IMR JAN 2013 - Indira Institutes

EDITORIAL BOARDPatron :Dr. Tarita ShankarChairperson,Shree Chanakya Education SocietyAdvisors :Prof. Chetan WakalkarGroup Director,Indira Group of InstitutesProf. Bijoy S GuhaSenior Advisor and Head,Improvement Initiatives,Indira School of Business StudiesDr. Renu BhargavaDirector,Indira School of Business StudiesEditor :Prof. P G VijairaghavanEditor, PublicationsIndira Group of InstitutesRIndira School of Business Studies (ISBS)Indira Institute of Management (IIMP)Owned and Published byIndira Group of InstitutesTathawade, Near Wakad Junction, New Pune-Mumbai Road,Pune- 411 033 (INDIA)Telefax : 020 2293 4742 / 6673 9864Website : www.indiraedu.com

Jan 2013ISSN - 0974 - 3928 Vol. VI. Issue 1Indira Management ReviewRCONTENTSEditorial P. G. Vijairaghavan 3Research/AcademicPapersZohra Zabeen Sabunwalla 4Impact Of Working Capital ManagementOn FirmsAkash Deepak Agrawal and Manoj Das 17Green MarketingAnilkumar. N and Jelsey Joseph,Changing Consumer Attitudes Among Women32Dr. Jigna Chandrakant Trivedi 57IPO GRADINGCase Study Dr. Arvind Sudarsan, R. Raghunathan and 70Jayashree MaheshSeth ConsultantsPosersShabana A Memon 84Unlocking Entrepreneurial CapabilitiesBy UniversitiesAll opinions expressed in the articles are those of the authors. The editor andthe Publishers bear no responsibility for the same

RShree Chanakya Education Society (SCES), Pune, was established in 1994, with the explicitvision to provide sustainable impetus to the corporate and entrepreneurial abilities in the youth.The realization that a robust framework of education is indispensable for the growth of globalleaders, the visionary, Ms. Tarita Wakalkar Mehendale, Chairperson, Indira Group, integratedher pursuit of excellence and articulated educational institutions, known as Indira Group ofInstitutes (IGI), which imbibe human excellence and demonstrate strong social values, with asingle minded pursuit of developing the youth to become business leaders.Unrelenting initiatives by the management team at Indira led to adding of multi-disciplines suchas Management, Information Technology, Pharmacy, Commerce, Science, Engineering andMass Communication to the group. And growth has been as deep as it has been wide. With 12institutions, IGI now offers education right from Kindergarten to Doctorate level studies .IGI believes in the economic independence of individuals. In this endeavor we aim to inspireour post graduate students to create a niche for themselves in the Indian Economic order first,and then compete globally. We owe our gratitude to the Indian Industry for consistentlycollaborating with us in this endeavor. Renowned industrialists have visited us andtremendously enhanced the morale of our students by sharing their vast knowledge andexperience about entrepreneurial opportunities and foster a spirit of entrepreneurshipamongst students.Having traversed the journey of thirteen years we have ourselves made certain significantachievements which we are aware, are but the building blocks for achieving further heights.Indira is ranked amongst the top 2 B-schools in Pune, by the prestigious AIMA - IMJ.\The same journal gave us a top 30, all India ranking on the parameters of Industryinterface.Our students have shown good academic results at the level of university ranking.The achievements of our students have enabled them to attract some of the best corporaterecruiters.Indira Group of Institutes and our goodwill has enabled us to establish campus agreementwith Microsoft for using different software.Our goodwill with Microsoft was further accentuated with Microsoft conducting workshopsat Indira, for train the trainer modules.Business India has also ranked us amongst the top 3 in Pune for last 2 yrs.Our Institutes have received accreditation from various certifying bodies.Indira Institute of Management was the first management institute in Maharashtra toreceive the accreditation from the NBA, New Delhi.We also have our audiovisual centers supported by Harvard Business School, Stanford,Pyramid Media and Tom Peters Company and we have a vast collection of titles.02 Indira Management Review - July 2012

RIndira Management ReviewEditorialP. G. VijairaghavanWith this issue, Indira Management Reviewenters the seventh year of publication. It hasbeen a particularly satisfying time to see thejournal grow in popularity – both in terms ofreadership and contributions from authorswhose credibility we value. Many thanks toevery reader and author for theirencouragement that has made it possible. Weare sure we will continue to have yoursupport and understanding to see us achievegreater milestones in the coming years.Green is a colour that is gaining prominencein the corporate world with environmentprotection coming to the foreground ofnational discourse in recent times. Howimportant is it for companies to projectthemselves as being eco-friendly and proenvironment?There is a greater degree ofawareness among the consumers today ofthe need for companies to adoptenvironmentally-friendly practices in theiroperations – be it production or marketing oftheir produce. With this realization hascome the need for corporates to project animage that promotes this belief at best, or atworst, ensures that a negative message doesnot go out to the consumer regarding theircommitment to conservation of nature. Howdo the corporates propose to do so, whilekeeping costs to the minimum is examined bythe lead authors of this issue, Akash Agarwaland Manoj Das.Also included is an empirical study by ZohraZabeen on the effect that working capital canhave on the bottom line of companies. Whilethe study restricts itself to the steel industry, itis obviously relevant to most manufacturingindustries and one hopes to draw appropriateconclusions from the study to streamline theflow of funds to the corporate to maximizeprofits. Does the investor base his investmentdecision on IPO grading for new issues in theshare market? Jigna Trivedi tries to find out.Other articles include a report on changingattitudes among urban women to products ofthe new age. Also an interesting paper on therole of universities in promotingentrepreneurism among their students andanother on the way robotics is shapingindustry and services across the world. Thecase study section features the dilemmas ofthe workforce as the organization tries toresist the corporate buffering during a rathertempestuous voyage. Authored by ArvindSudarsan and his teammates, the study,among other things, highlights the need foreffective communication with the employees,especially when the organization is up againsttough times.Indira Management Review - Jan2013 03

IMPACT OF WORKING CAPITAL MANAGEMENTON FIRM'S PERFORMANCE: 2007-2011EVIDENCE FROM STEEL INDUSTRY IN INDIAZohra Zabeen Sabunwala(Assistant Professor,Indira School of Business Studies, Pune, Indiazohra312@gmail.com)ABSTRACTWorking capital management (WCM) is ofparticular importance when it comes tofinancial management of any firm. In thisresearch paper, I have focused tried to findout the relationship between working capitalmanagement and firm's profitability(through Return on Total Assets)for the steelindustry in India. The aim of this paper is toestablish a relationship that is statisticallysignificant between profitability measuredthrough Return on Total Assets (ROTA)whichis the dependent variable and theindependent variables like Cash ConversionCycle (CCC) and its various components thatis No. of days of Account Receivable (A/R),No. of days of Accounts Payable (A/P), No. ofdays of Inventory (Inv_Days) together withsome other exogenous variables like gearingratio and sales. A sample of 100 steelcompanies listed on Bombay Stock Exchange(BSE) has been taken for a period of 5 years(2007-2011) that is a total of 500 firm-yearobservations.Key words: Working Capital Management,Profitability, Cash Conversion Cycle, A/Rdays, A/P days, Inventory days, BSE1. INTRODUCTIONWorking capital management is of primeimportance for every firm. WCM has directlinkage with firm's profitability and liquidity.It is most important for every firm to meet itsworking capital requirements at all points oftime to maintain liquidity and at the sametime to keep optimum level of current assetsand current liabilities in place so as not toimpact profitability.Gitman (1974) argued that the cashconversion cycle was a key factor in workingcapital management. Actually, decisionsabout how much to invest in the customer andinventory accounts, and how much credit toaccept from suppliers, are reflected in thefirm's cash conversion cycle, whichrepresents the average number of daysbetween the date when the firm must startpaying its suppliers and the date when itbegins to collect payments from itscustomers. Previous studies have usedmeasures based on the cash conversion cycleto analyze whether shortening this cycle haspositive or negative effects on the firm'sprofitability. Empirical evidence relatingworking capital management andprofitability in general supports the fact thataggressive working capital policies enhanceprofitability (Jose et al., 1996; Shin andSoenen, 1998; for US companies; Deloof,2003; for Belgian firms; Wang (2002) forJapanese and Taiwanese firms). The lesserrequirements of working capital leads to less04 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Impact Of Working Capital Management On Firmsneed for financing and less cost of capital, which in turn, increases the availability of cash forshareholders (Ganesan, 2007). This suggests that reducing working capital investment is likelyto lead to higher profits. In this study, I will try to find out the impact of working capitalmanagement on profitability (measured through ROTA) for the Indian Steel Industry for theperiod from 2007-2011 to understand this relationship.2. THEORETICAL BACKGROUNDThe study and the related literature on working capital management and steel industry wouldhelp in building understanding about the working capital management in steel industry in Indiaand also the studies that have been done previously to understand the relationship betweenprofitability and working capital management. This will help to understand how similar ordifferent the present study is as compared to them.a)Steel Industry in IndiaIndia is among the top producers of all forms of steel in the world. Easy availability of low costmanpower and presence of abundant reserves make India competitive in the global setup.According to a March 2012 report on Iron and steel Industry in India by Corporate Catalyst India,India's consumption of stainless steel is much higher at 14 percent, compared to globalconsumption of 6 percent in the last 15 years.The following graph shows the production and consumption pattern in India from 2005-06 to2010-2011. It is estimated that the world steel consumption will double in next 25 years. Qualityimprovement of Indian steel combined with its low cost advantages will definitely help insubstantial gain in export market.In the past, India has been importing around 1.5 million tonnes annually. Advance LicensingScheme allows duty free import of raw materials for exports.Source: Corporate Catalyst India, March 2012Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 05

Impact Of Working Capital Management On FirmsSource: Corporate Catalyst India, March 2012Source: Corporate Catalyst India, March 201206 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Impact Of Working Capital Management On Firmsb) Working Capital Management andProfitabilitySoenen (1993) used approximately 2,000firms from 20 different industries for aperiod of 1970-1989 and found a negativerelationship between company's net tradecycle and its profitability as measured by thereturn on total assets. Soenen explains thatcash conversion cycle provides a validalternative for measuring corporate liquidityand that the length of the cash conversioncycle is important in determining the degreeto which a firm must rely on externalfinancing.Shin and Soenen (1998) found out thatcorporate's WCM is dependent on the NetTrade Cycle and found a strong negativerelation between the length of the firm's nettradecycle and its profitability.Anand& Gupta (2001) studied threefinancial parameters for this purpose - CCE,DOC and DWC by using data of 427companies over the period 1998-99 to 2000-01 for each company and found that thepresence of these three in the overallworking capital performance criterion notonly helps in performance evaluation butalso will capture the dynamics of risk-returntradeoff.Deloof (2003) in Does Working CapitalManagement(WCM) Affect Profitability ofBelgian Firms investigated the impact ofWCM on corporate profitability by taking2000 most important Belgian firms for theperiod 1991-1996 and found that Grossoperating income negatively andsignificantly impacted by number of daysaccounts payable, number of daysinventories, number of days accountsreceivable but positively and significantlyimpacted by firm size (measured by thenatural logarithm of sales), sales growth andfixed financial assets, and decreases withfinancial debt.Mukhopadhyay (2004) in Working capitalmanagement in heavy engineering firmsstudied the effectiveness of working capitalmanagement of a firm with particularreference to its short term liquidity andsolvency and impact on commercialoperations of the organization and found thatGross working capital is significantlypositively related with Inventory, Debtors andReceivables, Loans and Advances, Othercurrent Assets and Net working capital andsignificantly and negatively related withcurrent Liabilities and provision. The studyalso found significantly negative relation withcurrent liabilities and provisions.On the contrary, Filbeck (2005) in An Analysisof Working Capital Management ResultsAcross Industries found that Significantdifferences exist between industries acrosstime with respect to measures of workingcapital measures and that working capitalmeasures for a given firm are not static, andsignificant differences in these measures existacross time.Moussawi et al (2006) in Corporate workingcapital management: Determinants andConsequences mainly focused on determiningthe relevance of the core factors to theefficiency of a firm's Working capitalmanagement. According to their findings,Working Capital efficiency positively andsignificantly impacts firm size, executivecompensation, future firm sales growth, theproportion of outside directors on a Board,industry practices and it negatively andsignificantly impacts CEO share ownership.Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 07

Impact Of Working Capital Management On FirmsThey also found that Working Capitalefficiency unrelated with industryconcentration.Padachi (2006) in Trends in Working CapitalManagement and its Impact on Firms'Performance: An Analysis of Mauritian SmallManufacturing Firms examined the impact ofaccounts receivables days, inventories days,accounts payable days and CCC on Return onTotal Assets (ROTA) for a sample of 58 smallmanufacturing companies for the period of1997-98 to 2002-03 and found that ROTA issignificantly positively and significantlyaffected by Operating Profit Margin andcapital-turnover ratio, but negatively andsignificantly impacted by the measures ofWCM.Another important findings by Lazardidisand Tryfonidis (2006) in Relationshipbetween working capital management andprofitability of listed companies in the Athensstock exchange on the relationship betweenworking capital management andprofitability of listed companies in the Athensstock exchange for a sample of 131companies listed on Athens stock exchangefor a period of 2001-04 also found that CCC issignificantly negatively related withprofitability.The above findings were also supported byRaheman and Nasr (2007) in Working CapitalManagement And Profitability - CaseOfPakistani Firms and they also found thatNet Operating profitability is significantlynegatively impacted by measures of elementsof WCM i.e. Average Payment Period,Inventory turnover in days, Average PaymentPeriod and Cash Conversion cycle.Bhunia (2012) examined the relationshipbetween the working capital management andprofitability of Indian private sector smallmediumsteel companies over the period from2003 to 2010 and found that a smallrelationship between WCM including workingcapital cycle and profitability.3. NEED/IMPORTANCE OF THE STUDYWCM has got a lot of emphasis in financialmanagement of the firms. A greater extent ofprofitability of a firm is determined by thecomponents of working capital managementlike Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payableand Inventory and Cash Conversion Cycle.Thus, it is very important to understand therelationship between working capitalmanagement and its impact on profitability ofthe firm. The given study will measure theimpact of WCM on profitability of steel firms tounderstand the dynamics of liquiditymanagement on profitability.4. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM1.To study the impact of the variouscomponents of working capital like accountreceivable, account payable, inventories days& cash conversion cycle, and log sales, gearingratio on return on total assets (ROTA).2.To understand the trends in working capitalneeds of the steel firms.5.OBJECTIVE1.To examine the impact of variouscomponents of working capital like accountreceivable, account payable, inventories daysand cash conversion cycle on return on totalassets (ROTA)2.To examine the impact of firm size measuredby natural log of sales on return on total assets(ROTA)3.To examine the impact of leverage measuredby Debt/Equity ratio on return on total assets(ROTA)08 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Impact Of Working Capital Management On FirmsROTA = f (ln sales, gear, cata, clta ,turnca, invdays, ardays, apdays)ROTA 1 = ?0 +?1 ln sales1+ ?2 gear+ ?3 cata+ ?4 clta+?5 turnca+ ?6 invdays+ ?6 ardays+ ?6 apdays+?nROTA 2 = ?0 +?1 ln sales1+ ?2 gear+ ?3 cata+ ?4 clta+?5 turnca+ ?6 CCC+?n9.1 Descriptive StatisticsTable 9.1: Five year Means and Standard Deviations for the VariablesMean Std. Deviation NReturn on Total Assets .0575 .39491 500Natural Log of Sales 7.8635 6.3489 500Debt equity ratio 6.0730 19.39355 500Current Liabilities/ Total Assets .3051 .19975 500Current Assets/ Total Assets 10.8116 28.49633 500Current Assets Turnover Ratio 3.2204 1.77002 500Inventory days 1.0607E2 114.32840 500Average Receivable days 77.3405 89.98817 500Average Payable Days 93.6541 157.66039 500Cash Conversion Cycle (days) 89.7517 98.38347 50010 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Impact Of Working Capital Management On FirmsThe second model of regression explains thevariability slightly better than the first Modelas the value of adjusted R2 is 0.046 as against0.043 in first model where all the threeindividual elements of cash conversion cyclehave been used. In case of second model, thethree elements of Working Capital have beenreplaced by cash Conversion Cycle.The Durbin-Watson statistic is also close to 2(at 2.034) in both the models which implythat the successive values of estimatedresiduals are not dependent on each otherand that there is no autocorrelation problemin the estimated model.The F- Ratio is significant in both the modelsat 3.408 in model 1 and 4.403 in model 2which shows that both the models are goodsignificant in explaining the impact ofWorking capital elements on profitability.The Ln_salesis significant and positivelyrelated to ROTA which shows that as thefirms' sales increases; profitability of the firmalso increases.The positive and significant correlation ofCL/TA with ROTA also points towards the factthat the steel companies are highlydependent on short term borrowings to meettheir working capital needs. The steelindustry is debt ridden and therefore theprofitability is heavily impacted by bothshort and long term debt.The positively and significantly related CAturnover ratio also indicates that the CurrentAssets are fast moving and not stagnant andhigher the current asset movement withrespect to sales more is the efficiency ofproduction and higher is the profitability.The Inv_days, AR days, AP days andultimately CCC in the two regression modelsrespectively shows that these variables havesignificant impact on WCM profitability. Allthe four elements of WCM except AP daysshow significant positive correlation. On thebasis of P-value of 0.000, we reject the nullhypothesis that the elements of workingcapital management (CCC, AR days, AP days,Inv_days) have no statistical significant effecton the profitability. The positive correlationobserved for AR days, Inventory days andhence the CCC with ROTA for steel industry isdifferent from the results obtained frommultiple regression analysis for otherindustries like cement, automobile etc. Thiscan be attributed to the higher stocking ofinventory of raw iron and steel, other rawmaterial used in production. One reason couldbe inflationary pressures on raw materialsleading the costlier production. So, the steelfirms prefer to stock huge quantity to lowerprices to avoid undue impact of rising priceson its profit margins.The positive and significant correlation of ARdays may be attributed to the fact that the steelindustry provides the primary basis for all themajor type of manufacturing industries inIndia as steel is the basic ingredient inproduction for most of the industry. Hence,the major customers to steel firms are alsomajor industries like automobile, aviation,infrastructure having high gestation period.Therefore, steel firms need to have a largercollection time period so that the productioncycle of main industries can run smoothly andefficiently leading to higher profitability.The negative and significant correlation of APdays with ROTA points towards the fact thatthe steel companies are highly dependent onshort term borrowings to meet their workingcapital needs. So, the creditors have to giveIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 13

Impact Of Working Capital Management On Firmsloans to steel firms for larger period of time, so as to keep the production run smoothly.All the above reasons culminate into the fact that CCC has a positive and significant correlationwith ROTA as explained by the model which rejects the null hypothesis that CCC has no impact onprofitability. The results of the study are different from those observed in the previous studieswhere CCC was negatively and sig related to profitability.The models also reject the null hypothesis that firm size has no statistically significant effect onthe profitability and the positive sign of the coefficient points to the fact that as the firms' sizeincreases, its profitability also increases.The model does not reject the null hypothesis that gearing ratio (Debt-Equity ratio) does nothavea significant effect on the profitability. The use of long term funds in WCM of the firms as shown bygearing ratio does not come out as significant for steel industry. This might be due to the fact thatthe steel firms heavily use the long term funds to finance the working capital needs. One of themajor reasons for the higher gearing ratio observed for the steel industry may be due toincreasing overheads in steel production because of the rising prices commodity and higherprices of fuel and power used in its production.9.5 TRENDS IN WORKING CAPITAL VARIABLES IN STEEL INDUSTRYTable 9.5: Trends in Working Capital Variables in Steel Industry for the period (2007-2011)Ratios 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 5-year AverageROTA 13% 15% -10% 4% 11% 7%Debt/ Equity 4.44 4.53 5.57 5.40 6.14 5.22Current Ratio 3.52 3.55 3.33 5.27 4.89 4.11Quick Ratio 2.40 2.44 2.20 3.40 3.42 2.77Current AssetsTurnover Ratio3.00 3.05 2.96 2.78 3.59 3.08The above table shows the trends in the various components affecting working capital needs of thesteel industry. As can be noted in the above table, there has been a continuous rise in debt equity ratiofrom 4.44 in 2007 to 6.14 in 2011. The debt equity ratio is higher in the steel industry against thestandard ratio of 2:1. This may be because of the huge demand of debt funds in this industry owing tolarger Cash conversion cycle due to which short term financing is met from long term funds. Also,there is a continuous rise seen in current and quick ratio as well except for 2009 which can beattributed to rising level of inventory, accounts receivable and accounts payable. The current ratio isalso higher as against the standards of 1:1 for Current ratio. The trends in ROTA level indicate aninitial high in 2007 and 2008 after which there is a dip in 2009 and after that is showing rising trend in2010 & 2011. 2009 may be a year of slack demand with rising inventory and Accounts receivable as isevident from higher levels of Current and Quick ratio and lower demand due to recessionary effects.The current asset turnover ratio is seen at an average of 3.08 during the five year period which showsthat efficiency in production has been consistent without any major breakthrough in technology orproduction.These trends authenticate the findings obtained from the regression analysis which shows a positivecorrelation and regression coefficients between various components of working capital likeInventory days, AR days, CCC and ROTA.14 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Impact Of Working Capital Management On Firms10. CONCLUSIONS & LIMITATIONS:1.Working Capital elements (AP days, ARdays, inventory days) significantly impactsthe profitability of the automobile firms.2. The higher the cash conversion cycle,higher is the profitability as measured by theROTA and vice versa. This is an interestingfinding as against the previous studies thatshowed negative relation between workingcapital elements and CCC.3. As the size of automobile firm increases,the profitability also increases.4. Gearing Ratio is not significantly relatedwith ROTA.5. The industry shows conservative policy interms of managing working capital duringthe time period (2007-2011) as is evidentfrom the high Current and quick ratios.6. The industry is highly leveraged at leastduring the time period (2007-2011) inconsideration with an average of 5.22 duringthe five years under consideration.Thismight be due to the fact that the steel firmsheavily use the long term funds to finance theworking capital needs. One of the majorreasons for the higher gearing ratio observedfor the steel industry may be due toincreasing overheads in steel productionbecause of the rising prices commodity andhigher prices of fuel and power used in itsproduction.7. The returns generated by the industryaregenerallyconsistent during the periodexcept for 2009 when there is a dip due torecessionary effect.The limitations would include:1. The data might not be available for certainparameters involved in the study.2. Some specific sectors/ industries may beleft out to be studied under this research.3. The results and findings might not be truefor smaller firms with less of capital andfunds at hand.4. Inflation could not be taken intocontemplation in the present study. It was notpossible to convert the relevant financial datainto their present values because of nonavailabilityof sufficient information requiredfor the purpose.11. References1. Anand, M. (2001): "Working Capital performance ofcorporate India: An empirical survey", Management &Accounting Research, 4(4), 35-65.2.Berryman, J. (1983): "Small Business Failure andBankruptcy: A survey of the Literature", European SmallBusiness Journal, 1(4), 47-59.3.Bhunia, A. and Das, A. (2012): "Affiliation betweenWorking Capital Management and Profitability",Interdisciplinary Journal Of Contemporary Research InBusiness, 3(9), 957-9684.Burns, R and Walker, J. (1991): "A Survey of WorkingCapital Policy among Small Manufacturing Firms",TheJournal of Small Business Finance, 1 (1), 61-74.5.Corporate Catalyst India Report on Indian steelIndustry, March 2012.6.Deloof, D. (2003): "Does Working Capital Managementaffect Profitability of Belgian Firms"? Journal ofBusiness Finance and Accounting, 30 (3 & 4), 573 - 587.7.Dunn, P. and Cheatham, L. (1993): "Fundamentals ofSmall Business Financial Management for Start-up,Survival, Growth, and Changing EconomicCircumstances", Managerial Finance, 19(8), 1-13.8.Fischer, E.O., R. Heinkel, and J. Zechner, (1989):Dynamic Capital Structure Choice: Theory and Tests,Journal of Finance, 44, 19-40.9.Filbeck, G. and Krueger, T. M. (2005): "An analysis ofworking capital management results across industries",American Journal of Business, Vol. 20, Issue 2, pp. 11-18.10. Gill, A., (2011): Factors that Influence WorkingCapital Requirements in Canada, Economics andFinance Review, 1(3), 30 - 40.11. Ganesan, V. (2007): An analysis of working capitalmanagement efficiency in telecommunicationequipment industry. Rivier Academic Journal, 3(2), 1-10.12. Gitman, L. J. (1994): Principles of ManagerialFinance, 7th Ed. Harper Collins, pp. 646-652.13. Howorth C., P. Westhead (2003): 'The focus ofworking capital management in UK small firms','Management Accounting Research, BlackwellPublishing, 14, 97-111.14. Jose, M. L., C. Lancaster, and J. L. Stevens, (1996):Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 15

Impact Of Working Capital Management On FirmsCorporate Returns and Cash Conversion Cycles.Journal of Economics and Finance. 20(1), 33-46.15. LazaridisIoannis, TryfonidisDimitrios (2006):"The relationship between working capitalmanagement and profitability of listed companies inthe Athens Stock Exchange, Journal of FinancialManagement and Analysis, 19.16. Myers, S., and N. Majluf (1984): "CorporateFinancing and Investment Decisions when Firms HaveInformation Investors Do Not Have", Journal ofFinancial Economics, 13, 187-222.17. Mukhopadhyay D. (2004): "Working capitalmanagement in heavy engineering firms-A case study."Management Accountant, 317-323.18. Nazir, M.S. &Afza, T. (2009): Working CapitalRequirements and the Determining Factors inPakistan. IUP Journal of Applied Finance, 15(4), 28-38.19. Padachi, K. (2006): Trends in Working CapitalManagement and its Impact on Firms' Performance:An Analysis of Mauritian Small Manufacturing Firms,International Review of Business Research Papers.2(2), 45 - 58.20. Ross, S., A. (1977): "The Determination of FinancialStructure: The Incentive Signaling Approach", BellJournal of Economics, 23-40.21. Raheman A., Nasr M. (2007): "Working CapitalManagement And Profitability - Case Of PakistaniFirms', International Review of Business ResearchPapers, 3, No. 1, 279-300.22. Shin, H.H. and Soenen, L. (1998): 'Efficiency ofWorking Capital and Corporate Profitability', FinancialPractice and Education, 8(2),37-45.23. Soenen, L.A. (1993): Cash conversion cycle andcorporate profitability. Journal of Cash Management,13(4), 53-58.24. Wang, Y.J. (2002): Liquidity Management,Operating Performance, and Corporate Value:Evidence from Japan and Taiwan. Journal ofMultinational Financial Management, 12, 159-169.Webliography:1. http://www.investopedia.com16 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

GREEN MARKETING:SUSTAINABLE MARKETING STRATEGY*Akash Deepak Agrawal and*Manoj Das(*Faculty, DattaMeghe Institute of Management Studies, Nagpur.)Abstract:Green marketing is a phenomenon which israpidly gaining importance in the modernmarket. It has redefined the way of marketingas well as packaging products; also there is anincreasing trend among companies to adoptthis concept for portraying an environmentfriendly as well as a socially responsibleorganization. Even consumers are becomingincreasingly concerned about the effect ofenvironment by the products being used bythem, leading to an integration ofenvironmental issues in their purchasedecisions. Hence corporates are facing thedouble dilemma of balancing the consumerneeds, using environmentally friendlymaterial & keeping the costs low.Purpose - The study seeks to explore thefactors which influence the consumerattitude and behavior towards greenpractices in India and also to explore theconsumers' intentions to pay for thesepractices. It also seeks to uncover differentareas of concern like the awareness levelamong consumers regarding the concept ofgreen marketing, their views regardingdifferent factors governing it like availabilityof eco friendly substitutes in place of plastic.This paper also examines whetherconsumers would be willing to pay extra foreco friendly materials as well role of differentparties like government, corporate etc inimplementing these practices.Design/methodology/approach - Aquantitative and qualitative researchmethodology using a questionnaire alongwith secondary research has been proposed.A structured questionnaire has been usedusing convenience-sampling technique fromNagpur Region in India.Key words: Eco friendly, EnvironmentFriendly, Green marketing.IntroductionIn recent times, the environment has emergedas a hot issue for societies, governments, inaddition to business organizations. Itssignificance originates from escalatingenvironmental degradation such as solidwastes, ozone depletion, global warming, andair pollution. These days, a large number ofrespondents all over the world state that theyare concerned or very concerned withenvironmental problems(Diekmann&Franzen, 1999; Dunlap &Mertig,1995). Because customers have understoodthe significance of protecting theenvironment, environmentalism has becomean essential subject in the marketplace(Kalafatis et al., 1999). According to Makower(1993), the 1960s was the age of "greenawakening", the 1970s was the years of"taking action" the 1980s was anIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 17

Green Marketing"accountable" time and the 1990s was"power in the marketplace" time. Over thoseyears, people started demandingenvironmentally friendly products andservices, and the organizations felt politicaland public pressure to go green. Thenecessity to increase consumers' awarenessof corporate efforts to meet sustainablestandards, the need to identify consumers'preferences for green products, thepossibility of charging a premium price gaverise to a new trend in the marketing field, theso-called Green marketing (Peattie andCrane, 2005)."Green Marketing" refers to holisticmarketing concept wherein the production,marketing consumption an disposal ofproducts and services happen in a mannerthat is less detrimental to the environmentwith growing awareness about theimplications of global warming, nonbiodegradablesolid waste, harmful impact ofpollutants etc., both marketers andconsumers are becoming increasinglysensitive to the need for switch in to greenproducts and services. While the shift to"green" may appear to be expensive in theshort term, it will definitely prove to beindispensable and advantageous, cost-wisetoo, in the long run Green marketing wasgiven prominence in the late 1980s and1990s after the proceedings of the firstworkshop on Ecological marketing held inAustin, Texas (US), in 1975. Manyorganizations want to turn green, as anincreasing number of consumers' ant toassociate themselves with environmentalfriendlyproducts.According to Jacquelyn Ottman, (author of"The New Rules of Green Marketing:Strategies, Tools, and Inspiration forSustainable Branding" (Greenleaf Publishingand Berrett-Koehler Publishers, February2011)from an organizational standpoint,environmental considerations should beintegrated into all aspects of marketing - newproduct development and communicationsand all points in between. The holistic natureof green also suggests that besides suppliersand retailers new stakeholders be enlisted,including educators, members of thecommunity, regulators, and NGOs.Environmental issues should be balancedwith primary customer needs. Thepastdecade has shown that harnessingconsumer power to effect positiveenvironmental change is far easier said thandone. The so-called "green consumer"movements in the U.S. and other countrieshave struggled to reach critical mass and toremain in the forefront of shoppers' minds.While public opinion polls taken since the late1980s have shown consistently that asignificant percentage of consumers in the U.S.and elsewhere profess a strong willingness tofavor environmentally conscious productsand companies, consumers' efforts to do so inreal life have remained sketchy at best. One ofgreen marketing's challenges is the lack ofstandards or public consensus about whatconstitutes "green," according to JoelMakower, a writer on green marketing. Inessence, there is no definition of "how good isgood enough" when it comes to a product orcompany making green marketing claims.This lack of consensus-by consumers,marketers, activists, regulators, andinfluential people-has slowed the growth ofgreen products, says Makower, becausecompanies are often reluctant to promotetheir green attributes, and consumers areoften skeptical about claims18 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Green MarketingDespite these challenges, green marketinghas continued to gain adherents, particularlyin light of growing global concern aboutclimate change. This concern has led morecompanies to advertise their commitment toreduce their climate impacts, and the effectthis is having on their products and services.3 R's Of Environmentalism are:Reduce.Re-use.Recycle.The popularity of such marketing approachand its effectiveness is hotly debated.Supporters claim that environmentalappeals are actually growing in number-theEnergy Star label, for example, now appearson 11,000 different companies' models in 38product categories, from washing machinesand light bulbs to skyscrapers and homes.However, despite the growth in the numberof green products, green marketing is on thedecline as the primary sales pitch forproducts. On the other hand, Roper's GreenGauge shows that a high percentage ofconsumers (42%) feel that environmentalproducts don't work as well as conventionalones. This is an unfortunate legacy from the1970s when shower heads sputtered andnatural detergents left clothes dingy. Giventhe choice, all but the greenest of customerswill reach for synthetic detergents over thepremium-priced, proverbial "Happy Planet"any day, including Earth Day. New reportshowever show a growing trend towardsgreen products.One challenge green marketers -- old andnew -- are likely to face as green products anda message becomes more common isconfusion in the marketplace. "Consumersdo not really understand a lot about theseissues, and there's a lot of confusion out there,"says Jacquelyn Ottman(founder of J. OttmanConsulting and author of "Green Marketing:Opportunity for Innovation.") Marketerssometimes take advantage of this confusion,and purposely make false or exaggerated"green" claims. Critics refer to this practice as"green washing".Literature ReviewPolonsky and Alma (2008), in their editedbook titled Environmental Marketing -Strategies, Practice, Theory and Research,discuss the role of marketing in improving ourenvironment. The book states that role ofMarketing in the development process is wellrecognized (Kinsley 1982; Riley et al. 1983;Dholakia 1984; Carter 1986; Kotler 1986).Much of the economic activity is triggered bythe marketing process that offers andstimulates consumption opportunities tosatisfy human needs and wants. However,critical role of marketing in development willbe appreciated only through sustainablemarketing; it meets the needs of the presentwithout compromising the ability of futuregenerations to meet their own needs. Thismeans that it might have to shed its presentprofligacy that encourages an unsustainabledevelopment path. A marketing approach thataims at serving the material wants ofconsumers through an ever increasing volumeof goods without any attempt to maximize lifequality (Kotler 1988), draws too heavily, andtoo quickly, on already overdrawnenvironmental resources and is likely tomortgage the future. Life quality representsnot only the quantity and quality ofconsumption goods and services but also thequality of the environment. Clearly, marketinghas to assume a more responsible role forsustainable development. It further statesthat the concept of a socio-ecological product?Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 19

Green Marketinghas to extend our understanding thatenvironmental consequences (the productsaggregate impact on everyone affected by itsuse) are more important determinants of itsacceptability than either user satisfaction orcorporate profitability (Cracco and Rostenne1971).Recently, Athens Laboratory of Research inMarketing in collaboration with the Center ofSustainability has done a research about thegreen marketing which revealed that aboutninety two percent of customers have afavorable attitude concerning the businessesthat are susceptible on ecological issues(Papadopoulos et al., 2009).Beside,environmentally concerned people whobelieve that pollution is a problem and alsohave a favorable attitude toward greeningenvironment are more inclined to purchasegreen products. Hence, as people becomeaware of environmental problems, theirattitudes and purchase intentions may inturn change. In marketing literaturepurchase intention has been an importantconcept. To forecast the adaptation of newproducts as well as repeat purchases ofexisting ones, most companies usedconsumers purchase intention. Prior studieshave exposed that consumer with intentionsto buy product exhibit higher actual buyingrates than those customers who demonstratethat they have no intention of buying (Brown,2003).D'Souza et al., (2006) reported that generallyperception of green products is negativelyassociated with customer's intention topurchase them if they are of higher prices andlow quality in comparison to traditionalproducts. Consequently, it may be arguedthat there is an expectation on the part ofcustomers that all products offered should beenvironmentally safe without a need tosacrifice quality. Hence, as for as the productquality is concerned, green consumes will notcompromise on it, so businesses mustenhance green product quality as well as focuson environmental benefits of a product, andshare these aspects with customers in order toachieve the recognition in the market(D'Souza., Taghian& Lamb,2006).Schlegelmilch., Bohlen andDiamantopoulos (1996) recommended thatthose organizations aiming to enhancemarket penetration of the existing greenproducts offerings must launch an advertisingcampaign directed at increasing concernabout environmental quality in the consumerbase.Second, organizations make it possible thattheir products perform competitively in otherdimensions. If these two things are achieved,then environmental considerations will nolonger take back seat in purchasing decision.Furthermore, perceived risk is lower in mostpopular brands than for those less wellknown.So customers generally trust on thesebrand and are not ready to compromise onquality. Therefore like non-green alternative,green product must function effectively(Pickett-Baker & Ozaki, 2008).According toTang et al., (2004), a wealth of literatureshows that there is a troublesome gapbetween what consumers says, they will doand how they actually behave. Most of theconsumers say that they choose a productbecause of its environmentally friendlynature, but they do not make actualallocations of dollars in purchases.Therefore, environmental concerns are notthe only reason for the customers to purchaseenvironmentally friendly products, and alsothey do not agree to trade-off other product20 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Green Marketingattributes for a better environment. Thisreveals that traditional productcharacteristics such as brand name, its priceand quality are still the most important onesthat consumers considered when makingpurchasing decision (Gan, Wee. Ozanne&Kao, 2008).Another study revealed that manyconsumers are unwilling to forgo essentialproduct benefits during their purchasedecision. So, green products must alsoperform competitively not only according toenvironmental aspects, but also on the basisof other important product characteristicsfor instance convenience or durability(Diamantopoulos, A., Schlegelmilch, B. B.,Sinkovics, R. R. and Bohlen, G. M, 2003).Moreover, now Firms recognized that thefuture prospects for green goods remainbleak, until/ unless they can balanceenvironmental compatibility withcustomers' primary desire for high qualityproducts that perform well. Because, it is notcomprehensible for customers to pay morefor a product that does not offer basicbenefits, whatever the environmentalbenefits (Wong, V., Turner, W. &Stoneman, P.,1996).Top 10 green Indian companies1) Suzlon EnergyThe world's fourth largest wind-turbinemaker is among the greenest and best Indiancompanies in India. Tulsi Tanti, the visionarybehind Suzlon, convinced the world thatwind is the energy of the future and built hisfactory in Pondicherry to run entirely onwind power. Suzlon's corporate building isthe most energy-efficient building ever builtin India.2) ITC LimitedITC strengthened their commitment to greentechnologies by introducing 'ozone-treatedelemental chlorine free' bleaching technologyfor the first time in India. The result is anentire new range of top green products andsolutions: the environmentally friendly multipurposepaper that is less polluting than itstraditional counterpart.3) Tata Metaliks Limited (TML)Every day is Environment Day at TML, one ofthe top green firms in India. A practicalexample that made everyone sit up and takenotice is the company's policy to discourageworking on Saturdays at the corporate office.Lights are also switched off during the daywith the entire office depending on sunlight.4) Tamil Nadu Newsprint and PapersLimited (TNPL)Adjudged the best performer in the 2009-2010 Green Business Survey, TNPL wasawarded the Green Business LeadershipAward in the Pulp and Paper Sector. Theinitiatives undertaken by this top green firmin India includes two Clean DevelopmentMechanism projects and a wind farm projectthat helped generate 2,30,323 CarbonEmission Reductions earning Rs. 17.40 Crore.5) Wipro TechnologiesThe list of top 10 green Indian companies isnever complete without Wipro which climbedto the top five brand league in Green peace's'Guide to Greener Electronics' ranking.Despite the global financial crisis, Wipro heldfast to its commitment towards energyefficiency and was lauded for launchingenergy star compliant products in the market.Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 21

Green Marketing6) HCL TechnologiesThis IT major may be considered as the iconof Indian green initiatives, thanks to the "gogreen" steps taken in solving the problem oftoxics and e-waste in the electronics industry.HCL is committed to phasing out thehazardous vinyl plastic and BrominatedFlame Retardants from its products and hascalled for a Restriction on HazardousSubstances (RoHS) legislation in India.7) Oil and Natural Gas Company (ONGCIndia's largest oil producer, ONGC, is all set tolead the list of top 10 green Indian companieswith energy-efficient, green crematoriumsthat will soon replace the traditional woodenpyre across the country. ONGC's MokshadaGreen Cremation initiative will save 60 to70% of wood and a fourth of the burning timeper cremation.8) Indus Ind BankGreen banking has been catching up asamong the top Indian green initiatives eversince Indus Ind opened the country's firstsolar-powered ATM and pioneered an ecosavvychange in the Indian banking sector.The bank is planning for more such initiativesin addressing the challenges of climatechange.9) IDEA CellularOne of the best Indian companies, IDEA,paints India green with its national 'UseMobile, Save Paper' campaign. The companyhad organized Green Pledge campaigns atIndian cities where thousands came forwardand pledged to save paper and trees. IDEA hasalso set up bus shelters with potted plantsand tendril climbers to convey the greenmessage.10) Hero Honda MotorsHero Honda is one of the largest two-wheelermanufacturers in India and an equallyresponsible top green firm in India. Thecompany's philosophy of continuousinnovation in green products and solutionshas played a key role in striking the rightbalance between business, mankind andnature.Objectives of the study:1) The study seeks to explore the factorswhich influence the consumer attitude andbehavior towards green practices in India.2) It also seeks to uncover different areas ofconcern like the awareness level amongconsumers regarding the concept of greenmarketing, their views regarding differentfactors governing it like availability of ecofriendly substitutes in place of plastic.Hypothesis Development on the basis ofLiterature review:H0-Consumers are not aware regarding theconcept of green marketing.Consumers are not willing to switch to ecofriendlymaterials.Consumers are not willing to pay extra for ecofriendly material.H1 -Consumers are aware regarding the conceptof green marketing.Consumers are willing to switch to ecofriendlymaterials.Consumers are willing to pay extra for ecofriendly material.22 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Green MarketingData Analysis:From graph1 it is seen thatSource of information regarding theconcept of green marketing%ResponseCumulative%ageMedia 36 36Friends& Family 13 49Shopkeepers 18 67Neighbors 13 80Other 20 100It was found that 36% ofpeople came to know aboutgreen marketing throughMedia, 13% from family,18% from shopkeepers, 13%from neighbors & 20 % fromother sources.From graph 2 it is seen thatRank your opinion about plastic as amajor source of pollution on followingscale.%ResponseStrongly agree 34 34Agree 26 60Neutral 18 78Strongly disagree 12 90Disagree 10 100Cumulative%ageIt was found that 34% ofpeople strongly agree forplastic as a source ofpollution,26% are agree, 18%are neutral, 12% are stronglydisagree, and 10% aredisagree.From graph 3 it is seen thatWhich of the following according to youis the most preferred alternative toPlastic bags in your opinion%ResponsePaper 19 36Jute 11 49Leaf packaging 18 67Glass 9 80Biodegradable Polymers 40 100Cumulative%ageIt was found that 19%people prefer paper as aalternative source forplastic, 11% for jute, 18%for leaf packaging, 9% forglass, and 40% tobiodegradable polymer asalternative for plastic.Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 23

Green MarketingFrom graph 4 it is seen thatHow much more would you be willing topay for Green Packaging%ResponseUp to 5% 29 295-10% 31 60Above 10% 8 68No 32 100Cumulative%ageIt was found that people readyto pay more for greenmarketing in range of up to5% are 29% people, between5 to 10 % are 31%, Above10% are 8%, and customerthose who are not ready topay extra money for greenmarketing are 32%.From graph 5 it is seen thatIn your opinion, who should be moreproactive in reducing plastic usage%ResponseGovernment 32 32Retailers 38 70FMCG Manufacturers 15 85Consumers 15 100Cumulative%ageIt was found that 32% peoplethink that governmentshould be more proactive inreducing plastic usage, 38%people think retailers, 15%think FMCG Manufacturer,and 15% people thinkconsumer.From graph 6 it is seen thatIn your opinion which of the following isthe biggest advantage of using ecofriendlymaterials.%ResponseReduction of cost 12 12Reduced resource consumption 10 22Reduced pollution 42 64Increased customer satisfaction 5 69Reduced use of Hazardous /Nondegradable material31Cumulative%age100It was found that differentadvantages of using ecofriendlymaterials are fromReduction of cost 12%,reduced resourceconsumption 10%, Reducedpollution 42%, Increasedcustomer satisfaction 5%,Reduced use of Hazardous/Non degradable material31%.24 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Green MarketingFrom graph 7 it is seen thatDo you Support the Policy of greenpackage design%ResponseYes 59 59No 22 81Cumulative%ageIt was found that 59% peoplesay good to following policyof green package design,22% say No, and 19% saynot necessary.Not Necessarily 19 100From graph 8 it is seen thatDo you think "Green Culture" will be themost important trend in 21 st centurymarketing initiatives%ResponseCumulative%ageStrongly Disagree 9 9Disagree 6 15Neutral 5 20Agree 25 45Strongly Agree55100It was found that 9% peopleare strongly disagree, 6% aredisagree, 5% are neutral, 25%are agree, 55% are stronglydisagree for "Green Culture"will be the most importanttrend in 21st centurymarketing initiativesFrom graph 9 it is seen thatDo you think green packaging willincrease products market value%ResponseCumulative%ageStrongly Disagree 9 9Disagree 19 28Neutral 5 33Agree 14 47Strongly Agree100It was found that 9% peopleare strongly disagree, 6% aredisagree, 5% are neutral,25% are agree, 55% arestrongly disagree for greenpackaging will increaseproducts market value.53Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 25

Green MarketingFrom graph 10 it is seen thatDo you think extravagant packaging willincrease products market value%ResponseCumulative%ageYes 73 73No 17 90Not Necessarily 10 100It was found that 73% people say yes, 17% people say No, and 10% people say notnecessary to Extravagant packaging will increase products market value.From graph 11 it is seen thatWhat factors according to you aregoverning growing awareness regardinggreen packaging%ResponseCumulative%ageRegulatory requirement 37 37Increased Media Attention 47 84Consumer requirements 13 97Competitive Pressures 3 100It was found that 37% say Regulatory requirement,47% say Increased MediaAttention, 13% say Consumer requirements, and 3% say Competitive Pressures aregoverning growing awareness regarding green packaging.26 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Green MarketingFrom graph 12 it is seen thatWhat according to you are the challengesin implementing the concept of greenmarketing%ResponseCumulative%ageCost 47 47Comparable quality 8 55Lack of Alternatives 21 76Raw material Prices 8 84Compatibility with existing systems 5 89Lack of Standards/ Metrics 11 100It was found that, 47% people find Cost as a challenge for green marketing, 8% to Comparablequality, 21% to Lack of Alternatives, 8% to Raw material Prices, 5% to Compatibility with existingsystems and 11% to Lack of Standards/ Metrics.ConclusionFrom the above we can conclude that Green marketing is not going to be an easy concept. Thefirms as well as government will have to plan and then carry out research to find out how feasibleit is going to be, since this concept is still at its infancy stage. Adoption of Green marketing maynot be easy in the short run, but in the long run it will definitely have a positive impact on the firm.Government and Social organizations may compel all the organization to practice GreenMarketing for sustainable development. Customers too will be ready to pay premium price forgreen products. Marketers also have the responsibility to make the stakeholders aware about theneed and the advantages of green products. The green marketers will have full support of theGovernment, and the consumers also will not mind paying more for a cleaner and greenerenvironment as environmentalism is on the rise.Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 27

Green MarketingGreen Packaging- Sustainable marketing strategyQuestionnaire on Awareness of Green Marketing & its acceptance (Consumer Perspective)Personal DetailsName:Address:Gender:Occupation:(Please Tick whichever is applicable)1. Do you Use Plastic Bags? Yes No2. Are you aware of plastic being a source of pollution? Yes No3. Are you aware regarding the concept of green marketing?4. If yes, from which source did you came to know about it?Media Friends& Family Shopkeepers NeighborsOther (specify) _________5. Rank your opinion about plastic as a major source of pollution on following scaleStrongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree6. Which of the following according to you is the most preferred alternative to Plastic bags inyour opinion?Paper Jute Leaf Packaging Glass Biodegradable Polymers7. How much more would you be willing to pay for Green Packaging?Up to 5% 5-10 % Above 10% No8. In your opinion, who should be more proactive in reducing plastic usage?Government Retailers FMCG Manufacturers Consumers9. In your opinion which of the following is the biggest advantage of using eco-friendlymaterials?Reduction of cost Reduced resource consumption Reduced pollutionIncreased customer satisfaction Reduced use of Hazardous /Non degradable material10.Do you Support the Policy of green package design?Yes No Not Necessarily11. Do you think "Green Culture" will be the most important trend in 21st century marketinginitiatives?Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree12. Do you think green packaging will increase products market value?Strongly Disagree Disagree Neutral Agree Strongly Agree13. Do you think extravagant packaging will increase products market value?Yes No Not Necessarily14. What factors according to you are governing growing awareness regarding green packaging?Regulatory requirement Increased Media Attention Consumer requirementsCompetitive Pressures15. What according to you are the challenges in implementing the concept of green marketing?Cost Comparable quality Lack of Alternatives Raw material PricesCompatibility with existing systems Lack of Standards/ MetricsThanks for sparing your time !!!!!28 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Green MarketingGraphs of QuestionnaireIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 29

Green Marketing30 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Green MarketingReferences:Aaker, D., Kumar, V. and Day, G. S. (2004), “Marketing research”, 8th edition. New York: John Wiley & Sons, Inc.Alsmadi, S. (2007), “Green Marketing and the Concern over the Environment: Measuring EnvironmentalConsciousness of Jordanian Consumers”, Journal of Promotion Management, Vol. 13(3–4), 2007.Arbuthnot, J. (1977), “The roles of attitudinal and personality variables in the prediction of environmental behaviorand knowledge”, Environment and Behavior, 9(2), 217-32.Athens Laboratory of Research in Marketing (ALARM) and Sustainable Center (CSE), (2009), “The Social andEnvironmental Dimensions of Marketing in the frame of Corporate Social Responsibility”, Available:http://www.morax.gr/article_show.php?article_id=2985 Avlonas, N. (2008), “The importance of green marketing”,Available: http://www.morax.gr/article_show.php?article_id=2301Avlonitis, G. (2008), “The environmental dimensions of Marketing in the frame of Corporate Social Responsibility”,Available: http://www.elam.gr/default.asp?id=400070036&lcid=1032Baron DP. 1995. Integrated strategy: market and nonmarket components. California Management Review37: 47–65.Barrett S. 1991. Environmental regulations for competitive advantage.Business Strategy Review 2: 1–15.Brown JD, Wahlers RG. 1998. The environmentally concerned consumer: an exploratory study. Journalof MarketingTheory and Practice 6: 39–47.Ottman, J.A. et al, "Avoiding Green Marketing Myopia", Environment, Vol-48, June-2006.Roy, Kisholoy. (2009, Feb).Green Retailing.Advertising Express. Vol. IX. Hyderabad: The ICFAI University Press.Sustainable Green Marketing the New Imperative.Dutta, B. (2009, January). Marketing Mastermind.Pg 23-26.Hyderabad: The ICFA University Press.Social Advertising: Rejuvenating in India. (2010, April).Advertising Express.VolX(4). Hyderabad: IUP Publications.Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 31

CHANGING ATTITUDE OF CONSUMERS:A STUDY AMONG URBAN WORKING WOMENAnilkumar.N* and Jelsey Joseph**(*Research Scholar & Chief manager,**Dean, Dept of commerce & Business management,Karpagam University, Coimbatore)AbstractConsumer attitude is a learnt predispositionto respond to an object or act consistently in afavorable or unfavorable manner and isshaped by one's values and beliefs which arelearnt. However Values are personally orsocially preferable modes of conduct orstates of existence that are enduring. Incontrast , beliefs are consumer's subjectiveperception of how well a product or brandperforms on different attributes. The variousapproaches to change the consumer attitudeare like Changing beliefs about the extent towhich a brand has certain attributes;Changing the perceived importance ofattributes; and adding new attributes to theproduct etc.. Only by changing theconsumer's attitude can they be influencedto enact a merchandise transaction in themodern marketing mileau. Hence theimportance of attitude change is ofparamount importance to marketers who areconsumer centric in the modern age oftencustomizing the products/services to matchthe tastes of the consumer by properpositioning and targeting strategies. In thisstudy the consumer attitude towards twodifferent class of products like the FMCG andWhite goods are contrasted among theworking women in an urban habitat ,theKochi metro in Kerala which is thecommercial hub and leading test marketingsite in India .Over the past decade, Kochi hasevidenced substantial growth insales/consumption of both FMCG andDurables with a noticeable change inconsumer attitude on spending/consumption of goods for family use(affinityfor modernity with higher buying power),which is explored herein. The various facets ofthe working/Career women as Consumerare brought out , with substantialcontribution towards their current consumerbehavior to enable facilitate appropriatePUSH-PULL marketing strategies on theFMCG - Durables, which are bundles ofattributes.Keywords: Consumer attitude, TPB, Katzfunctional theory,attitude change,attitude function, TAM, FMCG, White goods,Consumption motive,Salient Attributes,Benefits.IntroductionAttitude as a behavioral construct is a learntpredisposition to respond consistentlytowards an object(product or service) in afavorable or unfavorable manner.Directpersonal experience with a product/service isan important factor in the formation ofattitudes. Consequent attitudes developedtend to be strong, more enduring & resistantto change while those attitude formed as aresult of indirect experience like exposure toAds/brands. Apart from direct personalexperience ,reference groups like family,friends, close relatives, mediapersons/celebrities influence a consumer'sattitude formation. In high involvement32 Indira Management Review - July 2012

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among Womenscenario, the detailed information search &evaluation/processing fetches salientbeliefs resulting in formation of attitude.Consumer behavior is altered by changingthe attitudes or reinforcing the existingattitudes about the brand/product orservices through persuasion messages viaAds in mass media. Attitude is formed fromdirect experience, family and SRG influence,direct marketing, mass media persuasionand personality though attitude changethrough change in belief-evaluation,resolving conflicting attitudes, alteringattitude function, adding attributes, alteringbrand rating, change beliefs on other brands,persuasion as per ELM and association ofproduct with SRG. Motives lead to beliefs(cognitive)and feelings(affect) drivingattitude and in turn behavior(conation) iswell known. In the purchase of durables, thehigher involvement of the consumer causesattitude to drive behavior while for FMCG,behavior drives attitudes.Addressing the Attitude functions to alterattitude/motive of ConsumerAttitudes differ as per the function theyserve for the consumers(Katz 1960,Maio &Olson,2000).As per Katz(1960),attitudeexist to fulfill one or more goals of theconsumer like reward maximization,expressvalues of the self,defend against threat ideas& satisfy the thirst for knowledge. Althoughseveral attitude functions have beenaddressed vide earlier research of the1950's,the recent research have focused onunanimous distinction betweeninstrumental and symbolic functions ofattitude(Ennis and Zanna 2000,Abelson andPrentice 1989,Berger and Heath 2007,Joharand Sirgy 1991,Prentice 1987; Shavitt,Lowrey and Han 1992). While someproducts give rise to predominantlyutilitarian attitude ,.other products supportdominantly symbolic attitudes (Shavitt,Lowrey and Han 1992). Attitude functionmatching appeals are used to change theattitudes; a symbolic attitude is best changedby symbolic value related arguments(Katz1960).The advantages of functionmatching(versus mismatching)appeals arewell documented(Bazzini and Shaffer1995;Clary etal. 1994, Lavine and Snyder1996;Murray,Haddock and Zanna 1996;Pettyand Wegener 1998).Thus the productcentered approach to attitude functions hasbeen a boon to marketing(Shavitt, Lowreyand Han 1992).Attitudes can serve multiplefunctions towards some products with strongutilitarian and symbolic aspects-mixedfunction products9Shavitt,Lowrey and Hans1992).Persuasive appeals are moresuccessful when they match the function ofthe targeted attitude.Attitude functionchanges with the branding and may not matchat the product's category level attitudefunction. In the light of the intense retailenvironment, .identifying the attitudefunction of the consumer is very cardinal.Theidea that attitudes can serve differentfunctions is not new(Katz 1960; Smith,Bruner and white 1956). Katz (1960)described consumers as motivated to attain avariety of goals like maximizing concreterewards, expressing values and the self,defending the self against threats. In Katz'sframework, ,attitudes exist for a reason or tofulfill one or more of those goals. Thefunctional/instrumental function has beencontrasted with the symbolic function videthe studies of Prentice(1987),Ennis andZanna (2000), Abelson andPrentice(1989),Johar and Sirgy (1991),Shavitt, Lowey and Han(1992), Berger andIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 33

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenHeath(2007).Attitude differ by the way theyserve in terms of the functions. Consumerswho differ on certain traits will exhibitcorresponding differences in attitudefunctions(Bazzini and Shaffer 1995,Debono1987,Lavine and Snyder 1996,Petty andWegener 1998).Some of the products servespecific attitude functions, viz., attitudetowards Toothpaste, Cough syrup etc., basedon utilitarian function (Shavitt1990,Shavitt,Lowrey and Han 1992) and otherproducts like Flags,Rings serving symbolicfunction(Shavitt,Lowrey and Han1992);however attitudes can serve morethan one function for products likesunglasses, motor cars etc(Shavitt, Lowreyand Han 1992).The understanding of theattitude functions serve the knowledge tochange the attitudes, to tune theappeals/arguments to match the attitudefunctions. This function matching is wellresearched in the past(Claryetal.1994;Bazzini and Shaffer1995;Murray,Haddock and Zanna1996;Lavine and Snyder 1996;and Petty andWegener 1998).Both utilitarian andsymbolic appeals influence consumersattitude to different products/brandscategories(Lutz 1981,Shavitt,Lowrey andHan 1992).Research into the role ofemotions/affect in shopping areavailable(Rayand Walker, 2004;Spears,2005). As per Duncan(2005)Consumer motive is the internal impulseswhich when stimulated initiate someresponse, as consumers are continuouslyreacting to their internal impulses as well asexternal environment. Kim and Jim(2001)stated that consumer motives are drivers ofbehavior that bring the consumers to theshop for purchase. Tauber(1972)propounded that consumers were oftenmotivated by many personal and socialfactors actually unrelated to the need forbuying/consuming products/services. Thereexist ulterior motives which reflect in theattitude.T he information seeking functionas per Tauber encompassed informationsearch, comparison and analysis.Nonetheless impulsive buying has beenevidenced driven by hidden forces like socialinteraction/reference group affiliation/peerpressure/social comparison etc. Thompsonetal.(1990) observed that both hedonic andutilitarian functions coexisted amongconsumers, and one mode tended todominate in some consumer segments.Numerous research focusing on the feelingsof mastery experienced/feeling ofexpression of ego or obtain satisfaction of agood deal in shopping are available( Feickand Price,1987;Lichtenstein etal.,1990;Schindler,1989;Slama andWilliams,1990).Also Tauber (1972),Rohmand Swaminathan(2004) identified buyingmotives that fetch enjoyment as a leisureactivity for the consumer.Consumer maydesire to seek higher level of experientialconsumption relative to utilitarianconsumption(Kim,2001).Positive emotionsof the consumers are significantdeterminants in buying behavior like thepatronage benefits, excitement on outing,time/money spend on valued priorities, asper the study of Kim etal.(2002) on apparelson utilitarian versus hedonic functions ofattitude. Haanpa(2005) made a study on thedifferent shopping motives of consumers inFinland on experiential and gratificationfactors, Hedonic/Recreational, Economicand Convenience types with the youngerones cherishing enjoyment on social andemotional front.Parsons(2002) put forththat in inline buying, the driving forces are34 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among Womenmotives like self gratification, learning newtrends,diversion,social comparison,communication, status symbol andinteraction with other consumers withsimilar taste. Peter and Donnell(2007)pointed out that social influences likeculture, social class, reference groups andfamily can cause consumer motives, whilethey also stated that the marketing mix alsoinfluences the consumer motivessubstantially. Belk(1975) studies and foundthat situational influences likephysical/social features, time, task andcurrent conditions etc, have impact onmotives. Glitomer .J(2005) stated that priceis the main motive in buying and which wassupplemented by Kim and Jim(2001) thatproduct considerations like assortment,quality and pricing are critical attributesinfluencing consumer purchase motive. Jin(2005) put forth that consumer perceptionabout price-quality are most importantfactors in purchase. Many value consciousconsumers buy products on the basis of pricethan other attributes(Peter andDonnely,2007).However, Wood, Lias. M andBarry.J. P (2006) pointed out that differencesin product quality do not significantly affectbrand preference. A durable product has theability to perform it's functions like overalldurability, reliability, ease ofoperation/repair, performance and othervaluedattributes(Kotler andAmstrong,2006).These attributes form partof the attitude functions of the consumertriggering motivation to purchase theproducts and use them. Consumers wouldoften reject home ware with mass appeal andprefer products that are tailored to reflecttheir specific needs (Elsasser, 2004).Thevarious functions of attitude lead to theconsumer's overall attitude toward engagingin the given purchase decision, thusinfluencing behavioral intention (Hawkins etal., 2001). The attitude toward the behavior oraction reveals the consumer's inclusiveevaluation of engaging in the behavior.Behavioral intention reflects the consumer'splan of action or a proposition associatingone's self with a future consumption action orbehavior (Peter & Olson, 1999). Price is themain motive in buying as perGitomer.J(2005).Souryamoorthy(1997)stated that durables served as the statusenhancement tool.Consumerassorts/compares various brands/productsin their evoked/consideration set.Theconsumer evaluates alternatives in terms offunctional,psychological benefitsas persalientproduct attributes to match the need-Attitude function.Statement of the Problem: The consumerstastes are changing because of perceivedchanges in the family, work life & societalsituations. These changes are being felt in theway consumers demand their products torealize value for money. The underlyingaspects influencing the current purchaseattitude towards two class of products(FMCG-Personal body care items and whitegoods-durables for common familyconsumption) is worthy of study in view ofthe tremendous growth of these sectors/industry in Kerala over the past decade,specifically at Kochi.Universe of Study: Kochi, the commercialcapital and fastest growing metro in theKerala State is chosen as the universe. Kochihas evolved as a premier test marketing sitefor all the leading products launched in Indiadue to the higher female literacy level andacculturation. Keralites are known for theirIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 35

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among Womencosmopolitan acceptance of consumerproducts and Kochi happens to account foralmost 70% of the recent total sales /year ofover Rs.370 Crores of White goods sales peryear in Kerala which has been growing byleaps and bounds in the past decade due topromising 19% market growth and higherdemand potential with even dealers/consumers from other districts of Keralaand rural retailers depending on Urbanmarket/dealers of Kochi. Of late, ,thetraditional family lifestyles have changed asalso the culinary tastes in the kitchens ofKerala, assimilated western tastes, changedvalue systems ,influx of fashion and socialcomparison specifically applicable in theurban areas with higher consumption amongthe working women households. The sales ofFMCG is always on upswing at Kochi withhigher purchasing capacity for WWHouseholds. Hence the need for the study toassess the acculturation changes in attitude.Scope of Study:The study is limited to Kochicity and urban suburbs and is aimed at thelimited segment of middleclass domesticConsumer HHs (single entity)of Workingwomen to study their purchase behaviour./attitude and Institutional/Commercialconsumers are excluded. The consumerfamily units selected specifically as they formthe single largest chunk of the growingurban market in White goods or FMCG andare mostly targeted in the market mix by theleading brands by both push and pullstrategies. Both Durables and FMCG areconsidered to contrast between these todiverse class of products as attitude objectfrom consumer perceptionObjectives of Study: The objectives of thismarket research study is on consumerpurchase behaviour with relevance tofollowing specific objectives -1.To understand the relative importance ofthe attitude functions based needsatisfaction involved in the purchase ofDurables(White goods-kitchen appliances)purchase by working women Consumers.2.To contrast the purchase attitude function sfor the Personal body careitems(FMCGproducts ) for common family consumptionwith the Durables(White goods-kitchenappliances) purchase by working womenConsumers.3.Identify the Urban consumer behaviorvariables towards FMCG Vs White Goods-Durables(Kitchen appliances) in familypurchases with relevance to their HH income.Formulation of HypothesisH01:There exist significant positivecorrelation between the income ofConsumer and the overall purchaseattitude towards durable goods and FMCG.H02:There is significant positive correlationbetween the personal beliefs/evaluation andthe overall purchase attitude of theConsumer towards durables and FMCG.H03:There is significant positive relationshipbetween the overall purchase attitude andPBC of the Consumer towards Durables andFMCG.H04:There is significant positive correlationbetween the overall purchase attitude andsocial aspects on the consumer towardsdurables and FMCG.H05: There is no significant correlationbetween the overall purchase attitude andattitude functions of consumer towardsdurables and FMCG .36 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenResearch MethodologySample, Tool and Procedure: Descriptiveexploratory Research on consumerattitude/preference on qualitative variablesundertaken herein vide Primary marketsurvey method. The attitude objectscontrasted are of two classes: the whitedurable goods for household and FMCG likepersonal bodycare items for family likeS o a p s / S h a m p o o / H a i rOil/Cream/Spray/Talcumpowder/Toothpaste/Polish/medicine. Thedisparate product classes were chosen asobjects.Sampling Design: The Consumer Survey wasconducted on a targeted sample of 450family units drawn from a population of over1lakh HHs in Kochi metro. A total of 300numbers of filled questionnaires/responseswere obtained despite protracted effort inthe field survey which is nearly adequate at90-95% confidence interval, with a max errorlikely at 3.95%. Thus a response of 66.6% ofthe targeted family units respondedfully(300 numbers) -response rate, thesurvey spanning over an year(Jan-Dec 2011).Sampling Method: The sample size of 300Households (HHs) was chosen from apopulation of 5 lakhs and an overall one lakhHHs settlements in Kochi(Metro). Stratifiedrandom sampling based on income andgeographical spread in 20 locations of theKochi metro applied to select the socialmiddle class homogenous samplehouseholds strata in the Urban areas ofKochi on a proportional basis of income andpopulation. A pilot study was conductedearlier in the beginning of year 2011,on 30middle class households which was used tosharpen the efficacy of the questions for thesurvey. The final primary data collection wasbased on the Questionnaire administered oneach family unit though combine with theinterview method. to elicit better responsethrough personal visits to the respondents,the working women of each household. Dueto time limitation observation method couldnot be applied on the consumers in theiractual purchase behavior exhibited at theretailer so as to contrast with their responseagainst the questionnaire tool. The Cronbachalpha for reliability found to be highenough well, beyond acceptance limit of0.65.Method of Data Collection: Survey method ofprimary data collection using CombinedInterview andstructured questionnaire(with 7 point S.D Scale through statements)adopted for collection of primary datathrough field survey in Kochi city fromhouseholds . Personal visit to each family andfollow up in person fetched the response toquestionnaire ,as also interview schedulewas deployed for fetching data from therespondents spread across the city. Utmostcare taken to tabulate and analyze the dataaccurately. Weighted score and factoranalysis applied on statements on attitudefunctions(5x4=20 questions) to assess theconsumer accurately.Analysis/FindingsThe personal characteristics of therespondents(Career woman) has beenanalyzed as hereunder. The maximum agerange of husbands is 40-50 years while thesame for housewives is 30-40 yrs. 80% ofhouseholds had only 2-4 members. Theeducation level of husbands is maximum inthe Professional level (35%) and amongHousewives, Graduation level (50%) .Almost90% and 82.67% of the husbands &Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 37

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenHousewives respectively of the samplepopulation were employed in Govt. / Pvt.Sector. The average annual income of 5.82%of the HHs were in the range of Rs. 16-20Lakh, while the annual income of 60.1% ofthe households were in the range Rs. 12-16Lakhs and for the HHs with the annualincome of Rs. 8-12 Lakhs was 25.46 percent;the annual income of Rs.4-8Lakhsaccounted for 5.54%HHs and the lowestincome bracket of less than Rs. 4Lakhs were3.08% of the Sample HHs. In 79.67%households, wives made the lead decisionson the purchase of goods for family and selfhelp (no servant) has been practiced in thekitchens of 61% of households, usuallyworking housewives. The average age ofperson handling White good durables likeRefrigerator/MWO/Induction cooktop / LPGHob/Grinder-Mixer-Juicer ranged between24-50 years (82.67%) with mostly twice aday cooking schedule (71%) . The surveyedsample population covered 82.67%as Keralaresident and 12.67% were South Indian(non-Keralite) with 4.67% accounting forNorth Indians residing in Kochi. InvariablyRefrigerator, MWO, LPG Cook Stove, WetGrinder/Mixer/Induction Cooktop / OTG arecurrently used per almost all middle classhouseholds sampled. The major problemsfaced in kitchenware durables were partsfailure (39.33%), subsequent wear & Tear(29.67%) and handling damage (24%). 60%of the sample population opined that timesaving is the striking advantage while44.67% indicated fuel saving and 19.33%opted for ease of cleaning / operation.Regarding attributes influencing newpurchase of Kitchen durables based onproduct attributes, 12numbers of salientattributes were identified as- Productquality/technology / performance(23%),aftersales service quality / Warrantee(13%), Economy-energy saving inoperation(11%),Automatic uniquefeatures(9%),Brand reputation(8%),Design/style/color/appearance/statussymbol(7%),availability(6%), Convenienceof handling/user friendly/sizing/ease ofcleaning& use(6%), Price(5%), Pastexperience(4%), Safety of operation(4%) andpayment terms/discounts/patronagebenefits(4%).In general, for the body careFMCG , the 12 numbers of salient attributeswere reported as-Premium quality, Brandcredibility, Value for money ,innovativetechnology, safety/body friendliness/medical endorsement, availability, patronagebenefits -benefits/coupons/offers/gifts forbulk or regular purchases/revolving monthlycredit /free extra quantity enjoyed withretailor (POP),packaging attractiveness forconvenient weight/Lot size, Validity forusage/shelf life expiry dates,taste/flavor/Aroma/texture-smoothnessstrength - efficacy, Peer / Social conformityand price. Umpteen OEM/ brands exist in thedurables segment like LG,IFB, SAMSUNG,WHIRLPOOL, ELECTROLUX, GODREJ, ONIDA,PRESTIGE, PANASONIC, PHILIPS, as also inthe in body care FMCG major manufacturerslike P&G, HUL, GODREJ, Jyothi Labs, TTK,Reckitt Colman, Colgate Palmolive etc havemajor brands in soaps, toothpaste, powder,spray, creams, Shampoo, hair oil, cleaners likeLUX, DETTOL, HAMAM, EMAMI, COLGATE,HEAD &SHOULDERS, CLOSEUP.., often withinthe affordable price range for all segments ofMC population. Eighty-seven percent of therespondents/households indicated that theirpurchase style is dominated by reason(rational motive) weighting the merits/demerits and the Cost-Benefit ratio ondurable products purchase.The frequency ofrepeat purchase of durables was an average38 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among Womenmore than 10 years while that of FMCG forpersonal body care was as and when thestock depleted in the family/reservemaintained .For the household purchasedecisions ,the social/others influence was asfollows:39.01% were influenced by Familymembers,17.85% influenced byfriends,15.93%influenced by closerelatives,14.01% influenced bycolleagues/peers,12.08%influenced byneighbours and 1.12% influenced by otherslike salesmen .The mass media as acommunication source influenced thehousehold attitude for durables asfollows:32.77% are influenced through TVAds-celebrity endorsements,25.11% areinfluenced through newspaper Ads,17.02%through Ads/review in popular householdmagazines,16.17% through the WWW(Internet)Web sites/E shopping sites,5.1 %through Retailer/Dealer networkexhibitions/pamphlets and 3.83% throughhoardings/LCD TV Ads in street corners &shopping malls. Interestingly, there is littleinfluence through Radio on the urbanhouseholds. However for the FMCG thesource of information for purchase wasobserved to be :TV (98.5%), Radio(1.2%),Retail outlets salesman(20.1%),Print medianewspapers(13.6%),Magazines(1.2%),Hoardings(5.8%),friends-relatives(11.8%) andinternet-(22.9%). Regarding the quality ofthe after sales complaint managementsparesservices support received on brandeddurables for the households: Only17.45%rated the services as excellent, while69.78% rated the aftercare services as good,and 9.79% rated the services as satisfactoryand 2.98% rated them as bad (complaints).The likelihood of repeat purchase of existingownership of brands (brand loyalty)indurables in households has been indicatedas: Most likely(46.12%),More Likely(17.62%) ,Less likely (12.03%),Unlikely(7.28) and the Undecided(16.95%).Withrespect to the final purchase conflictresolver-decision maker in the family forpurchase of durables/FMCG: In 56.17%households, the conflict resolver in thehousehold is jointly by involvement of mostof the members, while in 33.19% householdsthe husband resolved the purchase conflicts,in 5.53% households only the wife was theconflict resolver, in 2.98% cases the kids werethe conflict resolver for purchase decisionmaking and only 2.12% households werestrongly influenced by parents/In laws. Onthe sales promotion preference front , thehousehold attraction towards the variousmodes of sales promotion schemes availablein the market for the brands/marketers ofdurables has been as below :majority choseAdvertisements (44.32%),Celebrityendorsement (22.45%), Hoardings/Banners / Posters -Flex boards(19.87%) andothers like dealer gifts/discounts offer/pamphlets(13.36%). In contrast, for thePersonal care FMCG ,the relative influenceon attitude has been advertisement(19.1%),Pricing(15.4%),excellentquality(38.6),influence of friends-relativespeers(6.2%),retailoutlet-salesman/girls(16.6%) and others/internet (3.2%).Thepurchase behavior adopted by thehouseholds for durables are broadlyobserved as : Habit-routine style adopted by7.87%, Limited problem solving styleadopted by 19.21%, Extensive problemsolving style adopted by the majority(38.35%) and Variety/choice seeking styleby 34.57% of the households sampled. Forthe Personal care FMCG the attitude of therespondents has been based on benefitsseeking and the purchase style has been ofIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 39

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among Womenconvenience/habitual or impulsive as per situations with very limited analysis or informationsearch process before purchase and complying blindly with peer pressure/social comparison.Often when price discounts were available, bulk purchases reported based on shelf life/expirydates of the product. The overall purchase attitude towards the durables/FMCG by therespondents of households has been a clear majority of favourable(62.14%), Unfavourable(14.58%), Neutral / ambivalent( 13.68%) and a minority of Can't tell/ Undecided( 9.67%) in thesample.In the case of durables, respondents often engaged in extensive information searchthrough WOM and valued products based on their personal importance and financial value withconstraint of affordability and matching the family size-FLCS needs, yet matching the overallfamily lifestyle and consumption pattern. Like FMCG for the durables also the respondentsaccorded top importance for Product attributes and benefit seeking behavior with strongpreference for leading proven brands to avoid risk as also higher social motivation to comply. Theinvolvement in the purchase process was reported as substantially higher for thedurables(86%) in view of the higher financial investment involved.68% of the respondents livein owned house/apartment while 32% lived in rented house/apartments/quarters in the urbanhabitat. The highest priority for the respondents were the family welfare (26%),money/investments(23%),children's education(21%),healthcare of parents/ kids(16%),socialization/recreation/shopping (9%) and other pursuits(5%).There is very little brandloyalty evidenced in FMCG as well as in White goods.40 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenTable 1: Consumer motive for Purchase of Durables-White goods/Brown goods forfamily useS. No. Statement Attitude function/NeedAA1A2A3A4A5B.B1B2B3FUNCTIONAL/UTILITARIAN FACTORI buy the durables to increaseconvenience/comfort/reduce tension/relievestress and meet new needs, obtain reward, availeconomy, performance and energy saving/saveoperational costs/avail situational offerings &benefits driven on product attributes forpractical valueI shop for durable goods for survival needs, avoidrisks and improve quality of living, willing to payhigher price for branded quality goods‐financialvalue, goods to achieve family security on foodneeds for autonomy matching family size andincomeI purchase durables for diversion from boredomfor better mental wellbeing and save valuabletimeI purchase durables to meet the rationalneeds/necessity at home to save time/Labor/FLCneeds and food habits/improvecleanliness/tangible attributesI buy durables to derive experiential benefits tomatch my family role and intangible attributesKNOWLEDGE FACTORI buy durables driven by the need to learn more,futuristic with high expectations, nurtureinformation, court originality, excitement onintellectual stimulation and be ahead of time onKnowledge and after extensive informationsearch & problem solving analysis with highinvolvementI purchase durables purely to serve curiosity,assimilate technology innovations, satisfy thirstfor new high end products up to date.I purchase durable goods to satisfy and exhibitmy knowledge based beliefs, takerisks/challenges ,match highest expectations,satiate creativity, educate othersPhysiological/ Benefits drivenSecurity/ AutonomyDiversionBiogenicHedonicEpistemicCuriosityActualizationProfessionalFuturisticAchievement‐ValuesIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 41

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenB4B5C.C1C2C3C4C5D.D1I buy durables to match my professionalexcellence, intrigued by new and unfamiliarbrands, learn new & different to be an opinionleaderI buy durables based on the need to nurturemodernity and expose /invest for future nowitself for cutting edge technology products ofrevolutionary type substantially improvingpresent practicesVALUE EXPRESSIVE FUNCTIONIn the purchase of durables, I am concernedprimarily to exhibit my self outlook as symbol orconscious expression of feelings/values for anachievement /successful individuality lovingconspicuous purchase of premium brandsalwaysI buy durables reflecting my familyvalues/customs for better quality of life withaesthetic appeal/intangible attributes of theproduct/serviceI procure durable items to seek appreciation,enhance my self values matching beautyaesthetics‐grace‐novelty‐uniquenessof selfidentity value to manifest superiority/lifestylesymbol and exhibit affluence of personalimportanceI buy durable goods to match with moderntrends‐sophisticated lifestyle for upwardmobility, entertainment, haveexcitement/happiness/ enjoy humor andprogress with passage of timeI buy durables based on reflection ofindependence‐self identity,confidence,exhibitionof modernity ,Luxury‐aspiration for Prestige /Status seeking to feel betterEGO DEFENSIVE FUNCTIONPsychogenicLeadershipAmbitious/Growth orientedSelf esteemPower autonomy‐egoPsychogenic/ExistenceAccomplishment‐recognitionSocial affiliation42 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenD2D3D4D5I buy durables to reinforce‐protect my ego,obtain self respect to remove anxiety/threat &avoid blame, match religious beliefs, meetmaterialistic goals and to achieve power ,control& dominance over others‐social importance.I shop for durables so as to assert mypersonality, derive the feeling of pride &importance, be successful & attractive to others,personal achievement and express confidenceI buy durable goods for home as anaccomplishment for success, accumulatematerial assets to gratify ego in comparison withothers/peers on acquisitions with extendedWarrantee coverage‐insurance backupI make purchase of durables to bolster/expressself image to match status‐autonomy matchsocial image importance congruity, acceptanceby others, trust and intangible benefits ataffordable priceI plan purchase of durables to bolster my socialinfluence ,imitate others, enhance acceptance tosocially important persons/group forappreciation & respect, meet family memberspressure, satisfy social objectives, nurturebelongingness & social affiliations/relationshipsfor group approval/ affection‐cohesiveness/Love/respect and appreciation despite higherinvestment or NIL return on Spending on longtermSocial Group InfluenceIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 43

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenS..No. Statement Attitude function / NeedFactor Attitude function type Mean SD CronbachalphaF1A1A2A3A4A5Utilitarian factor 4.103.233.863.243.291.130.861.021.161.210.78F2B1B2B3B4B5Knowledge function 3.363.423.293.383.241.181.161.121.211.080.74F3C1C2C3C4C5F4D1D2D3D4D5Value expressive function 3.172.992.972.823.02Ego defensive function3.252.993.143.62\3.741.051.091.281.261.111.111.151.081.171.350.690.71Factor AnalysisSt. NoF1 F2 F3 F4 CommunalityA1A2A3A4A50.8290.7450.7610.6570.8420.7310.7190.7260.7170.71344 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenB1B2B3B4B50.7100.8060.7340.7100.5370.7730.7620.6680.6810.612C1C2C3C4C50.7720.6350.4680.7620.7620.6390.7380.4710.7230.626D1D2D3D4D50.7350.7650.4670.4070.8420.6630.6210.6490.4010.716Eigen Value%Varianceexplained3.5919.8762.6828.9172.1837.4742.2057.613Sum:75.827KMO Value:0.738 ; PCA with Varimax orthogonal rotation applied.Statements A1(benefits) and A3 (diversion from boredom, saving of time) cause the highestpercent of total variance of Utilitarian factor at 9.875.Statements A1-5 account for the utilitarianfunction of the consumer attitude.B2-3 of the Knowledge function of attitude has highest meanvalue for curiosity and actualization needs with high percent of relative variance 8.917.C1,C4and C5 account for relatively higher mean among attitude functions under epistemic head.Achievement, ambition- growth and self esteem leading to high percent total variance 7.474 ofValue expressive function of attitude.D5,.4,1 have the highest mean explaining 7.613 per cent oftotal variance .On the whole the utilitarian and epistemic functions of attitude relatively morepredominant in order for white goods purchase .More than one function of attitude plays theirrole in the overall purchase attitude as well. The time pressure of working women are reflected inthe utilitarian function dominating in the overall attitude and decision making on the purchaseof white goods, given their higher buying power among MC.Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 451

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenTable 2: Consumer motivation fo r Purchase of FMCG for common family useS..No. Statement Attitude function /NeedAA1A2A3A4A5B.B1FUNCTIONAL/UTILITARIAN FACTORI buy Personal body care items for familyuse to take better care of the physical bodyand clean away the dirt/germs/removesfilth & stains ,longer life and bodycare/rejuvenationI shop for Personal body care goods forsurvival needs, avoid risk of infections andimprove quality of living/protect body –healthy organs/match solution to bodilyailments, increase life/lessen sufferingsI purchase Personal body care items fordiversion from boredom for betterPhysical/mental wellbeing and freshness,skin/hair/nails/lips care‐medicinal value,less involved purchase with conveniencecasualI purchase Personal body care items tomeet the rational needs/necessity at hometo save health time/FLC Needs / foodhabits/improve cleanliness/tangibleattributes of necessity and avail situationalbenefits‐instant offeringsI buy Personal body care items to deriveexperiential benefits to match my familyrole and intangible attributes like pleasingodour, beauty care, refined tastes matchingthe necessities of Life, sensuallyappealing/tastyKNOWLEDGE FACTORI buy Personal body care items to availsituational offerings & benefits and drivenby the need to learn more, futuristic withhigh expectations, nurture information,PhysiologicalSecurityDiversionBiogenic/Benefits drivenHedonicEpistemicCuriosityActualizationProfessionalFuturistic46 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenB2B3court originality, excitement on intellectualstimulation and be ahead of time onKnowledgeI purchase Personal body care itemspurely to serve curiosity, assimilatetechnology innovations, satisfy thirst fornew high end products up to date, satiatethe strangeness.Achievement‐ValuesB4B5C.C1C2C3I purchase Personal body care items tosatisfy and exhibit my knowledge basedbeliefs, take risks/challenges ,matchhighest expectations, satiate creativity,educate othersI buy Personal body care items to matchmy professional excellence, intrigued bynew and unfamiliar brands, learn new &different to be an opinion leader & tomatch lifestyleI buy Personal body care items based onthe need to nurture modernity and expose/invest for future now itself for cuttingedge technology products of revolutionarytype substantially improving presentpracticesVALUE EXPRESSIVE FUNCTIONIn the purchase of Personal body careitems , I am concerned primarily toexhibit my self outlook as symbol orconscious expression of feelings/valuesfor an achievement /successfulindividuality loving conspicuous purchaseof premium quality brands always toassociate with celebrity endorsement/Advtcues‐persuasion on –show ValuessymbolismI buy Personal body care items reflectingmy family values/customs for betterPsychogenicLeadershipAmbitious/Growth orientedSelf esteemPower autonomy‐egoIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 47

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenC4C5D.D1D2D3D4D5quality of life with aestheticappeal/intangible attributes of theproduct, cleanliness and attractiveness/Impulsive satisfaction/reduce dissonanceI procure Personal body care items toseek appreciation, enhance my self valuesmatching beauty‐aesthetics‐grace‐noveltyuniquenessof self identity value tomanifest superiority/status symbol andexhibit affluence, stamp of excellence inpersonI buy Personal body care items based onreflection of independence‐selfidentity,confidence,exhibition of modernity,Luxury‐aspiration for Prestige /SocialstatusEGO DEFENSIVE FUNCTIONI buy Personal body care items toreinforce‐protect my ego, obtain selfrespect to remove anxiety/threat & avoidblame, match religious beliefs, meetmaterialistic goals and to achieve power,control & dominance over others.I shop for Personal body care items so asto assert my personality, derive the feelingof pride & importance, be successful &attractive to others, personal achievementand express confidence/feel good andattractive/habitualI buy Personal body care items for homeas an accomplishment for success,accumulate material assets to gratify egoI buy Personal body care goods to matchwith modern trends‐sophisticated lifestylefor upward mobility, entertainment, haveexcitement/happiness/ enjoy andprogress /adapt with passage of timetrendy/innovatePsychogenicAccomplishment‐Social affiliationrecognitionSocial Group Influence48 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among Womenin comparison with others/peers onacquisitions/looks/beautyI make purchase of Personal body careitems to bolster/express self image tomatch status‐autonomy match socialimage importance congruity, acceptance byothers, trust and intangibles with littlevalue for price and highly brand sensitiveloyalfor qualityI plan purchase of Personal body careitems to bolster my social influence,imitate others, enhance acceptance tosocially important persons/group forappreciation & respect, meet familymembers pressure, satisfy socialobjectives, nurture belongingness & socialaffiliations/relationships for groupapproval/ affection‐cohesiveness/ Love/respect and appreciationFactor Attitude function type Mean SD CronbachalphaF1Utilitarian factor 3.60 1.16 0.713.24 0.913.13 1. 123.243.10A1A2A3A4A51.081.13F2B1B2B3B4B5Knowledge function 4.183.863.673.563.491.060.871.251.131.270.76Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 49

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenF3C1C2C3C4C5Value expressive function 4.194.093.953.823.741.251.361.191.171.410.83F4D1D2D3D4D5Ego defensive function3.283.984.024.62\4.741.231.091.011.341.420.81Factor AnalysisSt. NoF1 F2 F3 F4 Com.A1A2A3A4A50.4310.6430.7610.6570.7810.4160.6170.7260.7170.732B1B2B3B4B50.6780.7420.4710.4110.4370.6940.6810.6470.4030.62150 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenC1C2C3C4C50.5210.8410.8290.7420.7590.5790.7580.7420.6940.711D1D2D3D4D50.7140.8470.5170.6780.6620.6750.7160.5920.6980.538Eigen Values%Varianceexplained2.6648.9352.6138.7293.7769.8433.4129.741KMO Value:0.743 ; PCA with Varimax orthogonal rotation applied.For the FMCG purchase, the value expressive function accounts for the highest total percent ofvariance at 9.843,with C2(psychogenic) and C3(leadership) as most dominant. The egodefensive/social function being the next dominant function of attitude with percent totalvariance of 9.741 having statements reflecting strong social approval. The utilitarian functionand knowledge functions are relatively less important in FMCG purchase from above. In contrast,for the lower Income HHs, brand loyalty to avoid risk, security conscious purchasing ,price ismost important in view of their relatively limited resources and higher family size evidenced inthe survey. All the attitude functions are interactively influencing the purchase attitude of theconsumers for both durables as well as FMCG for the HH use. For FMCG ,as stated earlier,consumers accord top ranking for Quality and price followed by other attributes like fragrance,packaging/brand name/Colour/Continual patronage benefits with retailor etcTable 3 Innovative purchase attitude/Lifestyleproducts acceptance level for consumers basedon Income level for durables/FMCGType ofConsumerclass/HH ofSampleInnovative/Creative/High risktakersActualizer/GlobalWhitedurables(% ofSamplesize)Personalbody careFMCG(%of Samplesize)UrbanLifestyleCategorytype&Incomeand % HHin SampleLifestyle4.41 2.77 V. HighIncomeAffluentDisposablemonthlyIncome(Rs.)%ofsampleAnnualIncome(Rs.)>=1 Lakh 8.45 16‐20Lakhs%ofsample5.82Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 51

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenEarliest adoptionof technologyproductsAchieverEarliest majoritStriver/SeekerLate majoStruggler17.62 10.56 Well Off‐UpperMiddleclassy 29.64 26.88 Climbers‐TrueMiddleclassrity 37.76 33.52 Aspirants‐LowerMiddleclass0.5‐1 Lakh 57.21 12‐16Lakhs0.25‐0.50Lakh24.74 8‐12Lakhs.05‐.25Lakh 6.83 4‐8LakhsLaggards‐Last 10.57 26.27 Deprived

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenTable 4Consumer Purchase decisionmaking Enablers throughAttitude functionCognitive beliefs on Productbenefits /Perceivedusefulness/ease of useFor Dura bles(in %)For FMCG(in %)+ Neutral ‐ + Neutral ‐HighLow HighLow81.22 1.15 17.63 74.25 7.49 18.26Affective/Feelings on Product 29.11 9.02 61.87 58.47 22.61 18.92Attitude towards purchase 64.9 9.96 25.14 19.73 75.06 5.21Subjective Norms /SocialInfluencePBC/Perceived risk/Importance /Involvement levelBehavioral IntentionPersonal characteristicsdemographicaspectsLifestyle and personality/SelfImage87.93 5.75 6.32 88.45 6.57 4.9885.63 9.39 4.98 72.56 21.91 5.5377.78 2.68 19.54 85.36 9.82 4.8278.16 12.26 9.58 86.15 11.47 2.3881.41 9.97 8.62 88.76 10.22 1.02Sub Cultural/Religious37.93 18.01 44.06 24.75 16.99 58.26beliefs/Social norms/Foodhabits/NativityFamily dynamics 88.31 4.80 6.89 91.62 6.86 1.52Mass media‐ Persuasion andSituational Influences64.37 2.29 33.34 81.49 17.25 1.26Past behavior/Cognitivedissonance39.84 57.10 3.06 23.78 23.81 52.41The family dynamics, social norms, PBC, beliefs on product benefits, lifestyle/self image of theconsumer are prominent in influencing the attitude for durables, while for the FMCG, Familydynamics, lifestyle/self image,demographic personal profile, social norms, behavior intention tobuy and situational marketing persuasion, influences the consumer in more discernablemanner.The Past experience,sub cultural aspects,affect/feelings are observed to have relativelylesser impact on the purchase attitude for both durables and FMCG.Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 53

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenHypothesis testing:H01:There exist significant positive correlation between the income of Consumer and theoverall purchase attitude towards durable goods and FMCG.H02:There is significant positive correlation between the personal beliefs/evaluation and theoverall purchase attitude of the Consumer towards durables and FMCG.H03:There is significant positive relationship between the overall purchase attitude and PBCof the Consumer towards Durables and FMCG.H04:There is significant positive correlation between the overall purchase attitude and socialaspects on the consumer towards durables and FMCG.H05: There is no significant correlation between the overall purchase attitude and attitudefunctions of consumer towards durables and FMCG .Table 5: Dependent variable:(A)Overall purchase attitude towards Durables and FMCG.Independent Variables T Value Sig. P< H0 S/NSIncome of HH (I) ‐ 0.158 1.774 0.01 NS ; H01 rejectedPersonalBeliefs/evaluation(BE)Perceived behavioralcontrol‐confidenceinvolvement‐importanceof purchase (PBC)Social aspects ofConsumer(SN)0.188 3.121 0.01 S;H02 accepted0.343 3.866 0.01 S;H03 accepted0.460 5.812 0.01 S;H04 acceptedAttitude functions(AF) 0.364 4.106 0.01 S;H04 acceptedF value=28.964R 2=0.426 0.01 Variance=0. 3572k1=2.069 2.928 0.01 Significant.Regression equation can be put up with regression weights asOverall purchase attitude , A =z0+z1(I)+z2(BE)+Z3(PBC)+z4(SN)+z5(AF)+k1.Where z1=-0.158;z2=0.188;z3=0.343;z4=0.460;z5=0.244;k1=2.069.(Model)Income obviously has negative influence while the SN,AF and PBC are most dominant in theregression equation as independent variables .54 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among WomenLimitations/ Constraints: The samplepopulation considered were mainlyconsumers residing in the urban areas ofKochi/(Ernakulam). The answers of thequestionnaire depend upon the belief ofcustomers, which may differ from the reality;the survey was conducted considering thetime &space constraint,indirect measuresrelied upon for attitude measurement. Thefindings of the study are based on theassumptions that the customers have givencorrect information and undertakeresonated actions as per TPB and use as perTAM.Conclusion: This comprehensive study ofconsumer behaviour on the variousattributes of modern durable products andFMCG has outlined the various facets ofconsumer likes/ dislikes -attitude and therole of attitude functions.The impact ofvarious factors on the consumer attitude hasbeen brought out by regression weights aswell.In many ways the attitude towards thedurables(White goods) and the FMCG aretangential to each other, ,though in specificmanner the attitude functions differ as well.Multiple attitude functions are seen tomoderate the overall attitude towards theproduct/act. Notably the income of theconsumer does not influence the consumerattitude positively or significantly. This studycan be extended to rural areas of Kochi aswell as also to brown goods and other classesof FMCG to evolve a treatise on currentconsumer preferences on modern productsof mass consumption. Accordingly, theappropriate marketing strategy on productpositioning ,targeting, productimprovements, brand enrichment could beundertaken by marketers to generate higherprofits/ corner better market share/increased Sales volume and to satisfy thedynamic global lifestyle/ consumptionpatterns of the modern middle classurban/rural consumers, like the careerwoman who are the most influential in middleclass HHs in purchase and consumption ofproducts in Kochi/KeralaReferences1.AmiteswarRatra(2006),Working and non workingwomen, Mittal publication, N.Delhi ,ISBAN:81-8324-060-7.2.Blackwell,R.D,(2007),Consumer Research, ThomsonSouth,10thedn3.Cotte,J and Wood,S.L(2004,Families and InnovativeConsumer behavior:A triadic analysis of sibling andparental influence, Journal of ConsumerResearch,31(1),pp.78-86.4. Davis, H.L,(1976)"Decision making within thehousehold ",Journal of ConsumerResearch,2(March),pp241-60.5.Day,G.S,(1973)Theories of Attitude structure andchange, S.Ward and Robertson, eds.,Consumer Behavior: Theoretical sources, Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.6.Dawson,S,Bloch,P.H and Ridgway, N.M(1990),Shopping motives,emotional states and retailoutcomes,Journal of Retailing, Vol. 66 No.4,pp.408-427.7.Engel,J.D.Kollat and R.Blackwell, (1973),ConsumerBehavior, Hinsdale, Illinois; Dryden Press.8.Fernandez Arlene(1990)'Savings & Investmentpattern of employed women,", M.Phil Thesis, CUSAT.9.Fishbein,M(1963),An investigation of the relationshipbetween beliefs about an object and the attitudetowards that object,Human Relations, pp.233-240.10.Fishbein,M and I. Ajzen (1975),Belief, attitude,intention and behavior; An introduction to theory andResearch, Reading, MA: Addison Welsly.11.GuptaDevendra. B,(1989)' HH size andexpenditure',Arthavijnana,Vol.XI,No.1,Mar12..Haanpa,L(2005),Shopping for fun or needs? A studyof shopping values, styles and motives of FinnishConsumers in 2011-2003,7th Conference of EuropeanSociological Association, Torun, Sept.13.Heider,F(1946),Attitudes and Cognitiveorganization, Journal of Psychology,pp.107-112.14.Holbrook,M.B and Hirschman, E.C(1982), Theexperiential aspects of Consumption, Journal ofConsumer Research, Vol 9 No.2,pp.132-140.15.Howard ,JA and Sheth J.N (1969) The theory of Buyerbehavior, John Wiley & sons, NY.16.Itamar Simonson, "Determinates of customers",Journal of Marketing, 69(1), Jan 2005.Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 55

Changing Consumer Attitudes Among Women17.Kaur,P and Singh,R (2004), Role structure in thebuying decision process for durables, Paradigm, Jan-June.18.Katz .D,(1960),The functional approach to study ofAttitudes, Public opinion Quarterly,24,pp.27-46.19. Leon. G Schiff man, Leslie Lazar Kanuk,(1998)Consumer Behaviour, 6th ed., Prentice Hall ofIndia, N.Delhi ,Pp1-672.20.Lennon.S.J,Sanik,M.M and Stanforth, N.F (2003),Motivations for television shopping :clothing purchasefrequency and personal characteristics, Clothing andTextiles Research Journal, Vol.21,No.2,pp.63-74.21. Martin Fishbein, (1967) Readings in attitude theoryand measurement, Wiley Eastern co NY,.22.Parsons,A.G(2002),Non functional motives foronline shoppers: why we click, Journal of ConsumerMarketing, Vol.19 No.5,pp.380-392.23.Schiffman,Lean G, (2007),Consumer behavior,Prentice Hall,9thedn.24.Souryamoorthy.R,(1997)Consumption in thecontext of Kerala, Classical Publishing Company,N.Delhi.25.Srinivasa,K.K.,(2003),Consumer Behavior, GalgotiaPublishing Company.26.Tauber,E.M(1972),Why do people shop?, Journal ofMarketing, Vol.36 No.4,pp.46-59.Abbreviations UsedTPB: Theory of planned behavior, TAM: Technology aacceptance model, WWF: Working wife family, SN:Subjective norms, PBC: Perceived behavior control,FMCG: Fast moving consumer goods, BI: BehavioralIntention, HH: Household, FLCS: Family Lifecycle stage,MWO: Microwave oven, OTG : Oven grill toaster, LPG:Liquified petroleum gas, ELM: Elaboration likelihoodmodel, KMO: Kaiser Meyer Olkin measure of sampling,PCA: Principal component analysis, AF; Attitudefunction, POP: Point of purchase, OEM: Originalequipment manufacturer, MC: Middle class consumer.56 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

STUDY ON AWARENESS LEVEL AND USAGE OFIPO GRADING AMONG INVESTORS OFGANDHINAGAR CITY"Dr. Jigna Chandrakant Trivedi(Assistant Professor, Shri Jairambhai Patel Institute of Business Management and Computer Applications,Gandhinagar-382007.)AbstractSavings is considered to be a virtue amongprudent people. It is believed that aninvestment of savings leads to moneymultiplication. Investment refers to parkingmoney in the avenue which performs betterand earns good returns. The performance ofinvestment instrument is judged throughanalysis of financial statements, periodicalprice movement of the instrument andscores given by reliable and expert agencies.IPO grading is a report card prepared bycredit rating agency which assists investorsto comprehend the quality of performanceof company which is offering its shares forthe first time to masses. IPO grading is anindependent and unbiased option of ratingwhich helps common investors to makeinformed investment decisions.Key Words: Fundamental Analysis, IPOgrading, Return on Investment (ROI)IntroductionInvestment is an essential tool tomul iply money. Broadly speakingthere are two major avenues of investmentsi.e. debt and equity. Debt instruments are asafe bet, whereas equity investments aretied with the risk factor. Therefore, it is veryessential to verify that the equity instrumentof investment will perform better, byundertaking pre-investment analysis.Regular analysis, post investmentsfacilitates in taking decision of buying,holding or exiting from the concernedinvestment. Equity investments are possiblethrough three routes viz., subscribing to anIPO or purchasing shares from secondarymarket or investing in equity linkedinvestment plans floated by mutual fundsand unit linked plans. The tools for preinvestment analysis for equity investmentscan be carried out through various modes.Fundamental analysis consist of in-depthstudy of financial statements of the company,technical analysis is concerned withidentifying the trend in the movement ofshare prices and then predicting the futuretargets. IPO grading is the popular andupcoming concept associated with the IPOs.IPO grading is the grade assigned by a creditrating agencies (CRAs) registered withSecurities and Exchange Board of India(SEBI), to the IPO of equity shares or anyother securities (FAQ, 2012).Research Objectives To identify and appreciate the toolswhich are essential in conductinginvestment analysis. To study the meaning andsignificance of IPO grading. To check the awareness level andusage of IPO grading amonginvestors, who subscribed to an IPO.Research MethodologyDescriptive research design was adopted toIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 57

IPO GRADINGcheck the awareness level and usage of IPOgrading among investors, who subscribed toan IPO. It was a cross sectional survey indesign which was conclusive in nature. Thesampling area consisted of investors ofGandhinagar city, who subscribed to an IPO.Non-probability purposive samplingtechnique was used for exclusively collectingthe opinion of investors on IPO grading. Thesample size, of total of 100 investors wascontacted for the survey. Sampling extentmainly consisted of certain sectors ofGandhinagar like Sector-21, Sector-22,Sector-17, Sector-16, Sector-11 and Infocity.The offices of stock broker were referred assampling unit and the investors associatedwith respective broker, were chosen assampling element i.e. respondent of theresearch. The time factor for entire surveyststconstituted from 1 June, 2011 to 31 March,2012. A structured questionnaire wasprepared to elicit primary, quantitativeinformation. The questionnaire was dividedinto three sections viz., demographic details,evaluation of current investment sources andIPO grading. The reliability of the instrumentsignifies the confidence one could have in themeasurement obtained with a scale.Reliability testing was carried out usingcoefficient alpha or Cronbach's alpha, whichproduced a value of 0.899 indicating asatisfactory internal consistency reliability ofthe questionnaire.Based on the respondent's capacity tounderstand the questionnaire, personally orself administered survey was adopted inwhich respondent was handed-over thequestionnaire to fill the details. Whereas insome cases a structured interview methodwas adopted for obtaining information fromthe respondents in which, before datacollection the questions were explained inlocal dialect and to ensure precision, theresponses were duly filled by the researcherin the questionnaire. Students of ShriJairambhai Patel Institute of BusinessManagement and Computer Applications,Gandhinagar helped the researcher in thefield work. These students were explicatedthe objectives of research and were educatedfor data collection. Various online and offlinesecondary data sources like newspapers,internet, magazines, books and journals wereused for data collection. The questionnairewas prepared using conventional primaryscales of measurement. Comparative scaleslike rank order and non-comparativeitemized rating scale like likert scale wasused in the preparation of questionnaire.Dichotomous type or multiple-choice-singleresponse,or multiple-choice-multipleresponsescale (check-list) type or openended questions were incorporated in thequestionnaire to seek valuable answers fromrespondents. Collected data was edited,coded, analyzed, interpreted and presentedusing frequency distribution tables. Atunivariate level descriptive statistics likemean, median, mode, standard deviation,frequency tabulation, percentage, rankanalysis and Garrett ranking were used foranalysis. The collected data was processedfor analysis by editing, coding and entering itinto computer software- Statistical Packagefor Social Scientists (SPSS 19.0). Atmultivariate level inferential statistics wasapplied. Various parametric statistics likefactor analysis, one way ANOVA, T-test andcluster analysis was applied for analyzing thedata. Non-parametric test like one way chisquareand two way chi-square was appliedon nominal scale based data.58 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

IPO GRADINGMeaning and Significance of IPO GradingThe IPO grade represents a relative assessment of the fundamentals of that issue in relation tothe other listed equity securities in India. Such grading is assigned on a five point scale with ahigher score indicating stronger fundamentals and vice versa. It can be interpreted viz., IPOgrade 1= Poor fundamentals, IPO grade 2= Below Average fundamentals, IPO grade 3= Averagefundamentals, IPO grade 4= Above Average fundamentals and IPO grade 5= Strongfundamentals. It is introduced to provide additional information to investors in order tofacilitate their assessment on equity issues offered through an IPO. The grading fundamentallyrests on five major parameters viz., business prospects and competitive position, financialposition, management quality, corporate governance practices, compliance and litigationhistory and new project risks and prospects. IPO grading tends to be an unbiased opinion of therating agency and not SEBI (FAQ, 2012). IPO grading along with the rationale given by ratingagency is to be disclosed in the Red Herring Prospectus of the company (FAQ on IPO Grading,2012). The literary work explained that IPO grading does not affect the under-pricing of bookbuiltIPOs, moreover the transparency of book built process offers a much stronger signal to theretail investors as compared to that provided by grading (Khurshed, et al., n.d.). IPO grading wasintroduced to make additional information about unlisted companies or those without any trackrecord of their performance available to the investors, helping them assess the issue beforeinvesting and burning their fingers (Pandey, 2011). Investors should not consider IPO grading as'Buy IPO' or 'Skip IPO' recommendations (Chittorgarh, n.d.). IPO grading is only supplementinformation on the fundamentals of the IPOs being issued to the general public (Business Rediff,st2009). A company which has filed the draft offer document for its IPO with SEBI, on or after 1May, 2007, is required to obtain a grade for the IPO from at least one CRA (SEBI, n.d.)Findings of the SurveyFindings of the survey are mainly divided into three sections, which are discussed as follows.Section I- Findings of Demographic DetailsDetails pertaining to gender, educational background, occupation and yearly income areanalyzed in the following table.Table 1 Demographic Details of InvestorsParticularsGenderEducationalBackgroundOccupationYearly Income (`)PercentageMale 97Female 03Total 100Up to HSC 21Graduate 49Above Graduate 29Others 01Total 100Service 40Business 40Professional 16Others 04Total 100Up to 2,00,000 242,00,001 - 5,00,000 46Above 5,00,001 30Total 100(Source: Primary Data)Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 59

IPO GRADINGAs per table 1 it may be inferred that male (97%) and female (3%) are investors. Female arefound to be lowest investors as they are burdened with household responsibilities and theyhardly find time to research in capital market. Women by nature are risk averse and hence theydo not wish to park the money in highly volatile avenues like primary or secondary market. Anopen ended question was asked to seek the information on the age of respondents. It was foundthat the mean age of the respondent was 35 years with a standard deviation (SD) of 10 years. Itmay be inferred that majority young respondents subscribed to IPO. 78% respondents werehighly educated (graduate and above graduate) who invested in IPO. Very few (22%)respondents were found to invest in IPO, which depicts that there exists less awareness aboutIPO among less educated people. In the survey it was found that 40% each respondent were inservice and business, 16% respondents were professional and 4% respondents were student.Income diversity was found among the respondents, 24% respondents earned income up to`2,00,000; 46% respondents earned income between `2,00,001 to `5,00,000 and 30%respondents earned income above `5,00,001.Section II- Evaluation of Current Investment SourcesThe respondents were asked various questions on nature of investments, type of investmentsand satisfaction of return on investment etc., which are discussed in below.Tax PayersststThe survey was conducted during 1 June, 2011 to 31 March, 2012, which implies that theAssessement Year (A.Y.) was 2012-13, in which the exemption limit was `1,60,000 for men and`1,90,000 for women. From the primary data it was found that 87% respondents were taxpayersand only 13% respondents did not fall in the tax bracket. The tax payers have income higherthan the exemption limit and are quite better off than non tax payers. As a part of tax planningthe tax payers invest in equity, mutual fund, or debt, or real estate to reduce the tax liability. Nontaxpayers may also have surplus funds which they may wish to invest to multiply money.Inclination towards equity investment may motivate investors to subscribe to IPOs.Present InvestmentA multiple choice question was asked to the respondent regarding where do they invest theirmoney. The affirmative response towards the investments were debt (20%), equity (43%),Commodity (24%) and Bullion (13%). As depicted from the table below the open ended agequestion was binned into five different classes. For better understanding a cross tabulation wascarried out between age and current investments.Table 2 Cross Tabulation between Age and Current InvestmentCurrent InvestmentAge Debt Equity Commodity Bullion Total

IPO GRADINGFrom table 2 it may be inferred that in the age group of 22-32 years and 33-43 years, as high as atotal of 66 and 32 young respondents invest in equity and debt respectively. It points out thatyoung investors are proper tax planners, who invest in debt as well as equity. Only 12respondents who fall in the age group of 44-54 years invest in equity. With the progression inage the number of equity investors and debt investors just becomes 3 and 2 respectively, whichclearly states that older people do not prefer to invest, may be due to shorter length of theirservice or social responsibility of children and family. Investment in commodity market andbullion market across all age groups was found to be 46 and 25 respectively.Instruments of InvestmentA multiple choice question was asked to the respondent regarding the instruments ofinvestment. The positive responses towards the investments were fixed deposit (26%), postoffice (24%), NSC Bonds (18%), Gold (20%), house property (11%) and insurance (1%). Itrepresents that in the debt investments investors highly preferred to invest in postal schemeslike time deposits or recurring deposits (RDs).Investment in SharesA multiple choice multiple response question was asked on how investors invest in shares. 85respondents exclusively invested in secondary market and 100 respondents invested in boththe markets. It represents an attraction towards equity market. Two-way Chi-Square test wasrun to check if there existed any association between investment in shares and the income of therespondents, which is discussed below.H01:There is no association between investment in shares and the income of the respondent.H 1: There is an association between investment in shares and the income of the respondent.1Table 3 Cross Tabulation of Investment in Shares and Income of RespondentParticularsIncomeTotalUp to `2L `2L-5L Above `5LMarket Primary Market (IPO) 23 46 30 99Secondary Market 21 36 28 85Total 44 82 58 184(Source: Primary Data)Table 4 Computation of Chi-SquareObserved N (O i) Expected N (E i) (O i-E i) 2 /Ei23 24 0.04246 44 0.09130 31 0.03221 20 0.0536 38 0.105157 157 0.32Chi-Square Calculated = ? [(O i-E i) 2 /Ei], X calc = 0.61, Degree of Freedom=2, X tab = 5.991.X tab >X calc (5.991 > 0.61)(Source:Author'sComputation)Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 61

IPO GRADINGAt 95% level of confidence the significance value of X tab>Xcalc,so Ho cannot be rejected, i.e. there isno association between investment in shares and the income of the respondents. Investors whohave missed an opportunity to receive shares in IPO take a route to secondary market foravailing the shares. Thus, both the markets are quite familiar for investors. People who havesurplus find and are risk takers tend to get attracted to stock market.Reasons for Investing in IPOUsing five point likert scale from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5), 10 statements wereput in the questionnaire to explore the reasons for investing in IPO. On applying the descriptivestatistics it was found that majority of the statements have ratings above 3 and SD less than 1,which respectively, indicated a positive agreement to the reasons of investing in IPO and alsoindicated a consensus among the response of the investors. Factor analysis using data reductiontechnique was performed to club the statements.H02:Variables are uncorrelated in the population.H 2: Variables are correlated in the population.1Table 5 Test Statistics for KMO and Bartlett's Test of Sphericity(Source: SPSS Output)Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin Measure of Approx. Chi-Square 332.46Sampling Adequacy. 0.75df 45 Sig. 0.00From table 5 it may be inferred that the KMO value is 0.75>0.5, which represents that factoranalysis is appropriate. As per Bartlett's test of sphericity the Chi-Square value is found as highas 332.46 and the significance value is 0.00< 0.05, i.e. H0is rejected. Based on the output ofrotated component matrix, following factors were obtained.Table 6 Factors Based on Rotated Component MatrixFactorNos.Name of the Factor Variable FactorLoading1. Solicited to Maximize Helps in maximizing the wealth 0.83WealthProbability of future price increase 0.69Broker has advised to invest 0.73Friend/Relative has advised to invest 0.73Investment based on analyst’s advise 0.732. Best Investment Option IPOs are issued by good companies 0.87Invest due to availability of surplus 0.85funds3. Quick Money Spinner IPOs offer listing gains 0.69IPOs offer short term gains 0.80IPOs are offered at lower price 0.53(Source: SPSS Output)62 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

IPO GRADINGOne Way ANOVA was applied between occupation and above mentioned factors, whichdiscussed below.H03:Respondents with different type of occupation do not significantly differ in reasons ofinvesting in IPOs viz., solicited to maximize wealth, best investment option and quick moneyspinner.H13: Respondents with different type of occupation significantly differ in reasons of investing inIPOs viz., solicited to maximize wealth, best investment option and quick money spinner.Table 7 Test Statistics for One Way ANOVASolicited to maximizewealthBest Investment OptionQuick Money Spinner(Source: SPSS Output)Sum ofSquaresMeanSquare F Sig.dfBetweenGroups 0.54 3 0.18 0.25 0.86Within Groups 69.58 96 0.73Total 70.11 99BetweenGroups 2.34 3 0.78 0.75 0.53Within Groups 99.83 96 1.04Total 102.16 99BetweenGroups 0.05 3 0.02 0.04 0.99Within Groups 39.31 96 0.41Total 39.36 99From the above table 7 it may be inferred that at 95 percent level of confidence the significancep-value > 0.05 which implies that Respondents with different type of occupation do notsignificantly differ in reasons of investing in IPOs viz., solicited to maximize wealth, bestinvestment option and quick money spinner. It may be inferred that occupation does not haveany role with respect to the investments made in the market. A salaried person, self employed orentrepreneur invest in IPOs for availing good returns. Stock market is a route to generate andmaximize wealth irrespective of the type of occupation. IPOs are considered as offerings toselected investors. Investor's invest in IPO because they consider that value-buy company'sstock is available at lower price.The responses to reasons behind investing in IPO have been used for performing clusteranalysis, to find the type of investors. The hierarchical cluster method has been used. Fordetermining appropriate number of clusters, the agglomeration table is re-agglomerated, andit's shown below.Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 63

IPO GRADINGTable 8 Re-formed Agglomeration ScheduleNo. of Clusters Agglomeration last step Co-efficient this step Change2 909.71 663.96 245.763 663.96 565.07 98.894 565.07 499.03 66.045 499.03 454.91 44.126 454.91 411.32 43.597 411.32 377.77 33.56(Source: SPSS Output)From the above table it can be interpreted that the difference of cluster 2 and 3 is more while thedifference starts narrowing down from third cluster onwards. Therefore, the number of clustersidentified is 2 in total. To find out the main characteristics for each of the clusters and to clubthem together One Way ANOVA is performed by taking the reasons for investment as dependentmatrix variable. The factor which is used is WARD method. The cluster segmentation is asfollows.Table 9 Cluster SegmentationNo. Cluster 1 2 No. Cluster 1 2N 61 39 N 61 391 Good Companies 4.74 3.41 6 Wealth Maximization 4.41 3.592 Surplus Funds 4.66 3.03 7 Future Price Increase 4.38 3.853 Broker’s Advise 4.54 3.49 8 Listing Gains 4.10 4.314 Friends/Relatives Advise 4.52 3.10 9 Short-term Gains 4.21 4.005 Analyst’s Advise 4.57 3.46 10 Availability at Low Price 4.30 3.59(Source: SPSS Output)Based on above cluster segmentation following cluster is obtained.Table 10 Kind of ClusterCluster Kind of ClusterCharacteristicsNo.1 Rational, Researchers andCautious InvestorsSuch investors have surplus funds; they invest in goodcompanies based on external advice.2 Opportunists, Anticipator,Investor cum TraderSuch investors invest for listing and short term gains; inorder to maximize their wealth by purchasing at lowerprice.(Source: Author's Interpretation)Objective of Investing in IPORank analysis was applied to identify the most and the least preferred factors considered byrespondents while investing in IPO. First factor was past financial record of a company(WAM=31.10), second factor was brand name of the company (WAM=29.80), third factor wasmanagement of the company (WAM=24.00) and fourth factor was information in prospectus ofthe company (WAM=15.40).64 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

IPO GRADINGPre Investment Analysis of IPOA cross tabulation was performed to identify which analysis is performed by investorsbefore investing.Table 11 Cross Tabulation between Type of Analysis and Pre Investment AnalysisAnalysis before InvestingType of Analysis Yes No TotalTechnical 15 3 18Fundamental 19 1 20Both 42 6 48None 3 11 14Total 79 21 100 (Source: SPSS Output)From table 11 it may be inferred that a total of 76 respondents carry out either technical orfundamental or both analysis before investment. 21 respondents do not carry out any analysisbefore investment.Number of IPOs Subscribed, Amount of Investment in IPO and Sector of InvestmentIn the last five years the number of IPO listed was around 266. The descriptive statistics revealedthat in the last 5 years, average investment in IPOs was in 8 companies, with a higher SD of 7.39,and median of 6.50. Maximum number of investors has invested in the IPO of 5 companies. In thelast five years minimum amount of investment was `20,000. Maximum investors invested`5,00,000 and the mean investment was `6,35,700, in IPO in the duration of five years. One-wayChi Square was applied to check which sector was favoured for investment.H04:The proportion of investment in all the sectors is equal.H 4:The proportion of investment in all the sectors is not equal.1Table 12 Computation of Chi-SquareSector Observed N (O i) Expected N (E i) (O i-E i) 2 /EiPower 52 20 51.20Finance 60 20 80.00Real Estate 58 20 72.20Tele-Communications 31 20 6.05Others 10 20 5.00Total 211 100 214.45Chi-Square Calculated = ? [(O i-E i) 2 /Ei], X calc = 214.45, Degree of Freedom=5, X tab = 9.49.X tab

IPO GRADINGAt 95% level of confidence the significance value of Xtab

IPO GRADINGOpinion for IPO GradingThe informed respondents were asked to rate their opinion on a five point likert scale (5- Highlyagree, 1- Highly Disagree) with respect to the usefulness of IPO grading.Table 14 Descriptive Statistics on Opinion for IPO GradingStatement Mean SD Statement Mean SDHeard about it. 3.58 1.44 Important in analysis 3.25 1.20Possess knowledge of the 3.49 1.21 Possess idea of its access 3.38 1.08conceptAdvantageous to use 3.57 1.16 Helped to take correct investment 3.64 1.09decisionUseful tool to judge 3.53 1.19 Helps in correct performance3.62 1.14companyevaluation of companyInvestment decision based on it gives satisfactory returns 3.70 1.14(Source: SPSS Output)From the above table it can be comprehended that mean above 3 indicates positive agreementfor the concept of IPO. SD greater than 1 indicates that there is a significant deviation in theresponse of the investor when compared with the mean response.Information Access and Reliability of IPO GradingOn a five point likert scale (1- Not at all useful and 5- Extremely useful) respondents were askedto rate the sources that they accessed for collecting information about IPO grading. One sampleT-test was performed to check which source was useful.H05:Familiar investors significantly do not differ in the mean ratings given to the sources ofinformation for accessing IPO grades (μ=3).H15:Familiar investors significantly differ in the mean ratings given to the sources ofinformation for accessing IPO grades (μ 3).Table 15 Test Statistics for One-Sample T-TestTest Value = 3Sources t dfSig. (2-tailed) Sources t dfSig. (2-tailed)Newspaper 9.05 99 0.00Chhittorgarhwebsite 7.44 99 0.00IPO Indiawebsite 6.10 99 0.00 SEBI website 12.98 99 0.00NSE website 9.49 99 0.00Prospectus of thecompany 12.79 99 0.00BSE website 10.47 99 0.00(Source: SPSS Output)Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 67

IPO GRADINGAt 5% level of significance it may be inferred that the p-value in all cases

IPO GRADINGReferences:“FAQ on IPO Grading”. Investment Information andthCredit Rating Agency of India Ltd (ICRA), 28 October,2012 < http://www.icra.in/files/pdf/FAQs-IPOGrading.pdf>“FAQ: IPO Grading”. The Securities and ExchangethBoard of India, 27 October, 2012http://www.sebi.gov.in/faq/ipograding.html> Business Rediff. “Does IPO Grading Bring Value toththYour Investments?” 29 October, 2009. 4 September,2012.th Chittorgarh (n.d.) “IPO Grading/ Ratings”. 10October, 2012. Khurshed Arif, Paleari Stefano, Pande Alok andVismara Silvio (n.d.). “IPO Grading in India: Does itthadd value to the bookbuilding process?” 5 October,2012http://www.unibg.it/dati/bacheca/530/36104.pdf Pandey Neha. “What is IPO Grading?” BusinessththStandard 17 May, 2011. 20 October, 2012.th SEBI (n.d.) “Is Grading Optional”. 5 September,2012 .o I am heartily thankful to Jahnavi Kachhadiya andSnehal Prajapti- students of MBA-II, SJPI, Gandinagarfor collecting the primary data.Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 69

SETH PROJECT CONSULTANTS LTD:STRIVING FOR GROWTH*Dr. Arvind Sudarsan, **R. Raghunathan and*** Jayashree Mahesh(* and **Assistant Professor, and *** Lecturer in Management, BITS,Pilani 333031(Dept of Management )Management activities are often discussedand analyzed using static analysis therebyfailing to accurately communicate thedifficulties of operating in an environmentwhere decisions have to address severalfactors simultaneously and have unexpectedconsequences. This case is based on theproblems faced by an organization in itseffort to improve its growth rates. While thesituation described touches upon variousareas of management in an organizationalsetting beset with problems and confusion,the focus is on depicting the interrelatednature of different aspects of managementand with particular reference to Indian workconditions.IntroductionSeth Project Consultants Ltd. (SPCL)provided project management consultancyand services, primarily for large constructionprojects. Over the years it had earned a goodreputation and was well regarded. The onlydrawback was that its growth was steadyrather than spectacular and itsPromoter/Chairman was very eager toremedy that aspect.After several consultations and meetings, themanagement of SPCL agreed that someexternal assistance might be required tomeet its promoter's aspirations. To that endthey appointed leading advertising andmarketing consultants to project the imageof SCTL to a higher level and to help themgrow their business. In addition someinternal changes were also implemented(spread out over a period of a year or so). Onenoticeable break from the past was theappointment of the new CEO. Until then, SPCLhad always been run by an Operationsexecutive. The new CEO, however, was aFinance man, who had caught topmanagement's attention several years agowhile spearheading the installation of a newProject Management Information System.The advanced accounting features of the PMIShad later come in very handy, not only bysaving the company a lot of money, but also byhelping it to avoid legal and othercomplications during a dispute with a verypowerful customer. That had cast the then GM(Finance) into the limelight and acceleratedhis rise and when the current CEO waselevated to MD, the once upon a time GM(Finance) became the CEO.The last major change concerned theorganization structure. Earlier, temporarypure project organizations were formed tohandle each new project under a seniormanager (the Project Manager (PM)). Projectswere largely industrial or government. Now,the businesses of SPCL were reclassifiedunder four heads - Industrial, Government,Commercial (non-industrial) and Residential,and a new Business Head position (termed asGrade A1) (1) was introduced to head eachbusiness group. The Business Head reportedto the DCEO. The PM designation and positionwere still retained, but while previously PMswere mobile and freely moved across projectswithout reference to whether they wereindustrial or government, now they were70 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Seth Consultantsattached to a particular business andrequired to report to the respective BusinessHead.A couple of years after the launch of the newinitiatives to revitalize the organization,SPCL decided to review the progress thathad been made towards the objectivesspecified. Accordingly, a meeting of the CEOwas scheduled with the management staff.Brief Summary of CEO's AddressCEO: "We thought we would share a fewthings with you. I understand that all of youare busy at this time of the year, but the newinitiatives for the revitalization of SPCL hasbeen going on for about two years now andwe in the management thought we shouldtake stock and assess how things have been.A few concerns have been brought to us sowe thought we should share someinformation and perhaps remove the doubtsand answer the rumours that have beencirculating.First, certain rumours have been brought tothe attention of top management regardingthe new performance appraisal system. Letme clarify that the new performanceappraisal system is not for the purpose ofdownsizing. We are not downsizing. There isno truth to the rumours. For every role wehave now come up with a set of clearguidelines – what the employees arerequired to do, the criteria for performanceappraisal and the basis on which rewardsand promotions will be made. The purposewas to bring clarity and objectivity to theprocess so that everyone knows the basis onwhich these decisions will be made. Therewere some doubts, some worries that thegoals are too challenging and we haveaddressed them adequately.For example one common question is thatemployees are assessed on their overall allround performance. Let us say that anemployee is very good at routine performanceand poor at meeting developmental goals(individual or organizational). So whathappens? We do not have any simple answer.The committee will review such cases anddecide. But, in general, an acceptable level ofperformance across all criteria will berequired. Exceptional performance in one ormore criteria will be considered provided thatthe performance in each area is at least of aminimum standard. Yes, people who are notable to meet those standards will be givensome chances but if they don't improve thenwe will not be able to continue our associationwith them. Our organization is not a free busto carry ticket less passengers. Every one hasto pull their weight.Another point of concern that we have beenhearing about relates to the distribution ofwork across locations. Since our centre hereat Madhyampur was the first location whereSPCL was established and is still the HeadQuarters and largest workplace of SPCL Iunderstand that many tasks were centralizedhere. Now of course, the other locationswhere our operations are carried out aregetting larger, particularly Pashchimpur,Poorvanagar and Dakshinpet. Thedistribution of work across locations relatingto both operations and administration mustbecome more equitable. All operationscentres must contribute their fair share and abeginning has been made. On the other hand,the need is to ensure that the same standardsare maintained across locations.In a similar fashion, we are also movingtowards uniform application of HR and otherpolicies across locations, standardization ofprocedures across locations and for thatIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 71

Seth Consultantsmatter through out the organization.You will all be aware that as the first step inour growth plan, we had established the newpositions of “Business Heads” to work underthe top management team comprising of theMD, myself and the DCEOs. Each of our fourbusinesses is under the direct charge of aBusiness Head and to start with all of themhave been located here. At the otherlocations we have Deputy Business Heads.Ultimately a Business Head might be locatedanywhere the business requires and notnecessarily here. The primary objectives ofthe Business Head are customer, market andproduct development for that business.Separate organization wide teams have alsobeen established for this purposecomprising of employees who have beenspecially chosen for this purpose based ontheir expertise and potential to contribute toSPCL.We had spent a lot of money on the externalagencies we had appointed for the marketingand positioning of SPCL but that experimentwas not successful. So now we have decidedto handle those ourselves. As far as otherfunctions are concerned we will continue tofocus on core areas and outsource others tomore competent agencies. I can tell you thatwe are already seeing encouraging results insome of these initiatives.All these changes and more are in thepipeline to make SPCL the premier projectconsultancy organization in the country, asought after partner of the constructionindustry and the employer of first choice forthe best and brightest engineering andmanagement students of the land."Sometime after the meeting some quietconversations took place. ( Note: It may beassumed that all facts, incidents andexamples, reported or referred to in theconversations, are essentially true.Arguments/opinions should be assessed ontheir own merit/logic.)Cast of characters:Lakshmi Parvati (L): Expert with overall 18year's experience. At the time of the firstconversation she was a scheduling specialist.Vaishampayana (V): Veteran employee with14 year's experience. At the time of the firstconversation he was a design expert and theDepartment Head of his function.Yajnavalkya (Y): Veteran employee with over10 years' experience at SPCL. At the time ofthe first conversation he was a certified civilspecifications professional and theDepartment Head of his function.ConversationsAL: Let's see, I took some notes the other day…V: (Raising eyebrows sardonically) Tooknotes?L: (Unperturbed) It is useful sometimes. Onetends to forget things these days.Y: Yes, of course, words of wisdom, sorry,golden words are never repeated.V: Rare words from our non-resident CEO andnon-resident MD.L: (Looks up, vaguely interested) Yes, do tellme where these people are all the time?Business development?Y: What business development? Spendinglarge sums of money on meetings not held orotherwise unproductive.V: Meetings? Enjoying the comforts of homeyou mean!L: (Still searching) No, I mean, I thought, hewas supposed to be heading up that newbusiness?V: Where are you these days? He gave up thatlong back. They have appointed new people,72 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Seth Consultantscreated that new post called Business Headas he mentioned. He gave up his BusinessHead duties long back.Y: And so now we have yet some more grosslyoverpaid "top managers".L: Found it! So tell me what did you think ofhis statement? "Not a free bus for ticket lesspassengers”, and that bit about pulling ourown weight. Reminds me of olden day oarshipswith lots of poor fellows rowing?Y: So those fellows sit and beat the drum andwe row?V: No, no. No drum beating and all that. Theyenjoy themselves fully without distractions.That is why they appoint others - to beat thedrum and whip the slaves.L: Right. Full of joy, the both of you are.BL: Now tell me I don't remember hearingabout those business wide teams before?V: Of course not! Only specially chosenemployees are on those teams!Y: And we are not special. But, I did hearsome months back about some suchproposal. I thought everyone knew.L: Maybe they sent it only to you DepartmentHeads. I definitely don't remember it.Anyway the Marketing Department andBusiness Development people must berejoicing.V: Rejoicing?L: Well okay, I believe the exact word isschadenfreude.Y: What? Use simple words.L: German word, which found its way intoEnglish. It means, "joy at the misfortune ofothers".V: Oh, you are talking about the advertisingand marketing consultants.Y: Tell me, he said that the experiment failed,but did anyone ask why?V: Ask why? No, no, no, no, no. That is alldangerous. Then you may have to findsomeone at fault.L: But –Y: No buts, it was an experiment which failed.L: But, then how do we know that otherexperiments won't fail?Y: What? You still have some doubt? Of coursethey will fail!V: Yes, I was just going to say that but he said it.In all those so called "non-core areas" we havegreat expertise, developed over many yearswith much effort, but it is being lost now andour external professional agencies are doingvery poor quality work, and at a very high costalso. Only when the system collapses, theneveryone will realize.CV: We don't seem to be meeting very regularlythese days?Y: (Laughing) Coordination problems?L: Sorry, I don't get it.Y: Projects are accepted here at HQ. We gothrough and tentatively, in principle agreethat it can be done and then it is circulated forapproval. Last time some projects wererejected here. But then the businessdevelopment team at Pashchimpur called theparty for negotiations.V: Not only that, the best part is that they haveaccepted (other) projects for which they donot have the capabilities!Y: Even better, some projects are only handledhere. Some months back they found out thatDakshinpet has accepted such a project andcompleted it without informing any one. Onlyat the time of accounting and billing did thewhole thing come out and become knownover here!V: You don't know the whole story,Poorvanagar did the same thing, and thenthey used the wrong accounting code.DL: One part of what he said got me a bitIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 73

Seth Consultantsworried. What was that reference to overallall round performance and developmentalgoals? Till now I was aware of only myperformance of my duties including thesecretarial/administrative/clerical work,which was not originally part of my job, butgot dumped on my head, when they didn'thire new staff. And then of course it becamepart of the performance appraisal system!Y: No idea, he was just giving an example andpossibly he was thinking that we had 360degree feedback so he spoke aboutdevelopmental goals.V: Yes, that is most likely; he probably doesn'teven know what work we do.EY: (Gleefully) I foresee more problems.L: I should have known from how happy youwere that something is about to happen.V: What is it this time?Y: Potential future problems.L: Could you be more specific?Y: (In a sing song voice) The company hasdecided to implement teleconferencing andelectronic work groups, due to unique skillsat different locations.V: So?Y: (Continuing in sing song) This mightrequire further changes in the PerformanceAppraisal System.L: I am … doomed.About six months later there was muchactivity and it became known that a HighLevel Management Meeting of Topmanagement was being conducted. Shortlythereafter a meeting of the MD wasscheduled with the management staff. Thisled to animated discussions among the staff.L: (Taken aback) No.V: Have you ever attended any meeting wherethe agenda was circulated in advance?Y: Don't you know? First the minutes arewritten then the meeting is convened!L: Hey, hey, hey, okay, you don't have to be somean. I just thought that you well-informedpeople knew. If you don't know, no need to getall heated up!Y: (Laughing) You are right. We do know.V: (Grinning) Growth problems! Marketingfailures!L: What?Y: And above industry norm attrition rateamong employees.L: (Hopefully) No good news?V: Look we have told you what we heard. Now,whether you think it is good or bad, it is up toyou.L: So should I go for the meeting? I haveanother meeting scheduled with a customer.Y: Last week I got a terrible scolding from W.You know what he said? “It is your mistake.You think you have a choice. When your bossasks/says something even if it doesn't soundlike an order, it is one and you have no choice”.L: (Sighs) OK. It's just that the last meeting wasso depressing.Y: Can you tell me one good thing about thesemeetings?V: Yes, I find them terribly motivational.Y, L: (Look at V as though he has gone mad.)V: Ask me what I do?L: What does it motivate you to do Basanti? ( 2)V: Very funny, very funny. But, … it doesmotivate me. It motivates me to get highscores on Space Invaders®. ( 3)FL: Any idea what this meeting is about?V: Are you new to SPCL?74 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Seth ConsultantsBrief Summary of MD's AddressMD: "Thank you all for being here. As youmight be aware last week we had a topmanagement meeting with all the DCEOsand Business Heads. Certain issues werediscussed and we thought that some of thoseshould also be informed to everyone here.Briefly we have several points on the agenda.In fact some of those points were mentionedby the CEO in his address a few months agoabout future paths.Specifically, since we are approaching ourhistorically lean season, and this is the timewhen many of you avail of your leaveentitlements, there are some points youmight want to ponder over when you arefree, in your spare time.To start with there were some issues aboutcentralization and decentralization acrosslocations, business, projects, departmentsand teams. These questions have assumedgreater importance in view of the changesthat have been initiated by which we areimplementing greater delegation ofauthority and responsibility to the employeeon the spot to make decisions. We haveimplemented policies empoweringemployees across the company toparticipate effectively in the new schemesinitiated in various operational areas,including business development and newproduct development and we expect yourenthusiastic participation.In our last meeting with the chairman, wehad suggested certain goals regarding ourcompany. I may tell you that the chairmanwas quite appreciative of all that we haddone, but thought that we should stretch ourgoals. For example, revenues from newcustomers, products and businesses are verysmall right now and he did not feel thatmerely setting a high growth target on suchsmall bases was appropriate. Therefore wefinally decided on some more challenginggoals based on absolute values. We decidedthat these might be better set as percentagesof our total revenue i.e. what fraction of oursales should come from these areas. Pleasealso be aware that these are stretch targetsand therefore quite demanding. We havestudied some innovative companies such as3M and decided to set out own goalsaccordingly. The goal is that 50% of our totalrevenues should be generated from theseavenues – new customers/marketscontributing 10%, new products from theexisting businesses 20% and new businessesanother 20%, thereby doubling our existingrevenues from their current levels.This is possible only if each and every one ofus is involved in the effort to generate newbusiness. In fact we have always beenencouraging employees in this regard in thepast as well i.e. to say employees generatingnew business for our company have alwaysbeen recognized and rewarded. The onlydifference now is that everyone must beinvolved in this activity. If you have contactsoutside, follow up and tell them what we cando for them. When you go to the sites andmeet representatives of other organizations;when we are bidding and you meet the privateand public agencies issuing the tenders; andin general, whenever you come across someproject activity or meet people involved inproject activity, tell them what we can do. Andwhen you come back, inform the respectivedepartments here so that they can follow up.Coming to the matter of new business andproduct development: we have alreadyIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 75

Seth Consultantsdelegated these matters to the specialistdepartments. It is you collectively who arenow assessing new requests for proposaland forwarding them for processing. You donot need to be told that all the growthplanned can come about only if we have theright attitude and involvement of allpersonnel. All employees were instructed indetail about the new product developmentprogrammes and in fact those tasks weredelegated to the departments and teamsover a year ago. I would be very unhappy ifanyone says that they have completed all thework assigned to his or her department orteam. This simple means that you have notidentified enough growth opportunities tomake sure that all resources are fullyengaged. The responsibility for identifyingnew business lies with each and every one ofus: with each member of every department,project or business, and in particular theDepartment Heads. Nor will we accept it as agenuine reason if any department or projectteam identifies a lack of manpower as areason for not being able to achieve theirtargets.In fact let me make it clear, achievement ofthe targets set by the chairman is ofparamount importance. I do not wish tooffend anyone, but, it has been observed thatmany of our employees are very careful totake full benefit – that is to say – to fully availof the leave that they are allowed and itperhaps time to reconsider that issue. If youhave time to go on leave then you cannot saythat you did not have enough time ormanpower to achieve your targets.In a related development, we have alsodecided to institute some new initiatives inorder to bring SPCL on par with the practicesof our most renowned competitors.Henceforth we will have a new billingprocedure. Instead of billing on the basis ofman-hours as is currently being done, the topmanagement was of the view that billingshould be done on the basis of man-days withthe minimum billing unit being half a manday.The procedure for the billing calculationhas also been revised in order ensure that thebilling amount remains more or lesscomparable under the new norms, and toprevent abuse of the process so that clientswill not start complaining that it is just a backdoor way to increase the billed amount.I think that I may disclose to you that therewas a heated discussion about theimplementation of the new billingprocedures. Everyone present from theChairman downward to the DepartmentHeads had strong views. Finally agreementwas reached. In any case the new billingprocedures would have to be adopted sooneror later. However, ultimately it was decided tointroduce the new billing procedures from thecurrent year, with the following provisos: (i)the new billing procedures would be appliedto all new clients; (ii) for existing clients andexisting projects, following the current billingprocedures might cause confusion; and (iii)for the first year it is up to the departmentsconcerned to decide which billing proceduresthey wish to follow.Finally, after much thought, one of the newproduct development teams has come up witha suggestion. I would like all of you to considerthis suggestion without any preconceivednotions or prejudices as it has great potentialto be a money-spinner, even though it mightseem counter intuitive. There is great demandfor certification programmes, which I can76 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Seth Consultantsvouch for from my personal experience; Imyself have conducted a number ofrefresher courses for various corporateclients. Since all of us, or at least most of you,have qualified, passed and obtained variousproject management certifications, we maybe able to become a certifying agencyourselves or failing that we can at leastfacilitate people who want to obtain thesame – for a fee of course. Now if we considerthe number of persons who might needthese types of certifications, I am sure thatyou can estimate for yourselves that themarket size is potentially hundreds or eventhousands of crores. I want each and everybusiness and department at each of ourlocations to develop and run at least onesuch certification programme in the nextone year, preferably during the lean seasonnext year."Predictably the MD's announcements led tosome furore among employees even thoughthey were careful to discuss these mattersonly in private.Conversations (Cont'd)GY: What a joker. Saw the presentation hemade? He can't make a decent set of slidesand he claims to have run certificationprogrammes?L: (Hesitantly) Maybe someone else madethe slides for him.Y: That is alright. That is what W says. Hesays that he doesn't make slides. He evensays that he has other people to do suchthings. But just look at the quality of his(W's) slides. If other people make the slidesyou should at least check before using theslides, and I remember that he (MD) saidthat he had made the slides himself.L: Fair enough. (Sighs)Y: (sarcastically) What? Lost yourenthusiasm?L: Remember what he said? “Some points youmight want to consider during your leave”.You know what the translation is? “Some ofyou might want to start searching for a newjob!”V: That is a good input!L: And that's not all. Did either of you get theunderlying message?Y: The stated message was enough for us!L: This is worse than you think. All the time hewas saying everything is our responsibility,meaning what? Everything is our fault! Theyhave done whatever they could and sonothing is their fault, but everything dependson us and therefore if things turn out badly,everything will be our fault!HL: I had a really interesting experience justnow.Y: Calm down, calm down.V: Yes, have a seat, calm down and then tell us.L: Oh there's no problem in telling. Sometimeback we managed to develop a new productconcept. So I took it up to my DepartmentHead – you know him – excessively careful notto cause even the smallest wave. Surprisinglyenough he seemed to think it would bepossible to take it forward. So I wrote it up andoff it went to the PM. So more queries, morefunny questions, but he too seemed to think itwould pass. Then it went to the Business Headwho took it to the DCEO. Now the BusinessHead has sent a mail, which was eventuallyforwarded to me that the DCEO says it shouldbe discussed with the CEO, the MD and theother DCEOs. He even wants to know whetherwe have discussed this with our counterpartsIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 77

Seth Consultantsat the other locations. Imagine – 'WE' aregoing to offer that product / service and thisrelates to services offered only here ok? Ontop of it the other locations don't haveexperts in this area. And now, all these otherfellows will tell us what to do? They don'thave to implement it so they can make anyfunny suggestions and we have toimplement it and face the music? This isreally ridiculous.V: Oh, you think that is bad? Wait till you hearmy story. Like in your case, some proposalfinally found its way to the DCEO's table. So Icall him up. He says that he is busy and to callnext week. So I call again the following weekand the week after and then the week afterthat! Finally, he says that he will get back tome. Now I am stuck. And at least in your caseeveryone knows the situation. Mydepartment thinks that I, as the DepartmentHead, am not doing anything and I get a badname.Y: Yes, yes, and if you try to tell anyone allthey say is that the bosses are busy people soit is up to the businesses, project people,departments and teams to follow up and getthings done. But do they understand thatthis is all in addition to our normal schedule?I cannot leave everything and go sit outsidehis office. Then top management will saythat I am never available in my office!L: There are so many things we can do. Butthese top managers keep going on the sametrack. I thought that new products andservices should be offered because there is amarket demand/requirement, becausecustomers recognize the value propositionand are willing to pay a good price. But, wehave no discretion over pricing. Everythingis decided on a company wide basis. I don'tunderstand; if customers believe that someservices are worth more then why can't wegive them what they want and charge for thefull value?V: Don't worry, it is not only you. We also had aterrible fight in the meeting about ourproposal. In the past we offered someproducts and services, but we really didn'thave much expertise in those areas. Now oneof our specialists suggested that we should getout of those and instead offer the servicesdemanded by our customers. You knowwhenever there is any interaction they(customers) mention that it would be nice ifwe offered the full set of services they use. Butin the meeting the argument went round andround. People kept arguing that we had builtup expertise in many products and services sothey should be offered because SPCL has thecapabilities.L: Wait a minute I am a bit lost. First you saidthat you didn't have capabilities, now you saythat SPCL has the capabilities. So which one isit?Y: On paper we have some capabilities. But inpractice the quality is very poor. Some peoplebelieve that we have the capabilities. He(indicating Y) and I don't. That is anotherstory.V: Ultimately, it comes to the same thing. Dowe offer those service and products becausewe have capabilities (or think we havecapabilities) to provide them or do wedetermine which service and products themarket wants and develop the capabilitiesrequired to ensure that we can provide them?IL: (to Y) V seems to be in bad mood?Y: There he is. Let us ask him directly.Y: (to V) What happened?V: (Fuming) Don't ask. Do you rememberthose new billing regulations?Y: Sort of. Why?V: (Looking around carefully before starting)78 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Seth ConsultantsSo, sometime back the formal document ofthe new billing regulations and procedureswas circulated to all of us?L: Might have seen it. Don't remember thedetails.V: It had a preface mentioning that it hadbeen decided to introduce the new billingprocedures from the current year and thatthe new procedures would be applicable toall clients of the company. Some of theothers went to get some clarifications aboutthe new procedures and were told that forongoing projects they could follow theprevious norm. That was a big relief, sincewe are in the middle of many projects and wehad been maintaining billing records in theold way i.e. on the hourly basis format. Nodoubt we could convert the records to thenew format, but this would require a lot oftime and effort. So we continued as we weredoing.Then at the quarterly review, the billingstatement submitted by some of thespecialists in my department following thehourly norm was apparently questioned bytop management. Since none of us werepresent at that meeting, a committee of VP(Operations), VP (Systems & Admin) and VP(HR), was set up to meet and find out why theold norms were still being followed. The CEOin particular was very angry that employeesapparently did not know that the policy hadbeen amended and made some very harshcomments about the consequences for suchemployees. When the people werequestioned by the committee, all of themsaid that they were aware about the newprocedures, but they had understood thatthe new billing was optional for the first yearand that they had been informed that forongoing projects it was not merelypermitted, but also preferable that the oldnorms be followed rather than changeprocedures in the middle of the project andrisk offending the clients. The committee wastaken aback at the response and clarified tothem that the new procedures were notoptional. Then H proved that in his project,following the old norms was beneficial andalso more equitable.( 4) The committee wassurprised but agreed that in his case, perhapsthe old norms could be allowed and he (and I)believed that the matter had been closed.Y: So much fuss over nothing?V: (Growling) Wait. I have not finished.L: Something more happened?V: Yes. A few days after that, H was againdirectly instructed by VP (HR) that allemployees had to follow the new billingnorms and he was asked to rework his billingstatement. I was not called to that meeting,nor was I officially informed about whathappened. But now H is quite confused andalso angry. However there is no way to argueor verify what happened at the meetingbecause there is no official (written)communication - only an oral instruction.JL: Tell me, that day you said you had anotherstoryV: Who said?L: You both didY: About what?L: Our capabilities or some people'sperceptions of our capabilities.V: There is a long story. I believe it is true but Ihave no proof.L: Why the suspense? Please start.V: Okay but after that if I want a rope youshould not ask why! You know that our MDearlier worked at Bizarre Banausic ResearchOrganization (BBRO)?L: It was called something else earlier?V: Pre-independence it was known as theBenefic Bibliophilic Research Organization,Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 79

Seth Consultantsbut when Bizarreland achievedindependence it decided to give up itscolonial name and renamed itself asBizarreland Banausic Research Organizationwhich was later amended (shortened) to itspresent name of Bizarre Banausic ResearchOrganization. Anyway, when our MD was aDepartment Head at the BBRO, a similarproblem had arisen over there. The storygoes like this:Many years ago, BBRO was a small strugglingorganization, and they needed to improvetheir viability. Its Pharmacy Department wasrenowned but most people were unawarethat it even had other departments. Theywere very desperately looking for ways toimprove their research output. So it wasconsidered a great achievement when BBROmanaged to convince Nexteinstein thefamous physicist to join them.When the news spread, people weresurprised that Nexteinstein had agreed tojoin BBRO. While Physics was a longestablished department at BBRO it was notone of its better departments. In fact it wasnot known at all for its research; in realitymany of the physicists were more famously(or notoriously) associated with somenearby schools where they were much indemand as tutors. Indeed, only a short whileearlier there had been rumours that BBROwas planning to do away with the PhysicsDepartment entirely. Then came theshocking announcement: Nexteinstein hadbeen hired for the Pharmacy department andthe stunned employees raised all sorts ofqueries:Why? Because the pharmacy departmentwas world famous for its research andNexteinstein was the foremost physicist inthe world was the answer.What does physics have to do with pharmacy?BBRO had a specialized research area calledPhysical Pharmacy. (Besides as the highranking officer said, “Physics, pharmacy allthese , ( 5) areas isn't it obvious there is anesoteric similarity?”)Who decided? The recruitment committee ofBBRO comprising of senior officers fromvarious departments (but no one from eitherPhysics or Pharmacy).Two departments were most unhappy at thedevelopments. The first obviously was thePhysics department. When questioned by theHoD, Physics Department, about whyNexteinstein had been hired for the PharmacyDepartment, the recruitment committeemembers laughed till the tears came out oftheir eyes.“Do you expect the foremost scientist in theworld to wallow in your mud hole?” scoffedone officer. “We have hired him because HE IS.Just having his name associated with BBROgives us prominence. ”The other surprisingly (or perhaps not sosurprisingly) was the Pharmacy department.“What on earth are we supposed to do with aphysicist?” asked one junior scientist bolderthan the others. “He probably doesn't knowthe difference between liver and lung muchless patella and pituitary. And it not as thoughwe are not reputed in our own right.”The officer frowned. “He is a double Nobellaureate: the only one of his kind still alive.“You” may be “reputed” but “He” is a livinglegend. You must learn to make use of the80 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Seth Consultantsresources you have got. Why should he berestricted to work in only YOUR areas ofspecialization? Let him do research inwhatever area he likes. ”The other officer interjected, “Yes, that iscorrect let him do whatever he likes. Behappy if his shadow falls on you.”“But the cost …”, the HoD of Pharmacy startedto splutter.“Cost? Bah!" was the condescending reply,"Are you accountants? No? Concentrate onscience and leave such mundane bookkeeping type tasks to the Industrial StudiesDepartment,” (“Till they are shut down,” theother added sotto voice).“Just be happy that unlike SOMEdepartments you are not at present in anydanger of being made redundant. ConsiderNexteinstein's appointment in yourdepartment as your reward!”V: And that, my dear friends, is your answer.L: But what has that story to do with us?Y: Everything. When the big bosses foundthat some departments were lagging behindin new product development they decided to“help” us by providing us with “experts”. Letus not start about what we wanted. Just oneexample is enough: one time, we wanted acivil engineer with expertise in modelling.Finally we reached a compromise and agreedto accept anyone with mathematicalmodelling expertise. They did not recruit us acivil engineer nor did they get us an expert inmodelling. Instead they transferred K, who isa mechanical engineer to us. Now, I shouldnot comment about someone else's abilities,but K himself says that he has spent his entirelife in maintenance and forgotten all hisacademics! And now if you say words like'design' or 'model' in front of him he looks atyou blankly. So on paper we have expertise,but our “experts” have no knowledge aboutour practical engineering problems. ( 6)V: And these are the people who topmanagement has faith in. And not only thatthat – all the new “experts” have been directlyrecruited in grade B. So on the one hand topmanagement complains about productivityand on the other hand we are dumped withuseless fellows, who are paid high salaries,but who do no work.L: Yes. That seems to be a common featurethese days. Even in our department, the newrecruits are all interested in new productdevelopment, but when it comes to thenormal work they all complain about theworkload and the quality of their work ispathetic. All absolutely lazy lumps! But afterthe new pay scales were altered, they were allplaced in grade D or even C with the rest of uspeople, who have been bursting ourselves,slogging here for so many years.KV: It finally happened.Y: What?V: H lost his temper.L: H lost his temper? But he is so calm andquiet. I cannot imagine him shouting.V: He didn't shout. The committee called himfor a meeting where the new billingprocedures were being discussed. Our CEOwas there and made some comment aboutpeople being unaware about the billingprocedures. H very politely told him that itwas possible that he (H) didn't know aboutthe billing procedures. Then he continuedthat he had been here almost 15 years, doingvarious tasks including preparing the billingstatements from his first year. He finished bysaying that he was quite sure that there couldIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 81

Seth Consultantsbe no doubt that the CEO was more expertthan him and that he (H) was quite willing tolearn from him.Y: He said that?L: The CEO who hasn't prepared a singlebilling statement, at least here at SPCL, isgoing to teach him about billing? What didthe CEO say?V: He looked surprised. Then the DCEO told Hthat the guidelines had already beencirculated and the CEO had otherresponsibilities.Y: (unbelievingly) You mean they didn'tunderstand what he was trying to say?V: Correct. They thought he was just beingtroublesome. They didn't understand that hewas mocking them.LV: I wish that I had some back up then, like H, Itoo would say something to the CEO and MD.L: About what?V: About the certification programmes.Y: What would you say?V: I would say that I was not able to conductthe programme because all the hotel roomswere booked.L: (puzzled) All the hotel rooms werebooked?V: Yes, the famous summer/monsoonvacation wonderland resort of Madhyampuris much in demand at that time of the yearand tourists make bookings months inadvance. What? Why do you look at me likethat? SPCL does not have anyaccommodation facilities of its own, so theparticipants will have to stay in hotels.L: Agreed, we don't have any accommodationfacilities. But who comes here in thesummer/monsoon? I don't understand howanyone can think that outsiders will willinglywant to come here in the summer withaverage temperatures of 40+ degrees in theshade, till the monsoon starts and then we getan average of 10 mm rain daily!V: And look at our location – out of town in theheart of the industrial area. The nearestdecent hotel is almost 20 km away. It was idealfor our original customers but to conductcertification programmes?Y: You are missing the point. All these offlocation programmes are part business andpart paid holiday. But our canteen andlunchroom are vegetarian. There is no baranywhere nearby. There are no recreationalfacilities.V: Yes, ideal conditions, enjoy industrialsurroundings complete with pollution, eatgrass, drink water and without anydistractions participants will have to focus onthe programme!Y: If our "experts" run the programme, theprogramme will be the recreation!MY: (Grimly) Have you ever thought that youcould see the future?L: No.V: Just tell us what happened.Y: I am just coming from a meeting with ourBusiness Head. He says six months are goneand wants to know why we are lagging behindin new customer / business / productdevelopment.L: Does he understand that we are shortstaffed and have not been able to evencomplete the work we have on hand? Whathappened to all those “initiatives” anyway?V: Really! This is too bad! Top managementreorganized the company into businesses andappointed Business Heads for this verypurpose. Then they appointed the companywide business development and productdevelopment committees and on top of it theyeven appointed similar committees for eachBusiness, Department, Location and what82 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Seth Consultantsnot. In this process, some Department Headsare on their respective departmentalcommittees and some are not. Why? Becauseapparently the choice of committeemembers has been dictated by the grade -only grade B and grade A level managementstaff were included on the committees.What happened in some departments wherethe number of grade A and grade Bemployees were less than 5? Then they havedrawn members from other departments.And finally when the Business Heads and topmanagement's “handpicked” committeesfail, all of us are responsible for the failure ofproduct development, business expansionsand new business development?L: So, now it is clear why the CEO referred tooverall all round performance. Weunderestimate these people. See it wasn'tthat innocent. But how are we can weachieve those revenue goals? The MD callsthem stretch; I say they are extremelydifficult. In two years we haven't managed todo more than 1 or 2 % each and in one yearhe expects to make it ten times as much?Y: Only difficult? That is what you think. Ithink they are impossible.V: That is what. This is the power ofdelegation. Now it is not their problem. Likeyou said it is our problem.L: Well we can't solve it. So better startgetting ready for the fun next year.3. Space Invaders® One of the first (read“really old”) video games in which the playerhas to shoot down alien invaders.4. Admittedly this was an example of a ratherpeculiar set of situations where, due to nofault of either party, on a large number ofoccasions the employee had not been able toput in a full day on the project, so the numberof partial days worked was very high.5. Psi, Phi (= Sci-fi?).6. Similar to 6 above, it might be inferred thatmathematics, maintenance, mechanicalengineering and modelling are related in thesame esoteric way, beginning with the sacredletter 'μ'. And likewise, benefic bibliophilic,bizarre and banausic are related to each otherby the enigmatic symbol 'β'.Notes1. Originally management grades (belowDCEO) in SPCL ranged from Grade A(highest) to Grade G (lowest). The creation ofthe new Business Head required the creationof a new grade, hence A1.2. Older readers will no doubt be able toplace the reference to Sholay. (Basanti whatis your name?)Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 83

' UNLOCKING ENTREPRENEURIAL CAPABILITIES -:A STRATEGIC APPROACH TOECONOMIC GROWTH BY UNIVERSITIES .’Shabana A. Memon(Faculty, Bharati Vidyapeeth Deemed University Institute of Management, Kadamwadi. Kolhapur.)ABSTRACT:Entrepreneurship education ranks high onpolicy agendas in India as entrepreneurialawareness is in tandem with the Indiangovernment's aspiration to avoiddependency, on existing organizations foremployment opportunity and to encourageyoung adults especially graduates to “createemployment” via venture creation.Entrepreneurship refers to an individual'sability to turn ideas into action. Realizing theimportance of entrepreneurs in thedevelopment of the economy, efforts shouldbe taken to nurture entrepreneurship in allways. Education institutions, particularlyhigher education institutions, can beentrusted with a new additional task, whichis to contribute to the development ofentrepreneurial talent among younggraduates. University graduates haveenormous potential for innovation andeconomic development, mobilizing them forentrepreneurial careers, enhancing theirentrepreneurial skills and providing supportfor business start-up are important and anew tasks for higher education institutionsthat are only now being fully recognized.This paper explores the role of highereducation in fostering entrepreneurshipeducation. The entrepreneurial based highereducation system may lead to the delivery ofhigh technology, practical oriented graduatesthat will be competitive in the world of workacross their professions.Keywords: entrepreneurship education,economic development, entrepreneurialtalentINTRODUCTIONEntrepreneurship has been hailed as the newengine of economic growth in bothdeveloped and developing countries. It isparadigmatically referred to as the process ofinnovatively exploring and exploitingopportunities in the midst of risks anduncertainty by synthesizing resources tocreate novel outputs often within the contextof new organizational formation (Casson,2003; Shane, 2003). Exalted as the drivingforce of innovation, entrepreneurship offersthe benefits of increased economicefficiencies, bringing Innovation to themarket, job creation and sustainedemployment.Regional colleges and universities areintegral to providing economic andworkforce development resources thatsupport local and regional economies.Similarly nascent entrepreneurs createeconomies and build enterprises throughdeliberate planning and risk taking. Manyuniversities are taking specific actions toadapt to the new social and business needs.Barnett (1994) has defined the changingsituation as a shift 'from higher educationin society to higher education of society.'Universities have developed technology84 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Unlocking Entrepreneurial Capabilitiestransfer capabilities and extended theirteaching from educating individuals toshaping organizations throughentrepreneurial education and incubation(Etzkowitz and Zhou 2008). Formal degreesin entrepreneurship studies are typicallyhosted by a business school/faculty toprovide a mix of theoretical grounding inbusiness management as well as training inpractical aspects of entrepreneurship. Oneinitial measure to increase the level ofentrepreneurship skills teaching would be tomake relevant learning outcomes moreexplicit and to contextualize them in respectto employability and entrepreneurship(Frank 2007).WHAT IS ENTREPRENEURSHIPEDUCATION ?Entrepreneurship education can be definedas the purposeful intervention by aneducator in the life of the learner to impartentrepreneurial qualities and skills to enablethe learner to survive in the world ofbusiness. Alberti, Sciascia and Poli (2004)define entrepreneurship education as thestructured formal conveyance ofentrepreneurial competencies, which in turnrefers to the concepts, skills and mentalawareness used by individuals during theprocess of starting and developing theirgrowth oriented ventures.Entrepreneurship education aimstopromote creativity, innovation and selfemployment.It is therefore agreed that existing activitiesand programmes qualify aseducation forentrepreneurship if they include at least twoof the following elements:a) Developing those personal attributes andgenerally applicable (horizontal) skills thatform the basis of an entrepreneurial mindsetand behavior.b) Raising students' awareness of selfemploymentand entrepreneurship aspossible career options.c) Work on practical enterprise projects andactivities, for instance students running minicompanies.d) Providing specific business skills andknowledge of how to start and successfullyrun a company.Entrepreneurial programmes and modulesoffer students the tools to think creatively, tobe an effective problem solver, to analyze abusiness idea objectively and tocommunicate, network, lead and evaluate anygiven project. Students feel more confidentabout setting up their own businesses if theycan test their ideas in an educational,supportive environment. However, thebenefits of entrepreneurship education arenot limited to boosting start-ups, innovativeventures and new jobs. Entrepreneurship is acompetence for everyone, helping youngpeople to be more creative and self-confidentin whatever they undertake.ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION ANDECONOMIC GROWTH:The education system plays a critical role inthe economic advancement of the nationsince it is the primary developer of humanresources, almost all growth theory modelsrecognize that the quality of human resourceand thereby the quality of education is vital tothe economic growth process. However thecurrent education globally and especially indeveloping economies leaves much to bedesired. Entrepreneurship education canaddress some of the deficiencies in theexisting education system. The developmentIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 85

Unlocking Entrepreneurial Capabilitiesof entrepreneurial skills in the educationsystem can increase the supply of futureentrepreneurs in the country. A venturesupport system based on entrepreneurialeducation can be designed to stimulate andfacilitate entrepreneurial activities whichcould result in a lower unemployment rate,increased establishment of new companiesand fewer failures of existing business, thedevelopment of entrepreneurial skills aswell as knowledge of venture creationprocess can prepare students for therealities of life when they graduate. It willempower them to learn business andenhance their social and life skills that aredearly needed in todays society.In growing economies like India, it has beensuggested that to enhance its rapideconomic growth rate, India must providefor1) Education directed specifically atentrepreneurial skills2) Financing of entrepreneurial efforts.3) Networking among potentialentrepreneurs and their experiencedcounterparts (Lal, Anil K, Clement, Ronald W,2005)ENTREPRENEURSHIP EDUCATION ANDTRAININGEntrepreneurship and Enterprise Educationhave given higher education institutions theopportunity to grant societies employablegraduates who have the necessary kit ofinnovation, motivation and creativity todevelop new products, services and smalland medium enterprises (SME's) that notonly boost economies but also contribute tothe overall cultural and social development.The emphasis on the role ofentrepreneurship education programs topromote self-employment is build on thenotion that entrepreneurship or certainfacets of it can be taught or at least encouragedby these programs. The accepted notion is thateducation can serve as a preparatory functionin relation to new venture initiation or start upwhereby the transfer of knowledge and theacquisition and development of relevant skillsare expected to increase the propensity, selfefficacyand effectiveness of the potentialentrepreneur (Jack & Anderson, 1999)Fostering entrepreneurship in highereducation means that entrepreneurshipshould be incorporated in various subjects inorder to provide students with specifictraining on how to start and run a business.The need to revise and update existingeducational curricula to respond to profoundand multifaceted changes occurring in theworld today is widely recognized.TEACHING AND ENTREPRENEURSHIP:While Entrepreneurship has been introducedas a course in a number of business schoolcurricula, there needs to be a greater thrust inmaking Entrepreneurship a priority subject.Other aspects of Entrepreneurship such asbusiness ethics, early enterprisemanagement, aspects of scaling up, Indiancorporate law and relevant international laws,should also be a part of such curricula.However, many students and graduatesperceive several obstacles that oppose againstbusiness start-ups, such as lack of experienceor lack of finance, which block the path towardtheir preferred choice. The problem of thisinconsistency may lie in the presentcurriculums, which have focused almostentirely on the needs of aspiring middle andfunctional managers rather than the needs ofaspiring entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurshipeducation and training needs to be localized,i.e. researching the local environment andcircumstances which will in some way86 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Unlocking Entrepreneurial Capabilitiescontribute to skills improvement and therefore to small and medium enterprisedevelopment and ultimately job creation.CURRICULUM AS A PROCESSMore recently, curriculum developers have given more attention to the PROCESSES thatproduce quality curriculum. This means constructing an effective process that suits the localcircumstances and environment, increasing the chances of producing and implementing qualityproducts (syllabuses and eventually learning outcomes)FROMTeachingTransfer of FactsMemorization of InformationConcentration on KnowledgeTOLearningStudents construction of KnowledgeAnalysis, Synthesis, Evaluation, Application ofInformationDevelopment of Knowledge, Skills, Values, AttitudesRote LearningApplied learning/contextual learningCategorized KnowledgeSchoolingFocus on InputsDidactic TeachingAssumption that there is ‘onelearning style’Integrated content (broader learning areas)Lifelong LearningFocus on OutcomesTeaching strategies including ‘interactive methodology’Recognition that there are ‘preferred learning styles’Curriculum as a productCurriculum as both process and productENTREPRENEURIAL QUALITIES NEEDED BY PROSPECTIVE ENTREPRENEURS.If formal education progam support the development of the following mentioned personalentrepreneurial traits, potential entrepreneurs will be more likely to initiate action and have abetter chance of success in their business ventures.Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 87

Unlocking Entrepreneurial CapabilitiesTraits/Characteristics Of EntrepreneursSelf Confidence ConfidenceIndependent, individualistic.OptimisticLeadership, DynamicOriginality Innovative, creative Resourceful Initiative Versatile, knowledgeablePeople Oriented Get along with others Flexible Responsive to suggestions/criticismsTask-Result Oriented Need for achievement Profit oriented Persistent,perseverance, determined Hard worker, drive, energyFuture Oriented Foresight PerceptiveRisk Taker Risk taking ability Likes challengesPRIMARY FOCUS OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP-TRAINING CURRICULA SHOULD BE TO-Teach basic entrepreneurial skills-Entrepreneurship education should focus on the training of entrepreneurial skills likecreativity, problem solving abilities, communication, conflict management and negotiation;development of soft skills, entrepreneurial motivation and opportunity recognition.Ensure that learners understand the real world of work and entrepreneurshipInteraction with entrepreneurs, business owners can be organized to foster students'entrepreneurial spirit. Working on real case studies from entrepreneurs and universityprojects/patents and working as interns with the start-ups and existing entrepreneurs shouldbe encouraged.88 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Unlocking Entrepreneurial CapabilitiesProvide opportunities to learn about theimportance of entrepreneurship to theeconomic system through classroom andpractical experienceo A business plan competition e.g. searchingfor an idea; creativity and innovation.Compiling a business plan and starting abusiness can be done.o Start-up support and support for nascentcompanies can be organized in co-operationwith the Chamber of Commerce andIndustry. Coaching and establishing contactswith other business support providers, firmsand financiers can be provided.o Prototyping entrepreneurship educationby encouraging multidisciplinary studentteams (design, media, business, computerscience etc.)o The institutions could also provideextensive industry linkages on differentaspects of business, law and finance.Elaborate models of profit-sharing andadvisory assistance can also be provided.Launch an in-campus businessEnterprise centers' in major educational andresearch institutions should provideinstitutional support for Entrepreneurship,on a larger scale and on a more systematicbasis. Special enterprise centers' focusing ontranslating innovation-driven ideas intoviable businesses would greatly enhanceEntrepreneurship. Currently, incubationcenters provide assistance to selected startups.Providing consultation and coachingservices for future entrepreneurs andfacilitation of contacts to external businessshould also be encouraged.e.g. achievement motivation; creativity;decision making; initiative; innovation; locusof control and risk taking.Entrepreneurial skills e.g. strategyformulation; leadership; planning and timemanagement and financial concepts;communication and negotiation skills; andself-knowledge.andEconomic education e.g. unemployment;economic growth; tax; personal financialmanagement; productivity and industryknowledge of the prospective entrepreneurshould be explored and accordinglyenhanced. Awareness creation activities topromote self-employment as a viable careerchoice should also be conducted.HYTTI MODEL OF ENTREPRENEURSHIPEDUCATION (HYTTI, 2002)In Hytti model (as shown in Figure ) thedifferent roles assigned to entrepreneurshipeducation are summarized.Explore learners' entrepreneurialqualities and teach educationeconomicallyEntrepreneurial qualitiesIndira Management Review - Jan 2013 89

Unlocking Entrepreneurial CapabilitiesSource: Hytti.U.(Ed) (2002).State of Art of Enterprise Education in Europe-Result fromthe Entredu project, Turku Finland.In essence, each of these three categories hasthe purpose of identifying and monitoringprogress as the student moves frombecoming familiar with the concept ofentrepreneurship to developing a level ofmaturity that will enable the student to startan enterprise to a stage where thestudent/prospective entrepreneurpossesses most of the elements required forbusiness successFrom a further perspective Bolton andThompson (2004) postulate thatentrepreneurship education and trainingactivities consist of three categories, namely:Entrepreneurship as a subject, coveringthe areas from economic development tobusiness plan preparation, with a majorfocus on the entrepreneur;Entrepreneurship as an activity, with anapproach about entrepreneurship, but alsofor entrepreneurs with the main focus on thepreparation of a viable business plan; andEntrepreneur enabling, this is concernedwith the potential of entrepreneurs and howtheir talent can be identified and enabled.In view of the above analyses on content,entrepreneurial training must be viewed asa practical application and common senseapproach to acquiring the necessary skills togrow the business successfully.FACTORS INFLUENCINGENTREPRENEURSHIP Culture has a great impact onentrepreneurship. Generally people doingtraditional business do not like to work asemployees. Any society that believes inconsumerism promotes entrepreneurship inthat region because profits from a trade turnout to be higher than profits from a service. Aculture where people do not believe in hardwork and are afraid of taking risk is notfavorable for entrepreneurship.PoliticalEnvironment also affectsentrepreneurship. Unsteady politicalsituations, ever-changing administrativepolicies, high taxes hinder entrepreneurship.Governmental policies to developtransportation, communication network,industrial hubs and all other facilitiespromote entrepreneurship. The economyplays a significant role in the growth of anenterprise. Strong and stable economicconditions encourage business.Availability of Various Resourceslikemoney, man power; raw materials,communication and transportation facilitiesetc. play a major role in influencing anyenterprise. Besides all these factors, thegrowth of an enterprise depends upon the90 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

Unlocking Entrepreneurial Capabilitiesskills and mind-set of the entrepreneur. Hemust be hard-working, determined, goodmanager with broad business plan, able toface unforeseen events and risks.SUGGESTIONS TO ENHANCEENTREPRENEURSHIP Content and Learning Methods:The ability to promote Entrepreneurshiprequires an enquiring mind that is able tomake connections between theory andpractice. There is a need to recreate real-lifesituations in the classroom with the help ofexamples and illustrations so that studentsare able to get a 'concrete feel' of variousaspects of the outside world. Teaching and Entrepreneurship: WhileEntrepreneurship has been introduced as acourse in a number of business schoolcurricula, there needs to be a greater thrustin making Entrepreneurship a prioritysubject. Encourage Student-led EntrepreneurialActivities on Campus:It is necessary to encourage activities withineducational institutions, whereentrepreneurial abilities find opportunitiesand fertile ground to grow, as activitiesoutside the confines of the textbook areimperative to develop leadership and teambuilding skills that are necessary forEntrepreneurshipCONCLUSION:There is always ongoing discussion as towhether entrepreneurship can be taught atlearning institutions. Some argue that eventhe most prominent entrepreneur, BillGates; choose to leave the grand ivy league ofHarvard, halting education in seeking forentrepreneurship experience. Many believeentrepreneurship is the result of gut feeling,internal drives, timing and luck. However,Garavan (1994) suggested that “learning”entrepreneurship either from successfulentrepreneurial parents, work experience orproper education will enhance theprobability of success. Believingentrepreneurship can be taught, he stressedthe paradigm that “entrepreneurs are oftenmade, not born".It is understood that the teachingresponsibility does not rest entirely with theeducational world. The society has its role inproviding the appropriate environment andright atmosphere for the growth ofentrepreneurship. Failures must not bepenalized but instead analyzed, as they arealso a vital part of the learning process. Theimpact of education programme may not beimmediately evident but should havesustained effects on developing a strongenterprise culture, although this might bedifficult to determine in the short term, it isessential to the long term growth of India. Wealso believe that entrepreneurship results inincreased innovation and sustainedeconomic growth. We see enormouspotential in investing in entrepreneurshipeducation in order to nurture talent anddevelop the next wave of leaders andinnovators who will not only create jobs andvalue for society, but also empower others tocreate a better future.REFERENCES:Bhide, Amar V.(2000).The Origin and Evolution of NewBusinesses, Oxford University Press, New York.Breen, John & Bergin, Sue (1999) “EducatingEntrepreneurs: looking at universities” Australia CPAVol 67 no 7 pp 44-46.Indira Management Review - Jan 2013 91

Unlocking Entrepreneurial CapabilitiesCharney A and libe Cap G. (2000) “Impact ofentrepreneurship Education” Insights, A KauffmanResearch Series, Kauffman Center for entrepreneurialleadershipDonald K.F (2005) “emergence of entrepreneurshipEducation :Development,Trends and Challenges”Entrepreneurship Theory and practice,(29)5,577-598.Duke Charles R (1996), “exploring Student interest inEntrepreneurship courses” Journal of marketingEducation,Vol.18,Issue 3.pp 35-46.Edited by Rathore B.S and DrSaini J S; CommissionCommunication “Fostering entrepreneurial mindsetsthrough education and learning”.COM(2006) AHandbook of Entrepreneurship, Aapga Publications,Panchkula (Haryana)Edition), New Jersey, Prentice-Hall,.Vasant D, Small Scale Enterprises (2007) Vols. 1-12,Mumbai, Himalaya PublishingHouse.Zahra, S., &Dess, G. (2001). Entrepreneurship as a fieldof research: encouraging dialogue and debate.Academy of Management Review, 26(1), 8–11.http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/policies/sme/promoting-entrepreneurship/educationtrainingentrepreneurship/index_en.htm.www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=865534&show...www.indigenousjournal.com/IIJEASVolIIIss2Maritz.pdfGibb A.A (1999) “Can We Build EffectiveEntrepreneurship Through ManagementDevelopment” journal of general management, Vol24(4) pp 1-21.Gupta C B and SrinivasanP(1997) EntrepreneurshipDevelopment by Sultan Chand and Sons, New DelhiKlofsten, Magnus (20000 “Training entrepreneurshipat universities: A Swedish Case” Journal of EuropeanIndustrial Training, Vol 24,No 6, pp337-344.Low, M., & MacMillan, I. (1988). Entrepreneurship:past research and future challenges. Journal ofManagement, 14, 139–161.Patel V. G.,(1995.)The Seven Business Crises and Howto Beat Them, Tata-McGraw, New Delhi,Shane S., Lock E A., Collins C J. (2003) 'Entrepreneurialmotivation' Human Resource Management Review 13257–279 .Taneja, Satish and Gupta,S.L.(2001) EntrepreneurshipDevelopment-New VentureCreating, Galgotia Publishing House, New Delhi, LatestEditionVerma, J.C., and Gurpal Singh, 2002 Small Business andIndustry-A Handbook forEntrepreneurs, Sage publication,New DelhiVesper, Karls H, New Venture Strategies, 1990 (Revised92 Indira Management Review - Jan 2013

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