Vol. 3(3) March 2010
Imulation and its purpose in implementing of Business Process Management
Závadský Ján* and Turčok Lukáš
Nábrežie Jána Pavla II. 2802/3, 058 01 Poprad, SLOVAK REPUBLIC
*jan.zavadsky@umb.sk
In the article we pay attention to the theoretical substance of process management
and implementation of process management. It also deals with business processes
and the importance of carrying out their simulation using information systems. Simulation
presents a tool for efficiency profiling of the enterprise activities, enabling
to monitor business processes, analyze them, make changes, decide on the optimal
option. The process management is defined as systematic identification, visualisation,
measurement, assessment and continual improvement of processes through use of methods
and principles based on the process approach.
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A Study on Interactivity and Online Branding
Banerjee Neelotpaul
National Institute of Technology, Mahatma Gandhi Avenue, Durgapur-713209, INDIA
neelotpaul@gmail.com
Brand marketers must always engage in differentiating their brands and developing
strong relationships with customers. The internet has enormous potential to develop
a brand online. One advantage the technology of the internet provides over traditional
media is the ability to interact with a customer which allows the brand marketers
to vary their presentation to accommodate individual customer preferences. In contrast
to the majority of other media, the internet can help the company to establish a
lasting relationship with its customers as it enables a two-way communication. This
provides a very significant opportunity to build brand awareness and customer loyalty.
Interactivity involves engaging the customers directly, creating a unique and personal
exchange with them. In this study websites of some business firms are studied from
interactivity point of view to show how incorporation of interactivity in their
websites has helped them in successful online branding.
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Leadership Dimensions and Challenges in the New Millennium
Jain Neera, Sethi Anjanee* and Mukherji Shoma
Department of Business Communication, Management Development Institute, Gurgaon,
INDIA
*asethi@mdi.ac.in
In the twenty first century, leadership is being impacted by the three major forces
of change, namely globalization, liberalization and technology which is progressing
by leaps and bounds. In the background of exponential change being faced by the
organizations, a new kind of leadership is emerging. A review of scholarly literature
on leadership shows that there is a wide variety of approaches to explain the leadership
process and its complexities. Leadership has been conceptualized as a trait, as
a behavior or seen from a humanistic viewpoint. Stodgill11 points out that “there
are as many different definitions of leadership as there are people who have tried
to define it”. In this study, we will review the origins of leadership thought
and the accepted leadership theories which have evolved since the early 20th century.
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A Conceptual Vision on 360 Degree Assessment for Entrepreneurial Appraisal
Singh N. Rokendro
Department of Commerce, Mizoram University, Tanhril, Aizawl-796009, INDIA
rokendros@yahoo.com
Entrepreneurship is a term used as a subject area which plays an important role
in industry and economic development of a society. Many academicians defined it
in different ways such as ‘risk-bearing’, ‘innovating’,
‘self enterprise establishment’ etc. It is an activity attempt to create
value through recognition of business opportunity. It is the process of starting
and running one’s own business and the term entrepreneur is increasingly being
observed for the type of individual who is highly determined, confident and creative
with trends and who is able to translate a vision into a real business. For making
a vision into a real business one needs to hire sound human resources. They should
be a high performer human resource too. To become a competent, effective entrepreneurial
unit with high performing human resources, in this competitive world, a sound and
effective assessment / feedback technique is required. To make it a reality, 360
degree assessment for the employees may be adopted. The paper presents how this
360 degree assessment may help to the entrepreneurial units. In this new era of
trade entrepreneurial units are needed to be a competent one. It can exist in the
new trade era when there is high performing and sound HR assessed from different
angles. So assessment from different angles is needed to make a competent HR. 360
degree is the multiple impact approach to performance feedback. It uses different
sources for getting feedbacks to connote full circle in 360 degree assessment. The
results from 360 degree feedback are often used by the person receiving the feedback
to plan their training and development. It is important for identifying key development
areas for the individual, a department and the organization as a whole. This paper
presents the concept of 360 degree assessment, entrepreneurial units in the era
of trade, why 360 degree assessment is required in the entrepreneurial units and
its advantages.
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Optimism and Longevity
Seckinger Jenny1, Langerak Brian1,
Mishra Jitendra1* and Mishra Bharat2
Seckinger Jenny1, Langerak Brian1,
Mishra Jitendra1* and Mishra Bharat2
1. Management Department, Grand Valley State University, 469C DeVos, 401 W.Fulton,
Grand Rapids,
Michigan 49504-6431, USA 2. Windsor University School of Medicine (WUSM), St.Kitts,
WEST INDIES
*mishraj@gvsu.edu
Optimism comes from the Latin word optimus, meaning “best” which describes
how an optimist person is always looking for the best in any situation and expecting
good things to happen. Optimism is the tendency to believe, expect or hope that
things will turn out well. Even if something bad happens, like the loss of a job,
an optimist sees the silver lining. Optimism is the idea that there is always a
positive outcome, no matter the situation. Over the last twenty to thirty years,
more and more research has been done to find out what helps people to live longer.
There are several theories and even more medical evidence that healthy living and
optimistic thought processes can support longer life. Optimism is believed to consist
of positive thinking that is “…used by people to explain the good and bad
events in their lives to themselves”18. Longevity is a word used to express
the length of life or the desire to live longer. These two ideas seem to have a
positive correlation to one another, as a person who desires to live longer can
do so by having a positive outlook on life and the world around them.
Research has proven that optimism on an individual basis has the ability to improve
longevity in life and in the workplace. We cite many case studies to show a strong
positive correlation between optimism and longevity. This paper will demonstrate
how optimistic thought processes can be learned, how they correlate to healthy living,
how pessimism can be shown to demonstrate the opposite.
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Application of Fuzzy Control Algorithms in Market Management
Chaudhuri Ranjan
Department of Marketing, National Institute of Industrial Engineering (NITIE), Vihar
Lake, PO NITIE, Mumbai 400087, INDIA
anjan@nitie.edu
The paper highlights fuzzy control algorithms encompassing applications in a case
study including in stock market strategy. The fuzzy membership function (unit share
price) for a petroleum company for low, medium and high and the corresponding Mumbai
Stock Exchange Sensitive Index are described. It has been shown that the unit share
price in a dynamically stable market moves along with the sensitive index. The application
of fuzzy control algorithms for market management may appear to be a promising domain
for further investigation. .
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Should the Post Lehman world not return to the basics of Business Ethics?
Roy Mousumi
Department of Management Studies, National Institute of Technology Durgapur, 713209
INDIA
roydrmousumi@yahoo.co.in
Philosophers have been talking of ethics for some 2500 years since the time of Socrates
and Plato but business ethics or corporate ethics basically started drawing world-wide
attention since the 60s with social responsibility movement. Business ethics seeks
to apply moral standards in business decisions and transactions. In addition to
prescribing a set of principles in behavioral code, ethics may also outline duty
and obligation1. Ethics in business emerged with growing complexity and dynamism
of commerce when business organizations felt the need for proper guidance so as
to ensure that their dealings supported the common good and did not harm others.
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Outcome-Based Education in a Private HIL: Perceptions of Students
Zakaria Sabarudin* and Yusoff Wan Fadzilah Wan
Multimedia University, Jalan Ayer Keroh Lama 75450 Bukit Beruang, Melaka, MALAYSIA
*sabarudin@mmu.edu.my
Outcome-based education (OBE) is seen as means of measuring the students’
achievements on one hand and the lecturers’ accountability on the other. This
paper examines issues important for the understanding of and challenges in implementing
OBE. It addresses a range of issues related to the meaning of the term “outcome-based
education”. It defines key terms, concepts and principles which founded the
genuine outcome–based models. The paper also examines some important issues surrounding
the meaning of outcomes and how they are derived. The findings of the preliminary
study conducted on groups of final year students in a private institution of higher
learning (HIL) will indicate the needs to give full consideration in implementing
OBE.
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Environmental Issues and Financial Reporting Trends: A case study on selected
Public Sectors Oil Companies in Assam
Bora Bhaskarjyoti* and Deb Barman Rajesh
Department of Commerce, Gauhati University, Guwahati 781014, Assam, INDIA
*bhaskarjb2001@yahoo.com
In recent years, environmental pollution becomes acute and there is serious level
of awareness among stakeholders on the issue. Indian oil companies are taking many
initiatives in providing environmental friendly energy in the economy. OIL, ONGC,
IOC, NRL & Reliance Petroleum are some of the sole responsible organizations
to maintain fossil fuel sector in India. They are accountable to next generation
for oil, gas and other natural recourses in the country. Optimum use of these resources
is very necessary to ensure sustainable development. This study shows that oil companies
in India are concerned for environment. They show some kind of qualitative information
on environment issues and its impact in their annual reports. Demand for fossil
fuel will increase with the increase in economic growth, where the supply of these
resources is insufficient to meet its demand and will exhaust one day. Therefore,
the accounting and reporting of these resources have become inevitable.
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Liquidity Vs Profitability -A Case Study on Inventory Management of Cement Industry
in Tamilnadu
Ashokkumar N. and Manohar V.
* Department of Commerce, V.H.N.S.N. College, Virudhunagar 626
001,(T.N.), INDIA
*vnrmano@yahoo.com
Every enterprise has to reconcile the conflicting objectives of liquidity and profitability
in the inventory management to obtain a higher return on investment and to maximize
the value of the company in the market. At the enterprise level, inventory holding
assumes greater importance, as inventories constitute a large proportion of the
total assets of many concerns. It requires a substantial investment of capital besides
involving costs of storage and handling as well as risk of damage, loss and obsolescence.
In order to minimize costs and also to ensure that the capital is not unnecessarily
locked up, inventories must be efficiently managed. Errors in inventory management
can not be easily rectified, as it is the least liquid among all the current assets.
The major problem of inventory control is to maximize profitability by balancing
investment cost of materials against what is required to sustain smooth operations.
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Segment Reporting: A Comparative Study of the Indian, U.S. and Japanese Companies
Singh Karamjeet
University Business School, Panjab University, Chandigarh (Panjab), INDIA
krjsingh2001@yahoo.co.in
This paper examines the segment reporting in India, USA and Japan. The objective
was to see if there was a significant difference in segment disclosure in these
countries. Annual reports of fifteen companies were taken from each country and
segment disclosures were scanned. It was found that segment reporting practices
of three countries are not different. Further, it is found that the Indian firms
under study were found not to be reporting much on inter-segment transfer. The U.S.
firms were found to be making inter-segment transfer most of the times at Market
price. Japanese firms under study were found to be pricing the inter-segment transfer
at arm’s length price; cost plus mark up or at a price applicable to transaction
with affiliates. Further, the study also examined the accounting standards followed
in each country. It is found that all Indian firms under study were found to be
following AS-17. All U.S. firms under study and most of the Japanese firms were
found to be following SFAS No. 131.
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