BUSINESS ETHICS

Morality in Business : Ethical Approach is Never Enough

Paying a mere lip service to environmental or other moral considerations is not enough. For earning long-term trust and genuine respect from the consumers and society at large, the moral code must be implemented throughout the organization and every layer must honor this code. This also makes good business sense as more and more customers want to buy from those companies that show a commitment to fair trade as well as to other social or environmental issues.

© 2008 Chris Lenton. All Rights Reserved.

ESOP

Executive Stock Options : Issues, Problems and Designs -- Michael Theobald

The rationales for, and benefits of, executive stock options are explored in this article. Executive stock options provide the means for aligning managerial and shareholder interests. This is achieved by the introduction of incentive structures that lead managers to make decisions which causes an increase in the shareholder value. The conditions for designing the contracts are discussed and analyzed.

© 2008 The Icfai University Press. All Rights Reserved

MANAGEMENT

Challenges to Strategic Decision-making -- Prof. A Venkata Subramanian

Strategic decisions are critical ones made by managers which have a significant and long-term impact on their organizations. However, most managers fail to realize that such decision making is subject to certain hidden traps - namely individual biases, organizational constraints and Groupthink syndrome. Managers will do well to be aware of these traps and take some serious steps to mitigate their effect.

© 2008 The Icfai University Press. All Rights Reserved

MANAGEMENT

Managing Knowledge in Consulting Firms -- Minita Sinha

This article presents different initiatives in the field of knowledge management and strategies in terms of codification and personalization that are being adopted by different consulting companies. It also presents the lessons learnt and the challenges faced by various consulting companies when implementing knowledge management initiative.

© 2008 The Icfai University Press. All Rights Reserved

COMMUNICATION

Building a Bridge between Generations in Organizations -- Jyothi Puvvada

With the advent of modernization and the arrival of the globalized economy, there is a drastic change in organizations, thereby resulting in diverse workgroups. People are different from one another in many ways - in age, gender, race, culture, ethnicity, lifestyles, education, etc. Acknowledging, understanding, and appreciating these differences create a motivating and rewarding work environment. This article analyzes all these aspects in detail.

© 2008 The Icfai University Press. All Rights Reserved

CORPORATE SUCCESS

Corporate Success Factors : An Indian Perspective -- N Kalai Selvan

What constitutes Corporate Success? It is an enigma. It is a fact that the turnover of some of the large global companies is larger than that of the GDP of many countries. What are the reasons for their success? This article lists out all these reasons.

© 2008 The Icfai University Press. All Rights Reserved

CSR

Corporate Social Responsibility : Instruments of Change -- Prof. Sumeet Gupta and Dr. Renu Verma

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) is an important social activity that corporates have to fulfill. Corporates are expected to be on the forefront of societal activities.This article focuses on the manner in which corporates are undertaking CSR and its effect on economic development and social transformation as well as the initiatives taken by few corporate entities and their impact on the society.

© 2008 The Icfai University Press. All Rights Reserved

RETAIL

Supply Chain Strategies for Retailing -- Dr. A Sarangapani and T Mamatha

In the present scenario of globalization and customer service, Supply Chain Management (SCM) is becoming significant to the corporate world. Companies are dealing with consumers through suppliers, distributors, and retailers. They must acquire suitable strategies for immediate flow of product and information throughout their supply chain network. This article highlights the objectives of SCM, the future of Indian retailing, supply chain for building competitive edge and factors influencing SCM.

© 2008 The Icfai University Press. All Rights Reserved

CASE STUDY

Tata Group's Strategy: Ratan Tata's Vision -- Doris Rajakumari John and Florence Nightingale P

The Tata Group, one of India's largest business conglomerates, was established by Jamshedji Tata in the second half of the 19th century. Jamshedji's vision for the group was in line with nationalist goals and ideals then, and was envisaged to make India self-reliant. After Jamshedji, Jehangir Ratanji Dadabhoy (JRD) Tata became the Chairman of the Tata Group and played a significant role in continuing the vision of the Group. In 1991, Ratan Naval Tata took over the Chairmanship from JRD Tata. Although he was initially criticised for his poor performance, over the years, Ratan Tata disproved his critics. He restructured Tata Group's business operations and made the group compete globally. However, as the Tatas lack an heir who can succeed Ratan Tata, the group is at a crossroads to decide who will be the next chairman and carry the vision of the group.

© 2008 The Icfai Business School Case Development Center. All Rights Reserved.

BOOK REVIEW

Global Edge : Using the Capacity Index to Manage the Risks of Cross-border Business -- Author: Joel Kurtzman and Glenn Yago Reviewed by Prof. Swaha Shome

In the present scenario of globalization, companies have to carry on cross-border business. In doing so, these companies often encounter unforeseen risks which adds to the costs of the company. In this pathbreaking book, the authors have provided two tools to measure the risks of going global. Their CLEAR framework is an acronym for Corruption, Legal Enforcement, Accounting Standards and Government Regulation. The CLEAR framework exposes the risks that companies face and the opacity index measures how countries are ranked according to this framework. This helps the companies to manage the risks of becoming a global entity and allows them to choose the right country to invest in.

© 2008 The Icfai University Press. All Rights Reserved

COVER FEATURE

Institutional Real Estate, Inc. -- Geoffrey Dohrmann

Geoffrey Dohrmann is the founder, president and chief executive officer of Institutional Real Estate, Inc.— a San Ramon, California-based global publishing and consulting company focused on meeting the information needs of the commercial real estate investment community. In this capacity, he also serves as publisher and editor-in-chief of several leading industry publications, including: The Institutional Real Estate Letter, The Institutional Real Estate Letter, Europe, and the Institutional Real Estate Letter - Asia Pacific. In addition, he serves in a similar capacity for the company's Dealmakers, Institutional Investing in Infrastructure, High Return Quarterly, Global Quarterly, European Real Estate Quarterly, Institutional Real Estate Newsline and IREI Weekly publications.

© 2008 The Icfai University Press. All Rights Reserved