This issue consists of seven articles. The first article, "Optimizing Franchising Investment Decision Using Electre and Rompedet Methods", by Isac Claudia, Dorina and Dura , discusses the manner in which franchising investment can be better handled in the modern global context. It traces the history of franchise investment projects and uses factual information about some situations in the past and present to point out the opportunities and threats associated with it. Since this kind of business is gaining in popularity, it is particularly useful to understand the issues that have been covered in this study.

The second article, "What Determines the Academic and Professional Participation of Economists?", by S K Mishra, is a very interesting econometric analysis applied to an institutional economic problem. The problem defined by the author is the question as to whether the state of economic development of a country has an observable bearing on the academic and professional participation of its economists. This article is a fine example of the universal applicability of econometric methods in social sciences. The analysis is based on regression method, and a log-linear model has been used. The analysis is an object lesson as to how a very basic econometric model can be usefully applied to the published data on any sector to gain better insights into the working of an economic system. Here the assumption is that there is a multiplicative relationship between the dependent variable (i.e., number of participating economists) and a set of independent variables like per capita income and literacy, measuring the level of development of a country. The significance of the relationship between the number of participating economists and the state of economic development is analyzed using the estimates of the coefficients. The study concludes that the extent of participation of academic economists is more in nations with better state of economic development.

The third article, "Indian Registered Manufacturing Sector: Changing Structure and Performance, 1980-2004", by Santosh Kumar Das, studies the progress made by organized manufacturing sector in India over a span of 25 years. The comparison is between a decade of growth before the watershed year of 1991 and nearly a decade and half after this important year in economic governance of India, due to the initiatives of liberalization, privatization and globalization taken during this year. The study reveals that the impact of this year decreased in a decade. The economy started showing signs of fatigue by the turn of the century. The initial euphoria had waned and the heightened expectations were replaced by circumspection and pessimism. The study makes use of key information provided by the Annual Survey of Industry. There were clear signs of industrial slowdown, and the later part of the post-liberalization era, i.e., from the year 2000 onwards did not show much confidence in the performance of the Indian manufacturing sector compared to the years immediately after the liberalization.

The fourth article, "Performance Assessment of University Departments Using DEA: An Exploratory Study (Shahid Bahonar University of Kerman, Iran)", by Seyed Hamed Moosavi Rad, Ali Reza Naderi and Seyed Morteza Moosavi Rad, is a study of how academic departments may be objectively ranked on the basis of their achievements in research and other activities that are being seriously pursued. This is a very novel study as in the modern era there is a move towards privatization of higher education. This study throws light on a new way in which accreditation agencies might evolve the objective criteria for their ranking methods.

The fifth article, "Performance of Haryana Financial Corporation in Liberalized Era", by Sushma Rani Verma, is a comment on the nature of activities of financial corporations of the states, considering Haryana as an example. This study is particularly relevant since it is generally believed that State Financial Corporations (SFCs) can play a vital role by supporting industrialization in the states leading to a more balanced regional development, under the ongoing process of economic reforms, in the country. The study concludes that changes are required for improvement in performance of development banks like SFCs.

The sixth article, "Special Economic Zones for Rapid Industrialization and Regional Development: Progress and Concerns", by D Nagayya and T V Rao, is on the role played by the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the economic growth of India in the last decade. This article conducts an in-depth study of the evolution of SEZs in India. It has made use of documents and reports of the Ministry of Commerce in the evolution of the SEZ from the initial idea of export processing zones. The SEZs are controversial since far greater relaxation has been permitted to them in the procurement of factors of production like land. In addition, relaxation is also allowed in terms of clearances that need to be obtained for setting up of units. Certain duties are also waived for such units. The article enables readers to understand some of these issues that make the problem very grave. The purport of the author is that clarity can emerge if there is nation-wide consensus on the fundamental principles that govern the SEZs and there is a minimum of grey area that leaves their resolution to the discretionary powers of the local functionaries.

The last article, "Sources of Productivity Growth in the Indian Chemical Industry", by T Sampathkumar and M Saravanakumar, analyzes the productivity of resources used in the chemical industry in India. The study uses the total factor productivity approach, distinguishing between efficiency change and technological change. It concentrates on the impact of globalization on these factors. The study reveals that this sector has not shown any technological improvement, especially in terms of upgradation. The reason for this could be the inability of the domestic industry to cope with global competition in the sophisticated segments of the industry. This is leading to niche segments moving out of the nation, making upgradation a non-viable choice as far as technological change is concerned.

-- Syamasunder Talluri
Consulting Editor