The ongoing changes in the business environment, marked by intense
competition, highlight the need for companies to become more innovative
and entrepreneurial. Corporate entrepreneurship can bring about a significant change in the way a company responds to the changes in the environment, grab the opportunities and add value to the offerings. Fostering corporate entrepreneurship calls for managing various environmental factors effectively around the new ventures and initiatives. In the light of this, Osman Mohamad, T Ramayah, Herianto Puspowarsito, Diah Natalisa and David P E Saerang have studied the practice of corporate entrepreneurship among Indonesian medium-sized firms in their paper, “Corporate Entrepreneurship and Firm Performance: The Role of Business Environment as a Moderator”. The analysis reveals that corporate entrepreneurship is positively associated with firm performance. With regard to the moderating effect of external environment, it is established that government policies and economy do moderate the relationship between corporate entrepreneurship and firm performance.
Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is not new to India; several initiatives in this direction have been taking place since the Tatas and Birlas started their business. However, CSR is the least understood initiative in India. It has several dimensions, including green practices, social welfare and other greater ethical behavior, and most of them are measurable to facilitate ratings. The paper, “Corporate Social Responsibility Rating: India Focus” by Lokaranjan Guha, examines the role, the background framework and the potentiality of CSR ratings from Karmayog.com platform, to drive the industry further up the ladder of social responsibility. The paper throws light on areas of improvement in the CSR rating system, the criteria used as well as the way a firm can design its resource allocation strategy in response to the new business situation by taking the case of Eastern Institute of Integrated Learning in Management (EIILM), Kolkata.
Honey enterprises have a long history in India. They are usually set near the forests and are most concentrated along the sub-Himalayan mountain ranges and the Western Ghats. Khadi and Village Industries Commission has hastened the development of honey production to revitalize the traditional village industries. Self-Help Groups (SHGs) have been actively involved in this enterprise over a period of time. Modern beekeeping methods which make use of beekeeping equipment and honey processing plant are being used to increase the production and ensure the quality of honey. When SHGs are involved in the production of honey, behavioral competencies also play a vital role apart from technical competencies. The paper, “An Analysis of the Critical Competencies Relevant to Honey Enterprises in East Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya” by Naval Lawande and Shubhangi Bhosale, tries to analyze the technical and core competencies that are needed in a honey enterprise and the relationship between them. The study revealed that the most critical competency for the success of SHGs in honey production is team work.
India’s pharmaceutical industry is growing at an enormous speed and it is one of the largest and most advanced among the developing countries. It is also taking adequate measures for the development of cost-effective products by investing huge amounts in its R&D. Besides this, the sector also has good quality human resources, who have a strong technological and knowledge base. The productivity of these quality human resources also contributes towards the profitable growth of this sector. Keeping all these factors in mind, the paper, “Performance Analysis of High, Medium and Low Companies in Indian Pharmaceuticals Industry” by Madhuri Mahato, considers the impact of R&D intensity, labor productivity and advertising intensity. The study concludes that the insignificant performance variations in the high, medium and low category firms of the Indian pharmaceutical sector can be partly attributed to the synergistic support from the government, industry and public health policies.
Automated Teller Machines (ATMs): The Changing Face of Banking in India
Bank Management
Information and communication technology has changed the way in which banks provide services to its customers. These days the customers are able to perform their routine banking transactions without even entering the bank premises. ATM is one such development in recent years, which provides remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the development of this self-service banking in India based on the secondary data.
The Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is playing a very important role in the progress and advancement in almost all walks of life. The deregulated environment has provided an opportunity to restructure the means and methods of delivery of services in many areas, including the banking sector. The ICT has been a focused issue in the past two decades in Indian banking. In fact, ICTs are enabling the banks to change the way in which they are functioning. Improved customer service has become very important for the very survival and growth of banking sector in the reforms era. The technological advancements, deregulations, and intense competition due to the entry of private sector and foreign banks have altered the face of banking from one of mere intermediation to one of provider of quick, efficient and customer-friendly services. With the introduction and adoption of ICT in the banking sector, the customers are fast moving away from the traditional branch banking system to the convenient and comfort of virtual banking. The most important virtual banking services are phone banking, mobile banking, Internet banking and ATM banking. These electronic channels have enhanced the delivery of banking services accurately and efficiently to the customers. The ATMs are an important part of a bank’s alternative channel to reach the customers, to showcase products and services and to create brand awareness. This is reflected in the increase in the number of ATMs all over the world. ATM is one of the most widely used remote banking services all over the world, including India. This paper analyzes the growth of ATMs of different bank groups in India.
International Scenario
If ATMs are largely available over geographically dispersed areas, the benefit from using an ATM will increase as customers will be able to access their bank accounts from any geographic location. This would imply that the value of an ATM network increases with the number of available ATM locations, and the value of a bank network to a customer will be determined in part by the final network size of the banking system. The statistical information on the growth of branches and ATM network in select countries.
Indian Scenario
The financial services industry in India has witnessed a phenomenal growth, diversification and specialization since the initiation of financial sector reforms in 1991. Greater customer orientation is the only way to retain customer loyalty and withstand competition in the liberalized world. In a market-driven strategy of development, customer preference is of paramount importance in any economy. Gone are the days when customers used to come to the doorsteps of banks. Now the banks are required to chase the customers; only those banks which are customercentric and extremely focused on the needs of their clients can succeed in their business today.
