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Working Papers | 2006

Cropping in Arid Area Greenhouse

G Sharan and Jethava Kamlesh

In hot, arid regions, yields are low and unstable, growing season limited to one. Greenhouses can stabilize and improve yields and extend seasons. But their adoption is impeded by the requirement of large amount of water for (evaporative) cooling. Arid Area Greenhouse (AAG) is being developed to reduce or eliminate this need by employing earth-tube-heat-exchanger (ETHE). A prototype AAG was installed in the year 2002 at village Kothara (ƒÚ 23¢X 14 N, ƒÜ 68¢X 45 E, at 21 m a.s.l.). AAG is of 20 X 6 X 3.5 m size. ETHE is buried 3m deep and coupled to AAG in closed-loop. ETHE provides 20 air changes per hour. There is provision of closable vents - two along the base of long sides and one along the ridge. A retractable shading curtain is provided over the roof. By now five rounds of cropping have been done. ETHE was able to heat the greenhouse from 9¢X C to 22-23¢X C in half hour in the cold winter nights. Static ventilation along with shading was effective for day time control till early March. Subsequently ETHE was operated. It limited the greenhouse temperature gain to just 2.5¢X C. Yield of tomato was 1.5 to 2 times, water used 44% of that in open-field. Water used was mostly for plants, only a small part was for foggers which were some times needed as supplement. ETHE and natural ventilation hold promise as environmental control devices for greenhouses in hot arid regions.

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Working Papers | 2006

Does the Emotional Labor of the Service Employee Affect the Self-concept of the Consumer in Service Organization?

Sushanta Kumar Mishra

In service interactions the management of service employee's emotion through emotional labor has gained prominence and is becoming an active method to affect consumer's behavior. Several researches have indicated that self-concept of the consumer affects their buying behavior. However there is not much research to evaluate the effect of emotional labor of the service employee on the self-concept of the consumer. Based on review of literature, this paper tries to answer whether emotional labor of the service employee affects the self-concept of the consumer.

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Working Papers | 2006

Methods for the Study of Downsizing: A Review

Richa Saxena

There has been a world-wide increase in the incidences of downsizing practice across economies and across organizations. This has been considered as the basis for coping with increasing competition. The present paper looks into some studies on downsizing. The focus of the paper is majorly on the research methodology used in these studies. This paper analyses the methods used for the study of downsizing and suggests the ideal methods of study for: a) organizational outcomes, and b) individual outcomes, which include the victims, the survivors and the implementers. The suggestion is to have context specific and issue specific studies with more emphasis towards the triangulation of qualitative and quantitative methods to increase the soundness of the study.

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Working Papers | 2006

Success: An Exploration

Parvinder Gupta

Success, in a worldly sense or by societal yardstick, is mostly evaluated in terms of money, status, recognition, fame, promotions, awards, rewards, and similar criteria. The purpose of this study was to explore the concept of success as viewed by people who were considered successful in their respective fields by societal yardstick or in a worldly sense. Further, the study aimed at exploring what led to their success. Six successful people from varied fields such as dance, architecture, sports, industry, academics, and medicine were included in the sample. They were interviewed to explore their concept of success, background, struggles, and factors that led to their success. The findings revealed that success was viewed differently by different people. Whatever their field, these successful people had a few things in common. The implications of the study were discussed.

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Working Papers | 2006

Corporate Farming in India: Is it must for Agricultural Development?

Sukhpal Singh

Indian agriculture is under policy reforms for some time now. One of the issues it faces is that of lack of viability of smallholdings and lack of international competitiveness of its produce. In this regard, new initiatives of reorganizaing the production systems are being attempted in the form of contract farming and corporate farming. At the state level, laws are being amended to facilitate the practice of contract farming and corporate farming. Where contract farming means working with small growers most of the time and therefore, high costs for agribusinesses, the alternative of corporate farming is being seen to resolve this problem. For facilitating this, prime agricultural land and wastelands are being allowed to be bought or leased in by corporate agribusiness houses, the latter (wastelands) being given away by the state on nominal lease. This paper profiles cases of corporate farming practice and examines the rationale for allowing corporate farming in India in the context of its agriculture and rural sector. It points out that the rationale is weak and not supported by international evidence on corporate farming. It rather argues for other alternatives, like consolidation of land holdings and contract farming, for making better use of corporate resources for agricultural development.

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Working Papers | 2006

An Exploratory Study of Factors affecting MBA Students Attitude towards Learning via Case Study Pedagogy: Insights from Advertising Literature

Ramendra Singh and Piyush Kumar Sinha

Case based pedagogy has become popular in most business schools today, since the pioneering efforts made by Harvard Business School, several decades ago. Although the case method approach stands firmly on grounds its effectiveness in 'simulating reality of the business world' in the classroom, yet it has its own limitations and cannot be used in all learning situations This article delves into both sides of the debate on the efficacy of case method for learning and through an exploratory study, models the attitude of MBA students towards the perceived learning aspects of the pedagogy. The premise of our beliefs-only attitude model rests on the conceptual analogy between a case study and an advertisement message as two similar forms of communication technology. Drawing heavily from the insights available in the advertising literature, the article suggests several hypotheses for future empirical validation.

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Working Papers | 2006

Tapping Economies of Scale and Scope in Consumer Cooperation - A Case Analysis of Possible Cooperation among selected Cooperatives

Samar K. Datta and Rahul Nilakantan

Because of its narrow and negative perspective of safeguarding the interests of only poor consumers against unethical practices of the private traders, consumer cooperation in India seems to have failed, except probably in some isolated pockets. A number of social welfare functions like poverty alleviation and public distribution of essential items of consumption have been imposed on them at the cost of their basic economics. With the basic micro and macro-economic rationale for consumer cooperatives as a positive form of economic organization being lost sight of, they seem to be facing enormous problems both historically as well as currently in a era of economic liberalization. Their worries seem to have been compounded with the threat of impending competition from large private enterpriss - both domestic and foreign, which highlights the need for evolving strategies to rectivy their systemic weaknesses and tackling the competition head on. This case has attempted to document just such an initiative through a round table conference with several doyens of the consumer cooperative movement in India such as Warana Bazar and Amalsad Mandali as well as some fledging consumer cooperatives from West Bengal which are already in existence for some time or contemplating entry into this field. The roundtable conference organized in the spirit of Cooperation among Cooperatives attempted to evolve strategies to capture economies of scale and scope in order to take on the competition, as well as to facilitate dissemination of ideas and information across the country.

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Working Papers | 2006

Family and Store Choice - A Conceptual Framework

Tripathi Sanjeev, Piyush Kumar Sinha, and Piyush Kumar Sinha

Retail Store choice has traditionally been studied from the perspective of an individual. The retail offering is however consumed more by the family than by an individual. This study questions the study of store choice by an individual and argues that the family is the relevant unit of analysis. The study draws on the extensive literature available on store choice and also on the family decision making for products and services. It identifies the key factors from the literature, which might be affecting the store choice of a family. On the basis of these factors, it proposes a conceptual framework for studying the retail store choice as a family decision.

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Working Papers | 2006

An Assessment of the Impact of Distribution Channel Conflict on Channel Efficiency - Few Improvised Conceptual Models

Ramendra Singh

The primary purpose of this study is to enhance the understanding of the impact of distribution channel conflicts on the channel efficiency, which has hitherto received little attention in distribution channel literature. Although 'channel conflict' as a construct is fairly well researched and its relationship with channel efficiency is explored to some extent, yet the moderating effect of the conflict resolution strategies on the channel efficiency is largely absent in the channel literature. From a behavioral science perspective, the article models the channel conflict-efficiency relationship, for three different types of conflict resolution methods-problem solving, bargaining and politics, in the context of asymmetric power relationships. The managerial implications of these conceptual models lie in making organizations (channel captains), dealing with their channel partners, foresee the possible impacts of their adopted conflict resolution strategies, on their channel efficiency and accordingly maximize returns on the channel investments.

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Working Papers | 2006

Vision 2020: The Role and Scope of Operations Research Models

N. Ravichandran

In this theme article, we summarize the broad characteristics of Vision 2020 (a document which outlines the transformation process related to evolution of India as a developed nation by 2020) as envisaged by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. We discuss the enabling role of our discipline related to this critical national (social) transformation process. This theme article is organized in three segments. The first segment, which is drawn heavily based on the published work by Dr. A.P.J. Abdul Kalam introduces the salient features of Vision 2020 and a road map related to realizing this national dream. The second segment sketches the evolution of operations research as a scientific discipline in the international and Indian context. The third and final segment of the article relate OR tools and techniques that can facilitate the planning and implementation of several projects / activities / policies in the overall context of Vision 2020.

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