Sustainable growth is the key to success for any business. Businesses always
look for Critical Success Factors (CSFs) to achieve sustainable growth. The
first paper, “Modeling the Critical Success Factors for Sustainable Growth of Mining Industry in India”, by Mohit Agrawal, Harshal Shah and A K Digalwar, discusses the current mining practices in India. The authors find different drivers/enablers to develop the sustainable practices for mining industries in India. A Multi-Criteria Decision Making (MCDM) approach is adopted to prioritize the drivers for sustainable development of mining industries.
The second paper, “Commonality Amongst Various Lean Manufacturing Techniques: An Investigation in the Indian Automobile Industry”, by Rohit Sharma, Anish Sachdeva and Ajay Gupta, empirically examines the commonality amongst the vital lean manufacturing techniques/tools. The authors observe that lean manufacturing techniques like Value Stream Mapping (VSM), Total Productive Maintenance (TPM), 5S and supplier partnership have paramount commonality among them. They also find that Quality Management System (QMS), Kaizen and seven wastes (7W) reduction technique do additional ly have consequential commonality. Finally, the authors suggest that lean manufacturing techniques need to be holistically implemented in order to get optimum benefits.
The third paper, “Towards a Value-Based Method for Risk Assessment in Supply Chain Operations”, by Lingzhe Liu and Hennie Daniels, proposes a risk assessment framework as a research road-map, with the aim of developing a protocol that integrates the risk management requirements from the perspectives of the business and the government. The authors identify four steps of risk assessment in the framework. They conclude that much work needs to be done to make the framework practically applicable to real world businesses.
The final paper is a case study, “Danaher Business System: Lean Thinking and Strategy”, by Debapratim Purkayastha and Tangirala Vijay Kumar, that discusses Danaher’s acquisitions undertaken in the 1980s and integration of all of them by an operating strategy known as Danaher Business System (DBS). DBS is essentially a lean operating mechanism that scrutinizes every process in the company, be it in manufacturing, new product development, or sales and distribution. It irons out the inefficiencies in the concerned process and standardizes the ensuing process. The case study further discusses the key decisions related to DBS and its future prospects.
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.
