Showing papers in "Global Business Review in 2007"
TL;DR: In this article, the role of working capital management policies on profitability of a company is studied and it has been seen that if a company desires to take a greate, it should take a Greate...
Abstract: It is felt that there is the need to study the role of working capital management policies on profitability of a company. Conventionally, it has been seen that if a company desires to take a greate...
165 citations
TL;DR: The authors examines the literature of the last two decades on career advancement and leadership to unearth the impediments for women in management and points out that lack of career planning amongst women managers and their collaborative, power sharing management style, that are in sharp contrast to male managers, significantly influence women's advancement to the top echelons of management.
Abstract: Women comprise a large segment of the available managerial talent across the globe, yet their representation at top level managerial positions in business and public administration, is rather obscure. The leadership prospect for women managers is a critical issue in gender equality and remains a researchable proposition. This article examines the literature of the last two decades on career advancement and leadership to unearth the impediments for women in management. Sex role orientation and the stereotyping of a manager's role as a masculine construct, along with the glass ceiling effect in organizations, are predominant themes that explain why so few women progress to positions of leadership and authority. The literature also points out that lack of career planning amongst women managers and their collaborative, power sharing management style, that are in sharp contrast to male managers, significantly influence women's advancement to the top echelons of management.
48 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examined the impact of corporate social responsibility and transformational leadership on brand community and found that strong brand communities can be of tremendous value to organizations by generating increased customer loyalty towards their brands.
Abstract: Not much work has been done to study the impact of various organizational variables on brand communities around various brands and consequently we have limited knowledge on how to build brand communities. Strong brand communities can be of tremendous value to organizations by generating increased customer loyalty towards their brands. This study attempts to examine the impact of corporate social responsibility and transformational leadership on brand community. The study employed a scenario based 2 × 2 experimental design, with corporate social responsibility and transformational leadership as the manipulated variables. The sample consisted of 118 graduate students doing the first year of their MBA programme in a leading management institute in India. Due to lack of availability of any standard measure, an instrument was developed to measure brand communities. Results of 2 × 2 factored analysis of variance show that brand community is enhanced by both corporate social responsibility and transformational l...
27 citations
TL;DR: The authors in this paper found that task complexity, variety, and autonomy were distinguishing factors in technical call centre jobs, the presence of which promoted employee well-being and satisfaction, while the emotional labour required by front-line service work remained an important part of the job profile.
Abstract: Views on call centres as work systems represent a dichotomy. While, on the one hand, call centres are seen as conforming to an engineering or mass service model, on the other hand, they are described as high commitment service organizations. Technical call centres, studied as part of a larger qualitative study on experiences of working in call centres, back offices and medical transcription in Mumbai and Bangalore, India, were found to resemble high commitment service organizations. Task complexity, variety and autonomy were distinguishing factors in technical call centre jobs, the presence of which promoted employee well-being and satisfaction. At the same time, the emotional labour required by front-line service work remained an important part of the job profile. The emergence of cross-cultural interactions in call centre work, stemming from the contemporary outsourcing trend, is highlighted.
23 citations
TL;DR: In this article, a large body of financial literature, which studies the existence of inter-linkages among international capital markets since such linkages have serious implications for portfolio diversification as well as macroeconomic policies of the countries concerned.
Abstract: International diversification of portfolios has always been an area of great concern for international fund managers and researchers. There is considerable academic research that documents the benefits of international diversification. There is a large body of financial literature, which studies the existence of inter-linkages among international capital markets since such linkages have serious implications for portfolio diversification as well as macroeconomic policies of the countries concerned. Investors who buy shares in foreign as well as domestic companies seek to reduce market risk and reap rewards through global diversification. Such diversification pays so long as various national markets are not perfectly correlated. There are studies marking the beginning of an extensive literature in financial economics on international diversification. Over the last decade, it is found that the international diversification benefits to global investing are not constant, and due to process of globalization and...
20 citations
TL;DR: A functional approach to team effectiveness that focuses on five team functions: team objectives and integration, decision-making, managing meetings, implementing decisions and creating a healthy climate is proposed in this article.
Abstract: A team is a building block of any organization. Consequently, effective teams are a pre-requisite for organizational success. Different groups of people perceive criteria and measures of team effectiveness differently. There are objective as well as perceived measures of team effectiveness. Team effectiveness is a multi-faceted phenomenon. It is important that scholars and practitioners develop a comprehensive and holistic perspective on team effectiveness. We propose a functional approach to team effectiveness that focuses on five team functions: team objectives and integration, decision-making, managing meetings, implementing decisions and creating a healthy climate. It is argued that one needs to pay attention on all these five functions and strike a balance among them to make a team effective.
19 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the traditional economy is successively being transferred into an IT-based economy where classical styles are managed through classical styles, and partnership forms are managed using classical styles in traditional economy.
Abstract: In the traditional economy, partnership forms are managed through classical styles. However, the traditional economy is successively being transferred into an IT-based economy where classical globa...
18 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors conceptualized organizational change as changes which happen within an organization as a response to internal and external environmental changes, and proposed a framework to define organizational change.
Abstract: Organizational change, in the present study has been conceptualized as changes which happen within an organization as a response to internal and external environmental changes. By taking this persp...
11 citations
TL;DR: A major change observed worldwide, is the growing concern over health risk associated with consumption of food with residues of agro-chemicals used in production as discussed by the authors. This heightened awareness about he...
Abstract: A major change observed worldwide, is the growing concern over health risk associated with consumption of food with residues of agro-chemicals used in production. This heightened awareness about he...
10 citations
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors argue that the very essence of learning organizations can be interpreted as a subtle form of a hegemonic control system which could impede the whole process of learning itself.
Abstract: Learning organizations have been described in reverential terms like employees’ paradises, good management practices, socialistic models and workplace democracies etc. These organizations provide working environments where the employees and management together reflect on all decisions, resolve all differences, if any, through mutual dialogue, and open communication systems resulting in high levels of trust, co-operation and commitment on the part of the employees which enables generation of learning. To develop such an atmosphere, these organizations adopt flat and flexible structures, use dialogue as a mode of open communication, a personnel oriented managerial style and appraisal systems, which encourage flexibility and creativity. This article will argue that the very essence of learning organizations i.e., its constituting elements or characteristics can be interpreted as a subtle form of a hegemonic control system which could impede the whole process of learning itself.
9 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors adopt the middle perspective, the fluorescent light model, to examine the painful and stressful experiences which employees face in the course of their working lives in learning organizations and provide insights on why such abuses are accepted and tolerated by the organizational members without any form of external confrontation and resistance against the management of the learning organizations.
Abstract: This article adopts the middle perspective, the fluorescent light model to examine the painful and stressful experiences, which employees face in the course of their working lives in learning organizations. The article provides insights on why such abuses are accepted and tolerated by the organizational members without any form of external confrontation and resistance against the management of the learning organizations.
TL;DR: In the entire globalization process multinational corporations occupy the central position as mentioned in this paper, and it is difficult to conceptualize globalization without multinational corporations, and people's reactions are unpredictable and often negative.
Abstract: In the entire globalization process multinational corporations occupy the central position. It is difficult to conceptualize globalization without multinational corporations, and people's reactions...
TL;DR: In this article, a field study conducted on suppliers of automobile components to vehicle manufacturers, captured patterns of outsourcing prevalent and provided interesting insights, showing that Indian auto component suppliers, although aware of global opportunities, are left with little choice in transacting with their clients partly because of their own risk averse, status quo preferences and remaining for want of an efficient mechanism for horizontal cooperation among firms with complementary capabilities to form clusters/groups of globally competitive suppliers.
Abstract: The Practice of outsourcing has been prevalent in the automobile industry for a very long time. Vehicle brand owners (VBO), also known as assemblers, have developed preferred relationships like Keiretsu with their suppliers to capture the complexities of outsourcing as also to reflect their regional idiosyncrasies. Against the backdrop of the Indian automobile industry becoming increasingly global, a field study conducted on suppliers of automobile components to vehicle manufacturers, captured patterns of outsourcing prevalent and provided interesting insights. Indian auto component suppliers, although aware of global opportunities, are left with little choice in transacting with their clients partly because of their own risk averse, status quo preferences and remaining for want of an efficient mechanism for horizontal cooperation among firms with complementary capabilities to form clusters/groups of globally competitive suppliers. On the other hand, such clusters often lack necessary institutional suppor...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors examine business opportunities for India in the global emissions market, and acknowledge that while many have been critical of outsourcing emissions reduction to developing countries, they acknowledge that many of them are not aware of the benefits of doing so.
Abstract: This article examines business opportunities for India in the global emissions market. It acknowledges that while many have been critical of outsourcing emissions reduction to developing countries,...
TL;DR: The role of infrastructure in economic development can hardly be over emphasized as discussed by the authors, and the advanced economies of the US, of Europe and of Japan, all developed their infrastructure first. In response to...
Abstract: The role of infrastructure in economic development can hardly be over emphasized. The advanced economies of the US, of Europe and of Japan, all developed their infrastructure first. In response to ...
TL;DR: The Uruguay Round established rules that were expected to improve market access for agricultural products and reduced export subsidies and domestic support payments as an opportunity to level the playing field as discussed by the authors. But what has happened since the Uruguay Round? Industrialized countries systematically use sub-sidies to skew the benefits of agricultural trade in their favour.
Abstract: The Uruguay Round established rules that were expected to improve market access for agricultural products and reduced export subsidies and domestic support payments as an opportunity to level the playing field. Major global economic benefits were predicted from the establishment of WTO and Agreement on Agriculture (AoA). But what has happened since the Uruguay Round? Industrialized countries systematically use sub-sidies to skew the benefits of agricultural trade in their favour. The overall level of support to agriculture in these countries has fallen very little. What does free trade mean in a context where the world's largest ex-porter of dairy produce, the EU, is providing subsidies in excess of US $300 billion a year? India is the num-ber one producer of milk and yet cannot compete. The European Union and the United States have invented a category of support—known as the Green Box and the Blue Box in WTO talks—deemed to be decoupled from production and therefore exempt from cuts in subsidies. The per...
TL;DR: In this paper, a scale for measuring attitudes of women executives towards their job is proposed and the relationship of personal and organizational characteristics to attitudes is also examined, based on a sample of 271 respondents taken from selected organizations of the service sector in Punjab.
Abstract: The rapid economic growth and industrialization of the Indian economy has created considerable employment opportunities for people, including women, especially for those who possess marketable skills and talents. Historically speaking, women in Indian society have far from had equality with men. The traditional patriarchal attitudes towards women still prevail and restrict the intensity of their efforts towards realizing the benefits of the globalization process. An attempt has been made in this article to develop, refine and validate a scale for measuring attitudes of women executives towards their job. The relationship of personal and organizational characteristics to attitudes is also examined. The study is based on a sample of 271 respondents taken from selected organizations of the service sector in Punjab. Advocated procedures are used for developing and checking the reliability and validity of the scale. Pearson's Chi-Square test and Analysis of Variance are carried out for analysis. The findings r...
TL;DR: In this paper, a case study discusses the measures taken to improve the working capital and cost management performance, and how with concerted efforts the management turned around a highly inefficient working capital management into one of the most efficient in the FMCG sector of India.
Abstract: After running as a family business for over 100 years, when in late 1990s, the management of the Dabur was handed over to a team of professional managers, the new management faced a gigantic task of improving performance in several critical areas. In particular, working capital and cost management required urgent attention as the company's performance in these areas had been far from satisfactory. The then prevailing current ratio of 3:2 and quick ratio of 2:4 were considered too high and indicative of heavy unnecessary investments in working capital that would have a negative effect on company's profitability.Efforts to improve the working capital efficiency were met with stiff resistance from various quarters, but finally yielded results. The case study discusses the measures taken to improve the working capital and cost management performance, and how with concerted efforts the management turned around a highly inefficient working capital management into one of the most efficient in the FMCG sector of ...
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors find out if direct investment in complementary businesses is important for success of a foreign company in the context of an emerging economy like India and find out whether direct investment is beneficial for Indian companies.
Abstract: The objective of this article is to find out if direct investment in complementary businesses is important for success of a foreign company in the context of an emerging economy like India. The art...