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2757 items in total found

Working Papers | 1981

A Survey of Advertising Themes in 1970

Mittal B L

Advertising is a reflection of the total environment of the society; hence advertisers are expected to respond to the changing needs and expectations of their potential audience. To find out the changing trend of themes, the study emphasized the objectives of developing the broad framework for classification of themes and accordingly analysing the pattern of advertisments. This was a pilot study and it points to the need for further research. This study covered a period of ten years, 1971-80. Attention was confined only to one basic advertising component, namely the theme. Detailed information of all display ads appearing in selected issues of the Reader's Digest and The Economics Times have been recorded according to product/service classification. The data thus collected has been analysed by the thematic classification, Utilitarian (UT); Focussed (FT); Informative (IN); Non-Specific (NS); Achievement Orientation (AO); Descriptive & Projective (DP); New Product/Service, Scheme or Idea (NU); Contributory to Economy and Industry (EI). Findings of the study reveal that largest number of advertisements appeared in 1974 and the lowest in 1977. 'IN', "NS', and 'FT' themes were the most frequent themes, in that order. The 'UT' theme is becoming more popular. The 'AO', 'DP', after 1976, and the 'EI', after 1974, showed a declining trend. A full study should be representative with respect to the print media while having the same objectives. A useful extension could be to develop and test hypotheses regarding effectiveness of the themes which in turn could be related to the specific objective of advertising.

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Working Papers | 1981

Workers Cooperative - An Indian Experience

Seetharaman S P and Mohan N

The history of industrial cooperative is a record of the efforts of the cooperators to bring about harmony between capital and labour. Workers' cooperatives in India are found in (a) Traditional Industries, (b) Small Scale Industries, and (c) Modern Industries. In this paper an insight into (i) the process of their formation, (ii) the problems faced by them in stabilizing their operations in a competitive environment, and (iii) the roles of Government, voluntary agencies, social workers, trade unions, etc are explored through the case study of an Indian experience, viz; Dinesh Beedi Workers' Cooperative. Despite constraints like high incidence of taxation and unhealthy competition, this cooperative has demonstrated the efficacy of cooperative model to confer several benefits to the workers. External leadership (trade union and government) played a pivotal role in its formation, stabilization and progress. However, a dependency system on external leadership continues.

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Working Papers | 1981

Organisation Building in Cooperative - A Framework

Seetharaman S P and Mohan N

This paper makes an attempt to give an overview of the approaches evolved in the past in building up cooperatives organizations in Indian and the recent attempt which has yielded some measure of success. Three approaches have been followed in organization building in India : evolutionary model, bureaucratic model, and the project approach. The synthesis of individual's goal with the organizational goal is the fundamental strength of the evolutionary model. The bureaucratic model came into being as a part of the cooperative development policy of the state. The project approach envisages comprehensive master plan built-up around a commodity system. The major thrust in this approach is three-fold: (a) a definite target group, (b) economics of scale in operations, and (c)vertical integration. The project approach combines the good elements of both the evalutionary as well as the bureaucratic models. The project approach pursued by the National Dairy Development Board follows the 'Anand Pattern' of cooperative.

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Working Papers | 1981

A Cross-Cultural Study of Teaching effectiveness of the Case Method Versus the Lecture Method of Teaching in Lecture-Oriented Environments: Some Preliminary Findings

Stuhler Elmar A and Misra Sasi B

This paper presents some preliminary results of an ongoing study in two West German Universities and the University of the Philippines which examines the comparative effectiveness of the case vs. lecture method of teaching. The specific areas in which the comparative effectiveness of the two methods of teaching are examined are: student performance in terms of assimilation and recall of course material, problem awareness and analysis, students' attitude towards the subject of study, and interaction structure among students (Flanders Interaction Analysis).

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Working Papers | 1981

A Note on Non Neutrality of Capital Subsidy under IRR Criterian

Srinivasan G

Financial Institutions in India use IRR as a criterion for project evaluation. However they do not include the capital subsidy under the backward area development scheme in the computation of IRR. This note brings out the fact that if the subsidy is included in the IRR computation it will be non neutral. The bias will be infavour of projects which have longer initial flows.

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Working Papers | 1981

Comparison of Substitutive Chemicals Recommended by Manufacturers and Agricultural Institutions for Cotton Pest Control

Patel Gunvant A and Srivastava Uma Kant

Indian farmers can obtain information on pesticides from the manufacturers, agricultural institutions and the formulators. Literatures form the first two sources was compared with a view to know the cost to farmers and substitutive products for cotton pest control. The price of active ingredient was higher by 9.5 per cent in wattable powders than for dusting powders. The cost of the active ingredient in liquid formulation was higher by 43 per cent than dusting powder. The price indices for unit cost of active ingredient in liquid formulations were: 1 litre packing 104.1, 0.5 litre 109.7, 0.25 litre 112.7, and 0.1 litre 121.4, where 5 litres = 100. In these products marketed by large companies, the price index of the smallest packing was even higher. Prices of the same chemicals showed a variation of +12/-10 per cent over the average price. A comparison of structure and contents of recommendations of substitutive chemicals by manufacturers and agricultural institutions, for cotton pest control, has shown the need for rationalization of these recommendations on the following lines: Insecticides should be recommended for groups of pests. The quantity of formulation to be used per unit area should be stated, along with quantity of spray required. There is a need to differentiate the past status for proper emphasis. Due to a wide variation in the number and quantity of insecticides recommended by the manufacturers and the agricultural institutions, there is a need to rationalize these, as also to decide if less expensive chemicals can be substituted for the expensive ones.

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Working Papers | 1981

Vanishing Boundaries

Ganesh S R

Organisation development literature is replete with writings on how to improve organisational effectiveness. While this is useful, actions in the real world often formally involve multiplicity of organisations especially if one examines public delivery systems, public programmes and large construction and technological projects. While matrix organisation and project management have been invented to cope with issues arising out of such situations by managers (not by academics) this paper argues that these approaches do not adequately deal with boundary issues. Therefore, it argues that one has to develop a concept of inter-organisational effectiveness and using the concept of boundary, develop strategic interventions for inter-organisational effectiveness. It is suggested that failures of public delivery systems, public programmes and large construction and technological projects could be due to failures in understnading these two key concepts and failures in making appropriate strategic interventions.

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Working Papers | 1981

Supplier Evaluation Criteria for Special Products: Differences from Standard Products

Mehta Subhash C, Rao C P, and Kiser G E

Purchase executives in India were asked through a mail survey to rate 65 different suppliers attributes in regard to their importance for the purchase of standard and special products. While the standard products were of the same items, the special products would be defined as any product which is modified, adjusted or made according to the specific requirements of a customer. In all 173 purchase executives from a cross-section of Indian manufacturing industry responded to the questionnaire. The present paper presents data on the importance of these supplier attributes in the purchase of special products and compare these data with the ratings given by these executives to the importance of these attributes in the case of standard products. The data readily indicate that ratings on the 45 of the 65 attributes were significantly different in the case of the two buying situations and generally the more stringent criteria were used by the buying organisations in the case of special product purchases. Financial considerations were found to be far less important in the case of special products while image and capability was rated higher in comparison to the standard products.

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Working Papers | 1981

Learning about the task: First steps in Relating the Organisation and Environment in Community Service Organisations

Subramanian Ashok K

The management of community service organisations (CSO) needs to be concerned with managing the operating system and relating the system to its environment. Many factors in the CSO's internal environment might inhibit it from carrying out the latter managerial function and encourage a preoccupation with operations. While the need for relating the organisation and the environment is clear, ways of initiating the process in a CSO have to be evolved. The paper outlines an exercise of learning about its tasks as a means of initiating such a process of linking the system with the situation. The exercise involves an understanding of the present tasks and a derivation of future tasks. Reports of 2 CSOs where the exercise was applied are presented. It is suggested that exercises such as this have the potentiality to shift the management's focus from operations to strategic management.

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Working Papers | 1981

Alienation: Some Theory, Some Research

Pestonjee D M and Singh U B

Alienation is a much used concept in social sciences. The present paper attempts to bring together some important theoretical interpretations of alienation and also some recent Indian researches on alienation. An attempt is made to present the results of some studies on alienation in relation to job attitudes as also productivity.

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