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Building a Model for Purchase Decision of Laptops and Price-Performance Analysis
of Major Players
-- Subhasis Ray
The laptop industry is booming in India and this has attracted major players (domestic as well as
MNCs). The advent of new technologies available at a cheaper rate
also augurs well for the consumers. This paper aims
to understand the present usage pattern (mainly in the city of
Kolkata), extracting factors that influence the consumers'
buying decisions and their relative importance. Also top-of-the-mind
recall analysis has been conducted to see present standings of various laptop brands. A comparative
analysis has been done to know the price-performance of various brands with respect to chosen
configuration. Finally, the model for customer purchase decision as a function of the customers' perception about
the company, i.e., brand, quality, service, etc.
(p1), the price of the offer (p2), product features
(p3), promotional offers (p4) and market maturity
(p5) have been validated and strategies have been
worked out.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Halo Effect in Trust
-- R C Natarajan
Trust-literature considers goodwill trust and competence trust as two distinct types of trust. Many
well-known scholars have mentioned the two bases of trust as being different. However, the veracity of
this distinction does not seem to have been addressed by researchers. This paper
suggests an experiment to test whether the two types of trust are indeed distinct, and the results throw up
a surprising finding that they are very highly and positively
related, and hence, not distinct. Principal's perception of agent's trustworthiness does not seem distinctly clear-cut as competence-based or
goodwill-based, despite scholars' mentioning them as different. The paper offers a plausible explanation
through the concept of `halo effect'. The contribution of this paper to management practice lies in bringing
out the presence of halo effect in trust that may
well indicate the possible wastage of resources in
superfluous controls and/or the failure to implement appropriate controls
required.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Assessing the Performance
of the Stakeholders
of Microfinance Programs
-- V R Nedunchezian and N Sivasankaran
This paper discusses the need for identification of
the stakeholders of the microfinance programs,
besides suggesting a list of parameters to be considered in assessing the performance of these
stakeholders. The stakeholders of the microfinance industry
include the below poverty line families, the
microfinancial institutions, the affinity groups,
the mainstream financial institutions, the regulatory
authorities and the companies which avail the benefits by linking their
businesses to the microcredit channels. The paper also reveals the research areas for the
microfinance participants and the academia, who
are pursuing research in the microfinance domain.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Motives Behind the Use
of Social Networking Sites:
An Empirical Study
-- Kartikeya P Bolar
Social networking sites are web-based services which allow
individuals to create profiles, articulate and communicate with others.
This paper identifies seven motives behind the use
of social networking sites and discusses factors such as
frequency of use and influence of social networking sites
on the lives of users.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
Competency Mapping
and Managing Talent
-- Farah Naqvi
The performance of companies depends mostly on the quality of
their human resource. For obvious economic and business
reasons, organizations have always been concerned about the competence
of its people. This paper seeks to delve deeper into the concept of competency, tracing its history and
its role in the present context. It explains how the
concept has constantly evolved over the years,
its applications in human resource management, and development in the present scenario. It also
aims to study its future prospects in the light of other emerging areas like talent management.
The paper proceeds with the examples of companies, which have successfully integrated
competency-based systems in their HR initiatives.
© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.
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