Merchandise Planning: An Indispensable Component of Retailing

-- Babita Kumar and Gagandeep Banga

There has been a significant change in retail trading over the years. Modernization, systematization, and consolidation are the catch phrases and keys to understanding retail. The present age is that of rocket science retailing which is an act of blending the traditional forecasting systems with the prowess of information technology. It fuses data and instinct with computer models to create a high-tech forecasting system supported by a flexi supply chain. The need is to evaluate not what the retailer sold but what it could not sell and what it could have sold had the inventory been available. Merchandise decisions have become more complex and the penalties for errors even steeper. To reduce the fallouts and to increase the customer satisfaction, merchandise planning has become all the more important. A new set of software tools and sophisticated techniques have emerged, which promise to revolutionize the entire merchandising chain, from buying to stocking to pricing. The latest techniques used for efficient inventory management are Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), forecasting techniques, inventory classification, Computer Assisted Ordering (CAO), Distribution Centers, and Direct Store Delivery (DSD). This paper focuses on the importance of merchandise planning in the era of malls and hypermarkets trying to manage Stock Keeping Units (SKUs) from a few thousands to a few lakhs.

© 2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.

Global Mindset, Indian Roots: The Experience of a Small Indian Company —Application of Hofstede Scores

-- Rajan Mani

The paper is based on the collaborative experiences of a specific company in south India. This company manufactured auto components with Japanese collaboration. Hofstede's study of how culture affects workplace values is used to examine the relationship between the Indian executives and their Japanese counterparts. Extrapolating from this, the Hofstede scores for China, Japan, and Korea, dubbed in this paper as the Asian cluster, on the one hand, and Germany, the US and the UK, called the Western cluster, on the other, are examined to try to identify areas of similarity and differences between each cluster and India.

© 2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.

RFID in the Healthcare Supply Chain: Improving Performance Through Greater Visibility

-- G V R K Acharyulu

Radio frequency-based applications in healthcare are opening up new avenues. It is the next wave in the evolution of computing. As healthcare in India is a sunshine industry and growing annually at a rate of about 13 percent, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) will continue to make inroads thru track-and-trace solutions, first, as asset and inventory management tools, then gravitating towards personnel, patient, and clinical monitoring devices. High-end asset tracking, location tracking, and anti-counterfeiting are the futuristic areas for active RFID. RFID is a disruptive technology like other technologies—the printing press, television, the Internet, and even bar codes—in the past. Early adopters often have a better chance keeping in view of long-term success. The key is in figuring out where RFID fits in an organization and determine how to best integrate RFID with the existing supply chain applications to increase corporate Return on Investment (ROI) and improve the entire process of getting products to market. This paper looks at the aspects of RFID technology in healthcare supply chain to ensure complete visibility of data and thus efficient delivery of patient care. Healthcare supply chain management can help manage patient care and administrative processes such as patient identification, routing and treatment, drug administration and inventory, laboratory examination, identification of departments, and medical procedures. The specific benefits that RFID tags offer over bar codes present the opportunity for entirely new way of working in the competitive business environment.

© 2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.

A Conceptual Analysis of Factors Influencing Entrepreneurship Behavior and Actions

-- Soumya Gaddam

Considering the fact that implications of entrepreneurship for a country are paramount, it is important to bring the field into prominence. A number of studies have examined the effect of several variables on entrepreneurship in isolation but very few provide a holistic perspective. Entrepreneurial behavior is affected by economic, social, psychological, environmental, demographic, and cultural factors. Therefore, a concrete platform that can provide a comprehensive view of interrelationships and impact of these variables on entrepreneurial behavior is imperative. Hence, this paper attempts to collate, analyze, and understand, through literature survey, the concept of entrepreneurial behavior, its major factors, and the variables underlying each factor, which leads to improved entrepreneurial performance. The study brings to light, through a simple analytical model, the relationship and influence of six major factors, which have been identified through literature review and synthesis, on entrepreneurial behavior. Building on the logic of the model, this study also attempts to serve as a basis for future research which could concretize the ongoing discussion on newer factors and their underlying variables which could have major implications for entrepreneurial behavior under different contexts.

© 2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.

Retailing Channel Enhancement Strategies Adopted by FMCG Companies in South Indian Rural Markets

-- V Ramanathan

In the last two decades, the developed and developing nations have seen their economies change from being a manufacturing-led to a service-led, in terms of wealth creation, employment and investment. From the day, when our country opened the doors of our economy to the process of liberalization, privatization, and globalization, the manufacturers as well as the distributors of both domestic and global markets have started to herald their products in our rural destination. The increase in the number of south Indians working in rural environment, the exposure of products through the media, frequent trips abroad made by the rural educated youth, and the level of increasing literacy in south Indian rural public, have all created a brand consciousness among south Indian rural customers. They equate brand with quality, prestige, and status. At present, the penetration of Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCGs) in rural markets has delineated the new marketing strategies to promote their branded items available in all rural outlets. So, they have started to adopt channel enhancement strategies in south Indian rural markets, where availability determines the volumes and market share. The word `retailing' has its origins in the French verb `retailer', which means to cut up, and refers to one of the fundamental retailing activities, which is to buy in larger quantities and sell them in smaller quantities.

© 2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.

Financial Modeling: From a Narrow Scope to a Broader Perspective—A Lecture

-- T Krishna Kumar

The social objective of skilled investment should be to defeat the dark forces of time and ignorance which envelop our future. The actual, private object of the most skilled investment today is "to beat the gun", as the Americans so well express it, to outwit the crowd, and to pass the bad, or depreciating, half-crown to the other fellow.

- John Maynard Keynes General Theory, Chapter XII

© 2007 IUP . All Rights Reserved.