Knowledge
Process Outsourcing: A Value Proposition
--Anurag
Pahuja and Rajesh Verma
In
this paper, the authors analyze how and why outsourcing has
started moving up the value chain. An explicit distinction
has been made between Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) and
Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO). The findings indicate
that, after its success in information technology, outsourcing
started moving up the knowledge continuum to tasks that involve
expertise and judgment, as opposed to the routine tasks. The
KPO industry is expected to grow upto 45 percent in size by
2010. The global KPO pie in 2010 will be around US$17 bn,
of which, US$12 bn (70 percent) will be outsourced to India.
Therefore, the BPO industry in India will soon be overtaken
by the emerging KPO sector, which will prove to be the biggest
revenue grosser in future. India is well endowed with intellectual
resources to take advantage of this opportunity. However,
replicating the success of BPO in KPO would be a challenging
task since the processes involved in each of them are different.
It requires domain expertise; and therefore, it is important
for KPOs to develop this expertise in a few areas and excel
in the same, so as to meet varied customer requirements. The
challenges are manifold, but India can still emerge as a major
KPO player in the global arena by leveraging the intellectual
capital and power of the Internet to offer quality research
at value prices. Although costeffectiveness is a key, the
reason for outsourcing is dictated by the best value principles.
Outsourcing solutions for highend processes are usually customized
and valuebased. It will be this customization, that will
enhance the value proposition of KPO. This study also examines
the present state of KPO in India and its desired role in
the new economic scenario. In light of these findings, the
study suggests some imperative factors for the success of
KPO.
©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Using
Business Intelligence for Competitive Advantage
--Kaushik
Mukerjee
This
paper aims to study the various aspects of applying Business
Intelligence (BI) for gaining competitive advantage. The study
is restricted to three areasinnovation spurred by BI, business
process management and decisionmaking, personalization and
CRM initiatives; and how BI can be useful to the organization
by using the suggestions made by earlier studies. This paper
thereafter, focuses on how a BI tool should be chosen and
the expectations from the tool.
©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Lifestyle
and its Influence on Brand Choice Behavior
--Jayasree
Krishnan and M Sakthivel Murugan
Marketers
have always been interested in the lifestyle of individuals.
They deal with the daily behaviororiented facets of people,
their feelings, attitudes, interests and opinions. A lifestyle
marketing perspective recognizes that people sort themselves
into groups on the basis of the things they like to do, how
they like to spend their leisure time and how they choose
to spend their disposable income. This paper focuses on how
lifestyle influences the brand choice behavior of respondents
while deciding on the purchase of durable goods. It aims to
analyze the lifestyles of people in Chennai and identify the
underlying lifestyle dimensions that can be used as a basis
to segment consumers, and determine the influence of their
lifestyles on the brand choice patterns of respondents in
the purchase of durables goods. Consumers often choose products,
services and activities over others because they are associated
with a certain lifestyle. Products are the building blocks
of lifestyle. Marketers should therefore, have a complete
idea of the changing lifestyles of consumers, so as to segment
them and position their products successfully.
©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
American
Depository Receipts: A
Review after the Introduction of Twoway Fungibility
--V Sudha and G Satish
Until
1999, the Indian corporates' access to equity capital had
been confined to the domestic capital market. In this year,
for the first time, Indian companies raised the equity from
the Wall Street. The first company to have floated ADRs in
1999 was Infosys. Depositary receipts have emerged as a favored
vehicle to access developed stock markets for many emerging
market companies. India has been no exception. While several
Indian companies issued depository receipts in the 1990's,
only a few of these are listed in the US exchanges. The findings
of earlier research studies suggest that Indian ADRs often
enjoy large premia, indicating effective market segmentation
between the two countries. The market prices of Indian shares
and ADRs revealed huge differences, giving considerable scope
for arbitrage. In 2002, introduction of the twoway fungibility
of ADRs was an important step taken to increase liquidity
and reduce arbitrage between the underlying securities and
ADRs. In this paper, the authors study the return dynamics
of exchange listed ADRs of Indian originthe factors that explain
the movements of returns of ADRs, crossborder correlations
between returns on ADRs and their underlying shares and the
premium/discount on ADR prices after the introduction of the
two way fungibility. The effect of the announcement of twoway
fungibility on the returns on shares in Indian markets is
also studied.
©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Strategies
to Enhance Performance of Trade Fair: Lessons from Visitors'
Perception
--V
Venkatanarayanasami,
N Panchanatham and V Dhulasi Birundha
The
goals of marketing can be achieved via many channels, i.e.,
through TV, radio, newspaper, magazine, Internet, telemarketing,
special events or exhibitions. Hence, which is the most effective
tool to be used to achieve the goals in marketing? In many
Asian countries, exhibitions are becoming an increasingly
popular marketing medium, particularly for the small and mediumsized
companies trying to reach a large number of prospective customers
via the persontoperson method. This study focuses on Trade
Fairs and Exhibitions, and the visitors' perceptions and attitude
in comparison with that of the literature surveys of the museum's
visitors. It also focuses on the various factors that are
demanded, in accordance with the international standards,
by the visitors of the trade fairs and exhibitions held by
the Zak Trade Fairs and Exhibitions Pvt. Ltd, Chennai, who
have organized more than 100 trade fairs and exhibitions.
This paper first explores the importance of such trade fairs
and exhibitions and informations about the visitors' opinions
and their requirements at such conventions, so as to enable
the exhibitors to equip themselves at the trade fair and attract
visitors. The authors aim to bring out the factors essential
for such trade fairs and the convenience of online shopping
by analyzing the various variables, by statistical tools.
The findings are for the benefit of the exhibitors to augment
their efforts in organizing successful trade fairs and exhibitions.
©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
Futurology:
A Literature Survey
-- P
Bala Bhaskaran
In
the present scenario of fast technological changes, shrinking
distances and increasing competition, having an active concern
for the future is a basic prerequisite for survival and growth
at the firm and national levels. The developed world seems
to have realized this aspect fairly well. Futurology is the
scientific prediction of the future. To predict the future,
it is necessary to understand the present, all the forces
that are relevant in shaping every aspect of the present and
how these forces are expected to shape things and events in
the future. Furturology analyzes the future in a medium to
longterm horizon. It projects the recent trends into the
future, through extrapolation, scenario building, brainstorming,
forecasting and a variety of other techniques. Futurology
also involves taking the proactive stand of importing desirable
future outcomes or scenarios and conducting normative research
to explore better strategies.
©
2006 IUP . All Rights Reserved.
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