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This issue deals with topics, such as, brand personality; job satisfaction
level of scientists in government-owned R&D organizations; sustainability
reporting; consumer purchasing behavior of motor bikes; and
employers' perspectives regarding performance appraisal and reward philosophy.
The research paper, "Brand Personality: An Empirical Study of Four Brands
in India", by Saptarshi Purkayastha, empirically measures the brand personality
of four chosen brands, viz., Motorola, Raymonds, Samsung and 7 Up using
a framework of brand personality scale, developed by Aaker. The data,
obtained when analyzed using factor analysis, gave different brand personality
dimensions containing separate variables for different brands. The paper points out that
each brand should be treated separately and the scale cannot be generalized
for different types of brands.
The research paper, "Job Satisfaction Level of Scientists in
Government-Owned Research and Development Organizations in India", by Ruchi
Tewari, focuses on job satisfaction of scientific professionals working in
government-run research and development organizations, which are targeting
indigenous technology development. Most of the organizations are divided into projects
and facility groups, where the former is primarily responsible for planning
and conceiving and the latter looks after the deliverables and fulfilling
requirements. The scientists in both these groups are engineers, who are equally qualified
and recruited at the same starting salary. The author studied and compared their
job satisfaction levels, using Paul Spector's Job Satisfaction Survey (JSS) as
the measurement instrument. The results show that as against the
general perception that the educated and learned scientists of our country are
dissatisfied and are aspiring for the careers in Western countries, they are generally
a satisfied lot and that other than salary, contingent rewards and
recognition among co-workers will be the determinants of job satisfaction among
the intellectual and scientific community.
Financial Reporting pattern has changed drastically in the
post-decolonization period and it has moved from its black and white domains to greener
pastures. Green accounting, sometimes termed as environmental accounting, has given
rise to sustainability reporting. The research paper, "An Insight into
Sustainability Reporting", by Arup Choudhuri and Joy Chakraborty, focuses on the social
and developmental issues involved in sustainability reporting. In spite of
such developments, there is no unique business reporting structure that
could illuminate the investors about the sustainable performance of an
organization besides the traditional financial statements. This paper unveils the
significance of disclosing sustainability performance statements in annual reports of
the companies and the initiatives that have been taken in that direction.
Economic and market analyses attempt to identify and describe the
factors, which influence market activities, so that more reliable predictions can be
made about future trends. The research paper, "Factors Influencing the Purchasing
Decisions of Motor Bike Consumers: A Comparative Study of Popular Brands",
by B S V Ramarao, says that there is a need for improvement in the new
products to face various challenges in the world market. Companies are working
on innovative ideas for improvements in product design, efficiency, look
and workability and so on. According to the author, now-a-days, motor vehicles
have become a comfortable mode of transport for those belonging to the middle
class. Out of the available brands, Hero Honda is well-established in the market.
Many surveys have shown considerable difference between Hero Honda and
the others. Observation of consumer behavior is very important for any
manufacturer for incorporating further improvements in their products.
Performance appraisal is the step where management finds out how
effective it has been in hiring and placing employees. It acts as an approach
towards managing and developing the employees so as to achieve the
overall organizational objectives. The research paper, "Employers' Perspectives Regarding
Performance Appraisal and Reward Philosophy in Insurance Sector in Haryana", by Neeraja
and Aman, is based on the hypothesis that
demographic variables and employers opinions are independent of each other. The authors have analyzed the
data using factor analysis, reliability tests and chi-square tests.
-- K Rajanath
Consulting Editor
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