Vol 1(2) - SMS Lucknow

D:NAYASECNIEA JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENTOOSCNCESSCHAYIEHCSTNEAGEMNAMFOLISSN : 2249-1066VOL.1-NO.2, Jul-Dec 2011An export Competitiveness and marketing channel for fresh grapes ofMaharashtra.Prof. Gautam Parmar & Dr. Alpesh LeuaUrban Living And Quality Of Life: Exploring The Perception Expectation Gap.Smita Singh & Mehul SinghInternal Customer Satisfaction in Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME)An Empirical Study.Dr. Alok Kumar Rai, Ms Vandana Pareek & Mr. Manish YadavA Journal ofManagementSciencesA Critical Review on Perception & Benefits of Customer RelationshipManagement (CRM) System in Indian Private Hospitals.Dr. Surendra Kumar & Dr. Meenakshi SrivastavaSustainable Livelihood For Scheduled Tribes:Perspectives On Minor ForestProduce In India.Dr. Babu Singh, Dr.Rakesh Kr. Singh, Dr. Anil.Kr. Sachan & Birender KumarTapping The Untapped (Financial Inclusion).Atul Kumar SrivastavaRural Tourism : An Emerging Paradigm In Rural Entrepreneurship.Dr. Rais Ahmad & Mohammad AwaisLiterature Review - Service quality Assessment in Banks and FinancialInstitutions.Dr. Ashish Sonker, Dr. Mohd. Anees & Ms. Rakhi SonkerBook ReviewShiva Kumar Srinivasan

AdhyayanA Journal of Management SciencesISSN : 2249-1066Vol.1 No.2, Jul - Dec 2011Kasimpur Biruha, Post Kasimpur, Lucknow Sultanpur Road,Lucknow 227125 (India)

EditorialIt is a matter of pride and honour to introduce this second issue ofADHYAYAN - The Journal of Management Sciences, Lucknow. This issue of theJournal incorporates a congregation of various research papers on diverse fieldsof Management and allied areas.This issue includes seven quality research papers, one literature review and onebook review. The authors are a mix from various well-known institutes anduniversities of the country. I am sure the journal will serve as a valuable addition tothe management literature and will also prove to be a valuable reference material.I would also like to place on record my sincere thanks to all the members of theeditorial advisory board for their unrelenting support to Adhyayan. I also sincerelythanks the appreciable efforts of the members of the editorial team for helping tobring out this issue of the journal.I am also grateful to reviewers for providing their comments and suggestions. Oursincere appreciation goes to all the authors for their timely contribution and to thereaders for their incessant support.We look forward to your comments on this issue and suggestions on mattersconcerning the journal.Prof. (Dr.) M. MehrotraEditor-in-ChiefSchool of Management Sciences,Lucknow

Marketing Channels for Export of GrapesLooking for the more competitive value of NPC forUnited Kingdom and Netherland, to know theMarketing channel through which the Grapesconsumed in Foreign country, the effective andefficient marketing channel decides the profitability ofbusiness. Grapes are a perishable commodity, hencevery sensitive for time factor.Fig.2 Marketing Channel for Export of Grapes to UK andNetherland.The above fig.2 indicates that the farmers whoproduced export quality grapes, sell it to the localprivate export agency for both the countries of the studyarea and used J.N.P.T. Uran port. This export agencyhas contacted the commission agent of UK andNetherland for local dealing. In United Kingdom thefresh grapes sell direct to the Supermarket and inNetherland sales to the Independent Fruit importers,who sell it to the Supermarket. In developed countries,the majority of the produce sell through an organizedretail one. The grapes from Maharashtra sales to theultimate consumers of the United Kingdom andNetherland.CONCLUSIONGrapes export has significant growth rate in India.India has great scope to export grapes in largequantities to such a country having highcompetitiveness and less distance to transport fromIndia to Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, andBelgium to earn more profit. Countries such as UK,USA, and Netherland gives us maximum price for freshgrapes because of high quality standards and demand.In the view to export maximum amount of grapes fromIndia, it must give priority to increase the productionand productivity of grapes which increases the qualityof produce. This is necessary to meet the increasingdomestic demand on one hand and to build up asustained supply to meet international markets forearning foreign exchange through grapes export, on theother.REFERENCES1. Ajjan, N., Vaseeharan, S.S., Ranganathan, C. and Raveendran, N., (1998), An economic analysis of exportperformance of senna and periwinkle in India. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 80(1&7):88-99.2. Ananthi, S., (2000), An economic analysis of Indian rice export. M. Sc. (Agri.) Thesis, University ofAgricultural Sciences, Dharwad.3. Angles, S., (2001), Production and export of turmeric in South India – An economic analysis. M. Sc. (Agri.)Thesis, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.4. Ansari, H.I. and Ahmed, S.M., (2001), Time series analysis of the prices: An application of ARIMAmodeling and co-integration analysis. The Indian Economic Journal, 48(3): 49-54.5. Kumar Arvind, (2000), Performance of Indian rice exports. M. Sc. (Agri.) Thesis, University of AgriculturalSciences, Bangalore.6. Maheswari Asha, (1996), Agricultural growth in the semiarid tropics – A case of Karnataka.Indian Journalof Agricultural Economics, 51(3):315-327.7. Hyma Jyothi, S., (2003), Export performance of onion and potato from India – An economic analysis.Indian Journal of Agricultural Marketing, 17(3):131-141.3

8. Murthy, C., (2005), A study on quality, grading and Prices in Vegetable Marketing in Karnataka Ph.D.(AgriBusiness) Thesis, University of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad.9. Nasurudeen, P. and Balakrishnan, V., (1996), Agricultural Exports: Prospects and Problems. The Bihar Journalof Agricultural Marketing, 4(4): 323-330.10. NHB, (2005), National Horticulture Database-2005. National Horticulture Board, Ministry of Agriculture,Government of India, Krishi Bhawan, New Delhi.11. Raveendran, N. and Aiyaswamy, P.K., (1982), An analysis of export growth and export prices of turmeric inIndia. Indian Journal of Agricultural Economics, 37(3):323- 325. turmeric in India. Indian Journal ofAgricultural Economics, 37(3):323- 325.4

Urban Living And Quality Of Life: Exploring The Perception –Expectation GapSmita Singh* & Mehul Singh**ABSTRACTUrban living, once synonymous with better amenities, infrastructural facilities and a higher standard of living, hasgradually come under severe strain due to ill-planned and un-restrained growth. Infrastructure development has notkept pace with the rapid expansion of many a tier I and tier II city, leading to congestion, poor quality of water supply,sewerage and housing. The lack of basic amenities reflects on the poor quality of life being led by the average urbandweller. Quality of life is a complex, multi-dimensional concept which is open to diverse interpretations. In its broadestsense, the concept refers to all those factors which improve the 'well-being' of the people. It goes beyond the materialindicators of money, access to goods and services, infrastructure and so on. The concept is measured using bothsubjective and objective indicators. While the objective indicators of living standards are easy to measure, the subjectiveindicators, forming an integral part of an individual's perception of quality of life, are complex. The current studyexamines the optimal physical attributes desired by the residents of a tier II city. The 28-item scale has been adapted tothe SERVQUAL model to study the expectation versus the perception of the quality of life of the residents of the city ofLucknow. The quality of life assessment of the residents can well provide a direction to the planners regarding the factorshaving the maximum gap and hence, the greatest impact on the urban resident.Key words: Quality of life, infrastructure, urban living, SERVQUALINTRODUCTIONUrban living, once synonymous with better amenities,infrastructural facilities and a higher standard of living,has gradually come under severe strain due to illplannedand un-restrained growth. Infrastructuredevelopment has not kept pace with the rapidexpansion of many a tier I and tier II city, leading tocongestion, poor quality of water supply, sewerage andhousing. The lack of basic amenities reflects on thepoor quality of life being led by the average urbandweller. The standard of living, determined by thequality of education, telecommuication, culturalenvironment and other facilities (park, bank, market,etc.), too, falls short of expectations in quite a fewcases. All this has prompted frequent discussions onurban living and the quality of life therein.QUALITY OF LIFEThe term 'Quality of Life' was coined in 1990 by RobertEdgerton, a leading Ethnographer, who stressed on theimportant albeit contentious nature of the concept(Rapley, 2003). A complex, multi-dimensionalconcept, Quality of Life has been open to diverseinterpretations and the vast literature generated on thesubject is yet to yield a generally acceptable definitionof the term. In its broadest sense, the concept refers toall those factors which improve the 'well-being' of thepeople. It is seen as a crystallisation of diverse factorsrelated to health, socio-economic and environmentalconditions, which influence human and societaldevelopment. It goes beyond the material indicators ofmoney, access to goods and services, infrastructure andso on. The concept is measured using both subjectiveand objective indicators. While the objective indicatorsof living standards are easy to measure, the subjectiveindicators, forming an integral part of an individual'sperception of quality of life, are complex. The WorldHealth Organisation measures quality of life throughfour broad domains viz. Physical health, Psychologicalhealth, Social relationships and Environment. Anotherstudy by Fahey (2007) identified nine major themesviz., transport, size of the city, community, identity,facilities, planning and development, environment,economic and social considerations as significant fordetermining the Quality of Life of a city. Crime,congestion and pollution are regarded as dis-amenitieslowering the quality of life (Hoch 1972). Another viewregarding urban amenities and disamenities as*Smita Singh, Assistant Professor, Institute of Management Sciences, University of Lucknow**Mehul Singh, Freelance Consultant5

largelydepends on the factors such as safety,cleanliness and cultural environment (Rosen 1979;Glaeser, Kolko and Saiz 2001). Azahan (2009) arguedthat apart from various factors affecting quality of life,it were the people residing in the city who mattered asmuch in determining the status of living as good or bad.People, he emphasised are not passive recipients ofenvironment or infrastructure, rather, they are theactive participants in their making and usage. In light ofthe above discussion, the current study attempts toexplore the factors influencing the quality of life of theresidents of Lucknow and whether there is a significantdifference in the perceptions and expectations of thelocal population.METHODScale construction was undertaken for identifying theunderlying dimensions of Quality of Life. For thispurpose, a total of 200 questionnaires wereadministered and 152 of these were found fit foranalysis as they were complete in all respects. The datawere analysed using SPSS 17.0. The demographicprofile of the respondents for questionnaireconstruction is given in table 1.Further a total of 300 questionnaires were administeredin Cis-Gomti and Trans-Gomti areas for measuring theexpectation-perception gap of residents of Lucknowwith respect to their quality of life in the City. Postscreening 239 questionnaires were found fit foranalysis. The demographic details of the respondentsfor Gap Analysis are included in table 2.The area of study was the city of Lucknow and hence,the sample was drawn from the resident population ofthe city. Only those who had been residing in the Cityfor more than three years were included in the sample.Since, the city is spread on either sides of the Gomtiriver, both and Trans-Gomti localities were included inthe sample (Table 3). As the list of the residents of thecity was not available to the researchers, the methodused for data collection was non-probabilityconvenience sampling based on sampling strategiesdescribed by Patton (Pg. 169-186; 1990). 14 Cis-Gomtilocalities and 7 Trans-Gomti localities were included. Adeliberate attempt was made to administer thequestionnaire to the respondents cutting across socialstrata and educational backgrounds so as to improve thegeneralisability of the results.INSTRUMENT ON QUALITY OF LIFEThe study focuses on understanding the quality of lifeand related issues with respect to the infrastructureavailable in a city. Initially focussed group discussionswere conducted with randomly drawn groups ofprofessionals (12), entrepreneurs (7) and home makers(10) to identify factors which were regarded as relevantfor a good quality of life by any resident of a city. Thefocussed group discussions on an average lasted foraround 75 minutes and yielded a comprehensive list of73 variables, which were pretested on a small sample of35 public health professionals.Post piloting on a sample of 152 respondents, theoriginal 73 items were reduced to 28 items. Whereverneeded the statements were recorded for bettercomprehension. The final instrument was a structuredquestionnaire with 28 positively worded itemsmeasured on a five point Likert scale with labelsranging from strongly disagree (=1) to strongly agree(=5) for recording the responses. Pertinentdemographic information such as age, gender, maritalstatus, educational qualification, income andresidential locality were also recorded.The constructs for forming a scale measuring quality oflife were identified by conducting focussed groupdiscussions as well as through literature review (Rosen1979; Glaeser, Kolko and Saiz 2001; Azahan, 2009).Factor Analysis was done to identify the underlyingfactors and to group the constructs into manageablefactors. Since, the appropriateness of data for factoryanalysis needs to be established, the samplingadequacy test was performed through Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO) statistic (Table 4). Since, KMO valuesgreater than 0.5 is considered as adequate (Kaiser andRice, 1974), hence, the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin measureof sampling adequacy with value of 0.818 wasacceptable. Barlett's Test of Sphericity (3908.806, df.406, Sig.0.00) shows that the values are significant andhence, acceptable implying that non-zero correlationsexisted at a significant level of 0.000. Providing anadequate basis for proceeding with the factor analysis.The Principle Component method for extraction wasemployed with the Varimax Rotation with KaiserNormalisation. The rotation converged in teniterations, and factors with Eigen values greater thanone were retained (Hair, Anderson, Tatham and Black2009). Further, in order to assess the appropriateness ofthe data for factor analysis, the communalities derivedfrom the factor analysis were reviewed. These were allrelatively large (greater than 0.5, falling in the range0.565 to 0.885), suggesting that the data set isappropriate (Stewart 1981). This final version havingtwenty eight items was finalised for the scale. Tointerpret the factors and construct the final version,only those variables having a loading of at least 0.50 ona single factor were considered. Factor loadings of 0.55or greater are "Practically significant" for sample size100. (Hair et al, 2009, Pg 152). The screening test6

as the general populace. Further analysis of the datareveals that Environment and Water and WasteManagement have an equal gap. The City has expandedin more than one ways in the past few years. It is notonly in terms of population but also in terms of theboundaries, vehicles, services, facilities andoccupation categories. In light of these facts, the Cityinfrastructure has failed to keep up with the growthphase and the environment has become increasinglypolluted. The green belts, parks, open spaces, whichonce provided breathing space to the City hasdwindled. Similarly, the water works and sewagesystems are under a severe strain to deal with the everincreasing demands. The same has been reflected in therespondents' responses. Surprisingly the Law andOrder dimension has a lower gap.To further understand the relative importance of thedimensions, the residents of the city were asked toassign weights to each of the dimensions and thesewere-Opportunities–10; Infrastructure 15;Environment – 10; Amenities – 20; Law and Order –25; Water and Waste Management – 20. Thereafter thedimensions were ranked on the basis of quality gapwith the minimum gap rated as 1 and the maximum as6. The weighted scores revealed that Environment (-6.9) had the least gap followed by Amenities (-7.4),Law and Order (-11.25), Infrastructure (-11.25), Waterand Waste Management (-13.8), with Opportunities (-14.65) coming in last. The ranks for trans-Gomtilocalities reflected the overall ranks for the City.However, the ranks for cis-Gomti localities reflectedthe least gap in case of Amenities (-8) followed byEnvironment (-8.2), Water and Waste Management (-12.6), Law and Order (-13.25), Opportunities (-16) andInfrastructure (-19.05).Post assignment of weights, Opportunities continue toreflect the largest gap followed by Water and WasteManagement, Infrastructure and Law and Order. Thisimplies that the residents keenly feel the lack ofavenues to justify one's potential in the City and thisalso has an impact on their earning capacity.Opportunities are, however, ranked second in case ofCis-Gomti residents, who placed Infrastructure at thetop. The difference in the Cis and Trans Gomti rankingsshows the clear divide between the two parts of theCity. Most of the fine structures, newer hospitals,offices, higher educational institutions, sports complexhave all come up in the Trans-Gomti area. These are theareas which have got the maximum attention fromsuccessive governments, leading to improvement in thequality of life of their residents. Further, the Trans-Gomti areas have been planned on organised linesleading to better management, while the Cis-Gomtiareas have not been able to pick up as fast. Most of the'New Lucknow' is on the Trans-Gomti, newlydeveloped colonies while most of the 'Old Lucknow' isconcentrated in the Cis-Gomti areas. The fact that Cis-Gomti areas might have been receiving lesser attentionfrom development authorities is reflected in the higherexpectation-perception gap shown in their rankingwhen compared to those of the Trans-Gomti areas. Thishas far reaching implications for the cityadministration. It can be seen from table 7 that the t-testvalue for pairs 'Opportunities Expectation andOpportunities Perception', 'Infrastructure Expectationand Infrastructure Perception', 'EnvironmentExpectation and Environment Perception', 'AmenitiesExpectation and Amenities Perception', 'Law andOrder Expectation and Law and Order Perception' aswell as Water and Waste Management Expectation andWater and Waste Management Perception is less than0.05 at 95% level of significance. Hence, the nullhypothesis in the above six pairs is rejected and there isa significant difference between the expected andperceived. Since in all the cases the perceived mean isless than the expected mean, it implies that there aregaps for each of the six dimensions of Quality of Lifeand City administration needs to address the same.Further, t-test was used for ascertaining whether thedifference between the scores of Cis and Trans-Gomtiresidents was significant or not. The results of the samereported in Table 8 show the t-test value forOpportunities, Infrastructure and Environment are lessthan 0.05 at 95% level of significance, therebyimplying that there is a significant difference in theperception-expectation gap of Trans-Gomti and Cis-Gomti residents for these three dimensions. Whereasthe t-test value for Amenities, Law and Order and forWater and Waste Management are greater than 0.05 at95% level of significance, leading to the acceptance ofthe null hypothesis that there is no difference in theperception-expectation gap of Cis-Gomti and Trans-Gomti residents. The implications are residents ofLucknow, whether in Cis-Gomti or in Trans-Gomtiareas have similar expectations and perceptions in caseof Amenities, Law and Order as well as Water andWaste Management. However, the expectations andperceptions of residents in these two vary significantlyin terms of Opportunities, Infrastructure andEnvironment. The mean scores for Trans-Gomti areasare greater than those of Cis-Gomti areas for these threedimensions of Quality of Life, which indicates aslightly better perception in case of Trans-Gomtiresidents. The policy implication would be greateremphasis on upgrading the facilities in Cis-Gomti areasin order to improve the quality of life there.8

LIMITATIONSAs is the case with any study, this too, has its own shareof limitations. Given the time and resource constraints,the sample size for the study is inadequate and does notreflect the expectations and perceptions of the entirepopulation. A study of this kind would be betterconducted by a State department rather than anindividual researcher. Secondly, quality of life in a citycan never be complete with a handful of factors. Therehas to be a much more comprehensive and deepdeliberation to spell out the required factors. The taskneeds the expertise of city planners and intelligentsiatogether with insights from the common man. Therehas to be a larger forum for addressing the issue.CONCLUSIONThe current study gathered survey data from theresidents of Lucknow on their perception of the qualityof life in the City. India's urbanization is often termed aspseudo- urbanization as the big cities have aninordinately large population leading to a virtualcollapse in amenities and basic services. This furtherleads to problems in the field of housing, slum, water,infrastructure, quality of life etc. The factors whichemerged in the current study are quite consistent withthose identified in previous researches. Opportunitiesfor development, avenues of employment revealed thelargest gap in expectation and perception. The reasonsfor this are not difficult to identify. Lucknow, though acapital city, needs to improve upon its corporatepresence. This, however, can only improve if there is asustained effort to provide state-of-the-artinfrastructure and adequate government support to theorganisations functioning in the city. Further, the policymakers and administration need to pay equal attentionto the old and new parts of the city. There has been asustained effort to improve infrastructure, amenities,environment in the upscale localities in trans-Gomtiareas at the cost of maintenance of localities in the Cis-Gomti areas. The trend needs a thorough review for theimprovement of the quality of life of the residents of theCity in general.REFERENCES1. Azahan, A., Jamaluddin, M.J., Lukman, Z.M., and Kadaruddin, A. (2009). 'The Quality of Life in Malaysia'sIntermediate City: Urban Dwellers Perspective' European Journal of Social Sciences, Vol. 9, Number 1, pp.161-167.2. Fahy, F. (2007) 'Galway 21: Implementing the Principles and Practices of Sustainable Development in GalwayCity Council', Environmental Protection Agency.3. Glaeser, Edward L., Jed Kolko, and Albert Saiz (2001) "Consumer City." Journal of Economic Geography, 1,pp. 27-50.th4. Hair, J.F., Black, W.C., Babin, B.J., Anderson, R.E. and Tatham, R.L. (2009). Multivariate Data Analysis. 6ed., Pearson Education, Inc.5. Hoch, Irving (1972) "Income and City Size." Urban Studies, 9, pp. 299-328.6. Nordhaus, William D. and James Tobin (1972) "Is Growth Obsolete?" in Economic Research: Retrospect andProspect, Vol. 5. Economic Growth. New York: Columbia Univ. Press (for National Bureau of EconomicResearch).nd7. Nunnally, J. C. (1978). Psychometric theory (2 ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.8. Parasuraman, A., Zeithaml, V. A., & Berry, L. L. (1988), “SERVQUAL: A Multiple-Item Scale For MeasuringConsumer Perceptions Of Service Quality”, Journal Of Retailing, Spring, Volume 64, Number 1, pp. 12-40.nd9. Patton, M.Q., (1990). Qualitative Evaluation and Research Methods (2 Edition) Sage Publications.10. Rosen, Sherwin (1979) "Wages-based Indexes of Urban Quality of Life." in P. Mieszkowski and M.Straszheim, eds. Current Issues in Urban Economics, Baltimore: John Hopkins Univ. Press.11. WHOQOL Group (1993). Study protocol for the World Health Organization project to develop a quality of lifeassessment instrument. (WHOQOL). Quality of Life Research, 2, 153±159.9

ANNEXURE :Table 1: Demographic profile of the respondents for questionnaire constructionG enderM aleFem aleA ge20-29 years30-39 years40-49 years50-59 years60 and aboveE ducational Q ualificationB elow X thX thX II thG raduatePost-graduateProfessionalM arital StatusSingleM arriedD ivorcedW idow/erIncomeB elow `5 0 0 0 /-`5 0 0 1 to `1 0 ,0 0 0`1 0 ,0 0 1 to `2 5 ,0 0 0`2 5 ,0 0 1 to `5 0 ,0 0 0`5 0 ,0 0 1 to `7 5 ,0 0 0`7 5 ,0 0 1 to `1 ,0 0 ,0 0 0`1 ,0 0 ,0 0 0 a n d a b o v eN = 152 Percentage8567343243311216212735282558911219242932261507Table 1: Demographic details of the respondents for Gap Analysis564422212820081114182318163860010113161921171005G enderM aleFem aleA ge20-29 years30-39 years40-49 years50-59 years60 and aboveE ducational Q ualificationB elow X thX thX II thG raduatePost-graduateProfessionalM arital StatusSingleM arriedD ivorcedW idow/erIncomeB elow `5 0 0 0 /-`5 0 0 1 to `1 0 ,0 0 0`1 0 ,0 0 1 to `2 5 ,0 0 0`2 5 ,0 0 1 to `5 0 ,0 0 0`5 0 ,0 0 1 to `7 5 ,0 0 0`7 5 ,0 0 1 to `1 ,0 0 ,0 0 0`1 ,0 0 ,0 0 0 a n d a b o v eN = 2391361034557524837323642523641931394332364852342413Percentage57431924222015131518221517395802011315202214100510

Table 3: List of commercial and residential Cis-Gomti and Trans-Gomti localities included in the studyTable 4: KMO and Bartlett's Test results for Quality of life scaleTable 5: Quality of Life Scale: Construct measurement summary, factor analysis and reliability assessment11

Table 6: Gap Analysis results for Quality of LifeTable 7: Paired t-test results for perception-expectation on dimensions of Quality of LifeOpportunitiesInfrastructureEnvironmentAmenitiesLaw and OrderWater and WasteManagementE: ExpectedP: Perceived12

Table 8: T-test results for Cis-Gomti and Trans-Gomti localitiesDimensions t (df=237) Sig. (2-tailed)MeanOpportunities -3.323 0.001 C: -1.6 ; T: -1.3 SigInfrastructure -5.513 0.000 C: -1.3 ; T: -0.6 SigEnvironment -2.705 0.007 C: -0.8 ; T: -0.6 SigAmenities -0.487 0.627 C: -0.4 ; T: -0.3 Non-sigLaw and Order -1.521 0.130 C: -0.5 ; T: -0.4 Non-sigWater and Waste Management 0.967 0.334 C: -0.6 ; T: -0.7 Non-sigC – Cis-Gomti localities; T – Trans-Gomti localitiesDiff13

Internal Customer Satisfaction In Micro Small And MediumEnterprises (MSME): An Empirical StudyDr. Alok Kumar Rai*, Ms. Vandana Pareek** & Mr. Manish Yadav***ABSTRACTThere is hardly any organization today that would disagree with the notion that people are the indispensable asset of anyorganization which endows it with significant competitive advantage.Internal Customer satisfaction is an assessment of how contended the worker is with his job or work environment. Happyand satisfied workers are likely to produce more, take less leaves, and stay loyal to the company. The importance ofhuman capital in MSMEs has been posited by a number of authors. This paper explores the various facets of employeesatisfaction in MSMSE's of Varanasi.INTRODUCTIONThere is hardly any organization today that woulddisagree with the notion that people are theindispensable asset of any organization which endowsit with significant competitive advantage. InternalCustomer satisfaction is an assessment of howcontended the worker is with his job or workenvironment. Happy and satisfied workers are likely toproduce more, take less leaves, and stay loyal to thecompany. The importance of human capital in MSMEshas been posited by a number of authors (e.g. WellsHYPERLINK"http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journls.htm?articleid=1583781&show=html"etal.HYPERLINK "http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1583781&show=html", 2003; Neace, 1999)and has been linked to important outcome variablesincluding quality, customer service, andp r o d u c t i v i t y ( P e n n i n g s H Y P E R L I N K"http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1583781&show=html"etal.HYPERLINK"http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1583781&show=html", 1998; EdelmanHYPERLINK"http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1583781&show=html"etal.HYPERLINK"http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1583781&show=html", 2002.REVIEW OF LITERATUREGreasley, et. al., (2005) said that the concept of InternalCustomer satisfaction has been gaining the interest ofboth researchers and practitioners for the last twodecades in particular. A number of scholars andmanagement "gurus" stressed the importance ofInternal Customer satisfaction and its influences onorganizational performance and customer satisfaction(Chen, et. al., 2006). Silvestro (2002) suggested thattreating Internal Customers as a valuable assetimproves their commitment and loyalty which leads tohigher performance and quality. Lund (2003) assertedthat different studies analysed the Internal CustomerSatisfaction from different perspectives and itsrelationship with various organizational variables.Bernal, et. al, (2005) further suggested that there is nouniversal definition of Internal Customer satisfactionthat exposes all these dimensions at the same time.Some researchers focus on the overall job satisfactionor even life satisfaction of Internal Customers (Judge,et. al, 2005) whereas some others emphasize a varietyof satisfaction components such as satisfaction withpay, promotion, supervisor, or co-workers.Weiss (2002) defined Satisfaction as either positive ornegative evaluative judgments made by people abouttheir job or work situation. Internal Customer Jobsatisfaction can be considered as both cognitively andaffectively driven. Job satisfaction is usuallyenvisioned as a general attitude toward the job and isdefined as all the feelings that a given individual hasabout his/her job ((Spector 1997). Thatcher et al.,(2002-2003) defined Job satisfaction as an individual'sattitude toward the job—whether the InternalCustomer finds the job rewarding enough to continuedoing it . Locke, et. Al (1969) describes job satisfactiona pleasurable or positive emotional state resulting fromthe appraisal of one's job and job experiences.According to this, Internal Customer satisfaction is a"function of the perceived relationship between whatone wants from one's job and what one perceives it asoffering". Cranny, et. al, (1992), suggested that Internal* Dr. Alok Kumar Rai, Assoc. Professor, Faculty of Management Studies, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.** Ms. Vandana Pareek, Research Scholar, Faculty of Management Studies, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.*** Mr. Manish Yadav, Research Scholar, Faculty of Management Studies, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi.14

Customer satisfaction encompasses a lot of differentfacets. Judge, et. al, (1993), on the other hand, mentionsthat Internal Customer satisfaction is positivelycorrelated with motivation, job involvement,organizational citizenship behaviour, organizationalcommitment, life satisfaction, mental health, and jobperformance, and negatively related to absenteeism,turnover, and perceived stress and identify it as thedegree to which a person feels satisfied by his/her job.In contrast, Rousseau (1978) identified threecomponents of Internal Customer satisfaction: they arecharacteristics of the organization, job task factors, andpersonal characteristics. According to Rousseau'sidentification the characterization of the organizationand the job task factors can be regarded as work factorsin job satisfaction, while personal characteristics can beregarded as non-work factors of job satisfaction(Hagihara, et. al, 1998). The literature suggested thatthe concepts most valued by Internal Customers whendeciding where to work include: open and honestcommunication, fairness and respect, optimumworking conditions, innovativeness, the"acceptability" of mistakes, a friendly environment,training and development opportunities (Leschinskyand Michael, 2004; Jamrog and Stopper, 2002; LesterHYPERLINK"http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journal s . h t m ? a r t i c l e i d = 1 5 8 3 7 8 1 & s h o w = h t m l " e tal.HYPERLINK"http://www.emeraldinsight.com/journals.htm?articleid=1583781&show=html", 2001;Hubbard, 1997; Blickstein, 1996; McDermott, 1995);Job satisfaction has been defined as the affective andcognitive attitudes held by an Internal Customer aboutvarious aspects of their work (Kalleberg, 1977; Mercer,1997; Wright and Cropanzano, 1997; Wong et al.,1998). The later implies that satisfaction is related tothe component facets rather than the whole job. Hoyand Miskel, (1996) opined that the interaction ofvariables such as task characteristics, organisationalcharacteristics and individual characteristicsinfluences job satisfaction. Rainey (1997) definedInternal Customers' job satisfaction as an overallperceptual response to and general attitude toward theirjobs that is often closely associated with other jobrelatedattitudes. This suggests that characteristics suchas age, education, gender, and cultural background areimportant determinants of job satisfaction. Accordingto Fogarty (1994), job satisfaction refers to the extent towhich Internal Customers gain enjoyment from theirefforts in the workplace. Job satisfaction has beenidentified as an important predictor of InternalCustomer attitudes and behaviours and a correlate foraffective organizational commitment (e.g., Freund,2005; Meyer et al., 2002. job satisfaction represents aninteraction between Internal Customers and their workenvironment by gauging the congruence .Therelationship between job satisfaction and performanceis still contentious. Euske et al., (1980) said that itwould be unwise to assume that high job satisfactionleads to high performance, or that high performers aresatisfied with their jobs. A number of studies indicated aweak link (Petty et al., 1984; Iaffaldano andMuchinsky, 1985) while others (Caldwell and O'Reilly,1990; Spector, 1997) suggested a potential relationshipbetween satisfaction and performance. The cause andeffect determinants are still vague. There have beenmany studies performed to determine variables thataffect job satisfaction. Some have looked at factorssuch as organizational involvement, locus of control,age, identification with role, dual career families, andcommitment to organization (Dodd-McCue & Wright,1996). Others have examined stress, Type A behavior,coping strategies, participation in decision making(Bogg & Cooper, 1994). Procedural justice, emotionalexhaustion, race, and education (Wesolowski &Mossholder, 1997).RESEARCH METHODOLOGYBased on discussion of above literature it is evident thatfive factors are assumed to influence overall InternalCustomer satisfaction. These factors are pay andbenefits, peers, management, working environmentand superiors, are derived from the existingliterature.ral marketers. The survey instrument iscomposed of questions relating to Internal Customersatisfaction. A multi-item scale developed by Dubey etal (1989) to operationalise the Internal Customersatisfaction construct in manufacturing context is usedin entirety in this study. The study is conducted amongthree Units of Varanasi one Micro, Small and Mediumeach. The study was undertaken to assess the internalCustomer Satisfaction in the units and to appraise themanagement of the units of the probable implication ofthe satisfaction in their productivity. Statisticaltechniques were used to analyze the data.RESEARCH OBJECTIVE· To identify the factors influencing InternalCustomer Satisfaction in the MSME's.· To assess the Internal Customer Satisfactionin the MSME's· To appraise the management of the units ofrelative importance of different factors insatisfaction of the internal customers and towork on the factors for larger satisfaction andconsequently superior productivity.15

RESEARCH DESIGNThe Research design is exploratory as well asdescriptive. The research is exploratory tillidentification of variables and later becomesdescriptive as is tested with suitable statistical tools forobjective findings.DATA COLLECTIONThis paper investigates the Internal CustomerSatisfaction in MSME's of Varanasi.DATA ANALYSISData in this study were analyzed using StatisticalPackage for Social Science (SPSS) Version 16.0 tosummarize the twenty variables into smaller sets thatpreserved most of the information in the original dataset. The data were subjected to principal componentanalysis. The twenty variables were reduced to 5principal components through varimax rotation.Regarding the preanalysis testing of the entire samplefor factor analysis, the Kaiser – Meyer – Olkin measureof sampling adequacy was 0.829 and the Bartlett's testof sphercity was 450.408 significant at p

of small business in Varanasi.organization. MSME's should take specialefforts to check the fatigue level otherwise itmay adversely affect the worker'sproductivity and satisfaction level.· Employees are satisfied as regards SuperiorSubordinate Relationship in MSME's inVaranasi. They find their superior empatheticand well behaved. This implies that workenvironment is quite friendly and harmoniousw h i c h c o n t r i b u t e s t o e m p l o y e esatisfaction in MSME's.· Employees are satisfied with Management inMSME's of Varanasi. They consider their payto be a fair and assert that their organization isquick in adopting best methods of work.· Employees are satisfied with overallmanagement and the manner of addressingindividual worker's problems. But workersfind the Welfare Facilities to be below averagei m p l y i n g t h a t a l t h o u g h o v e r a l lmanagement approach is satisfactory butwelfare facilities dishearten workers thusreducing satisfaction level and productivity inMSME's in Varanasi.· Employees in MSME's of Varanasi envisiondim career prospects in MSME's. Theydisapprove the notion that their job appendsnovel stuff to their skill set. It implies thatMSME' should take steps towards Jobenrichment otherwise the mundane work willturn the productive workers away.CONCLUSIONThis paper finds that Employees in Micro Small andMedium Enterprises of Varanasi are satisfied with theoverall management. The system of catering toindividual worker's problems is satisfactory. They findemployee treatment to be excellent. Workers considerPromotion to be a fair process in MSME's based onqualification. They are contented due to good superiorsubordinate relationship in their organizations.ButMSME's need to rework upon welfare facilities they areproviding to their employees. Job redesign needs to bedone as fatigue level is high among workers. Furtherthe workers need to be assured of good career prospectsand skill enhancement.REFERENCES1. Bernal, J.G., Castel A.G., Navarro, M.M., andTorres P.R., (2005), "Job satisfaction empiricalevidence ofgender differences",Women in Management Review, vol. 20, No. 4, pp.17

279-288.2. Blickstein, S. (1996), "Does training payoff?", Across the Board, Vol. 33 No.6, pp.16-20.3. Bogg, J., & Cooper, C. L. (1994). Anexamination of gender differences for job satisfaction,mental health, ando c c u p a t i o n a lstress among senior U.K. civil servants. InternationalJournal of Stress Management,1, 159-172.4. Caldwell, D.F. and O'Reilly, C.A. (1990),"Measuring person-job fit with a profile-comparisonprocess",J o u r n a l o f A p p l i e dPsychology, Vol. 75, pp. 648-57.5. Chen, S.H., Yang, C.C., Shiau, J.Y., andWang, H.H. (2006), "the development of an employeesatisfactionm o d e l f o r h i g h e reducation", The TQM Magazine, Vol. 18, No. 5, pp.484-500.6. Cranny, C.J., Smith, P.C., and Stone, E.F.(1992), Job satisfaction: How people feel about theirjobs and how it affects their performance,Lexington Books, New York.7. Dodd-McCue, D., & Wright, G. B. (1996).Men, women, and attitudinal commitment: The effectsof workplace experiences and socialization.Human Relations, 49, 1065-1089.8. Edelman, L.F., Brush, C.G. and Manolova,T.S. (2002), "The impact of human and organizationalresources onsmall firm strategy",Journal of Small Business and EnterpriseDevelopment, Vol. 9 No. 3, pp. 236-44.Entrepreneurship, Vol. 8 No. 1, pp. 59-71.9. Euske, K.J., Jackson, D.W. and Reif, W.E.(1980), "Performance and satisfaction of bankmanagers", Journal of Bank Research, Vol. 11 No.1, pp. 36-42.10 Fogarty, T. (1994), "Public accountingexperience: the influence of demographic andorganizational a t t r i b u t e s " ,Managerial Auditing Journal, Vol. 9 No.7, pp.12-20.11. Freund, A. (2005). Commitment and job satisfaction as predictors of turnover intentions among welfareworkers.Administration in Social Work, 29(2), 5-21.12. Greasley, K., Bryman, A., Dainty, A., Price, A., Soetanto, R., and King, N. (2005), "Employee perceptions ofempowerment", Employee Relations, Vol. 27, No. 4, pp. 354-368.13. Hagihara, A., Babazono, A., Nobutomo, K., and Morimoto, K. (1998), Work versus non-work predictors of jobsatisfaction among Japanese white-collar workers", Journal of Occupational Health, Vol. 40, pp. 285-292.14. Hoy, W.K. and Miskel, C.E. (1996), Educational Administration: Theory, Research, and Practice,McGraw-Hill, New York, NY15. Hubbard, A.S. (1997), "Gauging the commitment to training", Mortgage Banking, Vol. 58 No.1, pp.185.16. Iaffaldano, M.T. and Muchinsky, P.M. (1985), "Job satisfaction and job performance: a metaanalysis",Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 97, pp. 251-7317. Jamrog, J.J., Stopper, W.G. (2002), "The coming decade of the employee", Human Resource Planning, Vol. 25No.3, pp.5-11.18. Judge, T.A., Erez, A., Bono, J., and Locke, E.A., (2005), "Core self evaluations and job and life satisfaction : therole of self concordance and goal attainment", Journal of Applied Psychology, Vol. 90, No. 2, pp.257-268.19. Kalleberg, A.L. (1977), "Work values and job rewards: a theory of job satisfaction", American SociologicalReview, Vol. 42 pp.124–43.20. Leschinsky, R.M., Michael, J.H. (2004), "Motivators and desired company values of wood products industry18

employees: investigating generational differences", Forest Products Journal, Vol. 54 No.1, pp.34-9.21. Lester, S.W., Claire, E., Kickul, J. (2001), "Psychological contracts in the 21st century: what employees valuemost and how well organizations are responding to these expectations", Human Resource Planning, VolNo.1,pp.10-21.22. Locke, E.A., (1969), "What is job satisfaction", Organizational Behavior and Human Performance, Vol. 4, Iss.4, pp. 309-336.23. Lund, D.B. (2003), "Organizational culture and job satisfaction", Journal of Business and IndustrialMarketing, Vol. 18, No 3, pp. 219-236.24. McDermott, R. (1995), "Designing and improving knowledge work", Journal for Quality and Participation,Vol. 18 No.2, pp.72-7.25. Mercer, D. (1997), "Job satisfaction and the secondary school teacher: the creation of a model of jobsatisfaction".26. Meyer, J. P., Stanley, D. J., Herscovitch, L., & Topolnytsky, L. (2002). Affective, continuance, and normativecommitment to the organization: A meta-analysis of antecedents, correlates, and consequences. Journal ofVocational Behavior, 61, 20-52.27. Neace, M.B. (1999), "Entrepreneurs in emerging economies: creating trust, social capital, and civil society",The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science,Vol. 565 September, pp. 148-61.28. Pennings, J.M., Lee, K. and Wittleoostuijin, A. (1998), "Human capital, social capital, and firm dissolution",Academy of Management Journal, Vol. 41 No. 4, pp. 425-40.29. Petty, M.M., McGee, G.W. and Cavender, J.W. (1984), "A meta-analysis of the relationships betweenindividual job satisfaction and individual performance", Academy of Management Review, Vol. 9, pp. 712-2130. Rainey, H.G. 1997.' Understanding and Managing Public Organizations' 2nd edition., Jossey-Bass.31. Rousseau, D. (1978), "Characteristics of departments, positions, and individuals: contexts for attitudes andbehaviors", Administrative Science Quarterly,; Vol. 23, pp. 521–540.32. Silvestro, R. (2002), "Dispelling the modern myth : Employee satisfaction and loyalty drive serviceprofitability", Vol. 22, No1, pp. 30-49.33. Spector, P. (1997), Job Satisfaction: Application, Assessment, Cause and Consequences, Sage Publications,London.34. Thatcher, J. B., Stepina, L. P., & Boyle, R. J. (2002-2003). Turnover of information technology workers:Examining empirically the influence of attitudes, job characteristics, and external markets. Journal ofManagement Information Systems, 19, 231-261.35. Weiss, H. M. (2002). Deconstructing job satisfaction: separating evaluations, beliefs and affective experiences.Human Resource Management Review, 12, 173-19436. Wells, B.L., Pfantz, T.J. and Bryne, J.L. (2003), "Russian women business owners: evidence ofentrepreneurship in a transition economy", Journal of Developmental37. Wesolowski, M. A., & Mossholder, K. W. (1997). Relational demography in supervisor-subordinate dyads:Impact on subordinate job satisfaction, burnout, and perceived procedural justice. Journal of OrganizationalBehavior, 18, 351-362.38. Wong, C.-S., Hui, C., Law, K.S. (1998), "A longitudinal study of the job perception-job satisfaction19

elationship: a test of the three alternative specifications", Journal of Occupational and OrganisationalPsychology, Vol. 71 pp.127–46.39. Wright, T.A., Cropanzano, R. (1997), "Well-being, satisfaction, and performance: another look at thehappy/productive worker thesis".20

A Critical Review On Perception & Benefits Of CustomerRelationship Management (CRM) System In Indian PrivateHospitalsDr. Surendra Kumar* & Dr. Meenakshi Srivastava**ABSTRACTThe implementation of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) Systems has been increased within organizationsfor the purposes of increasing customer loyalty accompany with decreasing expenses and increasing revenues. Theperception of the benefits associated with the implementation of CRM systems is an essential step for the adoption andimplementation of CRM systems. Therefore, this paper presents the study conducted to investigate the perception of theCRM systems in the private hospitals in the northern part of India as there is a lack of adoption of CRM systems inhospitals. Qualitative research approach that is interview based was adapted in the study. The management of 10 privatehospitals in the northern part of India was interviewed. The results reveal that no hospital has adopted CRM system. Inaddition, there is a substantial lack of understanding of the benefits of CRM systems in hospitals. Some hospitals claimthat the implementation of CRM system is not of their priorities and there are much important projects as theimplementation of Electronic Medical Records (EMD). However, other hospitals indicate for an existence of future planfor the adoption and implementation of CRM system. Another issue that needs to be taken into consideration by thevendors of CRM systems is the high costs associated with the implementation of CRM systems in hospitals. Indeed, boththe vendors of CRM systems and the managers of hospitals hold the responsibility of the lack of CRM systemsimplementation in hospitals.Keywords- Customer Implementation Relationship Management, CRM; CRM Systems; Perception; Adoption;INTRODUCTIONIn the past, organizations were using the supply-pushstrategy of business which is to produce products andservices with different specifications to customer. Thisstrategy is found inefficient, therefore another strategyis raised. This strategy is called as demand-pull strategywhich is to produce products and services based on thecustomer preferences. Consequently, organizationshad to shift from being product centric to become acustomer centric. There is where CustomerRelationship Management (CRM) comes into view toaccomplish the transformation. In 1990s, CustomerRelationship Management (CRM) started emergingacross the majority of industries. The aim was that ofreaching the customer centric approach in doingbusiness by treating different customers by differentways to achieve mutual benefits for both theorganization and the customer. Among the benefits,CRM is expected to help the organization to provideproducts and services according to the customers'preferences, through the customers' needs to improvecustomer satisfaction and increase customer loyalty. Inaddition, CRM is expected to increase the revenues anddecrease the operational cost [1], as the cost of sellingnew customers is much higher than selling the existingcustomers. Moreover, CRM is expected to help theorganizations in maximizing the benefits of everycustomer and making higher performance [2].Additionally, there are intangible benefits for CRMincluding improving customer knowledge andboosting customer satisfaction [3].A. CRM DefinitionCRM has been defined as a business philosophy, abusiness strategy, and a business technology [4] as itmeans different things for different people [5-6].However, a wider definition of CRM that combine theprevious three views is provided by Reference [7] thatstated, "CRM is the philosophy, policy andcoordinating strategy mediated by a set of informationtechnologies, which focuses on creating two waycommunications with customers so that firms have anintimate knowledge of their needs, wants, and buyingpatterns". Additionally, CRM is also defined from abalanced perspective by Reference [8], which isreferred as “ A managerial strategy that helpsorganizations collect, analyze, and manage customerrelated information through the use of informationtechnology tools and techniques in order to satisfycustomer needs and establish a long term and mutuallybeneficial relationship”. On the other hand, for thehealthcare organizations it is stated that “CRM is a*Dr. Surendra Kumar, Associate Professor, Babu Banarasi Das National Institute of Technology & Management, Lucknow**Meenakshi Srivastava, Senior Faculty, STDSC Lucknow21

method for healthcare providers to learn all they canabout their patients and prospects, to communicaterelevant, timely information to them, and to trackresults to make message and program adjustment asnecessary” [9].B. CRM SystemsCRM system is defined as “a technology-basedbusiness management tool for developing andleveraging customer knowledge to nurture, maintain,and strengthen profitable relationship with customers”[10]. Previously, CRM system is also referred as "anenterprise information system that includes all businessprocesses in sales, marketing, and after-sale servicethat involve the customer" [11] and as "a softwaresystem designed to empower a company to maximizeprofits by reducing costs and increasing revenue; toincrease competitive advantage by streamliningoperations; and to achieve business goals" [12]. CRMsystem may consist of three modules; (i) OperationalCRM, (ii) Analytical CRM and, (iii) CollaborativeCRM [7, 13]. Operational CRM system deals withautomation and streamlining workflow at the frontoffice include collecting data, processing transactions,and controlling workflow at the sales, marketing, andservices [7, 13-16] where, the operational technologiesare the customer facing application of CRM [17].Analytical CRM system, on the other hand, is built onoperational CRM and analyze customer data to createinformation about the customer segmentation,customer behavior, and customer value to theorganization using statistical analysis tools especiallythe data mining [7, 13, 15-16], while CollaborativeCRM system focuses on customer integration using aset of interaction channels [2, 7, 15, 18-19] and workingintimately with selected customers, suppliers, andbusiness partners [13]. The collaborative technologiesinclude different communication means such as e-mail,phone call, fax, website pages, etc by which thecustomer may use at the interaction with anorganization [17].C. The Roles of CRM Systems in HospitalsThe healthcare providers should consider thatcustomers requiring multiple healthcare services cancreate lifelong value which is strategically andeconomically important for them [8].CRM could be referred to as patient relationshipmanagement and it is not a popular concept amongchief executives officers (CEOs) of hospitals [20].Nevertheless, CRM systems play very important rolesin hospitals. The following table 1 summarizes the mostimportant roles. In addition to these roles, CRMsystems could provide great help for hospitals in thehandling and dealing with the customers' complaints.Another role could be the contribution in educating andlearning customers about their current health status andabout how to cope with their illness and diseases.Moreover, CRM systems are considered to be aneffective tool for the prediction of the future needs ofthe customers.This paper aims at investigating the perception of thebenefits of the CRM systems in the hospitals of thenorthern part of India. Rest of the paper proceeds asfollows. Next section of the paper describes theresearch problem, followed with a description of theresearch methodology.Table I. CRM Roles In HospitalsCRM Role in Hospitals.Optimizing revenues and improvingpatient health, relationships, and loyalty.Could deliver greater Return onInvestments (ROI) and it seems to be theperfect solution for the major problemsat the healthcare industry.An essential cost-effective approach tom a i n t a i n l o n g - t e r m c u s t o m e rrelationships.Increasing the transparency of cost andresource allocation within the hospital.The mapping of the documentationduring the patients' treatment is one ofthe major cost reduction areas that theCRM systems have handled effectivelyin the hospitals.Reducing the costs associated with theno-shows or cancelled appointments.The fourth section discusses the results of the paper andthe final section presents the conclusion.PROBLEMSource[9][21][22][14][14][20]The perception of CRM by organizations is still vagueand unclear [23]. In addition, there is an indication for alack of studies of the CRM perception of organizationalmembers [24]. However, the organizational efficientadoption and implementation of CRM initiatives couldbe enabled by the understanding of how organizations'members perceive CRM [23]. Obviously, a review of22

the literature reveals a lack of study discussing theperceptions of organizational members of CRM [24].systems at reasonable prices to encourage even thesmall hospitals to implement CRM systems. On theother hand, there is focal responsibility on themanagement of the hospitals regarding the learning andseeking for new innovations and new technologies.Such CRM systems could contribute in enhancing thequality of services, increasing customers' satisfactionand loyalty, and boosting revenues and profits.CONCLUSIONThis paper presents a study attempted to fill the gap inthe literature regarding the investigation of theorganizational perception of the benefits of CRMsystems. Specifically, the study investigated theperception of the benefits of CRM systems in theprivate sector hospitals in the northern part of India. Aqualitative research methodology is used. Interviewswere conducted with the management of selectedprivate hospital in three states in the northern part ofIndia including; Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, andHimanchal Pradesh. Unfortunately, no hospital hasadopted CRM system. In addition, disappointingresults revealed the understanding of what CRMsystem is and the understanding of the perceivedbenefits of CRM systems among the managements ofthe hospitals. In essence, the Indian private hospitalsare divided into two types; the first one is ambitioustoward the future implementation of CRM systemswhile, the other type have different priorities and do nothave future plan for the adoption and implementationof CRM systems. Moreover, there is a limitedunderstanding of the different CRM applications thatcould be used and applied in hospitals. In fact both, thevendors of CRM systems and the management ofhospitals hold the responsibility towards the lack ofadoption and implementation of CRM systems inhospitals. Therefore, each one of them has to work onhis part to eliminate the barriers that prevent theimplementation of CRM systems in hospitals.REFERENCES1. Chakrobarty S., (2008), "Information Systemand Management Strategy of Customer Relationshipr dM a n a g e m e n t , " i n t h e 3International Conference on Innovative ComputingInformation and Control (ICICIC '08), pp.212-212.2. Tarokh M. J. and Ghahremanloo H., (2007),"Intelligence CRM: A Contact Center Model," in IEEEInternational Conference on ServiceOperations and Logistics, and Informatics (SOLI), pp.1-6.23

3. Mithas S., Krishnan M. S. , and Fornell framework design of Beijing RuralC.,(2005), "Why Do Customer RelationshipManagement Applications A f f e c t C u s t o m e rSatisfaction?" Journal of Marketing, vol. 69, pp. 201-Commercial Bank," in IEEE International Conferenceon Service Operations and Logistics, andInformatics (SOLI), pp. 97-101.209.8. Hung S.-Y., . Hung W.-H, Tsai C.-A., and4. Pedron C. D. and Saccol A. Z., (2009), "What Jiang S.-C., (2010), "Critical factors of hospitalLies behind the Concept of Customer Relationship adoption on CRM s y s t e m :Management? Discussing the Essence of CRM Organizational and information system perspectives,"through a Phenomenological Approach," Brazilian Decision Support Systems, vol. 48, pp. 592-Administration Review (BAR), vol. 6, (1), 603.pp. 34-49.5. Winer R., (2001), "A framework for customerrelationship management," California ManagementReview, vol. 43, (4), pp. 89-105.6. Buttle F., ( 2004), Customer relationshipManagement: Concepts and Tools. Oxford: Elsevier.7. Lun Z. , Jinlin L., and Yingying W., ( 2008),"Customer relationship management system9. Ginger B. and Nancy V. P., (2004),"Developing Patient-Based Marketing Strategies,"Healthcare Executive, vol. 19, p. 40.10. Foss B., Stone M., and Ekinci Y., (2008),"What makes for CRM system success or failure?"Journal ofDatabase Marketing &Customer Strategy Management, vol. 15, (2), pp. 68-78.11. Bibiano L. and Pastor J. , ( 2006), "Towards a Definition of a CRM system life-cycle," in Proceedings of theEuropean and Mediterranean Conference on Information Systems (EMCIS), Spain, pp. 1-8.12. Lin M. C., (2003), "A Study of Main stream Features of CRM System and Evaluation Criteria," in Proceedingsof the American Society for Engineering Education Annual Conference & Exposition.13. Gefen D. and C. M. Ridings, (2002), "Implementation Team Responsiveness and User Evaluation of CustomerRelationship Management: A Quasi-Experimental Design Study of Social Exchange Theory," Journal ofManagement Information Systems, vol. 19, (1), pp. 47-69.14. Raisinghani M., (2005), "CRM systems in Indian hospitals: illustrations of issues & trends," Journal of Caseson Information Technology, vol. 7, (4), pp. 1-26.15. Zhang G., Chen Y., and Fu C., (2006), "A study on the relation between enterprise competitive advantage andCRM based on data mining," in International Technology and Innovation Conference (ITIC 2006), pp. 1710-1714.16. Dyche J., (2002), The CRM Handbook: A Business Guide to Customer Relationship Management: AddisonWesley.17. Keramati A., Mojir N., and Mehrabi H., (2009), "Prioritizing Investment in CRM Resources to ImprovePerformance: An Empirical Investigation," in the International Conference on Information Management andEngineering (ICIME '09), pp. 330-334.18. Maleki M. and Anand D., (2008), "The Critical Success Factors in Customer Relationship Management (CRM)(ERP) Implementation," Journal of Marketing & Communication, vol. 4, (2), pp. 67-80.19. Teo T. S. H., Devadoss P., and Pan S. L., (2006), "Towards a holistic perspective of customer relationshipmanagement (CRM) implementation: A case study of the Housing and Development Board, Singapore,"Decision Support Systems, vol. 42, pp. 1613-1627.20. Young T., (2007), "Hospital CRM: unexplored frontier of revenue growth?" Healthcare Financial Management(HFM), vol. 61, pp. 86-90.21. Rebecca W., (2007), "Driving CRM Value in Healthcare," Health Management Technology, vol. 28, p. 48.22. Kohli R., et al., (2001), "Managing customer relationships through E-Business decision support applications: a24

case of hospital–physician collaboration," Decision Support Systems, vol. 32, pp. 171-187.23. Plakoyiannaki E., (2005), "How do organisational members perceive CRM? Evidence from a UK servicefirm," Journal of Marketing Management, vol. 21, pp. 363-392.24. Reinartz W., Krafft M., and W. D. Hoyer, (2004), "The Customer Relationship Management Process: ItsMeasurement and Impact on Performance," Journal of Marketing Research (JMR), vol. 41, pp. 293-305.25. Richard J., Thirkell P., and Huff S., (2007), "An examination of Customer Relationship Management (CRM)technology adoption and its impact on business-to-business customer relationships," Total QualityManagement & amp; Business Excellence, vol. 18, (8), pp. 927 - 945.26. Ko E., Kim S.H., Kim M., and Woo J. Y., (2008), "Organizational characteristics and the CRM adoptionprocess," Journal of Business Research, vol. 61, pp. 65-74.27. Caldeira M., Pedron C., Dhillon G., and Jungwoo L., (2008), "Applying EA Perspective to CRM: Developing aCompetency Framework," in the Third International Conference on Convergence and Hybrid InformationTechnology (ICCIT '08), pp. 1029-1034.28. Rogers E. M., (2003), Diffusion of Innovations, 5th. ed. New York: Free Press.29. Denzin N. K. and Yvonna L. S., (1998), Collecting and interpreting qualitative materials. Sage Publications.30. The Association of Private Hospitals of India (APHI). (2010, 27 March). List of Members Hospitals. [Online].Available : http://www.hospitals-India.org/index.cfmmenuid=4htm..25

Sustainable Livelihood For Scheduled Tribes: Perspectives OnMinor Forest Produce In IndiaDr. Babu Singh*, Dr.Rakesh Kr. Singh**, Dr. Anil.Kr. Sachan*** & Birender Kumar****ABSTRACTThe tribal population in India is at different levels of socio-economic development. There are tribes which live in theforests and are exclusively dependent on forests for their livelihood by practicing hunting and food gathering. With theirprimitive technology, limited skills and traditional and ritual practices, their entire lifestyle revolves around the forests.On the other hand, there are a few tribal communities in the eastern part of the country, which have been totallyassimilated in national mainstream. This paper intends to explore issues concerning Minor forest produce in Indiantribal areas along with role of civic bodies in this regard.INTRODUCTIONThe tribal population of India is more than of any othercountry in the world and thus it forms an integral part ofthe Indian community. According to 1901 Census, thetribes in India account for 67.76 million or 8.08 per centof country's total population. Of these, 1.32 million(1.95 per cent) are primitive tribes. In fact, tribalpopulation of India is almost equal to the tribalpopulation of nineteen countries of the world withsubstantial tribal populations. In some States andUnion Territories the tribals constitute anoverwhelming majority, e.g. in Mizoram (94.75%)Lakshadweep, (3.15%), Nagaland(87.70%) andMeghalaya (85.53%).On the other hand the States ofMadhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Rajasthan , Maharashtra,Orissa, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengalaccount for 83 per cent of the total tribal population,even though in these States the non-tribals constitutethe majority population. The Fifth Five –year plan canbe considered as a watershed in history of tribaldevelopment in India when the integrated tribaldevelopment projects came into existence. The TribalDevelopment Blocks, Large –scale MultipurposeCooperative Societies (LAMPS), Tribal DevelopmentAgencies, Integrated Tribal Development Projects(ITDA), Modified Area Development Approach(MADA) pockets and clusters, Micro Projects forPrimitive Tribal Groups (PTGS) reflected the course oftribal development administration in the country. Overfour decades, new strategies, initiatives and approacheshave come into being based on past experiences andchanging needs. A variety of approaches and strategieslike top-down approach, regional planning, targetgroup approach, integrated development, participatorydevelopment, joint forest management, povertyalleviation and family oriented programmes haveformed part of the development efforts of late, theemphasis has been on tribal people's participation in thedevelopment process at grassroots level. The VanaSanrakshana Smithies, DWCRA, and other self helpgroups are aimed at to increase the awareness andparticipation levels of scheduled tribes.POVERTY AMONG TRIBALSIt is a known fact that poverty and that low agriculturalproductivity causes alienation of tribal lands as they runinto debts very easily, with rapid population growth,influx of non-tribals towards tribal areas led toincreasing pressure on land. The tribal lands have beenalienated by various means. The realization of theproblem of non-tribal encroachment into tribal areashas lead to a number of protective legislations. Thedirect attack on poverty through beneficiary –orientedprograms has been claiming attention recently.Building the major draw back of various measuresdealing with poverty is that they have not taken intoaccount the reason for the origin and rise of poverty intribal areas. The direct removal as of poverty will be oflimited use in the absence of overall economic growththose who are lifted from above the poverty line staythere for a short while and may require assistance again.The Report of the Working Group on Tribal Areas forSeventh Plan period has mentioned that a good numberof tribal families assisted under the beneficiary-*Dr. Babu Singh, Assoc. Professor, Dept. of Agricultural Economics & Statistics, C.S.A. University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur. U.P.**Dr.Rakesh Kr. Singh, Assoc. Professor, Dept. of Agricultural Economics & Statistics, C.S.A. University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur. U.P.***Dr. Anil.Kr. Sachan, Assit. Professor, Dept. of Agricultural Economics & Statistics, C.S.A. University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur. U.P.****Birender Kumar, Assit. Professor, Dept. of Agricultural Economics & Statistics, C.S.A. University of Agriculture & Technology, Kanpur. U.P.26

oriented programs have been helped with meageramounts hardly capable of giving any substantial boostto their economic situation.FORESTS PROVIDE NATURAL RESOURCEFOR TRIBAL LIVELIHOODA number of committees made suggestions on theForest Policy in the interests of the tribes. The RenukaRay Committee recommended for carving out villageforests to be kept under the management of tribalvillage councils for the domestic use of tribals. It is alsorecommended that steps should be taken to introduce asystem of guided management, whereby the tribals ortheir representative bodies will be progressivelyassociated in the management and exploitation offorests. The Report of the Committee on Special andMulti-Purpose Tribal laid down that "Forest should bemanaged essentially in the interests of the tribals whoinhabit the area, subject to the minimum safetyprecautions with regard to soil erosion and nationalinterests which of course must take priority. The reportalso suggested that some share of the profits earnedfrom forest should be given to the tribals to convincethem that their interests were linked with those of theforest. For more than a century, restrictions andprohibitions on tribals with regards to their access toforests are ever increasing. The traditional customaryrights and privileges of the tribals were steadilydeprived in the cause of national and public interest.The 1988 forest policy envisaged the participation ofpeople in the protection and regeneration of forest.Faith is reposed on the tribals who were earlierprojected and treated as predators on forest, forprotecting and managing the forests under Joint ForestManagement (JEM) .SCHEDULED AREAS AND CONSTITUTIONALSAFEGUARDSArticle 164 (1) makes a provision for the appointmentof a Minister specially in charge of welfare in the Statesof Bihar, Madhya Pradesh and Orissa who may inaddition be in charge of the welfare of the scheduledcastes and backward classes or any other work. Theseare the states which have got a heavy concentration ofscheduled tribes, for whom this provision was made inthe Constitution . The constitutional obligation is beingstrictly followed and it has helped the scheduled tribes.According to clause (1) of Article 244, the provisions ofthe Fifth Schedule shall apply to administration andcontrol of the Scheduled Areas and Scheduled tribes inany state other than Assam, Meghalaya, Tripura andMizoram. Article 244(2) provides that the provisions ofthe Sixth Schedule shall apply to administration of theTribal Areas have been declared in the states of AndhraPradesh, Bihar, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, MadhyaPradesh, Maharashtra, Orissa and Rajasthan. Theadministration of Scheduled Areas is governed by theprovisions of the Fifth Schedule of the Constitution.The Fifth Schedule generally corresponds to the'Excluded Areas and Partially Excluded Areas', asreferred to in section 91 and 92 of the Government ofIndia Act, 1935 and the Government of India (Excludedand Partially Excluded Areas), Order 1936 (minus theAreas of Assam which are included in Sixth Schedule).The Scheduled Areas have been constituted with twoclear objectives. One is to assist the tribals in enjoyingtheir existing rights unhindered or unobstructed byothers through summary process. The second is todevelop the Scheduled Areas and promote theeconomic, educational and social progress of theScheduled tribes. In pursuance of Article 339, of theConstitution a Commission was appointed by thePresident of India under the designation, the ScheduledAreas and Scheduled Tribes Commission 14, 1961. Ithas been recently decided to constitute anotherCommission for Scheduled Areas and ScheduledTribes to examine the working of the Tribal Sub-Plan.MINOR FOREST PRODUCE: TRIBALLIVELIHOODThe forestry sector in India with 23 per cent coverage ofthe total geographical areas provides an employment of2.3 million man-years. Out of this, nearly 1.6 millionman-years are generated by Minor Forest Produce(MFP). The potentiality of MFP in employmentgeneration has been seat in the planning process. Thereis an issue of the ownership of MFP and pleadings thatdespite all their labor and skill, the tribals are treated asmere collectors of MFP and not its owners. The forestpolicies in modern India have retained most of thestrategic colonial characters, empowering the State toown everything that is there in the forest by derecognizingcenturies of interaction between the tribalsand the forest. Therefore, the MFP should be exemptedfrom the payment of royalty, purchase tax and sales, taxlevied by the STATE. This could be accomplished, withthe establishment of the tribal MFP cooperatives and bypositively reviving the present state of shattered tribaleconomy, if primary processing and value addition isplanned. The importance of mohua in the socio-culturaland economic life of the tribes of Central India is aspecific example of tribal dependence on MFP both theflowers and seeds of mohua are of high economic27

importance to the tribals. Despite variations in the soilconditions and the climate in which mohua tree grows,it has high annual yield capacity. The tribes use mohuaboth for domestic consumption as well as market itoutside. The fresh succulent mohua flowers are animportant item of their food. The mohua flowers aresun-dried and stored for consumption in the leanseasons. Dried mohua flowers are used for thepreparation of alcoholic beverages by the tribesthroughout the year. Its tender green fruits are cookedas curries. The ripe fruits are eaten raw. Oil is extractedfrom the kernels by crushing them into powders.Mohua flowers, fruits and kernels fetch good money inthe market. From the cultural point of view, the tribeslike the Kuttia Kondh of Orissa formulae their annuallife cycle in terms of mohua seasons. They follow stricttaboos, so that mature and productive mohua trees arenot cut. Mohua is so much integrated into the tribalculture that the anthropologists name the cultures ofs o m e t r i b e s i n t h i s r e g i o n a s‘mohua cultures’ Although mohua constitutes thelifeline of the tribes in this region, social forestryprojects hardly consider it worthwhile to plant a fewspecies of mohua in the forest that would economicallybenefit the collectors of MFP. Development in the tribalregions is, therefore, possible by regenerating theenvironment with the local endemic flora. The benefitsaccruing to the tribals from forests are various andderived in a variety of ways. The tribals are soaccustomed to these benefits that they have become apart of their daily routine. It is estimated that 4.13crores of tribals and other forest dwellers depend onMFP for their subsistence. Out of this, an estimated 60percent of production consisting of edible items isconsumed by these communities either as main food oras supplementary diet. Several researches conductedon forests and tribals in India have revealed that themagnitude of dependence of tribals on food and incomeand livelihood for the forest dependent tribalcommunities. Their very sustenance hinges on fruits,fibres, tubers, roots, etc from forest. Thus any change inthe forest policy affects the tribals more than any othersection of the population.ROLE OF PANCHAYATS IN MANAGING OFMINOR FOREST PRODUCErdAfter the 73 Amendment of the Constitution,Panchayati Raj Institutions have to play a veryimportant role in planning and implementingprogrammes for economic development and ensuringsocial justice. Twenty-nine items of development havebeen clubbed together with the Panchayti RajInstitutions in the Eleventh Schedule of theConstitution. One of these twenty-nine items is theMFP. Therefore, these institutions should now beactively involved in the cultivation and propagation ofthe MFP species, organizing collection, and processingand marketing of the MFP. These institutions have toensure best returns to the local people in their role ascollectors of the MFP by eliminating large profitmargins pocketed by the middlemen, and by passingthe benefits to the tribal people with better wages andworking conditions.The Gram Panchayat/ Gram Sabha in the ScheduledAreas will have the ownership over MFP producedwithin its territorial jurisdiction, i.e in respect of theMFP produced in and collected from the Governmentlands and forest lands within the limits of the revenuevillages comprising the Gram Panchayat. Under law,ownership of MFP in non-scheduled areas is not vestedin Gram Panchayats. Gram panchayats both in thescheduled and non-scheduled areas will however, havethe authority to regulate purchase and procurement.The Gram Panchayats will not therefore have the rightto grant lease or licence to only individual or agency forcollection of Minor Forest Produce from any ReserveForest or Sanctuary or National Park. However,members of Vana Samrakshyana Samitis, and tribal,artisans, etc as part of their customary rights will be freeto collect Minor Forest Produce from forest areasexcluding sanctuaries and National Parks. Then anysuch MFP collected from forest areas is brought to avillage, i.e. into the territory within a Gram Panchayat,it will come under the Gram Panchayats powers toregulate procurement and trading.Any person desirous of purchasing MFP from primarygatherers on trading in MFP as purchased shall applyfor registration to the concerned taders for a seasonfrom the first day of October to the last day ofSeptember of the following year. Dealers and Traderswill have to seek fresh registration for the next season.Gram Panchayats shall make all efforts to promote freecompetition in procurement of MFP by engaging asmany dealers for each item of Minor Forest produce asreasonably practicable. The gram Panchayat shall alsolevy an annual registration fee for such dealers ortraders at such rate as may be determined by the GramPanchayats. It is required to furnish a monthly return tothe concerned Range Officer indicating the item ofMFP procured, quantity procured and GramPanchayats from which procurement was made duringthe month. No person will be allowed to operate as aDealer/ Trader in MFP in any area without beingregistered as such by the concerned Gram Panchyat.28

THE PANCHAYAT TO THE EXTENSIONSCHEDULED AREAS ACT, 1996After a thorough examination of the tribal scenario inthe country carried out by the Bhuria Committee, a billwas introduced in parliament in December 1996.Subsequently, it was passed by Parliament and with thethpresident's assent on 24 December 1996 it became anAct namely. The provisions of the Panchayats(Extension to the Schedule Areas) Act ,1996(Act No.40of 1996).It has been made clear in Article 243 (M)(4)(b) that extending the provisions of Part IX of theConstitution shall not be deemed as an amendment tothe Constitution under Article 368.The objective of the Act are: first to extend theprovisions of Part IV of the Constitution relating to thepanchayats to the scheduled areas with certainmodifications; second, to provide self –rule for the bulkof the tribal population; third to have villagegovernance with participatory democracy and to makethe gram sabha a nucleus of all activities; fourth, toevolve a suitable administrative framework consistentwith traditional practices; fifth, to safeguard and topreserve the traditions and customs of tribalcommunities; sixth empower panchayats at theappropriate levels with specific powers conducive totribal requirements; and finally, to promote panchayatsat the lower level of the gram sabha.This Act is applicable to the scheduled areas as referredto in clause (1) of Article 244 of the Constitution. It isnot applicable to the areas covered by the SixthSchedule under the provisions of Article 244(2). As asequel, all existing laws relating to panchayats in theFifth Schedule areas had to be amended as per thethprovisions of this Act within one year , that is , by 24December, 1997.IMPORTANT SALIENT FEATURESUnder the PESA of 1996, the gram sabha has beenmade the nucleus of all activities and endowed withspecific and wide –ranging powers and functions.· Any legislation on the panchayats for thetribal areas shall be in consonance with thecustomary law, social and religious practicesand traditional practices of management ofcommunity resources.· Establishment of gram sabha for every villagecomprising persons whose names figure in theelectoral rolls.· Empowering the gram sabha to safeguard andpreserve the traditions, customs and culturalidentity of the people, community resourcesand to settle local disputes by customarymethods.· Approval of plans, programmes and projectsfor social and economic development of thevillage panchayat by gram sabha.· The gram sabha should identify and selectbeneficiaries for poverty alleviation and otherprogrammes.· Every village panchayat must obtain acertificate of utilization of funds from thegram sabha for the projects and programmesof social and economic development underthe State poverty alleviation and otherprogrammes.· The acquisition of land for developmentprojects and rehabilitation or resettlement ofpersons affected by such projects in thescheduled area has to be done in consulationwith either the gram sabha or the panchayat atthe appropriate level. Planning andimplementation of the projects will becoordinated at the state level.· Grant of prospecting licence or lease of landfor mining minor minerals can be given onlyon the recommendations of the gram sabha orthe panchayat at the appropriate level.· Besides these powers and functions, the gramsabha or the panchyats at the appropriate levelshall have the following mandatory powers;(i) to enforce prohibition or to regulate andrestrict the sale and consumption of anyintoxicant; (ii) the ownership of minor forestproduce and management of all types ofvillage market; (iii) to prevent alienation ofland and to take appropriate action to restoreany unlawfully alienated land of a scheduledtribe in the scheduled areas; (iv) to exercisecontrol over money lending to tribes; andcontrol institutions and functionaries workingin the social sectors in the area; (v) to exercisecontrol over local plans and their resources,including tribal sub-plans.ISSUES ON MINOR FOREST PRODUCES· Now-a-days the information is not availableon identification of minor forest produce. Acomprehensive survey may be done inidentifying the products and creating marketdemand in related areas. The minor forestproducts should be entrusted to self help29

groups for creation of innovative marketingmethodologies. This can be helpful toincrease the market /based demand so that themiddleman's role would be eliminated.· The improvement in collection of minorforest products is based on traditionalmethods. The season of collection has a directbearing on maturity and availability. Theseasonal collection of the MFP should getgood market price. Otherwise it would lead tofurther frustration among the tribals. Becausethis forest products are not so reliable for theirlivelihoods for the entire year.· Processing of the minor forest products wouldbe more economical and value added. This isan important process in getting a good pricefor the benefit of the tribals. So, there is a needfor establishing processing units atappropriate places.· In majority of the markets the minor forestproducts have not being notified andregulated. Normally the importance of minorforest produce defers from state to state. Theminor forest produce are put in generalmarkets and regulated so that the price may beequivalent to other goods in the market.· To facilitate the grading facility standardsshould be laid down for other minor forestproducts. The market committees andcooperatives, corporations should provideinfrastructure.· The training of person/tribals involved incollection of minor forest produce and staff ofthe cooperatives/corporations and marketcommittees would help in streamlining themarketing of minor forest products. Thetraining program must be linked at thegrassroots level particularly in the forest areasas well as villages.SUGGESTIONSThe following suggestions will help improve thestandard of living and the socio-economic conditions ofthe tribes in the Schedule Areas.· The cultivation of MFP should be intensifiedin the existing forest areas and whereverfeasible, fresh areas which are otherwisebarren and uncultivable should be broughtunder forest cover. This also includesreclamation of the degraded forest areas.· The primary collectors of MFP who inhabit orfrequent the forests need to be educated antrained in identification, selection and inscientific collection of the forest produce.This is important from the point of view ofobtaining produce of right quality at the righttime maintaining at the same time health ofthe trees and of the forest. Organizationsshould be identified and programmes drawnfor imparting training to the collectors of MFPin this regard.· The collection of MFP from reserve forest andgame sanctuaries are not permitted at present.There is a demand that collection should beallowed in such areas under the supervision offorest officials. The reason advanced is thattribal population who collect the producefrom the forests should not be that whereaseconomic exploitation of the forest wealthmay be desirable, however, such activitiesshould in no way endanger the endangeredspecies of the animals for which such reserveforests/game sanctuaries are created.· Under the Market Regulations Act of theStates and UIs, all MFP should be notified.The basic infrastructural facilities should becreated in primary rural markets located in thevicinity of forest areas so that primarycollectors may visit such markets for disposalof their produce instead of selling them to theintermediaries.· The tribal and other cooperatives should befinancially strengthened to enable them totake active participation in the marketing ofMFP. Their effective presence in the marketwill create competition and will also influencethe prices paid to the primary producers.· The production of MFP should be taken in ona concrete business plan. The productionshould be linked and augmented wherevernecessary based on actual need for particularMFP. There is an urgent need for undertakingproper demand survey based on data baseinformation and co-relating the same forpreparing effective production and processingplans.· Efforts should be made to identify thedifferent types of MFP products and theirlikely demand by way of conductingcomprehensive survey. This work can beentrusted to the various State Forest30

Development Corporation in the respectiveState and at the national level by the agencieslike TRIFED and NCDC.· There is need for improvement in collection ofMFP. The traditional system of collection isfar from satisfactory giving little attention tothe various aspects like quality, maturity andavailability of the product leading to ruthlesscollection and total destruction of vegetationparticularly of medicinal plants and herbs. Itwas recommended that modern scientificmethods should be used in collection of MFP.The tribal people should be educated andtrained in these aspects. The concerned StateDepartments and agencies at State Nationallevel can undertake this work.· It was felt that there are number of lacunae inthe present marketing system in respect ofMFP. In a majority of markets, thesecommodities have not been notified for thepurpose of regulation, perhaps, in view oftheir fewer quanta of arrivals. Further, theimportance of MFP differs from state to state.To bring about an overall improvement inmarketing system the seminar recommendsthat the MFP should be brought underregulation in consuming markets as well.· There is multiplication of agencies in themarketing of MFP. Their areas of activitiesmust be demarcated.· There should be inter-linkages in institutionsorganizations in coordination of differentprogrammes so that the marketing efficiencyis increased.CONCLUSIONThe minor forest projects (MFP) provide for self livingthrough self employment in the tribal areas. The minorforest products enable the trials, although theyunskilled, to get at least 120 man days employmentthrough traditional expertise of collecting the forestproducts. The collection and process of minor forestproducts are more useful during the lean agriculturalseason at a time when most of the poor people have noother occupation to account a decent living. Yet manyothers collect minor forest products even during thebusy agricultural season. The employment of tribalwork force and nature of additional work desired by thetribals through minor forest products differs from stateto state. There is lack of information to different tribalcommunities on various aspects of MFP like collection,processing, grading, storage, transport, marketing,price fixation, utilization etc. Thus there is need forinstitutional linkages better coordination with variousline departments. The potential for employmentopportunities in the tribal areas can further be expandedby taking up social forestry, afforestation, conservationand production, etc. This apart the central and the statesponsored schemes like SGSY, SGRY, ITDA, and otherRural Development Programs in scheduled areas,generate more employment avenues for the tribalfamilies in addition to employment provided by MFPactivities. The Panchayati Extension to ScheduledAreas Act 40, 1996 strengthened Grama Sabha whichin effect also play a vital role in preparing plans,projects and schemes and also by controlling the MFPactivities in the scheduled areas. If the Gram Sabhacould be the genuine unit for self governance, thecommitment of the officials as well as electedrepresentatives must be encouraged.REFERENCES1. Annamalai V., ( 2001), Decentralization of Power in Schedule V areas: Interface between Panchayati RajInstitutions and Line Department, Research Report Series 22, NIRD, Hyderabad pp.35-39.2. Behari, O.P., (1994), Marketing of Minor Forest Produce An Overview, Agricultural Marketing JanuaryMarch, Vol. XXXVI, NO. 4 MORD, GOI, New Delhi, pp 12-23.3. Chakrabarthy Gurapada, (1994), Minor Forest Products and Ameliorations of Rural UnemploymentMARGIN, January, Vol.16, NIRD, Hyderabad-(A.P.) pp. 54-60.4. Chakravarthi Ila & Verma Rekha, (1990-91), Marketing of Minor Forest of Produce in Tribal of Plan (TSP)Area Through Cooperatives in Rajasthan, Indian Journal Economics: Vol.71, NIR Hyderabad.Pp.311320.31

5. Prasad R.R., ( 2001), Forest Ecology and Sustainable Tribal Development Area, (Peoples and Environment inIndia, Edited K.K.Mishra , M.L.K. Murthy.) Discovery Publishing House, New Delhi, pp.223-228.6. Recommendations of the National Seminar on Marketing of Minor Forest Produce, Held at Udyapur, (May 1-2,1993), Agriculture Marketing July-September, 1994 Vol.XXX VII No.2. MORD, GOI, New Delhi pp.55-56.7. Singh S.K., (2001), Panchayats in Scheduled Areas, Kuruksherta, May, MORD.GOL, New Delhi.pp.22-30.8. Singh S.K., (1997), Self Governance for Scheduled Areas, Journal of Rural Development Vol. 16, No.4, NIRD,Hyderabad, pp.602-614.9. Sarumathy M, (2001), Working of Tribal Panchayats in Bilaspur District, Madhya Pradesh.Research ReportsSeries 11, NIRD, Hyderabad.32

Tapping the Untapped (Financial Inclusion)Atul Kumar Srivastava*ABSTRACTAs far as our economic growth is concerned, we are growing rapidly. This statement is easily supported by GDP growth.Is this the growth of our whole economy? Ours is an agrarian economy and if people living in those rural areas are notbeing taken into account properly, then, it will be wrong to say that we are growing rapidly. A major portion of India livesin villages and that area is being excluded by the financial service providers. This article talks about the potential areasi.e. states regarding financial inclusion. This article tries to look into the problems faced by the bankers while openingup a branch in rural areas and problems faced by the customers. Ultimately, financial service providers have to forayinto that field. This article gives an insight regarding financial inclusion. An attempt is being made by RBI , they havegiven some policies in which it is written clearly that Financial inclusion should be there. But it will be worth while to seethe supply barriers in this field. The paper talks about those aspects too. This article discusses the issues raised inAndhra Pradesh recently, which should already be avoided by financial service providers. After all, the efforts offinancial service providers should be more target oriented and packed with some strategy regarding financial inclusionand this paper just focuses upon some strategies.A survey of a rural area in Bareilly district was made to know the concerns of rural people regarding financial services.This paper is an attempt to peep into the different facets of financial inclusion but it will become effective only then, whenpolicymakers show their required concern over it.INTRODUCTIONBanking and financial services in today's scenario arecontributing a lot in the economic development of ourcountry. This sector is catering to the needs of societyas well. Even in this situation there is a class which isdeprived of the services being offered by banks andother financial institutions and that class belongs to abig mass of rural people, and those urban people whobelong to low income group. Endeavour of all thefinancial institutions to include this excluded segmentin the ambit of banking and financial services is termedas financial inclusion.Financial inclusion is delivery of banking services atan affordable cost to the vast sections of disadvantagedand low income groups. To understand the process offinancial inclusion, it is necessary to understand thevery idea of financial exclusion and from where itemanates.FINANCIAL EXCLUSIONFinancial services are meant for every one. In spite ofthis only few people are getting these financial serviceseasily, and rest of them are not getting these financialservices at affordable cost. It is not easy from the pointof view of bankers as the cost involved in including thissegment into their paraphernalia is very high and thebankers will be facing credit risk if they provide thefinancial services to this segment because that stratumcannot provide anything as guarantee to the banks. Inother words we can say that requirements of this groupdiffers from the features of the existing products beingoffered by financial services providers. The term"financial inclusion" has gained importance since theearly 2000s, and is a result of findings about financialexclusion and its direct correlation to poverty.FINANCIAL EXCLUSION AT A GLANCESocial GroupsScheduled CasteScheduled TribesOBCOthersTotalLarge FarmersMedium FarmersSmall FarmersExclusion(in percent)49.7763.6848.5850.5851.3633.0034.9041.80*Atul Kumar Srivastava, Asst. Professor, Lal Bahadur Shastri Institute of Management & Technology, Bareilly (U.P.)33

Percentages shown above are percentages of concernedpopulation.Source- Rangarajan committee's report.This table should be seen as a potential market segmentfor the financial services providers.Extent of financial Exclusion - State-wiseMeghalaya, Arunachal PradeshMizoram, Manipur, Assam,UttranchalBihar, Orissa, Chattisgarh,Himanchal Pradesh, J&K, UttarPradesh, Tripura & SikkimKarnataka, Kerala, M.P.,Maharashtra, Punjab,Tamil Nadu, West BengalAndhra Pradesh, Delhi, Goa& PondicherrySource- Rangarajan committee's report.>75%>51-74%>25-50%

ØØØØregarding financial services being provided to themtoo should be taken into account. A sample of 200people was observed in Bhaktapura Vilas (A ruralarea near Bareilly) and it was observed byresearcher that –80% of the sample population was saying thatthey were unable to avail these financialservices because of large collateralrequirements of financial services providers.More than 90 % of the population was sayingthat needs and repayment abilities of ruralpeople are not matching with the productsoffered by financial institutions there.A common observation in all the cases wasthat repayment schedules are based upon cashflows and rural people are having irregularcash flows.20 % of the sample population was saying thatwe have heard about banking correspondentsbut we haven't even seen the bankingcorrespondents.ANDHRA PRADESH'S ISSUEHere, concerns of people of Andhra Pradesh regardingfinancial inclusion should be taken into account aspeople of that area were very much dissatisfied by thebanking correspondents of that area.CONCLUSIONProviding financial services to excluded people is agood but difficult task. But here a lot of potential exists.Cost of getting them included is very high but banksneed to see this as an opportunity. If cost involved ishigh then the potential returns too are there, which willbe reaped by those who would like to tap the untapped.With a low ratio of 1 bank branch for 16,000 people,financial inclusion is far-fetched today. But, the idea offinancial inclusion should be broad-based, such thatpeople are able to not only access credit, but also fetchvarious financial services and products through thebanking access point. Although a lot has been discussedregarding financial inclusion but the practicality of16000 people per branch reiterates that a lot needs to bedone regarding this.SUGGESTIONSIn light of this situation some recommendations havebeen given that how to tap the untapped. These are –Ÿ The products offered by financial servicesproviders in these areas should be commensuratewith the needs of rural people.Ÿ Repayment terms should be liberal and shouldmatch with the cash flow of the concerned people.Ÿ Business correspondents should behave in afriendly manner with the rural people.Ÿ While providing a loan, a sample group should begiven a loan and its behaviour should be observedfor some duration, this practice can reduce thechances of non performing loans in ruralareas.Ÿ Self help groups and Joint liability groups are doingwell regarding it, these groups should be promotedand nurtured a lot.Ÿ A portion of the target being assigned to bankemployees should consist of something to be donetowards financial inclusion.Then only we can resort to an overall growth.REFERENCES1. Debadutta K. Panda, (2009), Book titled “Understanding Microfinance” First edition by pp 193-203, –“WileyIndia” publishers.2. Rangarajan committee's report on Financial inclusion.3. Financial Inclusion drive conducted by Lead Bank, Bareilly in 2009.4. Singh Fulbagh & Kaur Davinder (2010) “Customer awareness regarding banking services”, Vinimaya JournalVol.XXXI No.2 July - September 2010.5. A conclave report on financial inclusion in Orissa, March 2009.6. Official website of NABARD i.e. www.nabard.org35

Rural Tourism : An Emerging Paradigm In RuralEntrepreneurshipDr. Rais Ahmad* & Mohammad Awais**ABSTRACTTourism has become a leading industry in the world and continues to grow rapidly, contributing essentially to economicgrowth and employment in many countries. Tourism as it looks today poses serious threats to the environment andconsiderable social and cultural challenges. Tourism can be an important contributor to the growth of an economy.Growth of tourism is a significant part of the global expression of new service economy. With the weakening of manyother aspects of the economy, tourism is a new opportunity. India, though a late starter in tourism, is giving increasingpriority to this sector. Tourism is one of the strategically important emerging sectors in Indian economy with tremendouspotential to assist the process of sustainable rural development. Rural tourism has been a major concept under the newtourism paradigm wherein agro-based rural community and culture are treated to be the major components of thetourism market.INTRODUCTIONRural tourism is a subset of tourism that would consistof wide range things such as farm/agricultural tourism,cultural tourism, nature tourism, adventure tourism,and eco-tourism. Any form of tourism that showcasesthe rural life, art, culture and heritage at rural locations,thereby benefiting the local community economicallyand socially as well as enabling interaction between thetourists and the locals for a more enriching tourismexperience can be termed as rural tourism. Ruraltourism is essentially an activity that takes place in thecountryside. Rural tourism creates experiences fortourist who enjoys locations that are sparselypopulated, it is predominantly in natural environment,and it meshes with seasonality and local events and isbased on preservation of culture, heritage andtraditions. Rural tourism has become quite admiredsince the last few years. Rural tourism is one suchsector, which has tremendous potential to resolve theseissues to a great extent and also bridge the gap betweenthe rural and urban people. Though the sector might benew for India, internationally it has been wellrecognized and considered as an important part of ruraleconomy. Entrepreneurship in this sector bears greatpossibilities as revenue generating avenue as well asthe prevention and maintenance of indigenous traditionand culture. Against this backdrop present paper is anattempt with the following sections:SECTIONS OF THE PAPERŸ Deals with the conceptual framework of ruraltourism.Ÿ Discusses the rural tourism entrepreneurship inIndia.Ÿ Deals with the socio-economic impact of ruraltourism.Ÿ Deals with challenges and constraints of ruraltourism.Ÿ Suggests measures to strengthen rural tourism as anenterprise.CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK OF RURALTOURISMRural tourism may be relatively a new concept in India,but in Europe and other parts of the world it has beenpracticed since last many years as people get theirchildren to experience rural life. However, Federationof Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry(FICCI) have initiated the promotion of the concept ofrural tourism in India. Some states like Rajasthan andOrissa have taken some discrete steps towards thisdirection, the retrospect of which is yet to be made.Rural tourism encompasses rural society, culture andbeliefs in their original form and different terminologylike agri-tourism, green –tourism and farm tourism areused interchangeably to mean rural tourism. Thebasic concept of rural tourism was envisaged withbenefit accruing to local community throughentrepreneurial opportunities, income generation,employment opportunities, conservation anddevelopment of rural arts and crafts, investment forinfrastructure development and preservation of theenvironment and heritage. Early movers in adoptingthe concept of developing and promoting rural tourism*Dr. Rais Ahmad, Chairman, Deptt. Of Agricultural Economics & Business Management,, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh**Mohammad Awais, Research Scholar, Deptt. Of Agricultural Economics & Business Management, Aligarh Muslim University, Aligarh36

have been Rajasthan and Kerala. The term 'ruraltourism' has different meanings in different countries.In India, components of rural tourism include heritage,farm, pilgrim, adventure and nature.DEFINITION OF RURAL TOURISMAny form of tourism that showcases the rural life, art,culture and heritage at rural locations, therebybenefiting the local community economically andsocially as well as enabling interaction between thetourists and the locals for a more enriching tourismexperience can be termed as rural tourism. Ruraltourism is essentially an activity which takes place inthe countryside. It is multi-faceted and may entailfarm/agricultural tourism, cultural tourism, naturetourism, adventure tourism, and eco-tourism.Development of rural tourism is now in its nascentstage. The complexity of attractions makes it difficultto draw an exact definition. However, Lane B (1994)gives a framework. In his view rural tourism should beLocated in rural areas.Ÿ Functionally rural i.e. small scale enterprises, openspace, natural contact, heritage, traditional andsocietal practices etc.Ÿ Rural in scale.Ÿ Traditional in character.Ÿ Take different forms representing the complexpattern of rural environment, economy, history andlocation.According to Getz. D and Page S.J (1997) rural tourismcan be described as :Ÿ The spectrum i.e. rural and wild.Ÿ The rural appeal i.e. peace, solitude, lifestyle,nature, scenery, traditional people, recreation andadventure.Ÿ The rural product and services.Involvement of rural entrepreneurs and operators.Further Negi JM (1990) enumerated the attractions inrural areas. Which are :Ÿ Enjoyment of rural scenery.Ÿ The desire for open space, quiet and piece ofmind.Ÿ Rural sports like hunting, fishing etc.Ÿ Ethnic attractions like folk life, custom, food,drinks and festivals.Ÿ Educational and historical attractions like castles,churches, temples, monasteries etc.RURAL TOURISM ENTREPRENUERSHIP ININDIAIn India, defining rural gets even more complicated as itis a state subject. However for a general understandingwe could use the definition as illustrated in the Censusof India (2001), rural location – is a location with apopulation of less than 10,000 persons. At the time ofthe Census, there were 638,000 villages in India. Ruraldevelopment is increasingly associated withentrepreneurship, which is considered as a central forceof economic growth and development. Tourism's rolein rural development is basically an economic one andcan help to sustain and improve the quality of life inrural areas. Tourism involves mostly small enterprises,so the role of tourism entrepreneurs can be importantfor the development of rural tourism. Of all economicsectors, tourism is perhaps the one in which the greatestdegree of involvement is needed by the entrepreneurialsector in formulating sustainable strategies. Especiallyin rural tourism, entrepreneurship has gained anincreasing importance as it is seen as a major drivingforce behind rural tourism. However, entrepreneurshipdemands an enabling environment in order to flourish.Entrepreneurial culture, climate, infrastructure andsupport are important elements for such anenvironment. The creation of such an environmentstarts by the development of appropriate institutionalsupport at the country level to address the supply ofentrepreneurship, focusing on the number of peoplewho have the motivation, financial means and the skillsto start new business. Policies and programmes shouldbe targeted specifically at the entrepreneurial sector toincrease the overall education level of the population,specifically ensuring that entrepreneurial training isreadily accessible to develop skills andcapabilities to start a business. Regarding thesustainable strategies, they have to be based onpublic/private approach in which the public sector canplay a very significant role as facilitator and stimulusfor private entrepreneurship in tourism.Rural tourism comprise following aspects that canattract tourists to rural areas:Ÿ Fresh and non polluting environmentŸ Village handicraftŸ TraditionsŸ LanguageŸ Gastronomical art of a particular areaŸ Art, music including concerts, folk music and folkdances, painting and sculptureŸ History of the region including its visual reminders.37

Ÿ Type of work and the technology in useArchitecture giving the area a distinctiveappearance.Ÿ Education systemŸ DressŸ Leisure activitiesRURAL TOURISM WILL BE HELPFULBECAUSE1. Help in development of rural areas.2. Creating job opportunities in rural areas.3. Increase in standard of living of rural areas.4. Will bring rural population to main streampopulation.5. Stop movement of people to Metros for jobopportunities.VIABILITY OF RURAL TOURISMIndia is one of the most diverse nations on this planet.The diversity can be seen with its colors and hues ofcivilization, forests which are rich in flora and fauna,mouthwatering cuisines, scenic beauty that is breathtaking, simply enchanting folk dance etc. Rural tourismcan be one of the most happening segments of tourismindustry in India e.g.in absence of any promotionalactivity for rural tourism; thousands of foreign touristsvisit rural areas in Rajasthan, Gujarat and South Indiaevery year. This is the proof of viability of the conceptof rural tourism.EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIESTourism as an industry plays a vital role in generatingemployment. It has also been recognized as a majorthrust area to derive economic growth and employmentgeneration in India. The importance of Tourism, as aninstrument of economic development and employmentgeneration, particularly in remote and backward areas,has been well recognized the world over. It is a largeservice industry globally in terms of gross revenue aswell as foreign exchange earnings. Tourism can play animportant and effective role in achieving the growthwith equity – an objective which we have set forourselves. One of the main objectives of promotion ofrural tourism is to generate employability for the ruralpeople. Tourism is labour –oriented and providesemployment several times more than normalmanufacturing industries. Several types of businessfirms, such as hotels, motels, restaurants, travel agents,tour operators, gift shops, transporters etc. earn incomefrom tourism related activities. Various othersecondary or allied business firms, for example,construction firms, suppliers of food and beverages,taxi drivers, photographers, hair dressers, doctors,dentists etc. also benefit out of it. Rural tourism thuscan be helpful in increasing employment level bycreating new jobs in the sectors particularly of theagriculture sector. It can directly increase productivityof other sectors particularly of the agriculture sector asit draw manpower resulting from hidden employmentor seasonal underemployment.FOREIGN TOURIST ARRIVALSThe Foreign Tourist Arrivals (FTAs) in India during theyear 2009 were 5.11 million as compared to 5.28million in 2008, registering a fall of 3.3%. Tourismsector witnessed a bad year all over the world. Thedecline in growth rate in FTAs observed in India waslower than that observed for world (4.3%). Tourism hasthe potential to grow at a high rate and ensureconsequential development of the infrastructure of thedestinations. It has the capacity to capitalize on thecountry's success in the services sector and providesustainable models of growth.Tab.1 Foreign Tourist ArrivalsYear2000200120022003200420052006200720082009Source: Annual Report, Ministry of Tourism,Govt. of India.Foreign TouristArrival2649378253728223843642726214345747739186104447167508150452826035108579@# Advance Estimates* Revised Estimates@ Provisional EstimatesForeign ExchangeEarning(Rs. in Crore)15626150831506420729279443312339025*44360*50730#54960#38

Therefore, tourism can help rural communities to findnew strength in their local economy, while preservingtheir quality of life, heritage and social values.ECONOMIC IMPACTSŸ The main positive economic impacts of tourismrelate to foreign exchange earnings, contributionsto government revenues, and generation ofemployment and business opportunities as well asstimulation of infrastructure investment andcontribution to local economies.Ÿ Foreign exchange earnings: Tourism expendituresand the export and import of related goods andservices generate income to the host economy andcan stimulate the investment necessary to financegrowth in other economic sectors.Ÿ Contribution to government revenues: Governmentrevenues from the tourism sector can be categorizedas direct and indirect contributions. Directcontributions are generated by taxes on incomesfrom tourism employment and businesses, and bydirect levies on tourists such as departure taxes.Indirect contributions are those originated fromtaxes and duties levied on goods and servicessupplied to tourists.Ÿ Employment generation: The rapid growth ofinternational tourism has led to significantemployment creation. Tourism can generate jobsdirectly through hotels, restaurants, nightclubs,taxis, and souvenir sales, and indirectly through thesupply of goods and services needed by tourismrelatedbusinesses.Ÿ Stimulation of infrastructure investment: Tourismcan induce the local government to makeinfrastructure improvements such as better waterand sewage systems, roads, electricity, telephoneand public transport networks, all of which canimprove the quality of life for residents as well asfacilitate tourism.Ÿ Contribution to local economies: Tourism can be asignificant contributor to the local economy. As theenvironment is a basic component of tourism,revenues are often used to measure the economicvalue of protected areas. The contribution oftourism to local economies can also be illustrated byother local revenues that are not easily counted, asnot all tourist expenditures are formally registeredin the macro-economic statistics. Money is earnedfrom tourism through informal employment such asstreet vendors, informal guides, etc. The positiveside of informal or unreported employment is thatthe money is returned to the local economy and has39

a great multiplier effect as it is spent over and overagain.A GROWING SECTORWithin the total world market for tourism, rural tourismforms a relatively small sector, but one of growingimportance. The reason for this is that a very large partof tourism until now has been concentrated on the coastand in the cities. If governments and the tourismindustry wish to develop new regions for tourism, theymay look to the rural areas, which until now have notbeen developed to a large extent for tourism. Localauthorities and other bodies throughout Europe areindeed looking at rural tourism as a key part of theirefforts of local development and wish to promotetourism, usually with a specific focus on use of the localheritage.CHALLENGES AND CONSTRAINTSThere are several factors that are responsible for theinadequate growth of the tourism sector in India. Theseare: barriers related to approach, barriers thatdiscourage private investment, factors that affectcompetitiveness and factors that affect the long-termsustainability of tourism. A major impediment to thegrowth of tourism in India has been the lack ofawareness about the benefits that it can bestow upon thehost population. Unless the host population, both in therural and urban areas, is supportive of tourism, it cannotbecome a vibrant economic force. The rural sector, inparticular, has been largely ignored in tourismdevelopment and has consequently been deprived ofthe benefits of employment and income generationaccruing from tourism. There are many importantchallenges faced by the rural tourism segment e.g. atimportant tourist centers there are no structuredarrangements for organizing cultural evenings whichcould provide an experience or a glimpse of Indianculture to the visiting foreign tourists. However, thedevelopment of nature based tourism, can also haveconsiderable constraints, including:Size of the area – this impacts the optimum touristcarrying capacity of that area.Accessibility - by road, railways and airport.Underdeveloped tourist facilities – informationcenters, provision of good accommodation and food.Lack of capital and expertise - among the localcommunity is a serious obstacle to their ability toestablish tourism businesses. Education and propertraining of tourist guides are critical factors.Cultural compatibility: between the tourists and thelocal people.Extent of acceptable change in the environment due toinflux of tourists.SUGGESTIVE MEASURES FOR ENHANCINGRURAL TOURISM INDUSTRYThe rural tourism is based on principles of sustainabledevelopment and the aim is to promote tourism sites inIndia. In order to create an entrepreneurial culture, it isrecommended that developing of positive attitudetowards entrepreneurship, which is a precondition formore people to set up companies. As entrepreneurshipdemands an enabling environment, less bureaucraticinterference and more practical support from themunicipalities has to be provided. Policies to increasethe supply of entrepreneurs and policies for increasingdemand for entrepreneurship, can significantlyimprove entrepreneurial climate and speed upentrepreneurial activities. Also, development ofentrepreneurial attitudes and culture can be achievedthrough education and training programs. Followingare some measures to strengthen employability,potentiality and viability of the rural tourism:Ÿ The present system of selection of activities in therural tourism sites is appropriate. However, it can beunderlined that more community based activitieswithin the scope of project should be identified bythe NGOs. This would pave the way for sustenancein the long run as the community would get morereturns.Ÿ A vital aspect for the success of rural tourism is theselection of NGOs as implementing partners. Thus,it is recommended that NGO's having presenceacross the state, relevant experience in projectimplementation and community mobilization.Ÿ Effective documentation of all the "IncredibleIndia" sites is an imperative. Media persons andjournalists should be contacted and invited for thesame.Ÿ The rural sites should be aggressively promoted viatour operators.Ÿ More national level exposure trips should beorganized to create awareness among the natives.Ÿ Imposing of strict, punishable ban on illicitactivities like prostitution, drug trafficking and anyactivity that disturbs traditional culture andheritage.Ÿ Imposing of penalty charges on the stakeholders aswell as the tourists by local authority on willfuldamages to the tourism resources.Ÿ Railways to run tourist trains on nominated sectorsin association with Government / Private enterprise40

Ÿ Rural tourism can be a concept if adopted in Indiawith seriousness can reap good results and help toincrease India's World Tourism market share. Thiscan be done if states on its own start working on aplan to identify places for rural tourism in stateswhich offer exposure to regional culture, historicalimportance and good infrastructure to supportmovement of tourists.CONCLUSIONTourism sector stimulates other economic sectors likeagriculture, horticulture, poultry, handicrafts,transport, construction etc. The development ofinfrastructure in rural areas having potential for tourismis being supported under the existing scheme ofdestination development. The objective is to showcaserural life, art, culture and heritage at rural locationsand in villages, which have core competence in art andcraft, handloom, and textiles as also an asset base in thenatural environment. The intention is to benefit thelocal community economically and socially as well asenable interaction between tourists and localpopulation for a mutually enriching experience. RuralTourism is growing in terms of number of visitors andthe Government of India focuses on it as an engine ofgrowth. We believe that any rural tourism developmentplan needs to focus on sustainable development andtake into account the priorities and needs of localpeople. Rural tourism can facilitate expansion ofcomplementary businesses (catering, hospitalityservices, recreational activities, arts/crafts etc). Propermanagement of rural tourism can make a positivecontribution to sustaining the rural economy andcommunity. With diversification of tourism productsthe involvement of the entrepreneurial sector informulating sustainable strategies becomes necessary.Rural tourism is not only the end, but the means tostimulate economic growth, to increase the viability ofunderdeveloped location, and to improve the livingstandards of local populations. Rural tourism schemehas been a valuable vehicle to bring the ultimate ruralstakeholders in touch with tourism sector to increaseemployment.REFERENCES1. Annual Report (2009-10), Ministry ofTourism, Government of India, New Delhi.2. Anonymous (2004), "Ecotourism: AnOpportunity in India" White Paper Series on TourismI n d u s t r yb yD'EssenceTeahttp:/HYPERLINK"http://www.dessenceconsulting.com/pdf/ecotourism.pdf"www.HYPERLINK"http://www.dessenceconsulting.com/pdf/ e c o t o u r i s m . p d f " d e s s e n c e H Y P E R L I N K41

"http://www.dessenceconsulting.com/pdf/ecotourism.pdf"consulting.com/pdf/HYPERLINK42

Literature Review - Service quality Assessment in Banks andFinancial InstitutionsDr.Ashish Sonker*, Dr.Mohd.Anees** & Ms.Rakhi Sonker***ABSTRACTService quality management is the demand of consumers in this competitive market of India. Service quality applicationin banking industry can improve customer satisfaction. Service quality is the only way to meet customer expectation asrealization of customer perception while banking service is concerned. In India there are 88 scheduled commercialbanks SCBs-27 public sector Banks, 31 private sector banks and 38 foreign banks. Indian Banking industry is facingchallenges to market and sell their banking products. So, Banking industries are implementing service quality toimprove their services. Service quality depends on many dimensions like tangibility, reliability, assurance,responsiveness, assurance, empathy and security etc. There are so many other attributes which decide service qualitylike competence, commitment, access, availability, communication, credibility, and courtesy etc. However service likequality, is a multidimensional term.INTRODUCTIONThis literature review is part of research that endeavorsto fill the gap in service quality research by exploringthe dimension of customer perceived service quality inreference of the Indian banking industry with its specialemphasis to UP. A set of service quality parameters,drawn from customers' perceptions about servicequality as well as the bank service quality managementin four largest banks operating in UP has been studiedand best perceived service quality dimensionsaccepted/expected are explored. In light of this paucityof research on service quality issues in developingcountries like India particularly in states like UP, it hasbecome very important that banks in India determinethe service quality factors, which are pertinent to thecustomer's selection process, as with increasedcompetition, with the advent of international banking,the trend towards larger bank holding companies, andinnovations in the marketplace, customers are nowhaving greater difficulty in selecting one institutionfrom another. In order to provide excellent servicequality, identifying the underlying dimensions of theservice quality construct is the first step in thedefinition.Literature Review on measuring and managingservice quality in banks & financial institutionsFournier and Mick, (1999); Meuter et.al., (2000) :Customer satisfaction is an important theoretical aswell as practical issue for the marketers and consumerresearchers. Customer satisfaction can be considered asthe essence of success in today's highly competitiveworld of business. The importance that customers placeon service quality attributes is the driver of satisfaction.Loyalty is a crucial output to a firm's resourceallocation strategy and quality improvement efforts.Almossawi, B., (2001); Stafford, (1996) :Service quality is particularly essential in the financialservices context because providers tend to be viewed asrelatively undifferentiated, and hence it becomes a keyto competitive advantage. In addition, financialservices, like other services are intangible, difficult toevaluate, and rest on experience and credence quality(Zeithaml, 1981; Zeithaml et al., 1985).Lovelock, (1996); Stafford (1996) :Service quality can only be assessed during and afterconsumption, whereas credence qualities are virtuallyimpossible to evaluate even after consumption. Searchquality, on the other hand, includes aspects of a productor service that consumers can evaluate before makingthe purchasing. Services tend to be inherently low onsearch quality dimensions. Nevertheless, financialservices providers struggle to distinguish themselvesfrom the competition. In sum, investigating servicequality in the financial services industry is difficult aswell as interesting.Boyd, et al., (1994); Javalgie et al., (1989); Larocheet al., (1986) :Relying on the existing literature a study could havethree goals. First, the study could investigate andidentify the service quality dimensions pertaining to*Dr. Ashish Sonker, Associate Professor, Center of Retail, FDDI, Raibarielly, Ministry of Commerce, Government of India.**Dr. Mohd.Anees, Associate Professor, Department of Business Administration, university of Lucknow, Lucknow.***Ms. Rakhi Sonker, Research Scholar, Department of Business Administration, university of Lucknow, Lucknow.44

financial services. Secondly, it could examine therelationship between perception accorded to thesedimensions and the overall attitude towards thebanking. Thirdly, examine the important discriminantservice quality factors among the different group ofbanks by paired comparison.Lovelock, (1996) :Service quality conceptually captures aspects ofproducts or services that potential consumers can andwould like to assess before they select product orservice.Zineldin, (1996); Yue and Tom (1995) :Service quality encompasses consumer's expectationsin terms of quality after they have highlighted a largenumber of service that are supposedly used byconsumers to evaluate and select banks or financialinstitutions. The service quality variables identified byParasuraman et al., (1994) are reliability,responsiveness, competence, accessibility, courtesy,communication, credibility, security, understandingand tangibility.Alfred and Addam (2001) investigated attitudes usingfifteen service quality variables. One could study theservice quality in retail banking using variables drawnfrom the reviews (Cronin and Taylor 1992; ZillurRahman, 2005; Verma and Vohna 2000; Mushtag ABhat, 2005).Wisner and Corney, (2001) :An important theoretical approach for investigating theservice quality is SERVQUAL Analysis. They definedservice quality as a 'global judgment or attitude,relating to the superiority of the service', and explicatedit as involving evaluations of the outcome and processof service act. These views are in line with theproportions put forward by Gronroos (1982).Smith and Houston (1982), Parasuraman et al.,(1988) explained and operationalised service quality asa difference between consumer expectations of ‘whatthey want’ and their perceptions of ‘what they get’.B a s e d o n t h i s c o n c e p t u a l i z a t i o n a n doperationalization, they proposed a service qualitymeasurement scale called as 'SERVQUAL' scale.Validity of the difference between perception andexpectation (P-E) measurement framework has alsocome under severe criticisms due to problems with theconceptualization and measurement of expectationscomponents of the SERVQUAL scale. Whileperception (P) is definable and measurable in a straightforward manner as the consumers' belief about serviceis experienced, expectation (E) is subject to multipleinterpretations and such has been operationaliseddifferently by different authors and researchers(Dasholkar et al., 2000; Babakus and Boller, 1992;Teas, 1993).Cronin and Taylor (1992) were amongst theresearchers who leveled maximum criticism on theSERVQUAL scale. They provided empirical evidenceacross four industries to corroborate the superiority oftheir 'performance only' instrument overdisconfirmation-based on SERVQUAL Scale. TheSERVPERF scale is found to be superior as the efficientscale due to its ability in reducing the number of itemsto be measured by 50 per cent. (Hartline and Ferrell,1996; Babakus and Boller, 1992; Bolton and Drew,1991).Bernes and Howlett (1998); Beerli and Martin(2004) SERVPERF instrument with 17 items aresuitable for collecting the data regarding therespondent's perceptions. The important service qualityattributes in retail banking were identified with the helpof factor analysis whereas the impact of SERVPERFscores on overall attitude towards retail banking wasmeasured with the help of multiple regression analysis.The important discriminant service quality factorsamong the three groups of banks were identified withthe help of two group discriminate analysis.Frei and Harker, (1995) :Aside from variation in customers, there may also beprocess variability. Services, typically, do not apply asmuch rigor to the definition of each and every step ofthe production process. In fact, it is not uncommon forupper management not to know the details of aparticular process and for there to be no institutionalknowledge of process designs. According to Frei andHarker (1996) this analysis determines the efficiencywith which each bank produces a set of outputs from aset of inputs. For each process, one could rank thebanks according to their efficiency score and thus, haveup to eleven rankings for each of the banks. The resultsof this individual process analysis are then aggregatedusing the methodology described in Frei and Harker(1997) to create an institutional aggregate processefficiency score. The aggregated score is used herein toanalyze the role of process efficiency in describingperformance of a bank. Their study demonstrates anextension of DEA to analyze the relative efficiency of agiven business process across multiple organizations.After determining the process-level efficiency score foreach institution, the grade is determined bynormalizing the efficiency scores to a scale of 0% to45

100%, with the efficient banks scoring 100%. Theseprocesses span five products and represent opening ofaccounts, error correction on the part of the bank, anderror correction on the part of the consumer.Defining and measuring quality in services might bedifficult due to the intangible nature of the serviceoffering. Many researches on service quality have beencarried out within the framework of widely acceptedservice quality model (SERVQUAL instrument)developed by Parasuraman et. al. (1985, 1988, and1991). Since then, many researchers have used this 22-item scale to study service quality in different sectors ofthe services industry including financial institutions(Gounaris et. al. 2003; Arasli et. al. 2005). Basically,the service quality model was derived from themagnitude and directions of five gaps as follows:Ÿ Gap 1 (Understanding): the difference betweenconsumer expectations and managementperceptions of consumer expectations.Ÿ Gap 2 (Service standards): the difference betweenmanagement perceptions of consumer expectationsand service quality specifications.Ÿ Gap 3 (Service performance): the differencebetween service quality specifications and theservice actually delivered.Ÿ Gap 4 (Communications): the difference betweenservice delivery and what is communicated aboutthe service to consumers.Ÿ Gap 5 (Service quality): the difference between.customer expectations of service quality andcustomer perceptions of the organization'sperformance.Gaps 1 to 4 affect the way in which service is deliveredand these four gaps lead to Gap 5. Therefore, the extentof Gap 5 depends on the size and direction of these fourgaps (Gap 1, Gap 2, Gap 3 and Gap 4).In the banking industry, the study on service quality hasbeen undertaken for example by Yavas et. al. (1997),Bahia and Nantel 2000; Lassar et. al., 2000; Duncanand Elliott, 2002; Jabnoun and Al-Tamimi, 2002;and Arasli et. al., 2005.Yavas et. al. (1997) :In the study of service quality in the banking sector ofTurkey, researcher focused on the relationship betweenservice quality on consumer satisfaction, complaintbehavior and commitment. Their study found thatoverall service quality was a significant determinantcustomer satisfaction, complaint behavior andcommitment.Bahia and Nantel (2000) suggested alternative scalefor the measurement of perceived service quality inretail banking. Their study found that when comparingBSQ dimensions and SERVQUAL, it seemed that BSQdimensions were more reliable than SERVQUAL. Onthe other hand, Lassar et. al. (2000) studied servicequality using two major service quality constructs,SERVQUAL and Technical/Functional Quality modelsto the private banking industry. They found thatTechnical/Functional Quality-based model of servicequality is better suited compared to SERVQUAL-basedmodel. Duncan and Elliot (2002) however exploredthe relationship between customer service quality andfinancial performance in Australian banks and creditunions. They found that there was significantrelationship between financial performance andcustomer service quality scores.Jabnoun and Al-Tamimi (2002) examined servicequality at UAE commercial banks using SERVQUALmodel and included thirty items in the five dimensionsof SERVQUAL. When they tested the developedinstrument for reliability and validity, they found thatthe instrument had only three dimensions.Arasli et. al. (2005) studied service quality perceptionsof Greek Cypriot bank customers using SERVQUALmodel. They however, extend the study by looking atthe relationship between service quality, customersatisfaction and positive word of mouth. They foundthat the expectations of bank customers were not metwhere the largest gap was obtained in theresponsiveness-empathy dimension. In addition, thereliability items had the highest effect on customersatisfaction, which in turn had a statistically significantimpact on the positive word of mouth.Contrary to the large number of studies of servicequality in the banking industry in the west, studies arestill considered scarce. In Malaysia, for example,studies on service quality were conducted by Sudin et.al. (2004) and Izah and Wan Zulqurnain (2005).These two studies were conducted on Islamic financialinstitutions and adopted the CARTER model assuggested by Othman and Owen (2000; 2001). It ishoped that this study will be the platform for discussingthe issues on service quality and customer satisfactionin the Malaysian banking industry.46

REFERENCES1. Arasli H., Mehtap-Smadi S. and Katircioglu S. T., (2005), “Customer Service Quality in the Greek CypriotBanking Industry”. Managing Service Quality. Vol. 15 No. 1. pp 41-5762. Anderson E. W. and Fornell C., (1994), A Customer Satisfaction Research Prospectus. In R. T. Rust & R. L.Oliver (Eds.) Service Quality: New Direction in Theory and Practice, pp. 241-268.3. Bahia K. and Nantel J., (2000), “A Reliable and Valid Measurement Scale for the Perceived Service Quality ofBanks”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, pp. 84-91.4. Tahir & Bakar 335 Bienstock, C.C. Mentzer J.T. and Bird M. M., (1997), “Measuring Physical DistributionService Quality”, Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science. 25(1), pp. 31-44.5. Duncan E. and Elliot G., (2002), “Customer Service Quality and Financial Performance among AustralianRetail Financial Institutions”, Journal of Financial Services Marketing, Vol. 7 no. 1. pp. 25-41.6. Frei F. X., (1995), The role of process design in productivity and performance: Evidence from retail banking.Working paper, Department of Operations and Information Management, The Wharton School, University ofPennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104–6366.7. Gounaris S.P., Stathakopoulos V. Mand Athanassopoulos A.D., (2003), “Antecedents to Perceived ServiceQuality: An Explatory Study in the Banking Industry”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, Vol. 21 no. 4,pp. 168-190.8. Gronroos C., (1988), “The Six Criteria of Good Perceived SQ”, Review of Business. 9(3), pp. 10-13.9. Izah. Mohd Tahir and Wan Zulqurnain Wan Ismail, (2005), “Service Quality in the Financial Services Industryin Malaysia: The Case of Islamic Banks and Insurance”, International Review of Business Research Papers,vol. 1. No. 2 pp. 10-21.10. Jabnoun N. and Al-Tamimi A.H., (2002), “Measuring Perceived Service Quality at UAE Commercial Banks”,International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, Vol. 20 no. 4. pp. 458-47211. Cronin J.T. and Taylor S.A., (1992), Measuring service quality: An examination and extension. Journal ofMarketing, 56(3):55–68.12. Lassar W. M., Manolis C., and Winsor R. D., (2000), “Service Quality Perspectives and Satisfaction in PrivateBanking”, Journal of Services Marketing, vol. 14. No. 3 pp. 244-27113. Othman A. Q. and Owen L., (2001), “Adopting and Measuring Customer Service Quality in Islamic Banks: ACase Study in Kuwait Finance House”, International Journal of Islamic Financial Services, 1(3). pp. 6-12.14. Othman A. and Owen L., (2000), “The Multidimensionality of Carter Model to Measure Customer Servicequality (SQ) in Islamic Banking Industry: A Study in Kuwait Finance House”. International Journal of IslamicFinancial Services, Vol. 3 No. 4.15. Othman A. Q. and Owen L., (2001), “Adopting and Measuring Customer Service Quality in Islamic Banks: ACase Study in Kuwait Finance House”, International Journal of Islamic Financial Services, 1(3). pp. 6-12.16. Parasuraman. A., Berry L. and Zeithmal V., (1985), “A Conceptual Model of SQ and Its Implications forFuture Research”, Journal of Marketing. 49(3). pp. 41-50.17. Parasuraman A., Berry L. and Zeithmal V., (1988), “SERVQUAL: A Multi-item Scale for MeasuringConsumer Perceptions of SQ”, Journal of Retailing, 64(2). pp. 12-40. Tahir & Bakar 33618. Parasuraman A., Berry L. and Zeithmal V., (1990), Five Imperatives for Improving SQ. Sloan Managemen47

Review. 29(2). pp. 29-3819. Parasuraman. A., Berry L. and Zeithmal V., (1991), Perceived Service Quality as a Customer-basedPerformance Measure: An Empirical Examination of Organizational Barriers Using an Extended ServiceQuality Model. Human Resource Management. 30(3). pp. 335-364.20. Parasuraman. A., Berry L. and Zeithmal V., (1993), “Research Note: More on Improving SQ Measurement”,Journal of Retailing, 69(1). pp. 140-147.21. Parasuraman. A., Berry L. and Zeithmal V., (1994), “Reassessment of Expectations as a ComparisonStandard in Measuring SQ: Implications for Further Research”, Journal of Marketing, 58(1). pp. 111-124.22. Sudin Haron, Wan Nursofiza and Sharil Shafie, (2004), “Adopting and Measuring Customer Service Quality(SQ) in Islamic Banks: A Case Study in Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad”, Proceedings of National Seminar inIslamic Banking and Finance, Putrajaya, Kuala Lumpur, 2-3 March, pp. 91-102.23. Yavas U., Bilgin Z. and Shemwell D. J., (1997), “Service Quality in the Banking Sector in an EmergingEconomy: A Consumer Survey”, International Journal of Bank Marketing, vol. 15. no. 6 pp. 217-22348

BOOK REVIEWShiva Kumar Srinivasan*June Paradise Maul (2011). Developing a Business Case: Expert Solutions to Everyday Challenges (Boston:Harvard Business School Publishing), pp. 102, ISBN 978-1-4221-2976-0.What is a business case? What does it mean to develop a business case? And, most importantly, how does a business casediffer from the teaching cases that are used in the management classroom? These then are some of the questions that arebound to be thrown up by readers while reading or reviewing a book like this. It is therefore a good idea to begin with asimple definition of a business case. The main goal of a business case is to spot a business opportunity and devise a planof action that will translate an opportunity into a successful transaction. But, before doing so, a firm must take the troubleto examine its strategic alternatives carefully. This is important because it is not necessarily obvious at first sight as towhich of the alternatives or options will help the firm to generate the highest amount of value. The goal of a business caseis to make a convincing argument in favour of the chosen alternative albeit through a process of thinking through the listof options. Unlike a teaching case where some of the options might have already been introduced by the case writer, herea manager will have to double as both the case writer and as the protagonist who will have to make a strategic choice andsell it to the concerned stakeholders. This book offers both the advice and the template necessary to write up a businesscase and convert it into a presentation. It also includes a number of simple tools which will simplify the task for the casewriter as a series of cognitive steps. Each of these steps is discussed in detail and warrants a separate chapter in this book.There is also a multiple choice quiz towards the end which the reader can use to assess his or her understanding of thebook. Both the structure and the function of the business case are spelt out in moderate detail in the book and in the quiz.There is also a bibliography of articles, books, websites, and e-learning sources for learning more about a business case.It is interesting to note at the very outset that a business case is not as well known in a business school as ateaching case. This is because faculty write teaching cases and not business cases. Business cases are written byexecutives and are not usually shared with those who do not belong to a business firm or those who are not party to anyspecific instance of decision making in a firm. It is also important not to conflate a business case with a business plan. Abusiness case relates to 'what' a firm is trying to do in the context of a specific business opportunity while the businessplan relates to 'how' it proposes to turn that strategic objective into a plan of action. It is important to identify when – if atall – a business case becomes necessary before attempting to write one. Maul argues that writing a business case is akin toproblem solving since it is not wise for a firm to jump-start a solution without examining the options closely. Thestrategic 'value' of the chosen option will emerge only within the differential field of choices. It is therefore not a waste ofeffort or time to think-through options carefully. It must also be remembered that the strategic value of an option is notnecessarily obvious to all stakeholders. It might become necessary to sell the chosen option to stakeholders in order tosolicit their co-operation and support. Hence the need to put it down both as a written document and convert it into apersuasive presentation as a prelude to or as an accompaniment of the business case. While it is not necessary to write upevery single decision in the form of a business case, it might be a good idea to make a habit of this in cases or situationsthat are 'complex', 'expensive', or which involve a number of steps in order to be made actionable. Maul also includesadvice on the generic requirements in terms of the length of the document and the actual amount of time that will have tobe invested in writing. It could take anything between a few hours to fifteen days to put together an effective businesscase. In addition to the steps involved in the examination of options and the final recommendation, Maul also emphasizesthe need to do a thorough risk assessment of all the options before drawing up a plan of action.This is an interesting book for both executives who have some exposure to the case method and for those who may notknow the differences between a teaching case used in business schools and the need to make an effective case to seize a*Shiva Kumar Srinivasan, Professor, Behavioural Sciences, IIPM Chennai49

usiness opportunity for what it is worth in a firm. This book deserves to be read widely because it addresses a missingelement in management education. This missing element pertains to the curiosity that case instructors often have inbusiness schools that are modelled on Harvard Business School as to what exactly is the generic takeaway for studentsenrolled in their programs when they deal repeatedly with a large number of cases. Is the learning only reducible to themain themes in the functional areas that are being taught? Or is there something about the animating spirit of the casemethod that students will take away in order to appreciate both in terms of its cognitive foundations and its genericrepresentation when they're asked to make an effective case to pursue a business opportunity in the firms that they willeventually join? A business case, to invoke an analogy from lawschool, then, is like learning to write a 'brief' - in theabsence of which a lawyer cannot make an effective case on behalf of his client.50

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