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Working Papers | 2008

Toilets and Trains

G. Raghuram

Indian Railways (IR) is a large transport organization running 8700 trains, reaching 7000 stations and handling about 1.6 crore passengers per day. IR runs several long distant trains, some of which involve journeys upto three nights. The number of non suburban passengers traveling on IR is about 0.6 crore per day. There are three sources of fecal matter generation in IR (i) Toilets in trains, (ii) Railway stations; and (iii) Use of railway tracks for open defecation. The existing toilet system in the coaches discharges excreta directly to the ground and the railway tracks. The consequences include unacceptable hygienic conditions, particularly in the railway stations, and damage to rails. IR is making efforts to introduce environment friendly toilet discharge system, for which three options are being considered; modular, vacuum and chemical. Toilets at stations are a part of amenities being provided, linked to the category of the station. There is an attempt to modernize toilets at important stations. A related socio economic problem is that of people residing near the railway stations, without access to toilet facilities, using tracks for open defecation. The issue of dealing with fecal matter should be viewed in the larger context of waste management. With effective waste management, fecal matter can be recycled and used as liquid fertilizers and quality organic manures. This paper attempts to understand the issues related to fecal matter management on the IR, and provide a framework for solutions.

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Working Papers | 2008

An Optimization-Based Decision Support System for Strategic Planning in a Process Industry: The Case of an Aluminum Company in India

Goutam Dutta, Narain Gupta, and Robert Fourer

We describe how a generic multi-period optimization-based decision support system (DSS) can be used for strategic planning in process industries. The DSS is built on five fundamental elements . materials, facilities, activities, storage areas and time periods. It requires little direct knowledge of optimization techniques to be used effectively. Results based on real data from an aluminum company in India demonstrate significant potential for improvement in profits.

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Working Papers | 2008

Development of Utility Function for Life Insurance Buyers in the Indian Market

Goutam Dutta, Sankarshan Basu, and Jose John

Insurance as a financial instrument has been used for a long time. The dramatic increase in competition within the insurance sector (in terms of providers coupled with awareness for the need for insurance) has concomitantly resulted in more policy options being available in the market. The insurance seller needs to know the buyers preference for an insurance product accurately. Based on such multi-criterion decision-making, we use a logarithmic goal programming method to develop a linear utility model. The model is then used to develop a ready reckoner for policies that will aid investors in comparing them across various attributes

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Working Papers | 2008

Price and Volatility Spillovers across North American, European and Asian Stock Markets: With Special Focus on Indian Stock Market

Priyanka Singh, Brajesh Kumar, and Ajay Pandey

This paper investigates interdependence of fifteen world indices including an Indian market index in terms of return and volatility spillover effect. Interdependence of Indian stock market with other fourteen world markets in terms of long run integration, short run dependence (return spillover) and volatility spillover are investigated. These markets are that of are Canada, China, France, Germany, Hong-Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Pakistan, Singapore, Taiwan, United Kingdom and United States. Long run and short run integration is examined through Johansen cointegration techniques and Granger causality test respectively. Vector autoregressive model (VAR 15) is used to estimate the conditional return spillover among these indices in which all fifteen indices are considered together. The effect of same day return in explaining the return spillover is also modeled using univariate models. Volatility spillover is estimated through AR-GARCH in which residuals from the index return is used as explanatory variable in GARCH equation. Return and volatility spillover between Indian and other markets are modeled through bivariate VAR and multivariate GARCH (BEKK) model respectively. It is found that there is greater regional influence among Asian markets in return and volatility than with European and US. Japanese market, which is first to open, is affected by US and European markets only and affects most of the Asian Markets. Also, high degree of correlation among European indices namely FTSE, CAC and DAX is observed. US market is influenced by both Asian and European markets. Specific to Indian context, it is found that Indian market is not cointegrated with rest of the world except Indonesia. This may provide diversification benefits for potential investors. However, strong short run interdependence is found between Indian markets and most of the other markets. Indian and other markets like US, Japan, Korea, and Canada positively affect each others conditional returns significantly. Indian market also has significant effect on Malaysia, Pakistan, and Singapore return. This study found that there is significant positive volatility spillover from other markets to Indian market, mainly from Hong Kong, Korea, Japan, and Singapore and US market. Indian market affects negatively the volatility of US and Pakistan. It is interesting to note that Chinese and Pakistan markets are less integrated with other Asian, European and US markets.

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Working Papers | 2008

Resolving Business Disputes in India by Arbitration:Problems Due to the Definition of Court

Anurag K. Agarwal

The definition of Court in the Arbitration and Conciliation Act, 1996, is substantially different from that in the earlier law of 1940. Due to this new definition, there is tremendous load of work on the District Judge, which was earlier shared by other judges in the Civil Court. The experience of the last ten years testifies it amply that the District Judge is not able to devote as much time as is expected to arbitration matters and the cases are simply poling up. It adds to the delay and makes matters worse for the litigants. The District Judge is the senior-most judge in the district taking care of civil matters and as a matter of practice, she is also the senior-most judge taking care of criminal matters as the Sessions Judge. The designation of the head of the District Judiciary is, therefore, District and Sessions Judge. As the routine criminal matters of bail, interim applications, etc. are much more urgent than the civil matters like arbitration, most of the time of the District and Sessions Judge is devoted to criminal matters. Even with the best of intentions, the District and Sessions Judge is generally not able to earmark sufficient time for arbitration matters which require in-depth study. The approach followed in this paper is primarily interpretive and historical. Part II begins by discussing business dispute resolution in India; and Part III examines the role of courts in arbitration and difficulties experienced due to narrow definition of court. Finally, Part IV questions legislative wisdom by analysing the causes of legislative indifference and failure of legislature to do its duty; and suggests that may be the only plausible solution lies with the judiciary in the shape of judicial legislation.

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Working Papers | 2008

Store Format Choice in an Evolving Market . A TPB Approach

Kamaljit Anand Singh and Piyush Kumar Sinha

The store choice has been studied extensively in the literature, but store format choice has had limited research attention. The store choice modeling has been primarily done in the random utility theory framework, which however is a neo-economics based view of choice decision that ignores the psychological and behavioral aspects of this planned behavior. The store format choice for bulk grocery purchase despite being a rational context has not been conceptualized in the most accepted construct in attitude behavior, the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB). Attitude-behavior linkage has been studied extensively in literature but there is still no consensus on the components of attitude, their interrelationship and resultant impact on conation. The Theory of Reasoned Action has evolved over time to incorporate perceived behavioral control and past behavior to improve its explanatory capacity as TPB; however, it has maintained its unidimensionalist approach and has not tested affect and cognition independently for its impact on behavior. It may therefore be relevant to explore the possibility of testing the proposed Converging framework of Affect and Cognition and comment on the relationship of the structural components of attitude and its impact on format choice. The impact of past behavior on future behavior in Theory of Planned Behavior has been ambiguous while there has not been much emphasis on the quality of past experience. The current research takes up the past experience quality and tests it in the attitude behavior relationship as an antecedent of actual behavior. This paper conceptualizes the store format choice behavior in the Theory of Planned Behavior framework by exploring the strength of attitude-behavior relationship mediated through behavioral intention and its impact on format choice as also the independent role of affect and cognition on the format choice.

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Working Papers | 2008

Loyalty Programmes: Practices, Avenues and Challenges

Preeta Vyas and Piyush Kumar Sinha

Complexity of modern business requires managers to strive for innovative strategies to acquire and retain customers in any product market field. As acquiring new customers is getting costlier day by day, business organizations have offered continuity/loyalty programmes to retain/reward existing customers and maintain relationships. The premise of CRM is that once a customer is locked in, it will be advantageous to both the organization as well as customer to maintain relationships and would be a win-win situation for both. Consumers find it beneficial to join such programmes to earn rewards for staying loyal. Through loyalty programmes, firms can potentially gain more repeat business, get opportunity to cross-sell and obtain rich customer data for future CRM efforts (Yuping Liu, 2007). This paper, exploratory in nature, attempts to provide a conceptual overview of Loyalty in organized retail sector, outlines practices of grocery retail outlets in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the state of Gujarat and the seventh-largest urban agglomeration in India, with a population of 56 lakhs (5.6 million). It also throws light on consumer expectations, perceptions and problems faced through indepth exploration. Based on literature review and environment in India, an emerging economy, it attempts to predict future of such programmes specifically in Indian organised retail sector and discusses managerial challenges of managing loyalty programmes and provides agenda for future research directions.

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Working Papers | 2008

Development of Corrugated Fiber Board Cartons for Long Distance Transport of Tomato in India

Girja Sharan, S Srivastav, Kishor P Rawale, and Umang Dave

Tomato growers of Gujarat , north-west India , traditionally send produce to wholesale market in Ahmedabad city for auction. Growing areas lie about 250-300 km from the city. Growers were constrained to sell there even if the prices were not attractive which the case usually as season advanced was. Lack of sturdy packaging deterred them from sending produce to more distant markets such as Bombay ( 600 km ) , Delhi ( 900 km) or Bangalore ( 2000) . Peti, the box used presently, made of strips of wood nailed together does not protect the produce adequately. Although, there are many large packaging firms in the region producing boxes for various consumer products, problem of tomato growers was not recognized. Their view was that tomato being a low-value commodity, growers will not buy better packaging. Being mostly small, growers were not organized enough to raise funds to sponsor research at public R&D institutions in the area. That task was therefore taken up. Boxes that protected the produce better on long journey and were affordable were designed and introduced successfully in the region. This paper describes the development.

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Working Papers | 2008

Strategies for Improved Servicing of the Customers: Case of Ghaziabad Goods Shed of the Indian Railways

G. Raghuram and Samantha Bastian

The Ghaziabad (GZB) goods shed was one of the top rail goods handling points in the National Capital Region (NCR). The growth was expected to be robust in the forthcoming years, since GZB and Noida were high growth districts in the Uttar Pradesh part of the NCR. GZB goods shed was one of the fifty high traffic sheds identified for improvement, as part of the Indian Railways (IRs) Mission 900 mt loading. The paper provides a comprehensive description of GZB goods shed, including facilities, traffic flow, customer interface, processes, etc. In this context, the paper raises questions regarding (i) main concerns in GZB goods shed as viewed (a) by customers and (b) from IRs perspective, (ii) analytical support for customer service improvement provided by demurrage (wharfage) data, (iii) operational, process and infrastructure improvements at GZB, (iv) long term improvements, and (v) need for perspective changes.

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Working Papers | 2008

Implementing Tabu Search to Exploit Sparsity in ATSP Instances

Sumanta Basu, Ravindra S Gajulapalli, and Diptesh Ghosh

Real life traveling salesman problem (TSP) instances are often large,sparse, and asymmetric. Conventional tabu search implementations for the TSP that have been reported in the literature, almost always deals with small, dense and symmetric instances. In this paper, we outline data structures and a tabu search implementation that takes advantage of such data structures, which can exploit sparsity of a TSP instances, and hence can solve relatively large TSP instances (with up to 3000 nodes) much faster than conventional implementations. We also provide computational experiences with this implementation.

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