The sector-wise market research for addressing the issues connected with business strategy has necessitated many attempts in the direction of bringing a rapprochement between entrepreneurial aspirations and consumer expectations, and the current issue has some interesting papers towards that end.

Keeping in mind that the retail industry has huge potential for further growth in India, the factors that influence the mindset of a typical middle-class consumer who visits corporate retail stores is explored in the paper, “Factors Affecting the Purchase of Food and Grocery Products from Modern Retail Stores: An Empirical Study”, by Govind Narayan and Rakesh Chandra, with a sample taken from a city like Patna. The factors that play a prominent role in the purchasing decisions of the consumers are identified using factor analysis. The findings provide insights for the organized retailers and decision makers to frame retail strategies keeping in mind the changing needs of the shoppers.

Given their core ideology of spending 2% of their profits on social responsibility initiatives, many corporates in India are struggling in terms of making a visible impact on consumers’ perceptions towards their products and services. The paper, “Corporate Social Responsibility Disclosure Practices of Public and Private Sector Banks in India: A Comparative Analysis”, by Sukhpreet Kaur and R Bhaskaran, presents some interesting findings on the financial and non-financial disclosure practices adopted by the public and private sector banks, giving rise to the necessary policy directions they need to take in the coming days. The differentiating factors between the private and public sector banks in the areas of social development and inclusion form the key feature of this study.

The regulatory framework evolved for venture capital firms focusing on global competition and protection to small investors, is critically discussed in the paper, “Trends and Patterns in Venture Capital/Private Equity in India: A Review”, by Smita Tripathi. The paper tries to address the necessary changes to be brought in the regulatory regime of venture capital firms, and the areas of expansion for venture capital investment in India. Moving ahead in the direction of making venture capital investments as reachable as possible is the main intention behind the study, as that alone can fuel the ailing Indian economy.

Achieving a close proximity between workers’ mindset and management ideology has always been a formidable task for which many attempts have been made in the name of safe ‘industrial relations’ and employee legislation by the government. The growing distance between worker unions and enterprise strategies regarding profit maximization is still an unexplored phenomenon. The impact of globalization is felt much on industrial relations in manufacturing sector and an interesting empirical analysis on how to engage unionized employees is presented in the paper, “Social Engagement Synergy of Unionized Employees with Enterprise Objectives: An Emerging Paradigm in Industrial Relations”, by K Pradeep Kumar and S Suman Babu, adding value to the managerial thought process. The paper presents many innovative ideas that can be implemented over by the manufacturing industry at large, initiating a new dialog process on the subject of industrial relations in the changed context of global economy, called ‘social engagement synergy’ that needs to be synchronized with firm strategy.

The intention behind the book, The Elephant and the Dragon: The Rise of India and China and What It Means to All of Us, by Robyn Meredith, undoubtedly, needs to be appreciated by the whole academia as it has raised the horizons of understanding the growth models of both the countries. The emerging trend of comparing Indian and Chinese economies on many vital parameters as attempted by the author forms the highlight of the book review by Laxman D Satya. This review goes a long way in bringing to the fore the methodological experiments done by the Chinese Government, which the Indian Government can emulate.

-- Radha Mohan Chebolu
Consulting Editor