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2757 items in total found

Working Papers | 2007

Ethical Issues in Accessing Peoples Knowledge and Innovations: Need for Revisiting Research Protocols with Specific Reference to Low Cost Health Technologies

Anil K. Gupta

There is a widespread concern all over the world about the emerging tensions in the local, regional and global dialogues on relationship between formal and informal knowledge systems. It is realized that the basic social contract between knowledge producing communities and the knowledge valorizing corporations and professionals needs redefinition. Several professional societies have incorporated discussions on ethical issues in accessing knowledge, innovations and practices of local communities involving use of local biodiversity resources. The situation becomes even more complex when we realize that the healthcare needs of large majority of poor people still are met by their own survival strategies dependent upon use of local knowledge and resources. It is obvious that this knowledge is precious and can generate viable and productive alternatives valued by modern markets. At the same time, it is also true that if this knowledge was sufficiently robust as it stands, the local health conditions would not have been as precarious as these often are in many regions because of nutritional and other economic hardships. The linkage with formal science and technology is therefore vital. The paper deals with four issues: (a) what can we learn from the analysis of a country wide campaign in India on documenting more than 30000 local health traditions maintained by communities and individuals, (b) whether the health priorities and the options for addressing them require new technological and institutional paradigms, (c) how can new partnership between people, professionals, public policy makers and profit-oriented corporations be conceptualized so that not only benefits are shared fairly but also the knowledge systems grow and thrive and (d) what should be the ethical code of conduct guiding the knowledge exchange, value addition and benefit sharing for generating viable health options for knowledge rich, economically poor people. The paper would thus provide an overview of the global debate on this subject and also suggest how an ethnobotanist can become the watchdog of, as well as the advocates for, the interests of healers, herbalists and other traditional knowledge rich communities.

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Working Papers | 2007

Agricultural Education for Entrepreneurship, Excellence and Environmental Sustainability: Agenda for Innovation and Change

Anil K. Gupta

Having been a product of Agricultural University, I understand and empathize with the leaders of the universities about the problems they face. However, let us accept that the standards that were set decades ago can indeed be surpassed if only we would challenge the students to bring out the best in them. My one line summary of the problem is that we are not challenging the future leaders of our discipline strongly enough. Is it because rise in their expectations will create a stress on us or is it that we have learnt to be helpless? Isn't it ironic that in almost no agricultural university, a graduate or postgraduate is not required to take any course in entrepreneurship? The universities seem to be locked up in the paradigm of seventies.

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Working Papers | 2007

Marketing Strategies for Freight Traffic on Indian Railways - A Systems Perspective

G. Raghuram and Gangwar Rachna

Indian Railways (IR) had lost its market share in high rated freight commodities especially cement, POL, and iron and steel. IR was missing an overall strategy for freight business, which was overcharged without sensitivity to competition. Over time, other transport modes, especially road (and pipeline in the case of POL) captured a very significant share of freight due to their faster and door-to-door deliveries. Several initiatives have been taken in the recent past to make IRs' strategies market oriented like increased axle loading, better pricing strategy, and improved services. In 2005-06, IR loaded 667 mt of revenue earning freight traffic, marking an increase of 110 mt over 2003-04. Additional freight revenue was Rs 9172 crore during the same period. IR still has a tremendous potential in the freight business, but it needs to be examined with an appropriate framework for segmentation of the market. Like in any other transport business, an origin-destination (OD) based systems perspective could be used. The primary categorization of origins would be industry/collection centre, mine and port. The primary categorization of destinations would be industry, port and distribution center. An attempt was made by the authors to do an OD analysis on the 666.5mt (602.1 mt) of freight traffic of 2005-06 (2004-05). The above analysis has implications for leveraging the four Ps of marketing; product (service attributes), price, promotion, and place (logistics). This paper attempts to evolve marketing strategies for freight traffic, based on the OD market analysis specified above.

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Working Papers | 2007

Tea Industry of India: The Cup that Cheers has Tears

Asopa V N

Indian tea has virtually lost all global markets because it continues to be traded as a commodity. The much talked about value addition is limited and rather late. Only the markets that have consumers with shallow pockets buy tea as a commodity and that share is fast depleting. The industry needs to be competitive in production, marketing, logistics and product forms. India, despite being a large producer of tea, lacks properly organized production systems in which small tea producers find a respectable place. The industry must have access to capital at globally competitive rates. The subsidies in any form are undesirable. The Indian tea industry must face the market realities, redefine its business strategies and reposition its products. The first step in that direction is a complete restructuring of the tea industry, redefining the roles of various agencies like the Tea Board and Producers' organizations, and developing a healthy partnership with the labour. There are the problems of market access and discriminatory treatments through non-tariff trade barriers such as maximum residual limits (MRL) and social clause.

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Working Papers | 2007

Indian Organised Apparel Retail Sector and DSS (Decision Support Systems)

Vyas Preeta H and Sharma Ankush

Indian apparel retail sector poses interesting challenges to a manager as it is evolving and closely linked to fashions. Appealing mainly to youth, the sector has typical information requirements to manage its operations. DSS (Decision Support Systems) provide timely and accurate information & it can be viewed as an integrated entity providing management with the tools and information to assist their decision making. The study exploratory in nature, adopts a case study approach to understand practices of organized retailers in apparel sector regarding applications of various DSS tools. Conceptual overview of DSS is undertaken by reviewing the literature. The study describes practices and usage of DSS in operational decisions in apparel sector and managerial issues in design and implementation of DSS. A multi brand local chain and multi brand national chain of apparel was chosen for the study. Varied tools were found to be used by them. It was also found that for sales forecasting and visual merchandising decisions, prior experience rather than any DSS tool was used. The benefits realized were; "help as diagnostic tool", "accuracy of records and in billing", "smooth operations". The implementation issues highlighted by the store managers were; more initial teething problems rather than resistance on the part of employees of the store, need for investment of time & money in training, due to rapid technological advancements, time to time updation in DSS tools is required . Majority of operational decisions like inventory management, CRM, campaign management were handled by ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) or POS (Point of Sale). Prioritization as well as quantification of benefits was not attempted. The issues of coordination, integration with other systems in case of ERP usage, training were highlighted. Future outlook of DSS seems bright as apparel retailers are keen to invest in technology.

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Working Papers | 2007

Emerging Markets for GM Foods: An Indian Perspective on Consumer Understanding and Willingness to Pay

Satish Y. Deodhar, Ganesh Sankar, and Chern Wen S

This paper addresses the issues of consumer awareness, opinion, acceptance and willingness to pay for GM foods in the Indian market. A random utility approach is used to estimate a logit equation which indicates what factors affect the likelihood of consumption of non-GM and GM foods and whether or not consumers are willing to pay a premium for non-GM/GM foods. Data was generated through questionnaire survey which was administered to 602 respondents in the city of Ahmedabad and 110 respondents on internet. More than 90% of the respondents from the city survey did not know about GM foods. However, after informing them about the pros and cons of GM foods, more than 70% were willing to consume even if GM and non-GM foods were available for the same price. Ceteris paribus as the price difference between non-GM and GM food rose, people were more likely to consume GM foods. Likelihood of GM food consumption seemed to increase as one moved from very poor and not-so-poor income brackets to higher income brackets. Being a female or a joint family member increased the likelihood of choosing non-GM rice and edible oil. On an average, consumers were willing to pay 19.5% and 16.12% premiums for golden rice and GM edible oil, respectively. Overall, it appears that GM foods will be acceptable in the Indian market. However, consumer education societies, government ministries, and food companies may have to create awareness about the GM foods among Indian consumers.

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Working Papers | 2007

Strengthening Midwifery Services in India based on lessons learnt from Sweden and Sri Lanka

Dileep Mavalankar, Vora Kranti, and Sharma Bharati

Objective: The objective of the paper is to know how India can strengthen midwifery services to reduce maternal mortality based on the lessons learnt from Sweden and Sri Lanka. Method: The paper is based mainly on the literature review, field visit to Sweden and interaction with maternal health experts from Sweden and Sri Lanka. Conclusion: High maternal mortality in India is due to absence of skilled attendance at the time of delivery and poor post-natal care. Seventy percent Indian population is rural and it is not possible to have doctors for all births. Adopting evidence-based interventions such as developing a skilled cadre of locally available midwives backed up by efficient referral and emergency obstetric care services like Sweden and Sri Lanka will help India achieve the goal of reducing maternal mortality with the existing resources. Analysis also shows that establishing quality training, independent regulating body and standardizing midwifery practices in India requires sustained efforts from government, professionals and society, and reorganization of health systems. Creating the scope for career advancement will help to improve status of midwifery as a profession.

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Working Papers | 2007

Is Past Performance a Good Predictor of Future Potential?

T. V. Rao, Juneja Mohit, and Chawla Nandini

Both assessment centres and 360 degree feedback have become very popular new era HR tools. With human resources gaining strategic importance combined with raising costs of talented managers and their scarce availability, organizations are left with no alternatives than identifying and grooming talent from within. This has led to the increased use of assessment centres and 360 degree tools for developing leadership competencies. Some times 360 degree feedback is used as tool for career development and succession planning. Sometimes assessment centres are used as predictors of fast track managers. However research on the predictive ability of ACs or 360 degree feedback is scant. This study is based on data gathered from three organizations that have conducted assessment centres as well as 360 degree feedback. In all three organizations ACs and 360 degree feedback were used as development tools. In all these organizations competency mapping was done and common competencies were identified using behaviour indicators. Competencies were assessed by external assessors and by their seniors, juniors, and colleagues on the same competency model. Results showed no definite patterns and lead to the conclusion that past performance as assessed by 360 degree feedback predictor of future potential as assessed by the assessment centres. The findings seem to be valid irrespective of the nature of competencies assessed and across various categories of employees. Given the lack of correlation, caution is necessary while using the data for promotion and succession planning exercises.

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Working Papers | 2007

Global Leadership and Managerial Competencies of Indian Managers

T. V. Rao and Chawla Nandini

A review of the literature on the qualities of effective managers, leaders and world class or global manager indicates a good degree of consistency in the qualities required to be called a global manager. In these days when mergers and acquisition have become common and national boundaries are crossed with ease in acquiring new businesses and setting up new businesses it is necessary to understand and acquire the competencies needed to be globally successful leader. This paper identifies 25 such qualities from a 360 feedback survey of 762 senior and top level managers from manufacturing, services and pharma sectors combined with those from a mix of organizations belonging to two leading business houses of India. An analysis of the open ended assessments given by nearly 7600 managers indicated the most frequently perceived strengths and weaknesses of Indian management. Job knowledge comes out as the most frequently observed strong point of Indian managers and this cuts across various sectors and business houses. Communication, team work, and hard work come out as other strong points of more than 20 per cent of Indian managers. Short temper, open-mindedness, and inability to build juniors are the most frequently mentioned areas needing improvement. Vision, values, strategic thinking, decision making skills, risk taking, innovativeness, ability to learn from mistakes, learning orientation and self renewal efforts, and cross cultural sensitivity are other qualities lacking in Indian managers to be called as global managers. These qualities are either not exhibited dominantly or are not received bye fellow managers. Future management education and management development programmes should focus on these qualities to prepare Indian managers to be world class managers.

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Working Papers | 2007

DSS (Decision Support Systems) in Indian Organised Retail Sector

Preeta Vyas and Sharma Ankush

Indian organised retail industry is poised for growth. Rapid state of change due to speedy technological developments, changing competitive positions, varying consumer behaviour as well as their expectations and liberalized regulatory environment is being observed in organized retailing. Information is crucial to plan and control profitable retail businesses and it can be an important source of competitive advantage so long as it is affordable and readily available. DSS (Decision Support Systems) which provide timely and accurate information can be viewed as an integrated entity providing management with the tools and information to assist their decision making. The study, exploratory in nature plans to adopt a case study approach to understand practices of organized retailers in grocery sector regarding applications of various DSS tools. Conceptual overview of DSS is undertaken by reviewing the literature. The study attempts to describe practices and usage of DSS in operational decisions in grocery sector and managerial issues in design and implementation of DSS. Comparision across national chain and local organized retailer in grocery sector reveals that national chain having implemented ERP partially are mostly using the same for majority of operational decisions like inventory management, CRM, campaign management. Two local players use spread sheets and in house software to make the above operational decisions. The benefits realized remain the same across the retailers. Prioritization as well as quantification of benefits was not communicated. The issues of coordination, integration with other systems in case of ERP usage, training were highlighted. Future outlook of DSS by the respondents portrayed a promising picture.

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IIMA