IIMK RESEARCH SEMINAR BY PROF. BIKAS K CHAKRABARTI

Prof. Bikas K Chakrabarti of the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics delivered a very interesting talk entitled "Econophysics of Income & Wealth Distributions in Societies" at IIMK today. According to Prof. Chakrabarti, increasingly, a huge amount of statistics have been gathered which clearly indicate that income and wealth distributions in various countries or societies follow a robust pattern, close to the Gibbs distribution of energy of molecules in a gas, studied for more than a century in Physics.

MARKETING POCKETLESS SHIRTS

By Prof. Mahesh P. Bhave

Prof. Mahesh P. Bhave

  

I bought my first shirt without a pocket on the left front panelby accident. While browsing through the piles of shirts at a well-known retailer, I liked the lightly striped white shirt – the texture of the fabric, the shape of the collar. Only when I opened the package and wore it did I realize it had no pocket. I thought this was a manufacturing defect, and that I should return or exchange it.

When I revisited the store, however, I found that this was no mistake. In the language of software, this was no bug, but a feature, by design. What are they thinking, I thought?In visits to other stores, I confirmed that this was indeed a trend. In retailer after retailer, across brands, European designers were producing shirts without pockets. For a while, I noticed this was confined to European designers, not Americans.

CULTURAL DETERMINANTS OF CHINESE NEGOTIATIONS BEHAVIOR

 By Prof. G. Venkat Raman

Prof. G. Venkat Raman

There is a vast body of literature that deals with culture and its impact on international business negotiations and broadly speaking there are four approaches, namely, structural-processual approach, negotiators’ behavior approach, cognitive-strategic approach and the stages approach. The structural–processual approach talks about factors like context/situation, processual/behavioural aspects and other strategic goals/ outcomes.[1] The negotiators’ behavior studies impact of culture on negotiations and surveys are conducted to access, analyze and explain cultural impact on negotiations behaviour. The cognitive-strategic approach links behavior and actions of negotiating players to cognition and this approach describes negotiations from the perspective of influence cultural dispositions have on negotiations behavior of parties involved. The stages approach involves examination of cultural impact on negotiations behavior in terms of stages.

DANCE OF THE RUPEE

By Prof. Rudra Sensarma

Prof. Rudra Sensarma

The rupee has received a lot of attention in the last few months ever since it went into what seemed like a free fall. Recently I was asked by a couple of regional media representatives to comment on the issue. These interviews gave me an opportunity to classify my thoughts into two parts, the general impact and the impact on the Kerala economy. 

The RBI has actually been doing a fine job of managing volatility in the currency market (the standard deviation of exchange rate is lower right now compared with previous months or years!). But the question is whether it is fighting a losing battle with no end in sight especially if speculators start believing that the central bank is running out of forex reserves. Of course current estimates say our reserves are sufficient to cover six months of imports; certainly a more comfortable scenario than in 1990-91 when it was barely sufficient for three weeks of imports. What can be done now? I believe the real issue is that the policy makers should do the right thing and not the easy thing. Capital controls are easy to impose but will the recent control measures help the government buy time till the elections? The right thing to do is to take bold decisions that will increase the inflow of foreign currency through higher exports, remittances, investments (portfolio and direct). The new RBI governor took charge on 5^th September and the initial signs make one hopeful that we may not have to wait till a new government takes charge before we see some bold decisions.

IIMK RESEARCH SEMINAR BY PROF. PULAK GHOSH

Prof. Pulak Ghosh of IIM Bangalore delivered a very interesting talk entitled “Frailty Survival Model : some applications in Finance” at IIMK today. According to Prof. Ghosh, survival analysis is generally defined as a set of methods for analyzing data where the outcome variable is the time until the occurrence of an event of interest.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON RESEARCH AND SUSTAINABLE BUSINESS

Indian Institue of Technology Roorkee
March 8-9, 2014.

The conference will provide a platform to academicians, researchers, business leaders and government officials to discuss research on various topics and sustainable business practices.

Important Dates

Last date of abstract submission: September15, 2013

Notification of acceptance of the Abstract: October 1, 2013

Last date for submission of selected papers and payment of registration fee: January 1, 2014

 

Call for Papers:

Original papers are invited on following subthemes (but are not limited to):

Marketing, HRM & OB, Accounting and Finance, Operations, General Management, Information and computer technology, Spirituality, Enterpreneurship and innovation, Sustainable management practices

For more information and registration details please click to download the conference brochure

9TH ANNUAL CONFERENCE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT

Indian Statistical Institute Delhi
December 19 - 21, 2013

The Economics and Planning Unit at the Indian Statistical Institute, Delhi organizes  its 9th Annual Conference on Economic Growth and Development. The Conference provides a forum for dissemination of modern research in economic growth and development economics, both theoretical and empirical. Papers with an India focus are especially welcome.

Important Dates

Submission starts: August 1, 2013

Last date for submission: September 10, 2013

Notification of decisions: October 1, 2013

Final program: December 10, 2013

Conference dates: December 19-21, 2013

For more information and registration details please click conference webpage

GLOBAL CONFERENCE ON MANAGING IN RECOVERING MARKETS

Management Development Institute Gurgaon

March 5-7, 2014.

This conference is intended to serve as a platform for researchers, business practitioners, academics, policy-makers, entrepreneurs and media-persons to deliberate upon the causes and consequences of the evolving environment, the challenges emanating there from and the strategic responses to these challenges. The conference is a curtain raiser event to identify the required areas of development and research to manage the recovering cross country markets. The conference would have session tracks on a wide range of management discipline.

Important Dates

First Call for Papers ...............................................................September 1, 2013
Submission of Full Length Paper ...........................................December 1, 2013
Paper Acceptance Notification ...............................................January 1, 2014
Submission of Camera Ready Copy .......................................January 7, 2014
Date of Early Registration (Early bird discount 10%) ..............January 10, 2014
Date of Final Registration .......................................................January 20, 2014

For more information and registration details click the conference webpage

INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON SOCIAL MEDIA (ICSM 2014)

IIM Raipur

January 10-11, 2014

Conference Objective

·         ICSM 2014 the first ever International Conference on Social Media in India- where learning, sharing and exploring all happens at the same time, intends to attain following objectives:

·         To provide inter-disciplinary forum across different sectors for professionals, academicians, researchers and scholars on emerging role and trends in Social Media and Internet Marketing;

·         To voice the issues and concerns emanating from digital marketing landscape and developing ideal eco-system through colloquial, and

·         To encourage exchange of ideas between academia and corporate aimed at formulating business model harnessing optimal value from Social Media and Internet Commerce.

Important Dates                

           

Last date of Full Paper Submission    :           20th September, 2013

            Paper Acceptance Notification Due   :           10th October, 2013

            Camera Ready Paper Due                   :           1st November, 2013

            Conference Dates                               :           10-11th January, 2014

For more information and registration please click the conference webpage

IIMK TO HOST INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON COOPERATIVES IN TRANSITION IN THE ERA OF GLOBALIZATION

Cooperatives were the earliest form of organisation of working people in the world. Over the years, they exemplified the importance of worker cooperation and underlined the potential of organisation, solidarity, mutual assistance and unity of action of the working class in a capitalist society. Indeed, the idea of cooperatives had its origins in utopian socialism; earliest proponents of cooperatives held the romantic view that socialism can be grafted into the capitalist system using cooperatives as an instrument. Over the years, Co-operatives have grown as a collective management of social production, thereby creating a strong alternative institution of Business and Management.

BARRIERS TO WEALTH CREATION

By Prof. Mahesh P. Bhave

Prof. Mahesh P. Bhave

Around mid-1980s, I was puzzled by a simple question: Why is India poor? What are the causes of the wealth and poverty of nations? I realized only later the very question prompted Adam Smith’s 1776 classic,  An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations. 

One conclusion I reached was that entrepreneurs were responsible for wealth creation. The state had a supportive and an enabling role. The state, I hoped, would at least not be an impediment.

Assuming entrepreneurship is the way, what prevents entrepreneurs from starting new ventures quickly? I reached a surprising conclusion – absence of the right information, in a timely way, resulting in uncertainty reduction. The faster the uncertainty reduction, the closer entrepreneurs were to business launch.

NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS

Centre for Marketing in Emerging Economies (CMEE) organizes the 2014 Annual Conference of the Emerging Markets Conference Board at the IIM Lucknow, Noida Campus in Noida, India on 9-11 January 2014.

This conference aims to provide a platform for a distinguished group of speakers and participants who will discuss debate and share their insights in furthering understanding on marketing theory and practice to listen and understand consumer voice in the context of emerging markets. Such a group includes leading academic researchers from business schools as well as experts from the world of marketing practice. In consonance with the growing opportunities available to consumers for expressing their opinions, and for firms to track consumer engagements, this conference sets an agenda for “Listening to Consumers in Emerging Markets.”

For more details click here

NIFT Hyderabad is conducting an International Conference, on Fashion, Retail and Management (ICFRM), “Reflections-2014”, on 2^nd, 3^rd and 4^th of January, 2014 at NIFT Hyderabad Campus. The conference would focus on the theme “Contemporary Issues and Trends in Fashion, Retail and Management”. The 1^st International Conference on Fashion, Retail and Management (ICFRM) is a unique interdisciplinary forum for the presentation of advances in research and development in the areas of fashion, retail and management. The conference will bring together leading academicians, researchers, business practitioners, consultants, designers and students.

For more click on  “Reflections--2014” 

Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore invites paper submissions to The 13th Consortium of Students in Management Research (COSMAR), COSMAR 2013, on 15^th & 16^th November 2013, at the Department of Management Studies, IISc. Bangalore

The Consortium of Students in Management Research (COSMAR) is an annual Research Consortium organized by the Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore.
For more information please click on COSMAR.

FDI IN MULTI-BRAND RETAIL: FOR WHOSE BENEFIT?

By Prof. Sthanu R Nair

Prof. Sthanu R Nair

The Congress led UPA government allowed 51% FDI in multi-brand retail in September 2012 overruling strong opposition from various quarters including some of the UPA allies. The move invited serious criticism from several quarters with regard to its overall contribution to the growth prospects of Indian economy and its adverse impact on traditional retailers and small businesses. The government strongly defended its move by arguing that its multibrand retail FDI policy features some unique provisions which would safeguard the interests of the traditional retailers, small scale industries and the nation as a whole. The three specific safeguard measures referred vociferously by the government and the supporters of FDI in multibrand retail at that time are (see Table):