Special Issue

The Concept of Competitiveness: Some Issues and Implications

-- SD Kshirsagar

Competitiveness is a complex, multi-dimensional and relative concept. It is analyzed at three levels-nation, industry and firm. This article makes an attempt to understand the concept at all the three levels, the issues in the application of this concept to the real world situations and finally its implications in the context of Indian business.

© 2004 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Special Issue

BPO sector: Creating an Uncompetitive and Uncertain Environment1

-- Lubna Kably

Outsourcing business to India might prove dearer to the foreign companies in the times to come. The Indian Government is all set to examine whether a non-resident company, which has outsourcing deals with a BPO outfit in India, is subject to tax in India. Consequently, this would impair the cost-effectiveness of outsourcing work to India, which could blunt the competitive edge of the Indian BPO industry and have adverse effects on the burgeoning BPO sector.

© Lubna Kably. All Rights Reserved.

Special Issue

A managerial view of how and why India works

-- R Gopalakrishnan

Foreigners understand a country through economists, historians and tour guides. This article is an attempt to draw a manager's perspective, based on social and organizational dynamics. It too is flawed in its own way, but perhaps it is differentand may be, thought-provoking.

© R Gopalakrishnan. All Rights Reserved.

Special Issue

Ranking Indian Banks by Performance Indices

-- Paromita Mukherjee

In this article, all the Indian bankspublic, private and foreignare ordered on the basis of performance indices developed for measuring the relative performance of a bank. The index used here is based on two performance indicators for solvency and profitability. The ranking of the banks is done not only at one point of time, but the performance of a bank is compared over the years also. From the analysis it is observed that though the foreign banks top the list, public sector banks as well as the private banks have improved themselves to enter the top 30 list. Notably, public sector banks are quite capable of competing with their private and foreign counterparts.

© 2004 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Special Issue

It's all in the Mind

-- Manjari Raman

"An aggressive willingness to compete with the competitors" is the only way to survive in today's competitive globalized business environment. For a company, a competitive mind-set is essential to prosper, compete and survive. The article talks about various facets of competitiveness taking insights from Jim Collins and Donald Sull. It also discusses the importance of a good leader and leadership styles in dealing with the tough times in business.

© 2004 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Special Issue

Whither Indian Agriculture?

-- KP Prabhakaran Nair

The Indian agriculture sector is in seroius disarray. India is lagging behind other developing nations as far as bringing up new breeds of crops and productivity are concerned. Despite substantial spending on R&D, the Indian agriculture sector hasn't made any significant breakthrough so far. The time has come to reconstitute the R&D capabilities of the sector to make it globally competitive.

© KP Prabhakaran Nair. All Rights Reserved.

Special Issue

the Saga of Indian Automobile Companies

-- Rajiv R Gupta

Since the mid-1990s to the present time, the Indian automobile companies have proved every prediction wrong that they can't survive against the global automakers. The Indian companies have shown the guts, tenacity and resilience to fight against the global players. They have survived the initial onslaught of foreign automakers and now it is time for them to taste success.

© Rajiv R Gupta. All Rights Reserved.

Special Issue

India and the World Brand Map

-- Deepak

In the global marketplace Indian brands are poorly recognized. So far, India as a brand has acheived moderate success in IT, textiles and pharmaceuticals and auto components. In order to build a global brand, Indian companies need to sharpen their focus and become specialists in specific areas of their business.

© 2004 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Special Issue

Direct Write-offs: a new trend

-- Madhu Dubhashi

Directly writing off expenses against reserves is a practice that many companies follow. The author feels that the growing tendency of direct write-offs may provoke companies to incur unwanted expenses at the cost of investor wealth.

© 2004 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Special Issue

Indian Banks _ Looking Ahead

-- NS Sekhon

Indian banks are recording an impressive performance in terms of profitability, capital adequacy, NPA levels, risk management and so on. But accomplishment of competitive advantage necessitates continued thrust on efficiency, productivity and profitability and technological upgradation on a much higher scale.

© 2004 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

Special Issue

Competitiveness of the Auto Component Industry

-- Sanjib Dutta and Sudipto Samanta

The Indian auto component industry might be the next big success story after software, pharmaceuticals, BPO and textiles.ss

© 2004 IUP. All Rights Reserved.