ENTREPRENEURSHIP AND INNOVATION

The Management of Small-Scale Industries By Women Entrepreneurs - A Study With Reference to Virudhunagar District

The entire change and development of civilization to a large extent is the result of trade, commerce and industrialization. In this development, the human resource in general and entrepreneur in particular play a pivotal role.In India, from the very beginning, women have been managers of the kitchen and have solely dominated the area of household activities. The hidden entrepreneurial potential of women has gradually been changing with the growing sensitivity to the role and economic status in society. Today, women entrepreneurs represent a group of women who have broken away from the beaten track and are exploring new avenues of economic participation.Woman entrepreneur is regarded as a person who accepts a challenging role to quench her personality needs and to become economically independent by making suitable adjustment in both family and social life. Among the reasons for women to run organized enterprises are their skill and knowledge, their talents and abilities in business and a compelling desire of wanting to do something positive. The increase in women’s education, industrialization, urbanization, social and occupational mobility, the emergence of nuclear families, westernization, politico-social movements and changes in the value system have made the educated women take to certain careers.

umaselvalumar@yahoo.co.in
 

STRATEGIC DECISION MAKING

Innovation Management - P&G's Experience - A Case Study in Strategic Management

 P&G a FMCG conglomerate is among the top ten companies in USA and top 15 in the world. Their products touch the lives of three billion consumers spread over 190 countries, every day. Their turnover for the year 2007-08 was US$ 77billion. Their core businesses are hair care, fabric care, baby care and feminine care .They have operations spread over 90 countries and own more than 38000 patents.Throughout the twentieth century, Procter & Gamble continued to prosper. The company moved into other countries, both in terms of manufacturing and product sales, becoming an international corporation. Numerous new products and brand names were introduced over time, and Procter & Gamble began branching out into new areas. The company introduced "Tide” laundry detergent in 1946, one of their major innovations and "Prell” shampoo in 1950. In 1955, Procter & Gamble began selling the first toothpaste to contain fluoride, known as "Crest". Branching out once again in 1957, the company purchased Charmin Paper Mills and began manufacturing toilet paper and other paper products. Once again focusing on laundry, Procter & Gamble began making "Downy" fabric softener in 1960(another successful innovation) and "Bounce" fabric softener sheets in 1972. One of the most revolutionary products to come out on the market was the company's "Pampers", first test-marketed in 1961. Prior to this, disposable diapers were not popular, although Johnson & Johnson had developed a product called "Chux". Babies always wore cloth diapers, which were leaky and labor intensive to wash. Pampers simplified the diapering process.

ORGANIZATIONAL BEHAVIOUR

Organizational Culture and Employee Job Satisfaction- A Case Study of An Automobile Dealer in The City of Belgaum,Karnataka,India

This study was undertaken to investigate the links between organizational culture and employee job satisfaction in an automobile concern in the city of Belgaum, Karnataka, India. Organizational Culture profile (Udai Pareek, 2002) and employee job satisfaction (Paul E Spector, 1997) instruments were administered to draw the understand the impact of organizational culture on employee job satisfaction. The results of statistical treatments allowed the researchers to conclude that there are significant differences in organizational culture and job satisfaction among the employees at the study organization.

Dr.D.N.S.Kumar
Associate Dean
Alliance Business School
Bangalore
dnsk2000@yahoo.com

Dr.B.Janakiram
Professor and Head
Department of MBA
M.S.Ramaiah Institute of Technology
Bangalore
 

TECHNOLOGY AND OPERATIONS MANAGEMENT

A Study on Managing Processes by Statistical Process Control

Statistical Process Control works upon process – not on output and is an effective system which primarily needs the basic understanding of production processes in order to detect and curb process variations that may affect the quality of the end product or service – the prime cause of customer dissatisfaction and defection . Initially SPC eradicates the assignable causes of variation by local actions and then a comprehensive long term planning is required to reduce chance cause variations gradually by management involvement and actions to get outputs of predictable, controllable and acceptable variations which fall within customers’ specification limits. On going process status is resolved through SPC tools commonly known as control charts. In this article, Average – Range ( X – R ) chart is discussed in detail as it is well-accepted by both academicians and practitioners. To shoot process outputs with in the specification limits following acceptance – rejection criteria is fundamentally a goal post concept. The aim of SPC is further extended to minimize chance causes and gradually shrinks control limits and specification limits towards the central target assigned by the customers. This streamlines processes towards the journey of excellence intrinsically i.e. the state of art to bridge the quality planning gap between actual and desired quality achievement through adoption of SPC to deliver attractive products with cost-effectiveness.

soumitrakaran@yahoo.co.in