bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Authors: Veeraraghavan Vimala
Published: March 2013

The paper considers the importance of interaction of entrepreneurship and innovation. Tracing the definition of entrepreneurship, the paper puts forward some of the important characteristics of entrepreneur-ship and how it has evolved over a period of time and what exactly it is today. Discussing the types of entrepreneurship, the paper presents the characteristic traits of entrepreneurs and how to profile them. The ability to take risks and indulge in creative destruction and innovation are shown as distinguishing features of entrepreneur. Differentiating creativity, invention and innovation, the paper presents certain major theories of entrepreneurship which could help predict the entrepreneurial capabilities in a person. Finally the paper presents the importance of innovation and the form it should take and how entrepreneurship is a combination of many factors including the family background and ability to take risks and innovate and put forward new ideas and concepts and implement the same.
SMEs as Learning Organisations: A Study on Employee Emancipation in Central India
Authors: Dave Sumita , Praveer Saket Ranjan
Published: March 2013

The paper attempts to evaluate the existing state of the internal environment in small business firms in India. It measures the opinion of both the employer and the employee regarding the climate in the organizations. Six parameters for entrepreneurs and ten parameters of employees have been assumed to be equal. The study has been conducted through descriptive research. Analysis of Variance both one factor and two factor have been applied in order to find out the similarities/dissimilarities of opinion regarding the parameters adopted to evaluate the internal environment of the firms. From the sample study, it has been observed that the entrepreneurs believe that their firms are learning organisations whereas the employees feel that there is little scope of flexibility.
Micro Finance — A Tool for Elevation of Social Entrepreneurship through Women Empowerment
Authors: Amudha R. , Banu C. Vijaya
Published: March 2013

The economic development of any country aims at bringing out changes in social life rather than modernization. Micro finance as a strategy involves the provision of a broad range of financial services, such as loans, deposits, payment services, remittances, pension and insurance to poor and low-income households. This study ventures to understand and assess the role that micro finance plays as a tool for elevation of social entrepreneurship through women empowerment. A sample study has been conducted on the self help groups in Thanjavur District of Tamilnadu, which is covered by agricultural occupation with both urban and rural areas. This study covers 10 villages with a sample size of 174 SHG members. Survey method has been followed to collect the primary data by administering an interview schedule. The result shows that irrespective of age, marital status, family size and number of members, the SHG members are able to venture any business and earn the income.
A Comparative Study of Opportunities, Growth and Problems of Women Entrepreneurs
Authors: Garga Pawan , Bagga Rajesh
Published: March 2013

A Study has been carried out to understand the opportunities, growth and problems of women in business in the states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Union Territory of Chandigarh. Besides, an attempt has been made to identify the basic problems faced by them in dealing with family and the society. Chi-square test has been used for analysis of the economic performance of women entrepreneurs. The parameters of the study include the amount of financial leverage taken, rate of growth, their market share and the various sources of finance. Similarly, the financial support provided by the banks & other financial agencies has also been analysed in order to get an idea about their financing needs & fulfillment of the same.
Influence of Motivational Factors on Women Entrepreneurs in SMEs
Authors: Suganthi J.
Published: March 2013

An attempt has been made in to analyse the role of socio-economic status and the motivational factors that influenced the women entrepreneurs to undertake business in Coimbatore district of Tamilnadu state. Primary data has been collected on 125 women entrepreneurs and the findings indicate that the married women having only school studies had undertaken sole entrepreneurship in service sector at the age ranging between 26–30 years. The analysis showed significant influence of investment, experience, profit and turnover over the financial sources and knowledge of technical know-how. It also finds that profit, technical skill possessed, previous experience and family member's advice are the motivating factors of women entrepreneurs in the SMEs.
Role of Venture Capital in Spurring Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Authors: Ansari Valeed A. , Uddin Ahmar
Published: March 2013

In view of the potential role of venture capital in promotion of entrepreneurship and innovation, USA and many European nations have accorded top priority to the development of venture capital. The literature review of this paper discusses the problems faced by entrepreneurs in rasing funds for innovative projects and it also highlights the role of venture capital in promoting innovation and entrepreneurship. Further using survey method the perspective of entrepreneurs having an innovative project is studied to find the various types of assistance that be provided by a venture capitalist.
Coping with Failure, Mental Health and Career Intentions among Failed Entrepreneurs
Authors: Subramanian S. , Kumar M. Vinoth
Published: March 2013

Research studies on the exploration of attributes to failure of business operation were reported more often than the types of coping styles, mental health and future career options of those entrepreneurs who had failed. Systematic examination on the types of career intentions shown by the failed entrepreneurs and the extent to which entrepreneurs cope with such adverse business failure, their status of mental health, self esteem etc, will immensely help to provide suitable assistance to those targeted categories of miserable entrepreneurs. Data on cognitive emotive regulation, coping strategies, mental health and self esteem from 140 entrepreneurs who had encountered adverse business failure events were collected. Comparison among three categories of career intentions shown by failed entrepreneurs revealed that the entrepreneur who have strong intention to re-start again (Category A) tend to follow mostly adoptive coping strategies such as positive refocusing, refocus on planning and putting into perspective than the other two categories of entrepreneurs who do not have any intention at all to venture once again instead prefer working for others (Category B) and who are undecided about future career plan (Category C). It was also revealed that the level of self esteem and mental health tend to moderate the adoption of the types of coping strategies significantly. The implications of results were discussed with suggesting possible intervention to improve the internal strength and capacities among the failed entrepreneurs.
Entrepreneurship as a Strategic Development Intervention to Accelerate Rural Development: The Case of Drishtee
Authors: Lather Anu Singh , Garg Shalini , Vikas Sona
Published: March 2013

This case narrates the success story of Drishtee, a for-profit company with the vision of spreading the benefits of ICT to rural India, where technology can bring long-awaited solutions for rural development. Drishtee is innovative in its concept and implementation and has been successful in facilitating the conception of a rural networking infrastructure through a tiered franchise and partnership model, which has led to the creation of entrepreneurs spread across various villages in rural India. It has an existing network of over 4100 Franchisee Entrepreneurs and 700 RRPs across 10 states in India. It also has the first mover advantage with expertise in rolling out a unique last mile distribution network, built on both Information and Communication Technology (ICT) application and ‘ground level entrepreneurship’. One of the key highlights of the company is its ability to develop products and services specifically designed to cater to the rural market through its subsidiary Quiver Info Services Ltd. With its unique distribution network of existing rural retail points and franchisees, lowering costs and margin expectations, it has succeeded in generating employment opportunities for rural entrepreneurs, with equal gender focus. For its laudable efforts, it has won many accolades including awards from World Bank, Schwab Foundation, WEF and Clinton Global Initiative and is already backed by Institutional investors including IFC, Acumen fund, Grameen foundation.
Rapid Internationalization of Emerging Market Business: Evidence from Asian Emerging Market Multinational Enterprises
Authors: Chang Juichuan
Published: March 2013

The purpose of this study is to provide an integrated framework that conceptualizes multifaceted antecedents pertaining to international expansion of emerging market businesses in relation to firm performance. This paper develops multiple-item measures of multiple-dimensions to clarify how internationalization path and geographic scope affect emerging market MNEs performance in a sample of 115 Asia Pacific MNEs over the period 2002–2006. The result shows that the relationship between internationalization and firm performance is a nonlinear relationship. There will be a negative relationship between internationalization and performance in the first and the third stages, and a positive relationship in the second stage. The empirical results also show that Asia Pacific MNEs international expansion paths have significant differences between intra-regional markets and extra-region and global markets.
Research on Identifying Important Coefficients in Chinese Sectors with High Industrial Wastewater Discharge
Authors: Zhipeng Tang , Xue Fu , Wei William Xiaojun
Published: March 2013

The industrial wastewater is one of the main sources of water pollution in China. Identifying important coefficients in the sectors with highly discharged wastewater provides government the rule of reducing discharge from the point of industrial association. This paper develops the losing information method, and then determines the important coefficients in sectors of industrial wastewater in 2002 and 2005.
Management Information Systems for Service Quality in Commercial Banks: An Empirical Study
Authors: Vannirajan T. , Manimaran S.
Published: March 2013

Importance of management information systems is identified in influencing the service quality. A model interrelating these constructs in banking industry is proposed. Primary data has been collected from the bank employees in Madurai City in Tamil Nadu. The collected data were used to test the model using regression and path analysis methodology. The result reveals that the important elements of information system (IS) are system quality, information quality, employee information system characteristics and technical support whereas the identified consequences are service quality and employee IS performance. The system quality, information quality and employee characteristics influence the service quality in a positive manner but only through employee IS performance. At the same time, the technical support alone influences the service quality directly. The results suggest that employee IS performance contributes more to service quality with technical support. Implications of this research for IS theory and practice are discussed.
Does EVA Dominate Earnings? Empirical Evidence from Indian Market
Authors: Kaur Mandeep , Narang Sweety
Published: March 2013

Analyzing a sample of 104 companies from the list of BT-India's most valuable companies, for a period of twelve years from 1996 to 2007, the study empirically tests the hypothesis that value based measures as well as traditional performance measures have equal relative information content i.e. equal association with MVA, a surrogate of shareholder value creation. Using the tools of Univariate Regression Analysis, Multivariate Regression Analysis and various test-statistics, the present study reveals that market seems more focused on ‘Profits’ than value based measure Economic Value Added (EVA). As far as Univariate analysis is concerned, the evidence suggests that although EVA and PAT both depict highly positive and significant association with MVA yet PAT's explanatory power is as much as twice the explanatory power of EVA. ROCE and ROTA too reflect slightly stronger association with MVA in comparison to EVA. The key findings of the multivariate analysis also confirm the above assertion of Earnings' superiority to EVA in relative information content test. Finally, the study discusses the potential factors contributing to the failure of EVA to dominate Earnings in explaining the variations in shareholder value creation.
Stock Return Behaviour around Stock Splits: Indian Evidences
Authors: Choudhary Kapil , Choudhary Sakshi
Published: March 2013

Present study examines the stock return behaviour vis-à-vis stock splits in Indian context during the period from December 1999 to December 2007. It also makes an effort to disentangle the liquidity, trading range and neglected firm hypothesis. Consistent to earlier evidence, the study also documents the stock split announcement and execution effect in Indian context. The results regarding trading volume and daily turnover led to negation of improvement in liquidity after stock splits in India. The study could not corroborate the trading range hypothesis as possible explanation of stocks splits in India as majority of shares which split were trading at low market prices. While the neglected firm hypothesis could firmly be associated with the stock splits in India.
Impact of Interaction between Organizational Culture and Organizational Structure on HR Practices
Authors: Biswas Soumendu
Published: March 2013

The current study considers the interaction between organizational culture and organizational structure and its influence on a firm's human resource practices. It focuses upon future research issues in organizational culture as a predictor of a firm's human resource (HR) practices. The paper refers to relevant literature which suggests that such an interaction effect between the culture and the structure of a firm does have a noted impact upon the HR practices followed therein. For the purpose of the current study, 180 managerial level executives from several manufacturing organizations in India were asked to respond to relevant questionnaires. The data was then subjected to goodness-of-fit tests using AMOS 4.0. It has been concluded that the interaction between organizational culture and structure had a significant influence on a firm's HR practices. Furthermore, the implications of the study with respect to organizational design and change have also been discussed.
Emotional Intelligence and Job Satisfaction
Authors: Thiruchelvi A. , Supriya M. V.
Published: March 2013

Recent trends in testing the psychological aspects of employees has led to consider emotional intelligence as one of the main factors that determine job satisfaction. The study was carried out to test relationship between emotional intelligence and job satisfaction on the basis of the data collected from white collared employees working in the petroleum industry. The study revealed that there is a positive correlation between emotional intelligence (EI) and job satisfaction. The study also examined the variation of EI levels in genders and its role in job satisfaction. It was found that for both male and female employees EI is positively correlated with job satisfaction.
Understanding the Attitude of Men towards Fairness Cream in India
Authors: Sandhya A. S. , Mohamed H. Peeru
Published: March 2013

The attitude and behavioural intention of men towards purchase and consumption of fairness cream have been investigated. We carried out an empirical study with a structured questionnaire. Results showed that attitude towards fairness cream and perceived behavioural control significantly influenced behavioural intention towards fairness cream. Subjective norm was not significant in influencing behavioural intention. Further, subjective knowledge of men significantly influence attitude, and attitude was mediating the effect of subjective knowledge to behavioural intention.
Accounting Standard Disclosure Compliance in Online Reporting by Indian Companies
Authors: Garg M. C. , Divya
Published: March 2013

This research paper examines the extent of compliance of web-based corporate disclosure with the requirements of Indian Accounting Standards (AS). The online annual reports were available for 132 companies, out of the total sample of 200 companies and these were studied for their compliance to AS. A worksheet has been prepared to determine disclosure score known as Accounting Standards Disclosure Index (ASDI). The relationship between accounting standards disclosure index and company characteristics including nature of industry, affiliation to business house, age, size, profitability, liquidity, ownership and leverage has been studied. Results reveal that relationship between industry sector, affiliation with business house and profitability of company with accounting standards disclosure index is significant.
Corporate Performance Vis-à-vis Executive Compensation — An Empirical Analysis of Selected Indian Companies
Authors: Kang Lakhwinder Singh , Payal
Published: March 2013

The present day business environment characterized by excessive competition, rapidly changing business cycle and increased uncertainty about outcomes, etc. have added to the complexity of the job of a CEO and other executive directors. Given the complexity of their job, it is essential that they must be adequately remunerated. But the astronomical level of compensation directors are getting is among the various issues which have been the source of concern for the societies across the world. The objective of this paper is to examine a linkage between corporate performance and the executive compensation. Net profits, earning per share and return of equity as measures of corporate performance and total assets as a measure of corporate size have been used. Executive compensation has been found to be associated significantly with earning per share and total assets.
Impact of Derivatives and Asymmetric Effect on Indian Stock Market Volatility
Authors: Srinivasan P. , Srinivasan K. , Deo Malabika
Published: March 2013

The paper investigates the impact of underlying spot market volatility after the introduction of futures and options trading in India by using standard EGARCH (1,1) model. The dataset was retrieved from National Stock Exchange (NSE) website for daily closing price series of S&P CNX Nifty spot index for the period from 1st January 1996 to 31st March 2009. The findings suggest that, both futures and options trading reduce the volatility of spot market after the introduction of futures and options trading in India. Besides, the results of futures and options markets reveal that there were no asymmetric effects present in Indian spot market. This finding are quite interesting, since noise trading is the cause of asymmetric responses, the Nifty spot index was not significantly affected by such market participants. Hence, the present study suggests that the introduction of futures and options trading have improved the speed and quality of information flowing in spot market. This enhances the overall market depth, increases market liquidity and ultimately reduces informational asymmetries and therefore compresses spot market volatility in India.
Trends in consumption pattern of consumers in Punjab: Choice between Traditional Retail stores and Organized Retail Stores
Authors: Mittal K. C. , Prashar Anupama , Soi Anmol
Published: March 2013

Punjab has become a land of unlimited opportunities, offering distinct advantages to the investors and industries. The rise in disposable income, increase in the number of dual income nuclear families and preference for an aspirational lifestyle is driving a positive change in the attitudes towards consumption. This change in consumption pattern is attracting many modern organized retail formats to the state. This paper tries to explore the way organized retail has dramatically changed not only the traditional retailing structure but also the consumption behavior of people in the state. The consumption behavior has been examined with the help of a consumer survey, using a structured questionnaire, conducted in major urban cities of Punjab. The findings indicate that convenience and variety are the two attributes which make the organized retail stores more preferable than traditional retail stores.
Return-Volume Dynamics in Indian Stock Market
Authors: Mahajan Sarika , Singh Balwinder
Published: March 2013

This study examines the relationship between returns and trading volume by using data on the Sensitive index of the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) from 1996 to 2006. Correlation analyses, GARCH (1,1) model and Granger causality tests are used to investigate contemporaneous and causal relationships between trading volume and return. A positive and insignificant contemporaneous correlation between return and trading volume was found. However, positive and significant impact of volume on return is detected in GARCH (1,1) model. In addition, GARCH (1,1) documents that the persistence of variance over time partly declines if one includes trading volume as a proxy for information arrivals in the equation of conditional volatility. It also shows the negative impact of volume on conditional volatility because of asymmetry that is observed in significant Jarque-Bera. Furthermore, no causality exists between volume and returns indicating that volume doesn't contain predictive power for the direction of price changes.
Earnings Announcements and Stock Price Behavior on Indian Stock Markets
Authors: Sharma Renuka , Chander Ramesh
Published: March 2013

In the stock market, the announcement of an event may be more significant than the occurrence of the event as the investors' perceptions get revolutionized by these announcements and it gets reflected through the movement in the stock price behavior. The various accounting informations, having significant impact on the investors' perceptions, include earnings announcements, dividend and right issues, stock splits, mergers, takeovers etc. The present study has examined the impact of earnings' announcement on the stock price behavior in India. The past studies have provided a blend of evidences on hand regarding the adjustment of stock-prices for the earnings announcements. It can be ascertained from the analysis that the investors definitely react to the earnings announcements in a different way under the diverse market conditions. The long term analysis made in the first segment of the study has not shown any inconsistency in the stock price behavior which results into any kind of informational inefficiency.
Does Nominal devaluation Precede Real Devaluation in Flexible Exchange Rate Regime? A Case Study of Papua New Guinea
Authors: Rena Ravinder , Shahbaz Muhammad , Hye Qazi Muhammad Adnan
Published: March 2013

Economy can be pretentious by the progression of devaluation or depreciation of local currency either positively or negatively. The improvement in trade balance is considered as one of the significant and beneficial impacts occurring on account of devaluation by means of an increase in the volume of exports while lessening in the volume of imports. However, higher inflation would lead to expensive imports that offset the growth of economy resulting from increase in the exports. This reduces the effectiveness of devaluation in bringing down trade deficit. The benefits of devaluation are restricted where inflation severely hits the economy. Moreover, nominal devaluation improves the trade balance when it leads to real devaluation. The relationship between nominal and real effective exchange rates is explored in the present hypothesis. The study is a unique attempt in the case of Papua New Guinea as devaluation has always been a politically sensitive issue. In this paper investigation, regarding “whether nominal devaluation precedes the real devaluation or not” both in the long run as well as in short span of time is done. The order of integration has been found through Ng-Perron, whereas ARDL, Co-integration Johansen Test and DOLS are employed for long run correlations. The findings of the paper clearly indicate the fact that nominal devaluation not only does lead to real devaluation in long span of time but also in the short run. This scenario provides directions for policy-makers to take into consideration both positive and negative implications of devaluation in Papua New Guinea.
An Empirical Analysis of Linear and Non-Linear Dependence of Stock Prices and Trading Volume in Asia Pacific Stock Market
Authors: Srinivasan K. , Deo Malabika , Murugesan B.
Published: March 2013

This paper examines the casual dependence of price changes and trading volume by using linear and nonlinear models for Australia, India, Japan, New Zealand and Taiwan stock exchange from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2008. The empirical methods used include Unit-root tests, Granger causality tests and MA (5) GARCH (1,1). Granger Causality test demonstrates that for some countries, returns cause volume and volumes cause returns. The evidence indicates stronger evidence of returns causing volume than volume causing returns. The results present a significant relationship between trading volume and the value of price changes, the exogenous variable contributes some information to the return and volatility series for capturing the potential non-linear dependence of stock and trading volume in conditional variance to determine the contemporaneous and lagged volume effect after incorporation. Moreover, the findings suggest that the presence of current and past returns, trading volume adds some predictive power for future returns in these countries.
Seasonality in Indian Stock Market: A re-examination of January Effect
Authors: Mehta Kiran , Chander Ramesh
Published: March 2013

A blend of evidences is on hand regarding the existence of January/November/December Effects on Indian stock market. The arguments in favor of January Effect claim highest average returns in the month of January in comparison with the expected returns in rest of the months of the year, individually. More than a few elucidations are provided by researchers for the existence of January Effect on various stock exchanges. The present study has spotlighted the existence of January/December/November/April effect anomalies in Indian stock market. It is based upon the empirical findings of the two major benchmarks of Bombay Stock Exchange for a period of more than ten years. The empirical results obtained in the study have discarded the possibility of January Effect on Indian Capital Market. But, in an attempt to examine the January Effect a few captivating information is discerned through which the investors may be able to strategize their trading activities in a way that may result in to abnormal returns to them. The overall findings stated that November and December months can be important for the investors to attain abnormal returns, instead of January and April. Further research can be made on the seasonality of the financial and commodity derivative market for these months to identify the more factual position of the seasonality over the Indian stock market.
Determinants of Job Satisfaction in Select Indian Universal Banks-An Empirical Study
Authors: Singh Jaspal , Kaur Gagandeep
Published: March 2013

The study attempts to evaluate the job satisfaction level of Universal bank employees in India. It focuses on identifying the factors of job satisfaction and their influence on the overall job satisfaction level of Universal bank employees. Data were collected from a sample of 200 bank employees, using convenience sampling technique. Exploratory factor analysis reveals that eleven factors-Workplace Environment, Supervision, Job Security, Cooperation from Peers, Pay and Other Facilities, Employee Acceptance, Delegation of Authority, Job Contentment, Workplace Discrimination, Opportunities for Growth, Transparent Salary Structure as the important determinants of job satisfaction. The results of multiple regression analysis shows that Supervision, Cooperation from Peers, Payment and Other Facilities, and Delegation of Authority (independent variables) influenced the level of job satisfaction (dependent variable)of bank employees.
Identification of Managerial Competencies for Establishing a Conceptual Framework for HRD Practioners
Authors: Rao M. Kameshwar , Palo Sasmita
Published: March 2013

The competency movement is gaining momentum and popularity in Indian organizations. There is a lack of clarity as to what is meant by the term ‘competence’, which is due to the lack of consensus in efforts to define effective management. Apart from this, there is also an underlying uncertainty about the practicability of establishing generic managerial competencies. Most sets of “management competencies” are developed without recognition of their inherent contradictions and without due regard to their contextuality (Steve McKenna, 1999). The first main aim of this article is to analyse the different competency studies done so far and other research findings related to the methodology used in identifying managerial competencies. Second, this study also examines the extent to which there are competencies that are generic to professions, through a review of literature and theories, on the competency perspective. Third, deriving from the previous theory and some empirical evidence, a new theoretical competency framework is suggested. And finally, the paper ends by drawing the conclusions about the necessity of having established managerial competencies and sheds a light upon the future implications for the HR practitioners.
Stakeholders Management in Public Sector Organisations — A Case Study of Bharat Heavy Electricals Limited (BHEL)
Authors: Shah Shashank , Bhaskar A. Sudhir
Published: March 2013

In recent time, details regarding various theoretical aspects of the Stakeholders approach to business have been developed. However, there is a lack of availability of a framework for the purpose of integrating stakeholders into the managerial mindset and decision-making process of the corporations. This has been further verified by the authors with the help of empirical data gathered through a survey, supported by responses from 700 managers across India. This paper attempts the development of a framework for Corporate Stakeholders Management by identifying the stakeholders of the corporation, enumerating their needs and translating them into objectives of the organisation. Further, the relative priority of these objectives for the purpose of organisational decision making is also attempted. This has been achieved through the use of Social Systems engineering tools. Utilising the case study approach, based on secondary data only, the applicability of the above framework has been illustrated. The casestudy of Bharat Heavy Electricals Ltd. (BHEL) — one of the finest Navratnas in the Indian public sector, has been used for this purpose.
Binding Stakeholders into Moral Communities: A Review of Studies on Social Responsibility of Business
Authors: Nair Tara S. , Pradhan Rachayeeta
Published: March 2013

This paper revisits the issue of business social responsibility with a view to reiterate its relevance in the contemporary scenario characterised by an overarching presence of private businesses and blurring of the barriers between not-for-profit and for-profit enterprises. The paper reviews the evolution of major theoretical positions of business social responsibility to demonstrate how the basic understanding of the term traversed through time and alongside undergone changes in forms of business organisation and interpretations of the morality of private property. It draws on stakeholding and social contract theories to underscore the moral and social responsibility of businesses to broaden their vision beyond profit and stakeholder value.
Involvement as Moderator of the Relationship between Service Quality and Behavioural Outcomes of Hospital Consumers
Authors: Sivakumar C. Padmanaba , Srinivasan P. T.
Published: March 2013

Service quality has received a great deal of attention in the marketing literature. Despite extensive academic research on the role of service quality as predictor of consumers' behavioural outcomes (satisfaction, re-patronage intention, and positive word-of-mouth) service marketers know very little about the moderating role of involvement on their relationship in the hospital services context. The authors bring together relevant literature in this area and propose a cognitive framework for effectively managing service quality delivery to hospital consumers. Using data from 427 hospital consumers from four multi-speciality hospitals with varying bed sizes in Chennai metropolitan city in TamilNadu, India, the authors examined the proposed hypotheses. The results indicate that involvement acts equally as a moderator as well as a predictor.
An Assessment of Climate Change Mitigation Policies and Measures and their Impacts in Lithuania
Authors: Streimikiene Dalia , Filho Walter Leal
Published: March 2013

This paper provides an analysis of climate change mitigation policies assessment with a cross-reference to the principles of sustainable energy development. There is a close relationship between climate change, energy policies and tools aiming at sustainable energy development targets (i.e. promotion of renewable energy sources and energy efficiency measures and climate change mitigation tools). Therefore, a ranking of climate change mitigation tools based on their impact sustainable energy development targets is necessary in seeking to ensure harmonization of policies and their synergy effect. The main tasks of the article are to define the European Union sustainable energy development targets, to analyse energy and climate change mitigation policies and their interactions and to propose a framework for climate change mitigation policies assessment and ranking. Moreover, the paper applies the proposed climate change mitigation policies assessment technique for an appraisal of climate change mitigation policies in Lithuania. The main findings of this paper are related to the development of a new technique for climate change mitigation policies assessment and application of this technique for ranking the climate change mitigation policies in Lithuania.
Psycho-Social and Health Related Adaptive Responses to Climate Change
Authors: Subramaniam S. , Mathai Seena M.
Published: March 2013

Climate and weather have always had a powerful impact on human health and well-being. Extensive social scientific research into human reactions to threats provides some insights into the psychological strategies humans are likely to adopt in the face of the threat of climate changes. This essay explains the different factors which contribute to better adaptation to climate changes. The degree to which societies are vulnerable to climate change depends on the extent to which parts of the population are dependent on natural resources and ecosystem services; the extent to which the resources and services they rely on are sensitive to climate change, and their capacity to adapt to changes in these resources and services. Instead of implementing some techniques or tools very selectively, an integrated approach incorporating social, psychological, physical, physiological, and technological elements in the environment need to be undertaken effectively to moderate potential damages, to take advantage of opportunities, or to cope with consequences of climate changes. An integrated model consisting of coping and risk management strategies is outlined here which need to be built upon in developing more resilient livelihoods.
Analysing the Physical, Demographic and Vulnerability Profile of Indian Coastal Zone
Authors: Nallathiga Ramakrishna
Published: March 2013

Indian coastal zone, comprised of the districts of various states, has widely varying physical and demographic characteristics. It also has a varying risk profile with respect to the cyclonic storms that cross the coastline during monsoon period every year. Vulnerability of the coastal zone depends upon both the risk arising from them and the exposure area characteristics i.e., physical and socio-economic characteristics of the coastal areas. In this paper, an attempt is made to depict the vulnerability profile of Indian coastal zone in terms of exposure area characteristics and the storm risk profile. Here, the physical characteristics of the coastal zone are captured in the form of coastal insularity, the profile of which is relatively less known. Further, population density and the concentration of population in coastal cities represent its socio-economic characteristics. An attempt has also been made to establish statistical relationship between coastal insularity and other variables like population density and agriculture production and it has been found that both of them increase with increasing insularity i.e., greater the stretch of coastline, more it attracts population; while also resulting in more economic activities, thereby increasing their vulnerability. However, the coarse vulnerability of the coast, crudely defined as a product of population density and coastal insularity, has shown an irregular variation across the coast, with the South-Western part being more vulnerable than other parts of the Indian coast.
Natural Environment Management at Larsen & Toubro's ECC Division – A Case Study
Authors: Shah Shashank , Bhaskar A. Sudhir
Published: March 2013

The natural environment is the silent provider of all the natural, renewable and non-renewable resources used by corporate organisations in manufacturing and allied processes. A lack of concern for its well-being and protection would be at the organisations' own peril in the long-run. This could be in the form of increased and compulsory costs imposed through stringent environmental regulations by the government and other statutory bodies or in the form of a destroyed ecosystem. The price for this will have to be paid not only by the corporate organisation but also by mankind at large. From a corporate perspective, environmental welfare can make a lot of business sense and could be a major source of economic and competitive advantage for corporate organizations. In recent times, green products, green processes and even green companies have become the order of the day. Among the most polluting industries in Corporate India; besides the manufacturing and chemical industries, is the construction industry, given its nature of work. Larsen & Toubro's ECC Division, which is the largest construction company in India, has been selected for this case study. An attempt has been made in this paper to highlight some of the best practices implemented by the Company for Natural Environment Management and protection. The data collection for the case has been done by the authors through personal interviews with top executives of the Company and supplemented by other relevant information available in the public domain.
Solid Waste Management – A Step towards Sustainable Development
Authors: Vyas Sumita
Published: March 2013

Sustainable development is a concept. It underscores that rate of consumption of natural resources should approximate the rate at which these resources can be substituted. It further requires that a nation is able to satisfy its requirements — social, economic and others — without jeopardizing interest of future generations. Nature has been offering its resources and also serving as a receptacle for absorbing wastes for too long a time. Realization must come to us that nature today is fragile. Significant factors responsible for environmental problems are pollution, over-population, threat of diseases, unsustainable agriculture, global climate change, solid wastes generation and so on. This has, therefore, revealed the need for developing innovative solutions to these problems and one among them is Management of Solid Wastes. To this end, a step towards sustainable development is adopted in this paper by an approach for managing solid wastes to minimize its detrimental effect by employing various techniques.
Assessing the Aid for Trade (AfT) Agenda: Bangladesh Case Study
Authors: Hasanuzzaman
Published: March 2013

The Aid for Trade (AfT) initiative, mooted in 2005 in WTO's fifth Ministerial meeting in Hong Kong, has gained new significance especially as a result of the global financial crisis, compounded by the deadlock at the Doha Round of Trade negotiations. Taking a cue, from this, the paper attempts to review the global aid architecture and its implications for Bangladesh, in particular. This paper attempts to shed light into the aid-development nexus, particularly with a focus on the AfT agenda and its relations with the Needs for Trade (NfT) dimension, through identification of constraints. It concludes that needs assessments, though useful, are not mandatory prescriptions that donors have adhered to in setting their funding priorities.
Capital Structure and Product Market Determinants: Empirical Evidence from the Indian Automobile Industry
Authors: Joshi Himanshu
Published: March 2013

This paper provides insights into the way in which the capital structure is determined by product market determinants, research and development activity and profitability. This paper is an attempt to test relevance of empirical evidences found in matured markets to the Indian market condition. Automobile industry is taken up for the study because of its oligopoly nature and easy availability of product prices. Some of the results are very different from the similar studies conducted in the advanced economies. It is found that the firms in the same industry can have different capital structures and there is a negative correlation between the profitability and capital structure of the companies. Interestingly, no correlation is found between R&D expenses and capital structure of the company. It was also concluded that no extra market power is attained because of high leverage.
Financial Efficiency of Merged Banks in India after Globalization Period — Factor Analysis Approach
Authors: Bharathi N.
Published: March 2013

The Indian business environment has altered radically since 1991 with the changes in the economic policies and introduction of new institutional mechanisms. It has been observed that such changes have its own impact on the performance both financially and operationally in the business environment through various measures including the process of merger and acquisitions. It has contributed a fuel to dynamism in the Indian economy (It is expected that in the new atmosphere M&As will play a more significant role in business). This paper discusses financial efficiency of merged banks in India after globalization period. It is based on a sample of nine merged banks and banks drawn from PROWESS database developed by CMIE. In this paper factor analysis tool is used. The study indicated that the performance of the banks is facilitated with the help of ratios grouped into seven factors — both in case of pre and post merger period of banks. So, the banks can concentrate their attention by grouping the ratios to improve their performance further. It is also a fact that the component of ratios in each group is different between pre and post merger. Therefore the banks can concentrate their attention on the variable that helps the growth and act accordingly based on their nature of performance; and it could be used as a basis for framing policies relating to M&As in service sector and to identify the areas of improvement for better profitability and performance for the banks.
Financial Viability of an Apex Cooperative Credit Institution — A Case Study of the HARCO Bank
Authors: Chander Ramesh , Chandel Jai Kishan
Published: March 2013

Cooperative Credit Institutions have played a vital role in the financing of diverse activities in rural India. In recent times, these institutions have seen a very challenging environment to question their business model and perennially raise doubts at their sustained viability. The present study was conceptualized to examine the financial viability of the apex level cooperative credit institution based on the case study methodology. On balance sheet data, the study diagnosed financial health of this premiere cooperative credit institution for eight financial years, Y2K-2007 in terms of Altman (1968) multivariate Z-score analysis and CAMEL framework. The HARCO Bank, a conglomerate of 19 DCCBs and 336 branches, operates throughout the length and breadth of the State, Haryana. It has many past accolades and been rated as the best performing cooperative bank in the country by NABARD for three years in a row, 2001–04. However, the analytical presentations in this study has highlighted its poor performance on various parameters. Its asset quality has been good and the recovery position been very comfortable, but the financial position in terms of capital adequacy, liquidity, earning quality and the management efficiency parameters was very lackadaisical necessitating immediate intervention. CAMEL Model has further endorsed and validated study findings drawn from Z-score analysis.
The Impact of Service Quality Dimensions on Consumers Behavioural Intention in Rural Banking
Authors: Manimaran S.
Published: March 2013

Although numerous studies emphasize the importance of service quality in commercial banking, the study on rural consumer behaviour in services marketing has been inadequately captured by previous empirical research. The purpose of this paper is to examine the quality of services in rural banking and its impact on customer satisfaction and their behavioural intention. The study proposes a new model for assessing the impact of quality in rural banking on customer satisfaction and their behavioural intention based on SERVPERF scale. A comprehensive scale will be developed to measure the quality of services, customer satisfaction and behavioural intention. The study reveals that the important discriminant quality factors among lower income and higher income groups in rural banking are service quality and functional quality. The highly influencing quality dimensions on the customer satisfaction and behavioural intention are service quality and personnel quality. Hence the study underlines the importance of internal service quality (personnel quality) to deliver better service quality to their customers and makes them satisfied. On the basis of customers' satisfaction, the bankers can create positive behaviour intention among their customers.
Segmentation of Shoppers using their Behavioral Patterns Based on Store Images
Authors: Sezhiyan D. M. , Nambirajan T. , Kumaran T.
Published: March 2013

The main theme of this paper is to portray the segmentation of the shoppers based on their behavioural pattern towards the retail store images. Primarily, this article triggers off the various behavioural outcomes of the shoppers which have been influenced by the different store attributes. Based on the various store attributes, the shoppers have been segmented by the use of k-means Clustering Algorithm. The segment was well separated by using cluster validity function by Xie and Beni. The resulted segments are Pre-Determined, Variety-Seekers, Economy and Familiar. It has been found that every segment has its own impacts over the various store images and the managerial implications of these attributes have been highlighted.