020781   Singh S;Singh N;Sikka B K (NO, College of Agribusiness Management, G.B. Pant University of Agricultur, Pantnagar-263 145) : Marketing practices of livestock products by Self Help Groups in Burdwan district of West Bengal. Pantnagar J Res 2010, 8(1), 89-96.

Swarnjayanti Gram Swarojgar Yojana (SGSY) guide lines had a provision and mandate of forming number of Self Help Groups (SHGs) and then provide the self employment opportunities to all the members of the groups. The guidelines of SGSY concentrated more on the inputs, rather than the outputs, and their marketing. In such a scenario the study was conducted with the aim of exploring and profiling the marketing practices adopted by these Self Help Groups for marketing their livestock products, so as to generate revenue. The data was collected with the help of a structured questionnaires was used as an instrument for data collection followed by application of analytical tools like factor analysis, cross tabulation and chi - square test to draw inferences. Majority of the SHGs in the area of study have been found practicing mixed type of farming related to livestock and animal husbandry. This type of farming is fetching them higher returns as compared to other activities like dairy, poultry, goat rearing etc. The problems being encountered by SHG members were found to be mainly problems of distress sale, problem of transportation of products to specific markets and problems generated due to lack of market information. The volume of production being on the lower side and that too getting dented by the problems related to transportation were turning strong enough to force the SHG members to sell their products at lower prices and that too, through involvement of intermediaries. Distress-sale was also forced because of disease conditions, less bargaining power and false market information. The profit margins of the SHG members were getting affected by the costs involved in rearing unproductive animals also. In some cases Rhode Island Rhode (RIR) breed of poultry which these SHG members were rearing, was not having acceptance of the local customers. Improved transportation facility to specific local markets can enhance the profitability of the SHG members.

4 illus, 5 tables, 8 ref

020780   Hirstein W (Philosophy Dep, Elmhurst College, Box 113, 190 Prospect Ave., Elmhurst IL, 60126, Email: williamh@elmhurst.edu) : The contribution of prefrontal executive processes to creating a sense of self. Mens Sana Monogr 2011, 9(1), 150-158.

According to several current theories, executive processes help achieve various mental actions such as remembering, planning and decision-making, by executing cognitive operations on representations held in consciousness. I plan to argue that these executive processes are partly responsible for our sense of self, because of the way they produce the impression of an active, controlling presence in consciousness. If we examine what philosophers have said about the "ego" (Descartes), "the Self" (Locke and Hume), the "self of all selves" (William James), we will find that it fits what is now known about executive processes. Hume, for instance, famously argued that he could not detect the self in consciousness, and this would correspond to the claim (made by Crick and Koch, for instance) that we are not conscious of the executive processes themselves, but rather of their results.

019783   Suresh Kumar D (Agricultural Economics Dep, Tamil Nadu Agricultural Univ, Coimbatore-641 003) : Inquiry into determinants of participation in self-help group (SHGs) institutions. Productivity 2009, 50(1), 72-81.

Institution building is now recognized as vital for poverty reduction across the world. This paper focuses on the factors influencing women's participation in Self-Help Group (SHG) institutions in Southern India. It is evident that women participation in SHGs is influenced by household level factors, group characteristics, and contextual factors. Our policy focus should be tilted towards development of infrastructure in the rural areas, women empowerment through ensuring literacy, and ensuring sustainability of watershed institutions which could complement resources. Our results support that the public policies geared towards increasing women's participation in SHGs ensure collective action in rural areas.

6 tables, 23 ref

019782   Subramaniam D;Shyamasunder K (NO, ICFAI National College, Kanchipuram) : Rural product and urban market. Productivity 2009, 50(2), 130-3.

Majority of the Indian population lives in rural areas. The typical rural India is still engaged in agricultural activities. Most of the rural workforce consists of illiterates who have no knowledge about marketing their own produce, but they have expert skill to make a particular product. Also the product they produce does not have a market in their own rural area despite having a market in the urban area. This invariably creates a "gap" between the producer and the buyer and the rural workforce has to depend upon the middlemen who have the skill to identify a market for the product produced in the rural side. The causes for the existence of such a "gap" are due to the difference in the environment prevailing in urban and rural areas. This paper makes an attempt to study what can bridge this "gap" that exists between the rural producers and the urban buyers.

2 tables, 8 ref

019781   Sirdeshmukh N P;Puri Y M;Chopde I K;Pundlik A D (Mechanical Engineering Dep, Visvesvaraya National Institute of Technology, Nagpur) : Productivity improvement through application of "MOST" in switchgear company. Productivity 2009, 50(2), 145-51.

Increased market competition has moved companies more towards "customization" of their products and services. Therefore, it has become the norm rather than exception for companies to update their operations continuously. Predetermined Motion Time Systems (PMTS) have become attractive and an useful evaluation tool in this endeavor. BasicMost and MiniMOST, as examples of PMTS systems, were applied to the assembly of 4P RCCB product. Using results from MOS T study sheet lean principles are applied such as work balance, suggesting workstation-wise improvements, and the differences between Present, MOST, and Lean MOST output are presented.

3 illus, 5 tables, 7 ref

019780   Sharma M G;Singh K N (Operations Management Area, Indian Institute of Management, Lucknow-226 013) : Binomial option valuation of spares. Productivity 2009, 50(1), 65-71.

The motivation of this work comes from the analogy between financial investments and the phenomenon of spares breakdown and spares usage, which is apparent because of the commonality of uncertainty. Through the use of binomial option pricing model, which is the most widely used real option model, the issue of spare parts management in capital intensive industries has been addressed to determine the value created by exploiting uncertainty. It aims to contribute as a decision support system for the practitioner to provide guidelines by exploiting uncertainty and formulating strategies for spare parts management.

4 illus, 5 tables, 8 ref

019779   Sakhuja K;Srivastav M;Sharma S;Sharma S; Haleem A (Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering & Technology, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi) : Planning of engineering college machines hops: need, proposals, and economic benefits. Productivity 2009, 50(2), 134-44.

Ensuring effective learning among students is vital in the context of India's ever-growing technical education sector and its contribution to our economic development. The role of proper planning of machine shop floors, a priority in all commercial manufacturing units, is often ignored while setting-up of engineering colleges. The paper proposes a four-pronged approach to improve the learning outcome of students. This will guarantee massive monetary savings for all the stakeholders in any technical institution-the government, college promoters (in case of private colleges), parents, and, primarily, the industry which recruits these students. The proposal of buffer scheduling will also lead to environmental conservation by preventing metal wastage in college machine shops.

5 illus, 5 tables, 19 ref

019778   Purohit S K;Sarkar A;Das D;Sharma S K (Patni Computer Services, Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu Univ, Banaras) : Performance evaluation of services of commercial banks based on customer perception: a fuzzy approach. Productivity 2009, 50(2), 93-101.

Delivering quality service has become a necessary pre-requisite for survival amongst all public and private sector banks operating in India in the highly competitive post-liberalized scenario. In this paper, we have made an attempt to evaluate the services of a few Indian banks based on the perception of customers. A number of performance criteria were considered based on customers' notion about the services provided by the banks and their personal experience at the point of interaction with these banks. These performance criteria were identified through informal interview and discussion with the bank managers and a few customers. Most of these identified criteria are imprecise in nature which motivated us to use fuzzy set theoretic analysis for measurement and evaluation. Opinions were obtained from a large number of customers on a 5-point Likert scale and they were subsequently transformed into fuzzy numbers for the purpose of carrying out necessary computation for obtaining utility values of each bank. The banks were finally ranked based on their utility values which represent their capability to satisfy customers.

1 illus, 5 tables, 31 ref

019777   Prabhat Kumar (Academy of Technical Eucation, , Noida, Uttar Pradesh) : Conceptual model of human resource management in public service for excellence and productivity. Productivity 2009, 50(1), 1-8.

Talent is like a plant. Its full growth requires nourishment, protection, and proper environment. In the absence of this, it is bound to perish. In the current national scenario of rapid economic growth, it is of utmost importance to identify talented people and to encourage them to the extent possible. These people form a nucleus around which further growth in terms of productivity will take place. There is no shortage of talented people. However, nourishment, protection, and environment are grossly in short supply to stimulate healthy growth. Proper environment for growth of excellence requires efficient as well as unbiased excellence. This identification procedure is briefly reviewed and its weaknesses are identified in this paper. A transparent and automatic performance-based evaluation procedure is then formulated to eliminate as many weaknesses of the existing scheme as possible to suitably reward the deserving employees. Adoption of proposed procedure may promote excellence and enhance productivity.

2 illus, 2 tables, 6 ref

019776   Parmar J S;Signh D (Institute of Management Studies, Himachal Pradesh Univ, Shimla) : Trade unionism in Himachal Pradesh state electricity board. Productivity 2009, 50(1), 44-54.

The global economic changes have resulted in inducing more foreign investment in India, thereby bringing more technological changes in recent times. This has a direct impact on the trade union compositions. Mergers, takeovers, and amalgamations are taking place and the workforces are facing lay offs, exits, and many other structural adjustments. Trade unions usually oppose these actions. The government too is in dilemma, whether to favor the workforce for accomplishment of political goals or to encourage the economic reforms in order to achieve goals for which these reforms were initiated. Intra-union rivalries, politicization, multiplicity of unions, declining power of membership, etc., have weakened trade union movement in recent times. Taking an advantage of this declining position of trade unionism, the management is adopting aggressive decisions which may be against the interest of the workers. It is, therefore, necessary for the Indian workforce and its leadership to understand the dynamics of structural changes and adjustments. Hence, in order to understand the dynamics of trade unionism in India, regional studies on the theme of trade unionism are required. The present study of Himachal Pradesh State Electricity Board (HPSEB) is a step forward in this direction.

16 tables, 7 ref

019775   Nagarajan R;Mulay S (NO, Population Research Centre of the Gokhale Institute of Politics and Ec, Pune) : Provider satisfaction in public hospitals in Maharashtra. Productivity 2009, 50(1), 20-33.

Studies on provider satisfaction in the delivery of health care are limited compared to the vast amount of literature available on client satisfaction. The present study tries to understand the perspective of the providers in delivering health care services from the data collected from 407 providers in the public hospitals in Maharashtra. The study assesses the satisfaction of the providers under four major dimensions (work environment, work relationship, professonal satisfaction, and personal gains and losses), which fairly cover the different aspects related to their job satisfaction. The findings of the study reveal the important aspects of the provider satisfaction that need to be taken into account to improve the delivery of public health care.

20 tables, 14 ref

019774   Mohanty M;Pradhan B B (Institute of Business and Computer Studies, Faculty of Management, Siksha 'O' Anusandhan Univ, Bhubaneswar) : Corporate reputation management: the study so far. Productivity 2009, 50(1), 9-19.

Corporate reputation has attracted interest from a wide range of academic disciplines. It is also a growing focus for business and media attention. Corporate reputation is still relatively new as an academic subject. It is becoming a paradigm in its own right, a coherent way of looking at organizations and business performance, but it is still dogged by its origins in a number of separate disciplines. This paper examines the construct, the key elements, strategic aspect, measurement, and importance of corporate reputation in creating value for organizations.

2 illus, 1 table, 46 ref

019773   Kaushal S L (Institute of Management Studies, HP Univ, Shimla) : Call of business process outsourcing motivators and deterrents. Productivity 2009, 50(1), 61-4.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is emerging as a major source of employment to a large number of young and educated people. But these are reported to have poor work environment. Through the present study an attempt has been made to know the factors contributing to attract talent and identifying the major difficulties of a career in a BPO by conducting a survey on 150 call center employees in Delhi and NCR. The collected data has been analyzed with the help of percentage weightage, mean, and standard deviation. It is then concluded that a call center employee perceives it as a good career option but also feels some irritants. Stress has been noted as very high among call center employees caused mainly by sales target, work pressure, and job monotony. However, employees were found to be cooperative and using their skills adequately. But there are indications of need for job variety, workload rationalization, and role conflicts resolution to improve efficiency and control/ing labor turnover.

6 tables, 7 ref

019772   Ganapathi R;Balaji Prasad M (NO, Alagappa Univ, Tamilnadu) : Environmental impacts: a study on the effects of working environment on the performance of excutives. Productivity 2009, 50(1), 55-60.

Work is an integral part in everyone's life. Working environment plays a crucial role in enhancing the performance of an individual and the organization as a whole. When one undertakes work in a poor working environment, it becomes challenging to maintain a productive and satisfying work life, thereby threatening work success. Keeping this in mind, an attempt has been made to study the level of satisfaction of the executives on the various environmental factors that contribute to effective performance. An emphasis has been made on the need to follow the right mix of management and environmental techniques and behavior principles, both formal and informal, to create a no-boredom-working environment. The paper ends with a number of counter measures to be followed by the organization to create a conductive working environment backed by genuine efforts to motivate human resources.

2 tables, 14 ref

019771   Chaudhuri D D (NO, Indian Institute of Management, Indore) : Total factor productivity growth in Indian manufacturing sector in an era of economic liberalization. Productivity 2009, 50(2), 159-65.

The objective of this paper to provide an overview of the recent studies on Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth rate of the Indian manufacturing sector in the reform period (from early 1990s) and to address issues relating to broad contours of methodology of estimation of TFP growth rates and data sources taking stock of the major studies carried out in this area. The methodology, study period, and nature of data (that is, time-series or cross-section) have to some extent contributed to divergent results.

^iia1 table, 19 ref

019770   Chandna P;Dhingra A (Mechanical Engineering Dep, NIT Kurukshetra, Kurukshetra) : GA framework for job shop scheduling problem with due dates. Productivity 2009, 50(2), 152-8.

The job shop problem is a well-known NP-hard scheduling problem of combinatorial optimization and has a very wide engineering background. These are computationally complex problems which often have highly domain dependent features and thus tend to need highly domain specific optimization algorithms. Genetic Algorithm (GA) provides a way of separating the optimization algorithm from domain knowledge which has led to promising and useful results in the areas of job shop scheduling. In this paper a novel GA framework to job shop scheduling problems is presented, in which the chromosome is a fixed length string, encoding a schedule in such a way that crossover and mutation always produce valid schedules. The authors have suggested three new due date related performance measures for NP-hard job shop scheduling problems. Experiments are conducted for example problems, and the results confirm the viability of the suggested fitness functions.

7 tables, 23 ref

019769   Chahal S S;Hooda V S (Commerce Dep, M.D. Univ, Rohtak, Haryana) : Productivity performance of state co-operative apex banks in India: an analytical study Northern region. Productivity 2009, 50(2), 112-20.

Co-operative banking in India has an extensive network as compared to that in regional rural and commercial banks. Co-operative banks are playing a significant role in disbursement of credit and mobilizing savings through various types of banks at different levels. But there is a need to evaluate the performance and strengthen these institutions in the eyes of financial inclusion concept. The present paper is an attempt to disclose the real position of state co-operative banks'productivity of the northern region in India. Because productivity is linked with profitability, higher the productivity, proportionately lower will be the establishment cost. The study reveals that the Chandigarh State Co-operative Bank has shown better performance in terms of deposits per employee and deposits per branch. Haryana State Co-operative Bank (HARCO Bank) has topped with highest Average Compound Growth Rate (ACGR) in terms of advances per employee, business per employee, and business per branch. Himachal Pradesh State Co-operative Bank has shown average performance, while Jammu & Kashmir and Rajasthan State Co-operative Banks have shown poor performances among the selected banks considering all parameters. It may be suggested that the policy makers of these banks may consider productive compensation plan which should be matched with performance measures.

10 tables, 5 ref

019768   Biswas P K;Biswas I (College of Vocational Studies, Delhi Univ, Delhi) : Sources of finance and productivity: a study of unorganized manufacturing sector in India. Productivity 2009, 50(2), 121-9.

Unorganized manufacturing sector of India is found to operate under increasing returns to scale despite the industries being predominantly traditional in nature. Scarcity of capital compels this sector to operate at a sub-optimal level. Scheduled commercial banks plagued with NPAs under directed lending due to information asymmetry and monitoring problems not only restrict supply of loans to this sector but also fail to ensure productive use of the capital advanced to this sector. Informal sources of financing is highly important to this sector and these financers having full information about borrowers are in a position to monitor the functioning of the latter often bundling of financing with other relations and at times through equity participation. Thus, informal financing ensures most productive use of scarce resource, which is reflected in terms of increasing returns to scale. Significantly positive regression coefficient of the value added per enterprise on the proportion of non-institutional finances in total outstanding loan and a negative coefficient of the regression -on the share of institutional finances are again manifestations of the differences in the utilization of the finances provided by the two sources.

1 illus, 8 tables, 18 ref

019767   Banerjee M (NO, National Foundation for India, New Delhi) : Variables influencing role performance of woman in panchayats. Productivity 2009, 50(1), 82-9.

The 73rd Amendment Act marked a new beginning of local governance that ensured one-third of the total elected seats for women in the three tiers of Panchayati Raj. This study attempts to analyze the emerging profile of women, measure their role performance and identify socio-economic and psychological characteristics that might influence their role performance as panchayat leaders. Statistical analysis indicates the significant effectiveness of as many as eight variables in influencing role performance. Knowledge (on functions), Attitude, Job Involvement, Achievement Motivation, Family Income, Education and Age could be termed as good predictors of role performance of women in panchayats.

6 tables, 14 ref

019766   Arivazhagan G;Elangovan R;Sathiyamoorthi R (Statistics Dep, Annamalai Univ, Annamalainagar-608 002, Email: arivazhagan1975@gmail.com) : Determination of optimal manpower reserve when demand for manpower has fluctuations. Bull pure appl Sci-Sect E 2010, 29(2), 243-8.

There are many organizations or industries in which there may be fluctuating demand for manpower. Sometimes it may be static also. In view of the fluctuations in demand for manpower, recruitment is done frequently followed by training. This is called stage 1. Sometimes there may be delay in the process of recruitment in stage 1 and hence shortage of manpower arises, in stage 2, which involves use of manpower. The breakdown of activities at stage 2 due to shortage of manpower is very costly. Hence a reserve of manpower or inventory is suggested. In this paper the optimal size of manpower is derived assuming different costs involved and the distributions of the random variables. Numerical illustration is also provided.

2 illus, 2 table, 6 ref

019765   Ahmed J U D (Management Dep, North Eastern Hill Univ, Tura Campus, Chandmari-794 002) : Growth of bank deposits and its determinants a pragmatic study on commercial banks. Productivity 2009, 50(2), 102-11.

Commercial banks are highly sensitive organizations open to public security; they must continuously ensure their profitability, which is essential for their growth and viability as also for infusing public confident. Thus, banks have assumed greater responsibilities in mobilizing domestic resources for financing the priorities of the economy. The resource mobilization is an integral part of banking activity. Bank deposit has certain peculiar features which combine the cannons of liquidity, profitability, and security. The present paper is an attempt to evaluate the growth of deposit mobilization of banks and its determinants in Barak valley region of Assam in the context of national scenario. For this purpose 16 commercial banks operating in the region have been considered over a period of 11 years, that is, 1997 to 2007 on the basis of statistical and financial tools.

7 tables, 32 ref

018567   Shelke R D;Nagure D V;Patil S N (Agricultural Economics and Statistics Dep, College of Agriculture, Latur, Maharashtra) : Marketing of vegetables of Parbhani market. Agric Update 2009, 4(3-4), 443-7.

5 tables, 3 ref

018566   Shelke R D;Nagure D V;Patil S N (Agricultural Economics and Statistics Dep, College of Agriculture, Latur, Maharashtra) : Marketing of paddy in Konkan region of Maharashtra state. Agric Update 2009, 4(3-4), 439-42.

2 tables, 5 ref

018565   Sembian R;Patel J M A (Psychology Dep, Annamalai Univ, Annamalainagar-608 002) : Occupational stress and job satisfaction among mill workers. Behavioural Scient 2010, 11(2), 153-6.

This research studies the occupational stress and job satisfaction of mill workers pertaining to the role of demographic variables. The relationship between occupational stress and job satisfaction was also observed. The sample for the study comprised of randomly selected 200 mill employees (all were males) ranging between 30 to 58 years (Mean age= 47.8 years). The tools usedfordata collection were the; (1) Occupational Stress Index (Srivastava & Singh. 1981); (2) Job Satisfaction Scale (Kanungo, 1982), (3) the Personal Information Schedule. Results indicated that educational qualification and work experience significantly influenced both occupational stress and job satisfaction. Monthly income was significant in influencing job satisfaction. The outcome of this study also revealed a significant negative relationship between occupational stress and job satisfaction.

22 ref

018564   Pajankar V D;Thakare A B (Educational Survey and Data Processing Dep, NCERT, New Delhi-110 016, Email: vdp1234@rediffmail.com) : Export performance of horticultural commodities in India. Int J agric statist Sci 2011, 7(1), 243-8.

Horticulture can help the farmer's commodity by making farming more remunerative and generating employment. The APEDA has innovated an excellent concept of agriculture export zone adopting a recognizable approach by introducing all steps of farming produce right from production to reach ultimate reasonable market. To ensure better export quality and healthy standard of products and maintaining identity, APEDA has developed a system for grant of the certification marks i.e. "Quality produce of India" for agriculture products being exported from the country. It has been observed that major increasing trend in the export for fresh fruit and their products is targeting of few markets which consists mainly middle east, UK and some other European countries, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. The export in terms of rupees earned has doubled during 2001-2002 rising from Rs. 550.35 to Rs. 968.63 crores. Fruit produced by adopting of organic farming practices has comparatively more demand all over the world.

3 tables, 4 ref

018563   Khalache P G;Gaikwad J H;Thorat K S (Extension Education Dep, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra) : Level of job perception and their suggestions of agriculture assistants working in MPKV, rahuri. Agric Update 2009, 4(3-4), 451-4.

3 tables

018562   Kakade S P;Gaikwad S P;Patil U D;Tambe B N; Bhoyar A R (Agricultural Economics Section, College of Agriculture, Shardanagar, Baramati, Pune, Maharashtra) : Economics of soybean seed production in Nagpur district of Maharashtra. Agric Update 2009, 4(3-4), 400-2.

The study was conducted during 2006-07 in Nagpur District of Maharashtra state. Under soybean seed production, average per hectare total cost i.e., cost 'C' was worked to Rs. 16172.72. The input-output ratio for soybean seed production at cost 'C' was 1:1.20 which indicated that soybean seed production was profitable preposition

3 tables, 5 ref

018561   Jagtap M D;Patil S N;Nichit M B;Shelke R D (Agricultural Economics Section, Padmashree Dr. D.Y. Patil College of Agri Business Management, Akurdi, Pune, Maharashtra) : Economic efficiency of marigold marketing in Pune district of Maharashtra. Agric Update 2009, 4(3-4), 432-5.

An attempt was made to study the economic efficiency of marigold marketing in Pune (Maharashtra). In all thirty sample cultivators were selected from the villages of Khed Tahasil of Pune district and data were collected for the year 2006-07. The collected data were analyzed by a simple tabular method and statistical tools such as arithmetical averages and percentages were worked out for the interpretations of results. It was observed that on an average, marigold flower production was 2850 kg on 0.40 ha. of a farm. The marketed surplus of marigold was disposed through three different channels. The highest net margin of retailer was Rs.4.54 in channel-I followed by that of Rs.3.05 and Rs.3.00 in channel-Ill and channel-II, respectively. Channels-I was found to be the most efficient in regard to producer, intermediaries and consumer's point of view. Similarly, producer's share in consumer's rupee was also high in channel-I.

4 tables, 1 ref

018560   Jagtap M D;Patil S N;Nichit M B;Lohar N S (Agricultural Economics Section, Padmashree, Dr. D.Y. Patil College of Agri Business Management, Akrudi, Pune, Maharashtra) : Marketing management of tuberose in Pune district of Maharashtra. Agric Update 2009, 4(3-4), 403-6.

In all thirty sample cultivators were selected from the villages of Haveli Tahasil of Pune district and data were collected for the year 2006-07. The collected data were analyzed by a simple tabular method and statistical tools such as arithmetical averages and percentages were worked out for the interpretations of results. Pune and Mumbai have been emerged as the most important centre for marketing of tube roses in the study area. The Pune market was found to be relatively better because net amount gained by producer in that market was higher due to low marketing cost as compared to Mumbai market. A study on price spread in marketing of tuberose flowers in Pune and Mumbai markets revealed that producer's share in consumer's rupee was not more than 33.66 per cent in the case of all flowers. However, Pune market was found to be efficient as producer's share in consumer's rupee was quite high in Pune market was compared to Mumbai market. The process of marketing of selected flowers has been engulfed by several problems at cultivator's level and within market yard. The labour, planting material, credit, packing materials and transportation were found to be inadequate and costly. There was lack of pre-cooling, cold storage and technical know-how.

5 tables, 4 ref

018559   Ingle S G;Pawar B R;Tawale J B;Jagde S A (Agricultural Economics and Statistics Dep, Marathwada Agricultual Univ, Parbhani, Maharashtra) : Marketing costs and price spread for kagda flower in Nanded district of Maharashtra. Agric Update 2009, 4(3-4), 259-61.

The study was conducted for estimation of marketing cost, marketing margin and price spread through different channels at kagda flower in Nanded district of Maharashtra. Five wholesaler and ten retailers were selected for present study. The data pertained for year 2005-06. The results revealed that price paid by consumer was Rs.100.00 per quintal in channel-I (P-R-C) in which producers share in consumer rupee was 64.51 per cent. Price spread was found to be Rs.35.50. In channel-II (P-W-R-C) price paid by consumer was Rs. 150 per quintal. In which producer share in consumer rupee was 42.45 per cent. Price spread found to be Rs. 86.32 per quintal.

3 tables, 2 ref

018558   Howal A A;Khalache P G;Sonawane H P (Extension Education Dep, Mahatma Phule Krishi Vidyapeeth, Rahuri, Ahmednagar, Maharashtra) : Marketing behaviour of the pomegranate cultivators of Solapur district of Maharashtra. Agric Update 2009, 4(3-4), 233-4.

Majority of the respondents sold their produce to other states or distant market, followed by other state markets, local market and district market. Major constraints faced by the respondents of pomegranate cultivation were lack of knowledge about oily spot disease management, fluctuation in prices of market, lack of knowledge about application of plant protection measures, availability of guaranteed seedlings from disease free nurseries, lack of knowledge about fertilizer and micronutrient and middle man taking more commission.

1 table, 4 ref

018557   Halder J C (Geography Dep, Calcutta Univ, Kolkata) : Spread and impact of participatory forest management in West Bengal. Indian J Landsc Syst ecol Stud 2010, 33(2), 643-56.

Human wellbeing through out the world depends directly or indirectly upon natural resources. It is estimated that about 80% of world's population depends upon natural resources for meeting their basic needs. As a result, different management systems have been implemented for the sustainable use of these resources. But in most parts of the world these management systems have failed without the larger support of dependent population. Today natural resources are fast depleting and degrading due to change in economic emphasis and alteration of management systems. Peoples' response to this progressive deterioration of the natural base manifests itself in many parts of the world in the form of ecological movements (Sarin 1996). From this ground reality, Government of India accepted the participatory management system of some natural resources by issuing guidelines for peoples' involvement and the Participatory Forest Management(PFM) in India is one of the largest co-management efforts for conservation the natural resources in the world. Forest constitute is an important segment of our country's natural resources, requiring to be managed prudently so as to meet the needs of today's population without depriving the future generation as well as help to preserve the ecological balance and biodiversity. The knowledge about interdependence between natural and social systems enforces the need to implement the Participatory Forest Management in a more holistic, integrated and flexible development framework. The Participatory Forest Management in West Bengal has great relevance for its economic backgrounds which have predominantly agrarian economy and population is dependent upon forest for subsistence. This has resulted not only in rejuvenating the Forest covers but also brought socio economic change in the life style of the communities of living in the forest area. This paper addresses the process and circumstances that led to the genesis of Participatory Forest Management (PFM) in West Bengal as well as the past and present forest policies that facilitated this change. This paper also attempts to analyze the spread and impact of PFM programme and find out the problems associated with PFM and lastly draws some recommendations for its future sustainability.

1 illus, 8 tables, 23 ref

018556   Antwal P N;Bellurkar C M;Bhosale P B (Home Science Extension Education Dep, College of Home Science, Marathwada Agricultural Univ, Parbhani, Maharashtra) : Effectiveness of combination of different communication media. Agric Update 2009, 4(3-4), 347-9.

An investigation was undertaken to study gain and retention of knowledge through different communication media viz., lecture plus demonstration, printed material and electronic media. Control and experimental groups consisting 30 rural female respondents were pre-tested. The three communication media were provided to the experimental group with an interval of one week and scores were recorded. Scores were also recorded after 21 and 30 days. The data were analyzed by using T test. The significant gain and retention of knowledge was noted at 15 days after intervention programme. Post knowledge score was more in case of electronic media, whereas mean gain knowledge was more in case of lecture plus demonstration. The intervention package was proved to be effective as the rural women from the experimental group were significantly different from the control group for post knowledge score and mean gain knowledge score.

3 tables, 6 ref

017421   Young R (NO, , Knowledge Associates International, U.K.) : Back to basics: strategies for identifying creating, sharing and using knowledge. Productivity 2008, 49(1), 14-18.

New technologies can be effectively used to implement knowledge management at all levels, for individuals, teams, organizations and communities, locally, nationally, regionally and even across the globe. This paper presents the case forgoing Back to Basics, provides some simple strategies and looks at the future of knowledge management.

017420   Ved Prakash (NO, , KM Wipro Technologies) : Knowledge management in wipro. Productivity 2008, 49(1), 19-24.

What drives the Wipro's KM initiative is the aligning of knowledge strength to its key business drivers.

3 ref

017419   Sengupta N (NO, , FD-425, Salt Lake, Kolkata-700 106) : Growth of housing sector in India-application of cost-effective construction technologies to reduce greenhouse gas emission. J Instn Engrs-Pt AR 2010, 91(Apr), 5-16.

Building construction sector can play a major role in reducing greenhouse gas emission through applicatior of technologies aimed at reduction of use of building materials. Energy consumed during production o building materials and components plays a crucial role in creating environmental pollution. India is witnessing high growth in urban and rural housing, which needs more production of building materials. Permanent of semi-permanent type buildings which consume easily available conventional materials like brick, reinforced cement concrete etc can be made economic and eco-friendly by lowering use of energy-consuming building materials through cost-effective construction technologies. Buildings with cost-effective construction technology can be designed within the parameters of the existing Indian Standards. Awareness generation among the users, proper technical and architectural guidance and easy availability of skilled manpower are of utmost importance for promotion of cost-effective technologies in India and to make them as the most acceptable case of sustainable building technologies both in terms of cost and environment.

14 illus, 7 tables

017418   Rao B;Sarma J V S (NO, Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, Visakhapatnam) : Knowledge management for competitive advantage in the steel industry. Productivity 2008, 49(1), 25-9.

Knowledge Management at Visakhapatnam Steel Plant aims at providing a platform for an employee to share his experience and knowledge and in devloping a culture of learning from each other.

4 illus, 1 ref

017417   Mishra B;Bhaskar A U;Khurana A (NO, IIT-Delhi, Delhi) : Do learning organizations differ in their culture and reward patterns?. Productivity 2008, 49(1), 46-53.

In the context of myriad environmental changes affecting organizations the capacity to learn becomes the core competency of an organization which transforms it into a learning organization. The present study aims at investigating the significance of difference in culture and reward patterns of high and low learning organizations. This paper is based on research work that studied ten IT organizations from the National Capital Region, India.

2 tables, 21 ref

017416   Mahapatro B B (NO, Fair Mohan Univ, Balasore, Orissa) : Developing business productivity & value through corporate portals. Productivity 2008, 49(1), 35-45.

A firm's ability to leverage knowledge held by members in the organization is dependent on first, the ability of the firm to create an infrastructure to access this knowledge, transfer it and make it available to others. Enterprise Information Portals have emerged as gateways to streamline information access in firms. This paper focused on knowledge portal (KP) as a significant component of an enterprise information portal and analyses how it can contribute to a firm's competitive advantage.

1 illus, 2 tables, 38 ref

017415   Krishnan G S;Chattopadhyay A;Yadav A (NO, , National Productivity Council) : Technology and innovation for knowledge management conference theme paper. Productivity 2008, 49(1), 1-8.

The Second International Conference on Knowledge Management for Productivity and Competitiveness organized recently by the National Productivity Council, focused on the role of technology and innovation towards achieving a knowledge-oriented society.

1 illus, 2 tables, 10 ref

017414   Ghosh K;Sahney S (Koustab Ghosh is a Doctoral Scholar and Sangeeta Sahney is and Assista, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur) : Sociotechnical system and employee retention: a comparative organizational. Productivity 2008, 49(1), 61-6.

The study aims at understanding the impact of social and technical work systems of industrial organizations through threefold research issues: Assessing the social system of the organizations with the help of the identified constructs; assessing the technical system of the organizations with the help of the identified constructs; and their relationship with employee retention. The overall analysis of the study suggests that employees believe that to retain people in the organization, both the social and technical factors have to be taken care of.

5 tables, 23 ref

017413   Gaur A;Khatkar S (Business Administration Dep, Chaudhary Devi Lal University, Sirsa Haryana) : Challenges in agri-supply chain financing -a reflection. Ann Agri Bio Res 2010, 15(2), 105-10.

The present study was conducted with specific objectives (i) to study the structure of agri-supply chain in India, and (ii) to critically analyze the flow of finance in supply chain in agriculture. Based on the data collected from primary and secondary sources, it was observed that although the share of institutional credit in agriculture sector to total rural credit increased throughout the years, yet there was predominance of non-institutional credit. In India, majority of the farmers (57% of the respondents) in agri-supply chain are still getting loan from non-institutional sources mainly due to more flexibility and easy access to such sources. While 26% of the respondents received financial support in agriªsupply chain from institutional sources. On the basis of this study, it may be suggested that financing institutions should make easy access to farmers at lower rate of interest and flexible terms and conditions.

4 illus, 2 tables, 6 ref

017412   Chopra A;Garg D (NO, National Institute of Technology, Kurukshetra) : Qualiy costing system - and effective way to implement TQM in industry. Productivity 2008, 49(1), 30-4.

An efficient and effective Quality Costing System undoubtedly paves the way for a sound TQM and excellent corporate health. This paper shows how an effective quality costing system in an industry is helpful in implementing TQM.

3 illus, 3 tables, 10 ref

017411   Chaudhari D J;Rathod V J;Naphade S A;Tingre A S (Agril. Economics & Statistics Dep, Dr. PDKV, Akola) : Economics of production and marketing of custard apple in Vidarbha region. Ann Pl Physiol 2009, 23(2), 249-52.

An attempt has been made to study the economics of production and marketing of custard apple in Vidarbha region of Maharashtra State. The study was based on primary data of sixty farmers collected from nine tehasils of Akola, Buldana and Washim districts. The selected custard apple growers were classified into three groups on the basis of age of custard apple orchard. Simple tabular analysis and standard cost concepts were used to work out cost of cultivation of custard apple. At overall basis per hectare cost of establishment and cost of cultivation were Rs.39611 and Rs. 24746, respectively. The input output ratio at cost 'C' was 1.92. The study revealed that the profit was increasing with the age of orchard. The marketing cost of custard apple was worked out to Rs.155.03 per qtl. In marketing of custard apple three major channels were observed but mostly marketing was done by producer - wholesaler - retailer - consumer channel. The producer's share in consumer's rupee was more in channel III that is producer to consumer.

4 tables, 5 ref

017410   Bhaskaran C S (NO, , 17, Radhika Colony, West Marredpally, Hyderabad-500 026) : Structural reforms in planning & management of professional education. Ann Natn Acad Med Sci 2010, 46(3), 137-53.

The professional education in health sciences in our country has not kept pace with the rapidly changing scenario and remained static. Recommendations made by several expert committees in the past could not be implemented due to various reasons in spite of the presence of regulatory bodies and universities. In recent times, higher education including professional education in our country is facing a lot of criticism not only from the medical fraternity but also from the general public. Keeping in view the present situation, the National Knowledge Commission, Yash Pal Committee and the Task Force of the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare have submitted their respective reports recommending that there is an urgent need for structural reforms to fulfill the national health policies. After having discussed the modalities given by the aforesaid committees, it is suggested to have a three-tier structure with an autonomous apex body at the centre (NCHRH) playing the main regulatory role as a controlling authority, Universities of Health Sciences (UHS) in each State as an implementing agency with its own autonomy and flexibility and the third as an intermediary nodal body (HEGC/HSGC) to serve as a monitoring and funding agency whose recommendations shall be mandatory and not recommendatory. Even in the absence of a new apex body and with the continuance of the existing professional councils, the monitoring and funding agency will be able to give the desired results. However, implementation of strategies thus identified and described requires innovative thinking, co-operation among the professionals and the political will.

2 illus, 1 table, 19 ref

017409   Ashwani Kumar;Bansal S K (NO, , Govt. Bikram (PG) College of Commerce) : Emrging issues in supply chain collaboration. Productivity 2008, 49(1), 67-79.

Collaboration with customers, suppliers and even competitors has been considered a key to success or survival in the intensively competitive global environment. Sharing accurate demand information on a timely basis, at both tactical and strategic levels, is important to supply chain performance. Various firms have been using different methods for supply chain collaboration ranging from Vendor Managed Inventory (VMI), to Collaborative Planning, Forecasting and Replenishment (CPFR) techniques. This trend is just a starting point of the next generation supply chain and it may develop into a set of methods by which supply chain partners would have joint sales forecasts and production plan. The present paper highlights some of the emerging issues in supply chain collaboration.

5 illus, 4 tables, 50 ref

016364   Yamini Marda (Jagannath International Management School, Vasant Kunj, New Delhi) : Prospects and challenges of medical tourism in India. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(4), 32-8.

1 illus, 3 tables, 14 ref

016363   Singh S;Dayal R;Pandey R (Family Resource Management Dep, College of Home Science, C.S. Azad Univ of Agriculture and Technology, Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh) : Retailing and wholesling practices of woollen products. Asian J Home Sci 2010, 4(2), 369-70.

The study was conducted in "Lai Imli Woollen Mill" of Kanpur city (U.P.). Maximum sale of woollen products was found for "lohi" in retailing (46.88%) and wholesaling (37.5%) shops. Minimum (12.5%) purchse of blazers and blankets were found in selected retailing and wholesaling shops. The highest score of 2.89 was found for the rental work space and minimum score (1.00) was identified for transportation and cost of raw material. Cost of raw material score 1.00 followed by the trasnporation and electricity score 0.75 each identified from retailers for cost calculation of the products. The highest score 2,93 was found for ''the high marketing cost" as a constraint and the lowest mean score (1. 00) was found for the "delay in sale services" due to workers during purchasing of woollen products in retailing and the wholesaling respondents showed the highest score 2.75 for the poor quality products and the lowest score 1.00 was found for unavailability of the transport, competition in market and higher taxes during marketing of woollen products.

3 tables, 3 ref

016362   Sen S (NO, Institute of Management Study, Kolkata) : Strategic human resource management in the new economic scenario. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(4), 49-53.

2 illus, 20 ref

016361   Sakthivel N (Commerce Dep, Gobi Arts & Science College, Gobichettipalayamm, Tamil Nadu-638 453) : Nokia mobile handset: a study on users' behaviour. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(4), 11-20.

The study has tried to find out the factors influencing users of Nokia Mobile handset. It also analyze the level of satisfaction of users towards Nokia handsets and to study the problems faced by the users of the set. It is restricted to Gobichettipalayam Town only and it considered only Nokia Mobile Handset. For the present study, required primary data were collected from 100 sample respondents by distributing well-structured interview schedule. Collected primary data -were analyzed with Chi-Square Test, Ranking Analysis and Percentage Analysis and interpretation of data was made. Statistical calculations and computations were made by using SPSS Statistical Package (10th Version). The results show in the present study, it was found that some major problems faced by the Nokia handset users. For solving those problems, some viable suggestions were given.

10 tables, 7 ref