Youth power has significant impact on entrepreneurship, and this is being witnessed in the marketplace with innovation happening in the way business is done. The energy and the fresh perspective that the youth carry have influenced the way they look at the business opportunity. Some of best-known companies today are manifestations of the youth power. Much more can be accomplished by understanding the various factors influencing youth. Further, if an attempt is made to develop these systematically through education, family values, organizational culture, etc., many such innovations would flourish. This issue brings out two papers on youth power in which the authors have attempted to understand the youth potential in entrepreneurship, while the other paper in the issue discusses product strategy and its importance for entrepreneurial ventures.
Millennials are the generation with fresh ideas and are creating enterprises contributing to the economic and social capital. The first paper, “Understanding the Entrepreneurial Intentions of the Indian Millennials: A Pilot Study”, by K Satyalakshmi, discusses the entrepreneurial intentions of the millennials for new venture creation. The study was conducted on a group of 60 millennials to understand their entrepreneurial intentions and the determinants for venture creation. The study is an interesting attempt to predict the entrepreneurial intentions of the Indian millennials.
The UAE is known for its vibrant economic activities in the Middle-East Region and also has a rich diversity with its population from various nationalities. The region has witnessed phenomenal growth in various sectors creating entrepreneurial opportunities. The second paper, “Entrepreneurial Perceptions Among the Expatriate Graduate Students in the UAE: An Empirical Study”, by Indranil Bose and Peter Mugambi, evaluates the perceptions of entrepreneurship of expatriate business and engineering students of eight institutes in the UAE. The findings of the study indicate curriculum, training environment and family support play an important role in promoting entrepreneurship.
Product decisions are critical for any organizations and they are based on an understanding of the target market. The last paper, “The Efficacy of Product Strategy in the Formulation of Marketing Strategy in Small Scale Industries”, by Shweta Sharma, analyzes the marketing strategy of small scale entrepreneurs of Himachal Pradesh. The findings of the study reveal that various factors of product strategy like distribution channel, consumer behavior, competitors’ policy, technological capacity, etc. are significantly correlated with each other. Hence, it is critical for small scale industries to have effective product management to create right products for making favorable impression on the consumer’s mind.
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.
