014275   Chundawat D S;Sharma S C;Sisodia U (University College of Commerce & Mgt., UCDMS, MLSU, Udaipur) : Brand promotion in rural markets of India. Int J Engng Sci Mgmt 2011, 1(1), 33-7.

The strong Indian brands have strong brand equity, consumer demand-pull and efficient and dedicated dealer network which have been created over a period of time. The rural market has a grip of strong country shops, which affect the sale of various products in rural market. The companies are trying to trigger growth in rural areas. They are identifying the fact that rural people are now in the better position with disposable income. The Indian established Industries have the advantages, which MNC don't enjoy in this regard. The low rate finance availability has also increased the affordability of purchasing the costly products by the rural consumer. Marketer should understand the price sensitivity of a consumer in a rural area. Promotions of brands in rural markets require special measures. Due to the social and backward condition the personal selling efforts have a challenging role to play in this regard. The word of mouth is an important message carrier in rural areas. The experience of agricultural input industry can act as a guideline for the marketing efforts of consumer durable and non-durable companies. Relevance of Mass Media is also a very important factor. This paper is therefore an attempt to promote the brand image in the rural market.

2 tables, 7 ref

012047   Rastogi P (NO, , , Email: prrastogi@orpip.com) : Economic slowdown: managing receivables actively. Paintindia 2009, 59(5), 118-20.

012046   Rastogi P (NO, , , Email: prrastogi@orpip.com) : Improving managerial performance through effective time management. Paintindia 2009, 59(7), 135-8.

1 table, ref

012045   Rastogi P (NO, , , Email: prrastogi@orpip.com) : Customer complaints are opportunities for improvement. Paintindia 2009, 59(6), 89-92.

012044   Rastogi P (NO, , , Email: prrastogi@orpip.com) : Management musings how good are you in motivating your employees?. Paintindia 2009, 59(9), 115-7.

012043   Rastogi P (NO, , , Email: prrastogi@orpip.com) : Economic slowdown: managing receivables actively. Paintindia 2009, 59(8), 117-9.

2 tables

011009   Subbarayan A (Computer Applications Dep, SRM Univ, Kattankulathur-603 203, Email: subbarayana@ktr.srmuniv.ac.in) : Markovian production processes for quality management. Int J agric statist Sci 2010, 6(2), 391-8.

In this paper, a sampling inspection plan for continuous production exhibiting the Markovian character is proposed. The procedures for single and two level tightened continuous sampling plans are presented. The Average Outgoing Quality (AOQ) formula is obtained for any Continuous Sampling Plan (CSP). The AOQ, OC expressions and AOQL of CSP-1 and MLP-T-2 using probability sampling procedure are presented. Based on numerical comparisons, authors have made certain suggestions to the Total Quality Management : (TQM) circle and quality practitioners as to how to manage the dependent process to enhance the perform of production process.

1 table, 12 ref

011008   Pajnkar V D (Educational Survey and Data Processing Dep, NCERT, New Delhi-110 016, Email: vdp1234@rediffmail.com) : Statistics in management decision making. Int J agric statist Sci 2010, 6(2), 387-9.

This paper presents the role of statistics in management decision making.

5 ref

010021   Shukla R (Institute of Agribusiness Management (IABM), Navsari Agricultural Univ, Navsari-396 450, Email: shuklaiabm.nau@gmail.com) : Analysis of constraints and suggestions of farmers and consumers in apni mandi. Res J agric Sci 2011, 2(1), 148-9.

The study was carried out at Apani Mandi (Farmer's Market) at Udaipur, Rajasthan. In the present study getting stall in the Apani Mandi and non-availability of vegetables at late hours were the major constraints reported by farmers and consumers, respectively.

8 tables

008814   Surbhi (Delhi College of Arts and Commerce, Delhi Univ, Delhi) : Zee telefilm Ltd-a case study in media management. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(3), 57-64.

15 ref

008813   Suneja A;Sharma K (Commerce Dep, Kurukshetra Univ, Kurukshetra) : Pre-purchase behaviour regarding life insurance products. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(3), 36-42.

The Indian Insurance sector is a growing Industry. With private players in the sector the Indian customers are being treated to efficient service, unheard of add-ons, Technology savvy agents and speedy claim settlements. Today's customers demand innovative insurance solutions to their problems and superior quality service. They are now equipped with information, and are more educated, less loyal and highly independent. Their evolving needs are driving companies to respond more efficiently. So, the current study has been carried to identify the important sources of information used by insurance policy buyers and the objectives of buying a insurance policy. An effort has been made through this study to understand the pre-purchase behaviour of an insurance consumer. The study has come up with factors such as marketing communication, company representative and referrals which also include various variables as sub-factors. Hence insurance companies should focus on these factors for making the information search a more effective and easy exercise for customers.

6 tables, 14 ref

008812   Sonara C K (P.G. Business Studies Dep, Sardar Patel Univ, Vallabh Vidyanagar-388 120) : Valuation and reporting practices of human resource accounting in India. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(3), 47-52.

1 illus, 4 tables, 12 ref

008811   Selvam M;Jeyachitra A (NO, , ) : Risk and returns relationship of private sector bank stocks: application of CAPM model. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(2), 32-47.

The paper attempts to measure the relationship between risk and returns, and the effect of expected returns in the Indian Stock Market by applying CAPM. For the analysis, daily adjusted opening and closing prices of sample stocks of banks and Standard & Poor CNX Nifty were used. The study found that there was high positive correlation between systematic risk and expected returns. CAPM provides a better indication of systematic risk and estimates required rate of returns. The results, so obtained, hold applicability of CAPM in Indian Stock Market and in establishing the trade-off between risk and returns.

10 tables, 8 ref

008810   Perera H S C (Management Technology Dep, Moratuwa Univ, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka) : Manufacturing strategy and improvement activities of Srilankan furniture manufacturers. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(3), 26-35.

Furniture industry is a significant industry in the manufacturing sector in Sri Lanka even though it does not earn a significant portion of the world market. This paper studies the manufacturing strategy of Sri Lankan furniture industry. A questionnaire survey was carried out among the key players of the industry to investigate the manufacturing strategy and improvement activities. Cluster analysis is used to identify the strategic manufacturing groups based on their competitive priorities and three strategic groups were formed. Top competitive priorities of the Sri Lankan furniture manufacturers were identified as low price, conformance quality and product performance. Performance improvement activities under three major categories namely advanced manufacturing technologies, integrated information systems and advanced management systems were investigated. Manufacturing strategy stages of the furniture manufacturers were studied based on the Hayes and Wheelwright model and it is found out that majority of the companies have the characteristics of stage II of the model.

4 tables, 23 ref

008809   Mittal M;Vyas R K (NO, Daly College Business School, Residency Area, Daly College Campus, Indor, Madhya Pradesh) : Demographics of self attribution bias in investment decision. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(1), 28-32.

Self attribution is a cognitive phenomenon which makes people attributes failures to situation factors and successes to dispositional factors. Most of the investors, while making investment decisions tend to resort to mental shortcut or Heuristics to arrive at the decision easily and quickly and are likely to fall prey to behavioral biases like self attribution bias. The objective of this paper is to investigate whether Indian Investors are susceptible to self attribution bias and identify the demographic groups which are more susceptible to it. The study employs primary data collected from a convenient sample of 428 investors with the help of a structured questionnaire. The survey was carried out in Indore city (in Central India) during July - October 2006. The results indicate that individual investors are likely to exhibit self attribution bias. The differences in proneness to self attribution bias were found to be insignificant among investors belonging to different income, education, gender and age but significant among investors of different occupations.

6 tables, 30 ref

008808   Mallick A (NO, Aplhia Institute of Business Management(AIBM), Saltlake, Kolkata) : Employee counseling-a powerful tool. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(3), 43-6.

2 ref

008807   Kumaravel V;Joshua Selvakumar J (Management Studies Dep, V.S.B. Engineering College, Karur, Tamil Nadu) : Production and exports of marine products of India-an analysis. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(2), 48-55.

3 illus, 5 tables, 7 ref

008806   Kiran Bala (Jagannath International Management School, Vasnt Kunj, New Delhi-110 070) : Rural advertising: bridging the urban and rural divide. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(3), 53-6.

9 ref

008805   Kasilingam R;Jayabal G (Alagappa Institute of Management, Alagappa Univ, Karaikudi-630 004) : Determinants of expected return of salaried class investors in Tamil Nadu. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(3), 14-25.

It is very important that the marketers of the financial products should know the risk bearing capacity and expected return of investors. However predicting these two characteristics of investors is very difficult because many complex factors are involved in this process. This study attempts to list out the factors which are having impact on the expected rate of return of the investors. The relationship between expected return and demographic, psychological and investment characteristics of investors is analysed using chi-square test, analysis of variance, correspondence analysis and optimal scaling. In the end model is drawn showing relationship between different variables and expected return.

8 illus, 11 tables, 6 ref

008804   Kamalaveni D;Kalaiselvi S (NO, Vellalar College of Women, Erode-9.) : Cost of component analysis-a study in Indian software industry. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(2), 17-31.

The cost of a particular source of finance is the minimum return expected by its suppliers. The expected return depends on the degree of risk assumed by the suppliers. A high degree of risk is assumed by shareholders than debt holders. Debt is a cheaper source of fund than equity capital and preference capital because the interest payment on debt is fixed. Thus, a company borrows capital in order to maximize the profits for its shareholders and it would continue to use this source of finance until the incremental return on it is higher than its incremental cost. Measuring the cost of various sources of funds is a complex subject. In deciding the capital structure of a company, it is very necessary to consider the cost of each source of capital to calculate the overall weighted average cost of capital, which in turn can be used to compare against earnings so as to maximize the wealth of shareholders.In this decade, Information Technology has emerged as the leader for economic growth of India because each development in computer technology has presented new opportunities for business. This paper deals with the cost of component analysis in Indian software industry.

6 tables, 20 ref

008803   Jaiswal G;Sahu P;Pandey V K (NO, Prestige Institute of Management, Gwalior-474 001) : Service quality and trust as predictors of consumer's preference: a study of banking industry. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(3), 4-13.

India is on the path to become a global economy and witnessing the growth in many sectors. Financial institution specially banking industry is one of the areas where many public, private & foreign banks are operating their businesses to different customers in every nuke of the country. In the process to attract customers these banks are providing highest level of service quality to satisfy the varying needs of today's customers, but service quality is not alone sufficient; trust among the customers is another important factor which is a predictor of consumer preference. Still 90% of Indian consumers are banking with public sectors banks because of the trust they have although private banks & foreign banks are delivering better services than these banks. The aim of this study was to understand the relationship between the dependent variable consumer preference and the two independent variables trust and service quality. To understand the relationship regression analysis was used. The result of regression indicates that independent service quality and trust has significant impact on the dependent variable (consumer preference).

3 tables, 33 ref

008802   Govindarajulu N;Daily B F (NO, Creighton Unov, 2500 California Plaza Omaha, NE 68178 (USA)) : Exploring the antecedents of externally-driven flexibilites. J Mgmt Res 2009, 9(2), 83-99.

The main objective of this paper is to explore the relationships between web-based Demand Chain Management (DCM) integration, externally-driven flexibilities, and perceived customer value. Specifically, we address the significance of web-based DCM integration in externally-driven flexibilities in our theoretical model. Similarly, we examine the potential impact of externally-driven flexibilities on perceived customer value.

1 illus, 3 tables, 118 ref

008801   Goel S (NO, Management Development Institute, Gurgaon) : Working capital management in Reliance Industries LTD. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(1), 44-51.

An efficient control over the working capital is one of the most important considerations of the financial management of any business undertaking. Reliance Industries Ltd. is no exception to it. The present study aims to analyze the working capital management in the said group not only in totality but also in segmental performance as far possible. The present study will evaluate the various components of working capital, analyze the liquidity trend and appraise the utilization of current assets in the group under study. It will also reveal the shortcomings, if any in the management of short- term assets and suggest the required measures for the effective management of these assets.

4 illus, 4 tables, 6 ref

008800   Gandhi G P (NO, Indian Institue of Foreign Trade, New Delhi) : Export prospects of minor forest product from India. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(2), 56-64.

2 tables

008799   Comite U (Scienze Aziendali Dep, Faculty of Economics, Calabria Univ, Rende (CS), Italy) : Evolution of a modern business from its assets and liabilities statement to its ethical environmental account. J Mgmt Res 2009, 9(2), 100-20.

The enterprise is a social phenomenon which is unstable, dynamic and rarely attributed to a coordinated and unitary system. Recurrent financial scandals involving shareholders, partners and investors, prove that positive or negative valuations cannot be based on company's profitability as the only parameter. It is now widely believed that companies should communicate their activities to make their work visible and shareable. Comrnunication should reveal the basic values of a company, its competencies, its aims and the results achieved, representing a means to build trustworthy and cooperative relationships with stakeholders. The evolution of a business from its assets and liabilities statement to its ethical-environmental account indicates, on the one hand, the complex of values, which are not exclusively of economic nature, to which the company conforms its conduct, on the other hand, the guidelines which mark the relationships with the various people involved. The denomination of an ethical-environmental balance-sheet points out the essence of a business through its economic, social and political-institutional dimension. For the ethical-environmental balance-sheet to be reliable and to prevent it from becoming a self-referential and image document, it is opportune to refer to relationships between the company and the collectivity in general, considering the management of a company during a specific reference period of administration. Furthermore, it is necessary to bear in mind that an ethical-environmental balance-sheet, despite being a final balance document, must also sketch the developmental lines of future relationships between businesses and environment. My work is intended to illustrate the peculiarities of an ethical-environmental balance-sheet, describing the reference values to which companies conform their conduct, as well as their aims and guidelines which integrate the traditional relation on management.

5 illus, 5 tables, 11 ref

008798   Bush P (NO, Texas Scottish Rite Hospital of Children Dallas, Texas (USA)) : Leading independent contractors a parallel power model. J Mgmt Res 2009, 9(2), 72-82.

Costs associated with turnover in an important group of workers, independent contractors, are identified in order to show the impact of a lack of leadership training for the "point-of-contact" between a firm and its contractors. A new model of leadership utilizing components of Path-Goal Theory, Transformational Leadership, and Creative Leadership is proposed to remedy this situation.

2 illus, 32 ref

008797   Brahma S S (Training & Career Development Div, Human Resources Dep, Saudi Industrial Development Fund, P.O. Box 4143, Riyadh 11149, Saudi Arabia) : Assessment of construct validity in management research. J Mgmt Res 2009, 9(2), 59-71.

The use of unobservable constructs in management research is common. But an error in measuring a construct may have a serious effect on research findings. To bring rigor in research, it is therefore, essential for the researcher to first establish an evidence of construct validity before testing the theory. Construct validity is a complex process and often a researcher looks for an adequate framework to negotiate this. This paper explains the importance of construct validity in management research and provides a structured framework for assessing it.

1 illus, 1 table, 46 ref

008796   Bodla B S;Rajesh Kumar (University School of Management, Kurukshetra Univ, Kurukshetra-136 119) : Emerging pattern of dividend in India since 1991. J Indian Mgmt Strategy 2009, 14(1), 33-43.

Dividend decision is one of the most important functions of finance manager of joint stock companies. The relevance of the subject emanates from the long debate about the relationship between payout and valuation of the firm. Since 1991, the year of initiation of financial sector reforms and the liberalization process Indian corporate sector have experienced sea changes in connection to business policies and strategies. In this paper, an attempt has been made to bring out the changes taking place regarding dividend practices of Joint Stock Companies in India. This study is based on secondary data for a period of 16 years from the year 1991 to 2006. Beside others, the study brings out that the average dividend payout ratio has been ranging from 17.49 percent to 34.91 percent over the study period and no significance variation exists across the industries in so far as dividend payout ratio is concerned. However both dividend per share and average dividend paid by various industries differs significantly.

10 tables, 24 ref

024576   Rao S K (NO, Narvik Univ Coll, Narvik, Norway) : Quality management system. Def Sci J 2006, 56(1), 53-9.

With the increasing demand for high quality products in every field, the demand for a good quality management system (QMS) in every organisation is increasing. This has since been well-appreciated by many organisations who have adopted QMS like ISO 9000, which has standardised the requirements for QMS. A well-organised QMS benefits the organisation in achieving its goals and sucess in its missions. Author's experiences in QMS and its implementation during his long tenure at ISRO, has been briefly described. The author recalls a few incidents faced during working on the projects of ISRO and DRDO, highlighting issues wrt quality and reliability, QMS, and ISO 9000 implementation. A few guidelines for effective QMS implementation are also suggested.

1 illus, 3 ref

024575   Rama Murthy P B V;Rajendra Prasad (NO, Res Cent Imarat, Hyderabad-500 069) : Quality experiences in aerospace electronic assembly. Def Sci J 2006, 56(1), 81-6.

Quality of the electronic assembly depends largely on good quality practiced (GQP) adopted during the process of electronic assembly. Quality experiences gained during working at the defence and space laboratories have been used to develop good quality practices such as three- tray method for cleaning of PCBs, use of grommets for cable routing, use of eye-pieceless stereo zoom microscope for visual testing/inspection, pre-tinning of components, desiccators for storage, potting prior to conformal coating, continuity and isolation checks, de-golding of leads prior to soldering, and use of flux-cored solder wire. Also discusses how and why these good quality practices were evolved.

6 illus

024574   Rajendra Prasad (NO, Res Cent Imarat, Hyderabad-500 069) : Requirements analysis spiral. Def Sci J 2006, 56(1), 5-12.

Requirements symbolise the need or the set of needs for triggering the development process of the system. The system developed must follow the law of the requirements. Capturing the requirements of a system is a challenge. It is both subjective and objective process. The realistic and comprehensive requirements should be evolved as early as possible during the development cycle of the system. Many a times, it may not be possible to freeze the requirements in a single cycle. This may require a number of iterations. A template has beer, evolved for speeding up the capturing process of requirements. Requirements analysis spiral (RAS) developed helps in evolving the requirements. The development of the system or the product cannot wait till the requirements have matured, and further, it is also an evolving process. Therefore, continual models of the system have to be developed for achieving the maturity of the system. RAS can be used to freeze the requirements for the initial model and the subsequent models till the maturity of the system is achieved, both in terms of requirements and quality. Paper illustrates the application of RAS for evolving the frozen and matured requirements through a case study.

1 illus

024573   Het Ram Swami (NO, Aeronaut Dev Establ, Bangalore-560 093) : Customer feedback system for continual quality improvement-a case study from Lakshya experiences. Def Sci J 2006, 56(1), 71-80.

Customer's satisfaction is the measure of quality of a product or a service. Customers' feedback are important sources of product information on performance, improvements, and enhancement of ideas. The implementation of customer feedback system is essential to enhance the customers satisfaction through continual improvement, which is essential for the survival of any organisation in a competitive environment. The study provides a structured approach to analyse and translate the customers' feedback into quality improvement of the product. The defects reported by the customers' on the unmanned aerial vehicle Lakshya systems were investigated while carrying out their rectification. Prompt remedial measures were also instituted to prevent their recurrence. This has resulted in the improvement of reliability and quality of the product. Finally, the implementation of customer feedback system and formalisation of defect investigation procedure for improving the quality and reliability of Lakshya systems has been described. A case study on Barco monitors (RGD 651) has also been demonstrated from Lakshya experience.

5 illus, 1 table, 3 ref

023586   Chiu S W;Chiu Y S P (Dep of Business Adm, Chaoyang Univ of Technol, Wufeng, Taichung 413, Taiwan, Email: ypchiu@mail.cyut.edu.tw) : Mathematical modeling for production system with backlogging and failure in repair. J scient ind Res 2006, 65(6), 499-506.

Mathematical modeling to derive the optimal lot size for economic production quantity model with random defective rate, imperfect rework process, and backlogging. In real life manufacturing process, the generation of defective items is inevitable. In this study, random defective rate is assumed and all defective items are reworked when regular production ends. During the rework process, a random portion of reworked items fails and becomes scrap. Disposal and repair costs are included in the proposed mathematical modeling and analysis. The optimal production lot size and backordering level that minimize overall production costs are derived. Numerical example is provided to demonstrate its practical usage.

6 illus, 15 ref

022496   J Manthan;N Udupa (Dept. of Pharm Mgmt, Manipal Coll of Pharm Sci, Manipal-576 104) : Feedback: Instrument to enhance performance of an academic institution. Indian J pharm Educ Res 2005, 39(4), 207-12.

9 ref

020459   Seetharaman A;Subramanian T; Senthilvelmurugan M;Chandy E T (Fac of Mgmt, Multimedia Univ, 63100, Cyber Jaya, Malaysia) : Exposure of data warehousing & data mining to financial reporting applications. Elect Inf Plann 2005, 33(3-4), 87-104.

Exposure in the area of data warehousing and data mining applications in Financial Reporting is critical in this era where benefits of automation is seen in almost every other area. The benefits of data warehousing projects are so great that implementation discipline, project economics and project management are often ignored. Many organizations suffer loss of investment due to focus only on business benefits. Emphasis must be given from the planning phase until the rollout phase. Lack of planning, inefficient approach and methods in the implementation of data warehousing are some factors resulting in the failure of data warehousing implementation. A heightened awareness of data warehousing concept, benefits and issues come together as a means of driving implementation success.

1 illus, 29 ref

020458   Besso L (NO, , ) : Management style and staff morale in adamawa state public libraries. 0000, (NULL), (NULL).

7 tables, 9 ref

019448   Wadje P R (NO, D.K.T.E. Society's Text and Engineerig Inst, Ichalkaranji, Kolhapur-416 115) : Total quality management. J Text Ass 2006, 66(5), 207-13.

Attempt has been made on how small and medium sized firms can practise the TQM philosophy in their business practices.

1 table, 7 ref

019447   Subramani B;Krishnaveni R (Mgmt Stud and Res Dep, SNMV Coll of Arts and Sci, Coimbatore-641 021) : Gap analysis on employee loyalty towards the organisation in Coimbatore based textile industry. J Text Ass 2006, 66(5), 201-5.

Study reveals that there exists insignificant difference in the level of loyalty between the derived and the expected level of employee loyalty in all the independent variables considered for the study. Moreovoer, there is a significant difference in the level of employee loyalty between the employees in textile industry and certain other select industries.

6 tables, 14 ref

014195   Patra B K;Mohapatra D P;Nanda A K (NO, Vikash, Bhubaneswar, Email: ashok@vikash.org) : Waste management for sustainable development. J rur Technol 2004, 1(5), 212-6.

Population in India is increasing alarmingly with an alluring rise in the quantity of urban waste generated that can cause potential havoc on the environment. Mismanagement of solid waste may cause water, land and air pollution. Hence, management of solid waste is an indispensable factor for maintaining a clean and sustainable environment. It has been found that diseases are caused due to improper disposal practices of garbage and refuses. Vikash is undertaking aerobic method of composting. The garbage is made into windrows. Innoculum is spread over the windrows. Water is spread regularly to ensure humidity and temperature for growth of thermophillic and messophillic bacteria. At intervals the garbage is turned to ensure oxidation. The bio-oxidation process ensures conversation of organic garbage into compost. The compost is sieved and packed for agriculture and horticulture use. Vikash is working in three major cities of Orissa i.e., Bhubaneswar, Paradeep, Barhampur in collaboration with civic bodies like Municipalities, NAC, Port Trust. It includes door-to-door collection, transportation, segregation and disposal of wastes. This is low cost and suitable for third world countries.

5 illus, 11 ref

008705   Suresh K K;Latha M (NO, Bharathiar Univ, Coimbatore, India) : Designing Bayesian chain sampling plan (BChSP-1) with minimum angle method. IAPQR Trans 2004, 29(1), 43-52.

Procedure and tables for selection of Bayesian Chain Sampling Plan (BChSP-1) involving minimum angle between the line joining [he points (AQL, 1 -α) and (LQL, β) and y-axis are provided. Illustrations are given to compare with conveniional plan.

8 ref

008704   Subramanian V (NO, S.K.P. Engng Coll, Trivannamalai, India) : A study on promotion strategy in manpower planning. IAPQR Trans 2004, 29(1), 69-74.

In many organisations, promotion of persons from lower to higher grades is considered even when no vacancies exit in the higher grades. This is done with a view to avoiding the stagnation phobia at the lower grades. Also, in some cases where vacancies exist, persons selected may not join the higher grade immediately. This results in shortage of manpower in various grades. A stochastic model taking into consideration the above contingencies is discussed to obtain the optimal time for a person to join the higher grade.

4 ref

008703   Singh U;Singh R;Singh P (NO, Banaras Hindu Univ, Varanasi, India) : Reliability estimation for exponential distribution. IAPQR Trans 2004, 29(1), 33-41.

Deals with the classical estimation of the reliability function for exponential distribution with unknown mean failure time. A minimum mean square error estimator belonging to a convex combination class of estimators has been obtained. The mean square error of the proposed estimator has been compared with other competitive estimators. It has been observed that the proposed estimator performs well over a substantive portion of the parameter space.

6 illus, 9 ref

008702   Shivling V D;Babankumar S B;Randhawa S S; Ganju A K (Agri-Electronic Instruments Div, Cent Scientific Instruments Organisation, Sector 30, Chandigarh -160 030, Email: wdatta2000@yahoo.com) : Instrument technologies for Rural Areas. J rur Technol 2004, 1(2), 77-82.

Rural development is the backbone for the economic development of India, being a major agribusiness centered country. Science and technology can play a vital role to bring rural prosperity through technology by taking some bold initiatives in implementing front end technologies like integrated pest-warning and control system, field usable instruments, smart systems for agri-climatic monitoring. Technology in the agriculture sector has to bring in the coordination between the available natural resources and the rural needs. C.S.I.O. being the only National Instrumentation Laboratory, has been actively involved in the design and development of various types of instruments for use in different areas. A range of instruments has been developed for use in agriculture and rural usage. Some of the technologies developed at C.S.I.O for use in rural areas and agriculture are Field pH meter, Specific ion Analyzer, Soil Salinity tester, Instant drop Salinity tester, Digital Grain Moisture meter, Inductive Electro-magnetic Soil Salinity tester, N&P Measuring system, Aflatoxin meter, Digital Iodine Value meter, Oil Spectrophotometer, Digital Cereal Grain Analyser. Many of these technologies have been commercialized successfully. Presently, C.S.I.O. is actively involved in the development of a number of instruments for use in agriculture. Some of the technologies under development are: Digital Automatic Multi-grain Moisture Computer for oily and non-oily seeds/grains, Protein Analyzer, Moisture Probe for hey and grains/seeds. In future, new programs like the development of an Integrated Pest Warning Management and Control system, Automatic Dispensing & Synthesizing system, Precision Aflatoxin meter, Digital Mycotoxin Meter and some more futuristic instrumentation will be taken up.

2 tables, 2 ref

008701   Dasgupta R;Lahiri S;Jha A K;Murthy M V R L; Soni R;Dasguta R (Regional Res Laboratory, (CSIR), Hoshangabad Road, Bhopal-462 026, Email: rupa_dasgupta@hotmail.com) : Application of technology in the rural sector: some considerations. J rur Technol 2004, 1(2), 71-6.

Deals with the characteristics which should be prevalent when in a technology meant for application dissemination in the rural sector. The technology is intended to be implemented by an implementing agency in association with the rural people. The intended technology should in the first place be need based and preferably based on the local resource availability. The need for the technology should come from the people for whom it is intended. Once the area of technological intervention has been identified, it would be advantageous to form a complete package, called the Technology Management Package (TMP) for its dissemination including the quality/quantity of raw material required, intended products, forward/backward linkages, market potential and linking it with the market. This would always require a team for implementation. The team should consist of persons drawn from a wide spectrum of skills/expertise like technology provider, technical manpower, social scientist, finance expert and marketing expert. These persons could be drawn from the rural people themselves or could be from the implementing agency, which is intending to set up the enterprise in the rural area. The technology should be implemented with the help of local self help groups (SHGs), who would interact with the implementation agency regularly and work on their advice for operation/implementatation of the TMP. Technologies intended for application in the rural sector should have certain characteristics so that its aims are fulfilled. Five S's should be borne in mind, i.e. the technology should be simple, suitable, stable, socially acceptable and sustainable. A set of essential criteria exist for each the characteristic has been detailed.

2 tables, 5 ref

008700   Chaudhuri G (NO, Indian Inst of Mgmt, Kozhikode, Kerela, India) : Some important reliability results via the CHA representation/algorithm. IAPQR Trans 2004, 29(1), 75-9.

Some important reliability results arc studied in the light of the CHA representation. System availability in the context of independent component performance processes is also investigated and an easy-to-calculate analytical expression is obtained.

2 ref

005410   Kaul K K (Regional Res Laboratory (CSIR), , Hoshangabad Road, Bhopal-462 026) : Sustainable and meaningful rural development. J rur Technol 2004, 1(4), 168-73.

Every effort is being made by all concerned to improve the socio-economic welfare of rural masses of India. Rightly so, because without the development of majority the real development can't be achieved which live in villages. Gandhi ji, through his rational thinking, believed without making villages self-supporting India couldn't progress economically. This is possible only when rural material resources generated are processed in a decentralized manner, using small units based on sustainable technology. This particularly, is much more true in the case of Madhya Pradesh, where 80% of total population live in rural areas. Regional Research Laboratory, Bhopal a constituent Institute of Council of Scientific Industrial (CSIR) has contributed well in the rural development along with many other sister National Institutes of CSIR, ICAR, DBT, DST and DRDO etc. But then, we must 'agree' to the fact that results are far from satisfactory and definitely a lot more need to be done to upgrade the economic condition of rural people and make it closer to urban counter part. This is possible only when we are able to check the migration of educated youth from rural areas to urban ones, which takes place for want of better job opportunities. It is therefore need of the hour to provide rural youth proper guidance to create proper job opportunities within their own rural areas. Proper guidance, what it should be and its practicability suiting to rural areas will be the text of this paper. Many aspects to frame the guidance need to be kept in mind. To name few, are resources of region, their value addition at the source with simple technologies, marketing of the products produced etc. The most important out of all aspects is the selection and adoption of technology for the value addition. A very careful assessment of the resources, their wastages or misuse by middlemen is needed at the priority. Next comes the proper selection of the technology. As regards, the adoption of the technology lot of efforts are involved. Before selection and adoption, it is extremely essential to perfect the technology. Otherwise, the whole efforts to take an improper/imperfect technology to the user, particularly to lesser-educated rural masses, go waste. Describes few such examples and stresses the importance of developing need base technologies for Sustainable and Meaningful Rural Development.

003257   Madanmohan T R (NO, Indian Institute of Management Bangalore, Bannerghatta Road, Bangalore-560 076, Email: madan@iimb.ernet.in) : Successful e marketplaces: An institutional perspective. Sadhana 2005, 30(2-3), 431-44.

Since their inception, e-marketplaces have witnessed a major shakeout and have undergone tremendous change with regard to their business models and products/service offerings. Only a few marketplaces survive, tend to grow and consolidate in this turbulent environment. This development represents an interesting challenge to prevailing institutional theory, which views the performance of organizations as strongly influenced by the orientation and characteristics of a number of key institutional frameworks. Research, based on a case survey methodology, attempts to identify the characteristics underlying successful e-marketplaces. Results indicate the success of a marketplace strongly influenced by number of key institutional frameworks and firm-level strategies. Ownership and bias, service focus, value impact, market opaqueness, rapidity of response, complementary assets and appropriability, and industry regulations emerge as key variables.

1 table

003256   Chen S;Liang D H (Sugar Engineering Research Centre of Guangxi University, , Nanning-530 004, China) : Production cost management in Chinese sugar industry. Sugar Tech 2004, 6(4), 291-5.

Based on the reality, and weaknesses of sugar production in China, a controlling system of sugar production cost was established by process analysis. Workshop expenses and per ton-sugar cost become two key components of sugar production. Cost accounting based on the connections of material flows among different producing sections. The system can be used for drawing strategies of remuneration and selling price, and it is a beneficial exploration in modernization of sugar industry.

5 illus, 1 table, 8 ref

003255   Balasubramanian P;Tewary A K (NO, Theme Work Analytics Private Limited, Jayanagar 5th Block, Bangalore-560 041, Email: balasubp@gmail.com) : Design of supply chains: Unrealistic expectations on collaboration. Sadhana 2005, 30(2-3), 463-73.

A major assertion in the supply chain management literature is that there is an economic rationale for integration across the boundaries of firms. The purpose of the paper is to evaluate this fundamental assumption. Based on review of the relevant literature and the plethora of empirical evidence, two dominant models of supply chain organization have been found. Research findings from the literature for each of the collaboration models (viz. at arms length or tighter coupling) are presented. When such conceptual models are mapped to the real world and tested, it is found that what exists is an in-between state of loose coupling between the vendor and customer. Authors have endeavoured to determine why and conclude that it is the result of a natural equilibrium. Attempts by interested parties to push this to either end (viz. at arms length or tighter coupling) do not result in benefits at acceptable levels for both parties, and hence are unlikely to succeed. Authors advocate that the business context, market forces and behavioural aspects of organizations be well understood before designing an appropriate collaboration framework.

022978   Kamath B N;Bhattacharya S (NO, Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, D. H. Road, Kolkata-700 104, Email: subir@iimcal.ac.in) : Integrated inventory model for similar products under a two-echelon supply chain environment - an empirical study. Opsearch 2006, 43(4), 331-54.

Authors have considered a two echelon supply chain that handles multiple products under stochastic demand. Retailer sells products to customers and manufacturer produces it on a shared resource with limited capacity. Product changeovers incur significant setup cost and setup time. The objective is to find the production batch size, the stock to be held at the retailer, and the point at which the item should be taken up for production such that the total cost for the entire supply chain is minimized. Authors have come up with an analytical model for the case where all the products are similar. This model is tested on a wide range of problems and the comparison with simulation show promising results. This would be useful in formulating simple rules of inventory management at retailer and manufacturer, when the products under consideration are relatively similar.

8 tables, 13 illus, 23 ref