. Improvement in the conditions of competitiveness is one of the main objectives of the business environment policy. Besides, a high standard of living, especially the safety of the citizens and a clean living environment, are integral parts of the welfare and business environment policy. On the other hand, external pressures such as regulations, policies and legislations in the interest of public as well as market opportunities arising from environmental concerns, have compelled firms to integrate environmental issues with their strategic planning process. Shareholders, customers and policymakers are also increasingly demanding improved environmental performance from business firms all over the world. Corporate is, therefore, paying greater attention to the environmental impact of its business activity. In Indian industry, the importance of accounting environmental issues, while planning business strategies, has become crucial. Hence, broad insights and knowledge into environmental regulation, legislation, policies and experience of the Indian industry would enrich the capabilities of Indian business houses and corporate professionals to effectively manage and integrate environmental issues with their business strategies, afterall environment and economy are twin partners in the pursuit of quality existence.
241 978-81-314-1976-2 Good Governance in Non profit Organizations www.nbcindia.com Management Smitha Ramachandran 28-Mar-08 304 19 475 0 0 Governance is the overall process and structure used to direct and manage an organization’s operation and activities. As organizations grow from a group of people with shared ideas to a team with a staff and formalization, the need for good governance becomes prominent. There are several benefits to structured governance. It ensures greater opportunity to increase efficiency. It enhances the ability of an organization to be more responsive to beneficiaries’ needs as well as to environmental change. However, NPOs need to face many a challenge before they can successfully adopt the concept of structured governance. First, the impact and interplay of the environmental factors are so high that many nonprofits end up toeing the line defined by the Government, partners or funders. At other times the scale of operation is so small that structured governance seems a distant possibility. Yet other times the individual behind the idea emerges to become larger than the idea itself, thus, value-based organization gets stunted to become a person-centric organization. This book will look at various governance models that have been conceptualized and practised by NPOs the world over. It would explore strategies and practices which will make the performance of these elements of governance more efficient and, effective and in turn, contribute to the effectiveness of the organization as a whole.
242 81-314-1394-2 Security of Maritime Trade: New Dimensions www.nbcindia.com Economy Sukhvinder Kaur Multani 28-Mar-08 288 18 450 0 0 The issues in maritime domain are quite vast and complex and countries pursuing maritime interests cannot ignore their importance. Maritime security has thus become crucial for these countries as the transportation of world trade is dependent on the shipping lanes and seaports. The world’s seaports have nearly 72 percent million containers moving through them every year. These containers have to be safeguarded against nuclear weapons which could be delivered to the seaport and detonated before uploading. This would cause immense loss to the trade and commerce thriving on the oceans. In view of these threats and developments posed by non-conventional sources the challenges of maritime security are ever growing. Countries have realized the fact that technology plays a key role in securing maritime domain and its assets. Technology could be applied most effectively to prevent the transport of illicit materials for use in terrorist activities affecting maritime trade. The role of private security companies in securing vessels, ports and offshore energy installations is also crucial. Monitoring of maritime traffic through the use of micro satellites is being implemented by several countries. In view of the significance given to maritime security and the role played by technologies towards safeguarding maritime commerce, this book is designed in two sections. The first section focuses on wider set of maritime security issues, which involve technologies applied and used to securing sea lanes, ports, containers and vessels. The second section presents the experiences of some of the countries on maritime security issues.
243 978-81-314-1901-4 Transformation of Indian Economy – An Overview www.nbcindia.com Economy: India Preeti Phuskele 28-Mar-08 284 18 450 0 0 The Indian economy is on the fast-track expansion path. This is reflected in simultaneous rise in every area of the economy, for instance; bank credit diversification, buoyancy in the farm sector, remarkable performance in the manufacturing and services sectors, accompanied by rise in exports and massive inflows through Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and Foreign Institutional Investment (FII) routes. The growth of India represents a rosy picture with overall increase in the returns, employment opportunities, GDP etc. Indian economy has recorded growth of 9.4 percent during 2006-07 as compared to 9 percent in 2005-06. Industrial and service sector has also recorded growth of 10.9 and 11 percent rise in 2006-07 as compared to 9.6 and 9.8 percent in 2005-06. Moreover, India has the highest number of billionaires in Asia and fourth highest in the world. The fast growing stock market has established India as the fastest growing wealth creator. The overall growth of Indian economy is motivating young Indians to take the benefit of the demographic dividend and increasing employment opportunities. This book is a significant contribution as it tries to describe the true picture of the current position of the Indian Economy. It not only focuses on the improvement, but also focuses on the areas which still need improvement to be on par with global standards. It is a “must read” for all students, researchers and academicians.
244 978-81-314-1929-8 India s Exports: Perspectives and Sectoral Trends www.nbcindia.com Economy: India Dhandapani Alagiri 28-Mar-08 288 18 450 0 0 India s foreign trade has been improving over the last decade and a half, even though it is still to achieve a significant share in the overall world trade. The exports are no longer seen as needed only for getting dollars for payment of imports, as was the case when the nation followed import substitution as the policy in the early years. In recent years, India s exports have become more and more competitive in the global markets and are penetrating into new markets. The range of exports has also expanded over the years. The export basket has value added items in the form of machinery, engineering goods and automobiles. India has been the forerunner in becoming an international hub for automobiles and components. But, it is a fact that, along with the growth in merchandise exports, imports are also growing at a fast pace and this has led to a trade deficit. But this gap in the current account is narrowed down by the export of services. Overall, India s foreign trade has strengthened over the years and the large capital flows have also led to accumulation of foreign reserves that present a very comfortable picture. In this context, this book will make useful reading, capturing the important perspectives of India s exports and highlighting the sectoral developments. It presents a series of well-written articles that bring out the essence of the happenings in India s foreign trade, especially exports.
245 978-81-314-1970-0 IUP on Treasury Management – Trends and Developments www.nbcindia.com Finance Dhandapani Alagiri 28-Mar-08 280 18 450 0 0 The global financial markets, emerging free from controls, present the corporate houses with numerous opportunities for raising and deploying funds. The opening up of the markets has ensured a better flow of funds across and also within borders and this has accentuated the role of treasury in managing funds and risk management. A good treasury will be essential for smooth functioning of a business. Ensuring that the business does not run short of funds in either the short run or the long run is the major responsibility of a treasurer along with the productive deployment of funds. This role of the treasury will ensure that the corporate can concentrate on the core business activities. Global cash management has seen rapid advances relieving the corporate houses of unnecessary repeated transactions. The recent developments on the treasury front are the financial supply chain management (FSCM) and outsourcing of the treasury operations. There have been efforts to benchmark treasury management operations so as to have a good understanding of the concepts and the operational techniques. An effective treasury is very important in managing the assets and making a significant contribution by supporting the organization’s core business activities.In this context, this book, The Icfai University Press on Treasury Management – Trends and Developments, makes useful reading, capturing the important perspectives of treasury management and the recent developments and practices. It presents a series of well-written articles that bring out the essence of the happenings in the subject.
246 978-81-314-1909-0 Financial System in China – Changing Dynamics www.nbcindia.com Finance Nageswara Rao Katuri 28-Mar-08 292 18 450 0 0 China, a nation of over 1.3 billion people, has strong economic fundamentals in the form of fast GDP growth, substantial foreign direct investment, cheap labor, a stable domestic currency and low government debt. The growth rate is sustainable in future and the private sector is driving growth. China needs a more flexible exchange rate system to support a stable macroeconomic environment. The finance sector needs further reforms and solid public finances could permit tax and expenditure reforms. China has just about crossed the one trillion dollar mark of its forex reserves. It needs to realize that its domestic demand should be substantially improved to thwart the ill effects of the rising reserves, on the back of a falling dollar. It needs to undertake radical labor reforms to ensure better pay for its hard working labor force so that, they could add to the domestic demand. China is gradually shifting from export of labour intensive and less advanced manufactured goods to more technology intensive goods. Banking sector fragility poses perhaps the single biggest threat to its macroeconomic stability and long-term growth and the Chinese government has rightly made banking reform a top priority. Foreign strategic investment has the potential to be a very effective way to improve the banking system. China’s insurance market is still at a stage of relative immaturity, despite rapid economic growth in recent years. Chinese entry into the fray of mergers and acquisitions is of recent origin. Its outbound FDI efforts are principally in infrastructure and manufacturing sectors. China has emerged as a hot favorite for foreign direct investment. The factors that positively contributed for this transformation are: the huge market in china, its workforce, resources and liberalization of trade by the government.
247 978-81-314-1916-8 Private Equity: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Finance Satish D 28-Mar-08 268 17 425 0 0 Private Equity is a term, used to describe any equity investment in companies that have not gone public. Private Equity is generally illiquid and such investment is relatively long term. The exit strategy for a private equity fund is either through the Initial Public Offering to the public on a stock exchange or through the secondary and tertiary buyout deals. Private Equity encompasses venture investing, buyout investing, mezzanine financing, growth capital and other forms of private investing. The origins of Private equity date back to the post World War II period, when the American Research and Development Corporation was set up in 1946 to provide finance for the private enterprises in US. The seeds of growth of private equity were sown in 1970s, when some of the companies funded by private investment in the 1960s started hitting the stock markets. Post 1990’s saw the explosion of private equity with the private equity companies investing in emerging industries like technology, software and telecom. Now, private equity is very popular with many investors investing in them. It is now worth trillions of dollars. The immense popularity of private equity has thrown up some issues and challenges. There are debates raging as to what has been the impact of private equity on the shareholders and society and how one can bring in transparency, accountability and good governance into the management of private equity. The book broadly focuses on the concept of private equity: its structure, its economics, its performance, its evolution, its growth and its risks and returns. It also focuses on the present and future challenges facing private equity. With the Private Equity flowing into India and India becoming a big hub for private equity investments with big deals done, the book looks at the Indian experience with private equity. It also covers the experiences of private equity in US, Europe, Australia and other emerging countries.
248 978-81-314-1964-9 Campus to Corporate: A Road Map www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Devi R J 28-Mar-08 268 17 425 0 0 With the advent of the IT, ITES and BPO industries, employment opportunities have widened, especially so, for freshers. In order to meet their requirements, companies began moving into various institutions to select committed, intelligent and aspiring students full of enthusiasm and zeal to prove their talents. It provides them the platform to choose the right candidate for the right job. Campus recruitment is beneficial to both – organizations and students – acting as a perfect finale to their professional course throwing open great avenues in the corporate sector to students. When companies arrive at the campus for recruitment, students undergo palpable tension, anticipation and eagerness. It is obvious that everyone wants to be in the list of topmost companies like TCS, Infosys, Cognizant, Wipro, and HCL. Organizations select only those students who satisfy their requirements in all aspects. So, it becomes obligatory for the students to equip themselves with the, necessary skill set to get into the selection process. The secret of success is in fact very simple – “The way you Dress and the way you Address”. Many candidates feel that the transition from the campus to the corporate world is a stormy one. It has become necessary for them to bridge the gap smoothly. There is a need to blend into the new environment, yet demonstrate the unique talents that make one stand out among peers. Successfully managing these challenges is sure to be difficult, daunting and frustrating. But conquering them is vital to become a bona fide professional.
249 978-81-314-1934-2 Internet Banking: Multi-Dimensional Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Banking Krishna Kishore Puranam Ravi Kumar Jain B 28-Mar-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 Ever since the advent of Internet technologies, banking institutions started exploiting them for providing value-added services to their customers. Internet banking not only made the banks build a single and unified platform for their wide range of services but also gave the customer various benefits in terms of cost and convenience. Technology development and penetration across the globe facilitated the spread of Internet banking among the sophisticated and unsophisticated customer segments. The emergence of new technologies paved the way for streamlining their Internet banking strategies by bankers across the globe, thereby redefining the objectives and methods pertaining to the implementation of Internet banking and identification of its importance and providing sophisticated services to their customers. As Internet is a publicly accessible network, concerns about the privacy and security issues of Internet banking rose in the minds of many customers who hesitated to adopt this service. Recognizing these concerns, both banks and regulatory agencies across the globe had taken up incremental measures to establish the robustness of Internet banking as a standard banking platform. Communications revolution had made the Internet penetrate into the remotest regions of the globe and this made the Internet banking accessible to rural and unsophisticated population. In this context, the role of technology in making Internet banking operations user-friendly and cost-effective is worth noting. Years to come will see more and more advances in Internet banking not only in terms of usage but also with respect to user awareness and transaction security in this regime. This book “Internet Banking: Multi-Dimensional Perspectives” provides an overview of the concepts and contemporary issues related to Internet banking from a Global perspective. It also focuses on the emergence of Internet banking in India, its present status and future prospects in the Indian banking sector.
250 978-81-314-1930-4 Basel II – Implications for Asia Pacific Region www.nbcindia.com Finance Preeti Phuskele 28-Mar-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 “Financial institutions pave their way towards success through effective risk management techniques. Investments in state-of-the-art operational practices, reliability, confidentiality, safety measures and a consistency in the execution of services reap rich rewards. Integrating elements such as bank-level management, operational supervision and market discipline are some ways through which effective risk management strategies can be implemented. In 1999, a new Capital Adequacy Framework was issued to replace Basel I. This revised framework, named Basel II, was introduced on 26th June 2004. Basel II aims at modernizing the existing capital requirements framework in order to make it even more comprehensive and risk-sensitive for modern-day financial institutions that employ meticulous risk management practices. The Basel II framework is even more sensitive to the real risks that organizations face.
Implementation of Basel II has been a major concern of banks all over the world. But it is important that the banks do not lose sight of the long-term benefits of Basel II of better capital allocation and consequently, better pricing because they are tangled in the details necessary to meet the deadline. The ultimate objective is financial stability. Global banks operating in Asia Pacific countries are developing Basel II strategies that will allow them to meet local regulatory requirements and compete effectively in the local markets in the region. Basel II will be an important catalyst and key platform for further financial market reform both regionally and at the domestic level in Asia Pacific.
The proposed book is a significant contribution as it tries to highlight the issues of Basel II implementation. It also finds real impact of Basel II implementation on the Asia-Pacific banks. It also discusses the challenges faced by Indian banks along the path to compliance of Basel II. This book is a must read for students, faculty members and researchers as it provides insights in to the Basel II adoption in Asia-Pacific banks.
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251 978-81-314-1949-6 Ideas, Creativity and Innovation: Keys to Survival www.nbcindia.com Strategic Management Gopalakrishnan P S 28-Mar-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 Recent studies have revealed that all human beings are equally endowed with the power of idea generation (power to generate ideas) that can be harnessed for useful purposes. Hence, companies have started capitalizing on this hitherto unknown/unused area. Companies bank on human capital, the potential of their employees/customers/ suppliers and other stakeholders who can provide solutions to unresolved problems and provide very useful ideas, some of which can be converted into marketable, profitable products/processes/services. Though decades ago, idea generation was the prerogative of the top management, later on suggestions/ideas/opinions from all the stakeholders are solicited by firms. And by the turn of the century, the process of idea creation has been democratized, in a way. This book focuses from the evolution stage to the present stage of idea generation process, the selection of the right idea from the lot, its evaluation and finally converting the idea into a marketable product/service or a solution to a critical problem. The contemporary articles highlight the need, various approaches that can be followed and how the useful ideas can be developed into saleable products and services. Cases and experiences show that ideas add to both top line and bottom line of the companies.
252 978-81-314-1913-7 The Art of Workplace Counseling www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sangeetha K 28-Mar-08 232 16 400 0 0 In the current knowledge economy the shift is towards managing the resource generators, the employees. The employer s emphasis on strengthening workforce performance and productivity has made workplace counseling an imperative in any organization, as never before, as it is one of the major tools used to maximize human resources, improving work performance, and attracting and retaining quality workforce. Counseling is a one-to-one relationship between a counselor and a counselee, where the counselors help the counselees to examine and realize their problems and explore the various options available to them to take their own decisions. Counseling services in an organization create a competitive advantage for the company by making its people learn how to resolve their interpersonal, emotional and decision making problems and to work in teams towards the achievement of the organizational goals. The success of any counseling lies in bringing about a positive change in the behavior of the counselee and ensuring that he/she becomes independent in solving his/her problems. The investment in workplace counseling earns huge profits for the firm, adds value by attracting human resources and improves the organizational health. In a nutshell, those companies that have workplace counseling service are benefited with improved workplace attitude, behavior and performance of the employees that contribute to the organizational profits and save time and money. This book provides a clear picture of the significance of workplace counseling in the current business scenario and presents a systematic view of different counseling approaches and techniques, the skills of a counselor required for effective counseling and how the counseling service can be used in solving employee problems, thereby, improving the employee work performance and organizational productivity.
253 978-81-314-1978-6 Impact of Government Policies on Marketing Strategies www.nbcindia.com Marketing Amitabha Ghose 28-Mar-08 232 16 400 0 0 Government policies are very important issues while considering the rate of economic, industry and business growth that influence marketing activities. Favourable Government policies may result in increase in FDI, FII, new competition, merger and acquisitions, private investment and flexible credit terms by bankers to the business enterprises. It is essential for Government policymakers to assess and analyse the effect of Government policy and growth of the economy through enhanced business, hence, marketing activities. This can be effectively done by constant evaluation of the policies in terms of how these policies are influencing the marketing function by analysing various market forces that systematically affect it. Government policies that impact on the R&D and product development or innovation, pricing, positioning, promotions, distribution, customer relationship, labeling, packaging and competition have to be taken into consideration while designing marketing strategies for the company. Government of any country can introduce new policies which can substantially change marketing activities of the company. This book highlights various Government policies that affect the marketing functions and allied activities. It points out the specific areas of marketing functions that are most affected. It suggests for developing a system within the organization to anticipate these policy implications. Finally, the book deals with the formulation of appropriate marketing strategy to sustain and maintain the companies’ position in the marketplace.
254 978-81-314-1900-7 Women s Participation in Rural Development: Emerging Trends in Developing Countries www.nbcindia.com Economy: World Subir Ghosh 28-Mar-08 208 15 375 0 0 All over the world, the significance of women’s participation in the workforce has resulted in significant transformation in the family set up and the economy. Since 1950s, women’s participation in economic activities has been increasing rapidly. Rural developmental activities are no exception to this. The main occupations of women in rural areas are agriculture and allied activities like development of fisheries, animal husbandry, dairy, rural handicrafts, food processing etc. Women also participate in the decision making process, generally in rural developmental activities. Women contribute about three fourths of the total labour force required for such activities. Therefore, many of these women contribute to rural welfare activities through their association with agriculture. Mostly in all civil societies of the world, women are assigned only a secondary position, as it is believed that men are the breadwinners of the family. Therefore, men enjoy a better status than women. It is also believed that, if women become bread earners, that will enhance their standard/position in society. So, measures for ameliorating the status of women are limited in society. The present book tries to capture the profound importance of women’s participation in rural development. The focus of this book is on illustrating the participation and thereby the contribution of women to various rural developmental activities, globally.
255 978-81-314-1985-4 Human Resource Management: A Changing Paradigm www.nbcindia.com General Management Debamitra Mitra 28-Mar-08 208 15 375 0 0 This book focuses on the changing HR perspectives in the globalized world and their impact on the corporates. It has captured the changes in the entire gamut of HR like industrial relations, training, recruitment and retention, performance appraisal, outsourcing, strategic HR, leadership, talent management, competence modeling, succession planning, branding HR etc. The pivotal stimuli for these changes are globalization, improved and innovative technology in practice and also the societal changes at large. Unlike the conventional HR, human resource department today is linked with the overall organization’s business plans and objectives. As the HR functions have begun to broaden their wings across the organization, there has emerged a need for treating the employees, similar to that of selling services to the clients. Building a brand for the HR department is significant because of attracting, encouraging and holding the excellent and the shining talents in the organization in order to survive in the corporate competition. Succession planning is one of the core areas in recent days’ human resource management system, which has considered training, development and performance appraisal to be its integral part. The changing HR has a great impact on the success or failure of an organization that depends largely on how aggressively the HR function can prepare the knowledge capital of the organization.
256 978-81-314-1421-7 My Notes to Myself : Simple Tips on Human Resource Management taken from the Diary of a Bureaucrat www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Hasmukh Adhia 28-Mar-08 72 6 150 0 0 Good Governance is possible only if people working for Government are motivated to improve themselves. Through this book, the author, a very successful bureaucrat himself, wishes to share some simple techniques of people management. This book is written in the form of compilation of notes prepared by the author for his self-improvement throughout his 25-year old career. The main objective of this book is to make Government Officers and HR Managers aware of the crucial need for people management and also share with them simple techniques for motivating their subordinates. The approach in this book is a narration in the first person, which makes it interesting. The government officers will identify themselves easily with what is said in this book.
257 81-314-0489-7 Case Studies on New Age Marketing – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Maldar Nusrath Jahan Yesav 21-Mar-08 394 0 35 875 Marketing strategies serve as the fundamental underpinning of marketing plans designed to attain marketing objectives that have measurable results. A sound marketing strategy integrates an organisation s marketing goals, policies, and tactics into a cohesive whole. The objective of a marketing strategy is to provide a foundation from which a tactical plan is developed that enables the organisation to implement its mission effectively and efficiently. Every marketing strategy is unique, but discerning from individual strategies, each can be reduced to a generic marketing strategy. While few companies pioneer in developing new business models, others try to seek a sustainable competitive advantage either by diversifying their core businesses or by adopting aggressive marketing strategies. The case studies featured in this book provides insights into understanding the marketing strategies adopted by various companies and the efforts made by them to overcome these challenges. Besides, it also helps in bridging the gap between theory and practice by facilitating an understanding of when and how to apply concepts and techniques of the management curriculum.
258 81-314-1184-7 AIDS and Children – Issues and Concerns www.nbcindia.com Management Michael Vimal Pillai 20-Mar-08 296 18 450 0 0 AIDS (Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome) has created a global health crisis and serious imbalance in the public health care system across the world. It is posing a colossal developmental challenge in many countries. HIV (Human Immunodeficiency Virus) and AIDS are creating a difficult situation for children. The alarming impact of AIDS on children is causing serious concern. Children are the emerging face of global population. They represent the developing human resources of nations. HIV and AIDS have created multiple problems for them such as sickness and mortality, loss of parents, stigma and discrimination. Large number of children are infected with HIV every year. Countries, organizations and individuals across the world are involved in initiatives to mitigate the impact of AIDS on children through endeavors in the areas of prevention, care, support and treatment. The book focuses on various aspects of HIV/AIDS and children. It is divided into three sections: Issues and Concerns; Problems and Impacts; and Management and Initiatives. Information is provided in areas like: – * Prevention * Care and Treatment * Impact and problems of HIV/AIDS on children * Management of HIV-infected children * Initiatives and strategies to mitigate the impact of HIV/AIDS on children
259 978-81-314-1920-5 Banking Reforms in China: Changing Horizon www.nbcindia.com Banking Nirbachita Karmakar Asis Kumar Pain 12-Mar-08 308 19 475 0 0 Banking reforms have played an important role in China’s overall effort to transform a centrally planned economy into a market-based economy since 1978. Although the banking sector has undergone remarkable changes over the period, deep-seated structural problems of asset quality, capital adequacy and profitability continue to pose a challenge to the sector. China quickened the pace of reform in 1998 and seems to be aware of two lessons that can be drawn from the Asian financial crisis. The first lesson is that a sound banking system is crucial for an economy to withstand external shocks. The second lesson from the Japanese banking saga is that delay only allows NPL s to grow and erode bank capital. Chinese leaders have shown their commitment to reform; nonetheless, a long and painful period of banking and SOE reform is inevitable. During the last year, China has ostensibly accelerated reform of the banking sector with the main thrust addressed towards disposition of the cumulated non-performing loans (NPL s) – both bad loans inherited from the past and new loans. The present volume is conceived against this backdrop to provide an in-depth analysis of the banking reforms in China. The book is divided into three sections, to help readers with an appropriate analysis of the pros and cons of the reform process, the mode of implementation of the reform process, apart from looking at the path of progress that such reform shall entail in the future.
260 978-81-314-1923-6 Natural Disaster Management: New Technologies and Opportunities www.nbcindia.com Risk Management Subir Ghosh 12-Mar-08 260 17 425 0 0 Disaster is an unpredictable and sudden event in devastating nature, which causes human sufferings and loss of property, plants and animals etc. This damage is immeasurable and varies according to the geographical location and the degree of vulnerability. Therefore, disaster completely disturbs normal life. The experience of 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami, 2001 Gujarat earthquake, 1999 earthquake in Turkey, 2001 coastal earthquake in Central America, Lopevi volcanic eruption of 2006, Assam flood of 2003, Great flood of 1993 in the United States, Bangladesh flood of July 2007 and 2001 earthquake in Indonesia etc show that disaster causes human sufferings, environmental smash-up and disruption of economic development. These previous deadly disasters have increased the importance of disaster management. Though most of the major disasters are unavoidable and it is almost impossible to fully recover the loss caused by disasters, the loss minimization is possible through the use of technologies. Information is one of the most important requirements for disaster management. The concept of World Wide Web (WWW) is an emerging trend in the arena of disaster management. With this background, the book tries to focus as to how the existing technologies like Geographical Information System (GIS), Remote Sensing (RS), Information and Communication Technology (ICT), Global Positioning System (GPS), Data Information Exchange, Data Mining, Very Small Aperture Terminal (VSAT), Early Warning System and Knowledge Management help in disaster management.
261 978-81-314-1940-3 Lifestyle Products and Brands: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Branding Simantee Sen 12-Mar-08 216 15.5 400 0 0 Today’s new consumer wants to be recognized, valued and, above all, be seen to be unique. The new consumer can be fickle – so rather like the fortunes of the celebrities many lifestyle products attract, popularity can be lost as easily as it is acquired. However, it is found that ‘Lifestyle Brands’ are ever vibrant with plenty of new ideas, investment, and innovation and a range of lifestyle products all over the world set the standards of its consumers. Niche lifestyle products continue to deliver a wake-up call to the mainstream industry sectors. Lifestyle products and services are often more concepts that help create a lifestyle niche rather than being a tangible product alone. As the notion of luxury changes, marketers of high-end products are wrestling with the challenges of maintaining brand name and exclusivity while reaping higher sales. In conceptualizing this book, our aim is to clarify the concept and foundation of lifestyles and their associated brands with the support of various cases. Lifestyle brands are tools for educating the other consumer segments, making them aware of the good things in life so that they too aim at achieving that elevated status. This is where the significance of our book lies. In short, it can be stated that lifestyle brands are both incredibly authentic and great disrupters. They have a great vision into the future… and a passion for leading us there. In that sense, they’re very charismatic and always innovative.
262 978-81-314-2038-6 Case Studies on India Inc. : Going Global www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection K Ramanathan 12-Mar-08 196 0 50 1250 “Historically dubbed the “world’s first Multinational Company (MNC)”, the British East India Company wished to trade with India and ruined it in less than 350 years. In less than one-tenth of those colonised period, India remarkably created what are called the “Indian National Companies (INCs).” These are gracing the global canvas, with their inherent strengths, experience with low-income customer base, cost-efficient business models and efficient risk-bearing mechanisms. However, it is not all that smooth for these INCs. Most importantly, they got to rinse themselves off the stigma that companies from developing world carry. Even their newfound confidence needs to be properly blended with visionary leadership, workable strategies and veritable adaptability. But the global adventure of INCs is too short to be conclusively judged.
This book, while spotlighting on a few such Indian companies, helps readers grasp their potential, urge to succeed and survive globally. Many more insights will incite reader’s imagination into deep analysis.
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263 81-314-1215-0 Case Studies on Growth : Exploring and Exploiting New Avenues www.nbcindia.com Economy Kumar Satyaki Ray Arindam Mukherjee 12-Mar-08 196 0 40 1000 The book entwines a few case studies and attempts to capture a glimpse of the saga of growth strategies followed by different multinational companies in modern times. As reflected in the book growth strategies may be of two types, namely organic growth and inorganic growth. The most daunting task faced by the managers of the twentyfirst century is to know how to grow their companies. The odds against growth have become extremely high. Competition has increased exponentially and investors’ patience has decreased significantly. For instance, investors in the twentyfirst century are shifting in and out of stocks five times faster compared to nineties. They not only demand profitable growth but also growth in every quarter. In the mad race of growth, companies go into a spree of acquisitions and overseas takeovers but many companies fall into the growth trap. Therefore, it is increasingly necessary to understand the magic formula of sustaining growth in the long run rather than making it a one time high. This book has optimally dealt with the strategic issues related to growth. In this era of globalization growth has become the need of the hour for companies. In order to grow, companies take different strategies. But the route to sustaining growth is yet to be discovered. Keeping this in mind, the book is a modest attempt to delve into strategic approaches towards growth of an organization and portray these strategies in a systematic manner. In the first section of this book organic growth strategies have been discussed while in the second section inorganic growth strategies discussed with an objective of exploring the path of sustainable growth strategy.
264 81-314-1253-3 Downshifting: A Theoretical and Practical Approach to Living a Simple Life www.nbcindia.com General Books Franco Gandolfi Helene Cherrier 11-Mar-08 300 35 875 35 875 Something puzzling yet profound is occurring in consumer-driven societies: an increasing number of individuals from all walks of life are pursuing lower consumption practices and embracing simpler lifestyles. They are ‘getting a life’ and ‘escaping the rat race’. This growing inclination toward simpler lifestyles or downshifting is part of a larger shift in societal values, attitudes, and the notion of what constitutes success and happiness. This distinctive book constitutes a collection of readings that examines and exposes the various approaches and practices of downshifting. Eleven theoretical and empirical chapters written by prolific writers and distinguished scholars from around the world offer theoretical and practical lenses on the downshifting phenomenon. This book on downshifting is an invaluable resource and instrument for researchers, consultants, executives, and social science students.
265 81-314-1267-3 Culturally-Sensitive Models of Family Business in Middle East – A Compendium using the Globe Paradigm www.nbcindia.com General Management Vipin Gupta 11-Mar-08 300 20.5 525 23 575 “Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) studies in 62 societies of the world suggest that leading businesses master the fine balance between culturally-specific and universally applicable principles and practices.This 11 book compendium set of 110 carefully selected articles that are written by about 300 scholars focuses on culturally-sensitive models of family businesses in 60 nations and 10 regions of the world. The eleventh volume is a compilation of articles on gender in family firms, providing insights in this important yet generally less understood arena.The compendium is a timely and major contribution. It is a great resource for scholars and students interested in understanding the diversity and uniqueness of family firms around the world. Family business practitioners and policy makers seeking to enhance global collaborations and creating sustainable families, communities, and businesses will find this an invaluable resource.”(Pramodita Sharma, Ph.D.,Associate Dean of Business and Professor of Family Business,Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.)“This compendium set is thought-provoking and path-breaking for practitioners and academics. The entire set comprises eleven books:1) Latin America 2) Germanic Europe 3) Nordic Europe 4) Latin Europe 5) Eastern Europe 6) Sub-Saharan Africa 7) Middle East 8) Southern Asia 9) Confucian Asia 10) Anglo Region and 11) Gender As an integral first phase for a broader research program, C.A.S.E. (Culturally-Sensitive Assessment System and Education), it offers comparative cultural analysis of family businesses and culturally-sensitive tools to create more successful families, businesses, and communities worldwide.”(Joseph Horak, Ph.D., Horak Family and Psychological Services, President, C.A.S.E. Worldwide Group, L.L.C., USA.)
266 978-81-314-1937-3 Ecotourism: Focus on Wild Life and Local Communities www.nbcindia.com General Management Prabha Shastri Ranade 11-Mar-08 340 20 500 0 0 Ecotourism has become the fastest growing segment of the tourism industry, with an annual growth rate of 10-30%. The potential number of ecotourists is capable of generating expenditure up to US$1.2 trillion. Ecotourism is related to conservation of nature and plays an important role in protecting biodiversity. Through ecotourism a lot can be done to protect the endangered species of flora and fauna. Ecotourism is a way by which local communities can strengthen their traditional role in natural areas. It helps empower local communities to generate employment and enhance their earning skills. Protected areas such as national parks, game reserves or sanctuaries are the popular destinations for nature tourism. This book focuses on the practices of wildlife viewing in protected areas, community-based ecotourism and ecotourism projects in rural/tribal regions. It examines ecotourism and its effects on the native population, community-based ecotourism and outline ecotourism promotion and marketing. The book is presented in three sections. The first section includes articles on wildlife ecotourism and biodiversity conservation, ecotourism in national parks and marine protected areas, ecotourism associated with angling, whale watching, rhino and tiger conservation projects. The second section contains articles on ecotourism with social dimension, community-based tourism and protected area management, ecotourism studies of local communities, involvement of local communities in the planning process, ecotourism and its effects on the native population. The third section discusses the marketing and promotion of tourism assets, analysis of tourists’ behavior and key marketing factors for ecotourism, consumer demand and operator support for socially and environmentally responsible tourism. The Annexure discusses ecotourism and local communities-synthesis of rights and ecotourism guidelines for responsible travelers.
267 978-81-314-1946-5 Hospital Management – New Initiatives/Dimensions www.nbcindia.com Management Michael Vimal Pillai 11-Mar-08 348 20 500 0 0 Hospitals worldwide have undergone a tremendous transition and development from the time of their existence. They are developed as organizations for providing care and treatment of various aliments and as institutions for imparting education and training in medicine. The development of hospitals, such as Multi-specialty; Super-specialty and Corporate hospitals are an outcome of advancement in various disciplines, such as medicine, management sciences and technology. Continuous growth in the global healthcare sector, coupled with the demands of patients for better and safer treatment, has led to the evolution of hospital management as a specialized discipline for proper and efficient functioning of hospitals. Hospital management embraces various areas and functions responsible for the smooth running of hospitals, taking into consideration, the needs and expectations of its clients and stakeholders. This book enlightens the readers on several areas of hospital management, such as governance; marketing; financial and human resources management; supply chain management; hospital design; waste management and infection control.
268 81-314-1221-5 Culturally-Sensitive Models of Family Business in Nordic Europe – A Compendium using the Globe Paradigm www.nbcindia.com General Management Vipin Gupta 11-Mar-08 292 19.5 500 22 550 “Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) studies in 62 societies of the world suggest that leading businesses master the fine balance between culturally-specific and universally applicable principles and practices.This 11 book compendium set of 110 carefully selected articles that are written by about 300 scholars focuses on culturally-sensitive models of family businesses in 60 nations and 10 regions of the world. The eleventh volume is a compilation of articles on gender in family firms, providing insights in this important yet generally less understood arena.The compendium is a timely and major contribution. It is a great resource for scholars and students interested in understanding the diversity and uniqueness of family firms around the world. Family business practitioners and policy makers seeking to enhance global collaborations and creating sustainable families, communities, and businesses will find this an invaluable resource.”(Pramodita Sharma, Ph.D.,Associate Dean of Business and Professor of Family Business,Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.)“This compendium set is thought-provoking and path-breaking for practitioners and academics. The entire set comprises eleven books:1) Latin America 2) Germanic Europe 3) Nordic Europe 4) Latin Europe 5) Eastern Europe 6) Sub-Saharan Africa 7) Middle East 8) Southern Asia 9) Confucian Asia 10) Anglo Region and 11) Gender As an integral first phase for a broader research program, C.A.S.E. (Culturally-Sensitive Assessment System and Education), it offers comparative cultural analysis of family businesses and culturally-sensitive tools to create more successful families, businesses, and communities worldwide.”(Joseph Horak, Ph.D., Horak Family and Psychological Services, President, C.A.S.E. Worldwide Group, L.L.C., USA.)
269 81-314-1222-3 Culturally-Sensitive Models of Family Business in Eastern Europe – A Compendium using the Globe Paradigm www.nbcindia.com General Management Vipin Gupta 11-Mar-08 288 19.5 500 22 550 “Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) studies in 62 societies of the world suggest that leading businesses master the fine balance between culturally-specific and universally applicable principles and practices.This 11 book compendium set of 110 carefully selected articles that are written by about 300 scholars focuses on culturally-sensitive models of family businesses in 60 nations and 10 regions of the world. The eleventh volume is a compilation of articles on gender in family firms, providing insights in this important yet generally less understood arena.The compendium is a timely and major contribution. It is a great resource for scholars and students interested in understanding the diversity and uniqueness of family firms around the world. Family business practitioners and policy makers seeking to enhance global collaborations and creating sustainable families, communities, and businesses will find this an invaluable resource.”(Pramodita Sharma, Ph.D.,Associate Dean of Business and Professor of Family Business,Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.)“This compendium set is thought-provoking and path-breaking for practitioners and academics. The entire set comprises eleven books:1) Latin America 2) Germanic Europe 3) Nordic Europe 4) Latin Europe 5) Eastern Europe 6) Sub-Saharan Africa 7) Middle East 8) Southern Asia 9) Confucian Asia 10) Anglo Region and 11) Gender As an integral first phase for a broader research program, C.A.S.E. (Culturally-Sensitive Assessment System and Education), it offers comparative cultural analysis of family businesses and culturally-sensitive tools to create more successful families, businesses, and communities worldwide.”(Joseph Horak, Ph.D., Horak Family and Psychological Services, President, C.A.S.E. Worldwide Group, L.L.C., USA.)
270 81-314-1225-8 Culturally-Sensitive Models of Family Business in Germanic Europe – A Compendium using the Globe Paradigm www.nbcindia.com General Management Vipin Gupta 11-Mar-08 292 19.5 500 22 550 “Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) studies in 62 societies of the world suggest that leading businesses master the fine balance between culturally-specific and universally applicable principles and practices.This 11 book compendium set of 110 carefully selected articles that are written by about 300 scholars focuses on culturally-sensitive models of family businesses in 60 nations and 10 regions of the world. The eleventh volume is a compilation of articles on gender in family firms, providing insights in this important yet generally less understood arena.The compendium is a timely and major contribution. It is a great resource for scholars and students interested in understanding the diversity and uniqueness of family firms around the world. Family business practitioners and policy makers seeking to enhance global collaborations and creating sustainable families, communities, and businesses will find this an invaluable resource.”(Pramodita Sharma, Ph.D.,Associate Dean of Business and Professor of Family Business,Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.)“This compendium set is thought-provoking and path-breaking for practitioners and academics. The entire set comprises eleven books:1) Latin America 2) Germanic Europe 3) Nordic Europe 4) Latin Europe 5) Eastern Europe 6) Sub-Saharan Africa 7) Middle East 8) Southern Asia 9) Confucian Asia 10) Anglo Region and 11) Gender As an integral first phase for a broader research program, C.A.S.E. (Culturally-Sensitive Assessment System and Education), it offers comparative cultural analysis of family businesses and culturally-sensitive tools to create more successful families, businesses, and communities worldwide.”(Joseph Horak, Ph.D., Horak Family and Psychological Services, President, C.A.S.E. Worldwide Group, L.L.C., USA.)
271 81-314-1223-1 Culturally-Sensitive Models of Family Business in Southern Asia – A Compendium using the Globe Paradigm www.nbcindia.com General Management Vipin Gupta 11-Mar-08 288 19.5 500 22 550 “Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) studies in 62 societies of the world suggest that leading businesses master the fine balance between culturally-specific and universally applicable principles and practices.This 11 book compendium set of 110 carefully selected articles that are written by about 300 scholars focuses on culturally-sensitive models of family businesses in 60 nations and 10 regions of the world. The eleventh volume is a compilation of articles on gender in family firms, providing insights in this important yet generally less understood arena.The compendium is a timely and major contribution. It is a great resource for scholars and students interested in understanding the diversity and uniqueness of family firms around the world. Family business practitioners and policy makers seeking to enhance global collaborations and creating sustainable families, communities, and businesses will find this an invaluable resource.”(Pramodita Sharma, Ph.D.,Associate Dean of Business and Professor of Family Business,Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.)“This compendium set is thought-provoking and path-breaking for practitioners and academics. The entire set comprises eleven books:1) Latin America 2) Germanic Europe 3) Nordic Europe 4) Latin Europe 5) Eastern Europe 6) Sub-Saharan Africa 7) Middle East 8) Southern Asia 9) Confucian Asia 10) Anglo Region and 11) Gender As an integral first phase for a broader research program, C.A.S.E. (Culturally-Sensitive Assessment System and Education), it offers comparative cultural analysis of family businesses and culturally-sensitive tools to create more successful families, businesses, and communities worldwide.”(Joseph Horak, Ph.D., Horak Family and Psychological Services, President, C.A.S.E. Worldwide Group, L.L.C., USA.)
272 81-314-1265-7 Culturally-Sensitive Models of Family Business in Latin America – A Compendium using the Globe Paradigm www.nbcindia.com General Management Vipin Gupta 11-Mar-08 292 19.5 500 22 550 “Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) studies in 62 societies of the world suggest that leading businesses master the fine balance between culturally-specific and universally applicable principles and practices.This 11 book compendium set of 110 carefully selected articles that are written by about 300 scholars focuses on culturally-sensitive models of family businesses in 60 nations and 10 regions of the world. The eleventh volume is a compilation of articles on gender in family firms, providing insights in this important yet generally less understood arena.The compendium is a timely and major contribution. It is a great resource for scholars and students interested in understanding the diversity and uniqueness of family firms around the world. Family business practitioners and policy makers seeking to enhance global collaborations and creating sustainable families, communities, and businesses will find this an invaluable resource.”(Pramodita Sharma, Ph.D.,Associate Dean of Business and Professor of Family Business,Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.)“This compendium set is thought-provoking and path-breaking for practitioners and academics. The entire set comprises eleven books:1) Latin America 2) Germanic Europe 3) Nordic Europe 4) Latin Europe 5) Eastern Europe 6) Sub-Saharan Africa 7) Middle East 8) Southern Asia 9) Confucian Asia 10) Anglo Region and 11) Gender As an integral first phase for a broader research program, C.A.S.E. (Culturally-Sensitive Assessment System and Education), it offers comparative cultural analysis of family businesses and culturally-sensitive tools to create more successful families, businesses, and communities worldwide.”(Joseph Horak, Ph.D., Horak Family and Psychological Services, President, C.A.S.E. Worldwide Group, L.L.C., USA.)
273 81-314-0899-X Culturally Sensitive Models of Family Business in Anglo Region – A Compendium using the Globe Paradigm www.nbcindia.com General Management Vipin Gupta 11-Mar-08 284 19.5 500 22 550 Family businesses are the dominant form of business organization throughout the world. Given the many cultures and regions that exist, growing empirical evidence suggests “one size does not fit all.” The purpose of this project is to assemble and publish a single Compendium of family businesses models in different cultures, which explores the cultural parameters of family business models around the world. This Compendium is intended to be a useful resource for scholars, students, practitioners, and policy makers, containing original contributions from about 300 scholars about 62 nations around the world, selected after an extensive worldwide call for papers and a rigorous review process in which only 50% of the submitted contributions were accepted. The Compendium is comprised of ten volumes, encompassing ten different cultural clusters of the world. The GLOBE framework is used for classifying the cultural clusters into ten groups:1) Latin America, 2) Germanic Europe, 3) Nordic Europe, 4) Latin Europe 5) Eastern Europe, 6) Sub-Saharan Africa, 7) Middle East, 8) Southern Asia, 9) Confucian Asia and 10) Anglo. In addition, an eleventh volume focused on gender in family business in different regions of the world is included. Each volume includes ten selected articles on the family businesses in the cluster. Socio-economic-technological work culture and GLOBE-based cultural profile of the societies covered in the cluster are provided. Distinctive culturally-sensitive features of family business models in the specific cluster are identified. A nine-parameter framework is used for assessing the culturally sensitive family business characteristics in each cluster. The framework is part of a broader research program, C.A.S.E. (Culturally-sensitive Assessment System and Education).This program seeks to facilitate the comparative the family businesses, and to help them better appreciate their own culturally sensitive capabilities as well as of their peer group from other cultures with whom they may collaborate for the betterment of the families and communities around the world.
274 81-314-1261-4 Public-Private Partnerships: A New Paradigm www.nbcindia.com Economy Santap Sanhari Mishra Prithiraj Panigrahi 11-Mar-08 316 19 475 0 0 Public-Private Partnerships (PPPs) have emerged the world over as an important policy tool for the provision of a host of infrastructure, starting from economic to social infrastructure. Governments in both developing and developed countries are adopting PPPs. While in developed countries they are in an advanced level, but in case of developing countries they are being adopted albeit a bit cautiously. Basically, PPPs are arrangements whereby public goods are provided through collaboration of private sector taking into consideration the profit-making motive of the private sector. In developed countries there is considerable risk transfer to the private partner but in case of developing countries the public partner in many cases bears most of the risk. PPPs allow the Government to tap better innovative capacity, managerial efficiencies and optimization capabilities of the private sector. Similarly, the private sector gets newer opportunities to grow and flourish. Basically, PPPs can be formed in a number of sectors right from economic infrastructure to social infrastructure. World over PPPs are predominantly formed in the transport sector that includes railways, roadways, ports and airports, electricity, telecommunications, health, schooling and last, but not the least, sewerage, water treatment and potable water provisioning. This volume gives a comprehensive treatment of the most relevant issues in PPPs and the experiences with focus on the developing country perspective.
275 978-81-314-1943-4 Watershed Management: Concepts and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Infrastructure Sudha V Menon Pheba Anandan Pillai 11-Mar-08 304 19 475 0 0 Watershed management plays a pivotal role in food security and environmental security in the present era, characterized by increasing conflicts over water resources. Watershed is a basic hydrologic unit, and hydrologic and ecologic processes govern the quality of soil and water resources within the watershed. Recently, watershed management has emerged as an appropriate strategy to manage natural resources and provide sustainable livelihood to the rural poor. Watershed management is a holistic concept, which tries to integrate several components like soil and water conservation, forestry development, agriculture and livestock. Global experiences show that watershed management practices across the world have led to environmental sustainability, forest regeneration, water conservation, crop productivity and social sustainability. Naturally, after the Earth Summit in 1992, international development agencies declared watershed management as the best strategy to address the issue of sustainable natural resource management. The appeal of this agenda lies in its promise to satisfy Agenda – 21st complex demands with a single coherent strategy of involving local stakeholders and communities at multiple scales and zones, while addressing cross-ecosystem issues and interactions related to natural resource conservation. Against the context of increasing importance of watershed management at the global level, this book brings to the fore the basic concept, procedures, tools, techniques, functions, planning, assessment and monitoring of watershed management. It attempts to analyze the strategy and impact assessment of the best watershed management practices across the world and evaluate the various models and practices of watershed management programmes in India.
276 978-81-314-1928-1 SCM in Automotive Industry – Concepts and cases www.nbcindia.com Supply Chain Management Kalai Selvan N 11-Mar-08 316 19 475 0 0 Automotive industry has been facing major challenges due to fierce competition, increasing operational complexity, technology changes, shortened product lifecycle and frequently changing customer needs. Due to globalization, the automotive industry has changed its model of traditional local business to that of global business. Auto parts are being sourced from all over the world to achieve cost reduction, quality and competitive advantage. Moreover, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) has more number of suppliers and they are facing a tough task coordinating and collaborating with all the suppliers. The new age customers want customized products according to their tastes like automobile colour, interior, audio system, etc. This customer behavior implies that dealers and manufacturers have to maintain adequate inventory to satisfy the customer. To improve profitability and efficiency, automotive players are seeking ways to achieve operational excellence, reduce operating cost and enhance customer service through efficient supply chain management. Efficient and effective supply chain management plays a very important role in the auto industry. The automotive industry is changing its business model with innovative supply chain to reduce cost, create customer buying experience and quality. SCM helps in expansion of sourcing partners, streamlining customer requirements, optimizing sourcing practices, inventory management, accurate forecasting, better suppliers’ relation, co-ordination and co-operation across supply chain, better visibility and control over the process, reduction of lead time, attaining flexibility and better customer management.
277 81-314-1224-X Culturally-Sensitive Models of Family Business in Confucian Asia – A Compendium using the Globe Paradigm www.nbcindia.com General Management Vipin Gupta 11-Mar-08 272 18.5 475 21 525 “Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) studies in 62 societies of the world suggest that leading businesses master the fine balance between culturally-specific and universally applicable principles and practices.This 11 book compendium set of 110 carefully selected articles that are written by about 300 scholars focuses on culturally-sensitive models of family businesses in 60 nations and 10 regions of the world. The eleventh volume is a compilation of articles on gender in family firms, providing insights in this important yet generally less understood arena.The compendium is a timely and major contribution. It is a great resource for scholars and students interested in understanding the diversity and uniqueness of family firms around the world. Family business practitioners and policy makers seeking to enhance global collaborations and creating sustainable families, communities, and businesses will find this an invaluable resource.”(Pramodita Sharma, Ph.D.,Associate Dean of Business and Professor of Family Business,Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.)“This compendium set is thought-provoking and path-breaking for practitioners and academics. The entire set comprises eleven books:1) Latin America 2) Germanic Europe 3) Nordic Europe 4) Latin Europe 5) Eastern Europe 6) Sub-Saharan Africa 7) Middle East 8) Southern Asia 9) Confucian Asia 10) Anglo Region and 11) Gender As an integral first phase for a broader research program, C.A.S.E. (Culturally-Sensitive Assessment System and Education), it offers comparative cultural analysis of family businesses and culturally-sensitive tools to create more successful families, businesses, and communities worldwide.”(Joseph Horak, Ph.D., Horak Family and Psychological Services, President, C.A.S.E. Worldwide Group, L.L.C., USA.)
278 81-314-1266-5 Culturally-Sensitive Models of Family Business in Latin Europe – A Compendium using the Globe Paradigm www.nbcindia.com General Management Vipin Gupta 11-Mar-08 260 18.5 475 21 525 “Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) studies in 62 societies of the world suggest that leading businesses master the fine balance between culturally-specific and universally applicable principles and practices.This 11 book compendium set of 110 carefully selected articles that are written by about 300 scholars focuses on culturally-sensitive models of family businesses in 60 nations and 10 regions of the world. The eleventh volume is a compilation of articles on gender in family firms, providing insights in this important yet generally less understood arena.The compendium is a timely and major contribution. It is a great resource for scholars and students interested in understanding the diversity and uniqueness of family firms around the world. Family business practitioners and policy makers seeking to enhance global collaborations and creating sustainable families, communities, and businesses will find this an invaluable resource.”(Pramodita Sharma, Ph.D.,Associate Dean of Business and Professor of Family Business,Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.)“This compendium set is thought-provoking and path-breaking for practitioners and academics. The entire set comprises eleven books:1) Latin America 2) Germanic Europe 3) Nordic Europe 4) Latin Europe 5) Eastern Europe 6) Sub-Saharan Africa 7) Middle East 8) Southern Asia 9) Confucian Asia 10) Anglo Region and 11) Gender As an integral first phase for a broader research program, C.A.S.E. (Culturally-Sensitive Assessment System and Education), it offers comparative cultural analysis of family businesses and culturally-sensitive tools to create more successful families, businesses, and communities worldwide.”(Joseph Horak, Ph.D., Horak Family and Psychological Services, President, C.A.S.E. Worldwide Group, L.L.C., USA.)
279 81-314-1268-1 Culturally-Sensitive Models of Family Business in Sub-Saharan Africa – A Compendium using the Globe Paradigm www.nbcindia.com General Management Vipin Gupta 11-Mar-08 264 18.5 475 21 525 “Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) studies in 62 societies of the world suggest that leading businesses master the fine balance between culturally-specific and universally applicable principles and practices.This 11 book compendium set of 110 carefully selected articles that are written by about 300 scholars focuses on culturally-sensitive models of family businesses in 60 nations and 10 regions of the world. The eleventh volume is a compilation of articles on gender in family firms, providing insights in this important yet generally less understood arena.The compendium is a timely and major contribution. It is a great resource for scholars and students interested in understanding the diversity and uniqueness of family firms around the world. Family business practitioners and policy makers seeking to enhance global collaborations and creating sustainable families, communities, and businesses will find this an invaluable resource.”(Pramodita Sharma, Ph.D.,Associate Dean of Business and Professor of Family Business,Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.)“This compendium set is thought-provoking and path-breaking for practitioners and academics. The entire set comprises eleven books:1) Latin America 2) Germanic Europe 3) Nordic Europe 4) Latin Europe 5) Eastern Europe 6) Sub-Saharan Africa 7) Middle East 8) Southern Asia 9) Confucian Asia 10) Anglo Region and 11) Gender As an integral first phase for a broader research program, C.A.S.E. (Culturally-Sensitive Assessment System and Education), it offers comparative cultural analysis of family businesses and culturally-sensitive tools to create more successful families, businesses, and communities worldwide.”(Joseph Horak, Ph.D., Horak Family and Psychological Services, President, C.A.S.E. Worldwide Group, L.L.C., USA.)
280 81-314-1269-X Culturally-Sensitive Models of Gender in Family Business – A Compendium using the Globe Paradigm www.nbcindia.com General Management Vipin Gupta 11-Mar-08 272 18.5 475 21 525 “Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness (GLOBE) studies in 62 societies of the world suggest that leading businesses master the fine balance between culturally-specific and universally applicable principles and practices.This 11 book compendium set of 110 carefully selected articles that are written by about 300 scholars focuses on culturally-sensitive models of family businesses in 60 nations and 10 regions of the world. The eleventh volume is a compilation of articles on gender in family firms, providing insights in this important yet generally less understood arena.The compendium is a timely and major contribution. It is a great resource for scholars and students interested in understanding the diversity and uniqueness of family firms around the world. Family business practitioners and policy makers seeking to enhance global collaborations and creating sustainable families, communities, and businesses will find this an invaluable resource.”(Pramodita Sharma, Ph.D.,Associate Dean of Business and Professor of Family Business,Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada.)“This compendium set is thought-provoking and path-breaking for practitioners and academics. The entire set comprises eleven books:1) Latin America 2) Germanic Europe 3) Nordic Europe 4) Latin Europe 5) Eastern Europe 6) Sub-Saharan Africa 7) Middle East 8) Southern Asia 9) Confucian Asia 10) Anglo Region and 11) Gender As an integral first phase for a broader research program, C.A.S.E. (Culturally-Sensitive Assessment System and Education), it offers comparative cultural analysis of family businesses and culturally-sensitive tools to create more successful families, businesses, and communities worldwide.”(Joseph Horak, Ph.D., Horak Family and Psychological Services, President, C.A.S.E. Worldwide Group, L.L.C., USA.)
281 978-81-314-1933-5 Behavioral Economics – A New Horizon www.nbcindia.com Financial Economics Krishna Kishore Puranam Ravi Kumar Jain B 11-Mar-08 284 18 450 0 0 Of late, Behavioral Economics has evolved as a sub discipline of economics, which questioned the fundamental assumptions of traditional economic theory regarding human rationality and economic behavior. Behavioral Economics is based on the psychological underpinnings explaining human economic behavior and decision-making. It attempts to bridge the gaps in neoclassical economic theory by blending psychological, biological and ecological aspects into fundamental economic theory towards reducing inconsistencies encountered in analyzing decision-making models. Behavioral Economics deals with those aspects of economic analysis, which were either ignored or ruled out by traditional economic researchers. This inter-disciplinary concept drew the attention of the world-class researchers, including Nobel laureates, rendering immense value to the fields of economic analysis and behavioral sciences, as it lays foundations for a new field of research. This book presents the reader with a thorough understanding about the concept and scope of Behavioral Economics, its challenges to the mainstream economics and its contributions to the modern economic analysis. The book contains the views and ideas of various researchers whose contributions made Behavioral Economics an eligible sub-discipline of Economics. This book aims at making the readers understand the relevance of Behavioral Economics in contemporary economic analysis. While the first section of the book introduces Behavioral Economics as a revolutionary thought in economic theory, the second section speaks about the contemporary relevance of Behavioral Economics as a novel economic thought. This book attempts to elevate the significance of Behavioral Economics in streamlining modern economic analysis.
282 978-81-314-1921-2 Primary Education: Contemporary Issues and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Books Debashree Mukherjee Ishita Mukherjee 11-Mar-08 276 18 450 0 0 Developing countries have made a steady improvement towards the universalisation of elementary education. The progress in Asia is commendable with increased enrolments and retention in the primary schools disregarding gender differences. Such considerable enhancement is the outcome of several initiatives undertaken by the governments of various nations as also the non-governmental initiatives taken by the socially spirited people. India is one of such developing countries, wherein the government has allocated increased funds for the improvement of elementary education in the country, when compared to its earlier Five Year Plans. Not only has the government avoided economic aid, but also introduced several schemes and programmes for the attainment of the First Millennium Development Goal, the most noteworthy ones being Operation Blackboard Scheme, District Primary Education Programme, Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan, etc. However, inspite of such initiatives, there are several root challenges to be addressed, namely, poverty, gender disparities, social and religious practices, meager supply of resources, infrastructural inadequacies, etc., before India can boast of total basic education in the country. Keeping the said objective in mind, the book has attempted to capture the present scenario of primary education in the country and its challenges, together with the new trends and the initiatives adopted both in India and abroad for the promotion and accomplishment of the First Millennium Development Goal. The book endeavors to generate awareness of the necessity of basic education, not only to support literacy and economic development but also to encourage value-based education from childhood.
283 81-314-1405-1 Mystery Shopping – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Globalization Anil Varma 11-Mar-08 284 18 450 0 0 You might have heard of mystery shoppers. It all sounds very secretive and, well, mysterious. Mystery shopping is a tool that has been used for decades by for-profit businesses, wanting to look at their business from the customer’s perspective. Researchers are sent into a restaurant, a hotel, a supermarket, or a hardware store to evaluate their customer service experience. How long did it take for them to be acknowledged by staff? Were their queries answered? Were they encouraged to make a sale? Was it the right sale? Did the staff member (or indeed owner) offer them complementary products? Did they remember to mention the current offer? Mystery shopping is a well established technique that provides a true measure of the actuality of service delivery. Mystery shopping is a long-established research technique and is used extensively in many industry sectors to measure the quality of service provided. “It’s an observational tool that closely focuses on how your staff are dealing one-on-one with customers.” Even in the field of healthcare that has never been noted for its customer service, mystery shopping is now being used extensively. With patient surveys there’s no way to find out how someone actually behaved, how employees interacted with the customer. Mystery shopping fills that gap by being very specific. Mystery shopping is a valuable tool for businesses and is especially helpful for small, start-up businesses that need accurate and fast information to assess their employees and compare their products and services with the competition.
284 81-314-1294-0 Employee Satisfaction in Knowledge Industry www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Jegadeesan G Santana Krishnan R 11-Mar-08 296 18 450 0 0 Employee satisfaction has been defined as a pleasurable emotional state resulting from the appraisal of one’s job. There are a variety of factors that can influence a person s level of satisfaction. The advent of the knowledge industry has given rise to a new category of employees-knowledge workers. Due to various factors, the average attrition rate in the knowledge industry is increasing alarmingly. Moreover, HR professionals all over the world, working in BPOs and IT, are trying to formulate retention strategies with little success. This book provides the reader with the conceptual framework of employee satisfaction, its significance, factors, perspectives and retention strategies. Satisfied knowledge workers hold the key to organizational success in the present knowledge economy. Job satisfaction helps management reduce absenteeism, labor turnover and stress. Satisfied employees are happy, work better and, therefore, increase productivity of the firm. The book observes the multiple effects of various factors contributing to employee satisfaction. A high attrition rate poses a significant challenge to managers as frequent loss of well-trained or skilled employees is a cause for concern. The book suggests strategies to curb the attrition problem in the knowledge industry. The retention strategies employed by various reputed companies like GE, Global Vantedge, Google, HCL, iGate Global Solutions, Keane India, L&T Infotech, MindTree Consulting, Moser Baer, Patni Computer Systems, Polaris Software Lab, Siemens Information Systems, Tata, Tech Mahindra and Wipro Technologies are discussed to add value to this book.
285 81-314-0786-1 International Organization for Standardization (ISO) : An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Pramod Rao Simantee Sen 11-Mar-08 288 18 450 0 0 Every organization needs to maintain certain quality standards provided by organizations like ISO. More so, since today’s customers have become highly aware and quality conscious. The International Standards Organization has provided a level playing field manufacturer to officially state the quality of their products and business practices. ISO is made up of more than 150 national standards institutes from countries large and small, industrialized and developing, from all regions of the world. ISO develops voluntary technical standards, which contribute to making industrial production and supply more efficient, safer and cleaner, and to making trade between countries easier and fairer. ISO standards also serve to safeguard consumers in general of products and services, as well as make their lives simpler. There are more than 30,000 ISO standards listed till date. Owing to several recent changes and reforms within the organization, the ISO has created a lot more value for itself in the following aspects: recognized experience in international consensus building, a brand name and recognition on the global platform, a diversified scope, a strong national membership base and wide spectrum representation, its extensive networking, its ability to provide a broad base for regulation and standard implementation, leadership in the use of IT tools, etc. This book focuses on the future requirements and parameters of standards for quality check in every organization. It is hoped that the book will benefit people of various interests like consumer forum, organizational heads, business heads, consumers of products and services, management students, entrepreneurs, traders, quality control bodies, strategy formers, beginners and implementers.
286 978-81-314-1932-8 Small and Medium Enterprises - Global Experiences and Cases www.nbcindia.com Management Amit Singh Sisodiya Janardhan Rao N 11-Mar-08 280 18 450 0 0 The small-scale industries are viewed as an important vehicle for meeting both growth and equity objectives of developing economies. The last two decades have witnessed the steady re-emergence of small-scale industries in both industrialized and industrializing countries, reducing the importance of economies of scale in mass production. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to continually innovate and seek competitive advantages in order to exist, sustain and grow. They are faced with pressures to slash production costs, increase productivity and have to be necessarily more knowledge-driven. Globalisation has created more pressures on the one hand while on the other, greater incentives and opportunities have opened up giving access to overseas markets and knowledge sources. This enables leveraging of these multifarious options to build lasting competitive advantages and to support continuous innovation. In most developing countries SMEs constitute the bulk of the industrial base and contribute significantly to their exports as well as their GDP and GNP. For instance, India has nearly three million SMEs which account for almost 50% of industrial output and 42% of India’s total exports. SMEs play a crucial role in the development of all developing economies. SMEs are considered to be the base of every national economy, generating about 50 percent of the countries’ gross national product. The main reasons are that they are capable of quickly adapting to exacting customer demands as also they are capable of generating large employment potential.
287 978-81-314-1911-3 Effective Performance Management: Approaches and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Training and Development Devi R J Prasad B V S 11-Mar-08 276 18 450 0 0 Every employee, no matter what his or her role is, knows that exceptional employee performance is critical in today s world. Any organization that plans for long-term success needs to focus on the performance of employees to prevent any undue effect. This brings out a change in the manager s role—from performance supervisors to performance coaches. Every organization needs to have competent and experienced persons to accomplish the activities successfully. Employee performance does not occur in a vacuum and it is necessary to raise the skill level and increase the versatility and adaptability of employees through coaching, mentoring and training. The success of an organization depends on its ability to measure accurately the performance of its members and use it objectively to optimize them as a vital resource. Performance appraisal provides the management a feedback on employee performance to improve and help them acquire new skills. It helps identify training and development needs of employees and equip them to meet challenges in their current and future employment. The appraisals can be used for identifying areas where development efforts are needed. Thus, performance appraisal is a major tool for identifying these deficiencies and it is used as a criterion against which selection devices and development programmes are validated. Coaching, mentoring and training are key components of performance enhancement programmes. Special care is taken to ensure that talented persons are hired and then offered a commitment by the organisation to maintain their ongoing development. Coaching, mentoring and training can become the vehicle that motivates behavioural change in increasing the organisation s performance.
288 81-314-1240-1 Radio as an Advertising Medium – Riding the Wave www.nbcindia.com Advertising and Media Pramod Rao Ravikant S Wawge 11-Mar-08 256 17 425 0 0 Gone are the days when advertising was considered “salesmanship in print”! Not any more! Today advertisers are equipped with very advanced technologies to reach out to desired target audiences. The rapidly changing technology has had a great effect on mass media. We have seen the media evolve from print to television, to Internet, to mobile phones and so on. In an age where advertisers are using every possible medium to spread out their message, radio is one such medium that has made a comeback on every potential advertiser’s checklists. It is interesting to see that in an age of hi-tech gizmos and changing lifestyles, radio has made a remarkable comeback sustaining great competition. Research also shows that the radio as an advertising medium has regained its credibility over recent years. Experts opine that the improved quality of service, redefined business value and refined market segmentation have ensured that radio has its own merits. Today, the status of the Radio broadcasting business in advertising industry has improved manifold. The book is a compilation of articles that evaluate the changing trends in the use of radio as an advertising tool—its rise, fall and the comeback—and talks about how to make the most out of it. The book is divided into two sections. The first section is ‘Introduction’ and the second section is ‘Impact and Implications.
289 81-314-0878-7 Socially Responsible Investing: Perspectives and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Finance Rajagopalan S 11-Mar-08 252 17 425 0 0 ‘Socially Responsible Investing’ (SRI) is an investment process that considers the social and environmental consequences of investments, both positive and negative, within the context of rigorous financial analysis. Conventional investing is chiefly concerned with maximization of financial returns; SRI, on the other hand, operates on a wider canvas-it sees investing as a holistic process, one that holds the societal and environmental good in its ambit as much as it does the financial returns.SRI is variously referred to as ethical investing, socially conscious investing, values-based investing and green investing. SRI investors include individuals, businesses, universities, hospitals, foundations, pension funds, corporations, religious institutions and other non-profit organizations. The significance that SRI holds for the investing community can be gauged from the figures: in the US alone, SRI assets were $2.29 trillion in 2005 – one out of every ten dollars under professional management in the country.The emphasis on delivering on the ‘triple bottom line’-social, economic and environmental returns-has never been more for business. In the era of globalization and global warming, SRI promises to guide individuals and institutions – profit and non-profit – in directing their money and energies towards sustainable development. This book introduces the concept of SRI providing various perspectives on it, and describes SRI experiences and scenarios in different countries.
290 978-81-314-1935-9 Delisting of Companies www.nbcindia.com Finance Venkatesh T R Swapna Gopalan 11-Mar-08 244 17 425 0 0 Delisting refers to the removal of a company’s shares from listing on the stock exchanges, either voluntarily or involuntarily. While being a listed company was considered a status symbol till the late-nineties, the new millennium saw a reversal of the trend. According to renowned sources, in 2002 alone, the total market capitalization of stocks in India that opted to delist from stock exchanges amounted to 9% of the market capitalization of the Nifty MNC index. Similarly, in the US, the number of companies that applied for delisting has increased ten fold from 50 in 1999 to more than 500 in 2003. Failure to adhere to listing norms led to many involuntary delistings, while others had opted for voluntary delisting as a prelude to going private. A number of reasons, both external and internal, have been attributed to companies’ decision to delist from the bourses. While, in India, a major reason for the delisting phenomenon has been attributed to regulatory relaxations, the reverse is true in the case of the US. In other words, tightening of regulations in the form of enactment of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (2001) had triggered a spate of delistings in the US. Other reasons cited for delistings included companies’ desire to avoid scrutiny of shareholders, regulators and potential investors, and also avoid payment of exorbitant compliance costs associated therewith. Irrespective of the reasons behind it, delisting of companies has several stark implications for the company as well as its shareholders. This book, explores the phenomenon called delisting and its implications. Though the topic is looked at from an international perspective, special emphasis has been placed on the situation in India.
291 81-314-1383-7 Strategic Sourcing for Competitive Advantage www.nbcindia.com Strategy Mookherjee S N 11-Mar-08 268 17 425 0 0 We live today in a hyper-competitive world. Globalization is inextricably linking the world’s major economies. At the same time, stakeholders’ expectations for profitability and growth are mounting. Increased shareholder value is the common demand. Disappointments on any of these fronts are severely punished in the capital markets, making it difficult for the enterprises to raise funds for their future operations. Today’s goal of business excellence is not just best-in-class but best-in-world. In this changed global business scenario, the concept of ‘sourcing’ is evolving from a mere operational activity into a strategic process for organizing and fine-tuning the value chain of a business enterprise. The question now asked is more strategic in nature, not merely whether to outsource a function or activity, but rather how to ‘right source’ every critical activity in the value chain, thereby helping the business firm to improve its competitive position in the market place. This is the new discipline of ‘Strategic Sourcing’. Organizations have realized the need to place outsourcing “onshore or offshore” – in a strategic context so that even core functions like product design, R&D, engineering, HR, manufacturing and even, marketing are “right-shored”, and often moved outside the physical boundaries of the organization. This, in turn, is changing the way the firms think about their business processes, their value chains, and their competitive positions. The book outlines the basic concepts of Strategic Sourcing, its applications with a few selected cases in different organizational contexts.
292 81-314-1397-7 Tobacco Consumption: Socio-Economic Implications www.nbcindia.com Economy Azmal Hussain Nirbachita Karmakar 11-Mar-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 Despite the uneven consequence of tobacco consumption, it is on the rising spree for the middle and the low income countries, as evident from over 80 percent of the smokers hailing from developing and transitional economies. Here comes the role of the tobacco industry, having a huge market potential in these countries due to weaker tobacco control measures and increasing prevalence of tobacco consumption among the youth and women. In such a scenario regulation of tobacco consumption becomes indispensable. While the conventional demand management programs take the form of “taxing the bads” through price rise, ban on advertisement, and regulation of smoking in public places, there can also be supply management mechanisms in the form of curtailing tobacco production through raising alternative crops. This brings us to the issue of alternative livelihood opportunities for the tobacco growers. Set in this frame, the present volume is an attempt to shed light on the various dimensions and dynamics of tobacco consumption and control with a global perspective. The book is divided into two sections. The first section elucidates an overview of the tobacco economy with its implications and finally throws light on the tobacco industry focusing on corporate social responsibility. The second section extends the issues to country perspectives, citing examples of both demand and supply management measures incorporating some out-of-the box cases like agricultural diversification and crop alternative to tobacco.
293 978-81-314-1908-3 Flexicurity – Concepts and Global Perspectives www.nbcindia.com General Books Sridhar Krishna 11-Mar-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 Flexicurity is characterized by OECD as follows: moderate employment protection legislation; adequate unemployment benefits; active involvement in life long learning; considerable spending on labour market policies; wide coverage of social security systems and wide trade union coverage. And the outcomes are high employment rates and low poverty rates. The OECD, ILO and the European Commission all uniformly hold the flexicurity policies as being responsible for these favorable outcomes. In fact, the OECD and the European Union have ‘officially adopted flexicurity’. While some countries in the European Union may have certain elements of flexicurity only Denmark and the Netherlands have its features in totality. It took more than 100 years for flexicurity to take root in Denmark, as an outcome of negotiations involving the trade unions, employers’ representatives and the government. In the Indian context while there is complete flexibility in the informal sector which accounts for 93 percent of the employment, there is rigidity in the formal organized sector. In particular, chapter VB of the Industrial Disputes Act states that enterprises involving more than 100 workers must seek prior permission of the government before retrenchment, layoffs or closure of the unit. Since permission is generally not given, retrenchment, layoffs or closure of the unit is not possible. While employers in India would like to see an end to these provisions of the Industrial Disputes Act, such a step should not be taken without first introducing social security. The book will prove useful to corporates, policy makers, legislators, trade unions, employers’ organizations and students of law and management.
294 978-81-314-1905-2 Effective Decision-Making: New Models and Approaches www.nbcindia.com General Management Anil Varma 11-Mar-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 Decision-making is the process of sufficiently reducing uncertainty about alternatives to allow a reasonable choice to be made from among them. It should be noted here that uncertainty is reduced rather than eliminated. Very few decisions are made with absolute certainty, because complete knowledge about all the alternatives is seldom possible. Thus, every decision involves a certain amount of risk. Many decision-makers have a tendency to seek more information than required to make a good decision. When too much information is sought and obtained, one or more of several problems can arise. As you know, there are often many solutions to a given problem, and the decision- maker s task is to choose one of them. The task of choosing can be as simple or as complex as the importance of the decision warrants, and the number and quality of alternatives can also be adjusted according to importance, time, and resources and so on. A variety of structured techniques has been discussed for helping planners and decision-makers. The focus of decision analysis techniques is to help decision-makers clarify problem understanding and separate facts from priorities and preferences. This is achieved by structuring problems into an aggregated hierarchy of objectives and by studying the performance of decision alternatives on criteria. The various models and techniques keep the problem presentation simple and help to extract essentials out of them and at last to find a better solution for the problems.
295 81-314-1283-5 Workplace Belligerence and Preventive Strategies www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Devi R J Prasad B V S 11-Mar-08 248 16.5 425 0 0 In an unending labor crunch, developing an effective employee induction program and experience is very crucial in the current business scenario. Effective employee induction is one of the best tools used by the employers to retain and have enduring relationship with the employees. The program determines how promptly the new employees can integrate into the business to attain their full potential. It provides them the clarity of expectations, encouragement, the right tools to reduce their learning curve, boost their morale and confidence and help them stay engaged for a long term in an organization. Induction training is the base for identifying and extracting the employee’s talent and competency and it is a precondition for an employer to give the best attention to the design, quality, timeframe and implementation of the program. The benefits that the program offers to the company are manifold and outweigh the program cost. It rewards the company with a high degree of employee engagement, commitment and loyalty that results in big dividends to the company. Hence companies should ensure that, it is conscientiously designed, cautiously delivered, and constantly upgraded, so that it stays new and relevant to all staff needs. In a nutshell, a company that has realized and is willing to capitalize on the linkage between employee induction and profits will earn increased ROI and emerge as a successful leader in the marketplace. This book is designed to provide an introduction to the concept of an effective employee induction program and its significance in the current business scenario. It analyses the various methods and strategies for building and maintaining an Effective Employee Induction Program in an organization.
296 978-81-314-1944-1 Reverse Brain Drain: A Reality in the New Millennium www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Krishna Kumar 11-Mar-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 Reverse brain drain refers to the process wherein human capital moves in reverse gear from an advanced country in the Western hemisphere to a Third-World developing nation that is on the threshold of rapid economic growth. This process transpires when scientists, engineers, technologists and others from the Third-World migrate to comparatively well-developed nations to learn in their universities, undertake research and gain valuable work experience unavailable in their mother countries, then return home after several years of stay abroad to set up a related business or teach in a university or work for a multinational in their respective homelands. In the present global competitive environment, the reverse brain drain from the West will be of vital importance to developing countries. Communities of such foreign trained and educated scientists or engineers can not only set up production units and development centres on their native soil but also provide the skill and know-how required to help local firms shift to higher grades of performance and achievement. The book attempts to give a clear picture on the current scenario of the reverse brain drain in the first decade of the new millennium. It provides an insight into the causes of the brain drain reversal and the roles played by governments, expatriates and immigrants. In the current backdrop of the developing economies in the world today, this book also analyses the strategies required to make the homecoming convenient and lucrative for the returnees whose numbers seem to be increasing day by day.
297 81-314-1185-5 Management of Succession in Family-Owned Businesses www.nbcindia.com Management Pramod Verma 11-Mar-08 248 16.5 425 0 0 Family-owned businesses, being the most important segment, exert a major influence on a country’s economy. Succession management in family-owned businesses has been extensively researched. Successful succession implies a combination of relationship within the family and the human resource development strategy of the organization. The recent developments in Indian family business suggest that the rules of succession are being rewritten. The trend towards professionalization is catching up with the younger generation to have a competitive advantage over the changing business scenario. Professional managers are also being inducted at the top management level. Keeping in mind the near-inevitability of divisions in family businesses, proactive succession planning will have to be adopted, to minimize the ill effects of feuding factions. Meticulous planning is required to make the family businesses healthy and dependable entities. Plan for management of succession can be formulated and implemented with communication being a binding force. The book introduces the basic concept of succession management and its relevance to family-owned businesses: how they must prepare for future to survive like non-family firms. Succession planning should be viewed for continuity and vision. The greatest challenge for family-owned business is establishment of effective communication, which is understood and practised at all levels for building stronger families and family businesses. There are issues and perspectives focusing on the consequences of lack of succession planning and management. Finally, the cases from Ranbaxy, Reliance etc. shed light on succession management and its importance through generations.
298 978-81-314-1931-1 Marketing Intelligence: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Marketing Devi R J 11-Mar-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 Selling a product to a customer is merely the beginning of a marketing process. But winning over the customer, and thereby, establishing a marketing stronghold is its logical end. In an intensively competitive environment, companies do not get many chances to prove their products’ worth. They always get this opportunity only once and if they fail to use the opportunity properly, they would lose not only that customer but many more whom the customer would come into contact with. Many multinational corporations are aware of this fact and try to win over their customers not only the first time the customer tries the product but each and every time the customer uses the product. In this process, companies use many marketing techniques to not only win over customers, but also effectively retain them and discourage them from switching over to another brand. It is the best marketing effort to create as many prospective customers, encourage them to try the product and buy the product repeatedly. Winning companies focus on the emerging trend in the market. A firm can win in the battlefield of business provided it has the ability to go hand in hand with the changing marketing trends to capture the maximum market share. In this competitive business battle, a firm should apply its intelligence system to flourish in the market. In order to win the customers and the market they should have strong Business Intelligence, Competitive Intelligence, Market and Marketing Intelligence, Emotional Intelligence, Location Intelligence, Supply Chain Intelligence and Artificial Intelligence. Usage of right technology at the right time will always give the winning edge.
299 81-314-1404-3 Soft Skills Development: Training and Evaluation www.nbcindia.com Training and Development Jegadeesan G Santana Krishnan R 11-Mar-08 248 16.5 425 0 0 Training is a process of learning a sequence of programmed behavior. Development is a related process. It covers not only those activities which improve job performance but also those which bring about the development of the personality, help individuals progress towards maturity and actualization of their potential capacities. Besides knowledge, a manager requires a range of skills to effectively manage his work and achieve the desired goals. Academic and business circles have now identified the need for appropriate management education that imparts the requisite skills to job aspirants. Apart from the quantitative (technical) skills, most other qualitative (managerial) skills are essentially “soft-skills”. When technical competence is not balanced with soft skills, communication often breaks down, negotiations are poor and project deadlines are missed and great ideas and talent wither away and get lost. Thus, developing these competencies by using the relevant soft skills training methods is the need of the hour. The book attempts to present the concept, importance and future outlook of soft skill and its training in organizations to the reader. It talks about self-awareness, empathy, social etiquettes, communication, creativity, leadership, negotiation skills and presentation skills. It covers various on-the-job training and off-the-job training methods implemented for soft skills training like simulation training, outbound training, brainstorming and assertiveness and confidence training. The book also discusses methods for measuring the returns of soft skills training using techniques like 360-degree feedback, behavioral objectives or assessment centers.
300 978-81-314-1914-4 E-democracy: Concepts And Practices www.nbcindia.com General Santap Sanhari Mishra 11-Mar-08 236 16 400 0 0 E-democracy is about the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) for the enhancement of democratic processes. It is actually very difficult to define e-democracy. It is a new concept subject to a number of discussions and debates. The term ‘e-democracy’ was coined in 1994 by a Minnesota based project in US, and since then, a number of countries have experimented with the e-democratic processes. E-democracy is a form of politics, based on technology. Some scholars opine e-democracy as merely e-voting. But in the true sense, e-democracy goes beyond that to include a number of other concepts like e-participation, e-discussion, e-forum, e-campaigning etc. The main aim of e-democracy is strengthening of democracy already existing in a society. E-democracy ensures peoples’ participation in a democratic society. The biggest advantage of e-democracy lies in the fact that it establishes an interconnection between the people and the legislators through ICT, resulting into more citizens’ participation. But to the progress of e-democracy, a number of challenges exist, like the need of a proper architectural design, ethics in e-voting, ethics in posting of views in e-forum, politicians’ mindset, proper policies etc. Though in no country has e-democracy been practiced in a full-fledged manner, evidences are there regarding the experiments in countries like US, Switzerland, Canada, Japan, Brazil, Iran, Philippines etc. This book is an attempt to illustrate the concept of e-democracy, while it also glimpses at the practices going on in some countries.
301 81-314-1407-8 Radio Frequency Identification in Libraries: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Information Technolo Smitha Ramachandran 11-Mar-08 232 16 400 0 0 RFID is a wireless technology that uses radio frequency and a combination of computer chip and a small radio antenna that allows almost any object to self-identify. RFID Technology is one of the latest and most wanted among the emerging technologies for libraries. It is an automated data-capture technology that can be used to electronically identify, track, and store information contained on a tag. As with any new technology, many myths and misconceptions exist. Debates are going on in developed and developing countries with respect to the adoption of this technology by libraries. The book focuses on the concept and working of RFID technology, its application in libraries-to manage, organize and improve the quality of service rendered by libraries. The book highlights why libraries are in transition towards the adoption of RFID technology into their system, and the obstacles in the way of its implementation even as the application of RFID in manufacturing and service sectors is widely becoming popular today. The book is divided into two sections. The first section, “Concepts” discusses the technology of RFID, the working of RFID in library and different library functions, the advantages, the disadvantages, myths and misconception about this technology. The second section, “Cases” pertains to the implementation done at various libraries across the globe, the experiences and the future plans of these libraries.
302 978-81-314-1942-7 Employee Counseling: Concepts and Applications www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Harish R 11-Mar-08 220 15.5 400 0 0 Counseling represents a set of skills and techniques to help people understand, manage and solve their problems, which manifest as worry, anxiety, stress, etc. In counseling, there is a person with a problem (the counselee) and a person who helps (the counselor). Employee counseling applies the concept of counseling to the work environment, to help employees with their work-related and personal problems, which affect performance on the job. While earlier, employee counseling was meant to be a step that preceded disciplinary action, nowadays, it has become a welfare measure for helping troubled employees. This book begins by providing a glimpse into the history, evolution and present status of employee counseling. Thereafter, it covers various facets of counseling such as the concept of Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), integration of employee counseling as part of the HRM function, different models and methods of employee counseling and the role of counseling in performance management. It also looks into several situation-specific applications of counseling, such as counseling during times of crisis, organizational change and downsizing, counseling older employees, financial counseling, counseling to handle stress and counseling for BPO employees. The cases at the end help to bring out the practical dimensions of the subject in greater detail. Over the past decade, increased competition and rapid pace of economic development have led to higher stress on the job, thereby enhancing the need for counseling. Effective employee counseling is a win-win route for employers as well as employees. From an employee s point of view, counseling symbolizes fair treatment, and for the employer, it helps in improving employees’ productivity on the job.
303 978-81-314-2037-9 Case Studies on MNCs in India: The Competitive Strategies www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Rajendar Singh Rathore 11-Mar-08 172 0 50 1250 “India is one of the world’s most promising and fastest-growing economies. Many MNCs entered to cash in on the exciting opportunities there. But overall, they have had a mixed performance. Many, who were remarkably successful elsewhere, have failed or are yet to succeed. Indian market poses special challenges due to its heterogeneity, in terms of economic development, income, religion, cultural mix and tastes. On top is the heating competition among local players as well as the leading MNCs. Not all companies have been struggling to understand Indian consumer behaviour. Doing business in India is at a turning point; market entry strategies, for example, that clicked once don’t promise success every time.
Success in India will not happen overnight; companies need to have an open mind. This requires commitment, management drive and focus on long-term objectives, and proper business models too. They have to invest substantial financial and managerial resources to understand customer’s needs and come up with suitable products. This book, MNCs in India: The Competitive Strategies, examines their much-needed critical success factors. Through the experiences of some well-known MNCs in India, the book explores how they could key in rightly to benefit maximally while others couldn’t.
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304 81-314-1210-X Case Studies on Aviation Industry – Vol.I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Mercy Mathew 11-Mar-08 260 0 50 1250 Whenever an industry, under regulation is liberalised, there is an increasing tendency to overestimate returns. And that too without considering how well the support system can sustain those returns. When the aviation industry was liberalized, new entrants flooded the aviation market, especially the low-cost carriers (LCC). Low entry barriers, rising income and demographic profile of fliers, growing potential of domestic and international travel, signaled unlimited opportunity for the airline companies. Plagued by the high cost structures of the hub-and-spoke business model and tempted by the success of Southwest Airlines, Ryanair and other LCCs, many traditional airlines too slid into the tarmac. But not many could hold ground for long – owing to the highly cyclical, cost-intensive nature of the business, but more so because of the added capacity. Case Studies on Aviation Industry is a compilation of the experiences of various airlines across geographical regions. It spotlights what caused few airlines to prosper while others perished.
305 81-314-0603-2 Case Studies on Managing Innovation – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Maldar Nusrath Jahan Yesav Rajendar Singh Rathore 11-Mar-08 392 0 50 1250 Over the years, with globalisation eliminating country boundaries, competition has intensified in every industry and market. While global brands are facing stiff competition from local brands in some markets, many local companies are planning to launch their products on a global platform. Simultaneously, consumers are becoming increasingly price sensitive and brand conscious. Faced with turbulent business conditions, management thinking has shifted focus towards ‘innovation’ as the primary source of building a sustainable competitive advantage. But changing times have also changed the definition of innovation. Innovation is neither just technological creativity nor it is restricted only to the R&D department of an organisation. In addition to inventing new products, the term ‘Innovation’ encompasses, developing new processes or business models and coming up with new means of distribution, marketing or design. Innovation has become an omnipresent driver of growth, no longer confined to the high-tech industries of the economy. The belief that ‘a company which runs out of innovation will run out of growth’ has set in far and wide. Be it manufacturers of fast moving consumer goods like P&G or companies like Intel dealing with cutting edge technology, investment in innovation across all industries is at an all-time high. The case studies in this book provide insights into the conditions that gave birth to some of the most revolutionary innovations of modern times and the important role played by the top management in nurturing an ‘innovative organisation’. Besides, they also help in bridging the gap between theory and practice – by developing an understanding of when and how to apply techniques learned in management studies.
306 978-81-314-2039-3 Case Studies on Oil Industry www.nbcindia.com Industry Muthu Kumar R 11-Mar-08 340 0 50 1250 “Scientists predict an upcoming and lasting shortage of world’s conventional oil. Called ‘Peak Oil’, it can disrupt economies worldwide. Oil price swings can stagger stock markets. Thereby, making future growth barely certain. Actually what worsens the situation is the diminishing crude oil reserves. Already there are very limited oil stocks – annoying analysts about how this will turn out to be, if demand from rapidly emerging countries like China and India keeps swelling. This situation can balloon to such an extent that the world may not recover from its burst.
Needless to say, global oil firms got to change their strategies – to tackle the emerging industry trends and stay put in the market. Intense search is on for viable – maybe, even unconventional – alternatives to crude oil. Crude oil supplies are cutting short and spare capacity is becoming scarce. CEOs of oil giants got to key in their ideas and cut loose into new areas – say through mergers – to survive the competition in the market.
This book presents a panorama of case studies, dealing with an array of issues challenging the very foundations of the global oil industry. Some of them are expressly evoked – including dwindling supplies, common growth strategies of oil giants, mergers and acquisitions, and corporate culture.
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307 978-81-314-2052-2 Financial System in Japan – Emerging Trends www.nbcindia.com Finance Nageswara Rao Katuri 7-Feb-08 352 21 525 0 0 Japan, the second largest economy in the world, with a population of over twelve crore, faced stagnation during the decade 1992-2002, which has been described as the ‘lost decade’. Bank of Japan persued zero interest rate policy followed by quantitative easing policy to fight out the deflationary spiral. Japanese banks suffered from huge non-performing loans accumulation for about one and half decades due to excessive exposure to sensitive sectors before a turnaround during the last three years, under what is termed ‘Big Bang strategy for financial sector reforms.’ Japanese post, the world’s largest financial institution engaged in postal savings, life insurance and Mail delivery has been privatized recently, with a view to benefiting the economy as a whole. But many critics are blaming the government for not forming a clear-cut strategy to move its $3 trillion funds into general economy. Japan has been opening up its economy to attract inbound FDI substantially by formulating a robust competition policy and enforcement of a regime that would improve market access and Japan’s economic recovery. Although FDI in Japan has been increasing rapidly in recent years, its share of GDP is still extremely small, when compared to that of other major advanced nations. Japanese companies were rarely the target of mergers and acquisitions. However, in a liberalized financial environment, key economic indicators point to rise in M&A activity both within Japan and with foreign buyers. Financial system stability has been gradually improving, through enhanced value added services and establishment of attractive business models and further improvement in risk management and through corporate governance and internal control and information disclosure.
308 81-314-1395-0 Green Consumerism – Approaches and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Marketing Sumati Reddy 7-Feb-08 348 20 500 0 0 Green consumerism pertains to consumption, where corporates and individual consumers both, identify and value products and services generated in a sustainable manner. The choices that we, as consumers, make to consume certain products and services or to adopt a certain lifestyle, have a direct or indirect impact on the environment and our personal or collective well-being. This is why the topic of green consumerism has become a central focus for national and international policy. The green consumerism movement was primarily aimed at persuading or influencing the mass of consumers in developed countries to adopt green consumerism. However, the movement is not restricted to consumers in developed countries, nor solely to consumers. Producers, government bodies, policy makers, NGOs and environmental activists have equally important roles to play in making this movement successful. The basic idea is to awaken the human consciousness and to influence the market to change its ways of production, marketing and consumption. This book focuses on the concept of green consumerism, examines consumer attitudes and behaviour towards green products and services, and also presents the state of affairs in a few different countries with respect to green consumerism. These countries include The Netherlands, France, Australia, the US, Canada and a few Asian countries including India. The book will be of interest, primarily, to business executives, marketing professionals, business students, and business teachers. By reading this book, business executives and marketers can be armed with requisite knowledge about green consumerism, adopt sustainable business practices, and marketing strategies to meet the needs of green consumers. Business students and business teachers can update themselves about this new trend in business and consumer behaviour.
309 978-81-314-1903-8 Environmental Governance – Concepts, Relevance and Lessons www.nbcindia.com General Management Debashree Mukherjee 7-Feb-08 304 19 475 0 0 Environmental Governance deals with the correlation and interface among the Government and non-Government authorities, their procedures and methods, in making environmental decisions. It lays emphasis on the fact that environmental decisions should be arrived at taking a fair approach with particular emphasis on the need for citizens and interest groups, and communities must be allowed to participate and have their voices heard in environment decision-making. The study of environmental governance does not only stop at public participation in environment decision-making. It also makes us realize that as vigilant citizens, individuals also play a major role in promoting and preserving the environment through the mechanisms of environmental governance. Good environmental governance is measured by the effectiveness of strategies and initiatives implemented to achieve goals of increased access to environmental information, participation and justice based on the principles laid down in various international environmental instruments. The book has been formatted in three sections. While section I comprises articles which introduce environmental governance and emphasizes that governance of the environment should be conducted with strong public involvement and backed by authoritative commitment, its various facets namely, environment accounting, environment impact assessment, public participation, the role played by the environment courts in promoting environmental governance and the effectiveness of law-making in the area are dealt with in section II. Finally, section III deals with the experiences of environmental governance at the local level, and upholds the necessity of governance of various components of the environment.
310 81-314-1298-3 Industry-Academia Interface – Perspectives and Practices www.nbcindia.com Management Anitha Arunsimha 7-Feb-08 304 19 475 0 0 Universities and industry, which for long have been operating in separate domains, are rapidly inching closer to each other to create synergies. The constantly changing management paradigms, in response to growing complexity of the business environment, today, have necessitated these two to come closer. A productive interface between academia and industry in the present times of knowledge economy is a critical requirement. Failure to recognize each other’s role will reduce the interface between institute and industry; and it can potentially give rise to mismatch between demand and supply of manpower, which, in turn, can cause disruption in the job market. This book “Industry-Academia Interface – Perspectives and Practices” attempts to examine the modalities of interface, the extent of collaboration and the benefits of the mutually interdependent relationship of academia industry partnership. It projects that industry and academia engagement has to be based on models of best practices, correct partners and processes, needed within university, funding agencies and companies to help make smart, efficient and effective partnerships. The various dimensions of interface and the interdependence for sustenance are explored in the book that is replete with case studies, articulating model academic industry alliance, internships, management development programs, Corporate Universities, Academic entrepreneurship and campus recruitment. With sharp insights and interesting illustrations, the book reflects a cognizance of the intersecting needs and mutually interdependent relationship of the industry-academia interface, in its earnest attempt to identify means to strengthen the industry-academia interface. The book sets out to establish that the industry-academia engagement should not be tentative and ritualistic, but real.
311 81-314-1264-9 Globalization: Impact and Implications www.nbcindia.com General Books Preeti Phuskele 7-Feb-08 296 18 450 0 0 Globalization denotes that an increasing number of countries are taking part in world economy. It implies free trade and presents opportunities to developing countries to enjoy the benefits of comparative cost advantage. Developing countries all over the world have begun taking part in world trade. This process is changing the pattern of world trade and increasingly affecting the economies of developing and developed countries and our everyday life as well. However, globalization goes beyond trade. It means the opening up of countries to wider contacts with one another, in order to facilitate the free flow of goods, services, people and technologies. This book is an attempt to analyze the overall impact of globalization on inflation, monetary policies, employment, poverty trends, and world trade. This book intends to help management students, academicians and every global citizen understand the opportunities and threats of globalization. As the book discusses examples, ranging from developed countries to developing countries, it will help readers understand the economic implications of globalization for both developing and developed countries. The book portrays the true picture of globalization and, therefore, helps readers in forming an unbiased opinion about globalization. This book is an informative contribution as it is a collection of diverse articles compiled with the objective of giving a comprehensive picture of the opportunities and threats of globalization.
312 81-314-1398-5 Service Delivery Management – A Road Map to Success www.nbcindia.com General Management Kalai Selvan N 7-Feb-08 276 18 450 0 0 In this competitive environment, the new age customers have become more demanding in terms of quality service and cost effective on-time service delivery. Today s acceptable level of service may not satisfy tomorrow s customer. The customers expectations are changing dramatically. During the past few decades, the services industry has been facing huge challenges due to technology revolution, increasing customer expectations, frequently changing customer needs and the dynamic market scenario. The service organizations need better customer management, resources, systems and flexible workforce to satisfy the customer. Due to technology revolution and customer demand, the service organizations are trying to reach customers through different channels to satisfy them. They are facing challenges in improving operational efficiency and reducing costs without negatively impacting customer service. In the cut-throat competition of today s business world, organizations are increasing the targets in their service level agreements in order to increase bottom line and expand the market share. To meet these challenges, service organizations are implementing service delivery management (SDM). Service delivery management can facilitate better customer satisfaction, decrease operational cost and increase service system reliability and flexibility. Service delivery management is an innovative business model for optimizing important factors of services, including customers, assets and workforce. SDM business model provides the service organization with a method of delivering superior service to customers continuously and also reducing the operating cost of the organization. Service delivery management requires a great degree of organizational commitment because it involves changing the organizational culture and implementing new technology.
313 978-81-314-1902-1 IUP Series on Indian Financial Intermediaries: Trends and Challenges www.nbcindia.com Finance Preeti Phuskele 7-Feb-08 272 17 425 0 0 The financial sector of a country aids the effective operation of its economy. It directs, controls and allocates resources, in a proportionate manner so as to maintain economic equilibrium and stability. A financial intermediary provides financial assistance or markets financial products to individuals / business houses. These intermediaries are significant for any economy, as they bridge the gap between the units with excess funds (primarily households), and the units who are short of funds (businessmen, entrepreneurs, business houses). These intermediaries play an important role in mobilizing funds in the economy. Unlike earlier, nowadays, Indian financial system is undergoing rapid changes. This results in increased competition among financial intermediaries and introduction of new instruments for investment/borrowing. Also, due to globalization they are now trying to adopt global standards. With the increase in the competition (in the scenario arising from the advent of global financial intermediaries in large numbers), the Financial Intermediaries are now adopting new methods and procedures for their basic function of mobilizing funds. This book is a significant contribution, as it tries to describe the true picture of the current position of Indian Financial Intermediaries. It not only focuses on the Improvement but also on the areas which still need improvement to be on par with global standards. In short, this book focuses on the current trend of Indian Financial Intermediaries in the era of increasing competition. It is a ‘must’ read for all management students, researchers and investors.
314 978-81-314-1924-3 Small and Medium Enterprises – Perspectives and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Management Anil Varma 7-Feb-08 260 17 425 0 0 The small-scale industries are viewed as an important vehicle for meeting both growth and equity objectives of developing economies. The last two decades have witnessed the steady re-emergence of small-scale industries in both industrialized and industrializing countries, reducing the importance of economies of scale in mass production. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) need to continually innovate and seek competitive advantages in order to exist, sustain and grow. They are faced with pressures to slash production costs, increase productivity and have to be necessarily more knowledge-driven. Globalisation has created more pressures on the one hand while on the other, greater incentives and opportunities have opened up giving access to overseas markets and knowledge sources. This enables leveraging of these multifarious options to build lasting competitive advantages and to support continuous innovation. In most developing countries SMEs constitute the bulk of the industrial base and contribute significantly to their exports as well as their GDP and GNP. For instance, India has nearly three million SMEs which account for almost 50% of industrial output and 42% of India’s total exports. SMEs play a crucial role in the development of all developing economies. SMEs are considered to be the base of every national economy, generating about 50 percent of the countries’ gross national product. The main reasons are that they are capable of quickly adapting to exacting customer demands as also they are capable of generating large employment potential.
315 978-81-314-2033-1 Organization Structure, Design and Functions – Concepts and Applications www.nbcindia.com Management Simantee Sen 7-Feb-08 268 17 425 0 0 “Since every organization is unique in its own way, a standard format for organization structural design cannot exist. However, as this design forms the skeleton of the organization, its importance cannot be overlooked.
This book aims at providing a guideline for organizations and entrepreneurs, which makes them realize that an efficient and effective organizational structure may, in fact, give them that ‘edge’ over competitors.
There is a definite relationship between organizational design/structure and international business. Each has a crucial implication for the other. Some structures, which work effectively in the domestic environment, might be impracticable in the international environment. Others may need adjustments to facilitate a foreign operation. The demand of the day is adaptability, in every aspect of management. With the ever-changing business environment and globalization, employees must be ready and willing to adapt themselves to all demands, even if it means becoming cross functional and multi-skilled in nature. After all, it is the employees who form the organizational structure.
Organizational structure can inhibit or foster creativity and innovation. The problem with organizational structure though, is that, it is resultant of many factors, including history, organic growth, strategy, operational design, product diversity, logistics, marketing, client base, supplier base, and so on. Therefore, what managers need, are not recipes for complete structural change, but insights into the properties of fostering structures that can be adapted to the existing organizational structure.
Effective organizational design and structure are dividends, however large or small the organization may be. Without this aspect, it is almost impossible to manage their processes and systems. This concept of organizational design is not quantifiable in nature. Although, there can be various models and concepts in this regard, this book works as an effective guideline and counselor.
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316 81-314-1270-3 Global Poverty: Trends, Issues and Challenges www.nbcindia.com Economy: World Ramani V V Chandra Sekhara Raju A.B 7-Feb-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 UN Millennium Summit 2000 declared in unequivocal terms that we should “… Spare no effort to free our fellow men, women and children from the abject and dehumanising conditions of extreme poverty.” Poverty can be looked at, as income poverty and human poverty. Income poverty is nothing but lack of income to buy a basket of basic needs for human survival. Human poverty transcends economic aspect and encompasses social, cultural, political and physical opportunities to lead a long, healthy, creative life and to enjoy a decent standard of living, freedom, dignity, self-esteem and respect of others. Poverty is a major cause of food insecurity. Its reduction has become imperative, to improve the access to nutritionally sufficient and safe food for all. Overcoming human poverty needs a special effort to assess a broad range of national poverty programmes – to find out what is working, what is not, and to draw some general lessons for better policies. The investigations of World Bank reveal that global poverty reduction is possible with a comprehensive approach that addresses the needs of the poor people in three important areas: opportunity, empowerment and security. It is earnestly hoped that the literature compiled in this book would come in handy for drafting multiple policies to reduce poverty by focusing on need-based approaches and their effective implementation. It may also pave the way for further research to find out more pragmatic measures and comprehensive strategies for mitigating global poverty and human misery.
317 978-81-314-1915-1 Affirmative Action: Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Rajagopalan S 7-Feb-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 Almost every society in the world has seen discrimination in one form or the other against certain sections – discrimination based on race, colour, caste, religion, ethnicity or gender. In some societies, prejudices based on such considerations are more deeply entrenched than in others while in some recognition and remedial action have significantly reduced, if not completely eliminated, the malaise. Examples of groups that have faced discrimination include the blacks in the US and South Africa, and the dalits (backward classes) in India. Almost everywhere such groups constitute the minority or the underprivileged. The spheres of life where discrimination is most prevalent are education and employment. Lack of access to education and employment opportunities effectively marginalizes minority groups, and keeps them mired in poverty and deprivation. Discrimination perpetuated over a period of time becomes a source of deep resentment and unrest among the marginalized, often resulting in acts of violence. Different countries have tried to address discrimination through what is called ‘affirmative action’. Affirmative action is so called since it goes beyond non-discrimination, and involves positive strategies or steps for access to opportunities for the marginalized. This book introduces the concept of ‘affirmative action’ to the reader, outlines the issues involved and presents experiences of affirmative action policies and programmes in different countries.
318 81-314-1380-2 Marriage and Migration: Socio-Economic Implications www.nbcindia.com Economy Ishita Mukherjee Samrat Goswami 7-Feb-08 212 15.5 400 0 0 There have been marriage and migration – two completely different phenomena – in each and every society from time immemorial. Being a social institution, marriage is the legal way that leads to the destiny of family formation for a couple by sharing the life through caring attitude for each other. On the other hand, migration is the search for a better way of living, with better opportunities and satisfaction ultimately for better livelihood. But incidentally, both marriage and migration are profoundly linked to each other. Marriage migration takes place for different social, economic and cultural factors. Traditionally, marriage is the cause of migration for the bride from her patriarchal to the groom’s family. But, in the modern age, it is not the case always. In many of the cases, it has been witnessed that education is the factor for which people migrate from the native country to a foreign country. Then after finding the right partner they tie their knot. Therefore, there exists a two-way causation between marriage and migration. This book is a modest attempt to capture the issues related to marriage migration, the social, economic and cultural factors behind it and the impacts of marriage migration on society. The book has been alienated in two sections. The first section tries to capture the conceptual underpinnings of marriage migration, emphasizing upon factors behind them whereas the second section deals with some regional and cross-border experiences involving marriage and migration.
319 81-314-1399-3 Integrated Marketing Communication: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Marketing Gopalakrishnan P S 7-Feb-08 212 15.5 400 0 0 This book seeks to provide the latest information on the topic of integrated marketing communications (IMC) and the thirteen articles in the book highlight the concepts, process and implementation of IMC, its advantages and drawbacks. The book gives a broad view of IMC, capturing the contemporary views and thoughts on it. Section I of the book contains ten articles on the theoretical aspects of IMC and section II has three articles on the experiences of a few companies. In the fast moving, competitive marketplace, the focus of marketers has been on the efficient and cost-effective ways to communicate with their customers in order to influence their buying behavior. Brands are expanding their horizons beyond national borders in the context of globalization and economic liberalization. Hence, marketers have to develop an enduring understanding of the consumers through the implementation of IMC by designing/developing messages, communication contents that are ‘relevant’ and ‘meaningful’ to the customers/consumers. IMC is an orchestrated marketing communications program on a brand/product/service which can reinforce the message/content manifold in the minds of the consumers. The book provides a historical perspective of IMC, its importance in the changing market scenario, the impact and the overlap of tools of communications. It explores to find the factors that impact marketing communications, factors that encourage IMC programs, and the different approaches that can be adopted by the marketers to implement a successful IMC program. IMC is in an evolving stage, and hence, the Indian corporates would be eager to know and implement IMC in their future marketing efforts. There are tremendous opportunities for the media agencies also, that can offer combined, coordinated and synergistic marketing programs.
320 81-314-1384-5 Capital Account Convertibility – Global Experiences www.nbcindia.com Finance Laila Memdani 7-Feb-08 208 15 375 0 0 Convertibility of a currency implies that a currency can be transferred into another currency without any limitations or any control. A currency is said to be fully convertible, if it can be converted into some other currency at the market price of that currency. The need for the currency conversions arises mainly from foreign exchange transactions. But these foreign exchange transactions are subject to some regulatory restrictions. If currency has to be convertible, it shall not be subjected to these restrictions. Current account convertibility refers to currency convertibility required in the case of transactions relating to exchange of goods and services, money transfers and all those transactions that are classified in the current account. The present book “Capital Account Convertibility – Global Experiences” is divided into three sections. The first section “Overview” discusses the concept of capital account convertibility. It discusses the pros and cons of capital account convertibility. It further helps in understanding the merits and the demerits of capital account convertibility. It also discusses the recommendations of Tarapore committee. It explains the effective road map of fuller capital account convertibility. The second section “Issues and Challenges” contains articles of economy experts on different issues and challenges while implementing capital account convertibility. The third section “Lessons from Global Experiences” explains the experiences of South East Asian Countries towards capital account convertibility. It contains articles on evolution of capital account liberalisation. It briefly describes the Mexican crisis, East Asian crisis, and Malaysia and Thailand experiences.
321 81-314-1388-8 Forensic Accounting and Financial Frauds – Volume III www.nbcindia.com Accounting Padmavathi C Sunitha T 31-Jan-08 372 21 525 0 0 Forensic accounting is the specialty practice area of accounting that describes engagements that result from actual or anticipated disputes or litigation. Forensic accounting is thorough and complete in all aspects, so that an accountant, in his/her professional judgment, can deliver findings and results as to accounts, inventories and the presentation that is of high quality and that it would be sustainable in some adversarial legal proceedings or administrative review. In the light of increasing white-collar crimes and its high costs to corporate and the public, combating this menace is of the highest priority. The expansion of computers makes organizations more vulnerable to fraud and abuse. The role of forensic accountants has been amplified. A forensic accountant is a professional who goes beyond the numbers and combines his financial expertise with investigative prowess to uncover frauds of all magnitudes. In addition, a concerted effort by the management of the business, the external auditors and by all employees of the business is needed to combat and counter the fraudsters. The orientation of forensic accounting is cause and effect approach and the primary methodology employed by forensic accountants is objective verification. This book attempts to present a comprehensive literature on some specific white collar thefts which are all pervasive and which have social repercussions.
322 978-81-314-2043-0 Critical Infrastructure – An Overview www.nbcindia.com Infrastructure Pramod Rao Ravikant S Wawge 31-Jan-08 256 17 425 0 0 Critical Infrastructure refers to those sectors of an economy which have direct impact on the functions and sustainability of the economy. It embraces material assets, facilities, industries and capabilities that are essential for the functioning and well-being of a society and economy. These days, due to global terrorism and increasing international political upheavals, nations the world over, face high security risks and need to instate an integrated and well-planned critical infrastructure protection system that assesses risks and plans for potential contingencies. After the attack on World Trade Centre, all the countries of the world have shown their concerns for identification, development, maintenance and protection of their critical infrastructure. Countries have their own priorities for deciding the infrastructures of critical importance. Poor countries have to compromise with their critical infrastructure on account of scarce resources, but the proper approach and planning in critical infrastructure can help those countries to balance their security needs and maintain the continuity, sustainability and feasibility of economic affairs. The criticality of the infrastructure can be observed from the economic consequences of various Pandemics such as Anthrax, SARS, plague, natural disasters like Tsunami and hurricane Katrina, the terrorist activities, cyber attacks, political unrest, wars and disturbances in public services. This book provides select readings on the concept of critical infrastructure, its assurance, protection and discusses the emerging issues from various critical infrastructure sectors.
323 81-314-1271-1 Marketing Metrics: Models and Applications www.nbcindia.com Marketing Ravi Warriar 31-Jan-08 212 15.5 400 0 0 Without metrics, plans are ineffective. It is critical to know what needs to be measured in marketing and how it should be measured in order to improve its effectiveness. Marketers are under pressure to deliver hard data on how their efforts improved the company’s bottom line. Measurement of marketing performance and marketing ROI is a high priority. CMOs are searching for meaningful metrics, and for the ability to assess the business impact of marketing programs. This book attempts to provide a detailed review of marketing metrics. It includes sub areas such as assessing marketing program productivity/ROI, linking internal marketing program metrics (e.g., awareness) to external financial metrics (e.g., ROI), valuation of customers, valuation of brands, valuation of innovation, measuring short- and long-term effects, etc. Divided into three sections, the book has the first section introducing the concept of metrics, its evolution with time and the need to see beyond numbers. The second section gets down to details of implementing metrics. The third section dwells on linking metrics to financial consequences. The book ends with two applicative models in the domain of metrics.
324 978-81-314-2055-3 Online Retailing: A New Paradigm www.nbcindia.com Retailing Pheba Anandan Pillai 30-Jan-08 284 18 450 0 0 Online retailing is also known as B2C (Business to Consumer) ecommerce, E-tailing or E-Retailing. Online retailing is about the selling and buying of goods/service through the internet. Online retailing is an additional marketing channel for the brick and mortar retailers and opportunity for retailers interested to provide only online retail service. Online retailing is where the retail store is brought to the consumers at their desktops. The retailer has an opportunity to provide wide product assortment and more brands at attractive prices, communicating personally with consumers and having effective Customer Relationship Management (CRM). From consumers’ perspective online retailing provides convenience i.e. store is at just the mouse clicking distance, wide variety of brands to choose, shopping any time and attractive prices. Online retailing is gathering attention and momentum in this era of Information Technology. The book introduces some basic perspectives and gives practical insights through experiences of internationally known online retailers. The book is divided into four sections. Section I: Introduction gives the readers an insight into emergence of electronic form of retail, experts’ advice to pure online retailers, global and Indian scenario and the changes it brings in consumers’ shopping behavior. Section II: Consumers Perspectives comprises articles which discuss about profiling consumers into different segments, consumer behaviour in the B2C environment, consumer attitudes towards online shopping and online advertising techniques to attract consumers. Section III: Organization Perspectives includes articles on online payment systems, reverse logistics, e-Supply Chain Management and steps to be taken during online crisis situations. The last section, Section IV: Cases comprises cases on Tesco, Amazon and eBay.
325 81-314-0869-8 Global Stock Exchanges: The Dawn of a New Era www.nbcindia.com Finance Arindam Banerjee 30-Jan-08 252 17 425 0 0 It has been observed that traditionally stock exchanges have been mutual structures having access to trading floors restricted to some intermediaries, primarily its members. Added to this, the regulatory barriers resulting in regional or national monopolies protected the trading business. Therefore, the mutual structure was the type of organization that assured the protection of monopoly power.In contrast to this structure, the last decade has witnessed a radical change in the organizational structure of stock exchanges in India as well as across the globe. One of the major factors that have led to such transformation has been triggered from the intense competition existing between the exchanges. As an outcome, major stock exchanges across the globe decided to transform themselves from a traditional non-profit model to a “For Profit” model, which came to be known as demutualized stock exchange. Although there is no standard definition of demutualized exchange, one can safely say that a demutualized stock exchange simply means converting a mutualized exchange into a corporate body and running it on a “For profit basis”. In addition, a growing number of exchanges have introduced shares of their companies into the stock market they operate; a process commonly termed self-listing that emphasizes at the same time, the for-profit and public nature of the activity. In the mid 90s, the number of World Federation of Exchanges (WFE) members that were for-profit structures was around 10% that has subsequently increased over the years.This book explores the different issues pertaining to demutualization of stock exchanges and various countries across the globe that have undergone demutualisation of their respective stock exchanges.
326 81-314-1390-X Supply Chain Management in Food Industry www.nbcindia.com Supply Chain Management Kalai Selvan N 30-Jan-08 236 16 400 0 0 The new age consumers are becoming more health conscious in terms of hygiene, source of the food, ingredients of processed food and caloric content. Food safety has become a primary concern across the world. The food industry is vast and diversified, categorized by different segments such as fresh food industry, organic food industry, processed food industry, livestock food industry, etc. Each segment is unique in nature and when it comes to final food products, all segments are interlinked. Each segment needs different supply chain solutions such as procurement and sourcing, inventory management, warehouse management, packaging and labeling system, distribution management, etc. In the food supply chain, the products pass through a number of players who add value to the product at each stage. If they compromise at any one stage in the supply chain, it affects the end-consumer health. Food industries are changing their business model with innovative supply chain to create great customer buying experience and quality and safety food. To build up the competitive advantage, the food industry needs more visibility and better control in the supply chain. For achieving continuous growth in the market share, the food service providers should achieve good quality and hygiene products, less lead time, cost reduction, reliability, inventory control, flexibility, innovation and process efficiency. To meet these challenges, the food industry is beginning to implement the Supply Chain Management (SCM) that creates a balance between customer requirements and supply chain capabilities.
327 978-81-314-2042-3 IT Portfolio Management: Concepts and Applications www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Ravi Kumar Jain B 30-Jan-08 216 15.5 400 0 0 IT is indispensable in smooth functioning of any organization today, irrespective of the industry it functions in. The quantum and quality of IT investment differ as to how the systems are used, the degree to which they align with the strategic goals of the organization and ultimately how much business value they deliver vis-à-vis the resources invested. Further, all IT systems employed are not of equal strategic importance. IT systems are categorized into support, mission critical, strategic and laboratory systems, depending upon the purpose they serve. Therefore, it is critical to ensure that IT investments are evaluated and selected wisely, and managed with prudence. Traditionally, the focus of analysing IT investments revolves around new project opportunities to optimize new IT investments. However, in a majority of the companies, the installed IT asset base remains essentially unmanaged with organizations reporting that nearly 61% of their IT budgets are spent on routine tasks, and 10%-20% of the IT budget being spent on maintaining unwanted applications — an obvious squandering of valuable resources. Further, two out of three companies have no effective means of measuring or managing the benefits of IT investments. This book presents the emerging concepts of IT Portfolio Management (ITPM), a disciplined and structured approach, which design to business requirements for technology decisions and enables organizations to categorize, evaluate, manage IT assets and prioritize projects. Various models and frameworks for building and integrating a portfolio of IT investments for the realization of maximum value, and to fully leverage the value of all IT infrastructure of an organization are also discussed. It highlights many of the seminal aspects and best practices from the discipline of financial portfolio management and intends to be a good reference for executive, IT managers and researchers.
328 81-314-0319-X Case Studies on Managing in Troubled Times www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Sumit Kumar Chaudhuri 30-Jan-08 284 0 30 750 The focus of this book is on crisis management or managing companies under troubled circumstances. The companies in focus are faced with financial and operational difficulties and even bankruptcy due to financial losses, lost market share, impending lawsuits, forecasting errors or for conducting unsound operations. These crises have also emerged due to externalities caused by events beyond corporate control like the September 11th 2001 tragedy, which adversely affected numerous companies in the global arena. The spread of SARS that affected the airline industry is another example of a negative externality. This book contains case studies on 23 companies spanning across 18 different industries to illustrate a range of issues in depth. The cases deal with different strategies adopted by these companies to rejuvenate themselves and emerge out of difficult times. The case situations have been carefully crafted to provide a highly practical resource to readers with all levels of experience and are especially valuable for new managers.
329 81-314-1409-4 Trade Unions: Global Concerns and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Human Resource Manag Pramod Verma 29-Jan-08 292 18 450 0 0 Trade unions today are recognized as legitimate social organizations and have become an integral part of business and industry. Initially, the unions faced many problems which were largely due to illiteracy and unawareness of the workers; so, there was a need for the trade unions to organize the unorganized. Historically, the main mission of trade unions has been to ensure an equitable distribution of the fruits of economic growth. Lately, there has also been a growing demand for unionizing the BPO workers. Globalization has brought in many challenges as well as opportunities for workers and trade unions. The working class in Britain is enriched with a greater number of women, ethnic minorities and migrant workers. So, the future of trade unionism lies in expanding in the newer sections of the workforce. There has also been a decline in union membership in many countries including United States and Japan where they are trying to revive their trade unions. In recent years, there have been instances of new trade union movements like the setting up of workplace union branches in Wal-Mart within four weeks. Hyundai Motor Co., also has one of the most powerful and militant unions. Honda Motorcycles and Scooter India (Private) Ltd., also faced industrial unrest during recent times. BALCO faced a historic strike as an opposition to privatization.
330 81-314-1381-0 Social Security for the Unorganized Sector: Challenges and Opportunities www.nbcindia.com General Rajagopalan S Meenu Bhatnagar 29-Jan-08 268 17 425 0 0 In simple terms, ‘social security’ can be defined as the mechanism to ensure that individuals in a society are able to maintain their standard of living through adversities and contingencies of life. In the context of poverty alleviation and development, social security also includes measures to address the basic needs of people. One of the major achievements of the twentieth century was the recognition of social security as a ‘basic human right’, and in the developmental paradigm of the twenty-first century, ‘social security for all’ is an avowed objective. Despite this universally recognized obligation of social security, large sections of people (70% and over), especially in developing countries, have little or no social security. These sections of people usually work in the unorganized sector, or the ‘informal economy’. In India, for instance, 93% of the total workforce is in the unorganized sector, and has virtually no social security. The unorganized sector includes self-employed workers in various occupations (including small and marginal farmers), agricultural labourers, street vendors, and home-based workers. This book highlights the urgency of extending social security to the unorganized sector, brings up the issues involved, and presents the experiences of different countries in providing social security to their unorganized workers, from which lessons and insights can be drawn. Policy makers and analysts, development practitioners, and researchers will find this book useful.
331 81-314-1408-6 Global Labour Market – Trends and Reforms www.nbcindia.com General Preeti Phuskele Medha J Gore 29-Jan-08 272 17 425 0 0 Labour market is a key element in the arena of economic transparency, globalization, rationalization and advanced communication technologies. Productivity of labour is an essential condition for the prosperity of economy and well-being of nations. Thus, to build a strong long-term competitive labour market strategy, the labour market elements – employers and employees – must bridge accountability. The regional disparity among developed, developing and other economies reflects the participation levels of the youth and women in the market. Increasing competitiveness through trends and reforms exhibit a number of common threads like changed demographics strengthening the fundamentals of minimum wage and labour market flexibility. Global consortiums for labour like OECD, ILO, UN etc., are primarily working in this direction towards leveraging and enhancing the labour market. This book is an attempt to analyze the overall labour market trends and problems in the global perspective. Today, the major labour organizations stand united to combat evils in society like child labour etc., but the journey is long and it will be many summers before this monster is eradicated. Policies concerning corporate social responsibility must ensure that they do not undermine international labour standards, trade union recognition and good industrial relations, which are crucial to building the social dimension of globalization. In the present economic environment, involving rapid technological changes, the existing laws need to be in tune with labour market needs. The book portrays the true picture of today’s global labour market with special reference to the changing dimensions after globalization.
332 81-314-1393-4 Micro Marketing – Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Marketing Pramod Rao 29-Jan-08 264 17 425 0 0 “Micromarketing”, takes into cognizance the growing, observable fact that today s customers distinguish themselves as having unique desires and interests and they demand that businesses understand and meet those personal needs. To satisfy these customers, major marketers must swing from casting a wide marketing net over a vast crowd to selling to millions of individual customers. This shift from mass to micro marketing presents both opportunities and challenges to market researchers. In their efforts to market on a one-to-one basis, market-driven companies must quickly make the move from creative, right-brain strategies to analytical, left-brain strategies. One such right brain strategy is product placement. Thanks to a growing use of personal video recorders and larger placement deals, marketers move from traditional advertising to alternative media. Due to TV reality shows etc, the explosion of reality TV programs has played a big role in product placement growth in TV, according to PQ Media. The success of such shows as Survivor and The Apprentice proves the value of product placement as an additional component to the declining popularity of the 30-second spot, the report states. If done correctly, product placement gets consumers thinking about trying new products. Like the product placement strategy for making consumers sit up and notice your product, this book on Micro marketing – Concepts and Cases, attempts to explore other right brain strategies as well. The key to effective advertising and promotions is a seamless communication/message. There should not be a discordant note anywhere. This is difficult to achieve and is a challenge to Organizations worldwide. It is about synchronizing the business context, the customer context, the internal context, and the external context pertinent to a particular Company/Organization.
333 81-314-1406-X Virtual Reality: Concepts and Applications www.nbcindia.com General Pramod Rao Sameer A Zodgekar 29-Jan-08 248 16.5 425 0 0 How are pilots trained? What technology is responsible for stunning realism in games? How are virtual universities set up? The answers to all these questions and many more can be found out in this book. The technology which makes amazing feats possible is Virtual Reality. The awesome power of modern computer graphics and advances in haptics produce powerful virtual environments. So powerful are the environments that the users get fully immersed in it. The boundary line between real and virtual becomes diffused. The vivid and stunning environments find applications ranging from flight simulation to virtual campaign; from treating trauma patients to gaming. Thus, Virtual Reality is not just one of overwrought sales pitches about new technology; but a technology that is real and has amazing real-life applications. The first section of this book describes the technological aspects of Virtual Reality. The information is explained in a lucid language, which the reader will find quite interesting. The second section is more elaborate. It describes actual applications of virtual reality. Especially, the article on flight simulation is very informative. Besides flight simulation, the reader will gain an insight into use of virtual reality in education, medicine and even sports!
334 978-81-314-2032-4 Media Ethics – Global Dimensions www.nbcindia.com Advertising and Media Nirmala Rao Khadpekar 22-Jan-08 284 18 450 0 0 Ethics impact media which includes broadcast medium, film, theatre, the visual and performing arts and the Internet in addition to the earliest, that is print medium. In this book the boundary of our enquiry is print medium, and in that news presentation, while touching upon broadcast and other technological interventions that have spawned into the media world. Journalism ethics, by far the most well-defined aspect of media ethics, contains ethical issues that spring from applied analysis and theory which include the nature of assertion. It has also dominated media ethics discussion as news is fragile, needs judgment prior to dissemination and can cause unintended harm. This harm limitation aspect of journalism is now become a critical aspect of practice of this craft as the manner in which news is transmitted across the wires increases its potential impact across nations and cultures. The instant factor of news portrayal needs to be sensitive to diversity and not be homogenized to be acceptable to the powers that be. Dumbing down of news, poor source crediting and presumed fact-checking are simply delegating trust along the line to an unsuspecting reader. In its ultimate practice, the ethical part of journalism goes well beyond just journalism to broader social and political codes as required to strengthen what liberal democracy is all about. The commoditization of news and its potential to ripple far from its place of origin have become areas of concern for ethicists.
335 81-314-1278-9 Changing Tunes of Radio www.nbcindia.com Communications Jyotsna Jha Ishita Mukherjee 22-Jan-08 260 17 425 0 0 The book provides attention-grabbing reading content to the readers since it deals with a very contemporary issue. Radio has characteristically been an important mass medium, however, the popularity of television and advent of Internet have somewhat devalued the importance and reach of radio. But quite interestingly, the era of globalization also created ripples in the radio industry, deregulation in the radio broadcast industry has thrown open the ramparts for private radio channels. In this light the book takes a smart look at the revamp of radio, its re-emergence and the ways in which it is re-capturing the masses. Digital technology in radio industry has created a revolutionary wave, satellite radio and cognitive radio; radio podcasting has repackaged the radio industry and is going a long way in enhancing the appeal of radio to the masses. The second section narrates various innovative application of radio in spreading health awareness, disseminating knowledge, facilitating local governance and as a vehicle of education etc. This book highlights the role and accomplishments of radio, especially community radio, in the present day. Integral to the content of this book are the ways in which radio has turned a new leaf which will fascinate readers.
336 81-314-1282-7 SME Entrepreneurs: Challenges and Opportunities www.nbcindia.com General Management Bhaskaran S Saravanan I B 22-Jan-08 252 17 425 0 0 Indian economy has been growing at a rate of more than 8 per cent over the past few years of industrial boom. Our economy is the third largest in terms of its purchasing power parity in the world. It had already reached the target of US $1.0 trillion in 2007. Indian economy comprises agriculture, manufacturing industries and services. Although economy is still dependent on agriculture for a majority of people’s livelihood, the trend has been changing in recent years with the growth of the industrial sector and service sector. This growth and economic development of India has led to a revolution in the global market after economic liberalization. Achievement of high productivity in the industrial sector has been very significant for the developing and the developed economies. Today, the small-and medium-scale enterprises (SMEs) play a significant role in the economic development of India. SMEs generate more employment opportunities in the economy. They also help reduce poverty in the country, and have provided more capability to product innovation in the global market. The economic transformation is happening through the technological transformation along with the growth of the small industries and it has already proved its potential by its large-scale contribution to our national GDP.
337 978-81-314-2041-6 Islamic Investments – Issues and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Finance Arindam Banerjee 22-Jan-08 244 16.5 425 0 0 “Islamic Investments, governed by the Shari’ah doctrines, the divine law as revealed in the holy Quran and the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, have witnessed significant growth and advancements since its initial development in the early 1970s. Presently, Islamic financial institutions are not just confined to the geographical boundaries of the Islamic countries, but today, they operate in and around forty countries globally, including the likes of UK and US.
To be Islam compliant, financial products and transactions need to abide the Shari’ah laws. Thus, the unique features of Islamic investments pertain to prohibition of interest on loans and exchange of unequal quantities of similar goods. It also prohibits one from gambling and betting activities. In essence, Islamic investments restricts individuals from hoarding money but encourages profit sharing basis. One of the areas where Islamic investments have made a major impact is the stock market with the primary focus on the ethical front.
This book primarily aims to introduce Islamic investments, its related products and services and finally, takes a closer look at global Islamic capital markets and Islamic Indexes.
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338 81-314-1291-6 Angel Investing: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Finance Swapna Gopalan 22-Jan-08 232 16 400 0 0 Angel investors or business angels are high net worth individuals who invest in early stage high growth entrepreneurial ventures with the object of earning high returns. These financial angels are referred to as angel investors in the US and as business angels in the UK. Successful investors and entrepreneurs who have exited their own businesses but are keen on staying involved in early stage companies usually become angels. Apart from the financial resources, angels’ earlier exposure to and experience in business, serve to make them important sources of information, talent, and contacts for the new start-ups. Angels have often been confused with venture capitalists as both fund new businesses. However, in reality, each group plays a distinct role in the financial ecosystem. The prime difference is that, while angels invest their own money, venture capitalists invest pools of other people s money. Though angel investing activity has been in existence for centuries, angel contribution to the economy has really not been appreciated. A reason for this is that most angels preferred to work on the basis of anonymity till very recently. A growing trend of angels pooling their resources by forming angel groups and networks to reap the benefits of scale in the form of access to investment opportunities and risk reduction has thrust their activities into limelight. This book, a primer on the concept of angel investing, captures the latest trends and developments in the field.
339 81-314-1396-9 Managing the Self www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Kumar K B S 22-Jan-08 228 16 400 0 0 Peter Drucker, in one of his articles in Harvard Business Review, said, “Success in the knowledge economy comes to those who know themselves – their strengths, their values, and how they best perform.” In this age of unprecedented opportunities where if you’ve got ambition and smarts, you can rise to the top of your chosen profession, regardless of where you started out. But, Drucker asserts that with opportunity comes responsibility. Companies, today, may not always be in a position to manage their employees and employees’ careers. In the light of the significance and inevitability of managing oneself in order to manage others effectively, Drucker advocates that the knowledge workers must, effectively, be their own chief executive officers. It is one’s own responsibility to carve out one’s place, to know when to change course, and to keep oneself engaged and productive during work life. This necessitates an ambitious individual to cultivate a deep understanding of oneself – not only what one’s strengths and weaknesses are, but also how one learns, how one works with others, manages others and what one’s values are etc. The basic theme of this book is to discuss those various areas, where people from various walks of life can manage to sustain themselves in the competitive world and also bring about a balance in their hectic lives. The book passes on an advocacy for managing and improving oneself and others and thus help oneself in faring well in the professional as well as personal life.
340 81-314-1402-7 Public Relations and Media: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Marketing Pramod Rao Ravikant S Wawge 22-Jan-08 220 15.5 400 0 0 PR is a multifaceted discipline which deals with Media Relations, Community Relations, Public Affairs, Government affairs, Issues Management, Financial Relations, Trade Relations, Internal Communications etc. Its scope and function spread over varied organizational segments. PR has emerged as an important and reliable tool to corporates, governments, industries at large to disseminate information to the various “publics” concern to the organization, so that the double bottom line of commercial and social conscientiousness is taken care of. The inter-connectedness between Media and Public Relations is very crucial. Their relationship is more symbiotic than complementary. In an ever-changing world, both media and PR are experiencing major changes with the advent of web, blogs, Pod casting and other technological changes in the communications industry. This has brought media and public relations closer than ever before. This book throws light on the role of various media serving as vehicles in organizational public relations. It finds answers to questions like how media has evolved over the recent period as a vehicle for organizational PR and what is the symbiotic relationship between Media and PR. The book is divided into two sections. The first section is about concepts and the second section is about applications and cases.
341 81-314-1202-9 Human Rights: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Socio-economic Santap Sanhari Mishra 10-Jan-08 352 21 525 0 0 Life is a beautiful concept and one of its remarkable properties is the idea of development. Development is an edifice, which is built upon by taking ingredients from people’s satisfaction and people’s satisfaction lies in the due exercise of their natural rights. Natural rights, as we call, are human rights which are inalienable, universal and fundamental. Thinking about human rights as rights belonging to all people is quite a recent development. Earlier, the rights of an individual were determined by his birth or social status as in a class society. There is, however, no clear-cut transition from this to when human rights became universal. But the horrors of two World Wars gave the modern concept of human rights in the form of Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. It is genuinely a universal document that endeavors to cover the whole field of human rights. Thus, it also formulated a definition of what was meant by human rights. So equality, civil and political rights, social, economic and cultural rights as necessary dimensions of human rights received their due place in the Universal Document. This book is an attempt to illustrate various rights – right to education, right to religion, right to health, right to security etc., in the light of Universal Declaration. Pictures of violations of human rights in some countries are also given to think about promotion and protection of human rights in the light of international human rights standards.
342 81-314-1226-6 Millennium Development Goals: Country Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Economy Dalia Dey 10-Jan-08 276 18 450 0 0 More than a billion people worldwide still survive on less than a dollar a day. Globally, more than 5, 00,000 women die in pregnancy or childbirth annually. To make the world a better and safer place to live in, 189 Heads of Government signed the Millennium Declaration on September 8, 2000, promising to “free men, women and children from the dehumanizing conditions of extreme poverty” and committing developed and developing countries alike to eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). All the MDG goals are interlinked with one another. The goals strive to eradicate hunger and reduce poverty, focuses on education and health, women empowerment, environment and global partnership for development. Along with micro issues, the goals focus on the least developed countries, small islands and land-locked countries which need attention with regard to aid and other measures in order to meet the MDG objectives. The articles of the first section of the book try to analyze each and every MDG critically, particularly in the context of developing countries. The uniqueness of this book is that apart from analyzing the goals individually, it tries to examine some cross-cutting issues, which can influence achievement of MDGs. Issues like pro-poor progress towards the non-income MDGs, whether mental health plays any role in the achievement of MDG, effect of MDG on agriculture, food security, nutrition etc. are delved by the book in detail. The second section contains some case studies from countries like India, Brazil and Sub-Saharan countries. The case studies portray the performance of those countries in the light of MDG.
343 81-314-1208-8 Insider Trading: Perspectives and Cases www.nbcindia.com Finance Jayshree Bose 10-Jan-08 280 18 450 0 0 Although the phenomenon of insider trading has existed in the global stock markets since the decade of the fifties, it was only in the seventies that regulators actually became vigilant about this form of speculation, popularly known as the victimless crime. The slow take-off in regulation was because of a host of reasons. One was the dilemma surrounding insider trading. Opinion on this issue is sharply polarized. On one hand, there are many who extol its virtues, and say insider trading leads to the actual price discovery of a scrip and results in speedy information dissemination. On the other hand, there are others who denigrate insider trading saying that it leads to asymmetric market information, causing a market bias against the small, uninformed investor with the result that fear of losses eventually leads him to exit the market. The other reason is that evidence in such cases is usually circumstantial. However, strong such evidence may be, it is not very tenable in any court of law. The book is an exposition of these contrarian approaches to a very pressing problem. The highlight is a speech by the SEC Director of Enforcement (Insider Trading) Ms. Linda Chatman. They discuss the progress of regulation, analyze why the problem is elusive and talk about strategic plans for future regulation. Apart from a number of articles which bring out important aspects such as whether small investors should track insider traders to make windfall gains, and in-depth details about the legal and regulatory global scenario, the book contains a number of cases and controversies which hit the headlines (even though some of them resulted in exoneration). Among these are Hindustan Lever-Brooke Bond, Martha Stewart, Reebok, miscellaneous cases involving investment bankers, fund managers and compliance officers who were custodians of confidential information on the basis of which they actually indulged in insider trading.
344 81-314-0852-3 Human Security: Global Perspectives www.nbcindia.com General Books Sudha V Menon 10-Jan-08 272 17 425 0 0 Human Security is a child who did not die, a disease that did not spread, a job that was not cut, an ethnic tension that did not explode in violence, a dissident who was not silenced. Human Security is not a concern with weapon – it is a concern with human life and dignity…It is concerned with how people live and breathe in society, how freely they exercise their many choices, how much access they have to market and social opportunities-and whether they live in conflict or in peace.(United Nations.)Humane world where people can live in security and dignity, free from poverty and despair, is still a dream for many and should be enjoyed by all. In such a world, every individual would be guaranteed freedom from fear and freedom from want, with an equal opportunity to fully develop their human potential. Building human security is essential to achieve this goal. Human security has become both a new measure of global security and a new agenda for global action. Safety is the hallmark of freedom from fear, while well-being is the target of freedom from want. Human security and human development are thus two sides of the same coin, mutually reinforcing and leading to a conducive environment for each other. “Human Security: Global Perspectives” is an attempt to capture the key facets of this debate on human security. The book aims to provide the reader diverse perspectives of human security and its dynamics in a world threatened by multiple forces of power. Core issues of human security in a cross-cultural context are examined with relevant policy framework.The book highlights the growing global consensus that security involves matters beyond war and national defense and non military threats, such as poverty, hunger, disease environmental hazards etc also affect people around the world irrespective of culture and society. Most of the articles in this book have been contributed by public policy professionals and senior academicians.
345 81-314-1243-6 Intrapreneurship: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com General Books Nirali Parikh 10-Jan-08 252 17 425 0 0 Intrapreneurship, also referred to as corporate entrepreneurship, creative entrepreneurship, corporate renewal, organization entrepreneurship or corporate venturing; is a concept by which perspicacious corporate employees-at any level of the company–identify and construct a unique business model that offers significant growth opportunities for their company. Intrapreneurship is vital to organizations, especially in the highly competitive environment of today, so as to continuously innovate systems, processes and products. Intrapreneurs help the company walk on the less todden path and try to find something new and innovative. This creativity in an employee can sometimes pave way for unexpected success or failure to the company. Intrapreneurship is a skill which can’t be restricted only to the top level of the organization. These intrapreneurs can turnaround an ailing company to a successful one. On the other hand, the company, too, should have enough trust and confidence in its employees and motivate them to take risks on behalf of the organization. There are many issues involved when it comes to Intrapreneurship. So, considering the need and relevance of the subject, this book helps the reader understand the basic concepts and idea behind Intrapreneurship, key factors affecting the same, Intrapreneurship as seen by the employer and employee and other such perspectives backed by practical experiences of various companies throughout the world.
346 81-314-0696-2 Case Studies on Brand Management – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Maldar Nusrath Jahan Yesav 10-Jan-08 376 0 35 875 In the 20th century, as the bargaining power shifted from manufacturers to retailers, one thing remained constant throughout: importance of brands and branding. Supported by rising disposable incomes of middle class families and the desire of individuals to exude a particular identity, brands proliferated in the marketplace from the 1950s. This phenomenon was carried into the 21st century, as companies used branding as the primary tool to combat the dilemma of product commoditisation. Strong brands do represent an opportunity for companies to charge a premium price and add to the bottom-line. But with an ever-increasing number of brands out to grab customer attention, the difficulty of building strong brands has escalated and at the same time the effectiveness of traditional branding efforts has nose-dived. Today, innovative and customised branding efforts have become the name of the game. This book showcases the branding efforts undertaken by some of the world’s most renowned companies, which are or have been market leaders or strong competitors in their respective industries. A number of core branding concepts like corporate and product brands, local and global branding, and internal and external branding strategies are meticulously highlighted. This book attempts to dissolve the boundaries between theoretical concepts and the business world, by showcasing real world business dilemmas, challenges and successes.
347 81-314-1288-6 Privatization – Experiences in India www.nbcindia.com Industry Janardhan Rao N Amit Singh Sisodiya 9-Jan-08 276 18 450 0 0 The PSUs were created to play a pivotal role as envisaged in the economic model adopted by the country in the post-independence era, inspired essentially by the Soviet socialist model. A large number of PSUs were set up across sectors, which have played a significant role in terms of job creation, social welfare, and overall economic growth of the nation; they rose to occupy commanding heights in the economy. Over the years, however, many of the PSUs have failed to sustain their growth amidst growing liberalization and globalization of the Indian economy. Loss of monopoly and a protectionist regime, and rising competition from private sector competitors have seen many of the government-owned enterprises lose their market share drastically. In many instances, many of the PSUs have found themselves unable to match up to the technological prowess and efficiency of private sector rivals, although many have blamed lack of autonomy and government interventions for their plight. However, the big question is: Is Privatization a cure-for-all ills affecting the PSUs? Perhaps not. It is not as the global experiences like the ones in UK and Brazil suggest. As far as India’s experience is concerned, it would be too early to arrive at a conclusion. Despite the country’s nascent privatization program, experiences related to cases like VSNL and Balco suggest that privatization can yet work. The book attempts to explore privatization, in the context of India and its progress, so far. It also discusses the various lacunae past disinvestment cases suggest and potential models that could help overcome that. The book also contains case studies that provide insights into some of the PSUs that have been successfully privatized.
348 81-314-1172-3 India s Northeast Economy: Problems and Prospects www.nbcindia.com Economy Sudha V Menon 9-Jan-08 268 17 425 0 0 North-east India has often been perceived as a remote and isolated region, ethnically so diverse and distant from the dominant Aryan – influenced Indian society. Plagued with dreadful inter-ethnic clashes, ever-growing separatist demands and criminalized insurgencies, the North-east got tagged with the crisis region image in the mainstream economic literature. Geographically connected to India with 37km Siliguri corridor, the region shares 4500km border with the newly emerging nations of Asia, comprising China, Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar and Bangladesh. North-east has vast potential to become the gateway to South East Asia. Yet, the trade and industrial policies of Government of India failed to use these links and vast natural resource base for the development of the region. Today, North-east has very high level of absolute poverty, ranging between 42-58%; the per capita income is only Rs.10000 (2000-01) and very low on Human Development Index. The Government of India, through the support of respective state governments in the North-east region is making continuous efforts towards development through legal, institutional, policy, social and economic interventions. However, they have not been instrumental. With the inauguration of trade liberalization, Policy makers began to realize the potential of North-east, especially because of its strategic location. The ‘Look East Policy’ of 90’s envisages the region not as a periphery, but as the centre of a thriving and integrated economic space, linking two dynamic regions –India and Southeast Asia with a network of highways, railways and pipelines. Against this background, this book splits into three sections, focuses on three dimensions-the reasons for economic backwardness and investment stagnation in North-east; impact of insurgency and ethnic violence on the economic development and finally, identification of the development and growth potential of North-east in the era of globalization and transnational trade agreements.
349 81-314-1164-2 Financial System Stability : Asian Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Banking Nageswara Rao Katuri 8-Jan-08 336 20 500 0 0 Financial system stability signifies stability of financial institutions and markets, so that the functions of banking, insurance, securities etc, besides monetary and fiscal policies are conducted in a seamless and orderly fashion. In a globalized financial environment, financial stability occupies a place of primacy, as it enables the economy to withstand shocks and crises, without disturbing the intermediary role of banks or the payment processing and the settlement systems. Financial stability is a function of macro economic management, surveillance, market infrastructure, accounting, auditing, public disclosures, market functioning, conduct, transparency prudential regulation and supervision. Exchange rates have a critical role to play in the near term for financial stability of Asian nations, which face uncertain capital flows that cause significant volatility. The trade imbalances among various regions cause global imbalances in finance. Asian nations have high savings and low domestic investment rates, forcing them to augment their forex reserves. There are, however, some remedies for this problem of global imbalances: creation of Asian Monetary Fund, creation of a global currency or two-currency reserve system involving the Greenback and the Euro. The vital solutions, of course, lie in the drastic reduction of the twin deficits of the US. External capital flows as a basis for development policy are a two-edged sword that must be managed in order to generate positive benefits in the form of higher rates of growth of per capita income. Rising international interest rates and the global turnaround in the credit cycle, risks from rising oil prices and increasing inflationary pressures and risks from global financial imbalances are the recent challenges for financial stability in Asia.
350 81-314-1296-7 Singapore Economy – An Overview www.nbcindia.com economy Sudha V Menon 8-Jan-08 332 20 500 0 0 Singapore is one of the best free market economies in the liberalized era, especially in terms of international trade, business and investment. Since independence, Singapore followed an export oriented, outward looking and capitalistic growth strategy, which ultimately led to the development of this resource constrained city state into one of the most sophisticated international business destinations. Singapore has world-class financial, business and transport service sectors; a manufacturing sector anchored by electronics, chemicals, and engineering; a stable, honest government, and modern, highly efficient infrastructure. The country consistently ranks high among the ‘most attractive countries for international business’ and has achieved a per capita GDP level comparable to levels of developed western nations. According to the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report 2006-2007, Singapore edged out Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan to be the most competitive Asian country, while coming fifth in world rankings. The main objective of the book is to explore the significance of Singapore economy in a global market conditioned by multiple forces of competitiveness, efficiency, openness and transparency. The book is divided into four sections. The first section presents an overview of the economy; section two presents the performances of different sectors of Singapore economy and identifies the chief pillars of economic prosperity in the country. The third section highlights some of the opportunities and challenges currently faced by the nation state. Section four consists of cases which discuss some of the key aspects of the Singapore economy discussed in other sections.
351 81-314-1286-X Resurgent Asia in the 21st Century www.nbcindia.com General Debamitra Mitra 8-Jan-08 348 20 500 0 0 The continent of Asia is the largest of continents and houses 60% of the world’s population. Geographically, topographically, culturally, religiously, the continent’s diverse characteristics present it as a unique specimen. Within her indigenous modernity lies her uniqueness, sharply divergent from her contemporaries. Countries of south, southeast, west, east and central Asia have passed through periods of change in their long undulating history. The basic theme of this book rotates around different countries in the Asian Block framing foreign policies, diplomatic relations and enacting diverse strategies in the game of International Politics with the distinctive purpose to win over the others and also the role played by the regional and extra-regional big powers. Inspite of the threats the countries are facing in the context of borders, ethnic unrest, environmental degradation, processes of democratization, human rights, the countries of south, southeast and east Asia are showing remarkable growth and development. The usage of 21st century as Asian century best suits, when we take into consideration the overall development in the regions of south, southeast and east Asia. From the perspective of international relations, the purpose of the book is to make the readers aware of the current scenario of Asian countries and the diverse games played differently by the Asian countries on socio-economic, ecological, religious, diplomatic and other issues. The book targets academicians, researchers in politics, international relations, strategic studies, geopolitics and public administration, policy makers, and general readers.
352 81-314-1273-8 Africa and Globalization www.nbcindia.com Economics Asis Kumar Pain 8-Jan-08 316 19 475 0 0 Globalization has been a prime topic of discussion and concern in economics since the 1990s. By globalization of the world economy, integration of economies throughout the world by means of trade, financial flows, exchange of technology and information, apart from movement of people are meant. However, many impediments to those objectives still remain. The most important obstacle, facing the developing and the least developed regions of the world is to design public policies so as to maximize the potential benefits of globalization, along with minimizing the associated risks of destabilization and/or marginalization. In most African countries, where these policies have been implemented for quite some time, the impact of globalization had been diverse. The challenge for the future is to ensure that these regional disparities are perceived as effective vehicles for the integration of African countries into the world economy. The objectives can be met by pushing through reforms in the areas of legal and regulatory frameworks, financial sector restructuring, labor and investment code reform, and exchange and trade liberalization that seek to reach international standards as quickly as possible. In line with the above theme, the present volume makes an effort to elucidate the globalization path trodden by the African countries and assess the associated level of integration that is achieved. Also, identified are the constraints that come in the way of further integration. Thereafter, examples of select African countries are looked at in order to find out the progress of integration of their respective economies.
353 81-314-1276-2 SMEs – Key Drivers for Growth www.nbcindia.com Management Amit Singh Sisodiya Janardhan Rao N 8-Jan-08 292 18 450 0 0 Globally, SMEs’ role in development and job creation has been well recognized. In India, post-independence, SMEs gained in importance with the advent of planned economy from 1951 till 1991 as the subsequent industrial policy followed by the Government earmarked a special role for the SME segment. Due protection was accorded to the segment till 1991. SMEs always represented the model of socio-economic policies of the Government of India which emphasized judicious use of foreign exchange for import of capital goods and inputs, labor-intensive mode of production, employment generation, non-concentration of economic power in the hands of a few, discouraging monopolistic practices of production and marketing, and effective contribution to foreign exchange earning of the nation with low import-intensive operations. Small and Medium Enterprises or SMEs, as they are popularly known, have for long been an important part of businesses. Indeed, SMEs have remained a key engine of economic growth, job creation, and prosperity. However, while the process of globalization and liberalization gathers momentum across the globe, SMEs face tremendous challenges as they strive to sustain and survive. Some of the major challenges faced by SMEs include access to finance, low R&D investment, lack of access to technology, lack of product innovation and increasing competition. The book attempts to comprehensively explore the SMEs sector in India and study various aspects related to their functioning like knowledge management, supply chain management, adoption of ICT, innovative marketing strategies, role of clusters and export competitiveness that essentially help them have an edge over their competitors, face various issues and challenges and overcome these issues to emerge successfully due to the measures adopted by them.
354 81-314-1248-7 Organization Development: Intervention Strategies www.nbcindia.com Organizational Development Pramod Verma 8-Jan-08 284 18 450 0 0 In today’s world, where there is a tremendous technological growth and erratic capital movement, it is a challenge to develop an effective organization and make it sustainable. An organization’s ability to develop itself can be enhanced with the help of interventions. The concept of Organization Development (OD) is all about managing change at work places. OD is based on behavioural science concepts and its goals are to improve both the quality of work of individuals and the effectiveness of organizations. This book gives an overview of Organization Development (OD) interventions. It is divided into four sections – ‘Concepts’ which explains the terms OD and change management. The importance of change management and the use of HR in change management are narrated. ‘Interventions’ explains how concepts like leadership, learning, scenario planning and social network are used to develop an organization. This section also talks about the intervention for a large group like a community. ‘Experiences’ describes some of the interesting experiences in the field of OD interventions, with case studies of ICICI Bank and World Com. The book also provides a futuristic look to OD which takes the reader into 2020s OD scenario in the section ‘future trends’.
355 978-81-314-2036-2 Advertising Industry – Trends and Regulations www.nbcindia.com advertising and media Anil Varma 8-Jan-08 256 17 425 0 0 It is clear that advertising can no longer be thought of as a tool of marketing but it is now regarded as a separate branch. In fact, it has become the emerging feature in the current corporate world in order to remain in competition and maintaining the position of that industry. Advertising not only helps gain the top position but also helps continue that position. The advertising industry has influenced us for a long time now and is still displaying its brilliance. Each day advertisers are setting new benchmarks and reaching new goalposts. Most of the advertising companies are not only providing creative print and TV commercials but also a diverse section of media, including Internet, outdoor advertising, rural advertising, events and the like. Hence, it becomes very important to study all about advertising industry right from its history up to its future. Advertising is an important sector which not only provides information about products and services to customers but also helps companies increase their sales to remain in competition. Advertising, being a highly interesting and dynamic industry, generates a lot of curiosity about its history and today a great deal of attention is paid to the regulation of advertising so that one can apply one’s knowledge to identify whether advertising industry is following norms and codes set for itself. That is why this book is important from the point of view of customers.
356 81-314-1279-7 Corporate E-mail Management www.nbcindia.com Business Technology Jaya Krishna S Elizabeth Raju 8-Jan-08 256 17 425 0 0 Today, corporate ‘e-mails’ are considered to be a source of knowledge or information and the essentials for addressing compliance and legal disclosure. Management of e-mails has, therefore, assumed greater importance across the corporate world, at present. The importance of managing huge and ever-growing e-mail content within organizations has been extensively realized, in order to ensure compliance with regulations such as Sarbanes-Oxley, Health Insurance Portability Accountability Act (HIPAA), Securities Exchange Commission (SEC), National Association for Securities Dealers (NASD) and New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). Further, the need to facilitate corporate governance and litigation support; support legal discovery and disclosure (as specified by new Federal Rules of Civil Procedure (FRCP)) proactively; ensure efficient storage and retrieval; and provide users with instant access to corporate knowledge (existing in e-mail form) for employee productiveness are other important drivers of e-mail management within organizations. Precisely, corporate e-mail management forms a category of enterprise content or knowledge management practice to facilitate efficient storage, retention, security, retrieval and mining of e-mails across the enterprise. This book focuses on the concepts and significance of ‘e-mail management’ for the corporate world, along with the associated best practices, select technologies and other useful perspectives. It would be of immense help especially to the CIOs and other IT practitioners for gaining new insights into the best practices of e-mail management, while letting the corporate world know the significance of ‘e-mail management.’ It offers learning value to the allied professionals, academicians and students.
357 978-81-314-2035-5 Urban Revitalization: Perspectives and Initiatives www.nbcindia.com Management Nirmala Rao Khadpekar 8-Jan-08 264 17 425 0 0 “When too many things are changing in the world, urban neighbourhoods become an open ground for reconstruction and modernization. Inner city areas either get neglected, decayed or simply get mowed down. Urban neighbourhoods can really be looked upon as the key sphere for the transmission of shared values and standards for the community. A smart urban growth policy needs revitalization with reinvestment requiring new construction to be grounded in the context of community and its place. Urban revitalization, when successful, balances the preservation of significant landmark structures with new buildings and open space resources by practising sensitive development.
Currently, the concept of adaptive reuse allows a mix of renovation, selective demolition, commercial development and tax incentives so that poorer/original residents may still be able to afford their restored neighbourhoods. Culture-led generation favours human scale settings taking into account historic context instead of large single-use projects. The long-term implications are huge and require that urban revitalization continues to evolve as new models of development and redevelopment are tested and implemented. This book shows how Urban Revitalization can become an effective negotiation between tradition and modernity and link the future to the past.
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358 81-314-1198-7 The Icfai Dictionary on Outsourcing www.nbcindia.com Outsourcing Jaya Krishna S 8-Jan-08 260 17 425 0 0 ‘Outsourcing’ is relatively a new field that has mostly evolved in recent years. With the immense success of outsourcing globally, businesses are massively practicing outsourcing. Currently, the sphere of outsourcing is widely extended to functional areas such as information technology (IT), customer relationship management (CRM), engineering & design, research & development (R & D), human resources management (HRM), finance & accounting (F & A), supply chain management (SCM), etc. Besides, the value of ‘outsourcing’ is realized in several sectors like manufacturing, banking, insurance, pharma, healthcare, etc. The current fad in the outsourcing field is Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), Business Transformation Outsourcing (BTO), Legal Process Outsourcing (LPO), Research Process Outsourcing (RPO), Engineering Services Outsourcing (ESO), etc., leading to the rapid evolution of global outsourcing industry. Innovative concepts and practices such as offshoring, Business Application Outsourcing (BAO), Multi-sourcing, Strategic Outsourcing, Smart-Sourcing, Knowledge Process Offshoring (KPO), etc., have taken shape, while the outsourcing value chain and business models have been evolving quickly to new levels. Consequently, these evolutionary or revolutionary business models, concepts and practices have led to the foundation of, a large pool of terms and resources relating to the ‘outsourcing’ practice and discipline. This handbook, at large, comprises ‘Glossary of Terms’ used in regular practice in the outsourcing sphere. Further, supplementing this wide range of terms the book captures the following for the benefit of related community: 1. Acronyms associated with ‘Outsourcing’ domain 2. National and Global Organizations/Institutions/Associations viz., regulatory bodies, professional associations, communities of practice (CoP), rating agencies, support organizations and web portals 3. Summaries of popular and useful reports 4. Global and national annual conferences/summits 5. Insights into the most competitive outsourcing destinations globally 6. Top-rated vendors or service providers, both Indian and global across different service categories; and 7. Bibliography including popular and eminent books, magazines, newsletters, white papers and web casts This book will be a useful reference and a ready recokoner, predominantly to the outsourcing practioners, service providers, senior executives and management teachers while offering learning value to the students and allied professionals.
359 81-314-1289-4 Innovation in the Service Sector: New Approaches www.nbcindia.com Innovation Simantee Sen 8-Jan-08 240 16.5 425 0 0 Service firms represent an increasingly important business sector, yet the new product development literature is inclined toward production firms. Production-oriented theories, often applicable, are not entirely appropriate. Today’s theories of service innovation share the broad view of innovation. They also share the idea that the innovation process is not sequential, but reiterative, and requires cross-functional activities. Particularly at an early stage, the process may be rather chaotic. The main difference among various theories of service innovation is the extent to which they see service firms as different from manufacturing firms and service products as different from manufactured products. Services are unique in that they are usually intangible actions or performances. They often involve customer participation, and inputs are variable. Thus, service experiences are heterogeneous and more difficult to evaluate. Moreover, they are typically delivered in real time and thus cannot be stockpiled. This means that customers play a more active role in the service development process, leading to the supposition that service firms are, by nature, more market-oriented than product firms. The highly active role of the customer in the service development process has implications for innovation. By being so close to their customers, service firms have intimate access to customer problems and their developing needs. On the positive side, when customer preferences are forming or changing rapidly, firms that adapt offerings more closely to customer needs, i.e., offerings are market-oriented, they perform better. However, because listening too closely to customers limits strategic options for new services, to those envisaged by customers, and because customers have difficulty articulating their latent needs, emerging opportunities that provide solutions to their unexpressed needs may not be discovered or recognized. This creates a dilemma for service firms pursuing short-term and long-term innovation. How do service firms innovate to maintain both, a broad and narrow perspective of their markets? This is the thrust and focus of this book.
360 81-314-1275-4 IT Outsourcing: Emerging Trends www.nbcindia.com IT Rajmanohar T P 8-Jan-08 232 16 400 0 0 IT outsourcing is an arrangement between a client and a vendor who can provide IT services. In this arrangement the IT outsourcer agrees to provide IT service to the client for an agreed fee. Invariably, a contract called service level agreement is signed by both the parties. In terms of benefits to the client, he is able to concentrate on his core activity and is in a position to outsource part or all of his IT functions to the outsourcer. In addition, the outsourcer is invariably a company very strong in IT technology. Hence, he gets the benefits of expert advice at no cost. The IT outsourcer benefits as he gets a fairly long contract and he can expect a fixed income every month. IT outsourcing has been growing very fast over the last ten years and is likely to grow further in future. IT outsourcing has seen double digit growth over the last five years. However, future growth may not be that high. Currently, the value of offshore IT outsourcing exceeds US$200 billion. IT outsourcing has led to job losses in the US, the UK and other developed countries. In terms of problems of the IT outsourcing industry there has been a lot of attrition causing dissatisfaction among customers. The other problems include intellectual property rights and failure of outsourcers to deliver as per the agreed terms. The IP rights problem is likely to increase as IT outsourcing shifts to countries like China and Vietnam. Political conditions in countries like China, Russia and Ukraine are also not very stable. In the near future, India is likely to continue to be the top destination for IT outsourcing. The book discusses the evolution and growth of IT outsourcing, concerns and also a few country experiences.
361 81-314-1238-X Refugee Rights and Issues: Concepts and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Law Debashree Mukherjee 8-Jan-08 228 16 400 0 0 Refugees can be easily portrayed as the best illustration of violation of human rights in the educated and vigilant twentyfirst century. Their numbers act as indicators of their plight and flight and indirectly question the existence and viability of the international norms and principles that speak in their favour .Mere presence of rights in various human rights instruments do not solve the issues faced by them. What is imperative and necessary is a strong enforcement and monitoring mechanism to ensure that their rights are upheld and enforced in society. The book also highlights the rights of refugees and the varied nature and dimensions of their violations with the aid of country experiences manoeuvring across continents, and suggests practical solutions to check, if not eliminate, their crisis. Such human rights have been legally recognized by the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol supported by various regional instruments. The contents of the book would mostly cater to the needs of international and national Government authorities operating in the field of refugees, legislators, academicians, non-government organizations promoting the rights of refugees, human rights organizations, National and State Human Rights Commissions, researchers and students.
362 81-314-1230-4 Retail Supply Chain Management: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Supply Chain Management Dhandapani Alagiri Kalai Selvan N 8-Jan-08 228 16 400 0 0 Due to globalization, the retail industry has been expanding its operation beyond the borders. Moreover, retail industry is very dynamic; they have hundreds of suppliers and thousands of stock keeping units. To meet these challenges, retail industry is beginning to implement the Supply Chain Management (SCM) that creates a balance between customer requirements and supply chain capabilities. To increase the efficiency and effectiveness of service, retailers have to collaborate with all the parties concerned and coordinate all the processes in their supply chain. To improve profitability and efficiency, retailers are seeking ways to achieve operational excellence. SCM enables the retail industry to bring reliability, responsiveness, flexibility, cost reduction and process efficiency in the retail industry. It can assist retailers through strategic planning of demand and supply and effective utilization of inventory, distribution, warehousing and transportation by ensuring that the right product with right price available at right time for consumers. Today, retailers are laying more emphasis on the supply chain to transform their business model. The success of business in the retail industry depends on good customer experience, implementation of new technologies, accurate forecasting, managing outsourcing and cost management. Technologies like RFID, Internet, Database management are enabling the retail industry to become more competitive. Online retailing has become inevitable in the current scenario. In the cut-throat competitive market circumstances, the retail industry needs effective retail supply chain management to expand its market share and increase its bottom line.
363 81-314-1290-8 Activity Based Costing – Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Accounting Padma Srinivasan B 8-Jan-08 220 15.5 400 0 0 ‘Cost is a fact whereas pricing is a policy’. This cost leadership can be achieved out of operational control and cost control efforts. Activity-Based Costing is a technique used by many manufacturing enterprises to cut the cost flab by micro-detailing their activities and laying out plans appropriately. ABC uses the cost activators and cost controllers to enhance cost management in all business forms. In recent times, with the use of ERP systems, cost management is vitalized to provide sufficient information for decision-making. It identifies the activities involved in production, determines the cost per activity, determines the cost drivers, integrates all costs and finally obtains the product costs in finale. The book explains how “ABC captures and reflects the ‘true cost’ of the products” and how Six Sigma can be easily practised along side to target costs without compromising on quality. The firms can price more competitively in the international context. Here, focus is on the values offered to customers and competitors. It is contrasting the theory that ‘producers price and customers buy’. The ABC is done for mass production and batch production where there is limited customization. So, the book will be of great benefit to sectors that practices strategic cost management, Six Sigma and reap gains on cost efficiency. This book will prove useful to financial analysts, finance managers, costing accountants, research scholars, corporates, costing and management practitioners and students of management.
364 81-314-1189-8 Social Entrepreneurs – The Change Makers www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Kumar K B S 8-Jan-08 188 14.5 375 0 0 For ages, societies have been divided into two extremes – “Haves” and “Have Nots”. At the community level, the segregation is into Low-Middle-High classes; at the economic level, it is Rich-poor communities; at the country level, it is developed, developing and underdeveloped economies and the divide goes on. Technology has developed by leaps and bounds, business has expanded ignoring the geographic barriers, and the facilities have augmented. Amid all these changes, the only thing that has remained unchanged is the poverty and economic deprivation. The Result: The rich become richer, the poor become poorer. Social entrepreneurship is an emerging school of thought with bridging societal gaps as its primary agenda. The book aims to understand the concept of social entrepreneurs. It is supported by experiences, success stories, views and opinions of the social entrepreneurs. It is a noble attempt to introduce to the community, this new group of people who are working hard towards the betterment of society to bring in a social change, despite the challenges and obstacles they come across. This single-sectioned book has eight chapters describing the modus operandi and the behavioral tendencies of the Social Entrepreneurs. The book introduces the SPEC MEC Model, which offers a deep, research-based insight into social entrepreneurs.
365 81-314-1247-9 Indian Realty: The Changing Landscape www.nbcindia.com Industry Amit Singh Sisodiya Janardhan Rao N 27-Dec-07 436 24 600 0 0 If a sector that has grown phenomenally in India, but has not got the kind of attention the financial market has got, it is the real estate sector. In 2005 alone, the real estate market in the country touched a total of 23 million sq. ft. of new space, as compared to 18 million sq. ft. in 2004. The housing sector has also been growing at an average of 34% annually and experts estimate that there will be annual shortfall of 20 million housing units through 2011, and India will see 75 million sq. ft. of retail space by 2007. With the ongoing liberalization in the sector, various foreign investors have shown a lot of interest to participate in the real estate industry in India. However, as the industry continues to grow exponentially, this also raises certain serious concerns. However, issues like rapidly rising prices in the real estate market and tightening interest rates give rise to fear about possible bubble in the making. In this backdrop the question arises: Is the current real estate boom sustainable? Further, going ahead, besides the above, other factors like proper implementation of real estate laws, regulation of stamp duty and rent control will pose serious challenges. The book, “Indian Realty: The Changing Landscape,” offers insights into the following aspects: growth potential of the real estate sector in India, industry structure, competition, regulatory environment, stumbling blocks, FDI in the sector, measures to deal with the unrealistic price rise and hence, threat of any possible bubble in the making, and lessons from developed markets like the US, UK, and Japan.
366 81-314-0896-5 Globalization and Income Inequality: Cross Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Economy Vandana Shajan 27-Dec-07 388 22 550 0 0 The world today is getting closer through greater economic integration, termed in technical idiom as globalization. It can be defined as an inexorable integration of markets, nation-states and technologies to a degree never witnessed before in a way that is enabling individuals, corporations and nation-states to go round the world farther, faster, deeper and cheaper than ever before. Hence, the effect of such globalization pervasively influences every aspect of social life, more so, with respect to the distribution of wealth. The aforesaid relation between globalization and income distribution brings to the fore a debate that had, of late, been a topic of interest among economists the world over. Empirical evidence suggests that in the last few decades rapid market integration has been correlated with higher inequality in world income distribution. When countries are not weighed by population, most studies found that inequality has sharply increased in the past few decades. When countries are weighed by their population and exchange rates, broadly similar results are obtained. If they are compared in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) terms, little change is found. The two components of world inequality, in fact, may depend on different factors and require, therefore, different policy responses. Globalization seems to have contributed not only to fostering growth in countries that have actively participated in the process but also to increasing inequality between countries that have liberalized their trade and those who have followed autarkist policies.
367 81-314-1249-5 Indian Food Processing Industry: Some Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Industry Bala Krishna A V Radha Krishna G 27-Dec-07 348 20 500 0 0 In the present emerging economic scenario, Agriculture still plays a pivotal role. This is reflected in India being world’s largest producer of milk, third largest producer of agricultural produce, second largest producer of vegetables, third largest producer of fruits and having the largest cattle population of the world. Yet, the rampant post-harvest wastages coupled with lack of awareness among producers and consumers about value-added food products necessitated a special thrust on the food processing sector. Indian food processing industry is denoted as a sunrise industry. Though the industry is still in the nascent stage, it is highly fragmented. The unorganized sector contributes 42% while small-scale sector contributes 33% and organized sector 25%. It acts as a vital link between two major sectors of the Indian economy – agriculture and industry. Indian food processing industry constitutes 14% of manufacturing GDP and produces products worth Rs.2,80,000 crores. In terms of employment creation, it generates direct employment for more than one crore and thirty lakh people and has the potential to create indirect employment for more than 3 crore people. The industry is growing at more than 7% per annum and the growth rate is expected to touch 10% within a short period. Gaps in the form of technology, information and resources act as major constraints. Government initiatives in the form of tax concessions, creating the necessary infrastructure and the booming retail sector and changing lifestyles, socio-economic status of the people and emerging opportunities in the exports markets act as new opportunities for the Indian food processing industry. This book focuses on different sectors of Indian food processing industry and illustrates the experiences of a few leading companies. With various facets of Indian food processing aptly being captured, the book will be useful for industry experts, professionals, management students and research community.
368 81-314-1183-9 Indian Financial System: Emerging Trends www.nbcindia.com Finance Pramod Rao Preeti Phuskele 27-Dec-07 280 18 450 0 0 Financial system organizes the settlement of payments, raises and allocates finance and manages the risks associated with financing and exchange in any economy. Mobilizing surplus funds from people and organizations, and allocating them among people and organizations that require it is the main role of any financial system. An investor/ household has excess funds, whereas a borrower requires funds for investing in productive purposes. Mobilizing funds generates returns for investors in the form of Interest and for borrowers in the form of profits. Indian financial system is undergoing rapid changes after independence. Indian Financial system has been deregulated and liberalized continuously in order to compete in race of globalization and to be on a par with international standards. To keep pace with international agencies, new instruments and products for investment/lending were developed. Indian Banking System, Indian Mutual Fund Industry and Indian stock exchanges are developing as per international standards. Moreover, the issue of Foreign Currency Convertible Bond (FCCB) and Global Depository Receipts (GDR) has been increasing in recent times among the Indian entrepreneurs with companies such as Reliance Communications, Mahindra & Mahindra and Ranbaxy resorting to the FCCB route to meet their financing needs. Conditions of International financial market are favorable for overall development of India. There is need of integration with international financial market speedily as the opportunity cost of not moving faster is very high in competition. This book covers the emerging trend of Indian Primary and Secondary market. It is an informative contribution comprising a collection of various articles, compiled together with the objective of giving a comprehensive picture of the Indian financial system.
369 81-314-1281-9 Micro-Enterprises – Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Books Sridhar Krishna 27-Dec-07 252 17 425 0 0 Micro-enterprises help low income people to escape poverty. Women owned businesses are one of the fastest growing sectors of micro-enterprises. Economic growth, stability and equity can be achieved significantly through micro-enterprises. Micro-enterprise support programs aim to help people of modest means to start, strengthen, and/or expand very small businesses. Micro-enterprises can prosper only if financial services are available. Several international financial institutions such as the Inter-American Development Bank, The Asian Development Bank and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development have a strong record in offering financial services to micro and small enterprises. Social Return on Investment is used as a tool to measure and convey the impact of a micro-enterprise. Micro-enterprises encourage self-employment to a large extent. Microentrepreneurs have limited education and have limited access to formal capital and also limited access to markets. Micro-enterprise development and microfinance have been widely adopted as anti-poverty strategies in most of the developing countries. Micro-Insurance business is primarily geared towards the unorganized sector. In India, the micro-enterprises have included among others, vegetable and fish vending, dairy farming, ‘‘poultry breeding, pottery, handloom, readymade garments, soaps, jams, masalas and pickles, phenyl, nutrition mixes, paper bags and envelopes’’. There is no division of labor in micro-enterprises, since the micro-entrepreneurs, regardless of the activity, are involved in management, production, purchase of inputs and distribution. In a world where the government plays a smaller role, the entrepreneurial spirit which the Micro-enterprise represents assumes significance for its contribution to both output and employment.
370 81-314-1262-2 Employee Loyalty – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Sangeetha K 27-Dec-07 268 17 425 0 0 The meaning of employee loyalty in the 21st century has changed with the modern workforce trends. Today, employers see loyalty in terms of employees attitude, behavior and work performance rather than the service duration. Engendering loyalty from the employees is more crucial in the current knowledge economy, where the human talent is the deciding factor in creating market differentiation and competitive advantage. It results in improved employer-employee relationship, talent retention and productivity. An organization that treats and manages its workforce well and places emphasis on their growth will generate employee loyalty, respect and employee engagement. Happy, engaged employees have an excellent attitude and effective interaction with their customers that builds good customer relationship, trust, advocacy and synergy. Gaining employee loyalty is of great essence in making the organization win in the marketplace, to reduce attrition and establish it as employer of choice. It is prerequisite of an employer to constantly ensure a harmonious work environment, and commitment to employees as valuable business partners. So, the bottom-line of earning loyalty is to engage the employees effectively to gain success in the business. In a nutshell, companies that invest in loyalty earn enduring and successful leadership positions and are winners in the competitive business market. This book is designed to capture the essence of the changing face of employee loyalty and its significance. It also analyzes the various strategies for building and maintaining employee loyalty in an organization.
371 81-314-1255-X Mining: Social and Economic Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Social Preeti Phuskele 27-Dec-07 252 17 425 0 0 Mining is the process of extracting minerals from the earth. Minerals obtained from the surface of the earth include coal, bauxite, copper, gold, diamonds, and so on. The earth’s rich surface provides all the materials that cannot be agriculturally grown or created artificially. There is a huge element of risk involved in mining, both for mineworkers and for the environment. Studies indicate that, in the past, one out of every thousand mineworkers died due to the adverse effects of mining activities. The Mining Transnational Corporations are always criticized for human rights violations and for causing economic deprivations. Mining activities cause grave damage to the environment and to the people living near mines. Explosions in a mine or mine blasts cause cave ins’ or collapses that have the potential of affecting a large number of people. At the beginning of the century, at least one mineworker in every thousand died each year from a mine related accident. Today, that rate is much lower due to the use of advanced technology and government regulations that make precautionary measures mandatory. Fatal accidents in the mining industry, over the last four years, have averaged to nearly less than one. This book is useful to students, NGOs, social workers and for communities residing near mines. It creates an awareness of mining activities, which have devastating effects on environment and public health. As the book also discusses the economic and social cost of mining, it will help readers understand the economic burden of mining on every global citizen. This book is an attempt to raise awareness of the gradual environmental pollution caused by mining, and explains how this pollution will affect human life for many years. This book portrays the true picture of pollution and environmental damages caused by mining activities and mine wastes.
372 81-314-1263-0 Effective Employee Induction: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sangeetha K 27-Dec-07 220 15.5 400 0 0 In an unending labor crunch, developing an effective employee induction program and experiences is very crucial in the current business scenario. Effective employee induction is one of the best tools used by employers to retain and have enduring relationship with employees. The program determines how promptly new employees can integrate into the business to attain their full potential. It provides them the clarity of expectations, encouragement and the right tools to reduce their learning curve, boost their morale and confidence and help them stay engaged for a long term in an organization. Induction training is the base for identifying and extracting the employee s talent and competency and it is a precondition for an employer to give the best attention to the design, quality, timeframe and implementation of the program. The benefits that the program offers to the company are manifold and outweigh the program cost. It rewards the company with a high degree of employee engagement, commitment and loyalty that results in big dividends to the company. Hence, companies should ensure that it is conscientiously designed, cautiously delivered and constantly upgraded so that it stays new and relevant to all staff needs. In a nutshell, a company that has realized and is willing to capitalize on the linkage between employee induction and profits will earn increased ROI and emerge as a successful leader in the marketplace. This book is designed to provide an introduction to the concept of an effective employee induction program and its significance in the current business scenario. It analyzes various methods and strategies for building and maintaining an Effective Employee Induction Program in an organization .
373 81-314-1280-0 Media and Children: Emerging Issues www.nbcindia.com Media Jyotsna Jha Divya Nigam 27-Dec-07 216 15.5 400 0 0 In today’s world, the various forms of the electronic media are intricately woven into the fabric of a child’s life, with television, movies, videos, music, video games, and computers central to both learning and play. The way the children respond to any interactive media and educational content delivered through it, has both immediate and long range impact on them. Paralleling these advantages of the media, is also the reality that young children are most exposed to the negative effects of media usage, resulting in disorders such as obesity, aggression, fear, and sleep disturbances, etc. that has of late turned into a social menace. Analyzing both the positive and the negative impacts of various forms of media on children and youth, the need arises to educate them for optimum utilization of media resources. This book is thus an attempt to explore the pervasive growth and scope of media in different fields related to children. It also delves into how the media affects and shapes the minds of children both positively and negatively. The objective of the book is to understand and evaluate the impact media has on children and help them become a critical and informed viewers. It is also an attempt to analyze how Media literacy plays its role in educating parents and educators about the impact of media and evaluate what content is good or bad for children.
374 81-314-1272-X White Revolution – Concepts and Applications www.nbcindia.com General Books Parchure K M 27-Dec-07 208 15 375 0 0 The UNFAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization) affirmed in 1999 that India was the world’s principal creator of milk, having achieved production of more than 74 million tonnes. Four decades earlier in 1950s, India was a milk-deficit country which used to depend on import of about 55000 tonnes of milk; but it has emerged as one of the leading exporters of milk, milk products, butter, cheese and various other products of milk. White Revolution, like Green Revolution, has radically transformed India’s economy in general and the country’s rural economy in particular. ‘Operation Flood’ is often cited as a success story of India’s systematic efforts to explore a supporting source of occupation and income to the small and marginal landholders, who own about 75 percent of the national milk animals. As 78 percent of Indian farming is rain-fed and vulnerable to drought and floods, there are market fluctuations in the prices of farm products. White Revolution has opened a new, regular and dependable source of daily cash flow into India’s rural household. No wonder that per capita rural income in real terms has been rising continuously after the success of ‘Operation Flood’ phase I & II. The percentage of people below the poverty line came down to 26 in 1999-2001 from 51 in 1977-78. To sum up, White Revolution is positively instrumental for alleviation of rural poverty.
375 81-314-0872-8 Women Balancing Home and Career www.nbcindia.com Management Sukhvinder Kaur Multani 27-Dec-07 180 14 350 0 0 There have been instances wherein women have attained professional success at the cost of neglecting their home front and vice versa. This has become a matter of utmost concern for most of these women as they find it difficult to strike a perfect balance between home and work front. They often feel overburdened by the responsibilities at home and at work. However, it is rare that women s role as a balancer is ever appreciated. Her multitasking capabilities are often seen as normal affair. Gender role expectations about what women should and should not do are still prevalent in society. In this context, the proposed book, “Women: Balancing Home and Career”, presents different perspectives, personal and real life experiences and challenges faced by some of the middle class working women professionals in playing the role of a balancer i.e., balancing home and professional front. How can women find balance that leads them to excel and feel satisfied in the areas of their lives? This book would provide an insight into how today’s women cope with some of the issues of both worlds bravely and courageously in an effort to strike a balance and achieve success.The book is designed in two sections. The first section delves into perspectives and experiences. The second section consists of a case where the author has used her personal experiences to discuss the issue of domesticity.
376 81-314-1256-8 Software Quality Measurement: Concepts and Approaches www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Ravi Kumar Jain B 19-Dec-07 264 17 425 0 0 In the ever evolving field of information technology, every element of the software’s operational environment is in a state of constant flux: frequent changes in the hardware, operating system, cooperating software and client’s expectations are motivated by performance improvements, bug-fixes, security breaches and attempts to assemble synergistically ever more sophisticated software systems. With increasing applications of software, the complexity of the software has increased, and the magnitude of costs involved in software development and maintenance magnifies the need for a scientific foundation to support programming standards and management decisions by measurement. So, the measurement of software quality has become very important to both software vendor and the user. While developing or choosing software, one has to decide on the desired functionality and the level of quality of such software. Unless the desired level of quality is decided, one cannot measure it. To measure quality of software, it calls for quality models and metrics. A quality model defines quality, links together and defines various software metrics and measurement techniques that an organization can use. Quality metrics are used to evaluate the quality of the software. This book provides insights into the concepts of software quality measurement, techniques and approaches of measuring software quality, and explains various quality model, metrics and standards for software quality measurement.
377 81-314-0868-X Role of the CEO – Managing Beyond Matrix www.nbcindia.com Management Pramod Rao Simantee Sen 19-Dec-07 252 17 425 0 0 As a result of modern-day changes about how business must be strategized, organized, and executed, ‘enterprise transformation’ has become the “buzzword du jour” in business world. Most senior executives or senior leadership teams (the CEO/GM and his or her direct reports) have been working on the wrong things. They spend a disproportionate amount of time on day-to-day operational and financial management issues at the expense of the long-term competitiveness of their organizations. This compromises on future success of their company and progress of their people.In the new business world, roles and functions of the organization heads have transformed, rather metamorphosized, to a new level. They are no longer mere ‘thinkers’ but more of concrete ‘doers’. They no longer view the enterprise from a “conceptual” peak, but act as the role-model for other levels by ‘being there’.The Sarbanes-Oxley Act (SOX) is having a significant effect on the way corporate boards are composed and operated. Corporate boards are becoming more independent of the CEO, more aggressive in their evaluation of executives, and more diversified with regard to skills and experiences of board members. Traditional notions about the role of the board and board members’ relationship with the CEO are being questioned because of several high-profile failures to monitor and prevent major corporate scandals. Also, the Chairman and CEO roles are being separated and made independent of each other.The new definition, role and skill set requisites of the new age CEO are the elements of debate and discussion of our book.
378 81-314-1257-6 Alcoholic Beverage Industry – Perspectives and Policies www.nbcindia.com Industry Simantee Sen 19-Dec-07 232 16 400 0 0 The alcohol industry is almost like the pharmaceutical industry… as long as there are people on this planet, the demand can never fall. However, this industry is one that needs to operate under a lot of regulations. Alcohol is also associated with many deep-rooted health and social problems. All this and more make the challenges faced by organizations very stark. The relationship between beverage alcohol and public health has been studied extensively for more than a century, and continues to be of interest to governments, public health professionals, the public at large, as well as a central issue for the beverage alcohol industry. Indeed, over the past two decades, major international beverage alcohol producers have taken a broader look at the way they respond to alcohol issues. With attention to corporate social responsibility, they actively incorporate concern for health-related aspects of alcohol consumption and social issues, such as under-age drinking and alcohol-impaired driving, into their operations and dialogue with stakeholders. One major concern of this industry is under-age drinking and its related social impact. The introduction to alcohol brands starts young for Gen Y. They are exposed to it through all kinds of media, as well as older friends and siblings. Holding some of the most exciting promotions and highly criticized tactics, alcohol maintains an allure of mystique. Yet the public as a whole is drawing its boundaries. This book deals with various aspects of the alcoholic beverage industry such as marketing, advertising, packaging, regulations, and, most importantly, the related social issues of the industry worldwide. In spite of an ever-increasing growth in the alcohol industry, it has its own set of unique problems. The effect that this industry has on alcohol over-consumption (and related health issues) remains a complex social dilemma. The objective of this book is to throw light on the marketing and social challenges faced by the alcohol industry worldwide.
379 81-314-1216-9 Arbitration in Commercial Disputes – Concepts and Country Perspectives www.nbcindia.com HRM Jegadeesan G 18-Dec-07 228 16 400 0 0 Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) is an alternative to legal action, which falls outside the government judicial process. It helps settle disputes between parties by applying methods such as arbitration, mediation and negotiation. With globalization of trade and liberalization of business, commercial disputes have become an international concern. ADR plays an important role in the settlement of commercial disputes that arise from relationships of a commercial nature, whether contractual or not. Despite historic resistance to ADR by both parties and their advocates, it has gained widespread acceptance all over the world among businessmen, legal professionals and the general public. Alternative dispute resolution in India was in existence even under the previous Arbitration Act, 1940. The Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996 has been enacted to accommodate the harmonization mandates. To streamline the Indian legal system the traditional civil law known as Code of Civil Procedure, (CPC) 1908 has also been amended and section 89 has been introduced which provides an option for the settlement of disputes outside the court. Like India, all the countries across the globe have perceived the importance of ADR system in order to settle commercial disputes fast and in a cost-effective manner. The book presents an overview of International Commercial Arbitration. It highlights the importance of arbitration in a world beleaguered by mounting litigations. It discusses the issues involved in implementing arbitration and the challenges faced in countries like India, China, the US, Iraq, Singapore and some European countries.
380 81-314-1218-5 The Non-Alcoholic Beverage Industry – An Overview www.nbcindia.com Industry Simantee Sen 18-Dec-07 228 16 400 0 0 The objective of this book is to discuss the various challenges faced by the non-alcoholic beverage industry worldwide: competition, health-awareness among consumers, constant innovation, packaging, advertising, flavor and ingredient innovation, distribution, regulations, changing consumer tastes, preferences, etc. The constituent ingredients of the beverage industry have been a reason for doubt among all, more so in the recent past due to the cola scams…yet the “COLA” fever simply doesn’t die from the youth. Several studies worldwide have demonstrated a direct linkage between sugar-sweetened beverage consumption and weight gain among consumers. All over the world, mainly in the US, several ‘Beverage Guidance Systems’ have been formed to provide guidance on the overall nutritional benefits and risks caused by various beverage categories. This is the biggest challenge for the industry. There are other challenges like the impulsive attitude of the consumers and their ever-changing tastes and preferences, controversies regarding beverage ingredients, and constant demand for marketing innovations. Furthermore, consumption of non-alcoholic beverages has a certain link not only with food habits but also with general lifestyles. The players in this industry, having developed keen insights into this fact, have mastered the art of leveraging this in their marketing and promotion efforts. The players in this industry have been able to perfect the art of their customer segmentation and position themselves appropriately, so as to acquire their right customers, retain them and derive optimal monetary value. Yet, the beverage industry and its ‘never-say-die’ attitude is on a roller coaster like never before.
381 81-314-1236-3 The Broadband Revolution www.nbcindia.com General Books Subhasis Ray 15-Dec-07 260 17 425 0 0 Broadband refers to high-speed transmission of huge amount of data in electronic form. The carriers can be cables, fiber optics or wireless using advanced cable technology, radio frequency transmissions or satellite systems respectively each having pros and cons. Broadband availability has the potential to continue to revolutionize industries, change organizations, enhance society and deliver environmental benefits. This book explores: what does having broadband actually mean to people, business, society and economy? However, there are many issues that can hinder achievement of the dream of ubiquitous broadband e.g., (a) tussle between the Government and private players on ‘open access’, ‘network neutrality’ etc., (b) security and privacy apart from issues like low computer penetration, illiteracy and so on. The book provides a comprehensive account of the following: ·Technological updates in the field of broadband carriers. ·Hybrid models for reaching out remote and difficult terrains. ·Implementation bottlenecks and critical success factors. ·Need for suitable policies and regulations that encourage evolution and innovation. ·Security and privacy issues and safeguards. ·Innovative use of broadband in practice. This has been supplemented by a few country experiences in terms of implementation, public-private partnership, change in customer behavior, rural e-learning etc.
382 81-314-1241-X Strategy Implementation for Business Acceleration www.nbcindia.com General Books Pramod Rao Ravikant S Wawge 15-Dec-07 236 16 400 0 0 Are you held responsible for not getting results from your team? Do you have any doubts on your strategy? Think again, probably it is the execution and not the strategy that might have put you down. ‘Execution’ is the discipline of getting things done. Every strategy should have its own clearly defined execution path. Surveys have proved that most of the strategies, even the good strategies, have failed because of lack of proper execution. The successful execution of business strategy is of immense importance. Making a good strategy is relatively easier than executing the strategy successfully. The success of strategy rely on many factors such as role of a leader, clarity of intent, right work assignment and delegation, and devoting sufficient time and energy. It requires a holistic alignment of resources moving in the proper direction in tune with the strategy. It is a people-oriented task. A CEO must be skilled in driving its strategy in right direction through people, process and system. A smart strategist always has the intelligent ways to get things done. This book compiles various articles introducing the concept of successful execution of business strategies and case studies covering different approaches and practices for successful execution.
383 81-314-1258-4 The Icfai University Press on Corporate Restructuring: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com General Management Dhandapani Alagiri 15-Dec-07 232 16 400 0 0 Corporate restructuring is the generic term for the general reorganizing that a company may undergo to reorient itself for the changing business and other environments and to sustain its advantage in the business. The reorganization may make the company more efficient and hence, more profitable. Restructuring is done to manage bankruptcy and effect a turnaround of a company. Ensuring survival and improving competitiveness have been the principal drivers behind corporate restructuring. Restructuring is being driven also by other reasons such as expansion. Most restructuring candidates finetune their operations to become competitive and starting with healthy operating margins, the initiatives in restructuring are aimed at higher earnings and unlocking value for shareholders.Corporate restructuring has become a major force in the financial and economic environment. In the context of liberalization and globalization of the economy, restructuring is the latest buzzword in corporate circles. Companies are competing with one another for excellence and competitive edge, experimenting with various tools and ideas. The change of environment at the national and international level has brought about a radical change in the way business is conducted and restructuring has become a continual process for most corporates in order to sustain and expand the business.In this context, this book, The Icfai University Press on Corporate Restructuring – Concepts and Cases, will make useful reading capturing the important concepts of corporate restructuring and highlighting some practical cases in corporate restructuring. The book presents a series of well-written articles that bring out the essence of the happenings in corporate restructuring
384 81-314-1277-0 Global Capitalism: The Road Ahead www.nbcindia.com Finance Bharti Thakar 15-Dec-07 204 15 375 0 0 Capitalism is a phenomenon which has existed for a long time, but the notion is much younger. Scientists have identified the phenomenon even in Ancient Greece. It is generally agreed that no modern form of capitalism existed before the 16th century, and that it existed in the 19th century. A further distinction should be made between the capitalists and capitalism. Capitalism refers to the socio system and the corresponding values that enable people to become capitalists. It advocates and encourages innovation and growth of new businesses/inventions. The system hinges on competition among capitalists, but the individual capitalist may strive to be the sole actor, either as monopolist, (sole seller) which enables him to set the price in the market. Critics have made scathing attacks on this system which, they suggest, is unhealthy for society or for equity amongst the population at large. Alternatives are sought which reflect upon systems that buffer the ills of capitalism. It is also suggested that trusteeship can be the soul of capitalism system whereby the possible negative outcomes may be controlled and countered. The book has three sections which explain various dimensions to capitalism as a system. They are titled I) Introduction, II) Effects on Nations and III) Alternative to capitalism. The book presents issues which will take the reader towards a complete understanding of capitalism as a system and provide thought processes pertaining to various alternatives to capitalism which could help the socio-economic development.
385 81-314-1274-6 Investment in Art: A New Asset Class www.nbcindia.com economics Amrita Chakraborty 15-Dec-07 196 14.5 375 0 0 An easy key to creation of wealth lies in constructing a diversified investment portfolio with a long-term horizon. But the rising performance volatilities in traditional asset class of equities have forced investors to reap the benefits from alternative investment avenues such as art, which has been gaining growing acceptance the world over. For a country like India, art has been an integral part of our culture for years. Add to it big names like M F Hussain, Tyeb Mehta, Ganesh Pyne, F N Souza etc., whose paintings command crores of rupees nationally and internationally. Indian art market has never been so bright before. Now people are trying to look beyond its aesthetic value and eyeing it as a profitable investment avenue. It is no longer confined to the lounges and boudoirs of the elite and the super rich, the new generation, upwardly mobile, urban Indian is itching to don the mantle of serious art investor. However, despite the lure of megabucks, the Indian art market is still an unknown territory for the many nouveau riche (burgeoning upper middle class). The scope and objective of the book is to promote awareness about the Indian art market from the investment point of view so that it can prod the reader to turn into an investor in art. It also attempts to address misconceptions and bottlenecks that are preventing people from investing in Indian art and losing out on optimal portfolio diversification.
386 81-314-1297-5 The Icfai Dictionary of Enterprise Resource Planning Terms www.nbcindia.com Management Pradeep Kumar 14-Dec-07 276 19.5 500 0 0 The Icfai Dictionary of Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Terms is addressed to students, teachers, practitioners and general readers, who want to follow ERP discussions in the class and elsewhere, or whose daily work demands some familiarity with terminology of Enterprise Resource Planning, ERP and its related Technologies, Development of ERP, ERP Implementation, Post ERP Implementation, Business Modules in an ERP (Finance, Manufacturing, Human Resources, Plant Maintenance, Materials management, QM and Sales & Distribution), ERP Market Place, ERP Present and future, and Advances in ERP etc. The dictionary also addresses terms from the conceptual level to the advanced level in a precise manner. It aims to provide a comprehensive companion to support other reading in a discipline which employs remarkably similar terminology.This dictionary is a guide to the main ideas and teachings related to the basics of and advances in ERP. The book is designed in such a way that it will cover the salient facts and features of various points of ERP and, also explore ERP development from technology and business perspectives. Around 2000 entries define and explain clearly the salient facts within the context of Enterprise Resource Planning. Its store of up-to-date information will certainly appeal to active managers, teachers and students of information technology and operations.
387 81-314-1159-6 Contemporary Trends in Corporate Budgeting www.nbcindia.com Economics Jayshree Bose 14-Dec-07 268 17 425 0 0 Fast-changing business scenarios in the Age of the Adaptive Enterprise have made it imperative for CFOs and other corporate managers to look at budgeting models that are flexible and can incorporate changes quickly. As a result, for almost a decade now, managers have been transiting from the inflexible Annual Budget to the more dynamic Rolling Forecast model, that affords them the opportunity to grasp changing business realities in time and take necessary action. This book traces the disadvantages of traditional budgeting and recent significant gains made from eradicating this single period /annual mindset and moving over to a Rolling Forecast model. Budgets are being increasingly linked with business strategy, and managers are taking non-finance factors as in Balanced Scorecards to set targets and evaluate performance. They are adopting contemporary best practices to make budgets far more meaningful. Dynamic managements are going a step further and structuring complex budgets adopting, say, a 12 month Zero based Budget in the Rolling Forecast mode with monthly reforecasts and meaningful inputs from feeder models such as Activity based Budgets or Driver based Budgets. These radical changes have also minimized traditional budget malpractices such as budget gaming, where the rigid fulfillment of targets was misused in a way that actually went against the interests of companies. The book includes case studies on companies like Infosys, American Express Bank, Ericsson, Svenska Handelsbanken, Nordea and others that have made a successful transition to alternatives to traditional budgeting or have even done away with budgeting altogether. The book should be of great interest to CEOs, CFOs, all categories of top and middle managements, IT solution providers, faculty and students of finance and general management, and others.
388 81-314-1239-8 Financial System in US – Emerging Issues www.nbcindia.com Financial Economics Nageswara Rao Katuri 14-Dec-07 272 17 425 0 0 This book deals with the emerging perspectives of the financial system in the US, dwelling on its monetary environment, banking system, financial services sector, securities market, mortgages, securitization environment besides certain governance issues. It also discusses the status of the greenback in the context of the global imbalances, besides providing insights into the M&A activities in financial services. American monetary system may be reformed to move away from the present fractional reserve system so that the power to create money shifts to the US treasury from banks, as recommended by the American Monetary Institute. With regard to the problem of Global imbalances, the US prefers gradual fall in the value of the greenback and the real effective solution however emerges from the ability of the US to reduce its twin deficits, enhance savings and reduce consumption. United States of America has a strong, stable and profitable banking system. It has community banks, commercial banks and Universal banks. US banks resort to substantial cross-border outsourcing, credit risk transfer and large-scale securitization. Financial services sector M&A activity demonstrates that the convergence of the banking, securities, commercial finance and consumer finance industries, while being an ever-evolving concept, is a reality and that competitive pressures remain strong. With regard to the retail securities market the recent reforms stipulate severance of research departments from investment banking departments and include vital clauses that are investor friendly. The US seems to have found a formula for offering favorable conditions and choices to mortgage borrowers, maintaining liquidity in mortgage markets and managing the risks of lending at fixed interest rates. The home loans market, however, has been facing, of late, problems of sub-prime lending, predatory lending and rise in interest rates. The present structure of corporate governance, to be more effective, should include employees.
389 81-314-1246-0 Energy Management – An Overview www.nbcindia.com Industry Simantee Sen 14-Dec-07 260 17 425 0 0 In general, the concept of Energy refers to “the potential for causing changes.” Production and consumption of energy resources is very important to the global economy. All economic activity requires energy resources, whether to manufacture goods, provide transportation, run computers and other machines or to grow food, to feed workers, or even to harvest new fuel. Organizations need to manage and optimize their energy usage well and in the process make sure that the environment is not impacted negatively. Waste management recycling of resources, renewable sources of energy, non-toxic wastes, etc are rising concerns for business houses. These concerns have become part and parcel of business management, either due to legal pressures or to attain efficiency and remain competitive. The energy business is on steroids. One needs a whole new vocabulary even to discuss it. The market is experiencing “convergence.” Utility companies are “energy providers” and they provide “energy solutions.” The end of the regulated, vertically organized and monopolized energy environment kicked off a megawatt transition— and technology is a key player in the outcome. From fuel cells to “smart” appliances, energy technology raises high expectations and attracts high rollers, who look for high payoffs. But, as always, there are high science, engineering and technology challenges to meet before you get the brass ring. This book discusses energy, its different sources, energy management for optimum utilization, environmental issues and cases regarding the same.
390 81-314-1229-0 The Icfai University Press on Retail Banking: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Banking Dhandapani Alagiri 14-Dec-07 236 16 400 0 0 The banking scenario in India is that of a highly developed nature, even though it is still far away from achieving world standards in terms of size, products and services. Indian banks have realized that with organic growth there is a need to grow inorganically as well, to be competitive with other players in the market. In this scenario, retail banking has been the focus of attention for the banking industry. The emergence of new economies and their rapid growth has been the most important contributing factor in the resurgence of retail banking. Changing lifestyles, fast improvement in information technology and other service sectors, as well as increasing levels of income, have contributed to the growth of retail banking in countries like India that are developing at a good pace. The Indian banks are vying with one another to grab a pie of the retail banking sector which has tremendous potential, as retail loans constitute only 8-9% of GDP in India, whereas it is about 35% in other Asian economies. But retail banking is also having its share of challenges in retention of customers, in introduction of tech savvy facilities and investment in such facilities, security concerns, KYC norms, credit evaluation norms etc. In this context, this book The Icfai University Press on Retail Banking – An Introduction will make a useful reading, as it captures the scenario of retail banking sector in India and the recent developments in the sector in a clear manner. The book presents a series of well-written articles that bring out the essence of the happenings in retail banking in the country.
391 81-314-1244-4 New Vistas in Accounting – Vol.IV www.nbcindia.com Management Subramanian R 11-Dec-07 336 20 500 0 0 In the emerging scenario of dynamic changes in the management arena, complexities prevail and compounding relationships are multiplying. Organizations are becoming multi-dimensional work place. Structure and systems are given importance rather than people. Management mantras constantly change due to change in production, operating, marketing and financial systems. Accounting Information System (AIS), Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and other Computer-Aided Audit Testing systems are in place. Globally, management objectives are framed after deliberations and this is exhibited through vision and mission statements. An enterprise with global presence has to work in tandem with other segments. In that harmonization of accounting standards is the prime mover to make convergence among other functional areas. For addressing these issues, this book is a blessing in disguise and a ready reckoner for the accounting and finance professionals. This book gives a threshold into newer areas in Accounting World like Social Asset, Emotional, Securitization Accounting and the convergence of AIS and ERP with digital as the model for the use of Forensic accountants. It also provides the insight of case studies into the application of accounting in Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, Enron, Indian and US experience related to Accounting Standards. The book is second to none in its clarity, brevity and richness in content and hence it will be a very useful companion to academicians, research scholars, students and practitioners.
392 81-314-0897-3 E-Waste: Managing the Digital Dump Yard www.nbcindia.com General Books Vishakha Munshi 11-Dec-07 320 19 475 0 0 In an age of I pods and Nintendo’s, where technology is constantly getting upgraded, it is a matter of concern if it comes to obsolescence. All such electronic products which are no longer in use due to technological advancements or any other reasons are referred to as ‘e-waste’. Considering the current technological scenario, it is very essential to fathom the importance of issues as grave as e-waste and its management. This book aims at creating awareness about the problems in e-waste management in the global context. The problem is not confined to developed nations or developing or poor countries who are first hand sufferers or big business houses who store huge dump in their warehouses, but it has its roots in common household basements and trash bins. According to a recently published report by the Seattle-based Basal Action Network (BAN), developed nations have been exporting its e-waste to developing nations to avoid the expense that would be incurred in recycling. Developing nations, in a sense, are being used as digital dump yards for this e-waste. The adverse effects of e-waste dumping are, therefore, being intentionally camouflaged by nations across the globe. The book is an attempt to address the management of e-waste, its potential hazards and steps that need to be taken in managing it and restricting these dumping practices. The book sensitizes and educates readers on several steps which can help in e-waste management and how it can start from a layman.
393 81-314-1182-0 Emerging Trends in Tourism www.nbcindia.com Economy Anil Varma 11-Dec-07 288 18 450 0 0 Tourism is today emerging as a leading sector in the world and is now considered by some as the number one industry. Demographic, socio-structural and socio-cultural developments have always led to changes in tourist demands, and service providers in tourism are faced with a substantial need to adjust. These constant challenges have expanded and intensified considerably in the first few years of the new millennium. War and tourism, extreme weather, the ongoing internationalization of tourism and the ageing of society (increasingly prominent in public awareness) have emphatically demonstrated the latent vulnerability of tourism as a boom industry. The survival of the tourism industry depends decisively on recognizing the relevant trends and allowing for them in good time. Development of tourism is a very complex process of interaction among many players, who have the shared responsibility concerning the environmental, social and economic sustainability of this lucrative sector. This process involves the tourism industry, which promotes a sustainable product; the consumer who develops the sustainable consumptions trends; and the public authorities who strive to create the right framework so as to enable the sustainable use of the resources and the creation of a commercial level-playing field among all the different stakeholders. Consumer trends in tourism, which are gradually changing, require an appropriate response in terms of both policy formulation and investment and the survival of the tourism industry depends decisively on recognizing the relevant trends and allowing for them in good time.
394 81-314-1207-X Gold as Investment: Instruments and Trends www.nbcindia.com Commodity Preeti Phuskele 11-Dec-07 260 17 425 0 0 Gold is called the King of metals because it is amongst the first metals to be mined. For thousands of years, it has been popular as a global currency and an investment. It is virtually indestructible, fungible, highly liquid and can also be mobilized easily and quickly. These features differentiate gold from other assets. Gold is no longer confined to jewellery but is becoming a preferred investment tool. It is liked for its potential for appreciation. Gold is also considered an insurance against unforeseen calamities. A substantial number of investors prefer to invest in gold, as it is understood that, in case of collapse of monetary systems, only gold would have value. Nowadays, investors do not prefer to invest in material gold. Instead, they prefer investments in newer forms like Gold Exchange Traded Fund, Gold Certificates etc. This is because it is easy to carry/transfer bonds and certificates and there is no fear of theft. Gold is also popular as an asset diversifier. It is still in the initial stages of what many financial experts see as a long-term bull market. This book is useful for management students and the investors of the world to become well versed with the emergence of Gold as a medium of investment. It will also help them in understanding future trends of investment in Gold. It is an informative contribution as it is a collection of various articles compiled together with the objective of giving a comprehensive picture of the current trend of investment in Gold.
395 81-314-1181-2 Stress in Security Forces – Causes and Management www.nbcindia.com General Management Anil Varma 11-Dec-07 272 17 425 0 0 Stress management is especially important in fields like defence and public safety (security, police, fire, etc.). In the security forces (Defence forces, Border security force, Police force, Security services) more and more cases of suicide and fratricide are coming to light. There is a need to take positive steps to arrest this trend urgently. Personnel in these professions are more open to stress situations. Because of the widespread need, both generally and locally, for basic stress management skills, it is necessary to review the basics of stress management for security forces professionals and their families. Articles covered in this book endeavour to extend the discussion and consideration of stress management beyond “just breathe” or “exercise” solutions often promoted in short articles addressing the topic. Instead, the information provided will offer insight into stress dynamics so that individual readers can determine appropriate management solutions. Toward doing so, the following three questions are addressed: “Why are security services members particularly susceptible to stress?” “What do we know about stress?” and “What can be done to better manage stress?” The book describes how those associated with security services can be assisted to recognize and cope with the negative aspects of the job, and be enabled to eventually retire for service time rather than for stress-related disability. It focuses on the potential sources of stress and the consequences of stress on individuals. In short, it discusses the cause and the steps to be taken to restore the dwindling morale in the armed forces.
396 81-314-1235-5 Managing Dry Lands: Issues and Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Management Sudha V Menon 11-Dec-07 252 17 425 0 0 Dryland ecosystems support the growing understanding that environment is not a luxury, but a key factor in overcoming poverty and an economic basis for livelihoods, true sustainable development. The people of the world’s drylands face the greatest development challenges. They survive in areas where rainfall can be as little as one tenth of the level in highly productive agricultural zones. Rain also tends to be erratic – with frequent droughts – and often falls all at once, causing brief but destructive floods. More than 1000 million people live in the rural areas of the world’s drylands, which cover some 40 percent of the Earth’s land surface. Economically dependent on agriculture, they are most at risk from land degradation. The vast majority – 94 per cent, by one estimate – of desert dwellers live in developing countries, where population growth rates are among the highest. Since the beginning of the 20th century the number of people living in developing country deserts has multiplied eightfold. Although there are environmental resource problems threatening the livelihood security of people in large parts of the world’s drylands, there should perhaps be more focus on possibilities, not just on problems. Pointing to potentials and possibilities may create more enthusiasm for the task at hand. This book attempts to explore the traditional and modern management approaches to sustainable development of dryland economies, with a discussion on various models of development adopted successfully by different regions in the world. It attempts to cover practices in dryland agriculture, water management, prevention of desertification, dryland livelihoods, etc. The book broadly examines the conceptual dimensions of dryland management and the international efforts to prevent desertification. Apart from Indian scenario, experiences from Israel, Zimbabwe, and Sudan are incorporated.
397 81-314-0863-9 The Icfai University Press on Dynamics of Forex Markets and Management www.nbcindia.com Treasury and Forex Dhandapani Alagiri 11-Dec-07 240 16.5 425 0 0 The dynamics of the global forex markets has undergone dramatic changes over the years. With the evolution in high technology that provides for round-the-clock connectivity, the forex markets have extended their continuous presence in cross-border capital movements through the Asian, European and American time zones. International trade has been changing direction and the emerging economies are becoming stronger by the day. The huge reserve accumulation by the Asian countries is seen as one of the indications of the ongoing power shift in the world. To a large extent, the changing trends in the global forex markets may be taken as reflecting the changing scenario in international economic power balance.India has also been accumulating large reserves and the amount in reserves crossed the $200 billion mark recently. At this juncture, there was a call for full capital account convertibility. Capital account convertibility has already been there partially in India with ceilings in place. Recently, several policy changes took place in this direction. The rupee is also gaining strength and on this account India has become a trillion dollar economy of late. In the context of the tremendous growth of global forex markets and emergence of newer power balances in the world economy, this book “The Icfai University Press on Dynamics of Forex Markets and Management”, will make useful reading, capturing the concepts and practical aspects underlying the operation of forex markets. The book presents a series of well-written articles that bring out the essence of the happenings in the global and Indian forex markets.
398 81-314-1228-2 Brand Equity Measurement – Concepts and Applications www.nbcindia.com Marketing Gopalakrishnan P S Harish R 11-Dec-07 228 16 400 0 0 Of late, companies have recognized the inherent value of their intangible assets like brands, patents, copyrights, intellectual capital etc. In a study, PricewaterhouseCoopers has found that a significant portion of a company’s value (as large as 60%) belongs to the intangible category. For many companies, the authors feel that brands contribute heavily to their value but this is not reflected in the financial records. ‘Brand equity’ is the value built-up in a brand due to the positive perceptions of customers. As there is a proliferation of brands in the marketplace, companies try to protect their brand equity by suitable brand differentiation and other means. Marketers look for reliable brand equity measurement tools so as to manage their brands in a profitable manner. Several reputed brand consulting firms and advertising agencies have developed various brand equity measurement models that can measure the qualitative (customer awareness, acquaintance, association, etc) and the quantitative valuations (based on the data related to past sales and revenue pertaining to the brand). Brand equity measurements reflect the present status and future growth potential of the brand. Though brand equity measurement has its several uses, it does not make a brand more valuable or less risky. This book provides an insight into some of the widely used proprietary brand equity measurement models from reputed firms such as Young and Rubicam, Millward Brown, Interbrand, BBDO, Brand Finance, Ipsos, M/A/R/C Research, Research International and ACNielsen, along with the theoretical models like David Aaker’s Brand Equity Ten and Kevin Lane Keller’s Customer-Centric Brand Equity Model.
399 81-314-1259-2 Renewable Energy: Global Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Environment Azmal Hussain 11-Dec-07 220 15.5 400 0 0 All over the world, there has been much outcry about the character of the global climate, which has been changing rapidly and has recently posed a threat to the global climate. The growing demand for global energy, the impending exhaustion of fossil fuel resources, and many more factors will result in our increased dependence on renewable energy. These are essential contributors to the energy supply portfolio as they contribute to world energy supply security and gradually reduce our dependency on fossil fuel resources. The present book tries to capture the profound importance of renewable energy in a global perspective, as it is becoming an increasingly important driver for national governments, industries and energy companies. The major threats of global warming are visible through to increasing pollution, uncontrolled use of fossil fuels and the growing number of atomic weapons. Renewable energy sources are fundamentally different from fossil fuels, and do not produce as many greenhouse gases and other pollutants as fossil fuel combustion. The focus of this book is also on illustrating the current status and the future prospects of renewable energy, its impact on fuel price rise and so on. Besides, the cases and examples from around the world are designed according to the impact of renewable energy.
400 81-314-0524-9 Impeccable Logistics and Supply Chain Management: A Case of Mumbai Dabbhawallahs www.nbcindia.com Supply Chain Management Nasreen Taher 6-Dec-07 148 18 450 0 0 The Dabbawallahs of Mumbai need no introduction to students, faculty and practitioners of Business Management. It is a business that has lasted over 113 years and is still being run successfully by a group of people with practically no formal education, no investment, and no technology. Management guru C K Prahlad has hailed Mumbai s ubiquitous Dabbawallahs as the quintessential masters of supply chain management. The Dabbawallahs have received attention and prominence in the business world across the globe, having found their way into the Guinness Book of World Records, Ripley’s Believe it or Not; documentaries on them have been filmed by the BBC and Discovery Channels; case-studies on their supply chain management capabilities have been developed by the Harvard and Ivey Schools of Business; they have presented Seminars at prestigious leadership summits both at home and abroad; they are the recipients of the Six-Sigma efficiency rating accorded by the Forbes-Global Magazine in 1998, and, they were the only two average Indians to be invited to the Charles-Camilla Royal wedding. The ICBR team is writing a book on the Dabbawallahs, the contents of which will span their 100+ year old history, their impeccable logistics and supply chain management, their business efficiency, their fame, and their future in this rapidly changing world of business. A personal interview with Sri Medge and Sri Talekar has also featured in the book along with a series of photographs and exhibits. Although there have been numerous case studies and articles on the Dabbawallahs, no book on them has been written as yet, thereby making this book the first of its kind.
401 81-314-1219-3 Household Savings: Perspectives and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Finance Asis Kumar Pain Nirbachita Karmakar 6-Dec-07 272 17 425 0 0 Saving is considered a vital element in the development process by stepping up the process of capital formation as assets accumulated through saving are commonly used to finance further consumption or investment. Again, total savings in an economy comprises domestic, corporate, foreign and contractual and household. Of these, the importance of household savings is undeniable on account of its rising influence in shaping the aggregate savings in an economy. Again, the need to have household savings stems from economic and non-economic factors. A primary economic motive for saving is the harmonization of the consumer strategies of households with their budgetary possibilities. The non-economic motive comprises mainly the psychological and behavioral factors that influence an individual’s savings. Set in this frame, the present volume is an attempt to shed light on various aspects of household savings like its linkages with the process of economic development apart from various factors that influence household saving. The book is divided into two sections. The first elucidates the importance of household savings amongst aggregate savings along with determining the motives for it. As such motives are usually classified into economic and non-economic ones. The second section draws examples of select countries of the world, both developed and developing, and tries to grasp the state of household savings in each of them and their alignment with the level of economic growth.
402 81-314-1227-4 Lean Six Sigma – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Mrudula E 6-Dec-07 252 17 425 0 0 In today’s competitive and globalization environment, it is necessary for companies to provide utmost satisfaction to customers by giving them the final product according to their taste and in less lead time. For achieving this, it is necessary for companies to implement a successfully proven methodology that can not only help them in achieving the objectives mentioned above but also helps them in being a competitive position in the market. Lean Six Sigma is such a methodology that helps in eliminating waste, increasing the speed and removing defects and reducing variation. It is a combination of lean tools and six sigma values and cultures. Certain lean tools such as TPM, 5S, Kanban, Kaizen and six sigma methodologies such as DMAIC are used in achieving the companies’goals. Many pioneering companies like Toyota, Motorola, Ford, Lockheed Martin have used these methodologies both together as well as separately and achieved tremendous results. The present book titled “Lean Six Sigma” is divided into two sections. The first section titled Introduction” discusses the concept of lean six sigma. The benefits and limitations arise by combining both lean and six sigma. It further helps in understanding similarities and differences between lean and six sigma. The effective road map for deploying lean six sigma and how lean six sigma is used in streamlining enterprise records management are also discussed in this book. The second section titled Applications” contains experiences of different industries in implementing lean six sigma. It further contains articles of companies like Lockheed Martin and Dabbawallahs in implementing these methodologies and how they have achieved drastic results.
403 81-314-1205-3 Delegation and Empowerment for Growth www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sandeep Ray Chaudhuri Ishita Mukherjee 6-Dec-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 The evolution of management thought led to the gradual transformation of the structure of organizations and the way people are managed. The erstwhile rigid, hierarchical organizations are giving way to more humanizing democratic forms. Delegation, an important management technique involving transfer of authority and responsibility from the superior to the subordinate, has assumed increased significance in terms of its integration with the overall organizational objectives. Termed strategic delegation, it implies delegation with forethought and planning for all round managerial success. Empowerment, that is giving authority as well as resources to the subordinates is possible only through delegation. Empowerment, a management buzzword, has been portrayed by many as a panacea for overcoming organizational problems. Creating a conducive organizational culture and successful implementation of empowerment strategies can lead to visible outcomes viz., improved employee productivity, job satisfaction, loyalty, customer satisfaction and organizational development. However, the manager has to exercise caution, as empowerment is a complex and sensitive issue involving employee perception and cultural implications. This book provides an understanding of delegation, workplace empowerment and captures the essence of latest research towards developing a holistic viewpoint of empowerment. Organizations embracing this viewpoint are likely to outperform their rivals.
404 81-314-1217-7 Two-Wheeler Industry in India – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Rajmanohar T P Balaji V 6-Dec-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 The Indian two-wheeler industry has been in the limelight recently because of its impressive performance. Hero Honda has been the largest manufacturer of motorcycles in the world for quite some time. Its motorcycle model Splendor has also been the largest selling model in the world. The last few years have also seen a large quantity of two-wheelers being exported. In neighbouring countries like Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, the Indian two-wheeler manufacturers have captured the market. Even in Africa and South America Indian motorcycles have been well received. Some of the Indian manufacturers like TVS Motors and Bajaj Auto are in the process of setting up assembly and manufacturing plants. The number of models being introduced by Indian two-wheeler manufacturers every year is also high. At this crucial juncture when the Indian two-wheeler industry is making its mark in the global market, this book “Two-Wheeler Industry in India – An Introduction” will make interesting reading. The book has been divided into three sections. The first section traces the evolution of the industry, its growth and the reasons for the industry being competitive. The second section delves into the issues facing the industry and future of the industry. It also throws light on the exports of two-wheelers, Government policies affecting the growth of the industry and electric scooters and motorcycles. The third section discusses the major players, Hero Honda, TVS Motors, Bajaj Auto and Electrotherm India.
405 81-314-1168-5 Economic Effects of an Australia-China FTA – Challenges and Opportunities for Bilateral Trade Policy www.nbcindia.com Economy Mahinda Siriwardana Jinmei Yang 6-Dec-07 188 16 400 18.5 475 The Australian government has signaled an interest in regional trade agreements and successfully signed Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Singapore, Thailand and the US, as well as a Closer Economic Relations Trade Agreement with New Zealand. The Australia-China Free Trade Agreement (ACFTA) is already in the process of being negotiated by the two governments. This study applies the Computable General Equilibrium (CGE) modelling approach, using the Global Trade Analysis Project (GTAP) model and its database version 6 for a quantitative analysis of the economic effects of proposed ACFTA. This book takes a fairly non-technical approach to present difficult material in an easily approachable framework. It will be appealing to a variety of reader including policy makers, politicians, academics, students and the like. It draws on the experience of RTAs that Australia has embarked on, in response to the slowdown in multilateral trade liberalisation option. The empirical results are particularly useful to many Asian economies that contemplate negotiating FTAs with Australia.
406 81-314-1231-2 US Current Account Deficit: Global Implications www.nbcindia.com Economy Jayanta Kumar Seal 6-Dec-07 232 16 400 0 0 This book is an attempt to capture the future impact and implications of the U.S. Current Account Deficit, which has become a global concern due to the fear that this would affect not only the U.S. but also her trading partners in future. The deficit has started to grow from the early eighties, and now it is of a record magnitude. The concern is that if the deficit continues in this manner, will it be harmful for the global economy as a whole? There are two opposite views in this regard. According to one group, there is no major problem at all, and the fear is actually overemphasized. However, the other group thinks that the situation is serious and there are at least two potential turmoils in the future; first, developing countries would lose their export-competitiveness to a much greater extent as a result of appreciation of the value of their currencies vis-à-vis the dollar. Finally, the dollar might lose its status as the International Reserve Currency. A vigorous debate is lingering among researchers whether Euro would dominate dollar as the international reserve currency, as dollar is continually declining as a result of sustained and increasing US current account deficit. Whether investors’ confidence remains in dollar as the international reserve currency is a matter of concern. An assurance may be that U.S. does not need to defend her currency, since, unlike developing countries, she can borrow her own currency. However, if she acts in this manner, the net debt to foreigners would ultimately reach a level, when international investors would deny financing the deficit further.
407 81-314-0602-4 Case Studies on Business Environment – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Mercy Mathew 6-Dec-07 394 0 40 1000 The microenvironment of the business is characterised by explosive industrial growth in some segments and at the same time, rapid technological development is rendering existing solutions to customer problems obsolete. On the macro-economic front, governments are increasingly facing the dilemma of choosing between economic progress and welfare – affecting government expenditure, and in turn the economic growth of the country. On the other hand, recessionary conditions in other countries have forced many companies out of business. Added to these, are the regulatory frameworks of the country and socio-cultural factors. The scenarios become even more complex when companies expand to new geographical regions. They have to deal with multiple – yet distinct – business environments. Organisations have no control over the changes happening in its external environment; but these factors cannot be ignored as they have a profound impact on the business operations and its profitability. With the ongoing rapid change in business environment, the conventional bases of competitive strategy are continuously eroding. In such a scenario, any company that is not continually developing, acquiring, and adapting to new technological advances and to the changing business environment is preparing itself to be out of the business within a few years. So, an extensive study of the business environment has become an essential prerequisite for success. The case studies featured in this book provide an in-depth and rigorous perspective on various business environment issues across the globe. Providing a short theoretical framework, the book, Case Studies on Business Environment – Vol. I, provide insights into some of the companies that have been successful in managing their ever-changing and demanding business environments. This book would definitely be an essential reading for all those executives managing or desirous of managing different business environments.
408 81-314-1213-4 Nokia Inc. – A Global Mobile Leader www.nbcindia.com Business Management Sangeetha K Sivarajadhanavel P 4-Dec-07 356 21 525 0 0 Nokia, the global telecom giant, has transformed itself from a small pulp mill to a global telecommunication MNC by carving a place in the hearts and minds of the consumers worldwide. Nokia exploited the telecom boom through its growth strategy to become the world s leading mobile phone manufacturer and a leading supplier of mobile and fixed telecom networks, including related customer services. It also provides services for network operators, service providers and corporations. This enormous worldwide growth in mobile business is principally due to its growth strategy that is driven by its product and technological innovations and its business acquisitions in the telecommunication industry. Though Nokia faces various challenges, it is still unique in its operation and innovation so much so that its competitors are unable to match its effectiveness and efficiency. In a short span of time, it has achieved the status of leader in mobile technology and it is seen as a major competitor by various companies in the telecommunication world. This book highlights the transformation of Nokia from a pulp mill into a telecommunication MNC and the path to success charted by the century-year old company. This book titled “Nokia Inc.: A Global Mobile Leader” comprises two major sections: Evolution and Growth; and Innovation and Challenges. The first section titled “Evolution and Growth” discusses Nokia s evolution, growth, business model, technology and product innovation, marketplace competitiveness and the challenges faced by Nokia in the market. The next section titled “Innovation and Challenges” comprises cases that highlight the innovation and challenges faced by Nokia in their growth strategies, organizational culture, technological and product innovation, branding, competition, and their global expansion.
409 81-314-1237-1 Integrated Rural Development: A Roadmap www.nbcindia.com Management Prabha Shastri Ranade 4-Dec-07 300 19 475 0 0 Integrated Rural Development (IRD) is concerned with economic growth, poverty alleviation, raising the living standard of the rural people and providing adequate minimum basic needs. Modern technology has the potential to achieve this, if properly harnessed. Agriculture needs to be modernized for achieving the objective of integrated rural development. Integrated rural development can be achieved by bringing in modern agricultural technologies in the rural and backward areas. Modern technologies should appropriately be blended with Government’s development programmes for improving the livelihoods of landless and marginal farmers. The book focuses on the key role modern technology can play in IRD. It explores the role of various sectors in achieving integration of rural development. The book is divided into three sections – Agriculture and technology, sustainable livelihoods and resource conservation The articles included in this book deal with the following areas: Agriculture technologies, lab-to-land programme, post-harvest technology, contract farming in horticulture sector, conservation agriculture, GM seeds, biofertilizers, biotechnology, bio-resources, soil conservation and wasteland development (Jatropa and energy plantation on wasteland), water-related issues (soil and water conservation, drip irrigation, ground water management and rainwater harvesting, salinity prevention), non- agricultural and forest-related activities, microfinance and SHGs, khadi and village industries, sustainable livelihoods with ICT in rural India, the digital initiatives such as AgRIS, DISNIC, e-Cooperatives and CoopNET for fostering agricultural and rural industries and improving rural connectivity.
410 81-314-1232-0 Technology Management – Concepts and Applications www.nbcindia.com Management Prabir Kumar Bandyopadhyay 4-Dec-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 Globalisation has forced organisations to look beyond the geographical and political boundaries of their countries. Competitive advantage has become a dynamic concept and a dominant factor in creating value for the customer. Country-level studies indicate that the major contributor of productivity growth is the multifactor productivity, also known as the technical change as termed by Solow. Country-level productivity growth is the manifestation of the productivity growth at the micro level. Technology is playing a much bigger role in the production front line. Under this perspective quality in Technology Management (TM) will be the factor for deciding as to who will be the winner in this type of business environment. Hence, managing technology becomes one of the key processes for an organisation. In this view, the articles have been chosen to give a total understanding of the process and insights of some key sub processes. It is a collection of thirteen articles covered in two sections: Concepts and Applications. The articles in the Concepts section give an overall understanding of the whole gamut of the management aspect of technology management, the process of TM, people aspect of TM, technology roadmapping and forecasting. The Applications section gives examples of aligning TM with business strategy, forecasting, vendor selection process and technology deployment. It is hoped that both management students and professionals from industries will find this book useful.
411 81-314-0812-4 Tourism: Promotional Perspectives and Issues www.nbcindia.com Tourism Radha Krishna G 30-Nov-07 316 19 475 0 0 The recent change in the image of India due to information technology revolution has put India into the limelight. The country has become a destination for the whole gamut of travelers, from businessmen to cultural enthusiasts. Despite being endowed with a wide variety of geographical, historical, religious and cultural tourist spots, we could not develop Tourism sector as a major revenue earner even after many decades of Independence. By and large, Indian Tourism, till the recent past could not realize its true potential. Many factors contributed to this below par performance, such as underdeveloped tourism infrastructure, insufficient budget allocation, lack of planned vision, and above all, lack of effective promotional measures. However, the scenario turned a 360-degree swing with all the lacking factors slowly falling into place. Increased allocation of resources, special impetus to promotion and development of tourism infrastructure caused this desired shift. Presently, Indian Tourism is one of the largest sectors in the Indian economy and contributing sizably to its GDP. Destination marketing occupies new prominence in the fast changing techno-socio-political-economic conditions. Growth of technology in the form of proliferation of Internet and web technologies, on the one hand, and globalization of economies, on the other hand, has opened up plenty of new opportunities for the destination marketers. As seeing is believing, many new forms of promotion have come into the picture as a result. Many new tourism products have been evolved such as medical tourism, sports tourism, shopping tourism, ecotourism and religious tourism and new means of promotion have been developed, such as development of interactive websites, events organization, In-film advertisements etc. This is a new beginning for the Indian Tourism as a whole, especially for tourism marketers. Responsible marketing has become a necessity for the growth of Indian Tourism sector in line with the expectations. Designing effective tourism marketing mix, of which promotion plays a very important role, is a challenging job for tourism marketers in the new millennium, especially taking the prevailing socio-economic and political factors into consideration. To create a feel for destination and build traffic promotion is a crucial tool for efficacy in marketing tourism.
412 81-314-1169-3 Pesticides in Food: Issues and Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Economy Amrita Chakraborty 30-Nov-07 284 18 450 0 0 Agrochemicals are an essential requirement to boost farm productivity. They also ensure crop quality. As a consequence, we cannot wish away the use of agrochemicals in our food crops, fruits, vegetables etc. Therefore, the entire food basket is also a basket of pesticides, because none of the mass consumption vegetables and fruits grown today anywhere in the world is without extensive use of agrochemicals at some stage of production and/or shipment. Further, in heavily populated, developing countries, one has to coax the land to feed the growing number of mouths. Enhancing land productivity is a constant worry and the usage of agrochemicals is quite steep. Therefore, there is a trade-off between land productivity and risk from the amount of pesticide usage/residues in food crops/plants. And there is a need to be realistic, while being careful. Agrochemicals’ residue in food and food safety is an all pervading issue in several countries today, that affects everybody’s lives. This book is an eye-opener, detailing contamination in our food basket with accounts of Acceptable Daily Intake (ADI) norms, toxicological thresholds and notable experiences. It promotes an awareness of the agrochemicals-food safety debate. The objective of the book is to provide information about the agrochemicals-food safety debate, giving accounts of ADI norms, toxicological thresholds and notable experiences to enable percolation of learning lessons. It is also an attempt to circulate amongst a larger group of readers a collection of contemporary research and cases of the impact of agrochemicals on the entire food basket.
413 81-314-1191-X Marketing of High-Tech Products and Services www.nbcindia.com Marketing Suresh K 30-Nov-07 284 18 450 0 0 Depending on the product category involved, the marketing efforts vary. The marketing mix adopted for low involvement products/services would be very different from that for luxury products and services, for example. Marketing of high-tech products and services involves multiple challenges. These include linking technological innovations to designing useful products/services from the customers’ perspective. In many cases, market research findings about the potential demand may have to be ignored. Innovation in new product development is driven by passion and gut feel of the tech enthusiasts. Reducing the time-to-market, instilling and sustaining an innovation culture within the organization, striking a balance between enticing trials and price skimming are other critical issues faced by high-tech marketers. The book highlights major challenges involved in marketing of high-tech products/services, provides some applications and profiles some success stories. The challenges include: · Fast commercialization of new technology · Issues related to branding · Creating a buzz for heightened expectations Applications cover the following fields: · Medical technology · Nanotechnology · Consumer electronics · Space launch vehicles · Pharma RFID · Life sciences Cases discussed include Apple, BenQ and Intel. The content would be useful for practising and aspiring marketers of high-tech products and services.
414 81-314-1203-7 Panchayati Raj: Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Books Sudha V Menon 30-Nov-07 252 17 425 0 0 Panchayats have always from time immemorial, been the backbone of Indian villages. Gandhiji, the Father of the Nation, in 1946 had aptly remarked that Indian independence must begin at the bottom and every village ought to be a Republic or Panchayat having powers. Gandhiji’s dream has been translated into reality with the introduction of the three-tier Panchayati Raj system to ensure people’s participation in rural reconstruction. The passage of the Constitution (73rd Amendment) Act, 1992, marks a new era in the federal democratic set-up of the country and provides constitutional status to the Panchayati Raj Institutions (PRIs). Consequent upon the enactment of the Act, almost all the States/UTs, except J&K, NCT Delhi and Uttaranchal have enacted their legislation. Panchayati Raj system establishes a linkage between local leadership enjoying confidence of people and the Government, and translates the policies of the government into action. It plays an important role for rural development in general, especially uplift of the down-trodden. This book attempts to capture the dynamics of Panchayati Raj experience in India since 73rd constitutional amendment taking stock of devolution of powers, extent of de-bureaucratization and availability of finances. The book analyzes and critically evaluates the effectiveness of PRI as a system of governance for securing people’s participation in the decision-making process, women empowerment, local leadership creation, social capital formation and poverty alleviation. It attempts to explore the possibility of making PRI an effective tool for participatory development, empowerment of Marginalized classes and management of local resources. Above all, the book examines the impact of Information and Communication Technology [ICT] dissemination on PRIs and its effect on rural people.
415 81-314-1204-5 Qualitative Market Research – Approaches and Applications www.nbcindia.com Marketing Suresh K 30-Nov-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 Market research is a critical activity for marketers at different stages of a product’s lifecycle. Quantitative market research probes aspects such as potential demand for products, percentage composition of different segments of a market, advertising spend of competitors, market share figures, etc. Qualitative market research, on the other hand, aims to capture information or insights that are difficult to quantify. Examples include understanding consumer perception of a product, positioning plank occupied by a brand, perceptual mapping with respect to competitors’ offerings, levels of brand awareness, effectiveness of advertisements, etc. As subjectivity is involved, qualitative market research is much more specialized and calls for skills to unearth information both directly and indirectly. This book captures recent thoughts from credible sources such as ESOMAR, Millward Brown, Ogilvy & Mather, ACNielsen etc., on critical aspects of qualitative market research. The approaches covered include ethnography, projective techniques, neuroscience, interviews and bulletin boards. Applications captured include new product development, understanding brand loyalty among teenagers and attitudes towards healthier food products. The following case studies are also included: ·BP ·Best Buy ·Communispace ·Motion Computing
416 81-314-0891-4 Geriatric Health Care: Global Scenario www.nbcindia.com Management Sridhar Krishna 30-Nov-07 224 15.5 400 0 0 Healthcare for the aged has become an issue of immediate global concern due to higher cost of medication. Today’s aged women or men have full-fledged participation in social gatherings (comprising their age only), health clubs and also health insurance schemes with minimal cost. Good health is imperative for older people in order to remain independent and continue to contribute to their families and communities. In developing countries, cost of health care and distance in the case of rural areas may prevent the aged from accessing the doctors. Primary health care should be provided to the aged in rural areas by the government free of cost. The National Health Service of UK is one such endeavor by the government. Due to mass awareness programmes, people who are aged are becoming aware of their disabilities and eventually they seek medication. Both the developed and the developing countries are engaged in active participation to eradicate diseases in order to make the life of the aged a healthy life. The governments are taking initiatives through commitment to promote healthcare of the aged in an effective way. This book “Geriatric Health Care: Global Scenario” comprises two sections: I – “Developing Countries” and II – “Developed Countries”. The first section projects various developing countries’ initiatives in regard to the healthcare system for the elderly and the second section further elaborates on various issues in the old age and the recovery of the aged through mechanized medication.
417 81-314-1212-6 Case Studies on MNCs in China – Vol II www.nbcindia.com Economy Nagendra Chowdary V 30-Nov-07 180 0 50 1250 All the major MNCs face one big question; where’s our next growth pond. After having explored and exploited various growth avenues, the multinational companies are full of plans for BRIC economies. Of these, ‘The China Factor’ is a major decision. Bill Gates said, “China and India are the big change engines for the years ahead, and as we embrace that and understand our new role in that, that s the path forward.” No wonder, global companies are spending half their strategic planning time on exploring growth opportunities in emerging markets. And in that, not a single strategic planning session goes by without referring China. China is a key market for all the multinational companies. And for China too, MNCs make a tempered temptation. The temptation is to imbibe MNCs best practices and gear up Chinese companies to go global. The Chinese government, in recent years, has gone out of its usual way to soften their attitude. When China’s President Hu Jintao visited USA in 2006, one headline read, “China president at Gates house, not White House”. “You are a friend to the Chinese people, and I am a friend of Microsoft. Every morning I go to my office and use your software”, Hu told his host. No other Fortune 500 CEO gets quite the same treatment in China. As one government leader put it while introducing Gates at a business conference, the Microsoft chairman is “bigger in China than any movie star.” This is Business Diplomacy at its best. The New Economic Consensus? Seems definitely so. But, success in China is not to come by easily. China decision is wrought with potential as well as peril. While Microsoft succeeded in a ‘diplomatic’ way, GM succeeded by partnering. Dell has had to reconfigure its ‘China’ business architecture. Explore different success formulas through case studies featured in this book. If China decision is imminent, the reading of these case studies is important.
418 81-314-1199-5 Global Export Trends www.nbcindia.com Economy Ishita Mukherjee Debjani Mitra Sarkar 28-Nov-07 360 21 525 0 0 Global economy in the 20th century witnessed the gradual liberalization of trade and capital flows. This was followed by a deeper version of globalization, mainly attributed to technological changes and politico-economic liberalization creating a world, that is more unified than ever before. Globalization is one of the biggest challenges facing world markets today. It is to be seen as both a challenge and an opportunity, since it means the opening up of world markets. Exports, an important constituent of international trade have acquired much importance in the modern era of economic liberalization. The trend towards market economy in almost all countries of the world has increased the significance of exports. With the liberalization policies adopted in recent times, discussions towards multilateral equitable trading system propounded by GATT and subsequently WTO, new opportunities have opened up in terms of market access to member countries. This book provides a comprehensive analysis of the emerging trends in exports and also the changing global export scenario as it evolved in the post globalization era. It also provides insights into the impact of these emerging trends on the export pattern of both developed and developing countries across the globe, in the form of well-written articles by experts in a synchronized format. The book, it is hoped, will serve as a valuable reference for scholars, entrepreneurs, export firms, administrators, policy makers, and those interested in vital movements of exports of goods and services.
419 81-314-0898-1 Credit Cards – Issues and Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Banking Mithradas Menon Bhattacharya K M 28-Nov-07 292 19.5 500 22 550 Somewhere, of late, Retail Banking has been described as “hotter than vindaloo,” an Indian-English curry that is indeed very hot and spicy! Retail banking is the in-thing today; it is called the ‘Mainstream Banking’. In the centre-stage, card money or credit money has gained unprecedented popularity and acceptance in society. As a highly sensible, yet sensitive product in the hands of competing institutions, the clamor is for enhancing market share. However, the prevalence of heavy financial charges and levies dampens the market and is unwelcome to the card users. The research study details the relevance of the card product as a retail banking tool in the Indian context. The study has brought to light the stupendous growth and outreach of the product. Recently, Reserve Bank of India, in its Annual Policy Statement 2006-07, observed that it continued to receive representations from the public about unreasonable and non-transparent service charges being levied by banks, indicating that the existing institutional mechanism in this regard was inadequate. After the working group evolved a regulatory mechanism for cards, the apex bank again set up a working committee to study and model an appropriate framework for reasonable level of bank charges…
420 81-314-1233-9 Sociology in Practice: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com General Management Debamitra Mitra 28-Nov-07 316 19 475 0 0 The study of social life of groups and societies is the subject matter of Sociology. It is a subject that is practised in development sectors. It studies more systematically and rigorously the human society and its nature and diverse things from census data on thousands of people, through in-depth analysis of the life of a single person to monitor what is happening on a street today or what was happening a few hundred years ago. Sociology as a discipline was an invention of the late nineteenth century and was elaborated more during the period 1880 to 1945. Being a subject that primarily studies society in its various ramifications, it has constantly updated itself to meet new challenges. As an important subject of social science, sociology can be applicable to various fields of practical life, professions and research. From this practical point of view, sociology can capture the changes in societal structure and culture over time, changes in relationship among people and their impact on human behavior, social problems, social conflicts and community and social development. But, unfortunately, in India, the discipline still remains unexplored to a considerable extent. It not only contributes to the richness of one’s education and character, but also to the making of a hard core professional out of that person. Hence, teaching-learning in the discipline of sociology has also to be oriented in the light of the subject gaining market value as well. The students of sociology should be employed not only in the academic sphere but also beyond including the corporate world. Thus, the book discusses the challenges of transformation of sociology from theory to practice.
421 81-314-0894-9 The Icfai University Press on Services Sector: New Growth Engine www.nbcindia.com Economy Dhandapani Alagiri 28-Nov-07 296 18 450 0 0 The services sector has evolved itself into the main growth engine of world economy. The services sector, consisting of the “soft” parts of the economy such as Logistics, IT and Communications, Government, Tourism, Financial Services and Education, may involve transportation and distribution of tangible goods as in cargo services or providing pure service as in education. The services sector has also turned the largest employer of manpower, displacing the primary sector on a global scale. Developing economies, especially Asian, will be the biggest beneficiaries of the global services boom, if the market is properly liberalized and the potential in domestic services sectors is tapped. Even though offshoring of services presents a lucrative proposition currently, domestic services sector has to be developed for the boom in services to be sustainable. India, on the path of becoming an economic giant, will be a more important player in global economy in future. The growth of the IT/ITES sector has been really very fast in the country. This is in consonance with the increasing presence of the country in global offshore outsourcing and, more broadly, in the services sector. In this context of tremendous growth of the global services sector and emergence of developing countries, especially India, as a services power, this book, “Services Sector: New Growth Engine”, will make useful reading capturing the current perspective at the global and Indian levels and the new trends in the Indian services sector. The book presents a series of well-written articles that bring out the essence of the happenings in the services sector.
422 81-314-1195-2 Technology and Marketing Strategy www.nbcindia.com Marketing Amitabha Ghose 28-Nov-07 288 18 450 0 0 A couple of significant technological changes appear to have major global effects in the next decade. These changes are due to rapid progress in information and communication technology, radio frequency identification technology, wireless technology, biotechnology, nanotechnology, broadband technology and materials technology. The impact of these technological changes are wide and may include socioeconomic, political, environmental, cultural and demographic factors. In several cases, the implication of these technologies appear to depend on the synergies of their combined advances and on their interaction with the information and communication technology revolution. Many people had predicted that the 20th century would be dominated by development in physics and chemistry. Whereas, the 21st century would be dominated by progress in biotechnology. This book puts forward concise foresighted activities that are treated as potential opportunity in scientific and technical advances, global technological trends, practical applications, changes and potential impact within and among these technological areas and their intersection and cross-breeding with information & communication technology and their global impact on the business and marketing of the organization and proactive marketing strategy companies should adopt for sustenance and maintaining leadership position in the market place.
423 81-314-0887-6 Advances in Business and Finance Studies, 2006- Volume IV: Derivatives and Risk Management www.nbcindia.com Finance Nupur Hetamsaria Hilda Amalraj 28-Nov-07 260 17 425 0 0 Risk management is an important part of the world of finance as maximization of returns is. With the complexities and uncertainty in the environment increasing, more emphasis is being laid on managing the risks involved in businesses and investments. Derivative markets have played a major role in risk management. This volume of the conference proceedings is mainly concerned with the studies on various parameters and impacts of derivative products on the underlying assets. The articles range from analyzing the role of Indian futures and options market in discovering the prices of spot market to studying the lead-lag relationship among the three markets. There are a few studies which concentrate on the volatility impact of the introduction of futures on the spot market returns. Different authors have taken different factors, such as time-to-maturity, open interest, trading volumes, and the cost-of-carry, into account while determining whether the futures have had a risk mitigating, risk enhancing or no impact on the spot markets. One of the studies looks at the ways in which the discount factor, which is considered to be a direct function of risk involved in investing in a particular asset, is calculated, and questions the often used assumptions in such calculations. Another study looks at the risks embedded in mortgage contracts in the USA and Germany and how to manage such risks. Based on his study, the author also makes recommendations for emerging nations like India. Yet, another study uses the information provided from the balance sheet of banks to assess the risk of Indian public sector banks by examining the relationship, if any, that exists among risk index (RI), asset size, capital adequacy and liquidity.
424 81-314-1158-8 Creative Accounting – Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Finance Madtha Cyril Marcel 28-Nov-07 260 17 425 0 0 Creative accounting refers to accounting practices that seem to follow the letter of the applicable accounting standards but deviate from the spirit of those standards. The motivation to indulge in these practices is anticipation of rewards which may include higher share prices, improved credit rating resulting in lower borrowing costs, higher incentive compensation for executive management etc. Some of the creative accounting schemes perpetrated by companies include improper revenue and expense recognition, faulty accounting in connection with business combinations, and wrongful use of off- balance-sheet arrangements. These fraudulent schemes can be devastating to users like shareholders, lenders, employees, board of directors and other stakeholders. The spectacular business and financial reporting failures of companies like Enron and WorldCom at the turn of the millennium sent wake-up calls to regulators of capital markets in the US and had an impact on the rest of the world, too. The global debate triggered by these events raised questions regarding the factors driving the widespread creative accounting practices, the checks and balances in the financial reporting, auditing and regulatory environment, identity of the negligent gate keepers and the causes of the failure of the checks and balances. The analysis of financial reporting frauds also offered valuable lessons to the investors, lenders and other stakeholders. The articles, book reviews and case studies put together in this book would provide sufficient material to readers to develop perspectives to find answers to these questions in light of the lessons learnt.
425 81-314-0871-X Empowerment of Rural Women: Insights and Initiatives www.nbcindia.com General Books Sujatha B Niranjana Sreenivasan 28-Nov-07 264 17 425 0 0 True, times have changed since the 1970s as women have proved their mettle in the political and corporate world to become successful leaders, professionals and entrepreneurs. However, life is still tough for the rural women in India, who constitute 35 percent of the total population. They are still vulnerable to health hazards, besides social ill-treatment. Women own only two per cent of the land, and receive only one per cent of all agricultural credit. Only five percent of all agricultural extension resources are directed to women. While there are ground breaking programs by the Central and State governments, they do not strike an impressive figure. “…there is no tool for development more effective than the empowerment of women.”? Kofi Annan Empowerment of women involves many things – economic opportunity, social equality, and personal rights. It is important to understand that empowerment is a continuous, ongoing process of enabling someone to take life decisions. Tracking the novel work done by Mohammed Yunus through Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, Self Help Groups (SHGs) of rural women are established by NGOs and government bodies. Their experiment is tangible proof of micro-credit’s efficacy in alleviating poverty and empowering rural women. Against this background, this book aims to introduce the reader to the present condition of rural women in India. It brings out the significance of addressing issues relating to them through policies and initiatives. It throws light on the areas of lacuna that call for corrective measures and initiatives not just at the government level but also at the corporate and societal levels. The book is a comprehensive study of the various means by which rural women may be empowered socially and economically.
426 81-314-1186-3 Reproductive and Child Health: Perspectives and Practices www.nbcindia.com Health and Nutrition Azmal Hussain 28-Nov-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 If viewed holistically, Reproductive and Child Health (RCH) is a crucial development issue. Its importance as a development issue has been elaborated way back in the Cairo International Conference on Population and Development in 1994. With over half a million women dying every year during pregnancy and childbirth from largely preventable causes, and hundreds of millions falling prey to sexually transmitted bacterial infections annually, international concerns need to take urgent action to reverse the global trend of deteriorating levels of reproductive health, as these have obvious repercussions on the health of surviving children. The consequences of poor reproductive and child health lead directly to completely preventable illness and death. Over and above the physical well-being of women and children, RCH focuses on empowerment of women and recognizes their reproductive choices. This book attempts to elucidate the significance of RCH issues in the context of human development and document some examples of effective RCH interventions. Thus, it is intended to be of practical use for healthcare and development professionals, policy planners and administrators, applied researchers including demographers and economists, and other social scientists dealing with issues relating to women and children. The experiences representing the issues and interventions of reproductive and child health, particularly in different resource poor countries are expected to provide an opportunity to the readers to prepare better for combating the RCH challenges.
427 81-314-1180-4 Managing 4P s of FMCG Marketing – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Pramod Rao Ravikant S Wawge 28-Nov-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 The FMCG market has changed with the advent of innovative products. It has emerged as a fast, customized and large market. The primary reason for this change is the changing marketing environment in the FMCG business. Changes in the marketing environment have generated a need to reconsider the managerial perspectives on marketing in the FMCG business. This book points out that, marketing functions in the FMCG business are all about seizing competitive advantage. The FMCG market, which was earlier a seller’s market, has transformed into a buyer’s market that exerts pressure on companies to balance costs, quality, price, time, and so on. To generate growth and excellence, companies need to develop and then implement their marketing mix models in a way that will grab and then sustain their competitive edge in the market The book seeks insights into the marketing environment and marketing practices in the FMCG sector. It looks at the FMCG business from a marketer’s perspective, and brings out various contemporary issues in managing the marketing mix. It is divided into two sections, where, the first section elaborates on the FMCG market concepts and the second section provides FMCG market case studies. Various concepts, which form part of marketing strategies and which contribute towards devising marketing mix models, are discussed in the book. Several cases focusing on Amul Ice cream’s marketing strategy, advertising strategies of Rasna, new product development at P&G, repositioning of Uniliver’s Lifebouy brand, growth strategies of China’s Wahaha Corporation, L’Oreal’s global strategies are all covered in this book.
428 81-314-1192-8 Business Transformation – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Jaya Krishna S 28-Nov-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 To ensure dramatic, rapid and sustainable growth in business performance and evolve as a dominant market leader, firms should strive to innovate their products, services, operations, functions and strategy that enhance customer value and strengthen competitiveness significantly. Precisely, today, value-managed organization means transforming the enterprise into a competitive, agile, responsive and resilient business unit. Focused transformation efforts are, therefore, the key to ensure improved business performance, exceptional market position, sustained growth and enhanced profitability. ‘Business Transformation’ is essentially a set of revitalization initiatives at both strategic and operational levels that will help achieve dramatic improvements in business capabilities, competitive advantage and long-term sustainability, ultimately resulting in sustainable market leadership, substantial financial benefits and radical business growth. It affects the organizational leadership, products/services, strategy, functions, operations and structure leading to delivery of exceptional customer value and thereby, gain unprecedented market position. This book attempts to introduce, define and throw light on the concept ‘Business Transformation.’ At large, it focuses on the strategic, imperative, issues, challenges, approach, Critical Success Factors (CSFs) and other perspectives relating to ‘Business Transformation’ through a collection of articles. The book is expected to be of interest to the business and management professionals at all levels particularly in strategic functions, while offering learning value to the students, academicians and other related professionals. It would immensely help those professionals involved in planning and converting transformational strategies into action.
429 81-314-1166-9 Basel II Norms – Implications on Business www.nbcindia.com General Books Preeti Phuskele 28-Nov-07 236 16 400 0 0 Financial institutions pave their way towards success through effective risk management techniques. Investments in state-of-the-art operational practices, reliability, confidentiality, safety measures and consistency in the execution of services, reap rich rewards. Integrating elements such as bank-level management, operational supervision and market discipline are some ways through which effective risk management strategies can be implemented. Basel I guidelines on banking supervision are being introduced by the Basel Committee, since the year 1988. In 1999, a new Capital Adequacy Framework was issued to replace Basel I. This revised framework, named Basel II, was introduced on June 26, 2004. Basel II aims to modernize the existing capital requirements framework in order to make it even more comprehensive and risk-sensitive, for modern-day financial institutions that employ meticulous risk management practices. The Basel II framework is even more sensitive to the real risks that organizations face. It not only considers how much money the organization controls, but also considers the operational risks, like the risk of systems breaking down or people committing unlawful acts. Although the Basel Committee is not a formal regulatory authority, it has influence over bank supervising authorities in many countries. It is expected that in the coming years, the Committee will be able to establish mutual approaches and standards amongst its member countries, as it gains their collaboration over primary objectives, without attempting a comprehensive harmonization of each member country’s supervisory techniques. This book discusses the impact and implications of Basel II on financial organizations and economies. This is an informative contribution, as it is a collection of various articles compiled together, with the objective of giving a comprehensive picture of progress that can be achieved in the financial sector by adopting sophisticated risk management strategies.
430 81-314-1173-1 Managing Industrial Subcontracting: The Strategic Issues www.nbcindia.com Economy Kumar Satyaki Ray Arindam Mukherjee 28-Nov-07 204 15 375 0 0 This book provides a holistic view of the concept of Subcontracting and its application in various industries in India. Subcontracting in the wider sense relates to letting out a part of the overall project obligations to another party. Such dispersal of obligations often tends to be beneficial for the parent firm and also provides adequate scope for growth to the secondary firm, which receives the subcontract. This book is an attempt to delve deep into the concept of subcontracting, its essence in the production process and application in various industries. Although subcontracts are usually given out to small and medium enterprises, it is just not beneficial for the small and less experienced business enterprises. It has been observed that subcontracting often gives the secondary firm a competitive edge, thereby, leading to its all round proliferation and strengthening. Subcontracting as an operational strategy leads to cost-effectiveness, optimum management of resources including man power and distribution of business risks. However, subcontracting relations are not bereft of risks. There are risk elements involved in contract manufacturing, the most perilous one being the overpowering of the prime contractor by the secondary or subcontractors. The book goes on to give an outline of the use of the subcontracting practice in Engineering industry, Pharma industry, Automotive Industry etc. It is categorically discussed how, for most of these industries, India has become a global destination for subcontracted jobs and services. In this context, the future of Indian SMEs is discussed and a synoptic view of the road ahead is taken.
431 81-314-1242-8 Emerging Trends in HRM: Sectoral Experiences www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Mrudula E Ramani V V 28-Nov-07 208 15 375 0 0 The management has to recognize the important role of Human Resource Department in order to successfully steer organizations towards profitability. It is necessary for the management to invest considerable time and amount, to learn the changing scenario of the HR department in the 21st century. In order to survive the competition and be in the race, HR department should consciously update itself with the transformation in HR and be aware of the HR issues cropping up. With high attrition rates, poaching strategies of competitors, there is a huge shortage of skilled employees and hence, a company’s HR activities play a vital role in combating this crisis. Suitable HR policies that would lead to the achievement of the Organization as well as the individual’s goals should be formulated. HR managers have to manage all the challenges that they would face from recruiting employees, to training them, and then developing strategies for retaining them and building up an effective career management system for them. Just taking care of employees would not be enough; new HR initiatives should also focus on the quality needs, customer-orientation, productivity and stress, team work and leadership building. This book is divided into two sections that throw light on the emerging HR trends and discusses HR issues in various industries like financial services, IT, Power, Healthcare, to name a few. This book should be valuable for practising HR managers of every organization and also for those who have a significant interest in the area of Human Resource Management, to realize the growing importance of human resources and understand the need to build up effective HR strategies to combat HR issues arising in the 21st century.
432 81-314-1234-7 Managing The Boss www.nbcindia.com Management Kumar K B S 28-Nov-07 172 13.5 350 0 0 Research-based evidence suggests that 80% of the employee-exits in a company are a result of the incompatible relationship between the bosses and the subordinates. Bad bosses – whether manipulators, credit stealers, idiots, micromanagers, or paranoids – are found in every organization. Employees are spending too much of their time, thinking and discussing their bad bosses. Employees should, for their own best interest, understand their bosses and come out with strategies to manage them. At the same time, bosses need to be trained, so that they can change their behavior and attitudes towards their subordinates. The theme of the book is developed with a bonafide intention to help the bosses and the sub-ordinates, understand themselves and each other to make the workplace better & congenial, resulting in an improvement in the overall organizational productivity. The book revolves round the chemistry between the bosses and the subordinates and focuses on the reasons for the deteriorating relationship between the two. The articles in the book intend to pass on an advocacy to the subordinates, sharing the research-based insights into managing a boss and also offer feasible tactics of managing their bosses. Considering the homogeneity of the theme, the contents of the book are presented under a single section. In short, the book aims at addressing one of the most severe problems that many a corporate is encountering – the soaring rates of attrition.
433 81-314-0830-2 Emigration – Economic Implications www.nbcindia.com General Books Ramachandra Shastri T 23-Nov-07 296 18 450 0 0 International migration affects the labour markets of both the host and the home countries. Generally, the entrepreneurial capabilities and skill levels of the migrants are high and hence, their movement may be an advantage to the host country and a loss to the home country. But the remittances of the migrants aggregate to a large volume. It has significant impact on the economy and external payment positions of several home countries. Hence, the home countries stand benefited by such remittances. However, brain drain can have dire consequences for sustainable development in developing countries. A significant number of migrant workers also face undue hardships and abuse in the form of low wages, poor working conditions, virtual absence of social protection, discrimination and xenophobia as well as social exclusion. The ILO Multilateral Framework on Labour Migration has compiled a set of principles, guidelines and best practices to guide countries in the formulation and implementation of labour migration policies. States have the sovereign right to determine their own migration policies. Labour laws framed by countries governing the movement of people take into account these divergent economic and social issues. The impact of migration and the experiences can naturally vary from country to country. The book gives a complete overview of the international migration and its impact on the labour market and entrepreneurship and also a study of these issues in several countries.
434 81-314-1197-9 Retailing – Emerging Global Trends www.nbcindia.com Retailing Suresh K 23-Nov-07 292 18 450 0 0 One of the spin-offs of increasing globalization has been the almost parallel rise in growth of global retail chains. Thanks to their influence on the purchases made by shoppers, they hold a huge bargaining power. Quite a few global retail chains dictate terms to the manufacturers, be it on price, packaging (in lots suitable to them) or delivery (directly to their outlets). Many retailers are going global and their power rises correspondingly, in line with their global scale of operations. Even if the geographical spread through outlets in different countries is restricted to major retail chains, most big retailers source their products globally. No wonder, a majority of the top retailers operate globally. Divided over three sections, the collection of seventeen articles throws light on both the Indian and the global scenarios. With articles from reputed sources such as Capgemini, AT Kearney, Deloitte and IBM among others, the contents also include the following cases: · Wal-Mart · Carrefour · Kroger · RPG Group · Pantaloons ·Barista
435 81-314-0890-6 P2P Networks – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Technology Ravi Kumar Jain B 23-Nov-07 204 15 375 0 0 As the Internet has increasingly penetrated into all walks of human life, the use of web-related services has also increased by leaps and bounds. After the web, Peer-to-Peer (P2P) is the next big thing that has happened on the Internet, almost redefining the way computers are networked the way services are delivered, and the way users are connecting/communicating/collaborating with other users on the net. The initial super success of P2P-based file-sharing service like ‘Napster’ and the likes have triggered enough interest among web service providers and corporates to adopt P2P as a networking model for distributed computing so much so that today it is considered to be the most preferred way of networking in a distributed environment The user of P2P will have a high degree of autonomy and control over the services they utilize. Sharing content files containing audio, video, data or anything in digital format is very common, and real-time data such as telephony traffic is also passed using P2P technology. The most popular P2P networks are KaZaA, BitTorrent, Shareaza and Gnutella. Using these applications the data content can be transferred quickly. These capabilities of P2P computing networks have made them the most sought-after technologies in community-building applications on the web, search engines and lots of other e-business applications today. P2P technologies are making inroads into even corporate networks reducing the cost of computing and increasing the computing resources utilization. This book presents interesting insights into the concepts, evolution, technologies, applications, and issues and risk related to P2P networks.
436 81-314-0865-5 Advanced Trading Strategies In Options www.nbcindia.com Finance Amandio F C Da Silva 22-Nov-07 252 17 425 0 0 An option is a derivative financial instrument traded in organized exchanges. Option is a contact between a buyer and a seller. Option gives a buyer the right (but not the obligation to buy or sell the contract) while the seller has an obligation to honor the contract. Option markets are growing and investors who are entering this market should be aware of the basic concepts associated with options and its trading. Options are used to hedge the risk. From among numerous trading strategies an investor should choose the appropriate one to trade in options. These strategies can be used directly, together or as combination depending upon the risk-bearing capacity of the investor. Moreover, volatility, price changes and market direction play an important role in the determination of the strategy to be adopted. This book is a collection of articles on various advanced trading strategies in options. The book is divided into two sections – single and combination strategies and Spread Strategies. Though spread strategies are a form of combination strategy, many types of spread are available of which vertical (bear and bull) and ratio spreads are traded actively. The most popular strategy, however, remains the straddle. Strangle also comes under the heavily traded strategy. The book throws light on Covered call – the single option strategy and Strangles and Straddles – the combination and the Spreads – Butterfly, Ratio, Calendar and Box Strategies. It also talks about estimating risk using Greeks.
437 81-314-1179-0 Financial Inclusion: Concepts and Strategies www.nbcindia.com Finance Sujatha B 21-Nov-07 316 19 475 0 0 “Tackling financial exclusion, spreading financial capability and helping to set more low income earners on the path towards a regular saving habit is essential for both our economic prosperity and for social justice. It is good both for individuals and for society and the economy as a whole.” - Ed Balls MP, Economic Secretary to the HM Treasury Financial inclusion is a process of providing access to formal financial services to the bottom of the pyramid and improving their standard of living. Taking banking services to the common man increases their saving capacity and leads to overall economic growth. According to V P Shetty, CMD, IDBI, “The ABC of Financial Inclusion is Advice, Banking and Credit.” Hence, apart from providing banking access and credit facility, it is necessary to provide financial literacy and advice to the poor for efficient management of finance. In India, majority of the population are outside the formal financial system. Bold initiatives are being taken to bring the poor into the financial mainstream. The book gives an overview of the financial services coverage in the Indian context, and analyzes the constraints that exclude certain sections of the population from full participation in the financial sector. It highlights various strategies, policy initiatives and the efforts of the regulators and authorities to improve access to affordable financial services by leveraging technology, promoting financial literacy and generating awareness. It draws comparisons with the international scenario, identifies the main challenges and presents constructive measures for banks to achieve inclusive banking.
438 81-314-1193-6 Geographic Information System: Management and Technology Perspectives www.nbcindia.com General Books Joshi Rajul Gajendra Sarita Seshagiri 21-Nov-07 252 17 425 0 0 The ingenuity of mankind lies in integrating science and technology. One offspring of the human ingenuity is GIS, where geography, technology, management science and information come to play for commercial purpose. Geographic Information System is a computer-based mapping and analysis tool that captures spatial data and enables its storage, retrieval, manipulation and analysis. It is a tool that draws heavily on geography to represent the real world in the form of a computerized model. GIS gives access to intelligent information by linking location to the inputs. For example, it can locate people from addresses or street numbers from a network. Geographical Information System is a small but significant stride in the knowledge economy, where information is the lifeline. This information revolution is mutely changing the tricks of economic, socio-cultural and political scene. To keep pace with this revolution individuals and the organizations need to be competitive and responsive. Information access bestows greater power to both organization and individual to sustain this information revolution. This book on GIS is divided in to three sections. The first section “Introduction and Management Perspective” introduces the concept of GIS. The second section “GIS Technology Perspective” provides the technological dimension of GIS, various models and architecture. The Business Applications of GIS is discussed in the third section of the book.
439 81-314-1201-0 Effective Recruitment – The Emerging Scenario www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sangeetha K 21-Nov-07 256 17 425 0 0 The changing paradigms of business scenario, employment patterns and war for talent have changed the way employees are recruited. Recruitment has acquired a significant stature as an art to be mastered, as it affects the company’s profit and success in the marketplace. This calls for continuous improvement of the recruitment process for greater effectiveness and ROI, which makes HR gain strategic significance in an organization. An effective recruitment program has standard hiring techniques that comprise a set of tests and evaluations for selecting and hiring the right candidate for the job. A recruitment program that is designed, based on the job type and the skills required for the job, enables the recruiters to quickly identify and hire the fit candidate from the available talent pool. Such a well-designed recruitment program provides hard data on applicants’ work styles, talents, personal traits, uniqueness and experience. This ensures a good ROI and profits for the company through high employee engagement and workforce performance. Hiring candidates who are misfits for the job and work culture results in ineptness, increased employee turnover and difficulty in accomplishing the organization’s strategic goals and objectives. Such costly recruiting mistakes can be avoided in the first place through an effective recruitment practice. An effective recruitment process engenders prolific hires for a company and creates good human capital profitability that makes the company winning and enduring and emerging as ‘employer of choice’ in the marketplace. In a nutshell, effective recruitment results in developing an engaged and committed workforce whose talent and supremacy lead to competitive advantage in the successful running of an organization.
440 81-314-1170-7 Wetland Conservation and Ecotourism: South Asian Perspective www.nbcindia.com General Books Debamitra Mitra 21-Nov-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 Around the world, in different countries, wetlands are common areas of significant biological and economic importance as they are the homeland of a variety of flora and fauna. It is the basis of livelihood for various sections of population, particularly for the subsistence sector. On the other hand, throughout the world, wetland provides recreational benefits to the travellers who want to enjoy nature. Hence, wetlands with huge biological diversity promote tourism. But the overexploitation of natural resources due to excessive economic activities has endangered wetlands. As a consequence, ecotourism in the modern world has become a strategy of conservation to protect wetlands from extinction. The book is a comprehensive study of the correlation between wetlands, biodiversity and conservation. About forty wetlands in South Asia are identified as Ramsar sites that need to be conserved for the economic development of the region. Ecotourism or sustainable tourism is a strategy for conserving the wetlands and protecting the biodiversity of the region. Wetland based ecotourism in South Asia will promote a link between the people and nature, make the users understand and conserve the wetland resources that are important for tourism and add conservational values to the wetlands. The book also discusses how potential ecotourism in different countries of South Asia is being promoted not only to conserve and manage wetlands but also to enhance the socio-economic development of the local communities and hence of the entire region.
441 81-314-1214-2 RFID: Changing the Face of Supply Chain Management www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Suhas Rane 21-Nov-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) is a promising technology of recent years and evolving as a major enabler for tracing and tracking of goods and assets around the world. Success of pilot projects and roll-outs in global organizations like Wal-Mart and METRO have raised great expectations for improving supply chain efficiency across various industries. This technology has received fair media coverage in the advanced world and wide business research has been carried out there. However, in developing economies like India, many are still unfamiliar with the technology details as well as the potential benefits it offers. Sensing this need of clear and comprehensive information on RFID, this book tries to reveal the opportunities opened by this revolutionary technology to anyone and everyone engaged in production, movement or sale of goods. It is equally relevant for organizations wishing to trace & track the movements of their materials and even processes. On the other hand, while adopting such disruptive and expensive technology, one needs to first understand and overcome the host of challenges and such other related issues to avoid frustration later. Thus, this book is of great value for the organizations which are considering adoption of RFID technology and more so for those who are on a constant look-out for a competitive advantage in their arena. In short, the book should serve as a guide to business managers for proactive deployment of RFID in their respective businesses.
442 81-314-0884-1 Creating Brand Personality for Success www.nbcindia.com Marketing Kalai Selvan N Dhandapani Alagiri 21-Nov-07 236 16 400 0 0 Today marketers spend a huge amount of money in creating brand personality in order to build a strong brand in the market. In the competitive scenario, brand personalities enable the consumers to differentiate between brands. Hence, every form of appearance of brand influences the customer to attribute to the brand personality. Celebrity endorsements, presentation of advertisements, messages etc., encourage the customer’s awareness of the brand and help him in judging the value of the brand personality. Brand personality plays a very important role in the process of decision making and influences the customers to buy the product. It gives a competitive edge to the brand and enables the brand to establish an identity of its own in the marketplace. Researchers argue that competitors can match the price, product features and functional aspects of a product but they cannot match its brand personality. This is how the brand personality becomes the competitive advantage for the marketer. Brand personality can be created in direct and indirect ways. The direct way of creating brand personality is by matching the set of human characteristics associated with a typical brand-user with the help of 1) Celebrity endorsements 2) CEO of the company and 3) Employees. The indirect way of creating brand personality is through product related attributes, that include the brand name, visual communications of the brand like logos and symbols, communication, style, price, place and promotions.
443 81-314-1211-8 Case Studies on MNCs in China – Vol I www.nbcindia.com Economy Nagendra Chowdary V 21-Nov-07 192 0 50 1250 If MNCs have to thank someone for unleashing huge potential for their businesses, it would definitely be Deng Xiaoping. What China today is definitely was not the China that world knew in 1970s. Deng s policies had immense impact abroad. “It is time to prosper. China has been poor a thousand years,” he said. But his exhortation – “to get rich is glorious” – did more than just unleash economic drive. It overturned the millennia of ordinary Chinese setting aside their personal welfare for the emperor or the state. China succeeded in moving from a Maoist command economy to a market economy. It introduced market reforms in the early 1980s. These reforms included increasingly decreasing role of government, opening up many sectors through liberalisation and globalisation, relaxing market entry norms for MNCs, etc. And these reforms meant a huge business opportunity for all the companies across the world and more so for MNCs grappled with growth dilemmas. Suddenly, China started featuring in company agendas. It became an important investment destination. Every MNC wanted to be there for the party. Many reciprocated to the red carpet welcome awaiting them. First mover advantage was thought to be an unassailable advantage. However, initial success was hard to come by. They realised they are fishing in troubled waters. Some learnt from their mistakes while many burnt their coffers. Experience Curve? Learning Curve? One sure way of minimising mistakes is to learn from others’ mistakes. All the available evidence (captured through case studies featured in this book) highlights how difficult it is to navigate (negotiate!) in one of most enterprising and evolving markets in the world. Not because these companies lack capabilities but because of the ever-changing customers’ demands and complex business terrain. These crisp case studies underscore either what to do or what not to do while conducting business in China. It’s not business as usual!
444 81-314-1220-7 Case Studies on Turnaround Strategy www.nbcindia.com General Management Kumar Satyaki Ray Arindam Mukherjee 21-Nov-07 164 0 35 875 The book has effectively presented a string of cases which have put the turnaround strategy adopted by global companies under a searchlight. Organizational decline and turnaround management have emerged as important business management issues addressed and discussed all over the world. The companies often hit the pits of performance and growth and need to devise strategies that would effectively bail them out of that situation. In their attempt to emerge from a precarious situation, companies have adopted several measures. The book optimally covers a few of such turnaround strategies namely- Change in existing corporate strategy, Retrenchment of assets and people, Upgrading technology, Financial restructuring and Organizational change, through some exemplary case studies. The debacle that many companies have faced in their business proposition and procedure has often led to a growth trap and unprecedented loss for them; it is, then, that the management of such companies has embarked on sharp strategies for making a come back and turning around to retrace the growth path. It may happen that, in order to get excessive growth, organizations adopt a series of unrelated diversifications which, in turn, dilute their core business. They unknowingly fall back on business strategies that backfire and create financial and organizational distress. The book takes account of such a situation in some companies and how they have risen from the debris to get back on the racing track of sound financial health and growth. The case studies in this book also take stock of the pros and cons of the strategies that were embraced as turnaround measures by the companies, they showcase the sustainability of such strategies and their all round effectiveness. Thus the book stands out as good reading for future managers and strategists.
445 81-314-0893-0 Biofuels in India: A New Revolution www.nbcindia.com Environ.Economics Saravanan I B Naveen Kumar E 17-Nov-07 416 23 575 0 0 India ranks sixth in the world in terms of energy demand, and is consuming 130 million tonnes of crude oil every year. It imports 70% of its needs. As the crude oil prices increase, the oil import bill has worsened the country’s trade deficit. The continuous increase in the price of crude oil, together with the uncertainty of future price trends and the limited crude oil production, has made India consider biofuel as an alternative path. In the current scenario, indigenously produced bio-fuel in the form of ethanol & biodiesel assumes specific significance and is considered to be a better option to substitute petrol and diesel. The book attempts to present to the reader a total picture on biofuel in India, their production and distribution costs in comparison with the fossil fuel in India, current status and the desired goal to be achieved (which is at least 5 – 10% blending). Benefits accruable to India on carbon credit structure due to biofuel’s lesser GHG emissions are also covered. Various alternatives for established non-edible oil plants like Jatropha curcas are also discussed. It covers the Indian Government policies on promoting biofuel, issues and challenges for biofuel mass production in India. The book also discusses India s possible learning opportunities from the success stories of countries such as Brazil and the US.
446 81-314-1190-1 Capital Markets in the BRIC Economies www.nbcindia.com Finance Arindam Banerjee 17-Nov-07 408 23 575 0 0 The Story of the BRIC nations, comprising Brazil, Russia, India and China is not simply about the successful growth of the developing economies; rather, the special characteristic of these economies is the way they have the scale and the scope to challenge the major economies of the world. One of the promising features of any economy is its growing capital market, that facilitates its overall economic growth and the BRIC nations are no exception to this. The BRIC countries have played an important part in the global financial developments in the form of consistent capital flows and the stock markets have been instrumental in this regard. With the combined market capitalization close to around 4% of the global total, the stock markets in these countries need to be looked at with greater emphasis. This book takes a closer look at the growth of the BRIC nations with focus on its capital markets. The book should be of great interest to all strategy –oriented investors in India and abroad, analysts, students of financial management, B Schools, various industries and companies looking for a direction towards investment opportunities, as well as general readers, who would find the contemporary cases of capital markets in the BRIC economies both interesting and informative.
447 81-314-1260-6 Biodiversity for Sustainable Development www.nbcindia.com Environment Azmal Hussain 17-Nov-07 356 21 525 0 0 Biodiversity essentially refers to all aspects of variability evident in the living world, including diversity within and between individuals, populations, species, communities and ecosystems. Biodiversity trends are mainly assessed in terms of declining populations and species, either individually or collectively, when manifest of loss of habitants or reduction in the area of ecosystems. The challenges to biodiversity have been explicit from different facts and figures suggesting that many species are no longer found throughout their former ranges, and may only occur in reduced numbers. Many high value fish have shown considerable decline mainly owing to overexploitation. Conservation and management of biodiversity is a priority concern in environmental as well as development policies worldwide. This is due to the increasingly growing need for maintaining ecological balance throughout the globe coupled with the prospects of return from the global biodiversity reserve. Besides, human exploitation beyond a concerning limit may pose challenges to the global wealth of biodiversity every now and then. Against this backdrop, the book attempts to capture some of the issues pertaining to biodiversity conservation and management. The book also highlights the existing and potential role of society, including different institutional arrangements in the context of conservation and management of biodiversity. The book emphasizes on these aspects through various country experiences.
448 81-314-0880-9 Corruption: The Causes and Combating Strategies www.nbcindia.com Economy Rahul Gupta Santap Sanhari Mishra 17-Nov-07 332 20 500 0 0 In modern welfare states, the aim of the Government is to provide good governance. But, corruption on the part of policymakers and government officials is a great hindrance in achieving good governance. In fact, corruption reigns supreme everywhere, including private sector. This hydra-headed concept has brought irreparable damage to both society and economy of a majority of nations, and is now threatening to engulf the world completely. It is true that corruption is ubiquitous, but that should not be an excuse for indulging in corrupt practices. Corruption has put the governance of countries in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) – paralyzed in almost every front. It has caused moral degradation of the people, and as a result austerity and frugality of the previous years have now been transferred into ostentation and flamboyance. On the economic front, corruption is quite visible in the form of bribe in investment proposals, tax evasion, greasing the palm in petty business transactions etc, resulting in zero development or underdevelopment. Under such circumstances, can something be not done to counteract this malady, which has become a menace for economic development? The remedies to this malady definitely exist. Beginning with an attitudinal reform, a whole-hearted approach is required to combat corruption. This book is an attempt to illustrate the combating strategies to fight corruption, in addition to its causes and consequences.
449 81-314-0861-2 Google s Growth: A Success Story www.nbcindia.com Business Strategy Sangeetha K Sivarajadhanavel P 17-Nov-07 292 18 450 0 0 Google Inc., a popular search engine, has transformed itself over the years from a search engine company into a media firm – providing advertising and special services to searchers and business participants who seek online visibility. Its innovative business solutions and revenue generation model have made Google’s business and its growth strategy a great success in terms of increased profit, popularity and market share. It has used information technology and computing application concepts strategically for the success of its search engine. Its products and services have led Google to the forefront in search technology and in providing business solutions to its participants. The products and technological innovations have enabled Google to reach the top and to be the leader in the search engine and technology market. Google success in the market is a direct upshot of its diversity across geographic regions, industry verticals and advertiser/partner segments of any size and type. Though controversies might exist with regard to various challenges faced by it, Google is still unique in its operation and innovation so much so that its competitors are unable to match its effectiveness and efficiency. This book is designed to highlight the growth and success of Google revolutionary transformation from a small search engine business to a big corporate. It discusses the technical innovations, business models and strategies adopted by the company that have led to its being in the forefront in search engine and online business, thus revolutionizing online marketing.
450 81-314-1206-1 The Rise of Indian MNCs: Insights and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Globalization Prasad B V S Puratchimani R 17-Nov-07 288 18 450 0 0 Indian MNCs are a reality today. From nowhere Indian companies have emerged to become multinationals in a short span of time. Protectionism followed by India earlier, also helped protect domestic industries from competition, but on the other hand, it slowed down the emergence of large corporates. The liberalization and globalization since the 1990s have propelled the growth of Indian companies to unimaginable levels. Today, many of them have emerged as a force to reckon with in the international business arena, apart from becoming MNCs. Indian MNCs are not limited to any one or two sectors. We can find them in almost all sectors. Six Indian companies have entered the elite list of Fortune 500 and 21 Indian companies are identified as capable of challenging the rules of the game in the coming years by BCG. And this is just the beginning. Indian MNCs are establishing their presence in many more countries. Their growth and strategies are going to be cases for discussion and debate all over the world by management gurus, academicians and corporate leaders in time to come. This book is a harbinger of this welcome trend. “The Rise of Indian MNCs” traces the history of our MNCs, identifies their strategies and highlights the challenges and experiences faced in emerging as Indian MNCs.
451 81-314-1196-0 Performance Management and Culture: Implications and Insights www.nbcindia.com General Books Sethi Dipti Gagan 17-Nov-07 264 17 425 0 0 Performance is an indicator of an organization’s wellness and ability to sustain. Transition has taken place in the indicator ‘Performance’. Previously, it was technical but, now it has become the central tool which binds all the technical and non-technical features of an organization. Researchers in the field of HR have explored a new dimension i.e. of integrating the culture of an organization and performance. Performance Management and Culture means, “a culture of an organization which is proactive in its action, blocks and weeds out actions and behaviors which cause barriers and destruction and encourages and reinforces those actions and behaviors which are positive, constructive and rewards the same. This will enable the employees to be committed to and engaged in their work and contribution to the organization. The organization is disciplined in its action, but, at the same time, it is flexible and liberal in its functioning”. This book focuses on the need for Performance Management and Culture, its building blocks and the complementary aspects. The book is divided into four sections; Section I: The Need of the Hour, Section II: The Building Blocks, Section III: The Complementary Aspects and Section IV: Cases. Section I comprises five articles which focus on introduction to Performance Management and Culture, the way to create such culture, transition in the role of HR and the role of culture and leadership. Section II, consists of eight articles which discuss High Performance Work System, High Performance Work Practices, Integrated Performance Management, Mentoring, Coaching and talent management. Section III, has four articles, which focus on trust, values, commitment and engagement towards work and organizational spirituality. The last section has case studies on Indian Fertilizers, NASA, ONGC, LIC and United Parcel Service.
452 81-314-1160-X Japanese Management Practices: Learnings and Insights www.nbcindia.com Strategic Management Simantee Sen Ravikant S Wawge 17-Nov-07 260 17 425 0 0 In less than 40 years after the war, Japan has literally risen from the ashes of defeat, to world prominence in many areas of technology and business. This astonishing success has challenged observers to analyze Japan’s growth. Post-World War II, a set of Japanese cultural and management practices came to be collectively known as the Japanese management style (JMS). Many of these techniques are credited to have helped the Japanese economy rise to its current status of being a global powerhouse. In addition, these techniques have helped Japanese businesses, particularly in the manufacturing sector, to be more competitive than their international counter-parts Rooted in these and other historical traditions, some of the other key practices commonly associated with Japanese management techniques include: · extensive use of quality control methods · carefully codified work standards · emphasis on creating harmonious relations among workers · lifetime employment and seniority-based compensation · time management · cost control with quality improvement The Japanese combined their greater cost-effectiveness with a sustained drive, to achieve the largest possible market penetration, founded on high levels of investment, innovation, and downright ingenuity. Concepts like Kaizen, 5s, JIT, Kanban, Lean, Error-proofing, etc. were Japan’s gifts to the world. These applications can be broadly classified under the following three popular aspects of Japanese management theories: -Production and operation -Innovation -Quality Attempts have been made to identify the elements of the Japanese management method, in the hope that other companies worldwide could apply the elements and reap similar benefits. This book attempts at gathering basic learnings from Japanese management practices and checking their viability in world management today. It primarily serves as a guideline for good management practices.
453 81-314-0855-8 Asset Liability Management in Banks: Emerging Challenges www.nbcindia.com Banking Ajay Pathak Ghosal S N 17-Nov-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 The core business of banks is maturity transformation and balancing maturity periods of deposits and loans. In fact, liquidity risk is primarily to be taken care of in this process. ALM has become a key driver for profit for banks. ALM models so far developed and practiced are: a) GAP analysis; b) Duration Gap analysis; c) Scenario analysis; d) VaR model; and e) Stochastic programming. The efficacy of the system has also been tested by multivariate statistical technique and canonical correlation. The book has highlighted the existence of strong correlation between fixed assets and net worth in all groups of banks in India. It has also discussed the challenges faced by Indian banks in liquidity management. The experiences over the years have revealed that alternative risk management approaches are in vogue, as many banks hold long-term assets and short-term liabilities. In such cases, banks could choose between a) hedging their risks and accepting the fact that the hedge results will offer earnings for periods in which income will not occur or b) not hedging these risks and bearing the otherwise avoidable associated market exposures. The scope and objective of the book is to bring out the concept and methodology of ALM as practiced by Indian and overseas banks and to highlight various alternatives and practices adopted by foreign banks.
454 81-314-1161-8 Brain Drain – Challenges and Opportunities www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Ramani V V 17-Nov-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 Brain drain may be defined as the flight of intellectual capital from developing countries to other nations or jurisdictions due to conflicts, lack of opportunity or health hazards. It is brain drain when individuals who study abroad and complete their education do not return to their home country, or when those educated in their home country migrate in search of better opportunities. This phenomenon is perhaps most problematic for developing nations, where it is widespread. In these countries, higher education and professional certification are often viewed as the surest path to escape a troubled economy or difficult political situation. For developing countries, one of the more important demographic shifts is the return of skilled workers and researchers newly coined it as the reverse brain drain. In India, for instance, this development is helping fuel a boom in research and development. India’s emergence as a major contender in the world’s software market has forced companies to set up shop or ramp up operations in India. This book attempts to present the readers with the concept and various aspects of ‘brain drain’ and its reverse flow, the factors responsible for the transfer of human and intellectual capital between economies besides giving useful insights about the experiences of India, China, Australia, Europe and the US. The objective is to analyse the characteristics of the sending nation that “push” the skilled persons to the receiving nation, which is characterized by attractive “pull” features. An assessment of such factors would help the policymakers attend to these issues so as to minimize the process of ‘brain drain’. This book also emphasizes on the fact that improvement in socio-economic conditions and providing infrastructure facilities for research and development in developing countries will help retain talent and lure back its skilled persons working overseas, who are well-equipped with managerial skills and improved technological know-how so as to help fuel economic growth in their home country. The book will be useful to policymakers and bureaucrats.
455 81-314-1200-2 Habitual Entrepreneurship – Experiences and Cases www.nbcindia.com Management Anitha Arunsimha 17-Nov-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 The image that scholars hold about entrepreneurs and the process of entrepreneurship is slowly changing. From a rather simplistic view in which entrepreneurship was viewed as a “one time event”, there is now an increased recognition of a breed of entrepreneurs, who repeatedly set-up/acquire and exit several businesses in a relatively short span of time. Entrepreneurship is no longer a single and one-time only event. These “habitual entrepreneurs” (Flores-Romero, 2004) are a class apart – marked by amazing risk taking capacity, a stirring desire to create new companies and an uncanny ability to quickly pull together the elements of a successful start-up. William A Sahlman, a Harvard business school professor, who tracks the adventures of these repeat entrepreneurs, opines, “It s a rare, rare person who has the ability to do two things successfully… Typically venture capitalists score big about 15% of the time. While the success rate for repeaters might be double that.” This book “Habitual Entrepreneurship” seeks to explore the fascinating dynamics of the mind, mettle and method of habitual entrepreneurs (including its subsets, serial and portfolio entrepreneurs). The book defines the types of entrepreneurial talent with respect to the nature, processes and attributes of habitual entrepreneurs. The book highlights qualities such as compulsion “to start’, ‘to build” and “sell” successful businesses. This book features a few serial and portfolio entrepreneurs who have heard a ‘Bugle call’ that not all of us can hear. New business formation, dynamics of entrepreneurial teams and experiences of habitual entrepreneurs across the world depicted in this book provides a comprehensive study of habitual entrepreneurs.
456 81-314-1187-1 Child Health: Issues and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Social Dalia Dey 17-Nov-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 Children’s healthy growth and development are the foundation of cognitive and social development, healthy adolescence and adult life. Recently, a study ‘The Global Burden of Disease Study’ has been conducted to produce a useful evidence-based approach to public health policy formulation with children and adolescents. As a result of globalization, there has been a rapid increase in urbanization and industrialization across the globe. Another significant development is the distribution of money income thresholds that vary by family size and composition to establish the official measure of poverty. Growth in poverty , as a matter of fact, has induced issues like child labor, unhealthy living conditions for children residing in slums, environmental pollution and hence, health hazards for children who happen to be the most vulnerable. This book is an attempt to analyze the issues related to the global health concerns, which, in turn, affects the overall development of an individual. The first section of the book contains articles which emphasize how urbanization is going to affect a child’s health. There are also articles which talk about the health concerns of a child during political emergencies like armed conflict, social emergencies like displacement etc. The book even covers the present area of interest like child obesity. The second section of the book brings into limelight some efforts made to eradicate the hazardous effects on child health in countries like – India, Bangladesh (even in the whole of South Asia), Brazil, Peru, United Republic of Tanzania etc.
457 81-314-1165-0 Social Capital: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com General Books Rashmi Sharma 17-Nov-07 228 16 400 0 0 The recent decade has been increasingly using of the concept of “social capital” in social, political, economic, organizational and management literatures. The wide spread interest in the application of the concept could suggest the theoretical importance of social capital. It offers a path to bridge sociological and economic perspectives and to provide richer and better explanations of economic development. The way the nature and extent of social interactions among communities and institutions shape economic performance, is a perfect implication as well as development of it. Understanding the role of outside agencies in alleviating poverty among diversified poor communities is always a challenge to development. A social capital perspective emphasizes that technical and financial aspects are necessary but these are insufficient conditions for poor communities to accept the project. However, the importance of social relations provides opportunities to activate other resources, which are helpful to growth and development. The nature and extent of the interactions between communities and institutions hold the key to understand the scenario of development in a given society. This book discusses and elaborates the concept of social capital and generates an awareness of the issue. In this process, it also emphasizes the process of how social capital gets generated and measured in given social conditions. The book further discusses the applications of the study to many social issues including poverty, migration, economic development etc. Country specific studies on social capital are also discussed.
458 81-314-1171-5 The Icfai University Press on Telecommunications in India: Emerging Scenario www.nbcindia.com Industry Dhandapani Alagiri 17-Nov-07 232 16 400 0 0 Telecommunication forms an important base infrastructure for modern economies and has become an integral part of various activities of such economies. Telecommunication plays an important role in developing the economic order by eliminating the distance and the associated time constraint. The Indian telecom sector is growing at a great pace. The sector has become one of the fastest growing telecom markets in the world (mobile phone connections in India are growing at the rate of six million per month, or 72 million per year). With the telecom towers coming up in the rural areas and extension of telecommunications into the rural hinterland, the number of mobile connections is expected to increase tremendously. The rapid expansion of the telecom network even in the semi-urban and rural areas has done a lot of good for the country and its economy. For example, several new initiatives in bringing information and developments that are useful to the farming community are possible by rural tele-connectivity. Telecom reach also makes e-governance possible. The increasing tele-density has changed the lifestyles across the country and has been a positive factor in sustaining the economic growth in the country. In this context, this book, IUP on Telecommunications in India: Emerging Scenario, will make useful reading capturing the current perspective of the telecom sector and the new trends in telecommunication in India. The book presents a series of well-written articles that bring out the essence of the happenings in the sector.
459 81-314-1167-7 Semantic Web – Concepts and Applications www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Ravi Kumar Jain B 17-Nov-07 228 16 400 0 0 Today, the Internet has evolved into a dynamic information warehouse, housing variety of data in diverse data formats. Each data element on the web has a meaning and context attached to it that defines its semantics. The users on Internet need the searched data to be compiled at a faster pace also taking into consideration the relevance of the data. Today, the most advanced search engines facilitate retrieving data from the web on the basis of matching and ranking but not on the basis of semantics of the search elements. This limitation of search engines is not due to limitation of search technologies, but due to the very nature of the web. Most of the Web’s contents today are designed for humans to read, not for computer programs to manipulate meaningfully. Computers can adeptly parse Web pages for layout and routine processing—here a header, there a link to another page. A new technology in which computers become capable of analyzing all the data on the Web – the content, links, and transactions- is emerging. This will create an environment, where software agents on the web can readily carry out sophisticated tasks for users, based on the semantics of the data elements present on the web pages. This changes the very nature of the web from non-semantic to semantic. The Semantic Web brings to the Web, the idea of having data defined and linked in a way that it can be used for more effective discovery, automation, integration, and reuse across various applications. This book dwells on the concept, evolution, and some of the issues associated with semantic web.
460 81-314-1175-8 Engineering Services Outsourcing: Emerging Trends www.nbcindia.com BPO/Outsourcing Rajmanohar T P Balaji V 17-Nov-07 224 15.5 400 0 0 Offshoring of Engineering Services Outsourcing (ESO) has seen rapid growth in the last five years even as it began around ten years ago. One of the reasons for the outsourcing of engineering services has been the heavy expenditure on R&D by developed countries. However, the manpower involved in doing R&D has not increased in those countries. In addition, customers are demanding new products very fast. Some of the products manufactured by developed countries are exported to developing countries. But these products have to be customized to suit each country. Hence, many global companies would like to outsource their engineering services to developing countries. Some of the developing countries, especially China and India, have engineers with the necessary domain knowledge and expertise. Hence, R&D centers have been established in these countries. In future, more R&D centers and design centers are expected to be established in these two countries. The current outsourced (offshore) engineering services are valued at US$15 billion. It is expected that by 2020 the value will reach US$250 billion. Against this background, this book explores various aspects of offshore engineering services. It introduces the reader to the concept of engineering services outsourcing, the issues and trends and experiences of various companies. The book will be useful to students, engineers, design houses, IT companies, automotive and aerospace companies.
461 81-314-0883-3 International Monetary Fund – Changing Role www.nbcindia.com Finance Pramod Rao Simantee Sen 17-Nov-07 216 15.5 400 0 0 When the International Monetary Fund was originally formed, its purpose was to promote international monetary cooperation through a permanent institution, to facilitate and to contribute thereby to the promotion and maintenance of high levels of employment and real income and to promote exchange stability. In the last decade, there had been much debate about the role of the IMF in the changing global economic scenario. Like any other financing institution, IMF too depends on the interest payments from its customers to run its operations. But its biggest customers have now become self-sufficient. For instance, Brazil and Argentina both have repaid their debts in advance. The volume of loans has been falling over the years and it seems increasingly unlikely that the developing countries will seek the Fund’s help in the near future. In addition, many of the developing countries have started building their own reserves. To add to the IMF’s woes, countries have set up several regional organizations like G7, ASEAN, SAARC, etc. limiting the Fund’s role as a mediator for bilateral discussions between less important countries. On the other hand, private capital flows have gained momentum and countries are increasingly seeking this route to raise funds when in need, rather than come under the Fund’s stern supervision. Amidst all these developments, the Fund’s future had become obscure. The theme of this book is to detail how the IMF redefined and reinstated its legitimacy in the global economics.
462 81-314-0885-X Biometrics – Issues and Applications www.nbcindia.com General Pramod Rao Sameer A Zodgekar 17-Nov-07 216 15.5 400 0 0 Something you have – A key or a token; something you know ? A password or a PIN; and something you are – Biometric.Biometrics is a method of identification and verification based on individual physical traits. Thus, one’s fingerprints, one’s face, one’s iris can all be biometric identifiers. Why Biometrics? Because, unlike a key or a token, a biometric identifier cannot be stolen or lost; it remains with an individual. Unlike a password or a PIN, it cannot be forgotten or hacked. It is an integral part of one’s biological make-up.Awareness and interest in biometric technologies increased after 9/11. Western countries were quick to enact legislation and install biometric systems at national borders and other sensitive areas. This frenzy in biometric installations made some individuals and groups uneasy. They were concerned about violation of privacy and possible misuse of biometrics. Besides applications in purely national security, biometric technologies are being used in other areas, too; for example, in payment systems and ATMs. The financial sector is embracing biometric technology enthusiastically. In India, the leading national and foreign banks are experimenting with biometric ATMs. The first section of this book describes the basics of biometric technology. It covers various technologies and then discusses the challenges in large-scale implementation of biometric identification techniques. The second section describes the applications of technology in such diverse fields as border security, passport, airport security, law enforcement, banks, payment system and ATMs. Because of the growing concerns over security and the promise biometric technology holds, it will soon become all pervasive.
463 81-314-1163-4 Women in Advertising: Changing Perceptions www.nbcindia.com Advertising Jyotsna Jha Divya Nigam 17-Nov-07 204 15 375 0 0 Advertising s portrayal of gender roles is a representation of the long-existing unequal relationship of dominance and subservience between the two sexes. Women have been exploited by advertisers for decades. They have frequently been stereotyped in the traditional roles of homemaker, or have been projected as the ‘visual prop’ to enhance the appeal of an advertisement. However, since the early 2000s, the frequency and the number of such demeaning and exploitative advertisements in the print and the electronic media have reduced. With the growing concept of women’s liberation and the recognition of women s individualism by society, the advertising industry has felt the need to finally come to terms with its social responsibilities and portray a more realistic picture of women. As a result, we now see the emergence of the liberated woman – economically independent, in control of her life, and self-involved, a welcome change from being merely a source of attending to man s creature comforts. The scope and objective of the book is to provide a comparative study of the traditional portrayal of women and men in advertising, and bring out new trends in gender equations as reflected by the advertising industry. It is also an attempt to analyze the impact of advertising on society and the role played by media and advertising in social conditioning.
464 978-81-314-2049-2 Special Economic Zones – Revisiting the policies www.nbcindia.com Economy Sanjeev Kumar Singh 17-Nov-07 208 15 375 0 0 The book examines the concept and evolution of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), overviews the international experiences with SEZ experiment and critically evaluates the performance of the Chinese experiment of SEZs to provide insights into their potential for promoting industrial and economic development in India. SEZs lead to a marked development of human skills, infrastructural developments and FDI inflow, provided it is backed by a strong policy framework that stimulates innovation and training. A view of the social, economic and political dimensions of SEZs also make it imperative to look at the most important components of the economy – farmers and workers. The Chinese experience of SEZs has been colored with diverse opinions, and is this the economic model that Indian policymakers want to emulate? How bright will the Indian SEZ picture look under private ownership? The struggle of ‘growth’ versus ‘displacement’ makes SEZs so explosive that they have become the flashpoints in a conflict with ripple effects of wider socio-political issues. There has been an alarming ‘proliferation’ of SEZs without any ‘humane displacement policy’ and welfare measures. We certainly have to look for ways to make the SEZs more meaningful and acceptable to society. The book focuses on various dimensions of SEZs to provide the readers with an in-depth understanding of SEZs in the form of well-written articles by experts in a synchronized format. The book will cater to the needs of SEZ developers and industrialists, policy planners, economists and management practitioners.
465 81-314-1157-X Contemporary Perspectives – Leadership www.nbcindia.com Management Kumar K B S 17-Nov-07 208 15 375 0 0 There are lakhs of articles, thousands of books, hundreds of speakers and institutions that advocate leadership exclusively. Yet, leadership remains as virgin a domain as it was during the greatman theory’s emergence. Warren Bennis, Jim Collins, Robert Greenleaf, Peter Drucker, Stephen Covey, John Kotter and the list goes on and on. The practising and the aspiring leaders owe a lot to those thought leaders on leadership who, upon carrying out extensive surveys on various aspects of leadership, have given a definite shape to the domain of leadership. The literature that those thought leaders had generated in the form of papers, articles, interviews, and books are invaluable in nature and are catering to the practising leaders with the required principles, strategies and experiences. Leadership books have been the medium of propagating the ground breaking thoughts like Level five leadership by Jim Collins, Servant leadership by Robert Green leaf etc., which have been duly implemented in several organizations resulting in the tremendous success of the companies, the leaders, the led. Considering the role that the books play in the life of a leader/manager, this book presents a compendium of reviews of the best selling books in the domain of leadership that offers the gist of the best sellers, as well as a choice to the reader to procure the books as per his requirement.
466 81-314-0193-6 Cases on Marketing Strategy – Vol.II www.nbcindia.com Marketing Vedpuriswar A V 17-Nov-07 324 0 35 875 Marketing strategy is all about leveraging the marketing mix to give customers an unique value proposition. Different elements of marketing, product, price, distribution and promotion have to be managed in an integrated way to ensure that customers can be attracted and retained. This book of cases, aimed at illustrating marketing in action, features case studies on well known Indian and global companies including Nike, Harley Davidson, McDonald’s, Coca-Cola, Amul, Gillette, LVMH, L’Oreal, Starbucks, Samsung, LG, Benetton and Cipla. Among the various facets of marketing illustrated in these case studies are: pricing brand management, brand repositioning, new product development, global branding, advertising, challenges faced by MNCs operating in India, social marketing and celebrity branding. This book, which is unique in its choice of themes and companies, will be found useful by both academics and practitioners.
467 81-314-1188-X Mergers and Acquisitions in Service Sector: Changing Global Scenario www.nbcindia.com Mergers & Acquisitions Ramani V V Mrudula E 13-Nov-07 336 20 500 0 0 The services sector constitutes a large part of an economy both in terms of employment potential and its contribution to national income. The sector covers a wide array of activities like financial services, hospitality services, outsourcing services, advisory services, communication services, information technology and educational services. Globalised economy, accessibility to information, efficient markets have all intensified competition leading to an intense price competition. Businesses across the world slowly but steadily seem to be realising that strategic alliances are quite a feasible solution to consolidate the overall operations especially in terms of economies of scale, technological developments and acquire new information technologies to counter competition. In spite of slow down in the M&A activity following the economic downturn and as many as 70% of mergers and acquisitions failing to create value for shareholders, it continues to be an engine for growth and value. This book focuses on various issues like factors influencing mergers and acquisitions in service sector, means of achieving the strategic objectives through mergers and acquisitions, competitive advantages gained by both the parties, impact on the share holders, impact on the employees, change in the corporate governance, etc. It also captures experiences of countries like china, the US, Europe and India. It is hoped that this book would make a significant impact in the area of mergers and acquisitions, as the main focus is on the services sector mergers and various challenges involved as well as learning experiences which would make it an interesting reading for the professionals, consultants, academicians, research scholars and students.
468 81-314-1174-X Capital Market In India : Revitalising The Economy www.nbcindia.com Economy Asis Kumar Pain 13-Nov-07 308 19 475 0 0 The recent policies of liberalization and globalization have paved the way for growth of every country, particularly for the market economies and also for the developing ones. In fact, countries like India have responded well, which is clearly visible through the significant growth of Indian economy. In this global scenario, financial market, particularly capital market plays a vital role, more so, for the Indian economy. After reform, capital market has rejuvenated itself with the help of modern information technology and established itself in a position to take up the responsibility of fund supply to the fast growing industrial and service sectors. Presently, the country has 22 stock exchanges under its belt. Both the number of listed companies and market capitalization have increased remarkably (listed companies have grown up from 5968 in 1990s to 10000 in 1998, whereas market capitalization witnessed an 11 fold increase). The FII in Indian capital market has increased from Rs.4.27 crore in 1992-93 to Rs.41416.45 crore in 2004-05. This volume is a sincere attempt to highlight capital market and its relation to economic growth, through three sections. The first section deals with the conceptual underpinnings of the capital market with a focus upon Indian capital market. The second section focuses upon the regulatory aspects of the Indian capital market, while the final section gives a brief view of capital markets of some of the mature economies.
469 81-314-1178-2 Managing Offshore Software Projects www.nbcindia.com BPO Vikas Verma 13-Nov-07 256 17 425 0 0 There has been phenomenal growth in offshore software projects during the past few decades. Most companies in highly industrialized nations like the US and the UK are moving their software development work to offshore countries like India. The advantages include lower costs, access to large software talent pool with superior IT skills and quality. However, managing offshore software projects is more difficult than projects done with local teams. Distances, different time zones, cultural differences and various offshore country-specific political, economic, infrastructure, social and legal factors pose additional challenges and complexity for software project managers and their team members. This book helps readers understand the offshore phenomenon and its benefits, challenges and critical success factors. Proper management of offshore software projects is critical in achieving various expected benefits of offshoring. This book puts together the current thought and best practices in the management of offshore software projects. The coverage includes pertinent articles written by industry practitioners and researchers on methodology, processes and collaboration tools. Well-known offshore risks are identified and risk management is discussed. Proven communication management, human resource management and quality management techniques are covered. A topic of current interest is high employee attrition in India among software professionals. It is a serious problem in most companies. Various ways to control attrition and its effects are discussed. This book is useful for software managers, software professionals, senior executives like CIOs, CTOs and other stakeholders around the globe.
470 81-314-1177-4 Internationalization of Higher Education: Perspectives and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Books Sridhar Krishna 13-Nov-07 260 17 425 0 0 Globalization is a phenomenon which has its impact on a wide range of fields, higher education being one of them. A good definition of internationalization is that given by the Australian Vice Chancellors’ Committee: “the complex process that gives the universities an international dimension”. International education has principally taken three forms: One, students traveling abroad to study in a foreign location; two, universities establishing a joint venture known as a twinning programme, where the foreign university provides the learning content. In the twinning programme, while the initial part of the programme may be undertaken in the host country, the final part of the programme has to be undertaken in the home country. It also takes the form of franchising; three, branch campuses are set up in foreign locales. A number of US, UK and Australian universities have set up offshore campuses. University of Chicago has set up offshore campuses in Spain and Singapore, INSEAD in Singapore and Wharton has set up a private university in Singapore. There are four modes of supply in cross-border higher education under GATS: Mode 1 – cross-border transaction, mode 2 – consumption abroad, mode 3 –provision via foreign commercial presence and mode 4 – provision via movement of natural persons. The book contains articles on internationalization of higher education in various countries such as New Zealand, India, China, Japan, Australia, USA and countries in Africa. This book is expected to prove useful to educationists, research scholars, academicians, professors and students of management.
471 81-314-0856-6 Marketing to The Indian Youth – Trends And Opportunities www.nbcindia.com Marketing Amitabha Ghose 13-Nov-07 220 15.5 400 0 0 Is a GDP growth rate of three percent in an ageing country (US), with a median age of 37, more attractive to a businessman than a GDP growth rate of 10 percent in a youthful country (India), where the median age is 24? With over a billion people, of whom more than 500 millions are under the age of 24, the vast pool of youth in India will provide the critical market for growth to take place. With half its population under 24, India has an edge in its ability towards driving the world’s growth. In comparison, the comparable market size of those under 24 for China is much smaller. The median age of the Chinese population is 34. For the European countries collectively, their median age of 40 makes them a rapidly ageing society where the dynamism that fuels growth will quickly be extinguished. In the Central, Eastern and Western Europe, the high median age, coupled with a net population replacement rate that is negative, means the population is being laid threadbare. This means that the seriousness with which one might have viewed the European markets has diminished, if not evaporated. What makes India’s youth market worth studying is evident; one of the world’s hottest economies, more than a billion people, roughly half of them under the age of 24 years, and rising purchasing power. The potential of the youth market is comprised of more than 100 million consumers in the 15 to 24-year-old age group. For marketers, it is a goldmine and a case study-in-progress of democratic capitalization. With rapidly growing purchasing power, 15-24-year-olds present a marketing target that is both tantalizing and confusing.
472 81-314-1155-3 Special Economic Zones: Global and Indian Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Books Prabha Shastri Ranade 6-Nov-07 324 19 475 0 0 Special Economic Zone has become a buzzword across many countries in the world and in India too. Special Economic Zones are enclaves wherein they have a separate business environment, liberalized and globalized economic policies, with world-class infrastructure. They are known by different names in different countries. These zones are basically set-up to attract Foreign Direct Investments, Technology transfer, boost exports and foreign exchange of a country. They are privileged zones with special fiscal and non-fiscal incentives and separate laws not applicable in the economy outside the zone. This book captures the latest export boosting strategy being adopted across many nations through Special Economic Zones. These zones have proved to be successful in several countries. However, there are challenges ahead for SEZs. This book is divided into three sections. Section 1: An Introduction comprises five articles. These articles focus on the overview and evolution of the concept, types of SEZs, and the legal aspects. Section 2: Global Scenario comprises six articles which are international experiences and case studies. The section includes SEZs’ contribution in China, Shenzhen SEZ, SEZ: Case of Mauritius, Jebel Ali Free Zone (Dubai), comparative study of India, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and failure of EPZ in Namibia. Section 3: Indian Scenario comprises eight articles. These articles discuss the scenario of SEZs in India, the issues which have to be addressed, legal aspect and their future. The section also has Indian experiences of Mahindra World City – Chennai and successful performance of SEZs in Gujarat.
473 81-314-0892-2 Agricultural Risks Management – Challenges and Strategies www.nbcindia.com Agriculture Suchitra Mohanty Prasad B V S 6-Nov-07 292 18 450 0 0 According to the estimates of Survey of Consumption Expenditures, National Sample Survey, 1999-2000, nearly 70% of the Indian population depends on agriculture for its daily livelihood. Agriculture is of prime importance in Indian economy, and contributes 18.5 percent of the total GDP. But India s agricultural production and farm incomes are very often affected by natural calamities such as drought, floods and cyclones. Vulnerability of agriculture to various natural calamities along with occurrence of epidemics and man-made disasters such as fire, sale of spurious seeds, fertilizers and pesticides, price crash etc affect farmers severely through loss in production and loss in farm income, and they are beyond the control of farmers. Most of the farmers are small and marginal and lack the knowledge to manage agricultural risks. So to protect the farmers and to enhance the production in agriculture which directly augments the Indian economy, minimization of risk in the farming sector is a very important issue. Managing these risks in agriculture is imperative not only at the grassroots level but also at the national level. This book focuses on various types of risks in agriculture such as production risks, market risks, financial risks, weather risks, price risks, risks because of seeds, fertilizers etc. It also covers the various ways to mitigate the risk in agriculture such as crop insurance, contract farming, and future trading. It also throws light on the role of institutions in mitigating the risk in agriculture and suggests ways to manage the risks in agricultural marketing.
474 81-314-0756-X Supply Chain Management in Services Industry: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Supply Chain Management Prasad B V S Kalai Selvan N 6-Nov-07 280 18 450 0 0 In today’s competitive environment, services industries are facing the challenge of improving operational efficiencies and reducing costs, without negatively impacting customer service. Further challenges arise due to technology revolution, increasing customer expectations, frequently changing customer needs and a dynamic market scenario. In the highly competitive environment of today, new product development, marketing and promotion costs are increasing constantly. Services providers are recognized, because only in that area it is possible to reduce costs in the supply chain. To meet these challenges, services providers are beginning to implement Supply Chain Management practices (SCM), that create a balance between customer requirements and supply chain capabilities. SCM can bring reliability, responsiveness, consistency, flexibility, cost reduction and process efficiency. Traditionally, organizations were implementing SCM with the purpose of achieving operational efficiency and cost cutting. In today’s competitive environment with increasing customer demands, organizations are looking for leveraging competitive advantage to deliver better customer service. When the internet and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) technologies emerged, they brought a new dimension to SCM concepts. Even though many software providers such as SAP, Oracle and IBM offer SCM concepts to the organization, no one has a complete software package. This book explains how service chains differ from the traditional supply chain, and elaborates on the challenges in implementing SCM in the service industry. The book also focuses on the benefits of using the supply chain in service industries like financial, healthcare, postal and courier, retail, entertainment and tourism services.
475 81-314-0726-8 Spyware – An Insight www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Ravi Kumar Jain B 6-Nov-07 216 15.5 400 0 0 For years, computer virus has affected the productive use of computers, often challenging the user and the anti-virus software vendor from preventing or recovering from viral-attacks. Virus attack, hacking, stealing password, browser hijack, spam, and malware are very common major impediments for activities on the Internet. Growing technical sophistication and ingenuity of the masquerader have given birth to another computer malady that has become quite notorious. This is often referred to in the Internet world as ‘Spyware’ in recent times. Spyware is a software program that collects personal information of the users without their formal consent. Unlike viruses and worms, spyware does not usually self-replicate, or intrude into the system directly or spread from one system to the other; instead, it intrudes into a system by deceiving the user or exploiting software vulnerabilities in a system. Once it gets installed in the user system, its implications can range from disturbing to devastating. They are often designed to exploit the infected computers for commercial gain, e.g., selling user and/or system data to online marketing companies, building and trading botnets of compromised computers etc. It propagates using personalization cookies, tracking cookies, Trojans, drive-by downloads, hacking, and piggybacking. Spyware is growing at an alarming pace and needs to be arrested. For this to happen immediate attention is required towards understanding Spyware, its different manifestations, propagation techniques, channels used, and importantly, the countermeasures required at individual, organization, and government levels. This book attempts to do just that by providing insights into this new demon on the Internet.
476 81-314-0845-0 Brand Alliances – New Models of Networking www.nbcindia.com Branding Gopalakrishnan P S 3-Nov-07 224 15.5 400 0 0 Brand alliances are branding strategies used in business. Brand Alliances are the outcome of understanding among firms to join hands for promoting their brands together or for bringing out a totally new product into the marketplace. The basic aim of such alliances is to capture new markets and/or improve the customer base. In the competitive environment, marketers face threats and opportunities in quick succession. To meet these eventualities or to take advantage of the opportunities, brand alliances provide quick and effective solutions. Marketers look for external brands which can satisfy the market demand, cost-effectively and at a faster pace, to meet the changing customer needs, who perceive enhanced and value-added features for the products. It needs no explanation that launching a new product would be very costly and time consuming. Successful brand alliances offer added benefits to the consumers. The cost-effectiveness of the alliance allows the companies to price the co-branded product at a reasonable level. The customer-base of both the partners expands. Brand equities of both the brands can increase due to the added brand awareness and better perception of the customers There exist a lot of opportunities for Indian companies to partner among themselves to offer value-added products in the market to overcome the onslaught of global players entering the Indian market as a result of economic liberalization. Companies in sectors like, automobile, retail, insurance and media can derive immense benefits through brand alliances, in the days to come.
477 81-314-0181-2 Cases on Marketing Strategy – Vol.I www.nbcindia.com Marketing Vedpuriswar A V 3-Nov-07 296 0 35 875 Marketing strategy has undergone a dramatic shift in recent years. In the new liberalized environment, due to intensifying competition and more demanding customers, marketing is gaining importance. Companies have to provide value to customers, yet keep costs under control. They must build powerful brands at affordable prices. This book of cases, aimed at illustrating marketing in action, features well known Indian and global companies including Balarampur Chini Mills, Cavinkare, Asian Paints, Hindustan Lever, Marico, Titan, Red Bull, Procter & Gamble and Coca-Cola. These cases provide insights on various facets of marketing – building brands, brand extension, brand repositioning and revitalization, converting commodities into brands, moving from products to services and rural marketing. This book will be useful for Business School students, academics, consultants and practitioners.
478 81-314-0828-0 The Age of Nanotechnology www.nbcindia.com Science & Technology Nirmala Rao Khadpekar 27-Oct-07 264 17 425 0 0 In the technological age, understanding of convergent technology like nanotechnology, has become essential to cope with the developments taking place in various spheres. The public needs to be educated to be able to combine knowledge of science and technology with awareness of the relevant social contexts in which it is put to use. Nanotechnology is one such technology that can relate with environmental and health issues, alongside ongoing research. India has entered this field when the world over, nanotechnologies under commercial development represent more “evolutionary rather than revolutionary advances”. Nanoscience and nanotechnology is the study and use of materials that are less than one-800th the width of human hair. At these extraordinarily minute sizes, materials behave very differently with the possibility of new properties and limitations emerging. Smaller things also have their advantages in terms of efficacy of transport and function. Even a developing country like India is expected to bring world-class nanotechnology products into the global market within the next four years. The book attempts to give an update of where nanotechnology stands today and what are the issues at stake. The book describes the range of nanotechnology, without indulging in science fiction type of alarmist scenario building. The book presents articles which attempt to demystify nanotechnology, examine the issues involved in furthering nanotechnology and discusses the impact of ethical usage of technologies and attempts to sensitize the readers to the human aspect of such technologies.
479 81-314-0841-8 Advances in Business and Finance Studies, 2006- Volume I: Capital Markets www.nbcindia.com Finance Vunyale Narender Malhotra D K 20-Oct-07 304 20.5 525 0 0 This volume of conference proceedings includes research papers focusing on the theoretical concepts in the broad area of Capital Markets. The papers from the researchers dwell on numerous issues like Efficient Market Hypothesis, Indian Treasury Securities, Primary Auctions, Algorithmic Trading, Trading Volume and Return Volatility Dynamics, Random Investing, Information Leadership and Volatility Spillover Across the Countries, Application of Wavelets in the Sensex, Initial and After Market Performance of Initial Public Offerings made by companies, Stock Returns and the impact of Inflation, and Factors determining the Market Price of Shares. The contributions from different authors who have focused on the efficient market hypothesis have argued contradicting one another, having worked on different samples. The authors have used different approaches to test the hypothesis in different forms and contradicted one another towards efficiency of the Indian capital markets. Other things relating to different styles of trading and portfolio management techniques have been elaborately discussed and tested. How efficiently the capital movements take place according to the announcements of information and their availability has also been analysed. In a nutshell, this volume presents the overall aspects of capital markets, price determination in the capital markets and the government securities. How effectively is the price determined by the market forces has been elaborately discussed.
480 81-314-0874-4 Rural Financial Sector: Alternate Models www.nbcindia.com Financial Economics Tamal Datta Chaudhuri 20-Oct-07 284 18 450 0 0 With liberalisation of the Indian economy and growing competition, there has been a shift in the perception of the rural sector, particularly from the point of view of financial intermediaries. This sector is now perceived as a continuous source of savings and an opportunity for profitable deployment of funds. Commercial Banks, NABARD, Co-operative Banks and Regional Rural Banks have geared themselves up to cater to this segment of the economy through innovative schemes, focused approach, dedicated manpower and training and educational programs. Microfinance Institutions and Self-Help Groups are also contributing significantly to this process. The required financial architecture is being discussed and design of appropriate institutions is being debated. The purpose of this book is to introduce to the reader, the various financial intermediaries that are involved in credit delivery in the rural sector. Further, it deals with the performance of the various players involved in rural financial sector development and also takes stock of the various policies that have been adopted in this regard. Accordingly, the book is divided into two parts. The first part deals with the various institutions involved in rural financial sector development and their performance. The second part deals with strategies that can be adopted for improved credit delivery.
481 81-314-0875-2 Building Employee Trust: A New Equation www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sangeetha K 20-Oct-07 280 18 450 0 0 In this competitive business world, gaining employee trust and maintaining it is crucial, as it significantly impacts the company’s revenue generation and reputation as an employer in the marketplace. Trust is the confidence or belief a person feels toward a particular person or group and in today’s business there is an increased propensity to develop trust in an organization as business is built through fruitful relationships. Businesses with increased trust levels are more profitable and have higher shareholder value than those firms with low trust level because workers with great trust in their management/organizations persistently endeavor for excellence, communicate effectively, find solutions to problems, put in extra effort in their work and bring about positive change in the organization and in the financial performance of the company. It is a prerequisite of the management to make trustworthiness a top priority in an organization. Such prioritization paves the way for employees to work towards achievement of shared goals, and creates an engaging work culture, which leads to achievement of business success and booming profits. To succeed in today’s competitive business scenario, it is essential that employers take initiatives to establish and preserve trust among their employees. This is even more crucial in organizations where trust is ‘injured’ or eroded because businesses are strongly built on the basis of effective relationships. In a nutshell, it is a prerequisite for a management to constantly practise trust management and prioritize trustworthiness in order to gain competitive advantage and profits through high workforce performance excellence.
482 81-314-0882-5 Demographic Transition: A Global Perspective www.nbcindia.com Population Azmal Hussain 20-Oct-07 296 18 450 0 0 Different regions of the world are undergoing a demographic transition as apparent in the shift from high to low rates of population growth. In general terms, demographic transition refers to the shift from a regime with frenziedly high mortality and fertility rates to another regime with controlled and low rates of fertility and mortality. Most countries of the world by now have undergone this process of demographic transition. Some studies find that increasing life expectancy in industrial countries will reduce aggregate growth in these regions over time. However, this also should boost growth in developing countries over the next several decades, as the relative size of their working-age population increases. This and other attributes of demographic change are also likely to affect saving, investment, and capital flows, implying changes in global trade balances and asset prices. The importance of concept of demographic transition stems from the great impact that the transformations connected with it have on the organization of the societies and the life of individuals. This book tries to capture the different issues emanated from the changes in global demography. The book is intended for development professionals, policy planners and administrators, applied researchers including demographers and economists, and other social scientists.
483 81-314-0876-0 Global Real Estate Investment: Trends and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Finance Sujatha B 20-Oct-07 264 17 425 0 0 Property has always been part of the investors diversified portfolio. Earlier, due to legal barriers and high costs small investors were unable to invest in real estate. The growth of the listed property sector across many markets has enabled the investors to expand their investment in the property market with less risk. Capital is becoming more global. Global real estate investment has become even more widely accepted by investors. Investors around the world are thinking globally and have become willing and even eager to own foreign assets. In the global context, the relatively more stable income streams in the form of cash flow from property operations or dividends from listed real estate securities are becoming more appealing to both individual retirees and pension funds. Both private and public global real estate investment areas have experienced substantial increases in value over the last few years. According to the report published by global real estate consultant Cushman & Wakefield, the global commercial real estate investment market has grown up by 33% in 2006 to US$645 billion.The book focuses on how global real estate has gone mainstream making investment in this sector very attractive. It tries to bring out the significance of real estate as a distinct asset class and seeks to know as to why it has become an important component in an efficient portfolio. It gives an overview of the current scenario of the global real estate sector, the players in the global securities market in this segment and various investment vehicles available. It also highlights the advantages of investing in a global real estate portfolio and the issues involved.
484 81-314-0870-1 KPO: A Shifting Paradigm www.nbcindia.com General Books Bala Bhaskaran P 20-Oct-07 256 17 425 0 0 Knowledge has emerged as the primary basis and strategic tool for competitive advantage. The world today is gearing towards the knowledge era. Products, processes and firms are increasingly becoming knowledge intensive. The slogan ‘what is repetitive automate, and what is easily available outsource’ lead to the beginning of Business Process Outsourcing (BPO). The next logical step was of hiring skilled operators to handle knowledge intensive activities and thus began Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO).This book is an attempt to explore the new field of KPO, the key success factors of the KPO business and competitive advantages to economies like India. It explores the wider global impact of proliferation of KPO among developing countries and the consequent emerging scenarios.The book is designed into three sections. The first section attempts to cover the basic concepts of KPO. It also traces the evolution of the outsourcing phenomenon. In the second section, the book explores the various sectors of Indian companies in tracking the transition and emergence of the KPO in India. The final section examines the future of KPO and beyond in the passage of knowledge era towards civil society resulting from the shifts in education and knowledge explosion. This section gives a hope that the emerging knowledge era would give ample scope for mankind to steer towards sustainability and survival.
485 81-314-0888-4 Advances in Business and Finance Studies, 2006- Volume VI: Investment Management and Asset Pricing www.nbcindia.com Finance Hilda Amalraj Vijaychandra Kumar C 20-Oct-07 240 16.5 425 0 0 This volume consists of works by various authors in the area of Investment Management and Asset Pricing. Investor behaviour and investment pattern in mutual funds, dependence on past data for investing for future are the general features observed. An author of one of the articles had made an attempt to know how far could the past data of a fund’s performance be a base for choosing the mutual fund for investment. Yet another author provides the people with another tool for evaluation of mutual funds for their investment choices. The author discusses the neural network technique in predicting mutual funds and explains how it is a better option than that of the traditional methods. In another paper, a few other authors provide a theoretically sound methodology for estimating the cost function in a multi-product firm, taking the case of mutual fund complexes in India, after discussion of various models provided by eminent scholars in the area. In yet another paper, the author discusses a method of estimating historical VaR for a portfolio that reflects the S&P CNX Nifty index at any point of time. Still another paper attempts to establish the stability of fama-french three-factor pricing model in bear-bull markets. Yet another paper focuses the study on lead-lag relationship between crude oil and petrochemical prices.
486 81-314-0838-8 Advances in Business and Finance Studies, 2006- Volume III: Banking and Insurance www.nbcindia.com Finance Vijaychandra Kumar C Vunyale Narender 20-Oct-07 240 16.5 425 0 0 In the era of globalized economy, it is evident that the contemporary ways of doing business are not good enough to sustain competition in tomorrow’s market. The Corporate needs to invent constantly new ways of survival and banking industry is no exception. This volume of conference proceedings has papers that address the efforts of banking industry to keep itself in the business. They stress the need for banks for achieving higher level of profitability, minimizing and controlling their existing NPAs and taking up other survival measures. The researchers have found that, though the new generation private and foreign banks have adopted many modern practices such as knowledge management etc, the public sector banks have yet to catch up with the reforms process. There is also an emphasis on the governance structure of both public and private sector banks which, according to many, is a welcome reform sign. This volume also has papers that have studied the grieving situation of poor urban and rural populations and stated concern towards the degradation of physical environment and quality of life. Thus, to improve their situation, the authors emphasise the need for more easy-saving schemes, self-employed associations and obligatory universal health insurance policies for each individual, that will go a long way in improving the overall economy.
487 81-314-0879-5 Global Branding: Perspectives and Challenges www.nbcindia.com Marketing Amit Kumar Singh 20-Oct-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 The world is coming closer. Individuals across the globe are now more connected than ever before. Global customers buy the same brand, are influenced by common events, and have many lifestyle attributes in common. Brands play a critical role in a firm s international expansion. A global brand is one that is perceived to reflect the same set of values around the world. It needs to provide relevant meaning and experience to people across multiple societies, culture, and demographics.For marketing groups across the globe, branding a commodity in the international arena has always been a tough task. Branding in a different country or continent can be viewed as a process that takes place in multiple cultures differing in terms of social values, language spoken, levels of literacy and consumption pattern. While introducing a brand to the target audience, we must keep in mind that they differ from country to country as to how they perceive information, and interpret symbols or stimuli in the way a brander wants them to be. Some of the major aspects of Global Branding, covered in this book are:· Conceptual understanding of the Global Branding process.· How to structure, develop, manage and sustain a Global Brand.· Global expansion, market entry, branding decisions, and market research.· Complexities of advertising in international markets.· Case Studies on L’Oreal, IKEA, Dubai, Harry Potter, Toyota, Visa International and Starbucks.
488 81-314-0895-7 Space Travel and Tourism: New Frontiers www.nbcindia.com Tourism Harish R 20-Oct-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 Space tourism is definitely here for real. Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic is all set to begin two-and-a-half-hour sub-orbital spaceflights by 2009, based on a breakthrough achieved by an American company called Scaled Composites. In 2004, this company created history by sending a man into space for the first time in a privately built spacecraft. Further, SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler are developing low-cost reusable orbit launchers under a contract from NASA, which would facilitate orbital space tourism. Bigelow Aerospace plans to launch an orbital space hotel by 2010. And there are many other private companies in the race.How big would the space tourism business grow to be? It is too early to say. The business can grow only if it has adequate demand and is profitable. Also, space travel is as yet extremely risky, and risk reduction entails costs. While sub-orbital and orbital space tourism may stand on their own, tourism to moon or mars may have to be cross-subsidized by other profitable space ventures. Space tourism is in its infancy, but is propelled by many spirited and excited entrepreneurs and technologists. No one had anticipated the phenomenal growth of the commercial airline industry. For all we know, despite the many challenges, space tourism could indeed be the next big business in the making.
489 81-314-0886-8 Volatility in Oil Prices: Causes and Implications www.nbcindia.com Economy Asis Kumar Pain 20-Oct-07 236 16 400 0 0 This book is an attempt to capture the future impact and implications of the recent oil price increase. The recent scenario of rising oil prices is explained in terms of huge demand for oil, particularly in order to raise the strategic oil reserves by China and US. But the supply of oil has increased substantially as well; hence the rise in prices cannot be explained in terms of ‘supply-demand’ mismatch only. The random fluctuations of oil price are mainly because of ‘speculative reasons.’ This speculative element is particularly responsible for higher crude oil prices despite greater oil inventories. Though speculative trading generates additional liquidity in the market, this distorts market signals and increases volatility in the market. The ability of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) to monitor the nature and extent of this speculative trading is practically impossible in the face of unmanageable inflow of such ‘speculative dollars’ in energy markets. The most important reason for this is the lack of data since these exchanges are outside the regulation of the CFTC. In the face of rising oil prices, on the one hand, the efficient use of oil is becoming important and, on the other, the aspect of alternative energy sources is becoming important and hence needs to be explored.
490 81-314-0889-2 Advances in Business and Finance Studies, 2006- Volume V: International Finance, Financial Reporting and Corporate Governance www.nbcindia.com Finance Vunyale Narender Nupur Hetamsaria 20-Oct-07 236 16 400 0 0 This volume consists of works by various authors in the area of International Finance and Corporate Governance. In the era of globalization, international finance plays a vital role and the authors have dwelled on different issues like development of peace and prosperity in the European Union Nations, role of FDI, FPI, and FII in India’s economic growth, Comparative Study of Financial Systems, Commerce, and Commonweal of India and China and cointegration of Indian stock market with that of the other Asian markets. India’s rich heritage is enshrined in the form of ‘shastras’ with which it preaches the concept of ‘dharma’ to the world. Dharma includes both good and righteous behavior according to one’s role in society in any given situation and this is also known as the pre-requisite of good governance. This volume of the conference proceedings has papers that support referring to our rich Indian Dharmashastra that provides guidelines for promoting value based corporate governance. Further, the volume deals with various affluent corporates’ governance and independence of audit committees etc. This volume also contains research work pertaining to financial reporting and corporate disclosure practices. It has been known that corporate disclosure and its determinant analysis have become a thrust area of research for various researchers and academicians. They have been trying to find out, why different firms in the same industry have varying disclosure practices. The reasons found out are the difference of various attributes, such as, age, size, profitability, leverage, listing status, shareholding pattern, audit firm, and residential status of a company.
491 81-314-0867-1 Globalization: Indian Financial Sector Reforms www.nbcindia.com General Books Pramod Rao Anil Varma 20-Oct-07 232 16 400 0 0 Globalization has been one of the most intensely deliberated subjects in international economics over the past few years. Globalization is the process of interaction among and integration of people, companies and governments of different nations, driven by pulls and pressures from developed economies and aided by the pace of information technology.The reform process is on and Indian banks are in the right direction. They have adopted the best structures, processes and technologies available worldwide and moved from strength to strength. Still, the future poses various challenges for the banking industry. Changes have been taking place and banks have done well so far in taking up these challenges in their stride.The insurance industry has come a long way since the time the business was tightly regulated and concentrated in the hands of a few state-owned public sector companies. The entry of private and foreign companies indicates that India, along with China, will continue to remain the fastest growing market in the world.With increasing globalization, to what extent do stock market returns reflect global or domestic risk factors? We find a significant relationship between stock market returns and the global market risk factor and macroeconomic factors respectively. In many countries (especially in the developed world) savers increasingly diversify their portfolios to include foreign financial assets (foreign bonds, equities, loans) while borrowers increasingly turn to foreign sources of funds along with domestic ones.Globalization means different things to different countries. Within a country, too, globalization means different things to different people and these are the elements of debate and discussion of our book.
492 81-314-0873-6 Indian Auto-Component Industry – A Snapshot www.nbcindia.com Industry Analysis Rajmanohar T P 20-Oct-07 232 16 400 0 0 The auto-component industry started off as an ancillary industry to the automobile industry around fifty years back. However, over a period of time the industry has become able to function independently. This has been possible because more than 20% of production are exports. It is further projected that the exports of the auto-component industry will cross US$ 25 billion by 2016. Some of the major automobile companies like Tata Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra have already entered the auto-component industry. These companies would like to export components worth around US$ 1 billion by 2010. Some of the Indian auto-component manufacturers have also started acquiring overseas auto-component companies as they want a greater share of the exports market. The potential of the Indian auto-component industry is enormous. However, the industry is hampered by poor infrastructure, high tariffs and poor productivity. The growth of several sectors in India like automobiles, steel and transport depends upon the growth of the auto-component sector. Hence, the growth of this sector is vital for the growth of India’s economy. It has also the potential to provide employment. This book traces the development and growth of the auto-component industry in India. It also discusses the future outlook of the industry and relates a few success stories of auto-component companies in India.
493 81-314-0860-4 Balanced Scorecard – Multi Sector Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Management Sumati Reddy Venkata Nimeesha Posa 20-Oct-07 228 16 400 0 0 Since the time the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) was developed in the early 1990s, it has been implemented in several organizations in the manufacturing and service sectors around the world with varying degrees of success. The fact that it continues to be implemented in more and more organizations is an indicator of its relative popularity compared to other approaches of management. This book documents the experiences of different sectors, which have either had substantial experience with the BSC or which are beginning to implement the BSC within some organizations in a particular sector. The papers included in this book describe the stage of maturity that the BSC has gained in a particular sector and the ways in which the BSC has to be adapted to fit the management needs of organizations in this sector. These papers also describe the experiences of organizations within these sectors and the specific parameters of performance measurement that they have designed for performance improvement. The sectors which are covered in the book include ITES, banking, telecom, insurance, healthcare, automotive industry, hotel industry, education and NGOs. The implementation of the BSC in different sectors indicates that it enjoys widespread application and utility. This book can serve as a useful reference for business leaders, business teachers and business students, who wish to update themselves with the numerous applications of the BSC.
494 81-314-0692-X Case Studies on Entrepreneurship – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Priti Krishnan 17-Oct-07 240 0 25 625 Entrepreneurs often bring to mind individuals who are innovative, dynamic, risk-bearing, flexible and creative. Although every entrepreneur identifies an opportunity, utilises the available resources and converts the opportunity into reality, no two entrepreneurs share the same entrepreneurial style. While, some might follow the promoter s style who takes advantage of an opportunity, irrespective of the resources available, others resemble the trustee s style, for whom resources are of prime importance in order to execute plans. Whatever the style, all entrepreneurs chase a dream of converting their vision into reality. Since entering the business dictionary, the way entrepreneurs matter has changed. Earlier entrepreneurship was restricted to only small businesses. But with the rise in the need for being innovative, many large firms have also imbibed the virtues of entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurship generates new ideas, employment and also increases productivity. Moreover, with social entrepreneurs seeking practical solutions to social problems, entrepreneurship has evolved beyond just profit-making. For many countries, entrepreneurship has become a key to growth and development. The best case in point is the United States. No nation has mastered entrepreneurship as successfully as the United States. Great companies contribute to the development of a country in many ways. And history reveals that behind every great company, there is a great entrepreneur. However, what makes a great entrepreneur still remains to be answered. While few believe that some aspects of entrepreneurship can be taught, others feel that entrepreneurs are only born. However, this book expands its scope to discovering the key to be a successful entrepreneur. By describing the entrepreneurial style of prolific entrepreneurs in various fields, this book uncovers how businesses in spite of being run in different ways achieve the same goal. Overall, the cases in this book give a better understanding on the various aspects that distinguishes successful entrepreneurs from the not-so-successful ones.
495 81-314-1156-1 The Roots of Effective Governance www.nbcindia.com General Management Vittal N 11-Oct-07 416 24.5 625 27 675 Effective governance is the real formula for national development. In this thought provoking book, N. Vittal, IAS (Retd), who has had an excellent track record in public governance as a civil servant in the key sectors of IT, Telecommunication, public sector management and vigilance against corruption explores the roots for effective governance. He examines, this vital issue in three dimensions: (i) from his own extensive experience as a hands-on administrator and policy maker;(ii) from the success stories in a wide range of sectors in India; and(iii) from the culture and tradition of our nation.This is a unique book, which articulates the ground realities of public governance today. The author has drawn on his vast experience to highlight the special techniques he adopted to innovate and get effective results in the bureaucracy, which is generally perceived to be tied up in red tape and a prisoner of procedures and precedents. He explores the myth that a civil servant can only be a cog in the vast impersonal machine of the government. The book provides valuable insights and pragmatic solutions for effective action to overcome the problems. It also draws attention to the ethos of our country and examines the interesting dynamics between traditional values and the challanges of public governance today. The book is a must for every thinking Indian who is concerned about the future of our country.
496 81-314-0864-7 Urban Public Services – A Development Perspective www.nbcindia.com Economy Padmanabhan Nair 11-Oct-07 364 21 525 0 0 The purpose of this book is to take a look at how Public Services in India are operating and a few practical demonstrations of the same. Further, we examine policies and frameworks which could be of use in this context, whether local or international. To demonstrate the practicalities of the situation a few local and international case studies are included.For the purposes of this book, a public service is strictly confined to that which is required to be provided by the state to its citizens. The delivery could be through various mechanisms and indeed the development of various models is to be welcomed. Different social conditions and capacity and willingness to pay require different approaches although the intent is basically the same. We also confine ourselves to urban public services as the topic is vast and there needs to be focus, if anything meaningful is to be achieved.Much of the work done by the multilateral agencies is sound conceptually but fails to take into account the local conditions and capacity for understanding of the local people. Here is where the NGOs can play the most important role by acting as an interface between these agencies and the common man.This book is essentially for practitioners, who can dip into a sector specific article and see whether it could throw light upon the issues therein in any way. Every country has had its success stories and it is in concentrating upon those success stories in the same environment that the seeds of success lie.
497 81-314-0866-3 Contract Farming – International Experiences www.nbcindia.com Agriculture Suchitra Mohanty Prasad B V S 11-Oct-07 308 19 475 0 0 Presently, the agricultural sector in the world has been experiencing many structural changes. Globalization and liberalization has changed the tastes, preferences and attitude of consumers. To reap the benefit of global competition, commercialization of the agricultural sector is essential. Contract farming has attained a significant place in today s agriculture and played a major role in commercialization of agriculture at the global level. Contract farming is an agreement between farmers and the contractor, where various inputs in the form of loan, seed, fertilizer, insecticide and pesticide are given to the farmers with an undertaking that they would directly sell their entire produce to the input financier or the contractor. It has greatly enhanced the economic upgradation of developed countries. The main aim in developing countries is encouragement of the small and marginal farmers to take advantage of the market economy. Contract farming provides an agreed, assured price to the producer, which is one way to reduce the risk in agriculture. This volume covers international experiences of contract farming. This book highlights the brief history, concept and experiences of contract-farming in some of the developed countries such as the US, Germany, Australia, Russia as well as developing countries like India, Turkey, Thailand, Madagascar, CIS countries and Costa-Rica. It also throws light on some of the shortcomings of contract farming like the ambiguous nature of contracts, non-renewal or termination of contracts; loss of independence of the farmers etc.
498 81-314-0849-3 Restructuring of Indian Ports: Reforms and Challenges www.nbcindia.com General Books Saji Kumar 11-Oct-07 320 19 475 0 0 India’s coastline is of 7517 kms on which there are 12 major ports and 187 minor ports. 90% of India’s foreign trade is handled through seaways. Indian ports were under the purview of the government in the pre-liberalization and pre-reforms era. These ports were characterized by inefficient and ineffective services due to bureaucratic structure, obsolete infrastructure and mismanagement. However, changes worldwide brought pressure on the port industry and government was inefficient to speed up the expansion within a short span. Government of India based on the Rakesh Mohan Committee Report (1996) and World Bank’s ‘India Port Sector Strategy Report’ (1995) initiated ‘Port Reforms Process’ in 1996. Under reforms process, port sector has been opened up for private participation, measures have been taken up to change the governance structure, guidelines have been issued for private participation in major ports and plans are underway to corporatise the major ports. Divided into four sections, the book deals with the industry scenario, performance of major ports, port reforms and challenges. Privatization of Indian ports, which is a step towards restructuring is also dealt with. Cases of major ports where reforms have been implemented, such as Vishakha port, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust, Ennore Port Ltd. have been discussed. Global experiences comprising case studies like Chinese ports, Malaysian ports, South Africa’s port policy, pricing and growth have also been detailed.
499 81-314-0529-X Marketplace Anthropology www.nbcindia.com General Books Nasreen Taher Swapna Gopalan 11-Oct-07 284 18 450 0 0 In an increasingly multicultural marketing context, the question of the compatibility of ethical values with cultural borders has gained much importance over the past decades. Given that more and more countries with rapid economic development are being integrated into world markets, culture needs to be understood as a multidimensional phenomenon that comprises more than just nationality. In the last few years, there has been a rapidly increasing need for an in-depth cross-cultural consumer understanding. A marketer must not only understand fully the meanings of brands and products to domestic consumers, but must also attempt to understand which of these meanings are easily and effectively transportable to consumers in other cultures. Consumption and the consumer have always had and, will continue to have, far-reaching managerial consequences, with contemporary marketing and consumer behavior steadily responding to a growing demand for insights into both the empirical and the practical realities of consumer culture. This book delves into the anthropological perspectives and methods as employed in the elements of the marketing mix, advertising and promotion, relationship management, managerial intervention and development, class and gender-linked consumer behavior, and the product of consumption.
500 81-314-0843-4 Business Incubation : An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Ramani V V Bala Krishna A V 11-Oct-07 294 18 450 0 0 Knowledge and innovation are the natural resources of the 21st century, and developing the capacity to support people and industries that possess these resources is a critical element for economic growth. The new Technology-led economic development strategies continue to take root around the world. The ability to successfully develop and support new businesses and advance within existing industries needs a basic support to sustain in the long run. The institutions like Government, University and Private industrial houses can provide the support services to start up businesses and also to the industries that are expanding. These are called as Business Incubators. Business incubation is being seen worldwide as an effective means to promote and support entrepreneurs in their efforts to innovate and commercially exploit indigenously developed technologies. It has become a crucial driving factor for the growth of start-up and newly established firms. The globalization of markets continues to widen opportunities for enterprises in developing countries and it also implies that entrepreneurship in these countries urgently needs encouragement and strengthening. The basic services provided by these incubators are workspace, business planning, management advice, office facilities, business networks, legal services, finance and accounting. This book focuses on the evolution of business incubation, role of business incubators in establishing new businesses and the role of innovative technologies in making new entrepreneurs competitive. It further focuses on the role of business incubators in cultivating small businesses, financing SMEs and entrepreneurs, sustainable business incubation, experiences in selected countries including India, role of innovative technologies and business incubation in transforming village economies and a few case studies. Entrepreneurs, academicians, research fraternity, business management students and professionals can get basic inputs of Business Incubation through this book.
501 81-314-0858-2 The World of Pricing: New Dimensions www.nbcindia.com Finance Pramod Rao Sarika Gadhawe 11-Oct-07 268 17 425 0 0 The business world recognises the power of pricing. Management cadre, at all levels, realises that even a 1 percent difference in pricing can have a dramatic impact on profits. They are familiar with the fact that sharpening focus on pricing decisions may increase its profitability by as much as 25-60%. However, it is not so easy to reap the benefits of strategic pricing decisions. The book explores the silhouette of pricing decisions through collection of scholarly articles. It is difficult to hold in mind all the variables that affect pricing decisions. However, it is crystal clear that these external as well as internal factors drive pricing decisions. They monitor the changes in price throughout the lifecycle of a product – from development to launch through any upgrades and finally, to the product’s obsolescence or replacement. The articles throw light on various pricing dilemmas such as finding new answers to the pricing question, pricing innovative products, pricing software products and how low should you go. The book also reflects on various pricing approaches such as Access Pricing and value-based pricing, and emphasizes putting an end to ad hoc pricing. Articles dealing with diverse angles such as How to Regain Your Marketplace Power by Investing in Pricing Strategy, Structure and Systems; Price-Setting Behaviour of Canadian Companies; The Neglected Art of Strategic Pricing and Price as a Strategic Business Tool provide valuable insights as to how strategic management of pricing and related issues lock erosion of profits. It familiarises readers with price wars as an effective business strategy, various pricing strategies and provides valuable learning on strategies adopted in the company specific case studies to manage pricing dilemmas.
502 81-314-0862-0 The Bermuda Insurance Captives: Issues and Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Finance Jayshree Bose 11-Oct-07 260 17 425 0 0 The last two decades have seen a massive upsurge in insurance claims arising from catastrophes, both natural and man-made. Earlier, claims were within manageable limits, and reinsurers rarely reneged on commitments. But catastrophes seemed to have entered a high intensity mode since 1992. Reinsurance capacities are strained to the utmost, and even highly rated reinsurers have exited the market. Today, prime among these risk transfer mechanism options are captive reinsurers, of which the Bermuda captives have emerged as the most resourceful. They are wholly or partly held reinsurance subsidiaries set up by mainland insurers for their own reinsurance needs. Neither the other alternative risk transfer mechanisms nor captive markets have been able to equal Bermuda’s explosive growth.The book traces the incredible rise of the Bermuda captives, but does not fail to raise some pertinent questions about the factors underlying Bermuda’s resourcefulness. Reasons for the industry being more vibrant in Bermuda than in any other offshore center, although they share some common benefits and the effectiveness of Bermuda’s self-regulatory mechanism. Can Bermuda hold on its own in a fast-changing regulatory scenario and the looming threat of competition from other insurance offshore centers like Cayman Islands? As Bermuda faces more intense competition, accounting regulations become more stringent and more external regulations are imposed. What would be the impact of all these changes on Bermuda’s captive industry? The book, which answers these questions, will be of great interest to insurers, management consultants, faculty and students of insurance and other readers, in general.
503 81-314-0881-7 Women Investors: Taking Charge Now www.nbcindia.com Finance Swapna Gopalan 11-Oct-07 212 15.5 400 0 0 Financial literacy and financial autonomy are more important for women today than ever before. Financial independence gives a woman the power to make her own decisions and lead an independent life, regardless of her marital status. Recognizing this power of financial empowerment, more and more women have begun taking active interest in personal financial planning. This is a distinct shift from the earlier times when, in almost all societies around the world, women depended on men for financial support, and believed that they were incapable of handling money competently.Like men, today women are faced with numerous financial challenges, such as funding children’s education, getting adequately insured and ensuring sufficient savings for future financial needs, to mention a few. In fact, it would not be wrong to say that women are prone to more financial challenges and barriers than men. Illustrative of this issue is the fact that, women on an average tend to live longer than men, but generally earn lesser. Thus, they are faced with the arduous task of saving for more years of retirement out of a comparatively smaller resource base.This book on women investors presents the financial profile of modern women and the trends in their investments across the globe. It covers the financial obstacles and challenges that confront women, and the underlying causes of their financial anxiety. The book also serves as a money management guide for women.
504 81-314-0318-1 Case Studies on Growth Strategies – Vol.II www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Souvik Dhar 11-Oct-07 268 0 30 750 Growth strategies are designed to expand an organization s performance, usually measured on the basis of sales, profits, product mix, market coverage, market share, or other accounting and market-based variables. A company is said to be growing organically when it is increasing the turnover of its current business. On the contrary, few companies tend to focus on meeting its growth objectives through mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances. Companies like Expedia, Nicholas Piramal India and Biocon expanded their businesses organically by increasing their customer base, opening new company-owned outlets and in-house product development. On the other hand, companies like Johnson & Johnson and HDFC adopted inorganic growth strategies to strengthen their positions by enhancing their product portfolio through mergers and acquisitions. The book, Case Studies on Growth Strategies Volume 2, provides an insight into the growth strategies of companies and their attempts to sustain their profitability in the midst of competition and challenges. It also helps in bridging the gap between the theory and practice by developing an understanding of when and how to apply concepts and techniques learnt in management studies.
505 81-314-0610-5 Case Studies on Outsourcing Trends – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Girija P 11-Oct-07 280 0 35 875 As companies attempt to focus on their core competencies, many are considering outsourcing various aspects of their in-house operations. The driving force behind this decision is typically cost reduction and organisational restructuring. Companies who have ventured into outsourcing have had both positive and negative experiences. Though the BPO industry has been growing at a frenzy pace, it encountered several challenges that threatens its growth and global competitiveness. The rising employee attrition rates, the CTC per employee shooting up and inefficiencies in the outsourcing processes have all raised concerns over the feasibility of outsourcing. However, the outcome often depends on how the original contract is structured, how the customer-vendor relationship is managed and how the end-results are measured. So, outsourcing can still be a win-win situation for both the customer and the outsourcer. This book describes the trends in the outsourcing industry and strategic objectives lying behind these trends. The cases in the latter part of the book highlight the Indian outsourcing scenario, and the challenges faced by the BPO firms in India. It further debates whether offshoring of services balances the global economy; or does it – with the rising complexity of the business environment due to intensified competition – robs thousands of jobs. Overall, the cases in the book are organised in a reader-friendly sequential way to explore various aspects of how to establish a winning approach to outsourcing.
506 81-314-0606-7 Case Studies on International Trade and Exchange Rates – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Chiradeep Chatterjee 11-Oct-07 252 0 35 875 With globalisation increasingly bringing business corporations nearer to various nations – each with its own diverse set of legal and economic systems – the need to study the mechanisms of international trade has become very essential. As long as a business functions within the realm of a domestic economy, it remains exposed to a legal and currency (economic) system that is relatively stable. Once in the global arena, however, international trade agreements and currency systems become relevant. Especially, exchange rate determination mechanisms can have a profound effect on the bottomlines of a company. Speaking more broadly, since such international agreements and exchange rates can also affect national economies, a company being only a subset of it, also gets affected by it. Therefore, understanding financial management of a modern business corporation cannot leave out this branch of study. Each case in this book highlights one or more aspects of international trade and exchange rate mechanisms. Major issues in international trade like Transfer Pricing, WTO and GATT, NAFTA, issues affecting developing nations like Bangladesh, trade deficits and Foreign Direct Investment have been extensively dealt in some of these case studies. Other case studies have sought to highlight the various facets of exchange rate mechanisms. Most importantly, the cases have been arranged in a pattern to highlight the evolution of exchange rate system in our world. A thorough examination of this book will thus make the reader aware about the practical implications of theories regarding international trade and exchange rates and even the way they affect international relations. This book will be of use to both students of economics as well as practicing managers of companies connected in any way to global business activities.
507 81-314-0847-7 Case Studies on Global Steel Industry: Getting Bigger and Better www.nbcindia.com Industry Ranjit Goswami Kumar Satyaki Ray 11-Oct-07 228 0 25 625 Since 1990s, consolidation has been transforming steel industry across the globe from a fragmented one to a consolidated one. Steel Production in the 21st century is shared among 5 major trading blocs that account for over 85% of production in terms of volume. These include Japan & Korea, China, North America, Europe & Turkey, Russia & Ukraine. Currently, global steel production is above 1bn tonnes and is expected to reach 1.5bn tonnes by 2015-2020. Globally, Arcelor-Mittal group is the largest company followed by Nippon Steel, BaoSteel, JFE Group and POSCO. This book highlights some of the biggest consolidations (Arcelor-Mittal steel, ThyssenKrupp AG-Dofasco Inc.) of the global steel industry. Along with the consolidations, this book also highlights the globalization of Indian steel players. Tata Steel, tagged as the second largest steel company of India for a long time, marked its footprint in the overseas market by acquiring NatSteel (Singapore), Millennium Steel (Australia) and Corus (UK). In the domestic market also, the global logic of consolidation (capacity expansion, increasing marketshare, bargaining power, access to raw-materials and sharing of technical know-how) has followed. In the light of the above, the book “Global Steel Industry: Getting Bigger – Getting Better” has attempted to capture the recent trends and patterns of the global steel industry and different aspects of M&A process.
508 81-314-0691-1 Case Studies on Public Policy – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Priyanka Ramgopal 9-Oct-07 252 0 25 625 For many years, the government played a primary role in the economic development of a country. Governments across the world became prime movers of economic growth. They promoted education, technology, finance and social infrastructure to provide groundwork for the businesses to flourish in the growing market-based environment. Issues against the government intervention were raised, as government protection to economies was proved counterproductive. But when the markets fail, the government intervenes and provides incentives, subsidies and enforces laws and implements policies in favour of the businesses. In many cases, governments encourage entrepreneurship, eliminate destructive competition, engage in selective protection from imports and restrict foreign investments. One of the ways of government intervention is public policy. Government policies for industry are aimed at sustained economic growth. Through the monetary policy, the government manages money supply within a country to constrain inflation, maintain exchange rate, and achieve full employment and economic growth. Through fiscal policy, the government ensures setting a level of expenditure including changes in borrowing and taxes to control the economy. Over the years, more so in the transition economies, government policies led to innovation and competition. This book sets forth the basic issues concerning public policy. It features case studies that emphasise on the exclusive role of government policies in economic growth. Governments implemented the industrial, educational, tax and at times even protectionist policies to boost up the economies. The book prompts a debate on free trade and protectionist policies. The case studies on public policy are intended for readers to understand public policy in general, and analyse specific public policies in particular. The readers get to know the different policies governments pursue, the reasons for their pursuit and the consequences of these policies.
509 81-314-0372-6 The Icfai University Press on Supply Chain Management – Managing the Process www.nbcindia.com Supply Chain Management Jaya Krishna S 5-Oct-07 288 18 450 0 0 ‘Logistics’ form the core of supply chain management. Effective logistics, therefore, play a significant role in managing the efficiency and responsiveness of a supply chain. However, an integrated approach to logistics management optimizes supply chain excellence. On the other hand, the success of any business depends not only on improving the efficiency of its internal operations, but also on the effective relationships with its supply chain partners. Effective supply chain relationships result in reduced lead times, inventory and operational costs, while improving efficient customer responsiveness (ECR). Establishing and managing collaborative relationships with both supply and buy-side partners is, therefore, crucial in today’s global economy. This book throws light on various useful insights, practices and strategies related to the management of logistics and supply chain relationships within the context of supply chain networks. While offering an immense learning value to the academicians, researchers and students of management, this book will help professionals and executives to better understand the concepts and practices relating to these aspects of supply chain management (SCM).
510 81-314-1250-9 Reinventing Government through HRM Strategies www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Hasmukh Adhia 5-Oct-07 204 16.5 425 19 475 The bureaucracy can accelerate or derail the fast growth of the State, depending on their mindset and level of training and motivation. The efficiency level of bureaucracy can have a major bearing on competitiveness of private enterprise, from where the major part of growth comes. There are several problems plaguing the lower levels of bureaucracy. Negativism, risk aversion, work-avoidance, low levels of motivation are some of them. Also, there is a gross underutilization of their capacity. This book is a compilation of nine essays (out of which three are based on extensive research), which cover the strategies for Reinventing Government through Human Resource Management. The book contains a chapter on USA’s experience in civil service reforms and its implications for India. The book covers analytical presentation of some innovative strategies adopted by Government of Gujarat for training and motivation of its staff, which became quite successful in changing the mindset of Government employees. Among the numerous strengths of the book is the author’s ability to reflect hardcore ground realities from a 360 degree perspective. The focus of the book is basically on changing the mindset of government officials, empowering them with a positive outlook, and reinventing governance through proper remedial measures.
511 81-314-0386-6 Cases on MNCs in India www.nbcindia.com Management Vedpuriswar A V 5-Oct-07 344 0 35 875 India is one of the most promising and fastest-growing economies in the world. Many MNCs have sensed exciting opportunities here. Despite the huge potential of the country, the performance of MNCs in India has been decidedly mixed. Many MNCs which have succeeded remarkably elsewhere in the world, have yet to achieve significant market shares in India. The market entry strategies that have worked so well in other countries have not been successful in India. Many MNCs are still struggling to understand the Indian customers. India poses special challenges on account of its heterogeneity in terms of economic development, income, religion, cultural mix, tastes and aspirations. Companies must have an open mind to succeed in India. They have to invest substantial financial and managerial resources to understand the needs of customers and come up with suitable products. Using a case study approach, the book is divided into two sections. Section I includes cases relating to Strategic Management and Section II focuses on Marketing Management. The companies featured in this book are: Coca-Cola India in 2003, GE in India, POSCO in India, Nokia in India, Unilever India in 2004: In search of a growth strategy, Hyundai in India, Suzuki in India, Coke & Pepsi in India: Pesticides in Carbonated Beverages, Unilever in India: Rural Marketing Initiatives, Unilever in India: Building the Ice Creams Business, Unilever in India: Building and Nurturing Brands, Unilever in India: Managing Brand Extensions, Detergent Wars in India, Coca-Cola India in 2004: Marketing Strategy, LG in India and Samsung in India.
512 81-314-0694-6 Transport Sector in India – Recent Developments www.nbcindia.com Economy Dhandapani Alagiri 29-Sep-07 268 17 425 0 0 The Indian economy has become the third largest in the world with a GDP of US $3.611 trillion (measured in PPP). India is also the second fastest growing major economy in the world, with a GDP growth rate of 9.2% (second quarter for the current fiscal year 2006–2007). But the wheels on which the economic engine has to move, India s transport sector—especially surface transport—has serious deficiencies; its services are, by international standards, highly inefficient. With the sector being so central to the effective operation of the economy, poor transport has become a major drag to economic growth. While some of the sub sectors such as road transport have grown at a faster pace, others lag behind within the transport sector itself. The Indian government, in recent times, has been giving high importance to the development of the transport infrastructure and services in the country. Several projects have been going on at a brisk pace, especially in the road transport sector and financing tie-ups are also being achieved for many of the pending projects. These efforts made by the government are in the right direction. A continuation of the efforts at a faster pace will see transportation bottlenecks being removed and a faster progress achieved by the Indian economy. In this context of high profile economic growth and the high demand for transportation and logistics, this book “Transport Sector in India – Recent Developments” makes a comprehensive assessment of the current scenario of India’s transportation sector and analyzes the important developments that propel the country’s transport infrastructure towards international standards.
513 81-314-0773-X Cultural Integration in Mergers and Acquisitions www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Ramani V V 29-Sep-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 Culture is the pattern of norms, values, beliefs and attitudes that influence individuals’ and groups’ behavior within the organization. In short, culture is “the way we do things.” Culture, therefore, is not an independent variable and it equates with business and supports the strategies. It aligns with the organization’s goals and influences the work groups in such a way as to align their personal and professional values and beliefs to enhance themselves and the organization, too. Cross-cultural differences or issues are one of the most important challenges which globalization has brought to the world of business. Understanding how cultural factors can make or break a deal across borders is the most significant question, which arises before making any deal. Knowing the ‘do’s and don’ts’ and a proper understanding of cultural values of other countries and organizations are the keys to the success of these deals. Creating a cohesive culture from two distinct entities is a challenge. Apart from that, how competent these organizations are to deal with cultural differences is the key challenge in this global, competitive world. Today’s business environment M&As have to look into cultural issues seriously, as they do the financial ones. In view of the importance of the above aspect, this book focuses on the impact of culture on M&As and the cultural issues and the challenges faced by the organizations, best practices and supportive case studies. It provides insights, which, it is hoped, will be helpful for business executives, professionals, consultants, subject experts and management students.
514 81-314-0587-7 The Icfai University Press on Mergers and Acquisitions: Indian Perspectives and Cases www.nbcindia.com Mergers & Acquisitions Sumati Reddy 29-Sep-07 240 16.5 425 0 0 Mergers and acquisitions (M&As), if executed well, offer tremendous value to the stakeholders of a business. M&As lead to efficient use of all resources, leverage on the capabilities of the merging entities, and lead to an increase in shareholder value. The business scenarios in the US and Western Europe have witnessed significant activity in terms of the number of M&A deals executed during the last couple of decades. As a result, the US and European businesses have a greater amount of experience and learning in this regard. As far as Asia is concerned, the region is expected to witness a spurt in terms of M&A deals within the next few years, with India and China leading the way. Buying a company is a much more complicated affair than buying a piece of machinery. The problems are complex and specialists must be consulted. While this book does not try to replace the specialist, it focuses on the M&A scenario in India, highlights the trends in a number of different sectors, and alerts one to the kind of management, legal, tax, accounting, and due diligence issues. In the context of tremendous growth in M&A deals, both domestic and overseas, it is hoped that this book will serve as a ready reference and guide for management consultants, business analysts, business teachers, and business students.
515 81-314-0816-7 The Icfai University Press on Effective Advertising www.nbcindia.com Marketing Suresh K Bala Krishna A V 29-Sep-07 232 16 400 0 0 Advertising is a critical element for successfully establishing, positioning, repositioning or growing a brand. One can almost say that effective advertising is a prerequisite in today’s competitive business scenario. For manufacturers and service providers, it helps generate and spread awareness. Customers benefit from advertising, as they are provided with information on features of existing products and launch of new products. Trade partners are also benefited by advertising, in terms of sales generated. In the present era of over communication, the target audience is averse to more exposure to commercial messages and advertisers are eager to extract maximum value from their ad spends. But, changing lifestyles of the target audience coupled with proliferation of the media channels imply creative deployment of media and devising more effective advertisng plans. This means pre-testing the messages, using highly targeted media, getting creative in dissemination of communication messages and devising metrics to measure results. A paradigm shift took place in the prevailing advertising practices from mere usage of traditional media to judicious mix of traditional and new media choices. It signifies usage of web and Internet technologies, blogs, E-mails, viral marketing techniques, apart from print and electronic media. The new media habits of the audience, however, pose new challenges to the advertisers. This book “Effective Advertising” focuses on current practices of advertising professionals. The book, divided into two sections, covers effective advertising approaches and experiences. It is so designed as to be useful for students, research fraternity and practicing executives.
516 81-314-0693-8 Case Studies on Corporate Social Responsibility – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Vara Vasanthi 29-Sep-07 288 0 25 625 The environment in which companies operate prioritises the need to integrate their economic, environmental and social concerns (triple bottom line) with their culture and values, decision-making, strategy-formulation and operations. An organisation needs to follow certain guidelines and principles to ensure that its operations such as corporate governance, human resource management, health and safety, environmental protection and community development are transparent and accountable towards its employees and the society. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is the tool that helps the organisations achieve this. CSR not only ensures that companies follow an ethical approach towards business but also helps sustain that approach. CSR, as in the past, is not confined to corporate philanthropy, but it now includes the company s contribution towards the general public, its employees and the environment. Moreover, non-profit organisations and institutional investors have gained considerable financial clout and the power to influence investor s decisions. The rise in the number of corporate scandals has made CSR vital for companies to maintain a virtuous image in the public and also attract investors who have started giving ethical values as much importance as profitability. This book contains case studies, which highlight the circumstances under which various companies have integrated CSR into their company values. It also showcases the setbacks that companies faced as a result of their non-compliance with CSR policies. It also brings to light the failure of some companies to raise their image despite adopting CSR, sparking questions regarding the use of CSR as just a PR tool.
517 81-314-0834-5 Cooperatives in 21st Century: The Road Ahead www.nbcindia.com Management Rajagopalan S 28-Sep-07 272 17 425 0 0 A cooperative is an organization brought into being by a group of people with a common economic interest, with the collective serving as a mechanism to leverage benefits for the members in the market. It does business just as a corporation; however, what sets a cooperative apart from a corporation is its member-owned and -controlled characteristic. In this sense, a cooperative is a self-help enterprise for its members. Since its origin in the 19th century, the cooperative form of organization has evolved and grown into a formidable entity today. Some of the best known businesses around the globe are cooperatives – Rabobank of the Netherlands, Mondragon Corporacion Cooperativa of Spain, REI of the US, Amul dairy of India, to name just a few. According to UN estimates, the total membership of cooperatives today is 800 million, with 100 million employed in their services. The sectoral spread of cooperatives, too, is impressive: agriculture, fisheries, banking, insurance, retail, utilities, housing, tourism, and transportation. This book provides an overview of cooperatives, discusses the opportunities and challenges that lie ahead for cooperatives, and presents experiences of cooperatives in several countries.
518 81-314-0846-9 The Making of Cult Brands www.nbcindia.com Marketing Swapna Gopalan 28-Sep-07 224 15.5 400 0 0 A brand represents various ideas and emotions associated with a product or service that creates a distinct consumer experience. Among brands, the designation of ‘cult brands’ goes to those brands that command unprecedented customer loyalty, surpassing the status of not only average brands but also that of iconic brands. The term ‘Cult Branding’ was coined by Mathew W. Ragas and Bolivar J. Bueno, in their book The Power of Cult Branding: How 9 Magnetic Brands Turned Customers into Loyal Followers (and Yours Can, Too!). The authors use the term to “describe the process of actually turning a company, person, place or organization into an entity with devoted followers who identify with it and show their commitment in various visible ways”. The greatest challenge for marketers, in a marketplace bombarded with numerous brands, is to create and maintain brand loyalty among consumers. Cult Brands successfully match up to this challenge by creating an experience, a feeling, and an aura of a group identity which the consumers imbibe and stay committed to. To their followers, cult brands aren’t just companies with products or services to sell – they are a living, breathing, surrogate family of like-minded individuals who share a similar passion for the brand. This book The Making of Cult Brands provides insights into this relatively new concept called cult brand and also studies the origin and behavior of the related consumer community. Through an assortment of cases and experiences, it elucidates the strategies or tactics needed to turn a brand into a cult brand.
519 81-314-0853-1 Financial Sector and Economic Growth: The Linkage www.nbcindia.com Economy Asis Kumar Pain Nirbachita Karmakar 27-Sep-07 344 20 500 0 0 An efficient financial system is one of the foundations for building sustained economic growth and an open, contestable economic system. In its best efforts, finance works quietly at the background, but when things go wrong, financial failures are painfully visible. For an economy to attain sustainable growth in the long run, financial sector development is crucial and indispensable. The financial sector traditionally comprises banks, non-bank financial institutions, and insurance. But now with financial sector liberalization, foreign direct investment, stock markets, remittances and microfinance institutions have emerged. These segments link up with the real sector to deliver growth. The linkage is established through savings mobilization from surplus units to deficient units. Financial globalization and integration have brought in financial deepening and strengthening of the financial structure. It affects the growth rate of any economy directly through domestic savings, availability of cheap capital, technology transfer, and development of the domestic financial sector. The book tries to examine the Interlinkage between the financial sector and the real sector of the economy, which is very relevant in the light of financial liberalization. It gives some country perspectives, both in the context of developed economies like UK, USA, Europe and Japan and developing economies, like Hong Kong, Singapore, India and China as well as emerging economies like Latin American countries.
520 81-314-0777-2 Product Innovation – A Mantra for Survival www.nbcindia.com General Books Londhe B R 27-Sep-07 280 18 450 0 0 The process of product innovation involves the introduction of a good or service that is new or substantially improved. This includes, but is not limited to, improvements in functional characteristics, technical abilities, or ease of use. Continued existence is the mantra in current competitive business scenario and survival without innovation is almost impossible. So every one, be it from manufacturing organization or service organization, is heavily dependent on innovation, be it product or process innovation, which has resulted in the continuous, substantial addition of knowledge with respect to innovation. The book on product innovation can be classified in the following categories: philosophy and basic innovation, process innovation practice, managing product innovation, innovation as a business strategy, technological innovation in banks and financial systems, and innovations in marketing. Innovation, being a continuous process, needs to be continuously monitored and updated from time to time; Hence, there is a need for a book of this kind, which should concentrate on the current scenario in innovation, innovation for non-financial product, role of product manager in managing product innovation, hyper innovation and its applications. The book presents a collection of articles and cases about product innovation in various sectors like IT, Indian Railways, consumer industry and companies such as Gillette, Procter and Gamble, and Recakitt Benckiser.
521 81-314-0877-9 Peak Oil – Issues and Strategies www.nbcindia.com Industry Pramod Rao Anil Varma 27-Sep-07 264 17 425 0 0 Peak Oil is the simplest label for the problem of energy resource depletion, or more specifically, the peak in global oil production. Oil has powered phenomenal economic growth over the last century and a half. The rate of oil production, meaning extraction and refining, has grown in most years over the last century. Once we go through the halfway point of all reserves, production becomes ever more likely to decline, hence peak. Peak Oil means not running out of oil, but running out of cheap oil. For societies leveraged on ever increasing amounts of cheap oil, the consequences may be dire. Without significant successful cultural reform, economic and social decline seems inevitable. It is inevitable that after the Peak, oil production will decline. There won’t be enough alternative energy available to compensate. We’ll have to undertake a long-range plan to adapt. The Hirsch Report suggests that we need to start preparing 20 years in advance. Well, it’s already too late for that, given that most projections put the global peak some time before 2020. We should start preparing now for an ongoing and gradual decline. Better late than never, but better sooner than late.Peak Oil is coming, maybe now, maybe in ten or fifteen years but no later. And when the feces hit the ventilator, you have to be ready with a plan to deal with it. If you don’t, someone else will, and it may be someone who does not share your core values. So we have to get busy.
522 81-314-0848-5 Global Poverty: Eradication Strategies www.nbcindia.com Management Bharti Thakar 27-Sep-07 252 17 425 0 0 Poverty explicitly means scarcity and surrounds a struggle for basic survival. The world all over, the poor people have no food to eat. Education and other growth aspects are far-fetched dreams for them. People living in the society on subsidies or free goods and food coupons are glaring examples of this class of people. To alleviate their own poverty, a lot of them succumb to social and economic crimes. There is a second class of people who are caught in the debt trap. They struggle each day for a normal survival and on the pretence that everything is fine with them, however unable to cope, they end the life cycle themselves or succumb to corrupt short cut economic practices. Some of these are unemployed, underemployed, semi-employed etc. There is ample evidence in society of people resorting to terrorism in the hope of alleviating their own poverty. The global picture, however, seems very positive and all countries seem to be moving towards growth and development. There is movement to eradicate poverty. The question here is how successful are these endeavors. Poverty does not require sympathy, it requires positive action plans. Such matters of concern are brought to light in this book. The book highlights the various issues of poverty, the faces of poverty and also facts behind which it lurks. Thereby, the book brings a different meaning to poverty. In the latter section, the book presents experiences in various countries where processes are made to eradicate the same. There is hope that poverty may be rendered history.
523 81-314-0857-4 Global HR: Practices and Challenges www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sanjeev Kumar Singh 27-Sep-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 Competition, coordination, maintaining creativity and excellence, local flexibility and the like are all attributes necessary for an HR manager at a time when his company has decided to “Go Global”. The ever-expanding scope of global competition is forcing a continuous re-examination of how human resources can best support the rapid pace of business globalisation. With increasing globalisation, the thrust is now on competency-building and managing diverse cultures. Ultimately, the HR manager needs to understand the global perspective to make his organisation competitive, efficient and to satisfy the stake-holders. To be successful in the global economy, the people who run corporations must look beyond their own geographic boundaries and envision all possible business strategies. In order to survive and prosper in the new global competition, companies are embracing global integration and coordination, but at the same time they must push for local flexibility and speed. Global companies must first take care of the “hygiene” factors which will provide the comfort zone to enable a professional to concentrate fully on work in a foreign location. Success in building cross-border networks of relationships that are the core veins of effective global organisations is dependent on understanding and valuing cultural diversity. This book aims at enhancing global competencies and capabilities within the HR function so it can become a borderless business partner in exploiting business opportunities worldwide. This book will cater to the needs of global HR managers, HR consultants, multinational companies and companies wanting to go global.
524 81-314-0833-7 ICT in Rural Development: An Overview www.nbcindia.com Management Sukhvinder Kaur Multani 27-Sep-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 The 21st century is the age of Information and Communication Technology and ICT plays a vital role in political, economic and socio-cultural development of a country. ICT is of immense significance in our lives. It has become a powerful tool towards empowering rural masses by way of access to information related to education, banking, employment, agriculture, governmental resources and services. However, there are certain sections of society which are deprived of its usage. This has led to what is called ‘digital divide’. There have been attempts across countries to reduce this digital divide and make the marginalized sections, especially the rural masses, have access to ICT. In addition to providing opportunities to rural masses, ICT also faces some challenges in its implementation. These challenges are difficult yet manageable. In view of the opportunities and challenges mentioned, there is a need for interaction between the private and the public sectors to optimally utilize their respective expertise and abilities in the area of rural development. This book attempts to bring out the role of ICT in various facets of rural development. While doing so, it also brings out the opportunities and challenges of its application in rural development. The book comprises two sections. Section-I is an overview of the role of ICT in rural development. Section–II deals with various country experiences of the utility, opportunities and challenges of ICT in rural development.
525 81-314-0810-8 Effective Leadership: Lessons in a Cross Cultural Context www.nbcindia.com Management Sarita Seshagiri Joshi Rajul Gajendra 27-Sep-07 232 16 400 0 0 Corporate multi-culturalism has matured, as globalization and transnationalism have reached new heights. It has ushered in its wake a new wave of corporate leadership that contends with varied cultural experiences. It is especially significant for the Multinational Corporations (MNCs), their subsidiaries overseas and Transnational Corporations (TNCs). Adaptation to a cross cultural form of leadership is the key to successful business in the New Economy. However, the process itself is ridden with various constraints and problems, because leadership styles from certain cultural contexts tend to dominate others. This book “Effective Leadership: Lessons in a Cross Cultural Context” not only analyzes cross cultural forms of management, but also examines how organizational leadership changes and adapts to a new mode of operation. It is divided into three sections. Section one “Cross Cultural Leadership - An Introduction” broadly addresses the concept of cross cultural leadership, emphasizing the importance of managing diversified cultures in an organization and its ethical concerns. The second section “Cross Cultural Leadership Across the World” discusses the organizational leadership styles from countries in Europe, Asia, North and South America and analyzes the differences in their leadership styles. The third section, “Looking Beyond Cultural Frontiers”, discusses the development of effective leadership styles and strategies to surmount cross cultural differences.
526 81-314-0837-X Managing Knowledge Workers – A New HR Paradigm www.nbcindia.com Management Sukhvinder Kaur Multani 27-Sep-07 228 16 400 0 0 In the 21st century, managing knowledge workers has become essential and challenging. Managing these knowledge workers efficiently makes companies achieve their targets. In view of this, various organizations have adopted several techniques and strategies to deal with this challenge, thereby, enhancing the productivity of the entire organization. In this context, the book focuses on certain issues pertaining to managing knowledge workers. Much of the work the knowledge workers do is invisible and difficult to measure. They are also a growing part of the ever growing corporate workforce and their skills are difficult to replace. They are instrumental to the success of the knowledge-based organization. In the present scenario, companies by and large are recognizing the value of knowledge workers to increase their production activities and also to successfully plan their survival in the global market. In future, knowledge management will definitely become successful in enhancing the performance of organizations. This issue needs to be addressed seriously in order to have a successful economy. Countries having organizations with good management skills will retain their workforce which would become an asset to their economies. This book comprises two sections. The first section deals with perspectives of what managing knowledge worker is and the related issues. The second section is on HR paradigms on the issue of managing knowledge workers.
527 81-314-0835-3 Poverty, Food Security and Politics www.nbcindia.com Economy Amrita Chakraborty 27-Sep-07 224 15.5 400 0 0 Rarely do people in their humdrum existence spare a thought for other fellow beings in suffering. How many of us, the educated, urban, middle-class and upper middle-class spare a thought for the hungry? Do we know that Hunger, the silent killer, is a giant killer? It is the “holocaust of our time” (read Per Pinstrup-Andersen and David Beckmann in Jindrova and de Graff) and that “about 20,000 persons per day die globally as a result of food insecurity, the majority in Africa and Asia. That number is approximately seven times the number killed in the 9/11 attacks—and it happens every day. If forty fully loaded 747s were to crash on a daily basis, would the world take notice?”(read Rethinking Food Security For The 21st Century, Walter P Falcon And Rosamond L Naylor). “The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO2004b) estimates that 5 million children die from hunger-related causes per year. The World Health Organization and other sources put the total number of hunger-related deaths at about 8 million annually (Hunger Project)” (read Rethinking Food Security For The 21st Century, by Walter P Falcon and Rosamond L Naylor). The above statistics should make every reader sit up and take note of the issue of Food Security like he has never done before. Why should people take note of Food Security? What is Food Security and what is its importance? Food Security is an essential element of overall human well-being and an important milestone on the path of complete poverty alleviation, an important goal of development of this millennium (or any millennia). This volume describes the “Concepts”, dimension of Food Security and throws some light on several “Country experiences from the developing world” with a conspicuous focus on “India’s Food Security Strategy” for Indian readers.
528 81-314-0064-6 Cases on Global Retailing Industry www.nbcindia.com Management Vedpuriswar A V 27-Sep-07 458 0 35 875 The retailing industry is going through exciting times. Changing consumer buying patterns and technology have reshaped the industry beyond imagination in the past 20 years. This book is an attempt to understand how the global retailing industry is evolving, what are the challenges it is facing and how companies in the industry are addressing these challenges. Different dimensions of the retailing industry are examined in detail. These include, Strategic Management, Brand Management, Globalization, Human Resources Management, Risk Management and Corporate Governance. The cases featured in this book cover a rich mix of reputed retailers: Titan, Tesco, Wal-Mart, Gucci, McDonald’s, Prada, LVMH, Benetton Group, GAP, Starbucks, Tanishq, IKEA, Zara. Some of them are general merchandisers while others are category killers. Some are discount stores while others are high-end luxury goods retailers. Some of them are vertically integrated while others make extensive use of outsourcing. Hopefully, this book will throw light on how India’s own nascent retailing industry might evolve in the coming years.
529 81-314-0820-5 Cross Border Mergers and Acquisitions – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Mergers & Acquisitions Mrudula E 17-Sep-07 304 19 475 0 0 With increasing competition and advanced technology, it has become difficult for companies and other businesses to go forward and it has compelled them to join hands with other parties. In such circumstances, cross border transactions have emerged as an amazing solution. Cross Border Mergers and Acquisitions are one of the fastest ways of investing abroad and gaining access to companies that are acquired abroad by way of market share. They, in turn, account for a huge amount of FDI. In the past 25 years, there have been two major waves surging Cross Border M&A transactions. The first wave was in the late 1980s, and the second, a big cross border buying spree was in the latter half of the 1990s. The global economy experienced relatively high economic growth and widespread industrial restructuring, during both these waves of CBMA. Cross Border M&As can yield dividends, in terms of company performance and profits as well as benefits for home and host countries, when successful industrial restructuring leads to greater efficiency without undue market concentration. Despite their enormous benefits to both the parties involved in such transactions, some essential factors like culture, tax treaties, corporate governance are not to be overlooked, while carrying out such transactions as they play an essential role in both success and failure of CBMA’s. The three sectors that have gained prominence in cross border transactions are IT, banking and pharmaceuticals. Apart from developed countries like the US and the UK, even emerging economies like India, China, Korea, and Hong Kong are playing an important role by way of their participation in cross border deals as both an acquirer and the targeted. This book attempts to introduce the readers to the concept of cross border transactions and their significance in a global competitive world. It is divided into two sections – the first section “Perspectives” discusses the cross border transactions from global perspectives. It further discusses the importance of integration, globalization and culture in success and failure of such deals. The second section “Cases” discusses the experiences of various companies in entering into such deals and the synergies they obtained along with the problems they faced in those deals.
530 81-314-0839-6 Indian Railways: Changing tracks for the better www.nbcindia.com Economy Rashmi Joshi 17-Sep-07 276 18 450 0 0 The Indian Railways, from its modest beginning in 1853, has gradually grown to become the world’s largest monopolized railway network. With a sprawling network covering over 60,000 km of track, an annual passenger load in excess of 4855 millions and ability to efficiently transport freight to the remotest parts of the country, Railways are clearly India’s lifeline. The book highlights the growth of the Railways from the time it was formed after amalgamating the forty-two rail-systems that existed at the time of independence, into a single unit. The recent transformation of the Indian Railways from a much-maligned and loss-making public enterprise to an awesome, technology savvy, fast-moving and profit-making juggernaut has been particularly impressive, in view of its innate systemic complexity. This book charts the remarkable journey for the reader by first providing a detailed retrospective, addressing the contributory factors responsible for the organization’s downward trend, as well as outlining the restructuring initiatives and reform processes undertaken after the turn of the century to arrest the slide. Particular emphasis has been laid here on the e-governance initiatives undertaken by the Railways for better management of the passenger and freight services. Research scholars, management students and policy analysts will find fascinating the analysis of the meteoric transition from different perspectives to explain the extraordinary turnaround in the performance of the Indian Railways.
531 81-314-0822-1 Human Capital Measurement-II Tier Measures – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sangeetha K 17-Sep-07 280 18 450 0 0 In the current business scenario of global competition and knowledge economy, effective human capital performance in an organization, enables great success in the marketplace and profit maximization for shareholders. This makes Human Capital management an important part of HR Department. The human capital II-tier measures are the soft or the next common human capital measures that impact a company’s financial success. Measuring human capital using the above core set of measures enables an organization track its human capital management and HR programs that relentlessly drive corporate results. Effective human capital II-tier measurement proffers valuable strategic information that predicts the company’s future performance and provides a distinctive competitive business advantage in the marketplace in terms of both tangibles and intangibles. Organizations that have installed systems for human capital management and measurement systems for measuring the human capital II-tier measures have an excellent and consistent workforce performance and ROI. In a nutshell, the underlying principle behind the success of any global organization is competent management and effective measurement of its human capital, which lead to productivity, innovation and profit. This book “Human Capital Measurement: II-Tier Measures – An Introduction” provides a lucid exposition of the role played by Human Capital II-Tier measurement in bringing HR closer to its strategic role in the creation of human work performance excellence and in maximization of shareholders’ profit.
532 81-314-0684-9 Fuzzy Object-Oriented Database Systems www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Prabin Kumar Panigrahi 17-Sep-07 292 18 450 20.5 525 Dr. Prabin K Panigrahi is a Faculty Member in the area of Information Systems at Indian Institute of Management, Indore. He is also Chairman, Information Systems area of the Institute. He is an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur and an active researcher. This book addresses some of the issues in modeling and implementing object-oriented database systems in a complex and uncertain environment. The book proposes a new modeling technique that incorporates fuzziness in object-oriented data model and describes its implementation aspects. Ø The scope of application of the book includes the field of office automation systems, decision support systems, geographic information systems, environment pollution information systems and expert database systems. Ø The book not only addresses the conceptual and modeling issues like semantics of algebra and indexing techniques, but also the cost implementation of the fuzzy object-oriented database systems. Ø It is hoped that this book will be of interest to researchers, students, faculty members, corporate planners and IT consulting companies. Ø The book, with its key focus on fuzzy object-oriented database systems, covers a wide array of subjects that include: q A survey of fuzzy relational as well as fuzzy object-oriented database systems q Various issues of object-oriented database systems handling complex applications q A methodology for describing a conceptual model of a fuzzy object-oriented database System q Algebra for fuzzy object-oriented database language q Fuzzy path dictionary index: a new access technique for a fuzzy object-oriented database system Ø The scope of the book covers conceptual as well as application based approach in understanding fuzzy object-oriented database systems. Ø The book highlights the direction of future research on fuzzy object-oriented database systems.
533 81-314-0824-8 Services Marketing – A Multi Dimensional Approach www.nbcindia.com Marketing Pramod Rao Sarika Gadhawe 17-Sep-07 276 18 450 0 0 A well-functioning services sector is the key to the overall performance of the economy and welfare of citizens. Services comprise different economic activities and thus act as a catalyst for the growth of other sectors in the business world. The boom in services sector is the outcome of developments like growing digitization of services; development of broadband networks; changing business models triggered by technological advances; emergence of global labor market and changing roles of Government and private sectors. The ability to deliver services on line has opened up new global opportunities for service providers. Technological developments have made these service businesses independent and facilitated them to compete for markets beyond their immediate catchment areas. The book delves into the forces behind the sudden spurt and growth of services sector. The book consists of diverse articles bound up with the central theme of Services marketing. It takes a multi dimensional look at the changing silhouette of service sector. The significant aspects covered in the book are globalization of services, export of services, services supply chain management, quality audit in service sector and new service development. The book uncovers a few novel topics that are discussed below: * Component Business Modeling (CBM) is a new approach that provides a useful framework for better understanding what an institution has – and thus for identifying the real differentiating assets of the institution. It is an insightful and different way to rethink business models and processes. * Daly’s framework helps grasp the key issues and challenges in marketing services internationally. The article also gives considerable attention to the need to adapt to the domestic Marketing Mix in International Markets. * Integrated extension services like ITC’s e-Choupal which provide the best of technology that is customized to meet the day-to-day needs of the farmers.
534 81-314-0823-X Web 2.0 – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Ravi Kumar Jain B 17-Sep-07 252 17 425 0 0 The growing ubiquity and pervasiveness of the web in day-to-day life of humans is having a profound impact on the way people socialize, network, communicate and collaborate on the web. Accelerated by the increasing activities on the Internet, coupled with path breaking innovation in web technologies, the web is transforming itself from being a sedate online publishing medium to a dynamic platform for collaboration. The emergence and wide acceptance of the new genre of web technologies, such as social networking, social bookmarking, wikis, blogs, podcasts, web communities etc., imply a significant change in the web usage. Encompassing these changes, the web has naturally evolved into its next generation, popularly known as ‘Web 2.0’. Web 2.0 is a set of economic, social, and technology trends that collectively form the basis for the next generation of the web – a more mature, distinctive medium characterized by user participation, openness, and network effects. Web 2.0 has emerged as a success in providing various services on the Internet, which helps the people in sharing the files and contributing their knowledge and views. The most popular Web 2.0 application examples are Flickr, Napster, Wikipedia and BitTorrent etc. The capabilities of real time collaboration provided by Web 2.0 have made them the most sought-after technologies in community building applications, search engines and lots of other e-business applications on the web today. Web 2.0 is about the maturity of the web and businesses that are thriving online. Thus, it makes an interesting topic for every citizen of this electronic world to understand and appreciate this new phenomenon on the web. This book presents interesting insights into the concepts, evolution, technologies, applications, and issues and risks related to Web 2.0.
535 81-314-0831-0 Value Creation In Organisations – the Tangible And Intangible Drivers www.nbcindia.com Management Gopala Krishna Murthy G 17-Sep-07 268 17 425 0 0 The basic objective of every organization is to create value for its owners. Nowadays, organizations are developing strategies to optimize value, which they can capture from products and services, while minimizing the risk. Increasing competition has led to shorter time-to-market cycles and customers are becoming more demanding in terms of quality. This has forced enterprises to adopt business models that provide operational efficiency and add strategic value to their offering. The value creation process is the bridge built between the purpose of an organization and the value it created. The process and function of value creation encompasses business strategies, management strategies in the domains of customer relations, market orientation, technology, knowledge management, human capital, knowledge process outsourcing, innovation, brand value, employee relations, social, environmental and community factors. Profitability and growth for an organization on a long-term basis can be achieved by developing a continuous chain of products and services for a specific customer segment with unique features. In other words, an organization should put in place a sustainable value creation process. The ability to develop processes adaptable to the market dynamics and emerging advancements in technology is considered to be the core competency that creates value for an organization, which, in turn, stems from the employee motivation and capabilities. This book attempts to capture the whole gamut of ‘value creation’ having various facets and dimensions and showcase them under two broad perspectives, viz., ‘the tangible’ and the ‘intangible’, taking an overview of the business dimensions, the intellectual and people dimensions and the social and ethical dimensions of value creation. If organisations succeed in creating value, not only the investors, but the society at large would be benefited.
536 81-314-0836-1 Global Civil Society: Perspectives and Initiatives www.nbcindia.com Society and Development Azmal Hussain Santap Sanhari Mishra 17-Sep-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 In modern welfare states, the aim of government is to provide good governance. But it does not mean that, government will be overburdened. Again, good governance, which is, maximum development for majority population should be the ultimate end. So the rolling back of the state from major sectors is a viable alternative for effective socio-economic development. This retreat of state has opened floodgates for Civil Society Organizations (CSOs). In an interventionist welfare state lines dividing the civil and political societies get increasingly blurred. Without entering into a deeper debate, one should safely assume that the civil society should compliment the state if desirable, collaborate if possible, and confront if necessary. The idea and the role of civil society have been recognised in the past two decades with the wave of democratization. Civil Society is composed of groups and associations organised voluntarily, devoted to the cause of collective good, independent of state and of any other vested interest. The concept highlights the role of citizens, their action groups and mission-driven community organisations as vibrant modes of people’s participation. CSOs, all over the world treat people’s participation as a tool to fight against socio-economic ills. With this background, this book is an attempt to illustrate the concept of civil society and its intervention in socio-economic fields, by taking experiences from some countries around the world.
537 81-314-0827-2 Managing Overweight and Obesity www.nbcindia.com Strategic Management Azmal Hussain 17-Sep-07 224 15.5 400 0 0 The global nutrition transition and the accompanying surge of obesity and diet related diseases pose a serious threat that deserves immediate attention. Specifically, the nutrition transition manifested by overweight and obesity is associated with increasingly escalated rates of different non-communicable diseases and excessive increase in associated healthcare costs. The book is expected to provide an insight into the above nutritional intricacies mainly triggered by economic and subsequent lifestyle changes and dietary transition resulting in overweight and obesity. An endeavor has been made through this book to capture some of the above issues that merit serious concern. The book focuses on the relatively recent emergency that will be brewing for many nations in the near future in the form of overweight and obesity. The contents of the book are especially sober and point to the complexity of nutritional issues related with dietary transition, overweight and obesity that confront us in this modern world. The book will be useful to researchers, healthcare professionals, policy planners, development professionals, nutritionists and dieticians.
538 81-314-0825-6 IT @ Financial Services – Insurance Industry www.nbcindia.com Finance Ravi Kumar Jain B Satish D 17-Sep-07 192 14.5 375 0 0 Companies that implement effective technology solutions can gain a competitive advantage in today’s environment. The proper use of technology can enhance a company’s competitive position. Services industry is one of the key sectors where IT can be exploited to its maximum potential. Substantial portion of delivering services involves a lot of information sharing and customer interaction. Thus, the role of IT becomes paramount in facilitating a smooth flow of information, providing multiple channels for customer interaction, generating business intelligence and envisaging innovative use of technology for future. Financial services industry is one of the industries that have embraced Information technology in a big way in recent times. The emerging information technologies are influencing the delivery channels of financial services. In recent years, significant changes in the insurance industry have been forcing insurance providers to find better ways of doing business. Like other financial services providers, insurers are identifying new methods of generating revenue, supporting existing business processes, and integrating emerging business processes. To remain competitive and improve profitability, it has become increasingly critical for insurers to consolidate their legacy systems and data. This book covers technology developments in the insurance industry, its various challenges, benefits and overall implications.
539 81-314-0829-9 Sports Management: Global and Indian Strategies www.nbcindia.com Management Prabha Shastri Ranade 7-Sep-07 276 18 450 0 0 Management in sports is emerging as a specialized and technical field these days. Considering the key role of sports in national life, its management assumes significance. Activities relating to sports and physical education are essential components of human resource development, helping to promote good health, comradeship and a spirit of friendly competition, which, in turn, have a positive impact on the overall development of personality of the youth. Excellence in sports enhances the sense of achievement, national pride and patriotism. Sports also provide beneficial recreation, improve productivity and foster social harmony and discipline. Several H R aspects of management like human capital, strategic planning, group dynamics, coaching strategies including leadership, motivation, communication and feedback, attitude, behavior and ethics are core to sports. To explore these dimensions becomes essential for the development of sports as a field. Considering India’s poor performance in international sports, H R aspects can be viewed analytically and strengthened for the growth and development of sports in India. The present book proposes to have an introductory look into the subject of sports, how H R aspects are interwoven into sports and policies framed for the game, with the basic theme of revolving around H R aspects in sports that help to make sports a better event and sportsperson a sports star. This book is divided into three sections. Section I represents an overview of sports in India, in which, it discusses sport infrastructure, initiatives, and organizations involved. Section II talks about the Human Resource (HR) aspects and application in sports. Section III explores strategies and policies of different countries like India, Australia, Europe, England and Canada for their country sports.
540 81-314-0854-X India Inc. Going Global: The M&A Way www.nbcindia.com Globalization Rajmanohar T P 7-Sep-07 252 17 425 0 0 Many Indian firms have chosen the Mergers and Acquisitions strategy to expand their business abroad. Tata’s acquisition of UK-based firm Tetley was India Inc’s first overseas big ticket acquisition. Since then, more firms have joined in the acquisition spree. Indian companies in every sector, be it FMCG/FMCD, IT, Pharma, Financial, Auto or Auto components, are acquiring firms abroad. Acquisition gives instant access to new products, markets, technologies, distribution network and well-established brands. In the past, a few Indian companies were acquired by foreign firms but now it is the turn of Indian companies to acquire firms abroad. This acquisition trend clearly shows the emergence of many Indian multinationals and their hunger for growth. It also shows the mettle of Indian firms whether in acquiring firms or turning them around. Acquisition does not come up the easy way. Indian companies have to compete with other contenders to bag the acquisitions. Once acquisition is over, the company has the task of absorbing the acquired company into its fold. Many Indian companies have stunned the corporate world by acquiring firms larger than their size. The book “India Inc.Going Global: The M&A Way” throws light on the current scenario in India Inc.’s overseas acquisitions, major acquisitions in a particular sector and companies’ experiences in acquiring firms abroad. This book will be of interest to business students, professors and corporate executives.
541 81-314-0840-X Vision and Mission Statements – Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Management Anitha Arunsimha 7-Sep-07 260 17 425 0 0 An interesting trend emerging in recent times is that companies have begun to define their vision and mission statement as a living document of the organization. They are lived and not framed as a plaque on the wall. It can be found that companies have started decorating their brochures and boardroom walls with grandiose vision and mission statements of global aspirations. Vision and Mission statements have now become an important part of strategy-making exercise and managements are taking pains to craft an effective statement as they form a basis for all tactical decisions. These statements have gained considerable significance as they provide direction and the focus for organizations. Vision Statement defines the destination and the mission statement defines the path to get there. They are envisaged through a strategic process and thus there is an alignment between the statements and business strategy. They are seen as the focal points of an organization, which unite the three main stakeholders – the committed customers, motivated employees and the satisfied resource providers and its usefulness is formulated when they are translated into a coherent set of performance measures. Companies without the vision and mission advantage survive. So what is this vision and mission advantage all about? The answer is the focus, flow and foundation that they capture which enable thriving instead of merely surviving. The book “Vision and Mission Statements – The Concepts of Corporate Identity” attempts a clear understanding of the concepts and values of vision and mission statements. The various dimensions of the statements are explored in the book to arrive at an understanding that these statements can be termed as a point of departure for business objectives to deliver productivity and efficiency. The book traces the wellbeing of an organization to its shared focus. Cases and experiences illustrate the benefits of the vision and the mission statements as corporate parameters in the reckoning and as human dimensions of problem solving.
542 81-314-0765-9 Mergers and Acquisitions: Strategies for Growth www.nbcindia.com Mergers & Acquisitions Preeti Phuskele 7-Sep-07 240 16.5 425 0 0 Managers and entrepreneurs around the world over aspire to growth – and, that too, in as short a span as possible. Mergers and acquisitions are two important vehicles for growth. Many managers feel that, in spite of favorable economic conditions, it is difficult to satisfy their desire of growth. Merger and acquisition is considered the fastest method to achieve growth. Studies prove that merger and acquisition can contribute to the growth of the organizations by enhancing any one or all of the following:· Quicker and cheaper growth;· Synergies of market size and distribution channels;· Easier finance;· Economies of scale;· Gaining customers;· Cost efficiencies;· Improved infrastructure.Nowadays, corporates have undertaken Merger and Acquisition activity as a business strategy for growth. Although success can never be guaranteed, increased size and reach to international market has proven to be advantageous. The success of merger mainly depends on the managers involved and on their strategy. Success is mainly dependent on the fact as to how well M&A is planned and implemented. Further, management should ensure the minimization of cultural differences in the merged company. Most of the M&As focus on reaping maximum benefit of synergies by integration. In the process, energized managers can create miracles with the help of synergies of increased manpower and advice of experts. This book covers the motivational aspect for the corporates and growth opportunities through Mergers and Acquisitions. It focuses on the ability of integration and effective planning as a key for the success of M&As. It is a collection of articles and cases which enrich one’s knowledge and also provide useful guidelines to young entrepreneurs.
543 81-314-0851-5 Forest Management: Innovative Practices www.nbcindia.com Management Azmal Hussain 7-Sep-07 188 14.5 375 0 0 Though forests have proved resilient to past changes in climate, today s fragmented and degraded forests are more vulnerable to various hazards. Large areas of natural forest ecosystems are being converted into industrial plantations in tropical, subtropical and temperate regions. Though society will continue to use various forest products, it is imperative that the immense importance of forest biodiversity in maintaining current levels of production in perpetuity, and in moderating the global climate should also be addressed simultaneously. Against this backdrop, an endeavor has been made to capture some of the aspects of forest management through this book, such as reducing trend of forest coverage, participatory forest management practices etc., which are having contemporary relevance. The book has captured some of the issues of contemporary concern in the perspective of forest management. It has also provided a glimpse of desirable practices helpful to those working in natural history, conservation and management of forest and wildlife. The different innovative practices exist around the globe have been extensively discussed in this book. New innovations like collaborative forest management, particularly in the context of Asian countries are expected to provide the readers a fresh outlook and a linear flow towards the understanding of contemporary forest management. Community-based forest management has been discussed in every possible detail, by presenting examples that spell out opportunities of success as well as challenges of shortcomings.
544 81-314-0589-3 Seasoned Adages for Modern Days Leaders www.nbcindia.com General Books Joan Marques 7-Sep-07 120 12.5 325 15 375 This book presents age-old sayings from a small country in South America, Suriname, where Amer-Indians, Indonesians, Africans, Europeans, and Indians created a distinctive culture of diversity, mutuality, and acceptance. Many of these sayings were developed in slavery time, when the oppressed groups wanted to communicate with each another without letting the Dutch masters know what their conversations were about. In this book, the sayings are explained as lessons for our daily life. Everyone who wants to expand their insights in life, and their knowledge on human nature can use them. These sayings are also important affirmations for leaders who want to enhance their emotional intelligence, in order to make more balance and perceptive decisions.
545 81-314-0757-8 Growth Strategies of Indian Pharma Companies www.nbcindia.com Pharma B Rajesh Kumar S M Satish 4-Sep-07 416 24.5 625 27 675 The pharmaceutical industry in India is one of the largest and most advanced among the developing countries. During the last three decades, Indian pharmaceutical industry achieved spectacular progress by any standard. India’s pharmaceutical industry has been transformed from a mere processing activity into a highly sophisticated industry, possessing advanced manufacturing technology, modern equipment and stringent quality control. This book discusses the strategic perspective of the growth of Indian pharma industry. It highlights some strategic models of growth of Indian pharma companies. The book also focuses in detail the strategies of growth of movers and shakers of Indian pharma companies and other star performers. The strategies of growth of healthcare players are also focused upon. Corporate restructuring activities like alliances, mergers and acquisitions in Indian pharma industry are discussed. The status scenario of research and development in the Indian pharma industry and the entire value chain of the drug discovery process are highlighted. The growth of biotech industry, generics market, vaccines and OTC market also form part of the discussion. The last part of the book focuses on the regulatory framework of the pharma industry including intellectual property rights.
546 81-314-0844-2 Rivers, Dams and Development: Issues and Dilemmas www.nbcindia.com Management Prabha Shastri Ranade 4-Sep-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 Dams have emerged as one of the most important tools for the management of rivers. More than 45,000 large dams around the world have played an important role in helping communities and economies harness water resources for food production, energy generation, flood control and domestic use. The benefits derived from large dams have made a significant contribution to human development. Floods have taken a large toll of human lives over the years and also caused large economic losses. World Bank is pushing construction of large dams. Along with dams, the river interlinking project is also under consideration in India. The more recent focus has been on the strategic development of sustainable irrigation practices within an Integrated Catchment Management context. World Commission on Dams (WCD) has suggested some recommendations and strategic priorities for the construction of dams. WCD report has proved to be important in reducing environmental and social challenges. This book aims at exploring the significance of rivers and dams from economic, ecological, social and cultural angles. The book tries to present general patterns and trends in the management of rivers as well as planning and operation of large dams. The central issues in the large dams debate – the benefits and adverse impacts – are also considered. The book is presented in three sections: “Rivers and Dams: An Overview”, “Key Issues” and “Country Experiences.”
547 81-314-0842-6 Job Sculpting: Concepts and cases www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sukhvinder Kaur Multani Harish R 4-Sep-07 212 15.5 400 0 0 Job Sculpting has been defined as the art of matching people to jobs to realize and identify their “deeply embedded life interests” that match their job profile. It is a highly useful tool to slow down employee attrition, which is a major problem faced by the organizations. The employee motivation is an issue that needs to be addressed on a priority, since it is the demotivated employees who are more prone to leave the company. The commitment and loyalty of the employees are diminishing in the present competitive world and hence, in such a situation, it becomes vital for the Human Resource managers to frame and implement suitable policies that can motivate employees. The employee retention is another key issue taken up in this book as the present global world is facing the problem of high cost of turnover due to high attrition rate. The implementation of effective retention strategies can bring down the attrition rate. The major factor that can retain the employees of an organization, other than money, is the work satisfaction that leads to job satisfaction. The employees who are satisfied and happy with their jobs will always produce at higher levels. This book “Job Sculpting: Concepts and Cases” has been divided into two sections. The first section is titled “Concepts” that best describes the concepts of Job Sculpting, Motivation and Retention. It stresses job sculpting as a tool in retention of employees. It further discusses the concepts of Employee Motivation and Retention. The motivated employees are less likely to leave a company and hence it will help in their retention. Thus, the two are closely related to each other. The second section is titled “Cases”, which discuss the retention strategies adopted by the firms like SAS and Sapient. It discusses their applicability to firms that want to lower the attrition rate.
548 81-314-0801-9 Leadership- A 360 Degree Appraisal www.nbcindia.com Leadership Kumar K B S 21-Aug-07 232 16 400 0 0 Leadership, stands as one of the most researched upon and written about topics. Yet, what makes a good leader is a debatable question. The research addressing this question is an ongoing process. Though the building blocks of leadership, viz., honesty, competency, visionary skills, inspiration, Intelligence, etc., remain intact, the style and behavior of the leader is certainly dynamic and ever changing according to the need of the hour. The leadership behavior while managing change is as different from the behavior while managing innovation, as is cheese from chalk. Likewise, the behavior of the leader is subject to change with the change in the agenda and the situation. And the managers must be abreast of these differences in the behavior and must be abreast with the desired behavior in each of the activities/situations, including managing change, managing innovation, managing crisis, communication, managing emotions, managing performance, motivation etc. This book discusses the roles, the skill sets and the behavior required of a leader while managing various situations like crisis, change, performance, innovation, emotions, communication etc. The focus is naturally on those behavioral aspects and skills.
549 81-314-0815-9 Advances in Business and Finance Studies, 2006- Volume II: Corporate Finance www.nbcindia.com Finance Hilda Amalraj Nupur Hetamsaria 21-Aug-07 176 15.5 400 0 0 This volume of the conference proceedings includes papers concerning the Corporate Finance practices of the companies and their impact on the performance or the share prices of the companies. The papers range from the impact of dividend policy, share buy-back or mergers and acquisition policies on the share prices, to the determinants of the Capital structure of Indian Pharmaceutical Companies. Issues like the Corporate Environmental Reporting Expectation Gap and the information contained in corporate bond rating changes relating to firms’ future earnings and dividends have been empirically tested. With information flowing at the speed of thought, the businesses can no longer afford to ignore the impact of its various actions on the share prices of the companies. Measures like EVA and MVA which have become really important while looking at the performance of a company have also been studied in one of the papers, and their relationships with various other measures of performance have been explored. In another study, whether there is a financial constraint in the firms at Oman—a country where banks are flush with funds, and surpluses exist with financial institutions and institutional investors, has been investigated. Whether there is a decline in macro credit by the banks leading to delinking bank credit support on the basis of nature of the firm or industry has also been studied.
550 81-314-0832-9 Ergonomics: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sanjeev Kumar Singh 21-Aug-07 212 15.5 400 0 0 Ergonomics is that branch of science which seeks to turn human-machine antagonism into human machine synergy. Ergonomics is more than improving health and safety, illness and injury through redesign of the workplace. It is simultaneously concerned with business efficiency optimization, improving productivity and cost-effectiveness through optimizing the match between the systems (organizations, environments – physical, psychological and social) and the people for the mutual benefit of all. Ergonomists contribute to the design of tasks, jobs, products and environments in order to make them compatible with the needs, abilities and limitations of people. Ergonomics has three well-recognized domains – Physical Ergonomics, Cognitive Ergonomics and Organizational Ergonomics. Organizational Ergonomics covers optimization of socio-technical systems, organizational structures, policies and processes in communication, work design, team work, participatory design, co-operative work and management. The book focuses on the various dimensions of ergonomics, to provide the readers a bird s eye view of ergonomics in the form of well-written articles by experts in a synchronized format. The book will cater to the needs of practicing managers, management experts, employers, employees, health personnel, policy makers as well as ergonomists, environmental and OH specialists.
551 81-314-0859-0 Vendor Managed Inventory – New Insights www.nbcindia.com IT Jaya Krishna S 21-Aug-07 224 15.5 400 0 0 Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) is a collaborative and innovative approach to inventory management. It focuses on effective handling and managing inventory by the supplier or vendor that leads to operational excellence, which result in improved business performance in terms of time, cost and service. As the value of collaborative commerce in supply chains, is being increasingly recognized as crucial to excel, the practice ‘Vendor Management Inventory’ has gained significance in manufacturing firms across various industries as well as the retail businesses. Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI) has at present gained the power and support to deliver its ‘true’ promise. While VMI relationships ware mostly confined between component vendors and the Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs), the need to adopt VMI practice has extended to both up and down streams of the value chain. At present, VMI is predominantly practiced across the supply chain to ensure Efficient Customer Response (ECR). This practice is likely to further diffuse to a new set of industries. As its adoption continues to grow, the changing business environment poses a new set of challenges for a successful implementation of VMI. This book, at large, provides insights into various concepts, perspectives and experiences relating to the Vendor Managed Inventory practice. It will be a useful reference primarily to those practitioners involved in the inventory planning and replenishment across the supply chain functions, such as, sourcing, manufacturing, distribution or retailing. The book is expected to be of interest to the supply chain professionals at all levels particularly, in manufacturing and retailing environments, while offering learning value to the students, academicians and other related professionals.
552 81-314-0850-7 Social Security Administration In India – a Study Of Provident Funds And Pension Scheme www.nbcindia.com General Madhava Rao P 16-Aug-07 332 21.5 550 24 600 Social Security in India has been under serious discussion for the last ten years. The approaches of Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG), and the resultant impact on labour and financial markets have made many thinkers re-look at the social security systems available in India. Ironically, the place where everybody’s looks have stopped at, is the Employees Provident Fund Organization (EPFO), under the Ministry of Labour, Government of India, that extends social security benefits in the form of old-age income, disability and survivors’ benefit. The organization has been criticized for its inefficiencies, in terms of its benefit delivery, coverage and financial management. At the same time, discussions on social security provision for the informal sector have been geared up. While seriously looking into the provident funds and pension administration in India through the EPFO, the book traces the history of social security in India and the world. It discusses the holistic and conceptual aspects of social security in relation to practical administrative mechanisms and shows a direction for a comprehensive social security for the Indian working population, documents the development of social security movement in India and advocates building of capabilities of individuals and institutions for a better protection. It is hoped that researchers, policy-makers, experts, administrators and beginners in social security will find this book instructive as well as interesting.
553 81-314-0736-5 Competitive Advantage: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com General Books Reena Poddar Sarika Gadhawe 16-Aug-07 280 18 450 0 0 As global competition invades more and more markets, established companies are fighting tougher and tougher battles against commoditization. Management teams are asking themselves: How can our company continue to differentiate itself from our competitors? They struggle to discover and implement strategies of competition that are unique and distinctive from those of rivals, and that can be sustained over time. Thus the endeavor is to achieve competitive advantage. Sustainable competitive advantage is an advantage that one firm has, relative to competing firms. The Competitive advantage over competitors can be gained by offering consumers greater perceived value, either through lower prices or greater benefits. It may stem from the many discrete activities a firm performs in designing, producing, marketing, delivering, and supporting its product. To be really effective, the advantage must be; § difficult to mimic § unique § sustainable § superior to the competition This book familiarizes the readers with various sources that can be nurtured into competitive advantage. It provides valuable learning on strategies adopted in the company’s specific case studies to manage competitive advantage. It highlights management practices from the business world that enable companies to gain competitive advantage over their competitors.
554 81-314-0767-5 People Management: Perspectives and Practices www.nbcindia.com Management Bharti Thakar 16-Aug-07 260 17 425 0 0 People management is an integral part of progress; as centuries have evolved from the Stone Age, when people left home in search of food, thereafter constructed monuments, to the present times known popularly as the knowledge age. Centuries before Christ, the mobility of people caused changes to happen; the Great Wall of China was built and the Pyramids were constructed. Changes continued even centuries after Christ, as evidenced by the building of the Eiffel tower and the construction of the Tajmahal. The environmental and economic changes led to major changes in the profile of the employee. The industrial revolution and technological advancement brought a steady evolution. People management changed in its matter and manner from welfare to training to industrial relation, personnel management and human resource management and to the present customized practices. People management changed as per the circumstances and the needs of the times; from the employers’ side as well as that of the employees. The journey has been an extensive, beautiful phenomenon in itself. The book presents issues which will take the reader on the evolution journey toward the future with various studies on fundamental theories on people management and is reinforced with the experiences of people management in certain industries like the Information Technology industry, the Police department and the insurance industry. Through its three sections; Evolution, Studies and Experiences, the reader gets sufficient insight into the world of people management.
555 81-314-0807-8 Social Banking: Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Banking Amandio F C Da Silva 16-Aug-07 240 16.5 425 0 0 Social banking may have different meanings around the world, but it always aims at helping the needy and uplifts the poor in society. This implies that banks must lend for a cause rather than for profits. It is “banking for the poor, rather than poor banking”. In developed countries, it is composed mainly of community banks that help the needy members of the same community, but in poor countries it has a much larger significance. In India, social banking had been the domain of nationalized banks for long, but, of late, even private banking companies have entered the field and proved that they can still make profits while serving a social cause. NABARD has been in the field of social banking for long, but the coverage of banking in the rural areas is very poor. Much needs to be done. Banks alone cannot reach every nook and corner of a large country like India, and the help of self-help groups, NGOs, private societies, microfinance institutions, etc., is required. The government has formed Regional Rural Banks, rural co-operative banks etc. But as social banking entails losses, these banks have started entering more profitable areas of banking and competing with the commercial banks in order to show profits in their financial statements. This has eroded the very concept for which they were formed. The book also narrates the case of Grameen Bank of Bangladesh and its contribution for the upliftment of poverty in the region. The methods used by its founder Mohammed Yunus in Bangladesh could be used in India in order to expand the reach of social banking.
556 81-314-0624-5 TRIPS and Global Pharmaceutical Industry: Perspectives and Implications www.nbcindia.com Industry Manish Ashiya 16-Aug-07 236 16 400 0 0 The Global Pharmaceutical Industry is greatly impacted by provisions of Trade Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS). This industry became the centre of controversy over the conflict of right to health and right to patents. In Brazil and South Africa, governments tried to save their populace from AIDS epidemic and were forced to violate patents over AIDS drugs. Since this trigger, a lot of debate and numerous writings have come up on the subject. This book covers various facets of the debate. The book sets the background to the controversy by talking about health policy concerns and its linkages to pharmaceutical industry. Then, the book discusses the various events, which helped the legal framework of TRIPS to evolve. Various provisions of TRIPS are also discussed. The book covers in detail various issues that were discussed or rather debated after the controversy. They include high drug prices and access to medicines, problem of counterfeit drugs, data exclusivity, frivolous patent extensions, bilateral agreements in a multilateral framework of WTO, proposal for a new R&D treaty (Medical Research and Development Treaty) and, last, but not the least – Promoting and building domestic drug manufacturing capacity. The book captures the debate and discussion surrounding the issue and provides valuable insights into the phenomenon.
557 81-314-0793-4 Through A Glass Wall www.nbcindia.com Political Economy Arvind Sivaramakrishnan 16-Aug-07 192 16 400 18.5 475 This selection of the author’s articles and short papers from The Hindu and other periodicals dates from May 1997 onwards and covers topics in politics, political economy, civil society, and the state. The international coverage includes the United Kingdom and the European Union in domestic and international affairs; the section on political economy includes articles on privatization and disaster management respectively, and the coverage of India reviews several recent publications on Indian politics and political life. The concluding section is on wider issues of the state, civil society, and constitutionality. The book, which includes some updated material, is intended for an educated general readership, and is likely to be of interest to journalists and trainee journalists, teachers and students of the social sciences, and serving professionals in the public and private sectors.
558 81-314-0826-4 Investor Relations www.nbcindia.com Finance Anand M S 16-Aug-07 120 12.5 325 15 375 Investor Relations (IR) is probably one of the most exciting professions, seated at the heart of the company, as it is an integral part of the corporate strategy to seek better valuations and gain visibility in the market place. It is indeed a high-profile profession with little margin for error. The book “Investor Relations” provides a valuable perspective of the development of IR profession on the domestic front with the advent of the institutional investors, particularly the FIIs. This book provides useful insights into the IR profession that is catching up. It is expected to be resourceful to the entrepreneurs, the fund managers, the analysts (on both the buy-side and the sell-side), and the IR Professionals (IRPs), for it focuses on the emerging trend and gives a complete picture of the IR activity in companies industry-wise. “Investor Relations” may be considered a unique book in several ways. Firstly, it is written by a person with a diverse background with deep, free hand knowledge of how this emerging industry works. Secondly, it brings to light the survey results conducted confidentially in companies across the industries. Finally, it speaks equally to an informed as well as an uninformed reader, taking very clear positions on important issues that affect the Investor Relations Profession.
559 81-314-0814-0 Business Process Outsourcing – Growth and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com BPO/Outsourcing Rajmanohar T P Sivarajadhanavel P 1-Aug-07 260 17 425 0 0 Outsourcing is a concept which is fast gaining acceptance from all sectors of business. The outsourcing concept has existed for about 30 years but it came into prominence only around 25 years ago. The manufacturing industry in USA was the first to adopt outsourcing due to the strong dollar and competition from other countries. The next major development was the beginning of the call center industry and the shifting of this industry to offshore destinations like India and Phillipines. Around ten years after this, came the knowledge process outsourcing industry, including offshore destinations, which is growing at a very fast pace. The next important development was the outsourcing of business processes called “business process transformation outsourcing”. The first major player in the offshore business process outsourcing industry was India. This was mainly due to the availability of English language skills and educated low cost manpower in the country. However, other countries followed suit and the next major player is Philippines whose English language skills are better than India. It also has a huge manpower with accountancy skills. China too is likely to become a major player especially for Asian language business process outsourcing. The Dalian region in China has people who know Chinese, Korean and Japanese and it is becoming a hub for BPO operations in China. Other countries like Sri Lanka, South Africa are also in the process of becoming BPO hubs. This book traces the evolution and growth of the outsourcing industry from manufacturing to service. It delves into the practice of outsourcing related to manufacturing, BPO, and KPO business process transformation. It also discusses the experiences of various countries in the outsourcing business.
560 81-314-0747-0 Neural Network: Concepts and Implementations www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Sashikala Parimi Elizabeth Raju 1-Aug-07 204 15 375 0 0 Artificial neural network, in short, ‘Neural Network’, is a network of simple processing units called artificial neurons, which simulate the functioning of human brain – an awe-inspiring creation on Earth. Neural network is used in artificial intelligence and has been traditionally been viewed as a simplified model of neural processing in the brain. Neural networks have a remarkable ability to derive meaning from complicated and imprecise data. They can be utilized to extract patterns and detect trends that are too complex to be deciphered either by human beings or computer devices. Though network simulations have been taken cognizance of in the recent past, the phenomenon was well established even before the advent of computers. In the terminology of currently available software packages, these artificial neurons are called “processing elements” and have many more capabilities than the simple artificial neurons. The potential and usefulness of artificial neural networks have been demonstrated in several applications, including speech synthesis, diagnostic problems, medicine, business and finance, robotic control, signal processing, computer vision and many other areas that fall under the category of pattern recognition. In some application areas, neural models show promise in achieving human-like performance and reveal an edge over traditional artificial intelligence techniques. The book will serve as a curtain raiser for the concept of neural network covering a brief history, stages of development, and its architecture. It also provides some cases and applications of the concept including its importance, the range of coverage in terms of applications and its utility in areas where complex thinking and analysis is required. It is hoped that the book will trigger the study of the subject in all its ramifications.
561 81-314-0740-3 Transformational Leadership www.nbcindia.com Management Mrudula E 1-Aug-07 200 15 375 0 0 Every organization needs an individual who can effectively lead and transform it with the objectives of increasing productivity, reducing absenteeism, reducing turnover and thereby also increasing the morale and performance of employees to a higher level than what is expected of them. Such leaders who fulfill the above mentioned aims are called transformational leaders. It is basically an extension of traditional transactional leadership style. These leaders have a clear vision, focus on long-term objectives, make full use of resources, and make the job of the followers more realistic and challenging to achieve high performance levels. They also possess, in turn, certain qualities of charismatic leadership style. They have the energy and enthusiasm to transform the organization and any leader who does not want to transform his organization or achieve any long-term goals but goes on as it is, gets frustrated and such leaders or followers cannot survive for a long time at one place. Some of the best examples of leaders who transformed their organizations and became successful in achieving their objectives are Jack Welch, Michael Dell, Jeff Bezos, and Steve Jobs. This book “Transformational Leadership” discusses what transformational leadership is, its strengths, its weaknesses, its principles and the four factors of transformational leadership. It further discusses the behavior of transformational leadership unique to Indian culture. It examines how various approaches enrich the study of gender and transformational leadership. In addition, it describes how each well-known leader transformed his organization with his leadership qualities. Some of the successful transformational leaders discussed in this book are Lee-Iaccoca, Jack Welch, Lou Gerstner, Lord John Brown, Lee Kuan Yew and the Dalai Lama.
562 81-314-0817-5 Multisourcing – Concepts and Applications www.nbcindia.com BPO/Outsourcing Jaya Krishna S 1-Aug-07 180 14 350 0 0 Multi-sourcing is the management and assignment of different business processes or functions among multiple outsourcing vendors. With multi-sourcing approach, multiple suppliers are leveraged to do away with ‘lock-in’ and get the so-called best-of-breed advantages. The need for an alternate, reliable and promising strategy to optimize cost, value and service is strengthening the significance of multi-sourcing. This book throws light on the shift in outsourcing practice, i.e., moving from mega-outsourcing to multi-vendor outsourcing and, at large, focuses on the concept, significance, applications, issues, risks, challenges and management perspectives of ‘Multi-vendor Outsourcing’ or Multi-sourcing. The book aims to sensitize the respective professionals/community with the concept and value of ‘multi-sourcing,’ while offering several best practices for its effective management. At large, this book makes every possible attempt to act as a ready reckoner for the prospective readers, such as senior executives, service providers and other outsourcing professionals, while offering learning value to the academicians and students in B-schools.
563 81-314-0758-6 Marketing Strategies of Urban Women Entrepreneurs www.nbcindia.com Management Sunanda Easwaran 31-Jul-07 272 17 425 19.5 500 The study of entrepreneurship, in spite of its origins in the 19th century, has been rather limited. The study of women entrepreneurs, in particular, is of a relatively recent origin. It was probably felt that the contributions of women entrepreneurs to the economy were not significant enough to warrant independent study. With the entry of women into the economic world, things have changed. The boundaries that hitherto sharply defined the gender roles have lost their significance to some extent; the time has come to try and determine gender-based differences, if any, in the entire process of entrepreneurship and small business development. In India, the study of women’s enterprise has long straddled the two perspectives of entrepreneurship and women’s integration into the mainstream economic activity. Participation of Indian women in direct economic activity is a relatively recent phenomenon, except in the cases of the rural and the urban poor. Entrepreneurship and small business are attractive and practicable for both men and women. Entrepreneurship is additionally attractive to women, as it enhances their self-esteem and personal freedom, while offering the opportunity to balance family life and work. However, in the context of their traditional socialization, they have to resolve many personal and social issues before becoming entrepreneurs. This book is an attempt to define the demographic profile of the typical middle-income urban woman entrepreneurs. It examines the issue of priority of their business, determines the levels of their professionalism, and assesses its impact on the marketing strategies and resultant growth of their business. There is a dearth of details in entrepreneurship literature with regard to the managerial/marketing activities and orientations and the impact of enterprise training. It is all the more so in the context of Indian women entrepreneurs. Apart from the exploration of the women entrepreneurs’ networks and their impact on the business, this book has tried to assess their contributions to Indian economy. More than anything else, the book has attempted to bring in a managerial rather than a sociological orientation to their efforts. It is hoped that the book will be of great value to those who are interested in the study of specific segments of entrepreneurs.
564 81-314-0739-X Disruptive Technologies: Concepts and Applications www.nbcindia.com Management Srikanth A Anand C 31-Jul-07 200 15 375 0 0 Disruptiveness involves taking a radically different approach compared to the traditional approach employed by companies or firms, to gain a competitive advantage. Disruptive Technologies (DTs) are those that render the established technologies obsolete, and, therefore, destroy the value of the investments that incumbents have made in those technologies. Disruptive innovation is an innovation that is highly discontinuous or revolutionary in nature rather than evolutionary or incremental. Disruptive innovations occur in small, new markets in which large companies are not interested. Disruption can be in many forms: An innovative product, distribution and business model using different disruptive technologies. Some of the disruptive products include, iPod, VoIP Network, open source software, nanotechnology, micro machines, E-learning, nano-solar products, digital technology, millimeter scale robots and so on. Disruptive Technologies have many roles to play in future and are likely to change the world. But many of them are still in research phase and may not survive. But those, which survive, are likely to ultimately displace many older technologies and bring new values to different markets. This book deals with the concepts of DTs, and provides a glimpse of experiences of DTs in various fields like, electronics, wireless telecommunications, education, biology, defense and so on. The book will be useful to corporate managers, researchers, professionals, business school teachers, students and many others in the relevant fields.
565 81-314-0796-9 Talent Crunch: Issues and Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Mrudula E 25-Jul-07 268 17 425 0 0 Talent Crunch refers to the lack of skilled manpower. This deficiency is a major problem the companies are facing in today’s environment. Companies are trying to attract and retain their employees in all possible ways, but still the problem of shortage is never ending. This deficiency is observed in sectors like IT/BPO, Aviation, Animation, and Tourism. It may be because of many reasons like poaching, aging problem, unmotivated, and untrained labor force. Even the countries that have a huge population and a good skilled workforce like India and China are also facing this problem. The main reason may be due to the lack of adequate educational facilities in the home country, migration etc. It is, therefore, necessary that the government and the employer take necessary steps to reduce this problem and beat the shortage of skills and talent successfully. This book “Talent Crunch” discusses how to beat the shortage of skills and talent. The book also discusses the reasons for shortage of talent and skills, strategies HR managers implement in overcoming this deficiency. It further discusses in detail the role of government, employer and employee in overcoming this problem. The book examines the experiences of sectors – IT/BPO, Aviation, Tourism and Advertising and the necessary steps they have taken to defeat the problem. The book discusses the experiences of countries like china, India, Europe, and the US. It highlights the fact that in spite of having a huge population and a good skilled manpower, those countries face the problem of shortage and it also depicts the steps their governments or the organizations in those countries have taken to overcome it.
566 81-314-0769-1 Special Purpose Vehicle: Concepts and Applications www.nbcindia.com Finance Vandana Shajan 25-Jul-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 Special Purpose Vehicle is a very common finance model nowadays. An SPV or a Special Purpose Entity (SPE) is a legal entity created by a firm (known as the sponsor or originator) by transferring assets to the SPV, to carry out some specific purpose, or a series of such transactions. SPVs have no purpose other than the object for which they are created, and they can make no substantive decisions, the rules governing them are set down in advance and their activities are carefully outlined. The SPV is usually a subsidiary company with an asset/liability structure and legal status that make its obligations secure, even if the parent company goes bankrupt. A corporation can use such a vehicle to finance a large project without putting the entire firm at risk. The gradual recognition and increasing importance of the SPV model for project conception, initiation and implementation deserve a detailed study.
567 81-314-0788-8 Training and Development: Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Kumar K B S 25-Jul-07 172 13.5 350 0 0 Training no more remains an administrative formality. Training today is treated as a part of the strategic imperatives of an organization. The organizations treat training as a continual practice, unlike the earlier times, when training was synonymous with employee induction program. With the popularity of practices like continuous improvement, continuous learning, etc., and with increasing competition at the global level, training has assumed paramount importance across the corporate world. However, the training intensities and practices vary significantly from country to country and from culture to culture. While the companies in a few countries view training as a potential avenue for investment, for others it is yet a substantial challenge. Considering the growing need for training at workplaces and varying trends in training and development across the countries, it is essential to gather learning from the cross-country training experiences. This book promotes Training and Development as a strategic tool and presents T&D practices prevailing across the globe.
568 81-314-0759-4 Indian Corporates: Ethics, Governance and Social Responsibility www.nbcindia.com General Books Neeta Sinha 24-Jul-07 252 17 425 0 0 Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has become the password not only to overcome competition but also to ensure sustainable growth. It has also been supported by the shareholders and the stakeholders encompassing the whole community. ‘Corporate Virtue is in’ is the slogan, as it offers so many advantages including a hike in profits. Not only that, leading Indian business houses are now witnessing a resurgence of values and ethics and in the long run, help reverse recession. Ethical values are receiving a paramount importance in business discourse today more than ever before. With the rising competition, it has become important to ensure good corporate governance to achieve optimum productivity as well as a healty internal environment. CSR is the point of convergence of various initiatives aimed at ensuring socio-economic development of the community, which would be livelihood oriented in a credible and sustainable manner. The book looks into the issues of Corporate Social Responsibility, Ethics and Governance from the Indian industries point of view.
569 81-314-0772-1 The Icfai Dictionary of Customer Relationship Management Terms www.nbcindia.com Management Pradeep Kumar 19-Jul-07 260 18.5 475 0 0 The Icfai Dictionary of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Terms is addressed to students, teachers, practitioners and general readers who want to follow CRM discussions in the class and elsewhere, or whose daily work demands some familiarity with terminology of Customer Relationship Management, CRM in marketing, CRM and customer services, sales force automation, CRM in e-Business, analytical CRM, planning CRM Program, choosing CRM Tools, managing CRM Project, evaluating CRM and advances in CRM etc. The dictionary also addresses terms from the conceptual level to the advanced level in a precise manner. It aims to provide a comprehensive companion to support other reading in a discipline, which employs remarkably similar terminology. This dictionary is a guide to the main ideas and teaching connected to the basics of and advances in CRM. The book is designed in such a way that it covers the salient facts and features of various points of CRM and also explores CRM development from technology and business perspectives. Over 2000 entries define and explain clearly the salient facts within the context of Customer Relationship Management. Its store of up-to-date information will, it is hoped, appeal to active managers, teachers and students of marketing, information technology and operations.
570 81-314-0821-3 Wireless Networking – Wi-Fi and WiMAX www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Ravi Kumar Jain B 19-Jul-07 276 18 450 0 0 In this digital era, telecommunications and networking technologies are instrumental in enabling people and businesses across the globe to interconnect and transact, shrinking the physical world into a global digital village. However, even after a decade of active proliferation, this connectivity is still eluding the geographically remote and economically backward areas depriving the people there from participating in the digital revolution. Such disconnections can be attributed to the inability of the cable-based telecom and networking technologies of the past to facilitate access to affordable and quality service across wide geographic areas. Early wireless communication technologies were also limited in their capacity and reach, though costly. However, the hard work of several research agencies across the world has paved the way for the advent of advanced wireless communication technologies like Wi-Fi and WiMax. These next generation wireless technologies promise to facilitate high-speed connectivity in wider areas at less cost with better convenience. Since inception, these technologies have been widely accepted by the industry and lots of products and services are offered based on these technologies. These technologies, being relatively new and of a path breaking nature, one needs to understand what they are and how they work. This book provides an insight into these next generation wireless technologies. It covers the concepts, standards, applications, issues and challenges pertaining to these technologies. Students, researchers, faculty and managers in the domain of telecommunication will find this book interesting as well as instructive.
571 81-314-0787-X The Icfai University Press on Marketing Paradigms www.nbcindia.com Marketing Sangeetha K 19-Jul-07 276 18 450 0 0 The rapidly changing business environment has changed the face of marketing operations. The increasing consumer demand for newer experiences, information dissemination, novelty in advertisement and branding has put marketing in the realm of consumers. Marketers have to reach out to consumers in an innovative and attractive manner that differentiates their products/brands from those of their competitors in the marketplace. It calls for constant reframing, redefining of the company’s mission and deploying the appropriate marketing mix to meet the changing market demands. Innovation and distinctness of a company in its marketing efforts are the deciding factors keeping a company a step ahead of its competitors. This book is designed to provide an elucidation of the role played by marketing in gaining business excellence to outperform competitors in the marketplace. It throws light on various recent marketing practices that are used by companies to steer themselves towards success.
572 81-314-0717-9 The Profitability of Trading Rules and Volatility in Emerging Financial Markets www.nbcindia.com Finance Imad Moosa A 19-Jul-07 224 17 425 19.5 500 This book is a study of the profitability of technical and fundamental trading rules in emerging financial markets (stock and foreign exchange markets) using Kuwait as a case study. The ultimate objective of the study is to demonstrate that financial volatility can be attributed to the heterogeneity of traders with respect to the trading strategies they use. A number of trading strategies are considered, including those based on expectation formation mechanisms, quantitative technical indicators, filter rules, moving average rules, fundamental trading rules, and the price-volume relation. The profitability of each trading rule is then compared to the profitability of a passive buy and hold strategy. Based on the profitability of these rules, weights are assigned to each strategy to simulate financial prices (two stock prices and two exchange rates). By comparing the statistical distributions of the actual and simulated financial prices, it is shown that there is ample evidence indicating the effect of heterogeneity on volatility. The study also presents some evidence of the roles played by technicians and fundamentalists in financial price determination.
573 81-314-0762-4 Insurance Frauds: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Finance Jayshree Bose 19-Jul-07 252 17 425 0 0 Although frauds and scams in the financial sector are generally on the rise, insurance frauds pose a hazard that is essentially very different. When the perpetrator gets away with the crime, it constitutes not just a breach of ‘utmost good faith’; there is also a drop in the insurer’s ability to meet genuine claims, although the commitment remains. This calls for large-scale capital infusion at a time when the industry is already reeling from massive claims from every sector. Insurers are also under constraints to pass the costs of frauds losses to customers in the form of higher premiums –for lower risk cover. Apart from the threat of frauds through frivolous and escalated claims, by imposters through false claims, etc., there is the other danger of fraud committed by insurance company personnel. To cap it all, most people surveyed had a very casual approach towards such frauds, as a result of which there is no public outcry when such frauds take place, unlike what happens in the case of banking scams. Another factor that is responsible for the proliferating frauds in insurance today is the number of products that lend themselves easily to such acts of malfeasance, not to speak of the wide variance in the regulatory approach in different countries that provide routes for easy escape and non detection. The book deals with all these features as well as various other aspects such as the global scenario in insurance frauds, why insurance frauds succeed, the menace of money laundering, detection of frauds, and the growing menace of funding terrorism through the conduit of insurance frauds, as well as other aspects of this theme. There are also cases on auto, health, catastrophe and life insurance frauds, which are the most common types of fraud, as well as a series of articles that highlight cases and caselets pertaining to insurance fraud. It gives an in depth and comprehensive view about what is happening in the sphere of such frauds and what to do about it. This book, which focuses on a very pressing issue that has rarely been written about, would be targeted at insurance regulators and insurance companies, CBI personnel, faculty and students of insurance and the reading public, in general.
574 81-314-0748-9 Private Banking: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Financial Management Sujatha B Nancy John 19-Jul-07 252 17 425 0 0 According to The World Health Report published by Capgemini and Merrill Lynch, the number of High Networth Individuals (HNIs) (with assets greater than $1 mn) has grown by more than 20% globally in the past five years and by more than 90% in the past decade. The report also highlights that the emerging market economies like India, China and the Middle East have outperformed the developed economies in terms of increase in the number of HNIs. The number of dollar millionaires in India has grown to 83500 in 2005. These emerging “newly rich” individuals lack the time to manage their serious money and will increasingly delegate it to professional wealth managers. This has stimulated the private banking business in India, attracting the attention of global majors like UBS and Credit Suisse. Private banking is the means of managing private clients’ money by providing various services like efficient wealth management, savings, inheritance and tax planning. These banks promise to maximize returns and minimize risk along with the tax burden of the clients through careful allocation of their money. Against this backdrop, this book seeks to focus on the emerging opportunities for private banking in India. It highlights the factors driving the growth of private banking in the country and the region, debates the sustainability of domestic and foreign private banks and analyzes the performance of private banks.
575 81-314-0574-5 Thought Leaders on Leadership www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Kumar K B S 19-Jul-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 “I am excited about what K B S Kumar has put together as Thought Leaders on Leadership. He has carefully described the thoughts on leadership of ten major thinkers on the subject. I have no doubt that leaders who are interested in improving their performance will benefit greatly by reading these ten essays. I would predict that they will develop new attitudes and behavior toward themselves and toward those they lead.” (Philip Kotler) – “The book will be offering readers a summary of what a range of well-known authors describe as key to effective leadership. The book provides insights into (1) how a person who aspires to lead in any of the manners summarized actually learns and/or changes his or her behavior accordingly, and (2) the connection between an orientation toward blended performance and the act of leading change in oneself and others. These thought leaders are justly celebrated for describing the ‘what’ of leadership. And, it seems the book will do a nice job of summarizing that.” – (Douglas K Smith, Celebrated consultant, thinker and writer, specializing in organizational performance, innovation and change.)
576 81-314-0755-1 The Icfai University Press on Mergers and Acquisitions in India – Perspectives and Cases www.nbcindia.com Mergers & Acquisitions Amit Singh Sisodiya 19-Jul-07 148 12 300 0 0 A slew of big-ticket cross-border deals in recent times reaffirms the fact that India Inc has finally arrived on the global M&A scene. If Tata Tea became the first Indian firm to do a big-ticket deal by acquiring Tetley of Britain in 2000, another of the group firm Tata Steel created history, when it acquired once again a British company, Corus in January, 2007, although it is just a coincidence that both the acquired firms are from UK. AV Birla Group, another top business house from India, recently acquired Novelis of Canada. This, an all-cash deal, catapults the Indian aluminum company to the global leadership position in aluminum rolled products with post-acquisition combined revenues in excess of $10 billion. With consolidation efforts gaining momentum, involving both domestic as well as overseas deals, the deal value reached a high of about $20.3 billion in India in 2006 with as many as 480 M&A deals executed during the year, as per a report by the global consultancy firm, Grant Thornton. An important characteristic of the trend has been that majority of the deals, be it domestic or cross-border, is being done by mid-sized companies. Also, the current wave of deal frenzy has so far been dominated by the so-called ‘old economy’ companies. Highly fragmented and overcrowded industries like cement have seen strong consolidation momentum, that clearly emphasizes the fact that consolidation is inevitable. However, amidst the merger frenzy, acquiring firms should ensure that the deal-making is necessity-driven and is not done just for the sake of doing it. Also, the acquiring firm should ensure that deal results into value creation for its shareholders. The book, “IUP Series on M&As in India – Perspectives and Cases” touches upon such aspects and offers insights into the kind of strategies Indian firms can embrace to ensure merger success. The book is divided into two sections – perspectives and cases. The case studies include some of the successful deals, domestic as well as overseas, executed by Indian companies.
577 81-314-0722-5 The Icfai Dictionary of Supply Chain Management Terms www.nbcindia.com Management Pradeep Kumar 13-Jul-07 320 20.5 525 23 575 The Icfai Dictionary of Supply Chain Management (SCM) is addressed to students, teachers, practitioners and general readers, who want to follow SCM discussions in the classroom and elsewhere, or whose daily work demands some familiarity with the terminology of Supply Chain Management, Logistics Network Configuration, Inventory Management, Value of Information, Supply Chain Integration, Strategic Alliances, Procurement and Outsourcing Strategies, International Issues in SCM, Supply Chain Design, Customer Value and SCM, IT for SCM, DSS for SCM and advances made in SCM, etc. The dictionary also addresses terms from the conceptual level to the advanced level in a precise manner. It aims to provide a comprehensive companion to support other reading in a discipline which employs remarkably similar terminology. This dictionary is a guide to the main ideas and teaching connected to the basics of and advances made in SCM. The book is designed in such a way that it will cover the salient facts and features of various points of SCM, and also explore SCM development from technology and business perspectives. Over 3,000 entries define and explain clearly the salient facts within the context of Supply Chain Management. Its store of up-to-date information should appeal to active managers, teachers and students of information technology and operations.
578 81-314-0681-4 Interbeing: Thoughts on Achieving Personal and Professional Excellence Toward Greater Mutuality www.nbcindia.com General Books Joan Marques 13-Jul-07 220 17 425 19.5 500 Interbeing is a term that was introduced by Thich Nhat Hanh, a well-respected Vietnamese monk, currently living in France. Interbeing has a similar meaning as connectedness and interdependence. This book presents 50 articles focused on personal excellence geared to improved mutuality, and therefore leading to greater performance and wellbeing for all. Topics such as inner-connection, change, awakening, meaning, learning, leadership, spirituality, and a variety of interesting perspectives on life issues are presented in easily digestible reading. This book will help you find answers to issues that may have seemed impenetrable before. It will ignite deep thoughtfulness, and thus guide you toward greater contentment, connection, and performance excellence.
579 81-314-0785-3 Technology in Rail Transport Management www.nbcindia.com Management Prabha Shastri Ranade 13-Jul-07 256 17 425 0 0 Train traveling is becoming faster and safer due to the advancement in technologies. New technologies are adopted to cope with the increasing demand in the transportation sector especially in rail transport owing to the problems, like congestion, pollution etc faced in road transport. In the current scenario of growing urbanization and terrorism, a need is felt for an efficient mass transit system ensuring passenger safety. Countries like Japan, China have developed new technologies in rail transit systems, which have simplified the life of commuters. Indian Railways are also not behind in the race of using new technologies. Indian Railways have started metro rails in Kolkata, Delhi and have launched new metro rail projects in many other cities like Mumbai and Bangalore. Over the past few years, positive steps have been taken in creating a modern Mass Rapid Transit System in India. Many new technologies have been used in the construction and management of metro rails. The book describes different technologies used by countries worldwide. It covers the experiences and prospects of rail transport in different parts of the world. It also gives an idea of the efforts put in by the Indian Railways in upgrading and modernizing their technology and provides a glimpse of their future plans. Indian Railways have taken an encouraging step towards the development of an efficient, new technology based mass urban transit system. With increasing urbanization and rising population in India, building an efficient mass transit system is a challenge for Indian Railways. Success of Indian Railways to achieve this objective would solve the transportation problems of our cities.
580 81-314-0800-0 CRM in Financial Services www.nbcindia.com Finance Madhavi Garikaparthi 13-Jul-07 232 16 400 0 0 World financial markets today are driven by Globalization and offer immense opportunities of growth for the corporate world. Many of these corporates, however, find it difficult to sustain with growing customer base and simultaneous growth in choice, demand and competition. Customer relationship management (CRM) with its potential to yield better results perpetually has become synonymous with attracting and retaining customers for longer periods. Customer-centric approach holds the key for success in the ever-changing Global Financial Markets. CRM is practiced today throughout various industries; it is especially adopted voraciously, in industries where money element is involved such as Financial Services Industry. CRM attains higher importance in the Financial Services because of the complex nature of the financial products and the constant necessity to keep in touch with customers. CRM is often misconstrued with implementation of technology alone and building personal relationships and interactions customers often get lesser emphasis. Huge investments of money, time and resources are made in order to implement CRM but, insignificant focus on relationship management. This, many a time, is the reason for CRM failures in an organization. CRM necessitates imparting education for all the stakeholders both within and outside the organization on ‘customer-centric approach’. Against this backdrop, a book that guides all the stakeholders and readers through various facets of CRM in Financial Services has become imperative. This book is an effort in that direction. The book has four sections and places equal importance on both perspectives and experiences in Financial Services. Separate sections on Banking Industry and Insurance Industry highlight strategies and practices pursued in the respective industries.
581 81-314-0798-5 Microfinance: Impacts and Insights www.nbcindia.com Finance Rajagopalan S Nirali Parikh 13-Jul-07 224 15.5 400 0 0 The field of microfinance has grown in size and stature since its humble origins in 1976 in Bangladesh. According to the Microcredit Summit Campaign, an international forum to promote microfinance, as of December 31, 2005, over 3,000 microfinance institutions around the globe have reported reaching 113 million clients, 82 millions of whom were among the poorest when they took their first loan. The recent announcement of 2006 Nobel Peace Prize award to Prof. Muhammad Yunus, originator of microfinance, and Grameen Bank, the institution he founded, again marks a significant milestone in the recognition of the field of microfinance by the international community. Despite the significant strides that microfinance has taken, there has always been skepticism expressed about its effectiveness in alleviating poverty, especially in reaching the poorest of the poor. The entry of commercial players, with their focus on getting a decent return on investment, queers the pitch even further. While microfinance might currently be hogging the limelight, the time is opportune to assess its impacts. To this end, this book presents various impact assessment studies focusing on the different, but not unrelated, impact areas of microfinance – poverty alleviation, livelihood generation, women’s empowerment, and children’s education.
582 81-314-0797-7 Marketing in Banks – Concepts and Approaches www.nbcindia.com Banking Gopala Krishna Murthy G 29-Jun-07 288 18 450 0 0 The growing level of competition and the rapid pace of change in environment have rendered the Market for banking to be the key factor of business activities. Banks, therefore, have realised the need for adopting marketing approach and using every technique of marketing for business growth to keep pace with the ongoing spree of competition. Public sector banks have started re-designing their marketing strategies to suit the requirements of modern market challenges and get updated with market requirements, being customer-friendly with diversified product offerings. Banks have also realized that a very effective way of exploiting their retail banking initiatives is cross-selling. With the increasing competition as a result of opening up of the economy, some of the Indian banks, in order to stay off the competition, have started offering customized products and services. The appointment of celebrity brand ambassadors is a new trend in the banking industry. This book attempts to illustrate the relevance and the imperativeness of ‘marketing’ in today’s Banking Services. It is hoped that the book will be found informative and resourceful and that it will provide the readers insights into the whole gamut of Marketing in the Indian banking system, its relevance to banking and the current trends.
583 81-314-0698-9 The Icfai Dictionary of Structured Systems Analysis and Design www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Pradeep Kumar 29-Jun-07 248 18 450 20.5 525 The Icfai Dictionary of Structured Systems Analysis and Design (SSAD) is addressed to students, teachers, practitioners and general readers who want to follow SSAD discussions in the class and elsewhere, or whose daily work demands some familiarity with terminology of Systems Analysis and Design functions like Systems Analysis Fundamentals, Information Requirements Analysis, The Analysis Process, The essentials of Design, Software Engineering and implementations, and Advances in DBMS etc. The dictionary also addresses terms from the conceptual level to the advanced level in a precise manner. It aims to provide a comprehensive companion to support other reading in a discipline, which employs remarkably similar terminology. This dictionary is a guide to the main ideas and teaching connected to the basics of and advances in SSAD. The book is designed in such a way that it will cover the salient facts and features of various points of SSAD and, also explore Systems Analysis and Design development from technology and business perspectives. Over 2500 entries define and explain clearly the salient facts within the context of Structured Systems Analysis and Design. Its store of up-to-date information will, it is hoped, appeal to active managers, teachers and students of information systems.
584 81-314-0818-3 Business Environment Analysis – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Sankar Muralidaran 29-Jun-07 260 17 425 0 0 In today’s globalised business world, change is probably the only aspect that is permanent. Having said this, we may also point out a well established fact that the general mindset is to resist change. But to change and change for the better/for the worse is an inevitable process. An organization has to constantly reinvent itself, if it has to succeed. This objective can be put on ground, if organizations constantly scan the distant horizon and innovate. Looking “inward” and “outward” on a continuous basis is imperative, in view of the swift changes in the environment brought about by globalization, technological developments and a paradigm shift in socio-cultural, political, economic and legal issues. The ability of an organization to scan the horizon for reasonable and accurate forecast of the likely changes in the business environment and to dovetail its strategies in line with the perceived changes is a sine-qua-non for the success of an organization. The short point, which requires emphasis, is that an organization must be vigilant for changes in the business environment. The changes, which are bound to happen over time, contain several variables, which are often interconnected. Hence, such of those organizations, which are able to quickly recognise the interconnected variables and take proactive steps, are the ones which will remain competitive. This book not only provides an overview of various models being practiced by organizations to stay competitive, but also attempts to give an insight into the factors, which comprise the environment and the emerging trends in scanning the business environment. The book also includes cases, which detail the experiences by various organizations like GE, Nokia, POSCO, Pepsi, Asian Paints, Tata Motors etc. in scanning the business environment.
585 81-314-0775-6 Rebranding: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Marketing Gopalakrishnan P S 29-Jun-07 232 16 400 0 0 From the beginning of the 21st century, there has been a spurt in the rebranding process in almost all walks of human activity, around the world. A well-managed brand can be a mullti-bagger for a company. But nowadays, there is clutter of brands and products in the marketplace. Companies find it difficult to differentiate their products from their competitors’. In such cases, they resort to a rebranding exercise to boost up the brand’s image. Rebranding is the process by which a product or service that was developed, marketed and distributed with one brand name or a company’s image or product specialty, is marketed or distributed with a different identity after rebranding. According to Tony Spaeth, the renowned Identity Consultant, there are two kinds of rebranding – the ‘have to’ and the ‘want to’. Rebranding can be applied to new products as well as mature products. Rebranding is a cost-effective process as compared to a new product launch. MNCs and large Corporations adopt rebranding to effect minor make-overs to their brands to serve multiple cultural affinities, when they expand their operations across the border. Rebranding is no longer considered ‘old wine in new bottle’. It is a powerful tool in the hands of marketers to reach out to uncharted markets. This book provides in-depth analyses explaining the rationale behind rebranding. Many successful rebranding stories are narrated in the book highlighting the usefulness of this new marketing tool.
586 81-314-0619-9 The Icfai Dictionary of Database Management Systems Terms www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Pradeep Kumar 29-Jun-07 176 14.5 375 17 425 The Icfai Dictionary of Database Management Systems(DBMS) terms is addressed to students, teachers, practitioners and general readers who want to follow DBMS discussions in the class and elsewhere, or whose daily work demands some familiarity with the terminologies of Database functions like Database development process, Database Analysis, Database Design, Implementation, Queries, Applications, Database Administration and Advances in DBMS etc. The dictionary also addresses terms from the conceptual level to the advanced level in a precise manner. It aims to provide a comprehensive companion to support other reading in a discipline which employs remarkably similar terminology. This dictionary is a guide to the main ideas and teaching connected with the basics of and advances in DBMS. The book is designed in such a way that it covers the salient facts and features of various points of DBMS and, also explores DBMS development from technology and business perspectives. Over 2000 entries define and explain clearly the salient facts within the context of Database Management Systems. Its store of up to date information is sure to appeal to active managers, teachers and students of information systems.
587 81-314-0744-6 Environmental Pollution and Protection: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com General Books Dhandapani Alagiri Naveen Kumar E 28-Jun-07 348 20 500 0 0 The World’s resources are being continuously consumed at an increasing pace and the destruction of the natural resources and environment as a consequence are also increasing at a fast pace. This unchecked use of natural resources has led to wanton environmental degradation and pollution. In recent decades, this pollution of the natural environment has gathered pace and the environmental conditions have worsened further. This has led to degradation of soil, loss of forests, adverse climatic changes, food shortages, shortage of clean drinking water and diseases. The continued environmental degradation and climate change may even lead to dramatic problems such as increase in ocean level and flooding of coastal cities. To control the damage caused and save the planet from further damage from pollution and degradation, several steps have been taken over the years by international organizations such as the UN and by governments across the world such as Rio Climate Agreement and Kyoto Protocol. But with the slow progress in all the concerned areas, it seems that there will not be any real reduction in environmental degradation in the near future. In this scenario, when environmental pollution and protection is an important issue before the world, this book, Environmental Pollution and Protection: An Introduction makes a comprehensive study assessing the issues involved and analyzes the important efforts made by governments, corporates and others in protecting the environment. The book presents a series of well-written articles that bring out the essence of happenings in the environmental sphere around the World and in India.
588 81-314-0643-1 India s Agricultural Trade – Challenges and Opportunities www.nbcindia.com Agriculture Bhaskaran S 28-Jun-07 324 19 475 0 0 Indian agricultural trade underwent significant changes in the post liberalization era. This book “Indian Agricultural Trade in the 21st Century” examines these changes in terms of production trends, trade patterns as well as policy initiatives. The various articles in the book trace the Indian agricultural evolution in a general perspective, and also track specific commodities in their trade patterns, with special focus on the post-1991 period. The articles in the initial section on agriculture in general help identify those commodities, which hold high export prospects, and track their progress in international trade. Trade policy initiatives are also examined in the light of trade facilitation in the country. Trade in food crops is determined by the domestic requirements, in order to ensure domestic food self-sufficiency and security. Hence, trade policies strike a balance between domestic pricing, demand, and external trade prospects. Agricultural Export Zones and trade in agriculture in the light of Sanitary and Phyto Sanitary measures of the WTO are also examined. The section on Horticulture and dairy products reveals the dominant position of India in fresh fruit and dairy production, and the huge export potential that remains to be tapped. Impact of trade liberalization on dairy farming is examined, besides looking at floriculture as a viable commercial option, in view of the growing international floricultural market. A recent phenomenon of terminal markets in fresh fruits is also examined. Export oriented perspective is being provided in articles on sea farming, and Indian fisheries, along with an economic analysis of shrimp farming in India. The final section discusses plantation crops, oilseeds and cash crops. Plantation crops are examined in view of their export potential with a special focus on the rubber industry in India. Oilseeds, an important contributor to India s foreign exchange, are examined in the light of the WTO regime. The last article deals with the cashew nut industry tracing its origin, growth and trade trends in India. Some of the recommendations of the National Commission on Agriculture to promote international trade are also examined.
589 81-314-0811-6 Informal Sector in a Globalized Era www.nbcindia.com Economy Dalia Dey 28-Jun-07 312 19 475 0 0 Informal Sector is gaining much importance in the current economic scenario, especially, in the context of the developing and the third world economies. The book makes an in-depth study of the conditions of workers in this segment. The study is not only centered in India but it also takes into account other countries such as Brazil, China, Columbia, Kenya, South Africa etc. It highlights the growing menace faced by the working poor in this sector for a decent life. The truth is the grim picture of a sordid reality with virtually no social security and a deprived sub-standard livelihood. This book is a concerted effort to analyze the effects of globalization on this sector. The impact of globalization and technological advances on the integration of informal sector into global economy, the role of market places and their participants as an important informal sector activity, the role of Non Governmental Organizations in facilitating finance, marketing and other supportive services for the growth of informal sector are also spelled out in detail, citing examples from different Asian, African and Latin American countries.
590 81-314-0795-0 Bt Cotton in India: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Agriculture Sujatha B Niranjana Sreenivasan 28-Jun-07 264 17 425 0 0 Bacillus thuringiensis cotton, in short Bt cotton, sparks both interest and debate in most of us almost simultaneously. Bt refers to a toxin that contains Cry1Ac protein gene, which, when genetically engineered into a hybrid cotton seed, makes the cotton plant toxic to the American bollworm pest and thus protects it from damage. The technology of Bt cotton was introduced in India by Monsanto, USA, and gained commercial presence with its Indian partner Mahyco, in 2002. Bt cotton in India has been a widely discussed and debated topic, and five years after its approval for commercial cultivation by the Genetic Engineering Approval Committee (GEAC) in 2002, the technology continues to sell, and the debates too continue to prevail. Some of the concerns that surround Bt cotton cultivation in India include the desirability of genetic modification to manage pests, the adequacy of research conducted before its commercialization, the impact on biodiversity and economic security of farmers, and effective communication of technology to the users. This book attempts to trace the process of entry, commercialization and progress of Bt cotton in India. In this context, it presents the experiences of six states in which commercial cultivation of Bt cotton was initially approved. It also discusses various issues surrounding Bt cotton cultivation in the country and attempts to put together different views on the subject of Bt cotton, its desirability and its success, in comparison with conventional cotton, non-Bt hybrid cotton as well as organic cotton.
591 81-314-0813-2 Management of NPAs – Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Business and Finance Specials Tamal Datta Chaudhuri 28-Jun-07 264 17 425 0 0 The issue of Non-Performing Assets (NPAs) in the financial sector has been an area of concern for all economies and reduction in NPAs has become synonymous with functional efficiency of financial intermediaries. Although NPAs are a balance sheet issue of individual banks and financial institutions, it has wider macroeconomic implications. It is important that, if resolution strategies for recovery of dues from NPAs are not put in place quickly and efficiently, these assets would deteriorate in value over time and little value, beyond scrap value would be realized at the end. It should, however, be kept in mind that NPAs are an integral part of the business financial sector players, as they are in the business of taking risk and their earnings reflect the risk they take. They operate in an environment where there would be defaults and also deterioration in portfolio value, as market movements can never be predicted with certainty. It is in this context, that countries have adopted regulatory measures and the structure has been provided by Basel I and II. The book concentrates on the various reasons behind assets turning non-performing and their implications. It also deals with alternative strategies for recovery from such assets. The experiences of some countries, including India, are presented in the book to illustrate the various strategies undertaken.
592 81-314-0750-0 Microfinance in Latin America www.nbcindia.com Finance Rajagopalan S 28-Jun-07 268 17 425 0 0 Over the past three decades, the field of microfinance has persistently sought to reach financial products and services – savings, loan, and insurance – to poor and low-income sections in the developing world, which includes Asia, Africa, Latin America, and parts of Eastern Europe. With the UN observing the year 2005 as the ‘International Year of Microcredit’, and Prof. Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank (the institution he founded) jointly winning the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006, microfinance is no longer relegated to the fringes – it is being increasingly integrated with the mainstream economy with commercial banks and private investors entering the arena and governments setting up regulatory and supervisory frameworks. While the world has heard about, and discussed at length, the microfinance institutions of Asia (particularly those of Bangladesh), in another part of the developing world – Latin America – the microfinance sector has grown equally and, perhaps, in several ways, is more advanced than that in Asia. As of December 31, 2005, the top 100 MFIs in Latin America and the Caribbean, taken together, are reported to have a gross loan portfolio of $6.6 billion. A high degree of commercialization and subjection to regulation and supervision characterize microfinance in Latin America. A study of the evolution of microfinance in Latin America, offers valuable lessons and insights to both practitioners and researchers, especially in Asia. To this end, this book provides an overview of the microfinance sector in Latin America (including Central America and the Caribbean), outlines its salient features, and presents case studies on some of the successful MFIs operating in the region.
593 81-314-0799-3 Participatory Development: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com General Books Azmal Hussain Santap Sanhari Mishra 28-Jun-07 256 17 425 0 0 Participatory approach to development has emerged mainly because of recognition of the limitations of the conventional approach. The major limitation of conventional approach is that it does not necessarily hold all the stakeholders accountable. Participatory approach involves local people, development agencies, and policy makers, deciding together how progress should be measured, and results acted upon. It can reveal valuable lessons and improve accountability. This approach has gained exemplary acceptance in international development fraternity in recent years. The incorporation of “local knowledge” in development projects is now commonplace and this has been made possible only through the introduction of participatory development modules. The present book is focused on how participatory development is attracting interest from many quarters by offering new ways of assessing and learning from changes that are more inclusive, and more in tune with the views and aspirations of those directly affected. It provides an opportunity for development organizations to focus better on their ultimate goal of improving people’s lives.
594 81-314-0781-0 Sustainable Development: Perspectives and Initiatives www.nbcindia.com General Books Dipankar Dey 28-Jun-07 256 17 425 0 0 The idea of sustainable development has its root in the oriental tradition, which teaches the values of conservation of nature and preaches harmonious co-existence of all living elements of the earth. Compared to this oriental ways of life, the western views on sustainable development were relatively new. In the vast literature of development economics, which had emerged as a new branch of economic discourse from mid twentieth century onwards, some erratic mention of this concept could be found. Only in 1972, this concept was explicitly put forward by Donella and Dennis Meadows in their book ‘Limits to Growth’, where the authors identified that the natural resources were limited and must be utilized judiciously for a sustainable future. Subsequently , the release of Burndtland Report in 1987, that defined ‘sustainable development’ as the process of development that met the needs of the present generations “without compromising the ability of future generations”, prompted a serious debate on this concept, among the academics; social activists and policy makers across the globe. Sustainable Development broadly encompasses three aspects – Economic, Environmental and Social. In economic terms, it means optimal allocation of available resources across different generations. The environmental aspect refers to recognizing the limits of the ecosphere and preserving the natural condition of life, implying that the rate of utilization of natural resources should be less than the rate at which nature reproduces. In social terms, it refers to equity, freedom, justice and safety for all living beings; in terms of alleviating poverty, creating employment opportunities and building skills for an equitable and just society. During the last three decades (1987-2006), the concept of sustainable development has been interpreted (and also misinterpreted) from different perspectives. This volume has made an attempt to capture these perspectives and initiatives through seventeen articles written by eminent experts in the field. The papers have been presented in three different sections namely: Different Dimensions of Sustainable Development; Sustainable Development: Emerging Concerns and Sustainable Development: Country Initiatives.
595 81-314-0751-9 Redefining Customer Value www.nbcindia.com Marketing Kaushik Mukerjee 28-Jun-07 264 17 425 0 0 Marketers are redefining customer value by creating innovations in products, services and brands. As a result, new market leaders are being created. This book focuses on how companies have redefined customer value. It is intended for marketing professionals, strategy planners, consultants, businessmen, academicians and MBA students. It will enable them to understand how the concept of customer value needs to be managed for enabling competitive advantage in a highly competitive business environment, which has witnessed market leaders being upstaged by newly hatched upstart companies. The newcomers seem to have a better understanding of how customer value has been redefined for better results. This book lays bare all the secrets that every aspiring marketing man desires to know. The contributors to this book include experts like Don Peppers & Martha Rogers, Kamran Kashani, Nirmalya Kumar as well as noteworthy contributions from Knowledge@Wharton, consultancies like Accenture, Mercer, Emerald Group. The case studies from Icfai Research Centres also offer immense value to readers. The book offers insights into customer value aspects like product management and innovation, customer service, branding, pricing and demand management, customer value engineering, co-creating value with customers, service distribution and delivery innovations, customer intimacy, strategic vendor partnerships etc. The book is divided into two sections. The first section is called ‘Concepts’ and focuses on the various concepts that are making an impact on customer value. The second section is called ‘Applications and cases’ which shows how the issues concerning customer value can be managed in actual practice. Apart from a large number of illustrative examples in the various chapters, there are three exhaustive case studies on Lifebuoy, France Telecom, and Singapore Airlines.
596 81-314-0819-1 Accounting Standards in India: Towards Convergence www.nbcindia.com Accounting Sujatha B 28-Jun-07 240 16.5 425 0 0 “The dogmas of the quiet past are inadequate to the stormy present. The occasion is piled high with difficulty, and we must rise with the occasion. As our case is new, so we must think anew and act anew.” (Abraham Lincoln). The rapid globalization of capital markets has highlighted the need for a uniform set of financial reporting rules worldwide. This has been the major driving force behind the convergence of accounting standards across the globe. The evolution of International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) marks the biggest revolution in financial reporting. Harmonization of accounting standards will bring consistency and transparency to financial reports, enable comparison across countries, allow companies to benchmark themselves against international competition and improve the efficiency of the capital markets. Over 100 countries have adopted the IFRS wholly or by convergence of their national standards to the IFRS. The US GAAP is also moving towards convergence with the IFRS since the Norwalk Agreement. This book highlights the significance and scope of accounting standards, their role in establishing the quality of financial reporting, the emerging trends in the light of globalization and the need for moving towards harmonization. It gives an overview of the accounting standards in India, the state of accounting reforms, and compares the Indian standards with the global standards. It establishes the need for convergence with the international standards and discusses the impact and issues involved in the process therein.
597 81-314-0682-2 Collective Bargaining: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sanjeev Kumar Singh 27-Jun-07 236 16 400 0 0 Collective bargaining is an essential feature of the concept of Social Partnership, towards which labour relations should strive. Collective bargaining replicates the processes by which conflict is and should always be resolved in a democracy; it projects democratic values into the workplace; it preserves the autonomy of social forces as against the pervasive influence of the State; it makes the conventional market place techniques of economic ordering in a capitalist economy more acceptable; by its mobilization of countervailing power it ensures the participation, and, thereby, the moral commitment, of those most directly concerned with outcomes. The book focuses on the theme that there has been a global trend towards decentralization of collective bargaining. Decentralization has largely taken the form of a controlled and coordinated devolution of functions from higher to lower levels of the industry. This has been to address some of the main concerns of employers, such as productivity, quality, performance, skills development, the need to be competitive and to make changes to adapt to the global market place that have led to decentralization of collective bargaining. The book also highlights the multifaceted dimensions of collective bargaining, along with divergences, to provide the readers, in a synchronized format a bird’s eye view of the emerging trends, in the form of well-written articles by experts. The book, it is hoped, will serve as a valuable reference for employers, practicing managers, research scholars and labour economists.
598 81-314-0790-X Infrastructure Development: Issues and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Finance Dhandapani Alagiri Naveen Kumar E 26-Jun-07 316 19 475 0 0 Infrastructure is one of the prime movers of any economy in the world. The wheels of infrastructure are needed for an economy to roll on, without which the industries and businesses that power the economy will come to a grinding halt. A shortfall in the availability of transport, logistical facilities, energy etc. to run the industrial juggernaut, will lead to catastrophic problems for any country, more so, in the case of the developing countries, which have very little fiscal resources to ward off the challenge even for a short period of time. Funding infrastructure projects has been a major issue of concern throughout the developing world. Infrastructure projects typically need huge funds. Funding such projects will invariably need the efforts of the private sector, too, apart from public sector and the government. In this context, Public-Private Partnerships are increasingly being seen as a very important tool in augmenting the infrastructure in developing nations. In this context, where good infrastructure is typical for any country to excel in its pursuit of economic growth, this book, “Infrastructure Development: Issues and Country Experiences” makes exciting reading by delving into the necessity of infrastructure in achieving the economic goals; the various issues involved in building infrastructure; and some of the experiences in various countries in building infrastructure. The book presents a series of well-written articles that bring out the essence of the recent happenings on the infrastructure front in India and several other countries.
599 81-314-0803-5 Resurgent India: The Evolving Story www.nbcindia.com Economy Rahul Gupta 26-Jun-07 288 18 450 0 0 A resurgent India has once again established herself as a significant economic power in the global race for supremacy. In the years after embracing liberalization, especially in the new millennium, India has achieved unprecedented growth in industrial and service sectors and has been aided by a modest growth in the agricultural sector to emerge as one of the fastest growing economies in the world. The Indian success story has become the new global buzzword, as the country of over a billion people surges ahead with ever increasing clout. The demographic composition, where the majority of the population is in the active working age group with quality technical training and skills and knowledge of English language, a 400 million strong middle class with increasing buying power is helping in India’s march ahead. Against this backdrop, the book attempts at enumerating the changes that have helped India emerge from the shadows of the “Hindu rate of growth” to leap ahead as a global growth leader. To boost this trend, the shortcoming in terms of inadequate infrastructure is also addressed through growing private investment in this area. To re-emphasize India’s emergence in the economic area, success stories of Indian firms, within and beyond our shores have been highlighted in the form of case studies.
600 81-314-0808-6 Management of Hyperinflation and Deflation www.nbcindia.com Economy Amandio F C Da Silva 26-Jun-07 260 17 425 0 0 Hyperinflation and deflation are the two extreme cases of inflation. While a certain amount of inflation is good for the economy, extremes are very harmful. Hyperinflation has been defined as an inflationary situation in which prices move up more than 50% per month, while deflation is a situation where the economy slows down as the inflation rate becomes negative. Hyperinflation takes place when too much money is pumped into the economy and prices move spirally, while deflation is caused by a slowdown of the economy, stagnant demand or a supply side shock. There have been several instances of hyperinflation in the world and the effects have been very bad for the economy. Public lost their trust in the financial system and even governments were toppled. The latest episode has taken place in Zimbabwe. Deflation, on the contrary, has been quite rare, and the most recent examples have been of Japan and the far-eastern countries. This book tries to analyze the causes of inflation, different types of hyperinflation and deflation, main examples of these extreme causes and the steps taken by the central banks of the respective countries to control the same. It covers a long period spanning from the beginning of the twentieth century to the current day, in order to depict the main triggers that gave rise to hyperinflation or deflation in different countries. Several case studies on the subject have also been included to provide a better understanding of the subject.
601 81-314-0804-3 Freedom of Information: People s Right www.nbcindia.com Management Nirmala Rao Khadpekar 26-Jun-07 264 17 425 0 0 The right to information from government organizations was first exercised in Sweden, 200 years ago. Since then, the right was in the background, not quite in the active consciousness of the rest of the world. US implemented the right to know in the mid sixties of the twentieth century. But, within the last decade, it has gained a widespread recognition and importance throughout the world. This right works under the presumption, that all public institutions are also accountable for their functions and they are equally answerable for all the issues raised by the person of interest. This right ensures that effective control mechanisms are being carried out for the government organizations also to ensure efficiency. The Right to Information Act is gaining momentum in India. Movements are on, to make people know and understand the Act and implement it for their own betterment. The book has been put together by a humanities and social sciences background editor to examine the right to access information and the requirement of sharing it across international borders as well for the equitable distribution of the benefits of access across all people regardless of class, color or creed.
602 81-314-0393-9 Dictionary of International Business www.nbcindia.com Management Gyanesh Sharma K 26-Jun-07 224 17 425 0 0 The Dictionary of International Business is addressed to all-students, teachers, practitioners and the general readers who want to be able to follow international business discussions in the press and elsewhere, or whose daily work demands some familiarity with terminology of International Business, International Marketing, International Finance, International Human Resource, International Negotiations, International Production, International Shipping and the like. It also assists the practitioners who are in trade development, export promotion, import management and international cooperation. It aims to provide a comprehensive companion to support other reading in a discipline which employs remarkably similar terminology. It provides an invaluable alphabetical guide to the main ideas and techniques connected with the handling of men, money, machines and markets. Over 1000 entries define and explain clearly the salient facts within the context of industries and commerce. Its store of up-to-date information will certainly appeal to active managers, teachers and students of business. An elaborate system of cross-referencing makes the dictionary easy to use and extremely informative.
603 81-314-0678-4 Entrepreneurship in USA: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com General Books Manish Ashiya 26-Jun-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 US has a very vibrant economy and one of the prime reasons for it is a very thriving and dynamic environment for entrepreneurship. US is regarded as the world leader in Entrepreneurship and many countries are trying to imitate the success that US has achieved. This book tries to cover various aspects of this phenomenon. The occurrence in US has been able to unleash entrepreneurial energies and channelise them into economically productive activities. The phenomenon is explored and the mystery is uncovered. Each year, around 600000 to 800000 new businesses start in US and many of them turn out to be successful and help in the growth of the US economy. These businesses create new jobs, improve the quality of life of Americans, result in more varied and improved products and services. It produces a trigger effect on other businesses and industries. All this put together adds to the vibrancy of the economy and improves the US position in global economy. Venture capital is the lifeblood of entrepreneurship and US boasts of world leadership here, too. How the venture capital industry fuels the entrepreneurship phenomenon is explored in the book. Fostering and nurturing entrepreneurship is a very tricky and delicate issue. The US government and the policy makers are very particular about this. A few factors which are important include the availability of credit, provision of proper guidance and support and a more conducive legal policy environment. This book gives a taste and a feel of the subject. It can be regarded as an introductory text which, it is hoped, forms interesting reading.
604 81-314-0794-2 Karnataka Economy: Performance, Challenges And Opportunities www.nbcindia.com State Economy Sthanumoorthy R Sivarajadhanavel P 22-Jun-07 352 21 525 0 0 This book is aimed at evaluating the economic performance of the state of Karnataka in India and brings to light the current challenges and opportunities facing the state. Bangalore has been the “Silicon Valley of India” and is growing faster. Besides the IT sector, Karnataka has performed well in the agricultural sector and in biotech industry. But in recent times, the state is witnessing problems in agriculture and fisheries. This has been manifested in farmers’ suicides and the degradation of coastal ecosystem. In IT/ITES, the state is facing a threat in terms of poor development in infrastructure and competition from other southern states. This has put a big question mark on Karnataka s position as the frontline IT and Biotech industrial state. The state needs to fulfill these lacunae and strive hard to retain its unique position. Karnataka is one among the most preferred destinations for foreign investments in India, and houses 65 of world’s fortune 500 companies. The State ranks fourth in the list of Indian States attracting FDI. The State is home for every sector of Industry such as, Information Technology, Biotechnology, Electronics, Telecom, Aerospace, Processed Foods, Apparel, Automobiles, Banking and Finance, Mining, Steel, Cement, Tourism and much more. There are also other indicators of economic dynamism such as the boom in house building and construction, proliferation of brick kilns and multiplying opportunities for small businesses. Besides, Karnataka has some advantages to aid growth in the form of a large pool of human resources, aided by the presence of a large number of engineering, medical and other educational institutes, abundant natural resources and a salubrious climate. This book is an attempt to make an assessment of Karnataka’s economy covering all the sectors of the state. It is hoped that this will be of great use to the state Government, policy-makers, academia and the corporate sector.
605 81-314-0749-7 Transportation Management – Imperatives and Best Practices www.nbcindia.com Supply Chain Management Jaya Krishna S 22-Jun-07 300 19 475 0 0 Effective planning and management of transportation operations are now considered crucial in the logistics, emergency services and public transportation environments, in view of current trends and dynamics. In the age of modern technology, a new set of transportation management practices has been evolving to help out the supply chain, emergency and public transport professionals. This book on ‘transportation management’ focuses on the practices and technology solutions for effective transportation management in the supply chain, public safety and public transportation environments. While throwing light on the emerging challenges, trends, practices and technology solutions in transportation management, the book, through a collection of splendid articles, emphasizes the need for transformation in transportation management in today’s new age global economy. It also presents the readers the potential of various transportation management practices through a collection of illustrative cases. Further, it presents the role, potential value and applications of new age Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) for effective transportation management. All these contents included in the book aim to sensitize the respective professionals/community with the concept and significance of effective transportation management. At large, this book makes every possible attempt to provide contemporary insights for the prospective readers and connected professionals, while offering learning value to the students, academicians and other related professionals.
606 81-314-0742-X Employee Commitment – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sangeetha K 22-Jun-07 280 18 450 0 0 Employee commitment is the most significant factor for an organization’s success in the market place. To what extent business goals are attained depends upon the level of employee commitment to an organization and the team work. The more an organization understands and strategizes to fulfill employee requirements, more will be the employee commitment and motivation that impact the work performance and business success. Commitment to performance is exhibited in the form of employee s persistence, organizational citizenship and enhanced work excellence that transform a business from a moderate feat to an excellent performance. In a nutshell, successful companies are those that recognize an opportunity to nurture employee commitment, and are willing to capitalize on the linkage between employee commitment and profitability. This book is designed to provide a logical, lucid elucidation of the role played by employee commitment in gaining organizational excellence to outperform its competition in the marketplace. It also discusses the strategies to gain employee commitment to an organization to steer towards success.
607 81-314-0784-5 Marketing of Livestock and Livestock Products in India www.nbcindia.com Marketing Bhaskaran S Suchitra Mohanty 22-Jun-07 288 18 450 0 0 India is well-known for its huge livestock population with 185 million cattle, 98 million buffaloes, 124 million goats, 61 million sheep, 14 million pigs and 489 million poultry birds. The livestock sector plays a very significant role in the overall socio-economic development of both urban and rural people in India, in terms of income and employment. The value of output of this sector to the gross value of agricultural output has been observed to be increasing consistently and, in fact, the growth rate is higher than that of the crop sector. The demand for livestock products is increasing at a high rate, not only in the domestic market but also in various countries around the world. Therefore, the marketing of livestock and livestock products in the domestic market as well as the international market is of paramount importance. Despite having a huge livestock population and a tremendous potential to produce and export various livestock products, India plays an insignificant role in world trade. The livestock sector can contribute greatly to boost the Indian economy. Better marketing will play a very important role in exploring the potential of this sector. This volume covers the importance of livestock in the Indian economy, the present scenario, efficiency in marketing, marketing channels, problems of production and marketing, consumer preferences as well as consumption patterns for livestock related products. It also throws light on the impact of trade liberalization on livestock economy, and problems faced in commercialization of livestock economy in India.
608 81-314-0741-1 Temping – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Prasad B V S Sangeetha K 22-Jun-07 264 17 425 0 0 The constantly changing business scenario of global competition and labor scarcity has made ‘temping’ an effective HR strategy that proffers various employment solutions to businesses. Its popularity is mainly attributed to its creation of competitive advantage for the companies in terms of greater workforce flexibility, increased profit, cost efficiency, and maintenance of a continuous business cycle. This has led to rapid growth of the temporary staffing industry. Temping firms provide a wide array of HR services from recruitment to end-to-end activity management, which has encouraged many industries to use temps as never before, thus making temping a booming business that contributes in a big way to the global economy and employment for all. This book is designed to provide a logical elucidation of the significance of temping as an HR strategy that provides the clients an excellent business result. It also highlights the temping trends in India and the world.
609 81-314-0766-7 Viral Marketing: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Marketing Nasreen Taher Swapna Gopalan 22-Jun-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 Viral marketing, the electronic equivalent of word-of-mouth marketing, is one of the most sought-after marketing strategies in the world today. It has proved to be a powerful weapon for marketers striving to catch the attention of consumers, who have become immune to traditional advertising due to constant exposure to numerous commercial messages every day. Viral Marketing helps break barriers to advertisements seen by consumers and aids in developing a relationship between brands and its customers. As it spreads the sales message with minimal budget and maximum effect, it has come to be accepted as one of the most time and cost-efficient modes of communication for a marketer. Today, free web space, free newsletter, free e-mail courses or workshops, free software, free e-mail accounts, funny video clips, etc., have become common viral marketing techniques. This book sheds light on the benefits, challenges and key factors of success for viral marketing and also details certain strategies and models of viral marketing. A section devoted to case studies discusses the future potential of viral marketing as also the ethical issues involved in the use of viral tactics.
610 81-314-0806-X Terrorism: The Sectoral Impact www.nbcindia.com Economy Amrita Chakraborty 22-Jun-07 216 15.5 400 0 0 Terrorists use mass murder to instill fear and create chaos to attract eye-ball attention towards their political objective. Terrorism has come to mean the threat of killing a few and frightening tens of thousands of others. The fear of terrorism has been so great since 9/11, that there is no need for terrorists to actually do anything. The mere suspicion that they might act, closes down the stock market, stops flights of aircraft, disturbs traffic patterns, causes hospitals and schools to close. This book throws light on how crippling terrorism has been. There is hardly any debate amongst world opinions about the crippling impact of terrorism on an economy and its people. It has stunted the growth of every economy and country that it has afflicted. Only the intensity differs depending on the innate strength of that economy and its resilience to surmount crises. The difference of the innate strength of an economy or a country is also seen amongst sectors. Just as all human and physical capital are not equal, all sectors are not equal in their ability to absorb the impact of terrorism. Some have specialized functions which, if disrupted, cause economic damage that is significantly out of proportion to the initial disruption. FDI, tourism & travel, civil aviation, etc., are some of the sectors that have been impacted more than other sectors. The objective of this book is to look at the sectoral impact of terrorism. The country experiences as well as the research work collated in the book give the readers a cross-section of interesting impact studies of sectors that are more vulnerable to terrorism. The readers can sit up and take note of the whipping boys of the terrorist organizations and take heart from the more buoyant amongst them. (Read ‘A tale of growth amidst turbulence’ by G R K Murty.)
611 81-314-0802-7 Effective Negotiation: Perspectives and Processes www.nbcindia.com Management Mookherjee S N 22-Jun-07 216 15.5 400 0 0 Negotiation is one of the most important functions of any business manager – be he/she a front line executive, or a top corporate manager. Negotiation is increasingly a way of life for effective managers. Most important managerial problems usually call for sustainable agreements among conflicting parties. The ability to negotiate has a substantial impact on how well a company is managed and run and that in turn, affects a company’s profitability. With rapid globalization, businesses are becoming increasingly dependent on transnational associations. As a result, it has become imperative for managers to gain competence in cross-cultural negotiations for successfully striking business deals and also resolving any disputes that may arise. Nonetheless, the role of negotiation is not limited to corporate or business activities alone. In our daily life, negotiation is such a common activity that we seldom think about it in any conscious manner and prepare for it adequately for achieving best results in a particular situation. As life becomes more complex and the world more diverse, ability to use negotiation skills becomes more critical. A good negotiator can achieve much success in his/her professional as well as in personal life. Success in negotiation is the result of a continuous learning process. Negotiating for successful outcome acts more like an achievement, both in life and business.
612 81-314-0770-5 Indian Banking: The New Vision www.nbcindia.com Banking Nageswara Rao Katuri 22-Jun-07 184 14 350 0 0 Indian banking has evolved itself into a strong, stable and vibrant intermediary in the national financial scenario, thanks to the banking reforms ushered in during 1992-94. Indian banking needs a new vision, in the face of competition, challenges of innovation, technological revolution, world best practices, regulatory imperatives and the impending structural changes. The financial system can play a role in reinforcing many of the objectives of the Millennium Development Goals involving savings, livelihood and economic infrastructure, apart form providing an efficient payment system. Financial inclusion has to be viewed as a business strategy for growth and banks need to position themselves accordingly. Banks need to develop Knowledge Management Systems, as an integrated system with a people focus. Indian banks are moving towards the concept of financial supermarkets, where the customer can get the full range of financial services. India has good prospects for Islamic banking, as a profitable business model. Presently, it has an insignificant presence in India. Basel II provides the banks an opportunity to gain competitive advantage by allocating capital to those processes, segments and markets that demonstrate a strong risk-return ratio. E-banking now facilitates many services, like ATM, electronic funds transfer, personal computer banking, shared payment network system, Point of sale terminal, electronic data interchange, structural message transfer system using swift, corporate banking terminal, telebanking etc. There may be no significant scale or scope economies either, due to consolidation among PSBs, as operational efficiency cannot easily be improved in bigger banks, if their business lines do not complement each other. If Indian banks achieve a greater degree of convergence between banking, securities and insurance streams, risk mitigation through diversification may happen.
613 81-314-0809-4 Infrastructure Financing – Trends, Challenges and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Finance Gopala Krishna Murthy G 16-Jun-07 316 19 475 0 0 Infrastructure financing is regarded as the lifeline of a nation in view of its significance in economic growth and sophistication of a country. The lack of long-term debt has been the core issue faced by the infrastructure sector. With the upswing of economic reforms process and globalisation effects, umpteen avenues are there for infrastructure financing not only from sources within the country, but from outside too. During the last one-decade and odd, infrastructure in India is seeing several strides, with many projects having been undertaken with public private participation. It is, in this context, essential that these huge projects need effective monitoring and control in terms of their performance. Such a measure, which is crucial for the financial structuring and inflow of funds, also boosts the confidence of investors. When investors acquire confidence about their investments, further flow of funds becomes easy. This book attempts to capture all the relevant aspects of infrastructure financing in India, citing examples of similar initiatives in other parts of the globe and to provide insights into the dynamics of infrastructure financing in the context of a globalised economy.
614 81-314-0782-9 GATS: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com General Books Dipankar Dey 16-Jun-07 300 19 475 0 0 The General Agreement in Trade and Services (GATS), a multilateral trade agreement on services came into effect from January, 2000. Unlike other WTO agreements, GATS offers much more freedom to the Member States by allowing ‘progressive liberalization’ of their service sectors through ‘request’ and ‘offer’ approach. GATS architecture is complex and definitions are sometimes ambiguous. It has been observed during the last few years, that the scope of its coverage has increased, keeping in line with the increasing importance of service sector in the global economy. According to the World Band data, the service sector GDP is the fastest growing component of total GDP in both low and middle income economies. Moreover, service sector GDP in such economies is growing at a faster rate than the world average. In 2000, service sector accounted for 54 percent and 44 percent respectively of the middle income and the low income economies’ total GDP and a recent research finding claims that elimination of service barriers to trade would yield an income gain of $1.4 trillion for the world. Most of the developing countries were against the inclusion of service sector under WTO trade negotiations. However, they could not succeed in their endeavor and GATS become an integral part of the new trading system under WTO. The complexities and ambiguities associated with GATS demand an impassionate analysis of this very important agreement. Keeping this in mind, this volume has attempted to unveil different clauses of GATS and its possible impact on global trade in services.
615 81-314-0727-6 Internet Governance: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Ravi Kumar Jain B 16-Jun-07 300 19 475 0 0 The Internet has shrunk the world into a global village. It has not only evolved as a preferred medium for communication and information sharing, but also as a medium for entertainment and economic activities, building communities and transacting at professional and personal levels, contributing to the global and local economic development. With nearly one fifth of the world’s population being connected to the Internet conducting millions of transactions every day, a whole new virtual world has evolved on the Internet. Our dependence, as an individual, as a society and as a country, on the Internet need not be overemphasized. This situation raises certain fundamental questions as to who controls the Internet and how the Internet infrastructure and activities on it are governed. These questions introduce us to a widely debated topic – the ‘Internet Governance’. Internet Governance revolves around the control and supervision of the logical and physical infrastructure of the Internet-definition of protocols, control of root servers, and domain name resources etc. It primarily refers to all policies and regulations that influence the way the Internet is structured, the way it works and the way it is used. Major stakeholders involved in Internet Governance – individuals, business organizations, and the countries – interpret it differently and have different connotations and perspectives of it. Issues galore related to the internet Governance are hotly debated among the countries of the world as to what they want and what they do not want, who should control it, and how it has to be governed and so on. This book attempts to provide a clear understanding of the concept, the need and the issues related to the Internet governance, along with various country perspectives of it.
616 81-314-0760-8 Waste Management: An Overview www.nbcindia.com Economy Amrita Chakraborty 16-Jun-07 288 18 450 0 0 An efficient use of resources and an effective management of waste are essential features of an environmentally sustainable economy. However, in many developing countries, waste management facilities are both inefficient and insufficient. Some of the broad causes of sub-optimal waste management in developing countries, like those in South Asia are poor existing disposal systems as well as lack of awareness of the environmental externalities. The pertinent question, then, is – what is so worrisome about inefficient and undeveloped waste management systems? The answer is that they cause major damages to the environment, which, in turn, causes health hazards. The fast pace of economic growth and the consequent changes in the standard of living, on the one hand, and population growth, on the other, have led to increasing volumes of waste at an alarming rate. Due to lack of awareness amongst the masses in most developing countries, management of waste is very difficult. Much of this waste has proved to be extremely toxic. The latest scientific assessment report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) issued in Paris on 2nd February 2007 blames humans squarely for environmental damages, like global warming, sea level rise, changing weather patterns (including severity of storms/cyclones) and freak weather in many parts of the globe. “What humans have done over the last couple of hundreds of years is unprecedented” says Rajendra Pachauri, Chairman of IPCC. “It hasn’t happened over tens of thousands of years.” (Source: Earth Cannot Afford Humans, THE TELEGRAPH, 3rd February 2007.) Detrimental consequences of being lax with waste management impacts human health adversely and, in the final count, any negative impact on human capital impedes development of society. However, it is important to remember that though waste has a deleterious impact on the environment at global and local levels and immediate steps have to be taken to implement effective waste management methods, it is also important to remember that waste contains resources, which can be reused or recycled to deliver economic value, resulting in greater resource efficiency.
617 81-314-0791-8 Empowerment of Women – Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sukhvinder Kaur Multani 16-Jun-07 272 17 425 0 0 Women’s empowerment has reached great heights. Women are being empowered in various areas, in different ways, across societies. They are empowered politically, economically and socially. Added to this, the globalized world has opened new opportunities for them. Today’s women have successfully made their mark in diverse fields. Education and awareness are the basic factors leading women to accept different careers along with the inherent challenges. Women have displayed their skills and intellectual capital in areas like information technology, decision making, political participation and governance. New challenges for women’s empowerment and gender equality have emerged. Nevertheless, the achievements made by them are commendable. Empowerment and gender as an approach to development have become increasingly dominant across societies. The governments of various countries are increasingly showing commitment to promote gender equality and empowerment of women as effective ways to eradicate poverty, employment, diseases, stimulating sustainable development and so on. This book comprises two sections namely, “Empowerment of Women: Perspectives” and “Country Experiences”. The first section projects various views with regard to women’s empowerment and the second section has a specific focus on empowerment with respect to examining experiences of some countries. Through this book we aim at understanding women’s empowerment in diverse ways such as their access to information, social empowerment through ICT, economic empowerment, political empowerment and so forth. This venture of women assures that a holistic development/progress of women helps building their selves, thus, giving wider implications to their lives.
618 81-314-0805-1 The Icfai University Press on Training and Development: Perspectives from the Service Sector www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sumati Reddy 16-Jun-07 264 17 425 0 0 The service sector in India is growing at a phenomenal pace – 9% since the mid-1990s. The growth in the IT/ITES services is especially noteworthy. It’s share of the global offshore market for IT services is 65%. A number of other sectors such as retailing, tourism, media, education, healthcare, etc. have a huge potential for growth and to fuel the growth a large number of suitably qualified and trained workforce is needed. India, with a high proportion of low cost English-speaking population and a large number of technically and professionally qualified professionals is a contributing factor to the growth of the service sector. However, these advantages are not enough. Currently, there is a mismatch between the vocational skills obtained by a number of graduates passing out of tertiary institutions and the skills needed by the industry. Therefore, training and development activities have a great role to play in bridging this gap. Service professionals have to invariably deal with customers directly. Hence, they need to be equipped with soft skills in addition to technical and business skills. HR professionals have to ensure that HRD interventions equip employees with the requisite skills in order to ensure efficient service delivery, improve customer satisfaction, and positively impact the bottom line of the business. This book offers a number of different perspectives with regard to training and development in the service sector. It can serve as a useful reading reference for HR professionals, business students, business teachers, and business executives.
619 81-314-0792-6 Digital Rights Management: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Satish D 16-Jun-07 264 17 425 0 0 Digital Rights Management (DRM) encompasses all the technologies used by the owners of the digital content to control access and usage of their copyrighted creation. By allowing access and usage of their prized possession, the owners of the digital content make revenues as well as build a viable business model around their content. While the battle between the content owners and the distributors and users exists for nearly a decade, the battle has now reached the digital space with the popularity of the computers, DVD’s and software that allows copying of digital content many times without reducing the quality. While the DRM opponents feel that it is designed to restrict the free use of information, the DRM advocates feel that the owners of the content should have control over the use and distribution of their work. The book introduces DRM and covers the work going on in various well – known DRM schemes like DIVX, CSS, Product Activation and Digital Water Marking. The book talks about the history and evolution of DRM covering the legal and regulatory framework, which is now in existence after the coming of the Digital millennium Copyrights Act (DMCA). The book also goes into the technique of DRM architecture as well as the security aspects of a DRM package. The book gives valuable insights into issues like costs, compatability and what a customer of DRM should ask for before buying a DRM package. On the other hand, the book talks about what the DRM vendors as well as the manufacturers of consumer products should do to better comply with the needs of both the content providers and their customers. The book also predicts the evolution of DRM.
620 81-314-0734-9 Micro Marketing – Approaches and Applications www.nbcindia.com Marketing Kumuda Laxman Tripathy 16-Jun-07 264 17 425 0 0 The book Micro Marketing-Concepts and Cases takes into cognizance the growing phenomenon, that today s customers perceive themselves as having unique needs and interests, and they demand that businesses understand and meet those individual needs. To satisfy these customers, major marketers must shift from casting a wide marketing net over a vast crowd to selling to millions of individual customers. This shift from mass to micro marketing presents both opportunities and challenges to market researchers. In their effort to market to customers on a one-to-one basis, market-driven companies must quickly make the move from creative, right-brain strategies to analytical, left-brain strategies. This book encompasses different sectors and examines how companies are marketing one to one and finding ways and means of micro profiling their customers, in order to provide individual value to each customer from the goods and services which they buy/purchase. The sectors which are covered in the book are: Retail, Services, Banking/Finance, Airways, Rural sector and many more. Retail is a happening sector today; Innovations in service; private labels; range and layout of customer centric stores; a lifestyle experience. Micro profiling; future of supply chain technology; service to customer; all these can be checked out in what is happening at retail chains! The book is rich in content on strategic micromarketing adopted by marketers in various sectors and which have paid them good dividends. It will surely benefit marketing professionals, marketing professors, students, and advertising agencies, in terms of the tips and strategies unfurled in the articles represented in the book.
621 81-314-0764-0 English as the Global Language: Perspectives and Implications www.nbcindia.com Education Rajagopalan S 16-Jun-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 The process of globalization that accelerated during the last decade of the twentieth century is generally associated with easier and increased cross-border capital flows, trade, and integration of world markets. There had been another globalizing influence quietly taking hold and spreading through the twentieth century and which has been continuing to do so in the twenty-first too – the English language. English emerged as the lingua franca of the world in the twentieth century, and promises to grow in that stature in the twenty-first. Its presence is overwhelming: in education, business, research, science and technology, entertainment, the Internet, and in almost every sphere of human engagement. According to estimates, it is spoken by some two billion people, at various levels of fluency around the world, including 380 million native speakers and those who learn it as a second or foreign language. Even though, in numbers, this is just about a third of the world s population, the geographical and domain spread of English is greater than that of any other language. While some view the global spread of English as neocolonialism, it would be hard to deny that a lingua franca like English greatly facilitates cross-border communication, trade, services, and cultural exchange. Even more significant today is how English has become a source of competitive advantage in the global economy. India with its large pool of English-speaking manpower is a major player in the global outsourcing industry. English as the Global Language examines the different perspectives of the global spread of the English language, its economic implications, and the peculiar experience of the language in India-a former British colony – whose large English-educated workforce is now reaping the dividends of proficiency in the language.
622 81-314-0776-4 Logistics Management: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Logistics Pramod Rao Kalyani Gohokar 16-Jun-07 240 16.5 425 0 0 Today, increased globalization and heightened competition are changing the way logistics management is being viewed. Operating at a global level has its own challenges and issues which need to be addressed by the logistics operators. Logistics, at present, has been receiving increased attention in the corporate boardroom due to its ability to achieve strategic competitive advantage. The traditional role of logistics has undergone a tremendous transition due to changing business environment and corporate needs. This book is a humble effort to portray logistics as an agent of change. It explains the contemporary issues and trends in logistics management and how they can be used by corporations to gain strategic advantage. The book endeavors to identify the bottlenecks prevailing in the logistics industry and how solutions are mitigating these problems and accelerating growth for individual countries and globally at large. The book focuses on emerging practices and trends with respect to outsourcing (3PL, 4PL), integration, collaborative and advanced logistics. It includes the impact of geographical and cultural diversities on logistics operations of global companies. It emphasizes logistical customer service, and explains how companies balance the effect of increased cost and changing customer preferences. With the help of some articles and examples mentioned in this book, an effort has been made to drive home the point that logistics management can act as a change agent by providing revenue growth and responsiveness making the firm more efficient and profitable. It is hoped that the book will be of great value to organizations, if logistics management is used as a tool for business strategy.
623 81-314-0761-6 Compensation Management: Concepts and Current Practices www.nbcindia.com Management Subhasheesh Bhattacharya 16-Jun-07 240 16.5 425 0 0 For long, there has been a need of some books from Indian publishers, with some insights into Indian and foreign companies and the concept of compensation management with strategic perspective. This book is a humble effort to meet this need. It explains the concept in a very simple manner and clarifies how the compensation can be used as a powerful strategic tool for the company. Till now, many companies have neither been using, nor have been understanding the need to use the compensation management as a strategic tool. With the help of some articles and examples, an effort has been made in this book to drive home the point that compensation management can be aligned to business strategy, values etc., of the company. In today’s time of globalization, human resource, undoubtedly, is considered the most important resource. A competent and effective human resource is a major source of competitive advantage to any company. Specially in service sector and knowledge economy, compensation accounts for a major portion of the total cost of doing business. Hence, compensation management deserves to be taken seriously and, if it is used as a strategic tool, that makes better business sense. The language used in the book, is very simple to understand and effective to achieve the purpose. It is hoped that the book will add value to organizations, if the compensation is used as a tool for business strategy.
624 81-314-0780-2 Brand Communication: Contemporary Approaches www.nbcindia.com Marketing Naveen Das 16-Jun-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 Brand communication is a process of making a brand known to the customers. A brand does not have proper value, if it is not communicated properly to its intended customers. In this genre of cut-throat competition, brand communication is getting high importance. Branding a product or a commodity adds new dimensions that differentiate products and services from one another. These dimensions are commonly known as brand attributes, which can be functional, rational, symbolic or sometimes emotional. A customer, while purchasing a product or services, always gives importance to the brand attributes. Brand communication is intended to promote these brand attributes to the target audience in a manner, which leads to greater brand acceptance. The book gives insights into the contemporary approaches to effective brand communication, which help in enhancing brand awareness, creating a favorable and consistent brand image, leading to a long lasting relationship with the customer.
625 81-314-0768-3 NGOs: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Economy Santap Sanhari Mishra 7-Jun-07 336 20 500 0 0 In modern welfare states, the aim of government is to provide good governance. But it does not mean that government will be overburdened. Again, good governance, which is the maximum development for majority population should be the ultimate end. So the rolling back of the state from major sectors is a viable alternative for effective socio-economic development. This retreat of state has opened floodgates for Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs). It is to be noted here that, NGOs have their origin since the emergence of UNO, but the term ‘NGO’ carries different connotations under different circumstances, based on the socio-economic foundations of the nation. In this free market economy, NGOs are ubiquitous, invading a number of socio-economic fields like promotion of human rights, protection of environment, women empowerment, combating corruption, solving international disputes, waste management etc. The roles played by them are really praiseworthy. This book is an attempt to illustrate such new dimensions of socio-economic fields in which NGOs are playing key roles, by taking experiences from some countries around the world.
626 81-314-0599-0 The Icfai Dictionary of Software Engineering www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Pradeep Kumar 7-Jun-07 284 19.5 500 22 550 The Icfai Dictionary of Software Engineering is addressed to students, teachers, practitioners and general readers who want to follow software engineering discussions in the class and elsewhere, or whose daily work demands some familiarity with terminology of Software Engineering functions like Requirement Analysis, Engineering, Analysis and Design, Software Testing, Software Quality, Software Metrics, Software Maintenance, Object Oriented Software Engineering and Advances in Software Engineering etc. The dictionary also addresses terms from the conceptual level to the advanced level in a precise manner. It aims to provide a comprehensive companion to support other reading in a discipline which employs remarkably similar terminology. This dictionary is a guide to the main ideas and teaching connected with the basics of and advances in Software Engineering. The book is designed in such a way that it will cover the salient facts and features of various points of Software Engineering and, also explore software development from technology and business perspectives. Over 3500 entries define and explain clearly the salient facts within the context of Software Engineering. Its store of up-to-date information will certainly appeal to active managers, teachers and students of software engineering, software project management and business.
627 81-314-0728-4 World Agricultural Trade: WTO Perspective www.nbcindia.com Economy Rahul Gupta 7-Jun-07 320 19 475 0 0 The developing and the least developed countries have a significant dependence on agriculture, both in terms of proportion of GDP and provision of livelihood to the majority. The importance of agricultural trade in increasing the global economic welfare in general and that of these poorer countries in particular, has paved the way for agricultural issues assuming key importance in international trade forums like WTO. Recognizing the importance of agriculture, the Uruguay Round of GATT negotiations came up with the Agreement on Agriculture (1994), with improved market access, reduction in domestic subsidies and abolition of export subsidies, as three pillars supporting the move towards agricultural trade liberalization for multilateral equitable trading system. Subsequent WTO ministerial discussions have taken the issue forward, but a consensus has been elusive except for a moderate success for export subsidy abolition. This book tries to illustrate the way the world agricultural trade has evolved under the aegis of WTO and its modalities, the way the trade reform can benefit the poorer countries, some country experiences and instances from select crop sectors.
628 81-314-0774-8 The Icfai University Press on Branding Practices www.nbcindia.com Marketing Sangeetha K 7-Jun-07 308 19 475 0 0 A brand has become indispensable in every aspect of a customer’s life today. For a brand to be successful and enduring, a company should consistently focus on increasing the brand’s lifespan by constantly reinventing, revitalizing, and reinforcing the brand. The companies that engage in branding measures achieve enhanced performance, higher product visibility, and increased product awareness in the marketplace which, in turn, generates brand equity and surplus revenue. Thus, a company practicing innovative brand building strategies can leapfrog competition by increasing its brand’s lifecycle and becoming an immortal brand due to customer satisfaction, enduring customer loyalty and emotional appeal. This book is designed to provide an elucidation of the role played by branding in gaining marketplace excellence to outperform competition. It throws light on various branding trends that are used by companies to steer themselves towards success.
629 81-314-0754-3 Good Governance – Perspectives and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Economy Ramani V V 7-Jun-07 280 18 450 0 0 Governance has been an engaging concern from time immemorial. It has gained increasing significance over the ages. Numerous kingdoms, kings and emperors have addressed this issue and set different systems and practices, in accordance with the obtaining situation and the emerging needs of society. The perfect art of governance was never a continued spell. In between, there were glimpses of excellence, otherwise, it lapsed into a routine role. The periods of excellence have always been rated as golden rule in history and are cherished over the ages. The entire gamut of governance stretches from the ‘Golden Age’ of the Mouryas to the modern e-governance state. The central role that effective governance plays in the economic and social development of a country is widely recognized now, as international organizations ensure reasonable conformity to high standards. The challenge of development is not only to improve the quality of life but also to achieve higher standards of health, nutrition, a cleaner environment, more equality of opportunity, greater individual freedom and a richer cultural life. In the Millennium Declaration, the world leaders stated that the development goals could only be achieved through good – or democratic – governance. Further, they pledged to spare no effort to promote democracy and strengthen the rule of law. These goals constitute the vision of the next decade and India is not lagging behind. This book seeks to present a comprehensive view of good governance and its role in the economic and social development of a nation, thus, making it an interesting reading not only to the policy makers but also to the consultants and academicians. Further, experiences of various countries in the implementation of ‘Good Governance Programmes’ provide useful insights into the role of various stakeholders in their successful implementation. It is hoped that the contents of this book would be informative and resourceful and the experiences, inspiring and educative to all concerned.
630 81-314-0743-8 Environmental Issues in India: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com General Books Dhandapani Alagiri Naveen Kumar E 7-Jun-07 276 18 450 0 0 India’s environment is being polluted over the last several decades at an increasing rate. There has been a general increase in overexploitation of the natural sources and hence degradation of the environment. The rapid progress in industrialization and economic growth, changing lifestyles and population explosion and migration – all have contributed to the pollution and degradation of the general environment of the country. The pollution problems have also been compounded by lack of recognition and ineffective steps taken to combat the problem over the years. Primarily Land, water and air pollution are the areas which have been concentrated upon. But, in recent times, sub divisions such as noise pollution, electronic waste are also increasingly debated. At this juncture, India faces major challenges in maintaining an intricate balance between its high profile energy requirements in the face of rapid economic growth and at the same time the need to protect the environment from deterioration. Even though India has made good efforts for protecting the environment by having stringent standards for several industrial processes, pollutants and effluent treatments and has introduced environment audit, it is a long way before these efforts actually pay results, as India lags behind in the key area of enforcing the standards. In this scenario, when environmental pollution and its protection have been important issues before the country, this book, Environmental Issues In India: An Introduction makes a comprehensive study assessing the issues involved and analyzes the important trends and developments that harm or protect the environment.
631 81-314-0700-4 Co-opetition and Strategic Collaboration: The New Age Business Strategy www.nbcindia.com Business Strategy Jayshree Bose 7-Jun-07 280 17 425 0 0 Businesses in this age are coming up against a completely new genre of challenges that they had never encountered earlier. And these new challenges have turned some myths on their head, prime among them being that competition is the only way to be ahead of others in business. The new tenet for business is “ Competitive Collaboration.” But is not that a paradox, a contradiction in terms? Not any more, if global experiences are anything to go by. As a result, that ‘either-or’ attitude where businesses either collaborated or competed, has been jettisoned in global corporate boardrooms in favour of the co-opetitive approach, where competitors enter into strategic collaboration with rivals in some areas of their business, on the one hand, and compete with the same rivals in other areas, on the other hand. This phenomenon is fast becoming common in India, as well. For example, two competitors in the IT sector could collaborate on R&D and compete on marketing turf. Although businesses in many sectors have joined the fray, prime among them is the Information Technology sector, where global frontrunners have realized that it makes eminent business sense to collaborate in the capital intensive R&D segment and not to compete over market shares in defunct technology products. The highly obsolescent auto sector, highly commoditised oil sector, banking and insurance where customer acquisition and retention are a major consideration, pharmaceuticals, fast foods, aviation, retail and grocery, the SME sector etc., have all struck up effective co-opetitive alliances and are benefiting from them. Which types of partners are ideal for such alliances, prerequisites for effective cooperation, considerations to be kept in mind for the development of a sustainable co-opetitive relationship and many other major issues are discussed in the book. The book contains excellent case studies of eBay and Google, Samsung and Sony, Fiat and General Motors, Hindustan Times and Times of India, Sybase and IBM, Microsoft and Novell, SAP and Bann and countries like USA and the European Union, etc. It is hoped that the book would be of great interest to all strategy-oriented corporations in India and abroad, business and management consultants, faculty and students of business strategy, students of general management, B-Schools, various industries and companies looking for a direction towards competitive collaboration, as well as general readers who would find the issues as well as cases both interesting and informative.
632 81-314-0695-4 Occupational Health – Issues and Strategies www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sanjeev Kumar Singh 7-Jun-07 260 17 425 0 0 Around the world, millions of men and women work in poor and hazardous conditions. Every year, more than 2 million people die of work-related accidents and diseases. Human suffering has no measurable cost, unlike economic losses. Estimates, for example, from the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany and Norway put the direct cost of accidents in billions of dollars. In many developing countries, death rates among workers are five to six times those in industrialized countries. Yet, the phenomenon is still largely undocumented and there is insufficient political will to address the problem. The prevention of accidents, improvement of working conditions and enforcement of standards are often seen as a cost to business. Little is known about the costs of not preventing accidents or poor working conditions, or of the benefits of improvements for productivity and competitiveness. Better information and workplace health promotion strategies can help to increase the organization’s and the government’s willingness to invest in prevention and evolve economics of labor protection. This will foster the development of a safety culture worldwide. The book highlights the multifaceted dimensions of occupational health, along with workplace health promotion strategies, to provide the readers a bird’s eye view of occupational health and safety, in the form of well-written articles by experts in a synchronized format. The book will serve as a valuable reference for employees, employers, health personnel, policy-makers, practicing managers, OH specialists and labor economists.
633 81-314-0783-7 The Icfai University Press on Change Management: People Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sumati Reddy 7-Jun-07 232 16 400 0 0 The Icfai University Press on Change Management: People Perspectives Change is the only constant. However puzzling this statement may seem, it is absolutely true. Look around you. Does anything remain the same? Look at yourself. You are not the same person you were a moment back! You are changing every moment. Your mind keeps absorbing new information, your perception is changing, and so on. An organization is no different. Not only does it continue to change internally, but a number of external factors impinge upon it, making it necessary to bring about changes to ensure continuing relevance in the changing environment. Leaders must prepare their employees to be ready for change on a regular basis. They play a key role in gauging the environment, making sense of new developments, and reorienting the organization’s plans and strategies to survive and succeed. Certain aspects such as core values and the long-term vision should be formulated in such a manner that they do not lose relevance, irrespective of change. These aspects should be clearly communicated to all the stakeholders of an organization, so that they can bond well with the organization. This book offers insights into the role of leaders, managers and HR professionals in managing organizational changes while, at the same time, taking care of the softer issues of change pertaining to the employees. The book, it is hoped, will be useful to organizational leaders, business executives, HR professionals, business students and business teachers.
634 81-314-0789-6 Out-of-Home Advertising in India: Trends and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Marketing Saravanan I B Naveen Kumar E 7-Jun-07 224 15.5 400 0 0 As advertising in electronic and press media is economically unviable and their efficiency is being questioned, outdoor advertising seems to be an economical solution. Treated as a reminder medium, outdoor advertising has grown in stature in India over last two decades to be a main medium for launch, positioning and repositioning of products and services. With technological developments in advertising booming, a traditional outdoor advertising has turned into Out-of-Home advertising. This shift comprises not only the billboards and hoardings, but also vehicle graphics including bus, train, car and aircraft advertising, floor graphics, building wraps, matrix LED video walls, road signage, human advertising etc. India’s growth in disposable incomes and increased westernization in consumerism have led to continued escalation of advertising budgets. Entry of digital printers and global advertising agencies in India has fuelled the demand for good and effective out-of-home advertising. Digital printing, which has come a long way within a decade, has made the nationwide campaigns possible and local advertising more colorful and affordable. Further developments in global advertising scenario also affect Indian OOH trend. This book presents the Indian OOH industry in its entirety, describing the contribution of all its constituents namely, the advertiser, the advertising agency, the service provider and the consumer. It traces the digital printing industry’s growth from its nascent stage to the current stage and discusses the varying roles of advertising agencies and their media planning activities on campaigns. The book also analyzes the unorganized structure of the OOH industry and the challenges the industry faces. It is hoped that this book will be of interest to management and advertising students, industry analysts and OOH practitioners.
635 81-314-0523-0 Visual Merchandising: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Marketing Gopal V V 7-Jun-07 200 15 375 0 0 In a highly cluttered and competitive market place, where you can find identical merchandize at more than one outlet, the key-differentiating factor would be in terms of designing a suitable store layout and attractive presentation of products. Retailers have identified that visual stimulus is the easiest and most widely used tool for increasing footfalls and are putting extra efforts to ensure optimum utility of floor and wall space to display the goods and attract customers. The shift in focus, from customer information to customer’s pleasure while shopping at the outlet, is the genesis of Visual Merchandising. Visual merchandising refers to the display of products to arouse interest in the customer and attract him towards that display/product, makes him examine the product and admire the product either through verbal or non-verbal cues. Broadly there are two objectives of Visual merchandising (i) through creative display of the products, draw the customer’s attention and generate an enquiry and (ii) compel him/her to buy it or refer it to others for purchase. The book “Visual Merchandising: An Introduction” is divided into two sections. Articles in the first section address various related issues such as store planning and design, store windows and floor displays, signs, space design, fixtures and hardware, props and decoratives, mannequins and forms. Insights are also provided on the importance of selling ambience and visual display in driving footfalls. The concept of ‘Floor Advertising’ adds a whole new dimension to the concept of propelling decision making at the point of buying. The section on cases examines the issues and challenges that arise when planning a new store, changing the store design without alienating the customers affinity for the existing stores and ensuring that the design variables are in line with the company’s overall retail strategy. These and other dimensions of visual merchandising at UK based Next, Habitat and French Connection, Watsons’ of Hong Kong, GAP of US and the Indian experience of L’Oreal are bound to provide the reader–whether he is a corporate manager, professional or a student–with a useful insight into the intricacies of visual merchandising.
636 81-314-0771-3 Global Business Process Outsourcing: Concepts and Practices www.nbcindia.com Industry Rajmanohar T P 1-Jun-07 268 17 425 0 0 Business Process Outsourcing is an arrangement between a client and a BPO provider. In this arrangement, the BPO provider agrees to provide services in some business process to the client for an agreed fee. The benefit to the client is that he is able to concentrate on his core activities and is in a position to outsource his non core activities to the BPO provider. The BPO provider also benefits because he gets business and, if he gets more orders, he gets the benefit of scale. The BPO industry has become very active over the last ten years especially after the improvement in technology and IT infrastructure. The BPO industry has been growing at a very high rate over the last five years and the annual growth rate is around 11%. This has led to some backlash in countries like US and UK where there has been loss of jobs. The industry has a lot of human problems also and retention of employees has become a major issue. In most countries, getting skilled manpower is becoming a big problem. However, there are industry specialists who are forecasting a higher growth in 2007 than in the previous years. India has become the market leader in the BPO industry, but a number of countries like Philippines and China are playing the catch up game successfully. The book discusses the growth of the global BPO industry, the main issues involved and also some major global players.
637 81-314-0686-5 Product Management: Concepts and Applications www.nbcindia.com Management Londhe B R 1-Jun-07 256 17 425 0 0 The Process of globalization has thrown major challenges to the process of Product Management. In order to meet these challenges successfully, the philosophy and the process of managing the products globally have undergone a sea change. The product manager needs to understand the position of his product on the product life cycle curve and devise appropriate strategies and tactics to optimize the financial and market performance of the product. The product management challenge includes—product development, launch, rejuvenating the product or brand, management of product variety and product extensions, Product life cycle management etc.While managing the products, the product manager has to ponder over some questions like: 1) How do you really know where your product rests along the life cycle curve? 2) Are you making adjustments to the marketing mixes that are inappropriate for the product’s actual stage in its life cycle? Unfortunately, many product managers do not perform the tasks well and cause the following problems: § A development staff that does not know what to build; § Products that do not solve real problems in the marketplace; § Product designs that lack creativity and innovation. The book covers most of the problems faced by the product managers through a collection of scholarly articles on various issues of product management.
638 81-314-0718-7 Best Practices in Corporate India www.nbcindia.com Management Ramani V V 1-Jun-07 216 15.5 400 0 0 Best practice is a concept indicating that good planning and process, are being followed in the execution and management of a project plan, and that changes to the initial plan, dependencies, and goals are being tracked and documented. It does not have any template or form for everyone to follow. In earlier times, people were scared to adopt any innovative or best way without any resistance. After the Industrial revolution, they understood how technology could change the business scenario. It is the application and the process that develop and follow a standard procedure to do things, that can improve the efficiency of the management strategies, policy, technology etc. Those organisations, which adopt poorly designed processes, need modification or move towards a new design. For them, the choice is to follow a Best Practice and, in course of time, develop their own best practice. Best practices assure quality and consistency which are necessary in this fast, competitive business world. Corporate India is on the growth path and is becoming global. Many Indian firms have slowly and cautiously changed their style of business by adopting the best practices and techniques, which are unique in their own way, and in fact, suit their businesses. For example, Ranbaxy’s succession planning, ITC’s e-choupal initiative, Asian Paints’ supply chain management, Bharat Forge’s global manufacturing capabilities, Infosys Corporate governance, etc. are good showcases. This book aims to create a strategic vision for business and highlights the best practices, competitive advantages and core activities of some of the most respected organizations and companies in the Indian context.
639 81-314-0642-3 The Global Film Industry – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com General Books Nasreen Taher Swapna Gopalan 1-Jun-07 208 15 375 0 0 The entertainment industry is one of the largest of both the Indian and the US economies and is projected to become the most prominent, globally. Experiences of the global film industry are traced in this book right from the pre-war period, through the booms and recessions of the post-war period, detailing the evolution and success of the filmmaking industry from the 1800s to the 1990s, bringing the reader an understanding of cinema and the film industry across the globe. Globalization of the film industry was not a completely new phenomenon; by penetrating virtually every society, the international spread of cinema resulted in films becoming the first globalized medium. Globalization intensified greatly after the 1960s, based not on colonialism but on economic and social ties between countries. This book also focuses on issues such as funding, financial dilemmas, budgets, government intervention in funding and support, distribution, ancillary markets, with regard to the global film industry.
640 81-314-0737-3 Weather, Energy and Environmental Hedging : An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Finance Amandio F C Da Silva 29-May-07 268 17 425 0 0 The burning of fossil fuels for energy has resulted in erratic weather conditions, known as the greenhouse effect. While the world is yet to find other cheap sources of energy, burning of fossil fuels is inevitable. The fast depletion of fossil fuels is resulting in sky rocketing prices. While man cannot control the weather, he has come out with an innovative way of ensuring that related trades and industries do not get affected if it becomes erratic. This is done through weather derivatives, an innovative instrument that protects the buyers, in case they incur a loss in return for a nominal premium. Similarly, energy derivatives have been introduced, in order to ensure that buyers of fuel and refiners of crude are not affected by the ever rising prices of fossil fuels. A very interesting development has been the Kyoto protocol on emissions of harmful gases into the atmosphere. Under this protocol, the world has been divided into developed and developing nations, whereby, the former have been given a limit of emissions as an obligation to adhere to. As a result, developed nations have to buy emission credits mostly from developing nations that do not emit as much gas as they are allowed, or in other words, environmental derivatives. Weather, environmental and energy derivatives, have given a formidable opportunity to hedge funds to make clean profits by trading into these instruments. While the concept is still new, more and more funds are entering the market as they result in clear cut profits.
641 81-314-0633-4 IT @ Financial Services: Banking Industry www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Ravi Kumar Jain B Satish D 29-May-07 276 17 425 0 0 Information Technology (IT) has transformed the way the banks do business. Banks are leveraging on technology not only to cut cost but also to reduce the transaction time and improve overall efficiency. No bank, – no matter, the location or scale – can ignore technology. It has become inevitable for survival of any bank. Apparently, the application of IT in banks has transformed the traditional banking industry, from being a highly protected governmental agency with a limited scope of activities in the defined territorial boundaries, into an independent and open industry, providing a wide range of financial and banking services in a competitive environment on a global scale. The concepts of face-to-face banking and branch banking have given way to the new age concepts like core banking, remote banking, electronic banking, tele banking, mobile banking, global/international banking, anywhere banking, virtual banking, electronic fund transfers and so on, thanks to the IT revolution. Further, IT has also enabled the banks to offer wide portfolio of banking and financial services, ranging from loans and deposits to investment advice, portfolio management, investment banking, foreign exchange banking, wealth management, insurance and so on, using several alternative channels of servicing the customers across the globe. This book provides insights into the role of IT in the banking sector, while, at the same time, covering the various manifestations of technology in banking. The book also covers the emerging trends, issues and challenges posed by IT in the banking sector.
642 81-314-0746-2 Mutual Funds in India: Perspectives and Strategies www.nbcindia.com Finance Arindam Banerjee 29-May-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 The Indian mutual fund industry, though at a budding stage when compared to its US counterpart, has benefited a varied investor class. Apart from providing the advantage of risk mitigation, mutual funds provide the retail investors a hassle free entrance to the capital market with a meager sum of money. Of late, these instruments have also played a key role in sustaining investor confidence, when the capital market was undergoing the Monday Mayhem episode. Though mutual funds primarily help in risk mitigation, they do not completely eliminate the same. Thus, one needs to be very careful about the selection of funds that should best fit their risk and returns profile. This becomes all the more important, when the market is flooded with several funds, thus making it very difficult to make an appropriate choice. This book answers several questions that the investors need to know about mutual funds before investing in them. The divergent areas of coverage in the book provide a unique blend of perspectives, trends and strategies, that is a must for all retail investors trying to benefit the most out of these instruments.
643 81-314-0752-7 Urban Poverty: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Urban Poverty Rashmi Sharma 29-May-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 Poverty is best defined with reference to the best definition available on obscenity: “I know it when I see it” was the cryptic definition of a US Supreme Court Justice adjudicating in an obscenity case in the mid-seventies. There is no agreement on a definition of urban poverty. A variety of ways to define urban poverty is available. Each has its own strengths and deficiencies. There are two broadly corresponding approaches that are ubiquitous in current researches; firstly, economic interpretations and secondly anthropological interpretations. Conventional, economic definitions draw on income or consumption, complemented by a range of other social variables, whereas alternative interpretations developed largely by rural anthropologists and social planners working with rural communities in the third world, allow for local variation in the meaning of poverty, and expand the definition to encompass perceptions of non-material deprivation and social differentiation. Urban poverty is not necessarily an indication of economic failures. Nor internal migration is a major variable to explain urban poverty. Urban conditions cannot be generalized across types of urban areas but poor urban governance and inappropriate policy frameworks contribute to the vulnerability of the urban poor. Different needs and levels and types of vulnerability exist among the urban poor. Urban poverty is often characterized by cumulative deprivations. It is a multi-dimensional concept and each dimension is a cause and result of another dimension.
644 81-314-0497-8 Power Sector Reforms in Developing Countries www.nbcindia.com Economy Sandipa Lahiri Anand Asis Kumar Pain 29-May-07 228 16 400 0 0 The opening up of the economy, along with increased competition and private ownership, is affecting vital sectors like infrastructures. Throughout the world, infrastructures and public enterprises are subjected to economic reforms. Since the mid 1990’s, countries around the world have begun to embark on radical power sector reform with a view to increasing efficiency, apart from reducing prices. Most of these reforms and restructuring are concentrated in the developing countries, where the economic reform and restructuring processes are in full swing. In developing countries, electricity consumption is rising by leaps and bounds every year. These countries in 2000 accounted for 45 percent of the total electric power generation and it is estimated that by 2020, these countries shall need more than double their present electric generation capacity. The reforms undertaken, typically involve industry restructuring to separate potentially competitive activities (generation and supply) from natural monopolies (transmission and distribution), setting up of an independent regulator, privatization, and market liberalization. However, the implications of such reform have been quite varied. The present volume is a genuine effort to touch upon these issues with a number of articles that take care of the theoretical aspects as well as the practical experiences of such deviation.
645 81-314-0778-0 Business Transformation Outsourcing – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com BPO/Outsourcing Jaya Krishna S 29-May-07 216 15.5 400 0 0 In response to the need for rapid growth of businesses in today’s changing economy, a new strategy model that focuses on transforming the key business processes through collaborative strategic outsourcing has emerged. Such modern high-level outsourcing practice is known as ‘Business Process Transformation (BPT)’. However, when such strategic initiative is focused on achieving enterprise-level impact, it is referred to as ‘Business Transformation Outsourcing (BTO).’ This new outsourcing model moves beyond the conventional outsourcing model towards strategic outsourcing of functions/processes with a view to achieving business transformation. This book throws light on the changing trends in outsourcing models, the move towards transformation outsourcing and, at large, focuses on the concept, significance, applications, and perspectives of ‘Business Transformation Outsourcing (BTO)’ strategy. At large, it comprises two different sections, each focused on distinctive, fundamental sub-themes and confines to providing introductory insights to the prospective readers. Business Transformation Outsourcing (BTO) being the latest trend in strategic management, this book will be a useful reference, primarily to those practitioners planning to venture into transformation outsourcing landscape. This book is expected to be of interest to the top executives, outsourcing professionals, etc., while offering learning value to the students, academicians and other related professionals.
646 81-314-0475-7 The Icfai University Press on Customer Retention Management – Concepts and Applications www.nbcindia.com Customer Relationship Manageme Jaya Krishna S 29-May-07 208 15 375 0 0 Retaining customers, particularly the profitable customers paves the way for repetitive purchase, resulting in staying ahead with sustained profitability even in a competitive situation. This requires putting their best practices and efforts forward, which would delight and build loyalty of their customers ultimately leading to customer retention. This book is an attempt to help marketers and associated practioners to better understand contemporary concepts, strategies, practices and applications, in the sphere of customer retention management. While the earlier part of the book include articles that offer several insights into the concept, strategy and practice of customer retention management, the later part presents various applications and solutions covering different industries through illustrative examples and cases. Also, it offers insights into successful strategies and solutions adopted by various global and Indian firms such as Tesco, Bharti Tel, etc. Besides helping industry practioners, CRM professionals and executives to understand the ample opportunities offered by the emerging customer retention concepts and practices, this book offers an immense learning value to the academicians, researchers and students of Marketing and Management.
647 81-314-0630-X The Icfai University Press on Corporate Governance – Cases and Country Experiences www.nbcindia.com Management Ramani V V 29-May-07 208 15 375 0 0 Financial crisis in East Asia has given a new dimension to corporate governance and an increasing, worldwide attention towards corporate governance has compelled the economies to develop a new framework of guidelines. The significant influence of corporate governance practices will help the corporate to perform better in the emerging markets. Ethical conduct, transparency and disclosure are vital ton a corporate to develop goodwill in the global market and also to retain its stakeholders. The performance of a company depends on its strategy, employee skill sets, the soundness of financial performance and the company’s governance principles. Boards must adopt better strategies to incorporate the best principles of corporate governance and review, monitor the employees and management on a regular basis and ensure compliance with the code. Corporate governance deals with both power and accountability. By following the guidelines, the economic health of corporations improves and simultaneously, the welfare of society also improves. This is what attracted the public interest. It covers the entire gamut of activities that influence the financial health of corporates. This book is structured as cases and country experiences and throws light on corporate governance practices in various industries and countries. It focuses on each functional area and their responsibility towards stakeholders. This act may promote understanding and give assurance to the outsiders and audit committees, and thus, help in monitoring performance. The latest guidelines adopted by these corporates and countries, and their influence on the global economy after post Enron episode are discussed in detail.
648 81-314-0453-6 Case Studies on Ethics and Corporate Governance – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Ramaseshan H 29-May-07 260 0 30 750 For all progressive organisations of today, commercial success means much more than the profit margin. It is the image of the company and the goodwill it generates in the market that determines its success in the true sense of the word. It is also established that those companies, which portray a clean public image, can attract the brightest and the best talent. With shareholder activism being the order of the day, the activities of the Board of Directors and the company practices are coming in for a greater public scrutiny, and organisations that do not pass the muster, are found to decline rapidly. The best way for organisations to guard themselves against such a possibility is by reading and discussing of case studies on the ethical practices followed by both successful as well as unsuccessful organisations. This can enable one to chart out a plan for ethical compliance for one’s own organisation. The learning process also calls for unlearning and re-learning. Case Studies on Ethics and Corporate Governance enables a better understanding of ethical and corporate governance issues plaguing some of the best companies in the world. Along with dilemmas and their resolution, the governance initiatives are also highlighted.
649 81-314-0639-3 Social Security: Paradigm Shift www.nbcindia.com Economy Vandana Shajan 25-May-07 356 20 500 0 0 The primary goal of social security is to ensure access to health and social services, to provide income security to cope with uncertainties of life (like: loss of income due to retirement, injury during work, disability, unemployment etc.,) and prevent poverty. In the age of globalization, social security is considered to be one of the important welfare programs, as it acts as a shield for people in general. Since its inception after the Great Depression, it has come long way to cater to the needs of the people. The fundamental goals of social security differ according to the demographic, socio-economic factors of the developed and the developing countries. In the case of developing countries, the factors affecting social security are basically socio-economic, like poverty, unemployed youth, etc., whereas, in the case of developed countries, social security programs are mostly affected due to the fast changing demographic factors. These factors include increase in the average life span of people post retirement, increasing female participation in the workforce, affordability of the government pocket, etc. Social security was initially targeted at only the aged, the retired, and families of workers who were either disabled or deceased. But, today, in order to cater to the emerging needs, social security has expanded its scope to women and children as well. Social security benefits to women have become a prominent phenomenon. With this expanding scope of Social security, governments are finding it difficult to finance the welfare programs in the long run. With the average life span increasing, dependents will be more and hence, this cost will be proportional to the funding of the social security benefits provided to one particular family. Today, the need is felt to shift towards privatization. How far this shift would be acceptable or not is yet to be decided. This book “Social Security: Paradigm Shift” has tried to cover the various aspects, giving some examples of countries like USA, UK, India, China, etc. How these countries have been able to cater to the needs of social security of their respective nations has been discussed.
650 81-314-0490-0 Case Studies on Macroeconomics – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Mercy Mathew 25-May-07 300 0 35 875 In recent years, the world economy has undergone drastic changes. Globalisation, financial crisis, and fundamental changes associated with the ‘new economy’ have made macroeconomics an essential prerequisite study for the business manager and policy maker. The case studies featured in this book, highlight the goals and conflicts in macroeconomic management such as sustainability of economic growth, low and stable inflation, full employment and a satisfactory external trade position. Providing a short theoretical framework, the book, Case Studies on Macroeconomics, helps in understanding the developments on the economic front in EU and countries like USA, Japan, China among others, which have become a challenge to the decision makers. The interface between Macroeconomics and business fortunes has radically changed with the deepening globalisation efforts. No company is insulated from the Macroeconomic trends. Either the companies go down with these trends or leverage those trends. Those companies that take advantage emerge as the winners. The case studies, included in this book, capture some of the global economic trends and the possible impact on the business fortunes.
651 81-314-0443-9 Leadership for Institution Building in Education www.nbcindia.com Education Marmar Mukhopadhyay 23-May-07 248 20 500 22.5 575 Educational institutions experience growth and development or decay and degeneration with the change of leadership at the top. This everyday experience is strongly corroborated by empirical research. Growth and development of institutions are often incidental depending upon the knack of the person in leadership position, rather than a planned strategic management. The valiant efforts of leaders often go uncelebrated. Without documentation and dissemination, their important experiences remain only a tacit knowledge; and the potential science of institution building remains unknown. This is one of the pioneering attempts to document the experiences of those who built institutions; and the way they experienced it. The book contains a series of case studies of schools, colleges, regional institutes, national institutions and institutions of national importance that experience meteoric rise in a short span of time; the common and cutting theme is the process of institution building. Also this is the first serious effort to construct alternative paradigms of leadership and institution building based on relevant experiences of Indian institutions. Coming from the hands of a reputed scholar who has himself been an institution builder and researcher of international repute, it is a unique contribution to the professional literature on leadership and institution building. Institution builders, researchers, and all those with serious interest in education, in the process of institution building will find the book useful, interesting, and educative.
652 81-314-0713-6 Destination Branding: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Branding Amit Kumar Singh 23-May-07 276 18 450 0 0 All products require a branding effort to successfully compete for customers, and places are no exception. Destination Branding is all about discovering the true essence of a place (city, state, nation), developing it into core competency by incorporating all the attributes associated and communicating the same to the target audience in a favorable manner.Most of the destinations in this world have no idea as to how they are perceived outside their little world. This eventually calls for a strategic branding initiative, in order to portray the image of a city, state or a country, in such a manner that the world perceives their image the way they want them to. This helps them to garner global attention and carve out a niche that expresses a unique identity and personality of the destination and differentiates it from its competitors.Nowadays, an intense competition among the nation-states can be witnessed in order to position themselves as perfect destinations for tourism and investment. Places are creating their brand identity around reputations and attitudes in the same way as the corporate does. Nevertheless, evaluating the brand building measures and interpreting the perception and response of the target audience are uphill tasks. Some of the major aspects of Place Branding, covered in this book are: · Conceptual understanding of the destination branding process; · How to structure, implement, and manage it; · Comparative analysis of a product brand and a nation brand; · Unmanageable dimensions of a Destination Brand; and · Case studies of India, Dubai, Kerala, Singapore, and Malaysia.
653 81-314-0339-4 Case Studies on Corporate Turnarounds – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Rajendar Singh Rathore 23-May-07 300 0 35 875 With the rising complexity of the business environment due to intensified competition, rapid technological advances and varied customer base, corporations by score are failing, taking away with assets worth millions of dollars and jobs of thousands of people. Therefore, managing such corporate crisis is a challenge for any turnaround executive. With an aim to highlight the various factors responsible for a corporate decline and to provide valuable insights on the strategies adopted by various turnaround specialists and the challenges faced by them in implementing the same, the book has compiled some of the finest case studies on turnaround efforts of some of the famous corporates. The book, consisting of case studies covering a wide range of diverse industries, provides valuable insights into the strategies of dealing with troubled corporates in a real-life environment.
654 81-314-0533-8 Financial Performance of Equity Mutual Funds in India www.nbcindia.com Finance Sondhi H J Jain P K 22-May-07 316 19 475 21.5 550 Mutual fund industry has emerged as a dominant financial intermediary in Indian capital market. The industry manages financial assets of over Rs.2792 billions (AMFI, July 2006), contributed by an estimated 30 million investors, which shows the popularity of mutual funds. The assets have grown at an astronomical, compounded annualized growth rate of 48 per cent over a period of four decades (1965-2004). During the period of this study (1993-2002), the financial assets of mutual fund industry have witnessed compounded growth rate of 23 per cent. In 1987, nationalized banks were allowed to set up mutual funds. As a result, the monopoly of erstwhile Unit Trust of India as the sole player in mutual fund industry ended. During 1992-1993, the industry was opened to private sector, when the real competition in mutual fund industry is said to have begun. The private Asset Management Companies started swiftly with a share of 6.7 per cent (1999) and galloped to garner 75.2 per cent share of the industry total of Rs 1396 billions Assets under Management (AUM) at the end of March, 2004. Presently, (July 2006, AMFI), Private sector holds over 80 per cent share of AUM (Rs 2792 billions). This study analyses the financial performance of 36 diversified equity mutual funds in India, in terms of rates of return, comparison with risk free return, benchmark comparison and risk adjusted returns of diversified equity funds. The financial performance is a result of sound investment practices by the Asset Management Companies. Stock selectivity abilities of the fund managers and timing skills play an important role in bringing about superior performance. The study analyses these aspects and attempts to isolate factors responsible for significant differences in performance of sample funds. Fund size, ownership pattern of AMC and type of fund (Open or close ended) are the main factors considered in this study.
655 81-314-0720-9 E-governance in Developing Nations www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Santap Sanhari Mishra Amrita Mukherjee 22-May-07 284 18 450 0 0 Government is a machinery or institutional arrangement for exercising the sovereign power, while governance is the process as well as the result of taking authoritative decisions for the benefit of society. If the governance does not bring maximum benefits for maximum number of people, it results into mal-governance. In a welfare state, the aim is to be good governance; a number of ways are there to achieve that. E-governance is the most suitable one, which can bring a paradigm change in the face of governance. E-governance is the deployment of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in the delivery of public services. In this competitive economy, e-governance is ubiquitous. But in terms of success of e-governance projects, developed nations are far ahead of developing nations, resulting in a digital divide. Developing nations have failed to exploit the full benefits of ICT. A plethora of causes are responsible for this, like, lack of proper technology, poor funding facility, lack of political commitment etc. This book is an attempt to illustrate such issues, by taking the experiences from some developing countries around the world.
656 81-314-0621-0 Globalizing Ayurveda – Opportunities and Challenges www.nbcindia.com General Books Prabha Shastri Ranade 22-May-07 268 17 425 0 0 Ayurveda means the science of life. According to a WHO report, over 80% of the world population relies on traditional medicine, largely plant based for their primary healthcare needs. Ayurveda is one among the traditional and the oldest holistic medical system of the world. An increasing number of people around the world are turning towards Ayurveda among all the Complementary and Alternative Medicines (CAM) for the numerous unique benefits offered by it. It treats the root cause of an ailment and causes no side effects. The efforts of devoted ayurvedic practitioners/yoga teachers have contributed to their popularity across the globe. In this era of globalization and fast paced life, people are demanding quick healing medicines. There is a large potential to tap the unexplored market and regenerate awareness among the current generation. According to WHO, the international market of herbal products is estimated to be US$ 62 billion which is poised to grow to US$ 5 trillion by the year 2050. India s share in the global export market of medicinal plants related trade is just 0.5%. But China dominates over the world market. The challenges for Ayurveda are to increase the effectiveness of medicines, shelf life of medicines, meet international quality standards, and standardize formulations for large-scale production and market aggressively with a scientific approach. This book has been divided into four sections. Section 1: Introduction to Ayurveda, gives an introduction about Ayurveda, the developments, which have taken place in this field and its movement towards globalizing. Section 2: Indian Scenario, discusses about the Ayurvedic industry in India, regulations, research and education scenario in this field. This section comprises 5 articles. Section 3: Global Scenario, discusses the growing popularity, acceptance, challenges and opportunities available in the global market and Section 4: comprises case studies, like “Revitalizing Traditional Herbal Therapy (Uttranchal Case), “Health Tourism in Kerala: Ayurvedic Way” and “Himalaya Drug Company: Branding Ayurveda”.
657 81-314-0723-3 Maritime Trade and Security – Issues and Country perspectives www.nbcindia.com Management Sukhvinder Kaur Multani 22-May-07 268 17 425 0 0 It was not long ago when A.T.Mahan, American naval strategist and historian had advocated “sea power” as a determinant of a nation’s strength. The economic significance of sea to humankind is remarkable. More so, when seas and oceans are rich in mineral resources and contribute enormously to the economic growth and prosperity of countries. In this context, the sea lanes are vital in carrying out trade to required destinations. Keeping in view the significance of seas and oceans, the book has aimed at discussing some of the important issues in maritime trade and security. Despite the benefits of seas and oceans in terms of growing trade and commerce and the overall growth of global economies, maritime trade is threatened by some non-traditional actors, especially “maritime terrorists” and “sea pirates”. There have been instances when these crimes have disrupted maritime trade and commerce. This leads to the formulation of strategies to combat this menace and protect the maritime environment through enhanced security. Countries with maritime interests have been cooperating toward achieving this end in various ways. This book “Maritime Trade and Security’ is designed in two sections. The first section delves into the issues and the second section deals with the experiences of countries on the issues of maritime trade and security.
658 81-314-0557-5 Indian Capital Markets – Trends and Reforms www.nbcindia.com Finance Arindam Banerjee 22-May-07 224 15.5 400 0 0 Continuing from where we left in the previous book, this one, the second in the series seeks to capture the contemporary happenings in the Indian capital markets and the regulatory measures that are adopted to sustain the investor confidence. The book initiates discussion on the off-debated volatile Indian capital market and its frantic swings, resulting in a significant erosion of investor wealth and confidence in the market. After its having reached a phenomenal 12,000 mark, not many expected it to plunge below the 10K mark, with such swiftness. Well, what goes up necessarily needs to come down, and this basic law of physics is applicable in all its forms in the capital market. The book also provides perspectives of the grueling issues in the capital markets. The various articles throw light on the increasing demand of India as an investment destination. The other areas of discussion include the mutual funds industry entering into the derivatives and the real estate markets. The section also comments on the emerging debt market in India. Finally, the book discusses the recent regulatory measures adopted by Sebi in an attempt to protect investor confidence and sustain retail investor participation. The various articles provide a detailed picture of the same. In its entirety, the book provides a comprehensive guide to the various trends witnessed in the capital markets amidst a volatile environment.
659 81-314-0685-7 Indian Retail Sector – A Primer www.nbcindia.com Marketing Nitin Mehrotra 22-May-07 116 12.5 325 15 375 This book tries to analyze the Indian Organized retail sector in the light of the emerging landscape. It tries to capture the organized retail sector characteristics, with an overview of the current status and also depicts the future scenario. It is broadly divided into two parts, the first part, covering the industry analysis and, the second part, presenting the brief profiles of top rung organized retail companies in India. It adopts a lucid approach by presenting available facts to establish trends, the changing competitive landscape and the fierce battle for gaining critical market share among leading players. A strong correlation of economic growth, coupled with changing consumer behaviour is leading to increased penetration of organized retailing in India. It also provides insights into changing buying trends, strong global interest and entry of leading Indian corporate giants in various formats to join this ongoing retail revolution. This is an attempt to present facts, along with showcasing the lacunae in the system with regard to available infrastructure support, government policies and human resources, required to make organized retailing in India a revolution.
660 81-314-0598-2 Economic Growth and Convergence in Selected South Asian and East Asian Countries: A Data Envelopment Analysis www.nbcindia.com Economy Somesh K Mathur 18-May-07 304 20.5 525 23 575 There has been considerable research inquiry into the causes and the nature of differences in growth rates across countries and regions over time. Even small differences in these growth rates, if cumulated over a long period of time, may have a substantial impact on the living standards of people. Despite considerable research on the subject, cross-country and cross-regional income disparities are on the rise over time. Understanding the causes behind such inequalities is essential to formulate appropriate policies and bring about required institutional changes, in order to spread the benefits of growth processes across regions. The book recommends policies based on theoretical and empirical exercises, which can help some of the South and East Asian nations to catch up with their richer counterparts and simultaneously work out the speed of convergence/divergence from 1960 onwards. Estimates of Technical Efficiency are worked out and Growth Accounting is done for some countries in the South and East Asian regions, including Indian States and Union Territories using the mathematical technique of Data Envelopment Technique.
661 81-314-0637-7 CRAMS in Pharma and Biotech – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Rajmanohar T P Naveen Kumar E 18-May-07 284 18 450 0 0 The bright star in the Indian manufacturing industry has been the pharmaceutical and biotech industry. It has consistently performed beyond expectations and is a net exporter of drugs. The future of the industry seems even brighter and contract research and manufacturing (CRAMS) is likely to dominate this industry. India is a major player in this sector and has stolen a big lead over its nearest competitor China and should be in a position to widen this lead further. The large number of FDA approved plants and also eGMP plants in India make it a hot favorite for any outsourcing in pharmaceutical and biotech sector. The tightening of the patent law and introduction of product patent from the earlier process patent should embolden more US and Western Europe companies to shift their R&D and manufacturing to India. The large talent pool in the Indian pharmaceutical and biotech industry with a huge number of PhDs, gives the Indian pharmaceutical and biotech industry a lot of advantage. India has become the leader in outsourcing in various sectors and CRAMS holds a lot of potential for Indian companies. This book has been brought out against this background and it attempts to discuss the various aspects of CRAMS. The concepts of CRAMS and individual country experiences are discussed here. In addition, profiles of some major CRAMS companies are given. A lot of countries are trying to enter CRAMS but the successful player is likely to be India, with China playing the catch up game. The book is likely to be useful to researchers, students and also companies interested in entering CRAMS. SMEs interested in being contract manufacturers or contract researchers will also find this book very useful.
662 81-314-0753-5 Natural Resource Management: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Anthropology Azmal Hussain 18-May-07 260 17 425 0 0 Natural resources have enormous influence on the economy and society, whereupon they often attract widespread international attention. But if not used judiciously, it may deplete the stock or degrade the environment. Degradation or scarcity of the natural resource base is a major development problem in many areas of the world, as it threatens sustained productivity. While massive degradation of natural resources has been taking place in many developing countries, it has been followed by the restoration and improvement of the natural resource base in some areas. Therefore, the challenge for us is to find ways to improve both the natural environment and the sustainable use of natural resources. For this purpose, it is critically important to increase the efficiency of natural resource use, which makes it possible to ensure sustainability of development. The present book is focused on different issues pertaining to natural resource management, including degradation of resources and practices relating to effective conservation and utilization of natural resources.
663 81-314-0641-5 Indian Film Industry – An Overview www.nbcindia.com General Books Nasreen Taher Swapna Gopalan 18-May-07 272 17 425 0 0 The entertainment industry is one of the largest sectors of the Indian economy, projected as becoming one of the most prominent globally. The dilemma faced here is that of attempting to bring this industry under the organized sector, akin to various other industries. Given the fact that there are no ground rules and standardized platforms on which the entertainment industry operates, bringing this sector under a structured format proves daunting. Corporatisation, however, is creating an avenue for better practices bringing about an increased level of professionalism in business and accounting practices and opening up new avenues for this industry to earn revenues through advertising, co-branding and merchandising.In view of the changing landscape, the Indian Film industry will possibly witness certain notable trends over the next several years propelling it towards gaining recognition as a major player in the global market. The book examines the business economics of major entertainment enterprises including movies, television, music and broadcasting, dealing with both the cultural and organizational aspects while also showcasing a comprehensive status on the economics, financing, production and marketing of entertainment in India.
664 81-314-0721-7 Business Marketing: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Marketing Mookherjee S N 18-May-07 240 16.5 425 0 0 Business Marketing has acquired greater importance in today’s business context. In India, with the onset of economic reforms and thrust on globalization, there have been tremendous changes, both in value and in content of marketing of industrial products and services. Advances in technology, newer products and service offerings, higher levels of customer orientation and increased customer expectations, growth in investments including FDI leading to international expansion of products and services are some of the factors, that have caused significant changes in marketing of industrial products and services today. Business Marketing has emerged as a distinct area of marketing practice and knowledge, having its own unique dimensions.
665 81-314-0607-5 Small Scale Industries: Performance and Challenges www.nbcindia.com Economy Keka Lahiri 18-May-07 216 15.5 400 0 0 Small Scale Industries (SSI) have been playing an important role in the Indian economy for a long time. In India, SSI are defined in terms of investment in their fixed assets. This sector significantly contributes to production, employment generation and export promotion. In the gross industrial sector the value addition of SSI is about 40 percent. In rural India, the sector has created employment and, in turn, helped to eradicate rural poverty. The performance of the sector improved with time almost steadily, particularly in the field of employment generation. The sector s contribution was also not bad in export and production. But, things have started changing with the reform process from 1991. The policy of reform was actually a part of the process of globalization and liberalization and both were just to conglomerate the markets of different countries under the umbrella of a unified market economy. As a result, since 1991, the Indian market has started opening up for foreign giants and, in turn, exposed the SSI to severe competition. The major challenges faced by the SSI are non-availability of free loans, delayed payments, marketing, Industrial sickness, HR and technology, which are clearly visible through the decline of their overall performance. The government, realizing the situation, has started taking measures to support the sector through the provision of loans on priority basis, organizing fairs and participating in international fairs and providing funds for research and development. Different industries under the small scale sector are now trying to capture the factors for the future growth of the sector. The joint involvement of both the government and the private sector is going to face the challenges thrown by the global giants.
666 81-314-0763-2 Higher Education – Emerging Trends www.nbcindia.com Education Naveen Das Keka Lahiri 18-May-07 208 15 375 0 0 The market of higher education worldwide is in a state of flux and transformation. It has become increasingly international over the past decade dominated by significant private sector participation. Such liberalized attempt at least in a few sectors of higher education has definitely made the market competitive not only in terms of service quality and price but also in terms of student accessibility and eligibility. Changing profile of students, proliferation and rising need of distance education, an inclination towards professional courses, and utility of education in increasing employability are some of the major forces driving higher education market in the modern era. Today’s students are consumers looking for quality of service and recognition, access and equity, financing and cost, building of intellectual capital and capacity as well as policy coherence. The book “Higher Education – Emerging trends” focuses on issues such as above. It also takes into consideration the recent policy implications such as implementation of GATS requirement, which comprises service sectors including education. The book starts with the evolution of higher education market since the British period in India and takes the reader through gradual changes that have happened in this sector over the last six decades. It also highlights the major trends observed in the field of higher education. The articles included in the book make the reader aware of the changes which are underway in the higher education sector and will hopefully raise many an issue for policy makers to ponder over and take a final call on.
667 81-314-0537-0 Case Studies on Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances – Vol.II www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Muthu Kumar R 17-May-07 258 0 30 750 For a few companies, it is a matter of convenience, for some others, it is a strategic choice and for many others, it’s an imperative. Whatever may be the case, the inorganic growth is an easy way of not only growing through the experience curve but also a quicker way of sprucing up their market share, product profile and geographic access. As the success or failure of these acquisitions partly depend on the long-term goals of the companies, the cases in the book focus on the reasons and consequences of such strategic decisions. Mergers and acquisitions often yield a number of social benefits. They can bring in better management or technical skill to bear on underused assets. They can also produce economies of scale and scope. But all mergers, acquisitions and alliances do not provide anticipated benefits. The completion of a merger does not guarantee the success of the resulting organisation, as many mergers result in a net loss of value. They call for different skill sets to realise the anticipated benefits. For the merger not to be considered a failure, the management must be efficient in integrating the activities in all aspects. The key is getting integration done in the shortest possible time once the due diligence is carried out very objectively. Highlighted in the book are those illustrations.
668 81-314-0719-5 Public Finance Scene in Andhra Pradesh – Performance and Policies www.nbcindia.com Economy Krishna Chaitanya V 15-May-07 260 17 425 0 0 Andhra Pradesh, one of the southern states in India, is blessed with rich natural resources, especially in the agriculture sector. It is the fifth largest state in the country covering a geographical area of 274.40 lakh hectares. It has a population of about 7.56 crore making it the fifth populous state in the country. It is also one of the leading states in India to have implemented the economic reforms process aggressively, which was initiated by the central government in early 1990s. Despite this, there has been no significant improvement in the growth rate of GSDP as it fluctuated throughout the 1990s. The finances of the state have deteriorated over the last two decades, as it experienced a general trend of fluctuating fiscal imbalances. This was more so because of the revenue and expenditure policies adopted by the government of Andhra Pradesh were such that there was surplus in its revenue account from 1980 to 1983, but subsequently, it experienced huge fiscal and revenue deficits. The huge budget deficit affected the capital expenditure which resulted in slow economic growth. The worsening fiscal situation of the state is raising doubts whether the state is heading for a fiscal crisis in the years to come. It is against this backdrop, that the original book “Public Finance Scene in Andhra Pradesh – Performance & Policies” analyzes the macroeconomic performance of Andhra Pradesh throughout the 1980s, 1990s and early 2000s, the structure and trends in finances of Andhra Pradesh with special reference to management of fiscal deficit, revenue augmentation and expenditure management and problem of ever increasing public debt, and its impact on economic growth.
669 81-314-0729-2 Indian Entertainment Industry: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Entertainment Dhandapani Alagiri 15-May-07 268 17 425 0 0 The Indian entertainment industry has been experiencing steady growth over the years. The high profile economic growth and increasing income levels in the recent years have made the Indian entertainment industry one of the fastest growing sectors of the economy. The industry is worth around Rs.20000 crores currently and is expected to grow at a very high pace in the coming years outstripping the GDP growth by a considerable margin. There is also a notable change in the modes of entertainment. Internet and other communication revolutions are changing the landscape, even though films still remain the favorites. In India as in the rest of the world, entertainment is dominated by films, television and internet, music and radio and outdoor live entertainment such as sports. Many large corporates are also entering the entertainment industry, such as Reliance and the Tata group which will add a professional touch to the industry. The future looks bright for the Indian entertainment industry as the sheer size of the industry is enough to propel it further. Convergence is the important criterion advocated by experts for the industry. It is expected that newer technologies that propel the industry will lead to its sharing many common traits with the telecommunication and the IT sectors of the economy. This book Indian Entertainment Industry: An Introduction makes a comprehensive assessment of the current scenario of India’s entertainment industry, when it is poised to propel itself into the big league. It analyzes the important developments that drive the industry towards international standards.
670 81-314-0735-7 Management of Coastal Resources: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Prabha Shastri Ranade 15-May-07 252 17 425 0 0 India is surrounded on three sides by ocean and has one of the largest coastlines of 7,500 km. The coastal areas have a vast economic potential and attract tourists from all over the world to their beach resorts blessed with unparalleled scenic beauty. The coastal location where land and sea meet happens to be environmentally fragile. The erosion of coastline due to climatic changes and destruction of mangroves have exposed the coastline to the ravages of weather. This has been aggravated by the pollution created by chemical industries, upcoming ports and impact of tourism activities ravaging the coastline. Depletion of coastal resources is a matter of concern and poses an immense challenge to policy makers. The purpose of this book is to create an awareness of management issues in coastal areas for the conservation of coastal resources. The book has been divided into three sections with a total of 14 carefully selected articles highlighting the economic potential of coastal areas. Various issues follow them, like rising sea level which is shifting the shorelines, the coastal processes along the Indian coastline, the ways of preventing pollution of environment all of which can be achieved and the coastal environment can be protected through legal provisions. The final wrap-up is in the form of conservation and management of coastal resources, highlighting the importance of conservation of mangroves, and application of GIS technology for Coastal Zone Management from a hydrographer’s perspective.
671 81-314-0676-8 Management Insights: Perspectives from Experts www.nbcindia.com Management Kumar K B S 15-May-07 256 17 425 0 0 The style of managing and leading each organization is unique and different from that of any other organization. In these days of cut-throat competition and inevitable need for an appropriate style of leading, the experiences and opinions of those who have already excelled in their respective fields and have proved their leadership and managerial excellence, certainly act as guiding foot steps for the aspiring and practicing executives. The basic theme of this book is to study, observe and gather the leadership/managerial styles of the top officials of various corporates. The book promises to provide valuable learning insights from their experiences of managing under various circumstances. The focus is on the role played by these top executives in dealing with various possible situations, which would certainly act as a trigger to the readers. The book serves as a compendium of views, perspectives and analyses of the corporate top brass, including organizations from several industries, offering an umbrella collection of various managerial and strategic imperatives.
672 81-314-0731-4 Marketing in the Unpredictable World www.nbcindia.com Marketing Amitabha Ghose 15-May-07 252 17 425 0 0 Despite market sensing efforts, marketers are ever so often forced to address the effects of unpredictable events. As much as the marketers would like to be prepared for the future, they will always be faced with unpredictable challenges. No organisation can ever afford to rest and neither can unlimited resources be spent on the constant development of new contingency plans. In this era of increasing globalisation, the stakes are enormous. Facing these challenges, marketing must be flexible enough to apply unique solutions to unforeseen situations. It must be organised in such a way that it can effectively change unsuccessful strategies without hesitation. Flexible design accommodates marketing efficiency and better integrated actions. Even though an organisation may not be able to predict its own future, it should still be able to face new challenges with synergetic flexibility. In essence, flexible marketing focuses on constant preparation for the unpredictable situations. This book is about understanding the unpredictable factors that affect the marketing of an organisation and managers must find ways to position their company’s strategic flexibility by learning how to diagnose potentially unpredictable factors in advance and to prepare proactive marketing strategy for maintaining the company’s leadership position in the market.
673 81-314-0618-0 Services Marketing : Issues and Cases www.nbcindia.com Marketing Keka Lahiri 15-May-07 232 16 400 0 0 The growth of ‘Service Economies’ across the world is a recent phenomenon. It has occurred due to the dominance of ‘Service Sectors’ in almost all the industrialized economies. In The industrialized nations the Service Sector accounts for more than 60% of their GDP, whereas in a developing economy like India the Service Sector accounts for more than 40-49% of GDP. In India, during the period 1990-2000, the performance of the service sector resulted in a growth of 7% per annum. India figures among the top 30 leading exporters of commercial services and there exists a further demand for skill intensive services. Marketing a pure service has always been a much more difficult task than that of a tangible product. The major challenge which service firms face is that they have to entice a consumer to avail an offer, which does not exist before it is purchased. Moreover, the toughest part of marketing a service is to ‘make the intangible benefits tangible’. Another important factor, which a service firm should address is to identify or create a differentiating element from that of its competitors that is, making an offer of Service unique, so that it can create its own identity . In the light of the above, the service sector of the developing economies should gear up to face the challenges and issues ahead. The sector should restructure itself to reduce wasteful practices and improve the offers for its long-term sustainability.
674 81-314-0730-6 IPOs: Concepts and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Finance Arindam Banerjee 15-May-07 220 15.5 400 0 0 One of the striking features that makes any capital market an attractive investment avenue is its liquidity. In this regard, the importance and relevance of Initial Public Offers (IPOs) go beyond explanation. Simply speaking, IPOs serve the purpose of companies going public; the process by which the business owned by one or several individuals is converted into a business owned by many. Several experts are of the opinion that, IPOs strengthen the financial architecture of the entire capital market by enhancing liquidity, while others say, that they bring along with it an array of fraudulent practices that have a strong potential of eroding the investors’ confidence. From the company’s point of view, an IPO can even mark the turning point in an organization’s life. Following an IPO, a company can increase its growth potential, launch its new products as well as enter new markets. IPOs are a general feature of any booming capital market that increases the overall market capitalization. Of late, the global capital markets have performed considerably well and one primary reason attributed to the same is the surge of public offers that have flooded the markets. This book titled “IPOs: CONCEPTS AND EXPERIENCES” deals with various conceptual parameters of IPOs such as their pricing mechanisms, valuation methods, timing of the offers, technology impact on IPOs and various other related issues. In its entirety, the book itself is a comprehensive guide to the various trends witnessed in the IPO market amidst the volatile environment.
675 81-314-0680-6 HRM in Knowledge Economy www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Murty G R K 11-May-07 488 27.5 700 30 750 The book “moves effortlessly from Peter Drucker and James March of Stanford University to Rama, the prathama bhashi of the Ramayana and Bhishma s advice on the Art of Kingship to Yudhishtira in Santi Parva of the Mahabharatha. The first section includes explorations and well-researched discussions on emerging areas of management like HRM in the 21st Century; Knowledge Management and HRM; Empowerment of Employees; Glass Ceiling; Reverse Discrimination; Organizational Strategy; Landscape of IHRM. The second section–Managing knowledge workers–presents with great lucidity the requirements of a leader in the modern context, with a scholarly looking back on the characteristics laid down in the past. The author alludes to the different types of leadership–forceful leadership; enabling leadership; strategic leadership; and operational leadership. In the third section–Leadership in Knowledge Economy–Sri Murty spreads his perspective over time present and time past and finds blazing examples of leadership in Rama. The author shows that story telling, the living tradition since times immemorial, is quite in place for inspiring and motivating the employees. He cites the eloquence of Mark Antony, which turned the tide against the conspirators in Julius Caesar and the grit and determination, in the face of enveloping gloom during Great Depression, of Ma Joad in Steinbeck s epic novel, The Grapes of Wrath, to clinch the argument that stories help in putting essentials of management across to the people around. A close study of the collection will help an individual reader to achieve “Self-actualization,” what the Greeks call “Arete,” so that such integrative approach can usher in a world of true cultural globalization and emotional integration.”
676 81-314-0573-7 Unleashing Rural Entrepreneurship www.nbcindia.com Management Singh B M Namboodiri K V N 11-May-07 300 20.5 525 23 575 More than 25 crore young people between the age group of 18 and 35, consisting of poorly educated youth, women, school and college drop-outs are unemployed in India, out of whom almost 60% live in villages. They are the subject matter of this book. Importance of unleashing rural entrepreneurship in nation building is the triggering point for preparation of this road map. In a labour abundant, capital scarce economy like India, there is a limitation to the government in providing employment to all. Hence, people will have to come forward to harness avenues of self-employment i.e. to engage themselves in productive activities by starting their own enterprises for employment and livelihood. There is ample pragmatism as well as logic to prove that setting up of rural entrepreneurship development institutes in different parts of the country by banks and financial institutions is technically feasible, economically viable, sustainable and, in fact, a win-win scenario for both the banks and unemployed rural youths. This book addresses an issue that has high priority on the national agenda and will be a valuable source of reference on the subject for all those evincing interest in ameliorating the lot of the unemployed.
677 81-314-0622-9 Mobile Telephony Business – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Dhananjay Keskar 11-May-07 308 19 475 0 0 Mobile telephony is one of the fastest grown and adopted technology all over the world. The market still continues to grow at a phenomenal rate. Within ten years of introduction of mobile phones in India, i.e. by the end of 2005, the number of mobile phones was about 76 million. The book presents a collection of select articles and cases about mobile telephony. Some aspects of the scenario of mobile cellular phone industry in India, Africa, the U.K., Australia and the USA are presented through relevant articles. Utilization of mobile phones in insurance industry, in service sector, in knowledge based organizations, among the children and concerns of parents, for M-Commerce and M-Governance, for tourists in Macau and Hong Kong and the relevant advantages and disadvantages in these sectors become known through the articles dealing with the said topics. Mobile handsets and services are being introduced with a lot more features such as digital camera, PDA, entertainment, news etc. It is no longer a prestige product but has become a necessity. The competitive nature of the Indian market, aggressive marketing by Reliance Infocom, their teething troubles and quick responses are clear from a case included in this book. India is likely to emerge as a major manufacturer of handsets, besides China, as Elcoteq from Finland and LG from Korea have started putting up plants in India for the huge local market and for Exports. All over the world, even in developing countries in Africa, the experience is that there is a strong influence of increase in the use of mobile technology on the growth of GDP.
678 81-314-0738-1 Lean Management – Concepts and Industry Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Management Mrudula E 11-May-07 300 19 475 0 0 Lean is a concept of removing waste and adding value to the organization in terms of improving its productivity as well as profits. Toyota Motor Company pioneered the concept of lean. Lean, which was dominating the manufacturing industry, spread its application to other industries as well subsequently. This book explores the application of lean in various industries like healthcare, construction, service industry, etc and urges the readers to apply this concept in their own companies and even in day-to-day activities. This book “Lean Management – Concepts and Industry Perspectives” is divided into four sections. The first section titled “Concepts” covers the evolution of lean thinking, how its applications have shifted from manufacturing to other industries, how lean and six sigma can together work as an improvement strategy for the company. The second section titled “Healthcare industry” covers the applications of lean thinking in the pharma manufacturing, healthcare and radiology. The third section “Service Industry” covers the framework for Indian service organizations, its application in banks, software development and explores the operational excellence improvement approaches derived from the Lean Production paradigm in service operations. The last section covers the application of lean in FMCG, construction, and for transforming the Aerospace Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul Enterprise.
679 81-314-0601-6 Bottom of the Pyramid Markets: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Marketing Rajagopalan S 11-May-07 304 19 475 0 0 Market forces have for long bypassed nearly three billion people—half of the world’s total population—who live on less than $2 a day, or put differently, at the ‘bottom-of-the-pyramid’ (BOP) of society, ostensibly due to their low purchasing power. What seems to have escaped market attention is the huge profit potential that BOP markets represent, given their sheer size. What does it take to reap this huge profit potential? There should be recognition, to start with, that the poor, too, like the middle- and high-income segments, need products and services, and are willing to buy them, if attuned to their needs and made easily accessible at affordable prices. The pioneering forays of a few companies, including those of multinational companies like Unilever (through its Indian subsidiary, Hindustan Lever), followed by several others, have successfully proved this contention, and in the process, shattered the myths surrounding the viability of marketing to BOP populations. Innovative approaches like Social Entrepreneurship, Technological Adaptations and Innovations are, however, required in many situations to build and enhance the capacities of the poor and thereby, their purchasing power and market access. This book provides insights into the nature and characteristics of BOP markets; what serving the BOP means; the challenges that businesses will encounter when venturing into BOP markets; the strategies to effectively counter them; and presents cases on successful ventures into BOP markets.
680 81-314-0724-1 BPOs: Processes and Challenges www.nbcindia.com BPO Harsh Bhargava Deepak Kumar 11-May-07 292 18 450 0 0 Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry has to think differently. It needs to view ‘BPO’ as Businesses, People and Opportunities. It has to think beyond mere ‘cost’ arbitrage to achieve, what has been called ‘intellectual’ arbitrage, which addresses questions like “How do we get a far better business outcome for the same price?” instead of “doing it more cheaply in different parts of the world?” The book leaves a thought with the reader; can we elevate this thinking to achieve ‘knowledge’ arbitrage or ultimately ‘wisdom’ arbitrage in favour of India? This book is largely based on field studies and industry interactions undertaken by the participants of a format-free and multi-disciplinary elective titled ‘BPO Management’, offered in the final year of the MBA program of the Icfai Business School, Hyderabad, India. It summarises the findings under two Sections, namely ‘Emerging Processes’ and ‘Challenges and Opportunities for India’. In the first section, the book highlights through a set of 12 articles different segments/processes for the BPO/KPO industry which hold promise. It includes the views of select industry leaders through an interview. Section 2 brings out the opportunities and challenges faced by the BPO industry. Typically, these challenges can be grouped in the areas of human resource, data security, risk analysis and quality of service. These issues are addressed through a set of 7 articles. This book, it is hoped, will be of use to practicing professionals in the BPO industry, companies wanting to outsource work, venture funding organizations, academia, researchers, sociologists and HR professionals, both in India and overseas.
681 81-314-0679-2 Dynamics of Search Engines: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Ravi Kumar Jain B 11-May-07 252 17 425 0 0 A search engine or search service is a program designed to extract/find web pages or information stored on the WWW. Search engines facilitate easy access to the desired information on the Internet or a corporate database or a personal computer. The strength and usefulness of a search engine depends on the relevance of the result it produces for a given query and the way such results are presented. There are several search engines available on the Internet, but all are not equally efficient. Different search engines employ different methods and criteria for web crawling, indexing Web pages, handling the query, ranking the results and presentation. However, all have the same objective of providing the most relevant results first and the least relevant later, in the quickest possible time. The business of search engines has assumed a level where a search engine is no more an additional component of a comprehensive web portal. Competition among the market players more fierce than ever with billions of dollors at stake. In their attempt to outperfom one another, search engine companies are coming up with several value added features and version of search services. This phenomenon has seen the emergence of various types of search engines, like domain specific search engines, customised search engines, networked and desktop search engines, collaborative search engines, meta search engines etc, powered with the capabilities for handling queries in multiple languages, searching results in multiple data formats, accommodating multiple technologies and platforms. This book discusses the concept of search engines and provides insights into various types of search engines and their applications.
682 81-314-0712-8 Knowledge Sharing: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Keka Lahiri 11-May-07 268 17 425 0 0 Knowledge management and sharing of knowledge have become the millennium buzzwords. But, it is easier said than done KM has been identified as a complex process in composition. Rather than theory, the practice of discipline and the way an organization perceives it, are mostly significant in the changing competitive scenario. Knowledge sharing systems, the essence of knowledge management happen to be an integrated approach, wherein, the vision of the organization is successfully intertwined in order to promote “Change management” strategies. This, is in turn, prepares the organization to face a complex, competitive global market. This book “Knowledge Sharing” tries to cover the above concepts in an integrated approach, which may throw some light on today’s knowledge sharing practices.
683 81-314-0620-2 Contract Farming: Theory And Practice www.nbcindia.com Economy Erkan REHBER 11-May-07 188 16 400 18.5 475 Nowadays, agricultural-food system has been experiencing major changes which are driven mainly by recent developments in consumer preferences and attitudes, technological improvements, food safety issues and related regulations. The advanced agro-food sector is considered a chain of interrelated activities from input suppliers to consumers, while the traditional agribusiness has been considered only as activities beyond the farm-gate. Recently, however, considerable close cooperation-coordination has been observed between agricultural production and agribusiness. One of the widely used ways of vertical coordination is contract farming. Contract production has traditionally been considered a feature of advanced capitalist agricultural structure and also as representing an expanding and much suggested method of agro-industrial integration for developing economies. Vertical coordination and contractual relationship between firms and growers is an increasing concern of related scientists as well as all stakeholders like processors, wholesalers and farmers. There is a considerable amount of theoretical and empirical studies about contract farming and related issues. Especially, the question of distribution of benefits between growers (farmers) and firms requires attention. Different types of contract production have been observed according to the developmental stage of agricultural sector, market structure and product characteristics. While the spot market transaction is dominated in some sub-sectors, contract farming is the only way of vertical coordination in others as it has been observed in practice. Contract farming which is becoming an integral part of the advanced agro-food structure has many advantages, but is subject to some inherent and implementation problems. The book aims to present a brief information on and a short insight into related theories and implementations of contract farming to help understanding of different aspects, implication mechanisms, outcomes, related problems and their solutions. The main focus of the book is to present the basic concept and theories of vertical coordination and to give a brief history, along with an explanation of contract farming alternatives. It also reviews the world-wide implementations of contract farming and deals with the main shortcomings of contract farming, focusing on bargaining problem, related solution and presents a cooperative model for a successful contract. Erkan Rehber is a Professor at the Department of Agricultural Economics, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Uludag, Turkey. He currently holds the post of the Head of the Department. His area of specialization is agricultural economics, which includes farm management, agricultural organization and cooperatives, project and farm appraisal and operational research methods in farm business.
684 81-314-0716-0 Strategic Supply Chain Management: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Operations Management Sabyasachi Chatterjee 11-May-07 228 16 400 0 0 In achieving competitive advantage, nowadays companies are giving the utmost importance to supply chain management. The strategic approaches towards supply chain management help the companies to reduce cost and enhance customer relationship management, which leads to profit. In this era of globalization, managing supply chain challenges has become a difficult task. The successful companies, both Indian and global, have managed their supply chain management strategically. This book has dealt with the strategic issues related to supply chain management and its implications, keeping competition and market dynamics in mind. The book has shown how strategic supply chain management contributes to the overall efficiency of a firm, as effective supply chain management leads to better co-ordination among the strategic partners within as well as outside the organizations leading to cost reduction. Keeping this in view, the book captures some of the strategic approaches in the field of supply chain management, which will provide a framework that will help companies to generate profit.
685 81-314-0779-9 Storytelling in Management www.nbcindia.com Business Management Nasreen Taher Swapna Gopalan 11-May-07 220 15.5 400 0 0 Humans have told stories since the dawn of time, and storytelling has remained a primary mode of human thinking and communication. Myths, stories, and folklore have been an integral part of the fabric of all organizations through which we understand and identify the very character of an organization. Stories are pattern systems representing a powerful and universal form through which people share their own experiences with others. Today, stories have increasingly become a strong medium of communication in organizations, both internally and externally to customers, partners and investors. When used effectively, storytelling offers tremendous advantages over more traditional communication techniques, and can be strategically used to galvanize an organization in many ways. Stories also enable researchers to effectively study organizational politics, culture, and change in more illuminating ways. The simple reason why storytelling is becoming a major factor in management is, that it works, getting the organization results. Storytelling is used as a tool in organizational development, knowledge management and human relations in business, as well as in academic and other pedagogic areas. For organizations, stories are tools of empowerment.
686 81-314-0340-8 Case Studies on Mergers, Acquisitions and Alliances – Vol.I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Muthu Kumar R 11-May-07 308 0 35 875 This book highlights companies that have undertaken mergers, acquisitions and various kinds of alliances like joint ventures and partnerships in order to achieve rapid growth, both in the domestic and foreign markets. Some of the companies have acquired other companies within the same industry in search of synergistic benefits while others have spread themselves too thin through uncontrolled acquisitions. As the success or failure of these strategies partly depend on the long-term goals of the companies, the cases focus on the reasons and consequences of such strategic decisions.
687 81-314-0341-6 Case Studies on Growth Strategies – Vol.I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Souvik Dhar 11-May-07 248 0 25 625 While some companies adopt a single growth strategy, others use a combination of strategies. The strategies range from concentrating on their core competencies to acquiring companies that offer resources to expand their businesses. Companies like IRKUT Corporation and Datang International resorted to the concentration growth strategy by using their expertise in manufacturing military aircrafts and power generation to expand their businesses. While other companies like Hershey Foods Corporation adopted the concentration and horizontal integration strategy by focusing on manufacturing chocolates and later acquiring several other brands to expand their business. The book, Case Studies on Growth Strategies Volume 1, focuses on the challenges faced by many companies in terms of the available resources, market conditions and competition. It enables the readers to understand the various growth strategies adopted by some of the world’s leading companies. It also helps in understanding the rationale that prompts a company in adopting a particular growth strategy.
688 81-314-0536-2 Case Studies on Corporate Restructuring – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Rajendar Singh Rathore 11-May-07 332 0 35 875 “Fluctuating consumer tastes and preferences, cut throat competition, rapid advances in technology, and obstinate workforces, together combine to create a highly complex operating environment for businesses. At the same time, highly demanding shareholders as well as the financial markets exert tremendous pressure on corporates to continuously improve their profitability and market share. Although some companies excel, many companies slowly wither away under such perpetual onslaught. Would managers like to stand on the sidelines and watch the profitability of their companies decline? The acid test for managers is their ability to put into place a restructuring mechanism that can quickly arrest the decline.
Understanding and adopting best practices in corporate restructuring is the key to achieving competitive advantage and creating shareholder value. Chronicled in this book are stories, which highlight various factors that can adversely affect the performance of even a strongly performing company. The case studies also provide valuable insights into the strategies (both successful and failed) adopted by managers and the challenges faced by them during implementation. The case studies in this book cover diverse industries and provide insights into the strategies of dealing with troubled corporates in a real-life environment. The book contains some of the finest case studies on restructuring efforts carried out by some of the most famous corporates across the globe.
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689 81-314-0611-3 Case Studies on Global Automobile Industry – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Muthu Kumar R 11-May-07 276 0 30 750 “The automobile industry ranks among the most significant business phenomena and remains virtually important today, accounting for around 10% of GDP of developed countries. In economic and social terms, the industry has had a fundamental impact on the modern society. Yet the industry has found it hard to adjust to emerging challenges and the competitive scenario. Though Ford has revolutioned the automobile industry with its mass production system, Toyota overtook it by its lean manufacturing system. Now, almost all the companies try to replicate the Toyota model. In addition to this, the emergence of other Japanese, European and Korean companies changed the entire industry trend. The Big Three, once the behemoths, started losing their market share to their Asian rivals. Moreover, the declining trend in the US and Europe, and the booming trend in Asia especially in China, again gives opportunities and challenges to the major players. To tide over their losses, and retain the global market shares, the major players entered China. Even there, they witnessed problems due to copyright and price war issues.
The growing need of customer preferences over the car models is playing a major role in the industry. Each player tries to attract customers with their new innovative models. This led to the emergence of cross over vehicles. And because of the inventory of old models, GM started giving discounts. Others too followed GM. But all are making losses. So it is very difficult to survive successfully in a matured industry like automobile. It requires a very different and innovative skill sets altogether. Obviously the best way to acquire these skill sets is by reading success and failure stories and doing thorough examination of the industry.
The case studies chronicled in this book capture the trends, success stories, failed strategies, innovations and impeding challenges in the automobile industry. It does not offer any set of rules but rather helps one to gauge the likely shape of the global automobile industry in the years to come.
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690 81-314-0688-1 Human Capital Measurement – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sangeetha K 5-May-07 292 18 450 0 0 In the current knowledge intense global economy, achieving organizational success and market differentiation is possible only by an effective human capital measurement that manages the firm’s human capital successfully. A matchless competitive advantage and a massive premium mount up for those organizations, that have built up a better facility for measuring human capital. Human capital measurement serves as a guide to companies, that seek superior business results and to investors seeking additional information about companies to make their investment decisions. Hence, it is a precondition for a firm to progress towards supporting and investing in human capital measurement, to improve its organization’s effectiveness and to develop a high performance workforce. Human Capital Measurement is the holy grail of today’s organization, that has a significant impact on the long-term performance of the company and on the shareholder’s value. This book is designed to provide a logical elucidation of the role played by Human Capital Measurement in the evaluation of effectiveness of various HR actions in an organization. It highlights how it contributes to the organization’s strategic decision-making to reap outstanding business results.
691 81-314-0608-3 Growth, Inequality and Poverty: Perspectives and Insights www.nbcindia.com Economy Amrita Chakraborty 5-May-07 256 17 425 0 0 Towards the close of the millennium, several developing countries started seeing economic gains hitherto not experienced. Economic gains have taken place, in terms of a bigger basket of goods and services resulting from growth, reforms, liberalization and globalization. But what have been the social effects in terms of poverty and inequality? Have the goodies from the bigger basket of goods and services trickled to the poor or have the rich cornered most of them? Is rapid economic growth the perfect panacea for improving the lot of the people of poorer countries? Rapid economic growth and the associated processes of liberalization and globalization have had their share of negative fallout, too. Joseph Stiglitz, the Nobel Prize winner for Economics in 2001 has said that it is “creating rich countries with poor people”. Surely, such an observation cannot be made, unless there have been experiences, where countries have shown impressive growth but, where a lot of their people have been marginalized by some who have prospered at their cost. Recent economic history has shown that countries and communities within countries, with similar growth rates can have very different degrees of success in connecting growth to the poor and translating it into sustained poverty reduction. a. What allows growth to reduce poverty more in some countries than in others? b. How can the poor best connect to, participate in, and benefit from economic growth?(‘Connecting the Poor to Economic Growth: Eight Key Questions’ by Sarah Lucas and Peter Timmer)For example, decades of economic reform dramatically altered the structure of economies in Latin America, making them more open and more competitive and there was a substantial increase in public spending on education, health, and other social programs in virtually all countries; yet, poverty and high inequality remained deeply entrenched. This book delves into the recent linkage (or the lack of it) between economic growth and poverty in the developing world and discusses conditions that link them (or keep them apart). It prods the readers to revisit the growth-poverty experiences as witnessed in recent times, in several parts of the developing world.
692 81-314-0725-X Geographic Information System: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Ravi Kumar Jain B Pragathi Saxena 5-May-07 268 17 425 0 0 Information Technology (IT) has a profound impact on several aspects of our day-to-day life. Over the past decade, the rapid advancements in computing technologies have increased the potential for developing a viable IT system that manages the complex spatial data. The software technology in this context is Geographic Information System (GIS). GIS uses geographically referenced data as well as non-spatial data and includes operations, which support spatial analysis. It is a computer-based system that digitally represents and analyzes the geographic features present on the Earth s surface and the events (non-spatial attributes linked to the geography under study) taking place on it. The objective of GIS is to support decision-making, for managing use of land, resources, transportation, retailing, oceans or any spatially distributed entities. GIS also integrates spatial analysis tools and web enabled technologies and relational data base design that influenced the growth, commercialization and diversification of this technology. Over the last decade, many business organizations, academic institutions and governmental agencies have implemented GIS applications to meet the dynamic needs of the changing environment-natural as well as unnatural. The major areas of GIS application are network based, such as vehicle routing and scheduling, location analysis, site selection, development of evacuation plans, natural resources management etc. The natural resources include wildlife and scenic rivers, recreation resources, flood and fields, wetlands, agricultural lands, aquifers, forests and wildlife Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA), viewshed analysis, hazardous or toxic facility siting, groundwater modeling and contamination tracking, wildlife habitat analysis, migration routes planning and so on. This book presents the concepts of GIS and its applications in various fields, such as financial services, insurance, hospital and health system, media, real estate, defense and intelligence, homeland security, public safety, transportation, urban and regional planning.
693 81-314-0709-8 Structured Finance: Concepts and Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Finance Dhandapani Alagiri 5-May-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 Structured finance is one topic that is widely discussed in the financial circles around the world. The term is being increasingly used in the financial parlance for identifying a loan deal that is different from a purely traditional loan arrangement. The increasing complexity and variants in Collateralized Debt Obligations (CDOs) and increased usage of Credit Derivatives and Swaps (CDS) in these transactions which, in turn, have given rise to synthetic loan transfers, has led to the term ‘Structured Finance’ being widely used to identify such transactions. The evolution in structuring of financial products can be traced to Western developed markets with the popular usage of securitization as a tool in relieving the illiquid assets such as long-term loan portfolio and use them as collateral to raise additional funds. The popularity of these securitized bonds is because of the advantages they provide to the parties associated with their issuance such as off balance sheet financing, immediate cash benefits, flexibility, and tradable securities for investors etc. The structured finance universe has a plethora of innovative products that range from ABS to CDOs squared catering to the necessities of the market. The structured finance market is growing across the world with newer innovations day by day. In this context of high growth of financial products and services and liberalization of financial markets, this book “Structured Finance: Concepts and Perspectives” captures the concepts and perspectives underlying structured finance and introduces the readers to the various products and innovative instruments that come under the wider gamut of structured finance.
694 81-314-0613-X Indian Commercial Banking – The New Dynamics www.nbcindia.com Banking Nageswara Rao Katuri 5-May-07 228 16 400 0 0 Indian banking has become strong, stable and vibrant in the post-economic reforms phase. During the last two years, Indian banking has weathered the storm of rising interest rates and falling bond values, by strategically augmenting bank credit, in an environment conducive to economic growth.The new Basel framework provides a methodology for transforming banks into vibrant and stable entities in the globally competitive and dynamic financial markets. In India, the focus of the financial inclusion at present is confined to ensuring a bare minimum access for all to a savings bank account without frills. Internationally, the financial exclusion has been viewed in a much wider perspective. Consolidation of banks, especially public sector banks, has been hotly debated these days. As Indian PSBs have generally the same kind of business models, there may not be any scale or scope for economies due to consolidation. Their operational efficiency cannot be improved either, as their business lines do not complement each other. Even risk mitigation due to diversification across business streams, client segments etc., may not be possible, as the business streams themselves are not different. Nor the client segments, for that matter. Microfinance could result in reduction of vulnerability and poverty alleviation. Microfinance Institutions (MFIs) have to address certain broader community related issues as well. They are low productivity problems, absence of market linkages, poor health and educational standards of the members etc. Bancassurance, apart from generating higher non-interest income, has other spin-off benefits: capturing of huge captive business readily available in branches by asset financed and brought under the Corporate Agency and the likelihood of branches bringing in incremental business by insuring other insurable assets of the borrower.
695 81-314-0707-1 Empowering Teams: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Swapna Gopalan Nasreen Taher 5-May-07 212 15.5 400 0 0 In an environment marked by fast paced change, especially technological change, it is very difficult for a single leader to be able to know everything that is needed for decision-making. To remain competitive in such circumstances, it becomes necessary to draw on all of the organization’s employee strengths and leadership abilities. It is no wonder then, that over the past two decades, most organizations are participants of an evolutionary shift from the traditional mode of leadership to a more participative leadership mode. Empowered teams, variously termed as Self-Managed Work Teams or Self-Directed Teams are those, where the team leader determines the overall purpose or goal of the team, while the team is at liberty to manage the methods by which to achieve that goal. Company experiences and research have shown that empowered teams can be more effective in making decisions quickly and efficiently rather than traditional hierarchical structured teams. Empowered teams also offer the most potential for innovation and motivation, providing opportunity for organizational learning and change. A sequel to The Power of Employee Empowerment edited by Sujata H Belgamkar and Veena Yamini B, this volume throws light on the growing relevance of the participative form of management in today’s highly competitive business environment. It has been divided into two sections; the first section “Team Empowerment: Concepts”, helps in understanding the concept of team empowerment better, while the second section titled “Team Empowerment: Applications and Cases” underlines its benefits by showcasing real case studies of companies that benefited from using team empowerment as a management tool.
696 81-314-0733-0 Indian Automobile Industry – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Industry Rajmanohar T P 28-Apr-07 280 18 450 0 0 The automobile industry is one of the largest industries in India as in many other countries. It plays a major role in the growth of economy in India. The industry comprises automobiles and auto component sectors, which encompass passenger cars, two-wheelers, three-wheelers, tractors, commercial vehicles, multi- utility vehicles and components. Today, the Indian automobile industry is the world s largest motorcycle manufacturer, the second largest two-wheeler and tractor manufacturer, the fifth largest commercial vehicle manufacturer and the fourth largest car maker in Asia. Apart from serving the domestic market, the Indian auto sector has also become a sourcing hub for the global auto giants. The Government of India has introduced an ambitious project of setting up world-class automotive testing and R&D infrastructure to place India in the USD 6 trillion global automotive business. This book details the current status and factors influencing the growth of the Indian automobile industry; its future prospects and the success stories of some automobile giants in India. It also focuses on the future growth of the industry as a result of the newly adopted technologies and strategies.
697 81-314-0708-X Investing in Art: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Economy Amrita Chakraborty 28-Apr-07 268 17 425 0 0 All of us would have at some point or the other experienced some spare cash, or an investment just having paid dividends, or received an inheritance or paid off the mortgage. What do we do with the money? We either use it for consumption or invest it. If we do not need to consume it, where do we invest it? Investment has many avenues; the traditional ones range from fixed deposits in banks to gold and shares. Art too, is one of them. Till date, only a part of the elite had taken investment in art seriously. Times have changed. Art as an investment has grown immensely in value terms. Today, a Van Gogh has been sold for £20 million which couldn t be sold in the artist s lifetime (for love or money)! One can then, estimate the strides that art has taken as investment. Turnover in fine art auctions has jumped at the rate of approx 30 percent p.a. between 2003 and 2006. Much of this growth has been due to high-profile auctions hosted by Sotheby s and to an incredible increase in prices. If prices continue to advance at the same pace, they could well surpass November 1990 highs by the time the curtains are drawn on 2006, thus taking art market prices to unprecedented levels. Collectors and investors seeking to make substantial gains might consider it the right time to sell off some of their art assets they acquired in the 1980s. Despite art being so lucrative, the middle class investor has stayed away from investment in art. Why has he been cynical? Is art really a good enough long-term investment? For a new investor to know about art as an investment, he has to know the art market as much as possible like, how prices are set for art, what determines guaranteed resale value, how the art market is doing now, what are the best bets etc. This book is an attempt to introduce art investment to a first time investor.
698 81-314-0634-2 Internet Search Engines: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Ravi Kumar Jain B 28-Apr-07 256 17 425 0 0 The Internet or the www houses millions of web sites, billions of web pages and tons of data and is growing exponentially. Apparently, it is almost impossible to lay one s hands on the right information one is looking for in this ocean of information, unless one knows the exact URL. This condition renders the power of the Internet limited only to the individual s memory. This is where the role of a search engine becomes meaningful. A search engine or search service is a program designed to extract/find web pages or information stored on the www. Search engines facilitate easy access to the desired information on the Internet or a corporate database or a personal computer. The strength and the usefulness of a search engine depends on the relevance of the result it produces for a given query and the way such results are presented. There are several search engines available on the Internet but all are not equally efficient.
699 81-314-0513-3 International Financial Institutions – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Finance Mrudula E 28-Apr-07 240 16.5 425 0 0 International financial institutions are institutions operating at an international level, giving loans to governments for large scale projects on condition that they increase the economic growth. The main aim of setting up these institutions was to promote the economic growth and to reduce the depressions. The two main international financial institutions are International Monetary Fund and World Bank which were developed at the time of World War II in the year 1944, for regulating the world financial system and providing investment for war recovery. These two institutions are also called “Bretton Wood Institutions”. This book on “International Financial Institutions – An Introduction” is a collection of ten eminent articles divided into two sections. The first section titled “Introduction to IFIs” discusses the origin, structure, purpose and activities of IFIs. It also discusses the two important IFIs – the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. It further examines the governance, accountability and transparency in IFIs and then describes the issues and challenges IFIs face in terms of their globalization. The second section titled “Roles and Responsibilities” discusses the basic roles and responsibilities that IFIs have, like supporting trade liberalization in developing countries, protecting human rights, preventing and resolving conflicts.
700 81-314-0732-2 Customer – Centric Business Model: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Business Management Prasad B V S Kalai Selvan N 28-Apr-07 224 15.5 400 0 0 In today s competitive environment, quality product, competitive price and location do not remain competitive advantages any more. Many organizations are realizing that spending time with customers and understanding customers are key factors to increase both the top line and bottom line growth. Customers are the most important assets of any business and it is important to treat them as business partners. To retain the customer, the organization strategy should facilitate not only satisfying its customer but it should also build a loyal customer. To achieve customer loyalty, organizations should have dedicated employees, who would create value for customers and deliver superior customer service beyond what is expected. Hence, the organization is forced to restructure its strategy to address all the issues related to customers. The organization needs to shift its focus to become customer-centric in both strategy and implementation. Only customer-centric business strategy can create sustainable growth and value for the organization. The customer customer-centric organization must place the customer at the center of its strategic objectives. Organizations must build their strategies to enable them to utilize all their resources to increase profitability and growth. This book describes how to build up a customer-centric organization through a better understanding of the customer, superior people strategy, better business process and creating the best customer experience.
701 81-314-0625-3 Agrarian Crisis in India: An Overview www.nbcindia.com Economy Asis Kumar Pain 24-Apr-07 316 19 475 0 0 Agriculture has been one of the most prominent sectors in the Indian economy. It accounted for 18.6 percent of the GDP in 2005 and employed 60 percent of the country s population. About 43 percent of India s geographical area is used for agricultural activity. Of late, there has, however, been a steady decline of its share in the GDP, despite its playing a significant role still in the overall socio-economic development of India. Looking at the reasons for this plummeting trend, the non-availability of timely credit to the needy farmers is ascribed as the prime cause. It leads to agrarian distress manifested in farmers suicides that, of late, wrecked different parts of the country, leading to a sharp drop in agricultural productivity. This book tries to capture these aspects in its two sections. In these sections, the imporatnce of agricultural credit as well as the extent of distress, as is evident in the farmers suicides, along with the remedial measures in vogue are highlighted.
702 81-314-0702-0 Foreign Institutional Investors – Indian and Global Scenario www.nbcindia.com Finance Gopala Krishna Murthy G 24-Apr-07 316 19 475 0 0 A significant improvement has taken place in India relating to the flow of foreign capital in the post-economic reforms era. Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) investments in trade and industrial segments have particularly increased. There has been a consistent upsurge in FII since 2002-2003 and they have started playing a significant role in the Indian capital market. In the international context, with the increasing global significance of institutional investors and their portfolio managers, common standards set within well-defined parameters are clearly on the agenda – convergence is the name of the game. The Indian market is driven by global decisions, which in turn, are determined by speculative activities of key investors. Equities have been converted into a day-trading market, which makes markets highly volatile. The situation calls for appropriate measures to reduce the influence of these investors in order to stabilize the economy and thereby, its growth. This book attempts to capture the various perspectives of FIIs in the contemporary economies of the world. In the Indian scenario, it focuses on the current trends of FIIs, their impact on Indian economy, the effect on the Indian stock markets, and the regulatory framework pertaining to FIIs. It also provides an insight into the global perspectives of FIIs with reference to select countries. It is hoped that readers find the book informative and resourceful.
703 81-314-0436-6 Product Launch Management : Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Management Shanthi N M 24-Apr-07 268 17 425 0 0 Effective launch management takes a business to higher altitudes while the same, if not implemented well, kills all the hard efforts. One of the initial and critical challenges faced by companies during the stages of floating a new business or a new product is Launch Management. In order to arrive at an effective product launch strategy, companies make systematic efforts, which typically begin from understanding the need, defining the objectives, arriving at the strategic design and classifying, segmenting and targeting the population. This book throws light on various aspects of Product Launch Management, namely, Market Analysis, Strategic Designing, Management and Applications, through a set of comprehensive sections. The book is an attempt to elaborate on the strategies followed by various companies ranging from FMCG to software in their endeavor to successfully launch products and services. The strategic designs and best practices highlighted in the book would deliver wider inputs to the executives and management practitioners on how to successfully manage a launch program. It would also function as a resource base for up-coming management specialists.
704 81-314-0578-8 Lean Management – Introduction and Applications www.nbcindia.com Management Mrudula E 24-Apr-07 264 17 425 0 0 ‘Lean’ is a management term that is used to remove waste and improve the workflow in the organizations thereby, increasing their productivity and profitability. It also reduces the cost and time involved. It is not used just, as a tool to improve the operations in the organization; rather, it is a holistic enterprise-wide approach. It is more than just cost cutting. It was first implemented in Toyota on the concepts pioneered by Ford. Boeing, Maruti, Hero Honda are some of the innovative companies that have implemented this concept of ‘lean’ and achieved tremendous results in their operations. Kaizen, JIT, Six Sigma and TRIZ are some of the tools that have emerged with the same principle of eliminating waste. Apart from applying it in core manufacturing firms, the concept of lean is applied in various other non-manufacturing firms. It is used in improving the patient’s care and reducing the medical errors, in successful software development. This book on “Lean Management” is divided into two sections. The first section is titled “Introduction” and discusses the concept of lean thinking. It discusses how lean can be used in critical situations. It also examines the similarities and differences between six sigma and lean. It further analyses how lean is used in different departments (HR, Marketing, Accounting, Service) of an organization. The second section titled “Experiences” examines how lean, as an enterprise-wide concept, is used in different industries like education and healthcare and companies like Toyota, Boeing and Goodrich Corporation, Education, Healthcare.
705 81-314-0626-1 Gender Equity in Management – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Poonam Sen 24-Apr-07 252 17 425 0 0 The role of women in the workplace has been changing steadily in the post globalization era, along with the changing demographics of the labor force, resulting in more diversity in the workplace. Despite the improved interactions between men and women, that has brought about certain qualitative changes in socio-cultural conditioning, the power equations between men and women in management remain unequal, particularly at senior levels. In other words, the glass ceiling is still not broken in many parts of the world.Traditionally, the organization structures and social processes frequently emanate from male-centric values, practices and prerogatives. Women venturing into the world of management have to combat several barriers at the workplace in the form of stereotyping, discrimination, antagonism, besides the pressure to conform to societal expectations regarding familial obligations. But these obstacles notwithstanding, women are making their mark in management all over, even in the developing nations.
706 81-314-0614-8 Financing of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs): Indian and Global Scenario www.nbcindia.com Banking Gopala Krishna Murthy G 24-Apr-07 244 16.5 425 0 0 SMEs have been recognized as a vital component of the domestic economy of a country. Given the special role played by them, SMEs the world over, enjoy due protection from the States through several policy initiatives, financial support measures. However, in the era of globalisation and liberalization, SMEs continue to face increased challenges. Technology upgradation and product innovations required for facing competition are affected for want of financial resources. In the post-reforms era, banks hesitate to increase their exposure to SME Sector, due to statutory regulations and compliance requirements against risk weighted assets. On the policy front, there have been ongoing initiatives, by the Government of India. RBI took several measures for banks’ stepping up their lending to SMEs. Indian Banks, of late, are seen to be more receptive to the industries and willing to lend them, because of business considerations. But, there exists a need for better coordination between SMEs and lenders and creation of mutual trust in each other, which can be achieved through relationship banking. This book attempts to capture all relevant and contemporary issues and challenges relating to SME financing, in the Indian and the global contexts, with a focus on the various policy initiatives of the government to support the SME sector.
707 81-314-0640-7 Road Infrastructure : Issues and Implications www.nbcindia.com Infrastructure Bhuma Sunderaraman Vivek Date 24-Apr-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 This book presents a collection of views of industry experts and policy makers on the issues and challenges in roadways infrastructure development. It studies the Indian perspective as well as the perspectives of other developing and developed countries. It gives us an idea about the reforms needed to facilitate the development work and enables us to observe the emerging concerns like social and economic feasibilities, environmental issues, political shortcomings and administrative drawbacks. It stimulates a deeper probe into the emerging issues in road sector development. India has the second largest road network in the world. Despite its manifold expansion it is seriously capacity constrained. National highways constitute only 2% of the total road network but carry 40% of the total traffic. The Government has taken initiatives to improve the road infrastructure but there are many difficulties and ambiguous issues yet to be resolved. Problems of financing for building and maintaining the roads find ways in models of commercialization like “Build-Operate-Transfer” and “Maintain-Operate-Transfer”. The road infrastructure is essentially a social good and the benefits from the road projects are difficult to quantify as most of the times, the benefits are intangible. The higher social rate of return and lower financial rate of return, restricts the volume of private investment in Roadways development. Road sector development programmes can be suitably aligned with poverty alleviation programmes with pro-growth, pro-poor provisions. In countries like India, Tanzania, etc, roadways development programs have been used as a strategy for poverty reduction and rural development. The issues within the economy and between two or more economies have some common grounds like trade and commerce, uplifting living standards and facilitating overall growth and development in the society. Its link with the social costs and benefits is a major issue to be taken care of. The challenges are many, from technical to social, and needs to be addressed forehand.
708 81-314-0627-X Brand Management: Financial Perspectives www.nbcindia.com Management Santanu Ray 24-Apr-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 In this dynamic and rapidly changing environment, market leadership is under constant threat. In this milieu of fierce and, at times, unfair competition, managements across the world are in search of adequate responses to survive and achieve sustainable growth. Brand management is a major weapon in this fierce battle. The changing business scenario and the infallibility of some basic truths about marketing in general and brand in particular have prompted the creation of this book. It is now imperative for companies to once again delve deep into the fickle consumer s mind, navigate through the product-clutter and establish a comfortable space for their products and services. Positioning, as they say, is the name of the game now.Most organizations have come to realize that the control of business is not within the confines of its four walls but outside-with the customer. In its endeavour to maximize stakeholder value, the customer has become the kingpin. Managing brands is indeed, the buzzword today. This book gives a strategic perspective to branding especially its integration with the concepts of Financial Management, without losing sight of the quintessential function of branding i.e. to create a distinction among entities that may satisfy a customer s need. Hence, a definite thrust in the book would be on financial management concepts and how it can integrate with the traditional ways of branding and brand management. The book is divided into two sections: Section I deals with integrity Brand Management with financial strategies and section II with brand valuation. The in-depth articles in the book will be useful to students of financial management, marketing management, financial and marketing professionals and businessmen.
709 81-314-0714-4 Knowledge Process Outsourcing: Perspectives and Practices www.nbcindia.com Outsourcing Shanthi N M Naveen Kumar E 24-Apr-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 In today s competitive scenario, Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) has emerged as the new buzzword. The birth of globalization has paved the way for increased competition among countries. The gap between the cost of capital and productivity has made companies realize the significance of managing costs for business efficiency. This has resulted in the migration of support services from developed to developing economies in the form of “Outsourcing”. As a consequence, Business Process Outsourcing has emerged as one of the major opportunities for labor abundant developing economies. BPO generally functions with pre-determined set of designs of operations for the desired solutions. The emergence of Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO) has transformed this, since the companies want to have tailor-made solutions for specific issues like, cycle time efficiency, market research and demand-based management. According to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), KPO industry is expected to grow at 45% in size reaching $17 billion mark by 2010. It is in this scenario of the emerging trends and boom in Knowledge Process Outsourcing, that this book provides an insight into the evolution of KPO, its role in Indian and global scenarios, the strategic shift from BPO to KPO, high-end services in KPO and also its future prospects. This book presents a series of well-written racy articles that give a bird s eye view of the scenario prevailing in KPO industry, both regionally and globally. It is hoped that this book would be of immense value to the corporates who are entering into KPO, academicians, researchers and students, as a reference book on the perspectives and challenges of Knowledge Process Outsourcing.
710 81-314-0715-2 Women Empowerment – New Dimensions and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Economy Dalia Dey Asis Kumar Pain 24-Apr-07 224 15.5 400 0 0 Empowerment is a multidimensional process which begins with, and is supported by economic independence, which implies access to and control over productive resources, knowledge and awareness, self-image autonomy and decision-making power, inside and outside the home. Since, half of the total global population constitutes women, the role of women is sacrosanct in every aspect of development. In the present world, womens’ contribution is considered a prime factor in the development of different sectors of economy, more so, in this globalized era. However, a cursory analysis of such contribution, based on the concept of “Gender Development Index” (GDI) and “Gender Empowerment Measure” (GEM) shows that it is skewed in favour of the developed countries. This book is a conscious attempt to invigorate and actuate the notions of women empowerment, by comparing the reality of women empowerment with the myths surrounding it. In order to effectuate, this book elaborates the word empowerment, specifically gender empowerment and its social and economic aspects, and substantiates how the different factors like agency, resource and outcome are playing their role to achieve the expected level of empowerment. Some case studies from different South Asian countries have also been cited in the book.
711 81-314-0745-4 Education Sector: HR Perspectives (Vol II) www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Prasad V R K 24-Apr-07 216 15.5 400 0 0 India is poised to become a major economy of the world in the near future. HR Magazine, a SHRM publication of USA in its cover story for the month of September 06 says, “in the hottest sectors of India’s booming economy, HR concerns are key business issues and good human capital management is a business necessity”. Business enterprises are facing stiff internal competition, apart from putting up with acute shortage of qualified and employable people. It is obvious that ‘education’ is the root cause and the key issue. Thanks to the budget proposals of 2007-2008, education cess stands increased to 3% to net Rs.5500 crores exclusively for the secondary and higher education. But considering the magnitude of the education sector in our country, a lot is still required to be done if we have to compare favorably even with much smaller countries in this aspect. ‘Quality Education’ is the need of the hour. Our country has a large network of management institutes and management as a discipline is a popular choice among the graduating youth of the country. As such, there is a dire need to look at the quality-related issues in those institutions also. Educational institutions are no different from any business enterprise in expecting quality performance from its employees – the teachers, who mould the youngsters to grow and shape the economic destiny of the country. Hence HR issues are highly relevant there, too. Human resources management in an educational institution is as important as it is in a conventional business enterprise. This book highlights the HR issues of educational sector with special emphasis on management education.
712 81-314-0540-0 Fast Food Retailing: Emerging Trends www.nbcindia.com Retailing Keka Lahiri 24-Apr-07 220 15.5 400 0 0 With the increase in working population across the globe, food products that are prepared and served quickly at outlets are gaining immense importance. These items are very often meant for immediate consumption at the point of purchase and serves short term hunger satisfaction needs. Research data shows that for the past few decades, there has been an increasing investment in buying of such food items which offer a regular substitute in most of the higher and middle income households, worldwide. Since these food items are prepared quickly, it has been termed as fast foods. Considering the fast food processing industry, the rate of growth in consumer expenditure on fast food is one of the highest. During the period between 1982-1998, consumers expenditure at fast food outlets grew at an annual rate of 6.8% as compared to the recorded figures of 4.7% in table service restaurant segment globally. A host of factors have been attributed towards such growth, which includes an increase in the disposable incomes especially in the emerging economies. This is an after effect of an increasing number of women employment in almost all the sectors, in the said economies. Cooking has gradually ceased to be a productive chore and ready made food preparations have become the consumers choice. But a major question posed for such food markets point towards the nutritional efficiency of the respective food items, in terms of content and composition. Very often such food items have been related to health hazards, such as obesity and overweight especially in case of women and children. This obviously has a direct impact on the global society. This book is a sincere attempt to capture such issues related to the fast food industry.
713 81-314-0552-4 Global Economic Trends and South Asia www.nbcindia.com Economy Somesh Kumar Mathur 24-Apr-07 164 15 375 17.5 450 The book looks into the South Asian development and its cooperation with other regions in the present international set-up. The study examines the latest economic position of the South Asian countries and defines its negotiating strategies at the upcoming WTO talks related to agriculture, non-agricultural market access, services negotiations, among others. South Asia has taken major steps towards aligning its economies with the most dynamic region of the world—East Asian and Pacific Regions. Integration and cooperation surpasses the process of economic integration with the motive of raising competitiveness of the economies, taking care of the development and political objectives and tying its economic reforms process permanently. Regional Trading Arrangements are undertaken with the objective of being the building blocks for the multilateral liberalization efforts.
714 81-314-0583-4 Supply Chain Performance Measurement and Improvement www.nbcindia.com Management Venkata Nimeesha Posa 7-Apr-07 320 19 475 0 0 Around the globe, competitive markets demand speedy, accurate, reliable and cost efficient supply chains. Supply chain is considered the most important element in the operations. Supply chain management is the management of all functions to fulfill customer orders. The importance of the role of supply chain management has increased gradually and now it is no longer an aspect of operational areas of an organization. The top executives are considering it as a major strategic issue on demand because it is the main leverage to gain customer satisfaction and value. They are the sources to fight market dominance and gain competitive advantage. Changed customer preferences, varying economic trends and increased competition are challenging the organizations to maintain superior supply chain performance. Consequently, the organizations have to identify metrics for measuring supply chain performance. Measuring and improving the supply chain effectively could achieve supply chain excellence. It also supports in achieving supply chain performance optimization. Performance measurement plays a vital role in identifying the behavior that impacts the performance of supply chains. The primary purposes of measurement are to assess all the levels of supply chain, to identify the problem areas and focus attention on taking corrective steps to solve the problem. It also helps the organizations in meeting greater customer demands by maintaining lower costs. This book Supply Chain Performance Measurement and Improvement helps in understanding the concept and importance of supply chain performance measurement, factors that need to be considered, when selecting appropriate metrics and methods that are available for setting performance targets and obstacles of performance measurement. It discusses a wide variety of metrics and methods that are being practiced for measuring supply chain performance. It also portrays supply chain performance measurement in different industries.
715 81-314-0677-6 Wealth Management: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Manish Ashiya 7-Apr-07 304 19 475 0 0 Wealth Management is an exciting development and offers new possibilities. Probably, it is the birth of an industry, whose need had been felt strongly for a long time. This book covers various facets of the Wealth Management phenomenon. Traditionally, the focus has all along been on firms and their financial products and services. But, now, the focus has shifted to an individual or a family. Wealth Management takes care of the entire financial needs of an individual or a family throughout their life cycle. The trend which started in the US has now spread to many countries. The competition has prompted the service providers to offer more and better sophisticated products and services to the clients. Thus, alternative investments have been explored. The book covers various issues like segmenting the clients, building competitive strategy, measuring performance, quest of an organizational model, differentiation, gaining client’s trust, behavioral finance approaches etc. Wealth Management has reached an industrial status and has developed a new breed of professionals who can perform this function. A lot of educational certifications are available which bring more credibility to a wealth management professional. Such developments in various parts of the globe also make this concept more popular and well established. This is an extension or evolution of the concept of Financial Planning. While a few people feel that it is like putting old wine in a new bottle, there are many who discern differences in these two approaches. This distinction is highlighted in the book. Overall, the book is an introductory text, with a lot of insights into the industry, which should form an interesting reading.
716 81-314-0546-X NPAs in the Banking System: Trends and Challenges www.nbcindia.com Banking Gopala Krishna Murthy G 7-Apr-07 276 18 450 0 0 NPAs are a drain on profitability; have a negative impact on capital adequacy and affect the sources and image of a bank. The banking fraternity was unaware of a term like “Non-Performing Asset (NPA)” till 1991. The concept of Non-performing and Performing Assets has been founded under the new regulatory norms of RBI after 1991, consequent upon the Government’s decision to implement reforms in the Indian Financial Sector. The vulnerability of the NPAs calls for the attention of the managements of banks to appreciate the dynamics thereof in Indian as well as global scenario and evolve measures for effective management of NPAs. Under these conditions, banks need to tackle the NPA issues with multi-pronged approaches and strategies. This book on NPAs in Banking System has thus made an attempt to cover all the contemporary issues and challenges relating to the non-performing assets in banks and their effective management. It is hoped that the readers would find it resourceful for the simple reason that NPAs will exist as long the lending activity in banks stays – the subject of NPA Management therefore, would continue to be of relevance for ever to the banking system and its stakeholders irrespective of the past, the present or the future.
717 81-314-0616-4 HR Metrics – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Prasad B V S Sangeetha K 7-Apr-07 296 18 450 0 0 This decade has seen a radical transformation in the face of HRM. HR metrics interventions have changed the paltry support function of HR into a strong strategic partner of an organization. HR metrics convert the value of HR programs into the language of business—tangible and measurable results that aid and direct the managers in their strategic decision-making. Metrics ascertain that management and development actions remain relevant to the overall corporate strategy that leads to increased return on investment. Thus, access to vital metrics about people is getting more importance than ever, with the facility to share data instantaneously and globally, thus enhancing the strategic role of HR. HR metrics is the holy grail of today s organization, in order to have a significant impact on the long-term performance of the company and the shareholder s value. This book is designed to provide a logical elucidation of the role played by HR metrics in the evaluation of various HR activities in an organization and how it contributes to the organization s strategic decision making and excellent business results.
718 81-314-0551-6 Operations Research Methods – Related Production, Distribution, and Inventory Management Applications www.nbcindia.com Operations Management Bruce D Craven Islam S M N 7-Apr-07 248 18 450 20.5 525 Operations Research is concerned with making good decisions among many alternatives. A problem in the real world is modelled, usually on mathematical terms, then mathematical techniques, with data analysis and computational algorithms, are applied, in order to find ways to do the job better. Notable instances in business management are planning industrial production, scheduling airlines and other transportation, and managing inventories in a supply chain. A successful application does not just run a computer program, but requires a model that suitably describes the situation, and relevant data. This text presents concisely the most applicable O.R. models and the methods used to work with them. The book will be useful to practitioners of O.R., in areas of logistics, supply chain, decision sciences, or manufacturing management. It will be useful as well for students of mathematics, who wish to apply their skills to management, or for students of engineering, who wish to learn some effective methods of planning. Since Operations Research may not be the major part of their course, this brief account may serve them well. Some mathematical background (some matrices and calculus) is assumed. Applications discussed include choice among scenarios for future action, optimizing networks, optimal management of a supply chain, and other topics in business management.
719 81-314-0544-3 The Icfai University Press on Business Process Outsourcing – Concepts and Perspectives www.nbcindia.com BPO/Outsourcing Jaya Krishna S 7-Apr-07 264 17 425 0 0 With the immense success of business process outsourcing (BPO), firms are increasingly tending to outsource more and more of their functions. At present, outsourcing is predominantly extended to various functional areas such as research & development, human resources management (HRM), finance, accounting, supply chain management (SCM), etc. Besides, the significance of ‘outsourcing’ is also increasingly realized and adopted in certain sectors like manufacturing, banking, insurance, pharma, healthcare, etc. The current trend in the outsourcing value chain is Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO), while the outsourcing models such as Multi-outsourcing, Knowledge Process Off shoring (KPO), Business Transformation Outsourcing (BTO), are emerging as significant practices. The book throws light on various related models-operational, delivery and business models-of BPO such as Multi-sourcing, Business Transformation Outsourcing, Knowledge Process Outsourcing, Knowledge Process Off shoring, etc., and provides insights into various applications across a few select functions and sectors. Also, relevant contextual insights are covered in the process. This book is expected to be of interest to any practitioner, while offering learning value to the students, academicians and other allied professionals.
720 81-314-0556-7 Institutional Investors – Emerging Trends www.nbcindia.com Finance Arindam Banerjee 7-Apr-07 252 17 425 0 0 Indian markets seem to be the favourite investment destination for many. The continuous upsurge of the Bombay Stock Exchange has brought cheer to the investment community coupled with the ever-increasing investment through the FDI route. In India, retail participation has always remained miniscule with major participants being institutional players. Among this category of investors, foreign investors are of primary significance. This book takes a closer look at the rise of Foreign Institutional Investors (FIIs) in India and also peeps into the entry in the Indian markets of Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) and private equity.FIIs increase both the volatility and liquidity in the market. The Government has allowed several investment avenues for the FIIs. With the Indian financial market providing a fertile investment ground for attractive returns, FIIs are here to stay. If FII was the primary mover in the capital markets, FDI was not left far behind in real asset investments. Private equity too, plays a crucial role in shaping the capital markets of any country, be it a developed nation or an emerging economy. Private equity investors are several cash rich financial institutions and high net worth individuals who are always on the lookout for better returns. Today, private equity plays a crucial role in shaping the capital markets of many countries, both in developed nations and emerging economies and India is no exception to this.
721 81-314-0701-2 Ecofriendly Business – Approaches and Experiences www.nbcindia.com General Books Sridhar Krishna 7-Apr-07 256 17 425 0 0 The world we live in is facing myriad problems related to business economy and environment. Various negative factors such as overpopulation, bio-degradation, climatic imbalance, over-pollution, rapid industrialization and depletion of natural capital are gradually degrading our mother earth and threatening the very existence of mankind. Environmental conservation and business economy have become global concerns. There is an ever-increasing need to combine profit-making business practices with environmental concerns. Many countries have started enforcing binding environmental regulations and heavy taxation on companies showing negligence towards environmental responsibilities. This has compelled companies to innovate and reduce waste and maximize profits by economizing on the scarcest resources available. Many environmentally conscious enterprises have started developing green and eco-friendly products and services as a differentiation-based corporate strategy to enhance their image in the marketplace. Green consumerism is spreading in the world and so is green consciousness. Consumers today are being motivated by green philosophy.
722 81-314-0636-9 E-Collaboration: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com General Books Moonmoon Bhattacharya 7-Apr-07 256 17 425 0 0 Today, enterprises worldwide are depending on e-collaboration tools to improve their business processes and reap significant business results. The integrated collaboration tools assist in increased efficiencies, cost effective delivery of services, enhanced organizational intelligence, and stronger relationship with key stakeholders and effective sharing of resources. The evolving web environments and the growing global computer networks, coupled with increasing power and lower costs of computers, have further enhanced the adoption of e-collaboration tools among individuals, organizations and society on a global scale. This, in turn, has created an e-collaboration tools industry with major players like IBM, Microsoft, INTEL and Groove Networks. The diffusing impact of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) on the pattern of collaboration at different levels of society, is creating newer communication experiences for the institutions and businesses worldwide. The ubiquity of the Internet, coupled with an increasing reliance on net-based collaboration tools like e-mail, videoconferencing, intranets, net meeting, instant messaging, blogging, wiki and Twiki, etc., is creating a host of opportunities for the individuals, businesses and public institutions. The emerging practices of e-governance, e-business, e-learning, etc., are further leveraging the phenomenon. Evidently, the spread of e-collaboration tools which help an enterprise both internally and externally, is likely to change the traditional business relationships.
723 81-314-0605-9 Utility Computing – An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Vishakha Munshi 7-Apr-07 260 17 425 0 0 Vendors are trying to sell something—utility, or pay as you go, computing—and users simply do not understand what it is. This implies an exceptionally strong need—and opportunity—for vendors to educate their customers and prospects on the utility computing concept – Mike West, Senior Program Director, Saugatuc How would it be possible to receive a monthly bill for usage of MS Office on your home PC rather than actually buying it for a considerable cost? Ever wondered if you could use storage services from somebody called Storage Service Provider (SSP) and get billed not only in terms of MB usage but also for features like how complex RAID you desire to have? What would make it possible to contribute to the processor power from your own desktop to a researcher in astrophysics sitting at the other side of the Internet world? Or should you ask why would Sun Microsystems visionary leader, Scott McNealy says, “The Network is the Computer?” All this may not be that hard to answer with the advent of new technology called Utility Computing or On Demand Computing. However, this is not a new concept. Any utility service is based on the fact, that the resources are metered and the user is charged on pay-per-use basis. The same concept when applied to the usage of computing resources gave birth to a new technology called Utility Computing. Well, does that mean utility computing is something that comes out of a wall just like electricity? Is this a marketing gimmick or an elemental reshaping of technology? If most of the significant components for utility computing to gain an overwhelming acceptance are available today, why is it taking so long to come to fruition? Get a glimpse of the world of Utility Computing and get all the burning questions like the above answered in this book.
724 81-314-0683-0 Technology and Business Strategy : An Introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Prasanta Kumar Banerjea 7-Apr-07 256 17 425 0 0 This book highlights the effect of technology on the future of any organization and draws from the ideas of many management thinkers, who have worked on various aspects of technology, research and development, and finally, delineates the dynamic linkage between business strategy and technology strategy. In most countries, especially developing ones, the government gives a lot of incentives to companies for R&D work to reduce dependence on overseas collaborators. Till recently, the main thrust of corporates was to take advantage of tax break offered by the administration. However, from the early 90s, companies realized that, without stress on the development of new technology, it would be difficult for any company to survive, not to speak of sustaining any corporate growth. The book focuses on the work of strategic thinkers and management educators from all over the world, as to the need for formulating technology policy of a company and the way to integrate the technology strategy into the competitive and business strategy of the organization. Disruptive technology and disruptive innovations, as theorized by Professor Clayton Christensen of Harvard Business School, define the role of revolutionary technology, which, as compared to incremental improvement, also finds a prominent role in the book.
725 81-314-0689-X Excellence in Manufacturing – New Approaches www.nbcindia.com Operations Management Sabyasachi Chatterjee 7-Apr-07 260 17 425 0 0 Experts opine that production excellence can provide companies, the much desired competitive edge against their competitors. Production excellence can enable manufacturers to offer high quality products at competitive prices with the shortest possible lead time, that leads to greater customer satisfaction through continuous improvement of their processes. In the quest to achieve production excellence, several management thinkers and practitioners have made significant contributions to improve productivity, enhance quality and reduce cost; that quest has led to the emergence of many new manufacturing approaches. These approaches are aimed at reducing the wastage in manufacture, which will create more value. In the above context, this book aims at capturing some of the new approaches to manufacturing that will help manufacturers face market competition and match the customer expectations efficiently.
726 81-314-0704-7 The Value Chain Revolution www.nbcindia.com Business Strategy Rajnandan Patnaik 7-Apr-07 248 16.5 425 0 0 Value is a dynamic term dependent on factors such as comparable offerings and competitive prices, and value chain is the realization of all the links that exist between the supplier and the customer. Michael Porter (Competitive Advantage, 1985) conceptualized value chain as a standard for developing strategy in organizations. A Strategist is more likely to embrace the value chain rather than the supply chain, for creating strategies. Consumers must be willing to pay for the competitive offering, a price that exceeds all the costs that the firm undertakes in creating it. In any other case, the firm or the industry cannot survive in the long-term. Again, merely satisfying buyer’s needs is not enough for a firm; it is the profitability through value offering that is crucial for competitive advantage. Can value chain provide this? The strategy mix, the relationship to scope, and a source for competitive advantage can be achieved through the composition and interrelationships exploitation of the value chain. Some of the major aspects of value chain, covered in this book are: · Conceptual understanding of the value chain and its benefits · Disruption and reconfiguration of value chain can create a source of competitive advantage · Using value chain to build the generic strategy of cost-differentiation-focus · Changes in Technology and Globalization impacting value chain · Applications of value chain for on-line learning, knowledge management, international business, with focus on consumer goods, information technology and operations · Case studies on ONGC, Infosys, TCS, Mittal Steel, and BPO Destination – India
727 81-314-0675-X Organizational Politics: New Insights www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Sumati Reddy 7-Apr-07 200 16.5 425 0 0 Politics is considered by many as an obnoxious term. If there are two people in an organization, there is bound to be office politics, so say some experts. This is not hard to believe. One of the major reasons for the existence of office politics is limited resources which have to be shared among more than one contender. Resources such as capital, labour, equipment, come in short supply which are insufficient to meet everyone’s needs. Organizational politics is an age-old phenomenon. Ancient philosophers have given a number of discourses about human behavioural concepts, which shed light on political behaviour within the organizations. What is the solution? Can we prevent office politics? No and yes! No, because it is irrepressible. Yes, because there are always ways to avoid the negative spiral caused by office politics by striving to become a better human being. Values such as forgiveness, fairness, transparency, humility, practicing what one preaches, and ethical conduct play a major role in moderating behaviours which give rise to manipulation, sabotage, politicking, etc. This book serves as an introduction to the widely-prevalent phenomenon of office politics – a subject which not many authors have chosen to write about. Members of organizations will find this book to be of immense value. In addition, HR professionals and students of organizational behaviour will also find the book to be of great utility.
728 81-314-0623-7 Human Resource Management Systems – New Insights www.nbcindia.com Information Technology Jaya Krishna S 7-Apr-07 236 16 400 0 0 Effective management of HR functions is increasingly becoming a strategic imperative and a source of competitive advantage for organizations. Human Resource Management System (HRMS), which is aimed at automation of HR operations/functions through an integrated approach, is helping HR professionals across the business worlds to keep track of all types of information relating to their firm and workforce. Such IT intervention in HR departments not only impacts the bottom-line through improved efficiency, but also, empowers HR professionals with capabilities to effectively plan, coordinate and control various HR functions, ranging from recruitment to retention of workforce. The modern HRMS suite offers both tactical and strategic HRM capabilities, ranging from HR planning and deployment to aligning HR processes with business goals.This book throws light on the technology practice of various HR functions and processes, and brings out how such practice leveraging Human Resource Management System (HRMS) impacts the HR functions. While highlighting the potential benefits and applications of HR Management systems, the book provides valuable insights into managerial-cum-technical perspectives. Further, the book uncovers the growing role of HRM technology to facilitate the strategic HRM capabilities. This book will be of interest to any HR practitioner, while offering learning value to students, academicians and other related professionals.
729 81-314-0612-1 Managing organizational stress www.nbcindia.com Management George C T 7-Apr-07 232 16 400 0 0 Organizations recognize that stress management is an essential and important tool for achieving sustainable growth. In the present-day competitive environment, all service-oriented organizations believe that “our employees are our most important assets for the company”. Today, workplace stress is becoming a major issue of increasing concern to employees and organizations. It has become a part of life for the employees, as life today has become so complex at home as well as outside, that it is impossible to avoid stress. Workplace stress can be defined as the harmful physical and emotional responses that occur within a human being, when the requirements of the job do not match his capabilities, resources, or even needs. Some experts argue that a moderate amount of stress, both physical and mental stress, is required for normal and healthy growth. Organizational stress occurs mainly due to workplace problems, such as excessive demands and pressure, role conflict, overtime, and team conflict. Every human being is bound by unique physical, physiological and emotional characteristics, and individual and family problems also contribute to organizational stress. There are two types of approach to manage workplace stress, organizational approach and individual approach. All employees should balance their time between work and home in an effective manner. Especially, women employees are facing a lot of difficulties in balancing their work and home. The organization should take appropriate measures to solve all the problems which lead to organizational stress. The organization should also have a well defined stress management policy and strategy to manage work place stress effectively.
730 81-314-0561-3 Media and Advertising Management – New Trends www.nbcindia.com Marketing Sabyasachi Chatterjee 7-Apr-07 236 16 400 0 0 The history of advertising dates back to the early days of human civilization, when farmers, potters, artisans and craftsmen strained their vocal cords to promote their products. However, modern day mass media advertising began with the discovery of the printing press, when William Caxton came out with the first printed advertisement in English. Then, came the Industrial Revolution which fuelled the growth of mass media advertising, as manufacturers heavily used mass media advertising to create awareness to the customers about their products. With the passage of time, the role of modern day ad campaign has undergone a sea change. In a world of intense competition, an ad campaign is being made more and more accountable for sales. Hence, advertisers need to explore the upcoming trends in media and advertising management. They should examine the emerging media options, do a cost benefit analysis of the same to find out how best they suit their marketing objectives. Advertisers should also evaluate the recent approaches to advertising so that the campaign can successfully entice the customer to patronize their products.Keeping this in mind, the book has tried to capture some of the new trends in the field of media and advertising management, which will provide a framework that will help advertisers in crafting an effective ad strategy under various settings and contexts.
731 81-314-0591-5 Employer of Choice – Trends and Experiences www.nbcindia.com Human Resources Management Latha Nithiyanand Sangeetha K 7-Apr-07 212 15.5 400 0 0 Employer of Choice (EOC) is the new business imperative to indemnify a competitive edge in the current business era of ferocious competition for talent. EOC strategies aid in positioning the firm as a Great Place to Work in the minds of the existing and potential employees – that strong brand image of – a great-place-to-work – a place where employees find accomplishment and execute work with commitment to excellence, that turns employees into engaged campaigners of the company. The result is a steady flow of prospective applicants, who are a perfect fit for the company, creating a powerful vision, and eventually, helping in further building the firm s image as the best place to work at. Development and management of an Employer of Choice status will command much reserves and commitment but the pay-offs are enormous. In a nutshell, successful companies are those willing to capitalize on emerging as employer of choice and venturing to go that extra mile and engage the public. This book is designed to provide a logical elucidation of the concept and the significance of “Employer of Choice”, the building blocks of EOC and the strategies for becoming an Employer of Choice, to win in the current business milieu of cut-throat competition for talent through employment branding or employer branding and by best practices.
732 81-314-0638-5 Global Remittances – an introduction www.nbcindia.com Management Ramachandra Shastri T 7-Apr-07 220 15.5 400 0 0 The remittances sent by individuals working in one country to another country form a large volume comparable even to international aids. Recipient countries are quite jubilant over such receipts. The remitting countries are not unhappy, because the remitters have contributed to their economic prosperity. This win-win situation has attracted the attention of the governments, international aid agencies, multilateral funding institutions and also the central banks. The book gives an overview of Global Remittances from the perspective of the remitting and receiving countries, the developmental impact and includes select country studies.
733 81-314-0629-6 Competitive Intelligence – The Corporate Challenge www.nbcindia.com Marketing Amitabha Ghose 7-Apr-07 216 15.5 400 0 0 There is no doubt that the world has entered into a new phase in terms of competitive landscape in business. With competition becoming increasingly global and more intense today, developing and utilising an effective competitive intelligence system may be the cutting edge difference between survival and bankruptcy in home country and the international market. Globalisation, proliferation in global communications and rapid development in transport infrastructure, growing integration of world stock exchange and interdependence of capital markets, have collectively changed the market dynamics of overall competition in fundamental ways, although, at the same time, some basics of business have not really changed at all. That is, knowing and understanding your competitors was there and will continue to be there as one of the key success factors for business, irrespective of whether the world is flat or flatter than before. This book is about the process, resources and ethics of competitive intelligence and how it has become a vital part of the emerging knowledge economy.
734 81-314-0586-9 Lifestyle Marketing – Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Marketing Sangeetha K 7-Apr-07 212 15.5 400 0 0 In the current cut-throat business environment, marketers have to keep pace with changing consumer behavior and peoples lifestyles. Consumers have to be drawn in through novel marketing techniques, as customers no longer buy products the way they used to do in the past. Increased disposable income of the consumer and the role of brands and products in consumer lifestyles are crucial factors leading to important changes in consumer behavior. A study of the lifestyle behavior of the consumer provides valuable insights that can guide companies marketing and advertising strategies. This has led to many top companies adopting the strategy of lifestyle marketing. Lifestyle marketing results in very high visibility and vital awareness of the product among the consumers who seek convenience, value, variety and a better shopping experience. All this results in intimate relationship with consumers and generates business.In today s world, businessmen increasingly realize that lifestyle is the defining factor that keeps a company a step ahead of others. This book gives the readers, a brief account of lifestyle marketing and its importance in the current business scenario, and highlights that business success in the marketplace is directly linked to the degree to which the company s products and its marketing strategies reflect the lifestyle and the behavior of the targeted consumers.
735 81-314-0526-5 Handbook of Management Terms www.nbcindia.com Management Gyanesh Sharma K Pradeep Kumar 7-Apr-07 144 13.5 350 16 400 The Handbook of Management Terms is addressed to students, teachers, practitioners and general readers who want to be able to follow business management discussions in the class and elsewhere, or whose daily work demands some familiarity with terminologies of Business and Management functions like Planning, Organizing and Staffing, functional areas like Marketing, Finance, Human Resource, Production, Logistics and the like. It also includes Services like Information Systems and maintenance. The handbook further addresses terms from advance areas like SCM and CRM. It assists the practitioners who are in business development, promotion, consulting, training and development. It aims to provide a comprehensive companion to support other reading in a discipline, which employs remarkably similar terminologies. The handbook provides an invaluable alphabetical guide to the main ideas and techniques connected with an overall perspective to handle all resources of business. Over 1000 entries define and explain clearly the salient facts within the context of Business management. Its store of up-to-date information will certainly appeal to active managers, teachers and students of business. An elaborate system of cross-reference makes the handbook easy to use and extremely informative.
736 81-314-0342-4 Case Studies on Market Entry Strategies – Vol. I www.nbcindia.com Case Study Collection Souvik Dhar 7-Apr-07 204 0 25 625 Capitalizing on overseas markets often opens the door to new levels of top and bottom line growth. But there is no single strategy that fits all companies, products and markets. A successful market entry strategy helps a company to conceptualize and implement a structured entry process that would drive future growth, profit margins as well as address issues like competition, market dynamics and stakeholders. The case studies featured in this book, highlight the market entry strategies of companies like Wal-Mart, McDonald s, KFC, GM and UBS among others. Providing a short theoretical background, this book helps to establish a relationship between contextual and strategic factors that are important to determine the foreign market entry strategies. It also helps in discussing the strategic problems, barriers to expansion, and the future challenges faced by these companies.
737 81-314-0631-8 Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com General Books Sriram Rajann 3-Apr-07 296 18 450 0 0 Due to globalization, international trading of food products is taking place in large quantities. Each country adopts different quality standards for food products. All countries realize that standard health and safety regulations are needed for the whole world. In 1994, at the Uruguay round, the World Trade Organization (WTO) framed Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures (SPS Agreement), which provided rules and discipline for the establishment and application of measures to protect human, animal and plant life and health from risk associated diseases, food additives, toxins, contaminants, and disease-causing organisms in food. These SPS measures ensure that food products come from a disease-free area, in addition to checking the quality of products, the specific treatment or the processing of products and minimum level of pesticides. SPS measures deal not only with trade issues but also address broad issues like public health and environment. Still, some of the developing countries and undeveloped countries are facing big challenges to meet SPS standards due to lack of infrastructure, awareness and technology.
738 81-314-0699-7 Contemporary Branding: Practices and Applications www.nbcindia.com General Books Venkat Ram Raj T 3-Apr-07 208 15 375 0 0 Branding has attained importance beyond just naming products. A strong brand strategy not only increases the awareness of its products, but also establishes a strong feeling, feedback and a favorable outlook towards the company as a whole. Brands need to be developed continuously and consistently which requires perseverance in the way branding approaches and practices are innovated. The modern marketing managers have been designing various innovative branding strategies aiming at achieving corporate excellence. Day-by-day, one can witness a number of radical approaches to branding being exercised by the companies. Newer branding techniques like Abstract Branding, Cult Branding, Emotional Branding, Co-branding and Primal Branding are emerging as strong tools of marketing. Branding is now not an activity to be delegated to just a department but has to be dealt with by the top level management. One need not wonder if the companies have to appoint CBOs (Chief Branding Officers) in the near future. Such is the growing importance of branding in the corporate world. As branding has become an imperative and also an innovative activity of marketing function, it is ideally thought that a book on contemporary branding strategies would certainly aid the corporate and academic circles with insights into modern branding practices. The book elaborates the approaches, concepts, theories and applications of branding strategies that have emerged contemporarily.
739 81-314-0632-6 Malnutrition: Issues and Combat Strategies www.nbcindia.com Anthropology Azmal Hussain 29-Mar-07 292 18 450 0 0 Malnutrition is a grave problem worldwide, particularly the resource-poor countries. The book aims at description and evaluation of the existing malnutrition status of people worldwide. It is mainly intended for academicians, researchers in the modern province of physical anthropology, health administrators, economists and development professionals. The book begins with a general idea of malnutrition, following which it deals with the determinants, current global nutritional status and finally with the combat strategies against malnutrition adopted by different governments, communities or other ancillary agencies. Besides, nutrition paradox, formed by underweight and obesity, is also explained wherever deemed appropriate. A major part of the book concentrates on nutrition interventions. While reduction in malnutrition rates will require actions cutting across many sectors, a favorable health sector, to some extent, will foster the development of nutrition-relevant actions needed to address the persistently high rates of malnutrition among children.
740 81-314-0697-0 Credit Card Frauds: An Introduction www.nbcindia.com General Sujatha B 29-Mar-07 272 17 425 0 0 The grave problem of population displacement is caused mainly by development projects, conflicts and natural disasters. Though development projects can bring enormous benefits to society, they also impose far-reaching consequences, which are often borne by the most disadvantaged lot of people. Development displacees can suffer as severely as those displaced either internally or internationally by natural disasters or conflict and violence. The gravity of displacement issue is explicit in quantifications made by different agencies. The forced population displacement is always crisis-prone, even when necessary as part of broad and beneficial development programs. The affected people get profoundly disrupted culturally as well as socio-economically. Displacement often dismantles people s existing modes of production, disrupts social networks, causes the impoverishment of many of those uprooted.This book is an attempt to illustrate the principal causes, contexts, and consequences of population displacement around the world.
741 81-314-0703-9 Business Excellence: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com General Management Suresh Gopal Patwardhan 29-Mar-07 256 17 425 0 0 As a concept, business excellence holds great promise for organizations that want to change proactively to shape their destiny and the future of their stakeholders. It guides you through the evolution of excellence concepts, processes of self assessment and methodology to transform the organizations to be agile to face the ever increasing pace of change. It also helps organizations navigate from their present condition to world class. Many companies and organizations all over the world are striving very hard for business excellence, and in turn to satisfy their stakeholders.This book delves into the evolution of the various underlying concepts of business excellence. It explains the emergence of the concept of Business Excellence through various stages, like Craft to Quality and from Quality to Total Quality Management. It also elucidates how business excellence can be a strategic and practical approach towards attaining world class stature. It emphasizes the importance of Continuous Learning, Improvement and Innovation and Partnership Development, among other things. This book provides an insight into the practice of business excellence through several case studies and a number of innovative practices.
742 81-314-0114-6 Managing Globalisation: Concepts and Cases www.nbcindia.com Globalization Vedpuriswar A V 29-Mar-07 268 17 425 0 0 This book is about how companies manage globalization. While Part I features concepts, Part II illustrates these concepts using cases featuring well-known companies such as Ispat, Sterlite, Cemex, Li & Fung, Sony, Bharat Forge, Tata Motors, Mahindra & Mahindra and Hidesign. With trade and investment barriers between countries rapidly breaking down, globalization has become the buzzword, though it is a much-misunderstood word.Business leaders often underestimate the challenges involved while going global. Various complications can arise during globalization. Companies have to carefully assess political risk, and negotiations must be handled carefully. Transfer pricing is another issue. Culture plays an important role in international management. It influences the way managers attach priorities. It serves as a set of implicit rules that guide decision-making. Since different cultures exist in different parts of the world, an understanding of the impact of culture on behavior is a critical success factor in globalization. People issues are important in globalization. Companies cannot globalize without a cadre of managers, who can understand and respond to the needs of the international business environment. Global managers must be able to go beyond a narrow national perspective and display a considerable amount of cultural adaptability and cultural sensitivity. Selection of managers for foreign assignments and the transition from the field back to headquarters during repatriation must be handled carefully. While globalizing, there is no sure recipe for success. Businesses must try various approaches that are backed by logic, careful planning and a realistic assessment of their capabilities and competencies.
743 81-314-0710-1 TRIPS and Pharmaceutical Industry: Impact on Developing Countries www.nbcindia.com Industry Manish Ashiya 29-Mar-07 256 17 425 0 0 Under the aegis of the TRIPS agreement, the global pharmaceutical industry became the centre of controversy. TRIPS provides product patents which seek to reward the innovator of the drug in the form of monopoly pricing. The freedom to price drugs leads to an increase in drug prices raising serious health concerns. In 2001, Brazil and South Africa openly violated the TRIPS agreement and issued licenses to manufacture generic version of AIDS medicine patented by Roche. This particular event led to hard thinking by other countries and lobbying for concessions in the agreement. Eventually, in 2003, the Doha declaration was passed, under which developing countries deadline was extended till January 2005 and for the least developed countries 2016 was kept as deadline.This book examines the impact of the TRIPS agreement on developing and the least developed countries. The cases of Ghana, Morocco, Taiwan, Thailand, China, Bangladesh and India are discussed. The pre- and post-TRIPS pharmaceutical industry s situation in the country is examined. The impact TRIPS will have on these countries and what measures the pharmaceutical industry is taking to survive in the post-TRIPS era are under this book s coverage. The book also covers measures the government is taking to promote domestic pharmaceutical industry, ensuring that foreign investment and health concerns are adeq
rinciples and Applications (With Simulation CD) 30.95 7th
