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COVER FEATURE
"Our mission is to improve access to essential drugs and basic healthcare services for the poor by using the micro-franchise business model."
-- Scott Hillstrom
The HealthStore Foundation® (HSF) was organized to apply the lessons learned from the franchise industry to this problem: When consistent standards are maintained it becomes possible to mass distribute goods and services through large retail networks so that they are accessible and affordable to large populations.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
TECHNOLOGY
From digital divide to digital provide : The confluence of technology, market efficiency and social equity
-- Appa Rao Korukonda and David G Martin
This article discusses the role of investment in information and communication technologies in promoting social equity, removing entry barriers and increasing market efficiency. Arguments from different streams of literature are cited to reinforce arguments by Robert Jensen, a Development Economist at Harvard University, as well as to illustrate some of their inherent limitations.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
TRADE BLOCKS
NAFTA : Growing pains
-- Sanjoy De
Fourteen years have already passed since NAFTA came into being, but it has not yet been able to fetch the desired fruits of free-trade to its member nations, particularly to Mexico. Resentments and protests are still pervasive, essentially among the farm groups in Mexico. Now with complete lifting of the residual trade restrictions from January 1, 2008 the farm lobbies, mainly the petty farms, have become more hostile as they are the ones who are hit the hardest.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
MANAGEMENT
Troubleshooting for expatriate CEOs
-- Manishankar Chakraborty
The Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization (LPG), coupled with the technical revolution has taken a center stage of the world economic activity. This has thrown open new vistas for all business organizations from across geographies, sectors and companies to scale up operations, not only in their native markets, but also in new ones across the globe. All these have compelled corporate executives to take up assignments in new locations, working with people from different nationalities, which in turn calls for high level of acclimatization capabilities, irrespective of their positions and functions. Peers, subordinates, superiors hailing from different ethnicity and background may actually be a boon in an era where business has no barriers. However, for that to happen, there should be a lot of maturity and understanding on the part of the top honchos .
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
HR
Employee retention and the future CEO
-- T N Rama Kumar
Talent deficit is a serious issue that most CEOs face. Retention of talent has moved from an exclusive HR worry to a key concern of many CEOs. The article looks at a plethora of retention strategies and concludes with the Hewitt Best Employer Study 2007 which identifies the practices of some best-known Indian companies which directly or otherwise contribute to employee retention.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Corporate governance and shareholders' value creation : Analysis of crisil's governance and value creation ratings
-- Dr. N K Sharma and Dr. Manoj Pillai
The ethical issues in business are of great relevance today. The last decade has witnessed a number of scandals and controversies related to the ethical aspects of the business, with specific links to accounting. These scandals have resulted in increased focus and concentration on ethics, especially those relating to accounting. Corporate governance has become a buzzword among the corporate circles with particular emphasis on shareholder value analysis. Value-Based Management and shareholder's value maximization have become important objectives for firms. Credit Rating Information Services of India Limited (CRISIL) has designed an innovative model to assess the various corporate governance practices involving governance and stakeholder value creation. Organizations are being ranked by CRISIL on the basis of measures taken by them for stakeholder value creation with specific emphasis on shareholders' value creation. This article traces the various aspects of shareholder value creation with specific analysis of CRISIL's market initiative in this regard.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
Towards global best practices in corporate governance
-- Dr. Sanjiv Agarwal
Good corporate governance practices are important to encourage investment in a country. Companies in a global economy, where access to capital markets is in the interest of economy, assume greater significance. While the report of Kumar Mangalam Birla Committee on corporate governance opined that a strong corporate governance was a prerequisite for the growth of capital market and was an important instrument of investor protection, studies of various companies the world over revealed that markets and investors did take notice of well-governed companies, responded positively to them and rewarded such companies with higher valuations as reflected in stock prices. Good corporate governance leads to the efficiency of a business enterprise, to the creation of wealth of stakeholders and to the country's economy. The need is for the entire corporate world to follow the principles of corporate governance.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
STRATEGY
Managing strategic alliances : Working to win together
-- Prof. A Venkata Subramanian
Organizations worldwide are increasingly relying on strategic alliances to achieve their growth objectives and other strategic goals. However, most of the alliances end in partial or outright failure. External partnership management is a complex process. This article examines some simple managerial principles to be followed to successfully manage strategic alliances and makes some suggestions to companies so that they can develop a disciplined approach to alliance management.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
CASE STUDY
Zhang Yin - China's leading woman entrepreneur
-- Vivek Gupta and Indu P
The case discusses the entrepreneurial ventures of Zhang Yin (Zhang), the richest self-made woman in the world. Zhang started her business by incorporating a company that traded in scrap paper in Hong Kong. She later moved to the US and started a company named Chung Nam that exported paper collected from garbage dumps in the US to China. The growth of her business coincided with the growth of the Chinese economy. With the increase in exports from China, the demand for packaging material increased. Zhang, then incorporated Nine Dragons Paper in China, to manufacture paper-based packaging material. Over the years, Nine Dragons spread its operations across the country and began catering to the demands of several multinational corporations.
© 2007 IBS Case Development Center. All Rights Reserved.
BOOK REVIEW
Competing in a Flat World : Building Enterprises for a Borderless World
-- Authors : Victor K Fung, William K Fung and Yoram (Jerry) Wind Reviewed by Prof. Swaha Shome
Competing in a Flat World is a pioneering book on the strategies adopted in a flat world. The entire focus of supply chain theory should shift to a network, where one firm acts as an orchestrator in ensuring the best network. In this scenario, competition between firms is replaced by competition amongst networks. The players represent the network where they belong and have some control in the operation of the network. Drawing from experiences in their own firm, and assisted by the expert Yoram Wind, the book enables the reader to realize the significance of a competitive network which spreads across various parts of the earth, yet ensures co-operation between the players.
© 2008 IUP . All Rights Reserved
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