HRM and Indian epistemologies: A review and avenues for future research

India is emerging as a super power, slated to be among the world's five largest economies and viewed by international investors, business conglomerates and tertiary education providers as a land of opportunity. A database search since the opening up of the Indian economy in 1991 reveals a slowly increasing number of scholarly articles on HRM, with a steep rise from the year 2000 onwards. While it is acknowledged that the field of HRM is a broad area, there is currently a dearth of research in specific HRM practices and policies in India to warrant a focus on only one area. Hence the primary objective of this article is to present a scholarly survey of important research literatures in the area of HRM in India, and to offer avenues for future research. To this end this article garners, integrates and discusses research on HRM in India with a focus primarily on the past fifteen years. It is within this complexity that research on India and its workforce is presented by illuminating HRM as embedded in the Indian environment with its intricate epistemologies and transitions in a period of dynamic change.     

On domain modelling of the service system with its application to enterprise information systems

Information systems are a kind of service systems and they are throughout every element of a modern industrial and business system, much like blood in our body. Types of information systems are heterogeneous because of extreme uncertainty in changes in modern industrial and business systems. To effectively manage information systems, modelling of the work domain (or domain) of information systems is necessary. In this paper, a domain modelling framework for the service system is proposed and its application to the enterprise information system is outlined. The framework is defined based on application of a general domain modelling tool called function-context-behaviour-principle-state-structure (FCBPSS). The FCBPSS is based on a set of core concepts, namely: function, context, behaviour, principle, state and structure and system decomposition. Different from many other applications of FCBPSS in systems engineering, the FCBPSS is applied to both infrastructure and substance systems, which is novel and effective to modelling of service systems including enterprise information systems. It is to be noted that domain modelling of systems (e.g. enterprise information systems) is a key to integration of heterogeneous systems and to coping with unanticipated situations facing to systems.     

Entrepreneurship and the prospects of development in the West Bank

The study is a survey research designed to find out how a specific group of people perceives entrepreneurship and its relationship to economic growth. The group, composed entirely of economics and business administration majors in their last semester of the undergraduate programme, represents a crucial segment of the resource pool of future entrepreneurs iri the country. Hence, their perceptions of and attitude towards entrepreneurial activity is a significant determinant in the decision to launch business ventures should the opportunity arise.

The results of the study reveal a reserved managerial perception of entrepl:eneunhip among the majority of the respondents. The general reaction indicates a lack of readiness to take risks in an uncertain environment. The implication is that a change in perception, spurred on by a re-design of the academic programme in economics and business, is called for if there is to be any serious attempt to enhance the chances of economic growth in the region.     

The Roles of Equilibrium, Optimality, Maximization and Discontent in Decision-Making Processes

A bstract . The concept of equilibrium plays a pivotal role in the neoclassical maximization theory. Equilibrium, or balance of forces, is an ethically neutral term, while optimum is a position considered by the decision-maker as the most desirable, according to some predetermined criteria of optimality. Disequilibrium can be defined as a divergence between the actual and the desired performance. Within this context, the optimum position is attained when the ideal and actual values of the crucial variables measuring performance coincide. Disequilibrium analysis can be expressed in terms of the theory of discontent. Socio-economic change caused by human decisions and actions is always rooted in discontent, which leads to determination to act. This determination, or will , is one necessary condition for change. The other necessary condition is the use of power to close the discontent gap. The coincidence of power to act and will to use it is a sufficient condition for change. To what extent a new equilibrium balancing aspirations and attainments is established depends on the relationship between the rate of change in the level of aspiration and the rate of change in the level of attainment. The theory of discontent has a much broader application to economics which is elaborated.     

Analysis of children’s interest in books and their reading levels depending on the education status of family

The reading rate is an important indicator of the development level of a country. The fundamental condition of being a developed country is having a sufficiently educated workforce, which, in turn, is directly related to reading abilities and habits. In modern society, which has been termed the “information age”, the fastest way to acquire knowledge is through reading. Reading habits are initially formed within the family. Subsequently, the desired reading objectives can be achieved through the positive contribution of the school and the child’s environment. A child with developed reading skills will have the targeted accumulation of knowledge and will be suitably positioned to attain success in their future education and professional lives. The ability to reach this objective easily is directly related to the guidance and encouragement of families in this regard. The results of this study indicate that there is a strong correlation between the levels of education of parents in the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus and the reading habits that are given to children. For example, the results revealed that the children of 27 families with university and higher education levels read a total of 115 books, which is an average of 4.25 books per child on a monthly basis, whereas this figure was found to be 42 books, or an average of 1.82 in the 23 families with an education at high school level or below. The general purpose of the study is to determine the relationship between the reading habits of children and the education levels of their parents as well as the level of awareness of families in this respect. This is a qualitative study. The aim is to obtain in-depth and detailed data. The research is based on a case study, which is a qualitative research model. The examined case is that of North Cyprus.     

Tenure choice and the riskiness of non-housing consumption

This paper analyzes a household's choice of housing tenure within a dynamic utility maximization model that yields simple analytical results under uncertainty of income, housing prices, and rents. Given a housing consumption plan, we show that a decrease in the covariance between a household's earnings and housing rents increases the likelihood of ownership. A household who plans to remain in its home over a long period is more likely to own; a household who plans to remain in its home over a short period is more likely to rent. The higher the covariance between the user cost of a home and that of other properties a household is likely to consider in the future, the more likely the household is to own this home. These predictions of our model find support in recent empirical studies.     

How much should an investor trust the startup entrepreneur? A network model

Trust is an important determinant of start-up financing. In a simple agent-based model it is determined what the best trusting strategy is for a collective of investors and whether it is rational for an individual investor to deviate from this collective optimum. Trust depends on a measure of social distance and is the precondition for investment. Trust increases and decreases based on whether an investor is satisfied with the interest payments received from an entrepreneur. If an investor is dissatisfied, he terminates the relation with the entrepreneur. For assessing the quality of their own investments, investors communicate with other investors in a network-like structure. I find that, as a collective, it is best for investors to compare their returns critically in order to identify unproductive entrepreneurs, but to be tolerant regarding existing links to entrepreneurs in order not to terminate profitable relations because of minor productivity drops. However, it is optimal for an individual investor to deviate from this strategy and to be less easily disappointed, but to decrease trust in larger steps. In a sense, an individual investor can free ride on the others’ critical assessment. If all investors behave according to this latter strategy, too many unproductive firms remain in the market and the average investor’s return is lower than in the collective optimum.     

Optimale revisietijd

Optimum period of overhaul, a case-study
A general formula is given, when to proceed to an overhaul in such a way that the costs of wear and those of overhaul together will be a minimum (par. 2). In par. 3 the practical solution for cells in electrolysis is discussed. First a nonstochastic model is considered, then the more realistic stochastic model. It is proved that an overhaul is not indicated after a certain space of time or after a certain increase in the costs, but when a certain absolute level of the costs (corresponding with a certain electrical tension) is reached irrespective of what went before. A formula (14) to this end is given. Attention is also paid to the problem of the numerical evaluation.     

Innovate or perish: A cautionary tale

Post war business has seen the emergence of a number of conglomerates that showed impressive growth in their early days. Recently, however, several of these conglomerates have entered into serious difficulties, sometimes resulting in complete company collapse. Of course many factors will have featured in these dramatic events, but it is felt that the neglect of innovation and a preoccupation with financial data may have been predominant in certain cases.In this paper a hypothetical conglomerate is constructed and the (fictitious) history is described which brought this conglomerate to the verge of collapse. The question posed is whether a sound rescue operation for the conglomerate in question is possible, and this question is answered in the affirmative. The strategy for this operation (apart from obvious short term measures) centres around a long term product innovation program. It is shown that if such a program is stringently adhered to a healthy company may emerge in the end, but the operation takes quite a long time (from 5 to 10 years) and the first 4 years of the program will be very difficult indeed. The necessary change in strategy is a very fundamental one and amongst the major problems in its execution will be finding an able top executive capable of managing such a long-term innovative program. The financing of such a program will require the utmost restraint on the part of the company with regard to its other expenditures and a suggestion is made to help solve this facet of the problem. The difficulties to be overcome will be tremendous, but success does seem possible. After all, there is hardly any alternative for the conglomerate that has to make an ultimate decision: innovate or perish.     

Good Analytical Research

The purpose of this commentary is to address the issues raised by Ohlson from the point of view of analytical accounting research. The aim is not only to provide some input to young researchers who are going to publish good research using analytical methods, but also to give some hints to help users of analytical accounting research to understand and interpret the findings of this type of research. Ohlson has taken on a task of identifying a set of critical factors which are likely to lead to successful research. Good research is defined as research that makes an impression. Thus, it is not enough to get the research published – not even in a premier journal. The research should have an impact, the community should learn something. As Ohlson notes, there is enough ‘ordinary’ research. In my view this is the right attitude. Short-term optimization is also widespread in the research community and that is not what we should strive for. With the objective in place, I will continue to analyze the question in relation to analytical research. I start out discussing the aim of analytical research by providing a few examples of good models. The first is the Feltham-Ohlson model and the second is the agency model. Both are simple and elegant models dealing with difficult issues. The analysis proceeds to characterize good models. A good model is a simple model that zooms in on the problem under scrutiny. It is a ‘minimal’ model that contains the problem and nothing outside the problem. I then proceed to characterize good research in an analytical framework. This is research that tackles a problem that is of interest to the users and the researcher. In this process I also identify current notable analytical research. Finally, I contrast this to the recommendations of Ohlson.     

Impacts of Monetary, Fiscal and Exchange Rate Policies on Output in China: A Var Approach

Applying the VAR model and using the interest rate as a monetary policy variable, we find that in the long run, output in China responds negatively to a shock to the interest rate, the real exchange rate, government debt, or the inflation rate, and it reacts positively to a shock to government deficits or lagged own output. When real M2 is chosen as a monetary policy variable, long-term output in China responds positively to a shock to real M2 or lagged own output, and it reacts negatively to a shock to the real exchange rate, government debt, or government deficits. Its response to a shock to the inflation rate is negative when government debt is used and is positive when government deficits are considered. In the short run, fiscal policy is more important than monetary policy in three out of four cases. In the long run, monetary policy is more influential than fiscal policy in three out of four cases. Therefore, the government may consider conducting monetary and fiscal policies differently in the short run and long run. The government needs to be cautious in pursuing deficit spending as its long-term impacts depend on the monetary variable employed. The policy of maintaining a relatively stable exchange rate is appropriate as the depreciation of the Yuan may hurt the economy in the short run.JEL Classifications: E5, F4, H6     

基于单片机的四路抢答器的设计

抢答器是一种应用非常广泛的设备,在各类竞赛中,特别是做抢答题时,在抢答过程中,为了知道哪一组或哪一名选手先答题,必须要有一个系统来完成这个任务。如果在抢答过程中,只靠人的视觉是很难判断出哪组先答题。利用单片机来设计抢答器,使以上问题得以解决,即使有两组的抢答时间相差几微秒,也可分辨出哪组优先答题。抢答器已经发展到了用单片机的控制来实现其功能,制作过程简单,准确性与可靠性高,安装维护简单,而且功能齐全,电路简单,成本低,性能高,真正朝着更先进实用的方向发展。     

Entrepreneurship and innovativeness of small and medium-sized construction enterprises

The construction industry is a key industry in any economy. Due to its specific characteristics, the industry is of substantial importance to the development of other sectors. Competition is highly intense, and the industry itself is susceptible to changes in market circumstances that force the entities operating in it to continuously take actions to enhance their competitiveness by, among other things, introducing innovative solutions. The objective of the present study is to evaluate the level of innovativeness of enterprises in the small and medium-sized (SME) sector in the Polish construction industry and to identify the factors that influence this level of innovativeness, which relates to the location of the business and managers’ awareness of the significance of innovation in shaping a firm’s competitiveness. Qualitative research was conducted on a sample of 608 companies. The obtained results demonstrate that construction companies from the SME sector in Poland are characterized by a level of innovativeness that is similar to that found in other enterprises, which is a consequence of the relatively high awareness of the significance of innovation to obtaining a competitive position among the managers of these companies. An analysis of the innovative activities of these companies by location shows, in turn, that entities operating in regions that are less economically developed and less attractive in terms of investment are more innovative.     

The dialectics of human resource management in Cuba

Dialectical theory is applied to the examination of how institutional and organizational level changes are leading to a new human resource management (HRM) paradigm in Cuba. The paper starts with a general overview of economy and enterprise in Cuba, which serves to expose the nature of the pressures and contradictions facing managers and organizations in this country. Based on a focus group study, an analysis of the process of change in the HRM paradigm as perceived by a sample of Cuban managers is presented. The emerging dialectical paradigm is to a great extent influenced by the institutional context, namely by the control of the state. The state's role in the protection of the communist principles, combined with the need to open the economy to the logic of the market, is constituting a singular case in the world of management in general and of HRM in particular: that of a communist country with an increasingly market-based economy, where the socialist cadre is simultaneously becoming a market-oriented HR manager.     

On the effect of fiscal zoning on land and housing values

The note is a comment on and extension of “The Effect of Zoning on Land Value,” by J. C. Ohls, R. C. Weisberg, and M. J. White. It is suggested that some of the results of that paper are very sensitive to the way in which the market for urban housing and the market for urban land are modeled. In the context of a more general model, it is shown that a major result of that paper, that land values may rise or fall, in a metropolitan area, in response to zoning, still holds, although the mechanism underlying the process is very different in the more general model. Furthermore, it is shown that the effect of such a zoning change on housing prices and consumer welfare is unambiguous; the former rises and the latter falls. Finally, it is proved that zoning by a small municipality within a metropolitan area will cause land and housing values to fall.     

Some Relationships between T-Accounts,Input–Output Tables and Social Accounting Matrices

Some relationships between the T-accounting format for presenting commodity balances; input–output (IO) tables; and social accounting matrices are discussed in this paper. The starting point is to recognize that IO tables do not contain all the information that is needed to complete a social accounting matrix (SAM), or, therefore, for the modelling of phenomena that depend on having a fully articulated SAM, such as the interdependence of the distribution of income and the structure of production. There is a need, therefore, to establish the character of the extra information that is required and this can be achieved by imposing the requirement that a SAM should be consistent with the basic cash identity that is fundamental to all social accounting. A second agendum is to develop the argument that, while T-accounts can, in principle, provide a database equivalent to that of a SAM, in practice, they are typically found to be an imperfect substitute. It is important, therefore, in designing a database, to go beyond the confines of an (extended) IO system and T-accounts. SAMs provide an appropriate framework for doing so.     

Federalism,distributive politics and representative democracy

We analyze federal systems of government in which local public policies are financed by general taxation. In a decentralized political system there is, in each region, a vote to elect a local representative while in a centralized political system a single representative is elected by a federal vote. It is shown that under decentralization, voters strategically elect liberal representatives so as to nullify any element of cooperation between representatives in the decision-making stage. Thus, there is a trade-off between the budgetary externality and a "policy closer to the people", but the democratic choice is biased towards decentralization.     

Numerical Maximisation of Likelihood: A Neglected Alternative to EM?

There is by now a long tradition of using the EM algorithm to find maximum‐likelihood estimates (MLEs) when the data are incomplete in any of a wide range of ways, even when the observed‐data likelihood can easily be evaluated and numerical maximisation of that likelihood is available as a conceptually simple route to the MLEs. It is rare in the literature to see numerical maximisation employed if EM is possible. But with excellent general‐purpose numerical optimisers now available free, there is no longer any reason, as a matter of course, to avoid direct numerical maximisation of likelihood. In this tutorial, I present seven examples of models in which numerical maximisation of likelihood appears to have some advantages over the use of EM as a route to MLEs. The mathematical and coding effort is minimal, as there is no need to derive and code the E and M steps, only a likelihood evaluator. In all the examples, the unconstrained optimiser nlm available in R is used, and transformations are used to impose constraints on parameters. I suggest therefore that the following question be asked of proposed new applications of EM: Can the MLEs be found more simply and directly by using a general‐purpose numerical optimiser?     

The London Business School with Gower Publishing: Forecast Release: EARNINGS AND UNEMPLOYMENT IN THE CAR INDUSTRY: THE BEST AND WORST OF BRITISH INDUSTRY

The Chancellor has described the cost in terms of lost output and higher unemployment of getting inflation down as ‘well worth paying’. Yet the trade-off so far is a miserable 1.25 per cent off the underlying rate of growth of earnings for an unemployment increase approaching 600,000, some 2–3 per cent off the underlying rate of inflation for a 3 per cent drop in GDP and a 7 per cent fall in manufacturing output. The question is clear: why is it that in the UK we seem to have to pay such a high price in terms of lost output and higher unemployment to make only modest progress on reducing wage and price inflation? One possible answer is in terms of the NAIRU; another stems from the way in which we measure retail price inflation. Using the example of the car industry as a backdrop, we examine the relationship between unemployment and inflation and ask whether there is a role for government to play in improving the trade-off. Our conclusion is that the present non-interventionist stance is probably appropriate but that the government should be doing more to educate both sides of the wage bargain - a challenge picked up by the Prime Minister in his recent speech to the CBI. This is especially appropriate at the present time, because price inflation is falling but wage inflation is lagging behind. It is not a cut in real wages that is required but an equi-proportionate deceleration in both wages and prices. By joining the ERM, we will ultimately obtain German rates of inflation; low wage settlements would both shorten the time-scale and reduce the unemployment cost of convergence.