RECRUITMENT

The Right Fit

- Wayne Turk

Finding the right fit of a potential employee to the best position for him in the company is difficult. One has to find the right person, do the interview, hire, place the person in the right job, and give him the right tools for the job. All of this takes planning, thought, and effort. This article provides some ideas on these aspects.

© 2009 Wayne Turk. All Rights Reserved.

COVER FEATURE

"Be an industry leader in value creation, servicing packaging needs and creating a greener future."

- Bushen L Raina

Bushen L Raina has been with Tata Steel and its Associate companies for over 40 years. In his career spanning four decades in manufacturing, marketing and general management, he has held various senior positions including past chairman CII (ER) and IIP. He served as Director, International Trade for Tata Steel (1993-97) and has been the Managing Director of the Tinplate Company of India since 1997. Under his stewardship, the Company has accomplished a dramatic turnaround through pursuit of change management initiatives, resulting in the JRDQV Award in 2007 and CII-EXIM BANK Prize in 2008. An Engineering and a Management Graduate, Bushen has also pursued a 6-Tier Sr. Management Programme(1994-95) at CEDEP(INSEAD), France.

© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

TECHNOLOGY

IT Services in HR Outsourcing : Issues, Trends and Perspectives

- Dr. G C Nag and Anisha Mishra

With the competitive pressures building up across organizations, companies need to look around and initiate austerity measures to sustain competition. One such measure could be human resource outsourcing. IT companies with huge knowledge assets and innovative ideas can support companies in HR outsourcing to suit the strategic need of any organization. This article gives an account of five leading IT companies and discusses how, with the support of these organizations, HR can be transformed into a lean and thin function, focusing more on strategic issues of the organization.

© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

VIRTUAL TEAMS

Managing Virtual Teams : A New Challenge for Managers

- Manishankar Chakraborty

The world of virtual reality has taken center stage. The world around us is moving from a conventional set-up to that of a virtual one. For every small piece of information, the modern generation is more comfortable in googling rather than finding out from the dictionaries, lexicons and thesauruses. Going around the world, knowing the tastes of people from every nook and corner is possible at the click of a mouse. Globalization of world economies is the perfect icing on the cake. This article therefore analyzes the pros and cons of virtual teams, which is gradually becoming one of the biggest challenges for managers across industries and levels.

© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

SUSTAINABILITY

Ecological Footprint : Time to Reverse Global Trends

- Srikanta Kumar Padhi

We are witnessing significant threat to our planet due to worrisome changes in the global environment. The factors responsible for this are mainly unsustainable consumption and over exploitation of natural resources. This scenario not only creates a global threat to our planet but it may also lead to the collapse of the ecosystem, resulting in permanent loss of biodiversity and the planet's ability to support life in future. In this context, the article makes the reader vigilant about the malevolent effects of human action on the planet. Essentially, it discusses the major indicator of human pressure on the planet through the concept of ecological footprint and the role of different players of the ecosystem to minimize the environmental threat for a sustainable future.

© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

CSR

Strategic Philanthropy : A Shift in Approach

- Sumati Reddy

This article explores the development of the concept of strategic philanthropy that enables a company to meet business goals and social goals. It describes how philanthropy has shifted from a passive, unfocused activity to a well-considered strategic decision with far-reaching effects. Further, this article also outlines the factors to be borne in mind while designing a program of strategic philanthropy.

© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

COMMUNITY INTEREST COMPANY

Social Enterprise : For Profit, For Cause

- S Jaya Krishna and Dr. R Padmaja

`Social Enterprise' is a paradigm emerged, based on sustainability and social entrepreneurship. As an alternative to grant-seeking model, it allows firms to operate as a `for-profit' organization by offering at-cost services or charging a fee for the much-needed services, to ensure a continued stream of income. Success of this `for profit, for cause,' model relies on operational excellence, cost containment, transfers and application of knowledge, confidence, focus on people (internal and external) and branding executed based on the factors such as - identifying opportunities, developing innovations, accepting and managing risk.

© 2009 IUP. All Rights Reserved.

CASE STUDY

Alcatel-Lucent: Can the New : Leadership Turn it Around?

- Doris John and P Florence Nightingale

French firm Alcatel and American company Lucent Technologies, leading global telecom equipment players, merged in November 2006 to form Alcatel-Lucent. This was the first merger of a major US-based networking hardware company with a non-American company. Headquartered in Paris, the merged entity faced major problems such as internal clashes, cultural integration and the fear of job cuts which severely affected employee morale and productivity. In July 2008, the company announced that CEO Patricia Russo and chairman Serge Tchuruk would step down following losses in six consecutive quarters. Industry veteran and Dutch national Ben Verwaayen was appointed the new CEO and the French businessman Philippe Camus was made the non-executive chairman in September 2008. This case study helps to analyze whether the new bosses of Alcatel-Lucent, with the help of a new support team, can turnaround the company and make it profitable. It also helps to understand the issues involved in turning around transborder MNCs.

© 2008 IRC . All Rights Reserved.

SHORT BOOK REVIEW

Basel II Norms: Implications on Business and Brand Equity Measurement: Concepts and Applications

Editor : Preeti Phuskele , Editors : R Harish and P S Gopalakrishnan