How to make India a knowledge-based society

The National Knowledge Commission set up by the Prime Minister of India, Dr. Manmohan Singh, in 2005 was, perhaps, the first of its kind. One of its three objectives is to make India a knowledge-based society. Among the important areas in the country where problems need to be addressed to achieve the above objective, three—education, knowledge empowerment of Panchayats (the lowest of the three-tier local self-government system in India), and ethical commercialization of the country's creative and cultural tradition—are briefly described in the article. Some steps that need to be taken in each area are stated. For example, in regard to education, we must decommercialize school and higher education, and set up 400,000 high schools in the country where children would receive high-quality free education for 10 years—that is, up to the age of 16. As regards the Panchayats, we need to institute a system so that they are empowered through knowledge in areas of immediate interest to them as well as knowledge that would make them truly informed citizens of the country. In regard to traditional knowledge, it needs to be ensured that the keepers and practitioners of this knowledge are compensated adequately and fairly if such knowledge is commercialized.     

Work alienation of marketing employees: Influence of task,supervisory, and organizational structure factors

This study presents an integrated work alienation model that includes a number of relevant exogenous antecedents from the task, supervisory, and organizational structure domains. The study hypothesizes that these antecedents influence work alienation of marketing employees both directly and indirectly because of the effects they have on employees’ role stress and commitment to the organization. Simultaneous inclusion of relevant antecedents enables the study to establish the relative importance of each antecedent for work alienation of employees. The study also includes a comparative evaluation of the applicability of the proposed model for subgroups of employees stratified by gender. He obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin and has several years of practical experience in sales management. His research interests are in the areas of sales management, marketing strategy, and international marketing. He has previously published in the International Journal of Research in Marketing, Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, and a number of other marketing/international journals. He obtained his Ph.D. at Ohio State University. His practical experience includes international trade of merchandise and sales and supply of industrial plants and equipment. His research interests are in the areas of international marketing and sales management. He has previously published in Advances in International Marketing, International Trade Journal, Journal of International Business Studies, and Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, and has contributed to several national and international conference proceedings. He obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin and has several years of practical experience in advertising management. His research interests are in the areas of advertising, marketing strategy, and international marketing. He has previously published in the Journal of Advertising Research and has contributed to several national conference proceedings.     

FINANCING SMALL-FARM DEVELOPMENT IN INDIA*

Small farm credit is important in public programs of developing countries. It is supported to finance increased productivity through modernization and to replace the exploitive moneylender. However, expectations often exceed performance. Indian research suggests the discrepancy may be traced to failure to account for the needs of liquidity management. It suggests, too, that programs that are designed to account for liquidity management can lead to modernization and to improved viability of small farms as well.     

A Comparison of Underwriting Costs of Initial Public Offerings by Investment and Commercial Banks

We examine differences in underwriting costs between commercial‐bank‐Section‐20‐underwritten initial public offerings (IPOs) and investment‐bank‐underwritten IPOs. Our results suggest that total underwriting costs (gross margin plus underpricing) are significantly lower for commercial bank IPOs. The lower cost for commercial bank IPOs is attributable to less severe underpricing for these issues. Gross margin costs generally do not differ between commercial bank and investment bank issues. Furthermore, we find that the long‐run stock price performance for commercial bank issues is superior to that of investment bank issues. That is, lower underpricing for Section 20 issues may not be a short‐run phenomenon. Rather, there appears to be a favorable outcome for investors in the long run for holding IPOs underwritten by Section 20 commercial banks. These results are inconsistent with the conflict of interest hypothesis often associated with merging commercial and investment bank functions in one organization.     

销售与运营规划一体化

如果企业能够打造独立的销售与运营规划团队,使之擅长明智决策和有效运营,那么就很有可能发展成未来的全球领袖     

The Attitude of Indian Youth Toward Nutrition: Factors,Segments, and Implications

Although consumers’ attitude toward healthy or nutritious foods has been studied, factors affecting attitude have not been sufficiently studied. This study deals with the factors affecting the attitude of Indian youth toward nutrition. The article also attempts to segment youth consumers on the basis of their attitude. The responses of 379 youths to the specifically developed questionnaire were subjected to principal component analysis to identify attitudinal factors and to delineate the segments of youth cluster analysis. Discriminant analysis was performed to establish the differences among segments. Five factors, namely “not sure,” “volume consciousness,” “costly but willing to pay,” “healthy homemade,” and “taste and practical,” were identified as having influence on youths’ attitude toward nutrition. Marital status, gender, and cities where youths have spent their last 5 years had significant influence on those attitudinal factors. Based on the varying importance of different attitudinal factors, consumers were categorized in three distinct segments. Based on the findings of the study, different management interventions can be planned to increase the intake of nutritious food by the youths of different segments.     

The Signaling Impact of Low Introductory Price on Perceived Quality and Trial

Economic signaling theory suggests that consumers interpret price withinthe context of market conditions. Under specific conditions it predicts thatlow price may signal high quality. Results from an experiment designed totest the behavioral assumptions underlying this prediction indicate thatconsumers intentions to purchase conform to the predictions of economicsignaling theory, but their judgments of product quality do not. The resultssuggest that consumers' response to signals may be more complex thanpreviously shown.