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3891 items in total found

Working Papers | 1977

Determinants of Effective Working Capital Management - A Discriminant Analysis Approach

Bhattacharyya S K and Raghavacahari M

Currently, many financial analysts rely on traditional financial ratios for assessing the effectiveness of the working capital management. They correlate corporate performance in this area with the so-called "ideal" ratios. The present study sough to examine the validity of such practices and a. to identify a method of classifying those companies which manage their working capital more effectively than others; b. to determine the factors which lead to the effectiveness of working capital management process; c. to make recommendations for managers in this area. The primary method adopted for the study was the well known statistical tool-Multivariate Discriminant Analysis-based on computer processing of financial data obtained from the balance sheets of the 72 large Indian companies which participated in the study. This was supplemented by an analysis of the responses of these companies to a questionnaire relating to their managers' perceptions of the effectiveness of the working capital management process in their respective organizations. The discriminant analysis showed that the prime determinants of effectiveness of the working capital management, in order of relative importance, were: 1. Profit After Tax as a percentage of sales 2. Sales as number of times of total assets 3. Quick assets as a percentage of current liabilities 4. Receivables as number of days' sales This was in significant contrast to the current practice which emphasizes the organization's performance in relation to current ratio and debt-equity relationship. The authors recommend that the financial managers in the companies and the analysts in the financial institutions and commercial banks should pay more formal and explicit attention to these factors in their financial analysis. Also, they recommend that these variables should be reflected in the planning and information system of companies for keeping a track of the effectiveness of the working capital management.

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Working Papers | 1977

Psychology of Poverty

Moulik T K

This paper is a critical review of researches in psychology of poverty in India. In spite of the fact that poverty remains to be the foremost problem of India, there seems to be a general negligence on the part of the Indian behavioral scientists in studying it with researcher's rigour. Poverty in India is typically a unique Indian problem deeply rooted into great traditions of Hinduism and Islam. The review clearly brings out how poverty in India is historically an accepted generalized phenomenon both socially and psychologically among the Indians. Academics, especially, the psychologists also become a victim of this historical process accepting poverty merely as a religious problem. After critically analyzing the historical perspective, the paper then reviews all the researches done on psychology of poverty in India until 1970. The review is basically concerned with the psychological response of that segment of India's population whose objective material deprivation condition is very close to or below the survival level. Whatever few studies done in this line, these have shown that the condition of poverty have direct or indirect bearings on motivations and aspirations in a manner of vicious circle of culture of poverty: it affects the process of socialization and cognitive development, and sometimes (rarely in India) it creates class-consciousness resulting into some kind of protest behavior. The paper emphasizes the lack of proper psychological researches in this crucial field of social concern, while the nova lists, film-makers and poets, unlike the behavioral scientists, have been concerned. The review then provides a guideline for future researches on psychology of poverty in India, both in terms of content and methodology.

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Working Papers | 1977

Process Consultation for Managing Change in a Voluntary Agency

T. V. Rao

This article describes the process of planned change in a voluntary organization working for social objectives. The author's experiences with this agency as a facilitator for reflection, team building and planning the administrative structure for the process of change are described. A few principles underlying process consultation, assessment/team of work and planning and managing change are outlined.

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Working Papers | 1977

Mathematical Programming Method to Determine exact

Rai Ajai K

The derivation of "optimal allocation" of sample sizes to different strata in stratified random sampling does not take into account the integrality, non-negativity and upper bound restrictions on the sample sizes. One of the consequences of this is that the formula at times requires more than 100% sampling in some strata. In this paper an exact integer programming formulation is proposed and an efficient method of finding optimal solution is given. An alternative method using incremental or marginal analysis approach is also given. A numerical example illustrating the non-optimality of the current procedures and the corresponding optimal solution obtained by the methods of the paper is also presented.

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Working Papers | 1977

Reshaped Fifth Five Year Plan: Response to Changed Environment

Srivastava Uma Kant

This paper views the exercise contained in the Final Fifth Five Year Plan (of India) as a response of the planners for the revision of the Draft Fifth Five Year Plan due to several changes in the environment both within India and in the International economy during the first two-and-a-half years of this Plan. A few significant environmental changes have been selected, the implications of these changes for the Draft Plan explored, and finally the stand taken in the Final Plan explained and evaluated. The timing as well as contents of the Final Fifth Plan, as a document in political economy, has been profoundly influenced by the decisions taken at the political level. The Final Plan which has emerged in the process is in many ways a substantial improvement on the Draft Plan. However, it has not taken into account a number of other changes in the environment pointed out in this paper, which require immediate attention and action. A number of assumptions made in the Final Plan might be invalidated which would affect the chances of fulfillment of the objectives and programmes of this Plan.

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Working Papers | 1977

Performance - Oriented Selection Criteria for Rural Entrepreneurs

Basu Shyamal K and Moulik T K

The paper presents a fully operational method of selection for financing rural entrepreneurs engaged in such activities as manufacturing, processing, trade and services etc. An interdisciplinary approach was used to qualify the selection variables as well as entrepreneurial performance. The selection variables include both economic and socio-psychological variables. In the former category entrepreneurs business background, initial capital and managerial function were considered, while in the later category educational background, motivation, aspiration and overall modernity scales were used. All relevant variables were scored and quantified. Among performance variables, average annual percentage increase in fixed capital, gross turnover and an index of diversification was used. Selection criteria was worked out by making the variables according to the weights computed in working out economical correlations between the selection and performance variables set.

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Working Papers | 1977

Multinational Enterprises in India and their Export Performance: The Case of Hindustan Lever Limited

Wadhva Charan D

The purpose of this paper is to look at the recent export performance of a number of leading multinational enterprises in India as a backdrop to providing a detailed case study of the working of one such enterprise, namely the Hindustan Level Limited, so as to provide a perspective on the Indian experience on the subject. The experience of exports by multinational enterprises from India reviewed in this paper with a detailed case study of the export performance and strategy of Hindustan Lever Ltd reveals that the exports by such companies would not have occurred but for the push given by the government policies ranging from incentives to export obligations. Growth of exports of these companies has to be seen as an integral part of the process of their adaptation for survival and growth in India. It is clear that their main objective of the multinational enterprises operating in developing countries is "profit" and, if directed into activities with sufficient long run profitability, such corporations will be able to change their operations to suit the new environment. Despite the technical, financial, marketing and personnel resources which these companies possess by virtue of being a part of the multinational enterprises, their export performance in India has, despite improvement in recent years, not yet been as good as their potential. The Government has to find ways and means to bargain with these units effectively on unit-to-unit basis taking into account the strengths and weaknesses of each of them if the full potential of these units in the field of exports is to be realized.

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Working Papers | 1976

Future of India Exports: Need for Evolving a National Export Strategy

Wadhva Charan D

Considering both the strengths and weaknesses of India's recent export performance, the author argues in this paper that it is difficult to conclude with conviction that Indian exports have now taken off for a self-sustaining rate of growth in real terms at the rate experienced in 1974 and 1975. There is indeed no room for complacency on the export front. The recent performance however does provide hopes that with concerted efforts at all levels, through a well formulated and implemented national export policy, the export sector can be made to yield the maximum potential contribution within limits which it can make to the national economy in the coming years. The author presents a set of twenty suggestions which could be considered by the policy makers while formulating the much-needed national export policy.

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Working Papers | 1976

Social Changes and Sociology of Development: A Trend Report Covering the Period 1969-72

Gaikwad V R

This monograph is a survey of researches done on 'Social Change and Sociology of Development' covering the period 1969-72. The "Social Change" category covers the following: family, education, politics and elites, religion, values, law and social legislation, social mobility, occupational mobility, social structure and social stratification, urbanization, industrialization, macro-analysis on social change and debate on modernization, and research orientation and methodology. The category of "sociology of development" covers: social structure and sociology of community development, institutional structure and development, leadership, extension and communication, administration for development, motivational factors in development, and entrepreneurship. Considering the trend of researches done in the past and the gaps in the researches, the author has suggested various areas of researches that need to be undertaken. Extensively bibliography on "social Change" and "Sociology of Development" is given.

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Working Papers | 1976

An Exploratory Study of Decision Making Strategies and Oraganisational Health in Maharashtra Ohule Krishi Vidyalaya

Pareek Udai, Matthai Ravi, and T. V. Rao

This report presents an analysis of the data from one university collected for the ICSSR project on 'An Exploratory Study of Decision Making Strategies, Bureaucratization and Organizational Health in Universities' by Professors Ravi J Matthai, Udai Pareek & T.V.Rao. The basic design, instruments and other methodology used in this study are the same as those reported in an earliere report on 'An Exploratory Study of Decision Making Strategies and Organizational Health in a University by Professors Ravi J Matthai, Udai Pareek and T.V.Rao of Education Systems Group at the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. In this study the decision making processes in the Maharashtra Phule Krishi Vidyalaya and the organizational health of the institution are analysed and details are presented.

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