In J&K, pre-paid mobile connections banned

NEW DELHI: The Union government has banned pre-paid mobile connections in Jammu and Kashmir, citing security related reasons.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram on Friday said besides the ban, the existing pre-paid SIM cards would not be renewed after November 1. The Home Ministry had asked the Department of Telecommunications to take appropriate action in this regard.

“Pre-paid connections are prone to misuse. Anyone wanting a mobile connection can always go in for a post-paid connection in Jammu and Kashmir. I think the problem is not so acute in the north-eastern States; we may also have to look at the situation in there,” Mr. Chidambaram said at his monthly stock-taking press conference. He said all service providers have been informed and they had promised to implement the decision.

The decision follows reports that proper verification was not being done while providing such connections by the service providers and vendors. Fake documents and identity numbers were reportedly being used by the vendors particularly, in the case of pre-paid connections. This had given rise to security concerns, officials said.








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Intel eyes 4G entry in India

Intel, the world’s largest chipmaker, is understood to be in talks with leading Indian telecom companies like Tata Communications (formerly VSNL), Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications that could bid for broadband wireless access (BWA) spectrum to be auctioned by the government in January 2010.

Talks are currently centred on Intel offering Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access or WiMAX (which provides for wireless transmission of data and up to 75 Mb/sec speed) technology — one of the popular BWA technologies — to the operator, and the possibility of taking a minority stake through its venture capital arm, Intel Capital.

A global debate is still on, but most experts consider technologies like WiMAX close to fourth generation (4G) services, offering better speeds than 3G on GSM networks. It is constrained by the fact that it does not provide enough mobility currently and experiments are on in some countries to offer full mobile voice and data service on such networks.

Unlike in countries like Sweden and Bangladesh where Intel has bid for spectrum directly to run WiMAX services (with other partners), the model in India will involve partnerships with current telecom players. Intel has, however, made it clear it isn't interested in becoming a service provider to push WiMAX.

A source close to the development says Intel plans to float a new company for its WiMAX foray in the country. “Spectrum farming is not Intel's idea. Rather, it’s spectrum partnership,” adds the source.

Asked about the talks, an Intel India spokesperson declined to comment, as did Bharti Airtel, RComm and Tata Communications.

Intel also plans to follow a consortium approach in India to roll out WiMAX-based broadband services in India, similar to its approach to the US and other markets, including Japan, where it has partnered with the likes of Google and Sprint.

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) recently released the information memorandum to auction spectrum for third generation (3G) and BWA services. Under the memorandum, DoT plans to auction two blocks of BWA spectrum at a base price of Rs 1,750 crore for a pan-India licence. The spectrum, which is the radio frequencies that enable mobile communications, will be given in the 2.3 GHz band. Once the defence services vacate more spectrum in the 2.5 GHz band, this will be open for BWA aspirants.

Currently, the country has just around 6.5 million broadband subscribers, much below the estimated 20 million projected by the government by 2010. About 80 per cent of broadband is offered through digital subscriber line (DSL) technology, another 8 per cent through cable and only 1 per cent through wireless.

THE government hopes that by auctioning BWA spectrum, broadband through wireless technology would spur growth.

However, many mobile operators say that GSM 3G services will provide high speed internet data to the masses and is far superior to WiMAX which is still not “established” and its equipment is very expensive.

Last December, state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, had invited bids from potential franchisees to provide mobile WiMAX to its customers in 16 circles last December.

Around 28 companies, including majors like Intel Technology India, Alacatel-Lucent India, Motorola India, Moser Baer Industrial Infrastructure, Huawei, HCL Infosystems, Larsen & Toubro Infotech and TCIL, figured among those who bought the tender documents.

conciliation,arbitration

Conciliation is an alternative dispute resolution (ADR) process whereby the parties to a dispute (including future interest disputes) agree to utilize the services of a conciliator, who then meets with the parties separately in an attempt to resolve their differences. He does this by lowering tensions, improving communications, interpreting issues, providing technical assistance, exploring potential solutions and bringing about a negotiated settlement.
Conciliation differs from arbitration in that the conciliation process, in and of itself, has no legal standing, and the conciliator usually has no authority to seek evidence or call witnesses, usually writes no decision, and makes no award.
Conciliation differs from mediation in that the main goal is to conciliate, most of the time by seeking concessions. In mediation, the mediator tries to guide the discussion in a way that optimizes parties needs, takes feelings into account and reframes representations.

Arbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution (ADR), is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, wherein the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons (the "arbitrators", "arbiters" or "arbitral tribunal"), by whose decision (the "award") they agree to be bound. It is a settlement technique in which a third party reviews the case and imposes a decision that is legally binding for both sides.[1] Other forms of ADR include mediation[2] (a form of settlement negotiation facilitated by a neutral third party) and non-binding resolution by experts. It is more helpful, however, simply to classify arbitration as a form of binding dispute resolution, equivalent to litigation in the courts, and entirely distinct from the other forms of dispute resolution, such as negotiation, mediation, or determinations by experts, which are usually non-binding. Arbitration is most commonly used for the resolution of commercial disputes, particularly in the context of international commercial transactions. The use of arbitration is far more controversial in consumer and employment matters, where arbitration is not voluntary but is instead imposed on consumers or employees through fine-print contracts, denying individuals of their right to access the courts.
Arbitration can be either voluntary or mandatory and can be either binding or non-binding. Non-binding arbitration is, on the surface, similar to mediation. However, the principal distinction is that whereas a mediator will try to help the parties find a middle ground on which to compromise, the (non-binding) arbitrator remains totally removed from the settlement process and will only give a determination of liability and, if appropriate, an indication of the quantum of damages payable.

Wipro's Q2 profits strenghten company confidence

Wipro’s second quarter performance and its upbeat guidance for the next quarter confirm the positive vibes given out earlier by its peers, TCS
and Infosys. The demand recovery seems to be in sight and the top IT deck is well poised to take the advantage.

Wipro, the country’s third-largest IT exporter, surprised analysts with a strong 8% sequential jump in net sales at Rs 6,893 crore (Indian GAAP) backed by better project management and cross currency benefits. Net profit shot up 14% to Rs 1,162 crore.

Also, in dollar terms, Wipro was able to reverse the falling trend in revenue seen since the March 2009 quarter. Its September quarter revenue rose 3% to $1,065 million over the previous quarter. Wipro’s stock ended 2% higher at Rs 604 on Tuesday even though the broader market witnessed heavy selling.

What has cheered investors is the management’s confidence to keep the tempo high in the coming quarters. According to the dollar revenue guidance for the December 2009 quarter, the management expects to either maintain the sequential revenue growth rate or even better it to 4.5%. Moreover, this growth is likely to come without sacrificing profit margins.

Similar to its bigger peers, Wipro has seen a revival in willingness of clients to spend on IT services across verticals and geographies. This is captured by the fact that it has reported increase in request for proposals (RFPs) for projects, including those with discretionary work targeted to improve efficiency.

A major aspect wherein Wipro stands to gain more than its peers is opportunity in the domestic market. It has been catering to the Indian government and private sector clients for a long time through its subsidiary, Wipro Infotech. Today, Indian clients account for one-fourth of Wipro’s revenue, way higher compared with 7-9% for TCS and just over 1% for Infosys.

In the domestic market, so far Wipro has won long-term, high-value contracts in verticals, including telecom, infrastructure and e-governance. Wipro’s maturity in the fast-growing domestic market attracts higher significance given that it competes head-on with multinationals such as IBM and HP.

Establishing presence in such a highly competitive domestic market may not be easy for its Indian peers, who are late-comers to the party. Moreover, Wipro’s management has cited that margins in the domestic business are comparable to those in the international market and thus, would not dilute profitability in the long run.

Given this, it would be no surprise if investors offer a higher rating to Wipro’s stock in times to come. At the current level, it is valued at 21 times its trailing 12-month net profit, a notch lower than Infy’s P/E of 21.8.

Tata Motors profit revs up 110% in Q2

Tata Motors' quarterly profit has more than doubled aided by a marked decline in raw material costs and strong demand for its Ace trucks

and Indica Vista cars, beating street estimates. India's leading auto company's net profit soared 110% to Rs 729 crore during the second quarter of 2009-10 on a revenue base of Rs 7,979 crore. The earnings don't include Tata Motors' overseas units: Jaguar and Land Rover and Tata Daewoo South Korea.

The company improved its market share across heavy and light commercials vehicles during the July to September period driven by revival in industrial activities. Tata Motors sold 89,655 vehicles during the second quarter of FY10, a growth of 21%.

Interestingly, volumes in its medium and heavy commercial turned positive for the first time since first quarter of FY09, company officials said. The company sold 52,723 cars during the quarter, a growth of 13%, helped by new products, finance availability and pre-festive buying. Exports, however, was down from 12,930 units to 8,003 during the period under review.

For the second quarter in a row, Tata Motors improved its operating margin to 13.4%. Volume recovery combined with improved realizations contributed to growth in revenues while stable material prices and accelerated cost reduction efforts continued to yield beneficial impact on margins, the company said.

Tata Motors declared the results after the stock exchanges trading hours. Its stock on Monday closed at Rs 539 on the BSE, up 1.9%. The company, over the last several months, has been tightening its belt, with an aim to bring down costs by Rs 1,000 crore in the next two years.

Tata Motors is in the midst of repaying the entire $3 billion short-term loan it took for the purchase of JLR. After this, its debt to equity ratio would improve to 1:34 from the earlier 1:6.

The company started selling the Nano during the quarter and has delivered 7,506 units manufactured from its Uttarakhand plant. The Nano, off late, has been in the news following incidents of fires being reported in three separate cases. Tata Motors MD Prakash Telang said that the company is doing safety checks on all the sold and unsold Nanos.

Critical Success Factors

The idea of CSFs was first presented by D. Ronald Daniel in the 1960s. It was then built on and popularized a decade later by John F. Rockart, of MIT's Sloan School of Management, and has since been used extensively to help businesses implement their strategies and projects
That's where Critical Success Factors (CSFs) can help. CSFs are the essential areas of activity that must be performed well if you are to achieve the mission, objectives or goals for your business or project.
By identifying your Critical Success Factors, you can create a common point of reference to help you direct and measure the success of your business or project.

Types of csfs
• Industry - these factors result from specific industry characteristics. These are the things that the organization must do to remain competitive.
• Environmental - these factors result from macro-environmental influences on an organization. Things like the business climate, the economy, competitors, and technological advancements are included in this category.
• Strategic - these factors result from the specific competitive strategy chosen by the organization. The way in which the company chooses to position themselves, market themselves, whether they are high volume low cost or low volume high cost producers, etc.
• Temporal - these factors result from the organization's internal forces. Specific barriers, challenges, directions, and influences will determine these CSFs.

Industry Standard

Industry standard is the optimum criteria for any industry to function and carry out operation in their respective fields of production. Industry standard envisages the regulated, lawful, logical usage in the segment of the economy dealing with industrialization. This may include services or goods. Industry standard contributes to global as well as domestic competitiveness. Industry standard plays an important role in the economy of any country especially for those industries which actively participate in the export related activities. For example, in the case of automobile industry, sizes of the tire serve as a means of standardization. Standardization also serves as a quality check for any industry. The global economy is also affected by industry standard, for example majority of the European countries including Germany accounting for around 84% make use of international as well as European standards to operate at par with the foreign countries. Industry standard forms the part and parcel of the industrial policies. Essential details pertaining to technology and characteristics of the organization are furnished by maintaining the standards of industry.
Role of Industry Standard:
1. Administration and the legislative bodies are also benefited by the Industry standard. They govern the practical as well as the technological standards as per the legal requisites.
2. Standardization facilitates a healthy competition and designing of new concepts.
3. Industry standard ascertains the rank of an industry in the economic set up of a country.
4. Optimum standards facilitate the creation of political as well as business related advantages. The reason being that the industry standard is worked out in consonance with the expertise of the corporate houses and different segments of the society.
In a nut shell, industry standard is a crucial tool in acquiring industry goals related to managerial, technological as well as political. Therefore, setting standards for the industry whether in the domestic market or international market provides assurance of transparency. The ultimate aim of setting industry standard is to provide a platform for giving shape to new creations.

Benchmarking

Benchmarking is the process of comparing the business processes and performance metrics including cost, cycle time, productivity, or quality to another that is widely considered to be an industry standard benchmark or best practice. Essentially, benchmarking provides a snapshot of the performance of your business and helps you understand where you are in relation to a particular standard. The result is often a business case and "Burning Platform" for making changes in order to make improvements. The term benchmarking was first used by cobblers to measure people's feet for shoes. They would place someone's foot on a "bench" and mark it out to make the pattern for the shoes. Benchmarking is most used to measure performance using a specific indicator (cost per unit of measure, productivity per unit of measure, cycle time of x per unit of measure or defects per unit of measure) resulting in a metric of performance that is then compared to others.



TYPES OF BENCHMARKING


 Process benchmarking - the initiating firm focuses its observation and investigation of business processes with a goal of identifying and observing the best practices from one or more benchmark firms. Activity analysis will be required where the objective is to benchmark cost and efficiency; increasingly applied to back-office processes where outsourcing may be a consideration.
 Financial benchmarking - performing a financial analysis and comparing the results in an effort to assess your overall competitiveness and productivity.
 Benchmarking from an investor perspective- extending the benchmarking universe to also compare to peer companies that can be considered alternative investment opportunities from the perspective of an investor.
 Performance benchmarking - allows the initiator firm to assess their competitive position by comparing products and services with those of target firms.
 Product benchmarking - the process of designing new products or upgrades to current ones. This process can sometimes involve reverse engineering which is taking apart competitors products to find strengths and weaknesses.
 Strategic benchmarking - involves observing how others compete. This type is usually not industry specific, meaning it is best to look at other industries.
 Functional benchmarking - a company will focus its benchmarking on a single function in order to improve the operation of that particular function. Complex functions such as Human Resources, Finance and Accounting and Information and Communication Technology are unlikely to be directly comparable in cost and efficiency terms and may need to be disaggregated into processes to make valid comparison.
 Best-in-class benchmarking - involves studying the leading competitor or the company that best carries out a specific function.
 Operational benchmarking - embraces everything from staffing and productivity to office flow and analysis of procedures performed[3].

 Process benchmarking - the initiating firm focuses its observation and investigation of business processes with a goal of identifying and observing the best practices from one or more benchmark firms. Activity analysis will be required where the objective is to benchmark cost and efficiency; increasingly applied to back-office processes where outsourcing may be a consideration.
 Financial benchmarking - performing a financial analysis and comparing the results in an effort to assess your overall competitiveness and productivity.
 Benchmarking from an investor perspective- extending the benchmarking universe to also compare to peer companies that can be considered alternative investment opportunities from the perspective of an investor.
 Performance benchmarking - allows the initiator firm to assess their competitive position by comparing products and services with those of target firms.
 Product benchmarking - the process of designing new products or upgrades to current ones. This process can sometimes involve reverse engineering which is taking apart competitors products to find strengths and weaknesses.
 Strategic benchmarking - involves observing how others compete. This type is usually not industry specific, meaning it is best to look at other industries.
 Functional benchmarking - a company will focus its benchmarking on a single function in order to improve the operation of that particular function. Complex functions such as Human Resources, Finance and Accounting and Information and Communication Technology are unlikely to be directly comparable in cost and efficiency terms and may need to be disaggregated into processes to make valid comparison.
 Best-in-class benchmarking - involves studying the leading competitor or the company that best carries out a specific function.
 Operational benchmarking - embraces everything from staffing and productivity to office flow and analysis of procedures performed[3].

 Process benchmarking - the initiating firm focuses its observation and investigation of business processes with a goal of identifying and observing the best practices from one or more benchmark firms. Activity analysis will be required where the objective is to benchmark cost and efficiency; increasingly applied to back-office processes where outsourcing may be a consideration.
 Financial benchmarking - performing a financial analysis and comparing the results in an effort to assess your overall competitiveness and productivity.
 Benchmarking from an investor perspective- extending the benchmarking universe to also compare to peer companies that can be considered alternative investment opportunities from the perspective of an investor.
 Performance benchmarking - allows the initiator firm to assess their competitive position by comparing products and services with those of target firms.
 Product benchmarking - the process of designing new products or upgrades to current ones. This process can sometimes involve reverse engineering which is taking apart competitors products to find strengths and weaknesses.
 Strategic benchmarking - involves observing how others compete. This type is usually not industry specific, meaning it is best to look at other industries.
 Functional benchmarking - a company will focus its benchmarking on a single function in order to improve the operation of that particular function. Complex functions such as Human Resources, Finance and Accounting and Information and Communication Technology are unlikely to be directly comparable in cost and efficiency terms and may need to be disaggregated into processes to make valid comparison.
 Best-in-class benchmarking - involves studying the leading competitor or the company that best carries out a specific function.
 Operational benchmarking - embraces everything from staffing and productivity to office flow and analysis of procedures performed[3].

 Process benchmarking - the initiating firm focuses its observation and investigation of business processes with a goal of identifying and observing the best practices from one or more benchmark firms. Activity analysis will be required where the objective is to benchmark cost and efficiency; increasingly applied to back-office processes where outsourcing may be a consideration.
 Financial benchmarking - performing a financial analysis and comparing the results in an effort to assess your overall competitiveness and productivity.
 Benchmarking from an investor perspective- extending the benchmarking universe to also compare to peer companies that can be considered alternative investment opportunities from the perspective of an investor.
 Performance benchmarking - allows the initiator firm to assess their competitive position by comparing products and services with those of target firms.
 Product benchmarking - the process of designing new products or upgrades to current ones. This process can sometimes involve reverse engineering which is taking apart competitors products to find strengths and weaknesses.
 Strategic benchmarking - involves observing how others compete. This type is usually not industry specific, meaning it is best to look at other industries.
 Functional benchmarking - a company will focus its benchmarking on a single function in order to improve the operation of that particular function. Complex functions such as Human Resources, Finance and Accounting and Information and Communication Technology are unlikely to be directly comparable in cost and efficiency terms and may need to be disaggregated into processes to make valid comparison.
 Best-in-class benchmarking - involves studying the leading competitor or the company that best carries out a specific function.
 Operational benchmarking - embraces everything from staffing and productivity to office flow and analysis of procedures performed[3].

 Process benchmarking - the initiating firm focuses its observation and investigation of business processes with a goal of identifying and observing the best practices from one or more benchmark firms. Activity analysis will be required where the objective is to benchmark cost and efficiency; increasingly applied to back-office processes where outsourcing may be a consideration.
 Financial benchmarking - performing a financial analysis and comparing the results in an effort to assess your overall competitiveness and productivity.
 Benchmarking from an investor perspective- extending the benchmarking universe to also compare to peer companies that can be considered alternative investment opportunities from the perspective of an investor.
 Performance benchmarking - allows the initiator firm to assess their competitive position by comparing products and services with those of target firms.
 Product benchmarking - the process of designing new products or upgrades to current ones. This process can sometimes involve reverse engineering which is taking apart competitors products to find strengths and weaknesses.
 Strategic benchmarking - involves observing how others compete. This type is usually not industry specific, meaning it is best to look at other industries.
 Functional benchmarking - a company will focus its benchmarking on a single function in order to improve the operation of that particular function. Complex functions such as Human Resources, Finance and Accounting and Information and Communication Technology are unlikely to be directly comparable in cost and efficiency terms and may need to be disaggregated into processes to make valid comparison.
 Best-in-class benchmarking - involves studying the leading competitor or the company that best carries out a specific function.
 Operational benchmarking - embraces everything from staffing and productivity to office flow and analysis of procedures performed[3].

Windows 7 business standard by next year

In just 12 months, Windows 7 will become the standard operating system for business PCs, analysts believe.

Currently, eight out of 10 new PCs run Windows XP, nearly eight years after the operating system was first released. By next year, that figure could drop by more than half, according to new research from industry watchers Forrester.

"Today, Windows XP is installed on four out of five new PCs. When we asked IT professionals to forecast their anticipated new PC deployments within 12 months from now, we discovered that Windows 7 will already be the primary OS deployed, with Windows Vista shrinking from 15 per cent to 10 per cent and Windows XP shrinking from 81 per cent to 34 per cent," Forrester's report said.

The research, which surveyed North American and European SMEs and enterprises, found that the majority of businesses using Windows XP plan to migrate straight to Windows 7 and without migrating to Vista first.

Of the companies polled, 61 per cent said they'll jump from XP to Windows 7, while just seven per cent said they plan to make a stop at Vista on the way.

PERSONALITY

Personality can be defined as a dynamic and organized set of characteristics possessed by a person that uniquely influences his or her cognitions, motivations, and behaviors in various situations [3]. The word "personality" originates from the Latin persona, which means mask. Significantly, in thetheatre of the ancient Latin-speaking world, the mask was not used as a plot device to disguise the identity of a character, but rather was a convention employed to represent or typify that character.

Personality theories
Critics of personality theory claim personality is "plastic" across time, places, moods, and situations. Changes in personality may indeed result from diet (or lack thereof), medical effects, significant events, or learning. However, most personality theories emphasize stability over fluctuation.
Trait theories
According to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association, personality traits are "enduring patterns of perceiving, relating to, and thinking about the environment and oneself that are exhibited in a wide range of social and personal contexts." Theorists generally assume a) traits are relatively stable over time, b) traits differ among individuals (e.g. some people are outgoing while others are reserved), and c) traits influence behavior.
The most common models of traits incorporate three to five broad dimensions or factors. The least controversial dimension, observed as far back as the ancient Greeks, is simplyextraversion vs. introversion (outgoing and physical-stimulation-oriented vs. quiet and physical-stimulation-averse).

Type theories
Personality type refers to the psychological classification of different types of people. Personality types are distinguished from personality traits, which come in different levels or degrees. For example, according to type theories, there are two types of people, introverts and extraverts. According to trait theories, introversion and extraversion are part of a continuous dimension, with many people in the middle. The idea of psychological types originated in the theoretical work of Carl Jung[citation needed] and William Marston, whose work is reviewed in Dr. Travis Bradberry's The Personality Code. Jung's seminal 1921 book on the subject is available in English as Psychological Types.
Building on the writings and observations of Jung, during World War II, Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother, Katharine C. Briggs, delineated personality types by constructing the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator.[5] This model was later used by David Keirsey with a different understanding from Jung, Briggs and Myers.[6] In the former Soviet Union, Lithuanian Aušra Augustinavičiūtė independently derived a model of personality type from Jung's called Socionics.
The model is an older and more theoretical approach to personality, accepting extraversion and introversion as basic psychological orientations in connection with two pairs of psychological functions:
 Perceiving functions: sensing and intuition (trust in concrete, sensory-oriented facts vs. trust in abstract concepts and imagined possibilities)
 Judging functions: thinking and feeling (basing decisions primarily on logic vs. considering the effect on people).
Briggs and Myers also added another personality dimension to their type indicator to measure whether a person prefers to use a judging or perceiving function when interacting with the external world. Therefore they included questions designed to indicate whether someone wishes to come to conclusions (judgment) or to keep options open (perception).[5]
This personality typology has some aspects of a trait theory: it explains people's behaviour in terms of opposite fixed characteristics. In these more traditional models, the sensing/intuition preference is considered the most basic, dividing people into "N" (intuitive) or "S" (sensing) personality types. An "N" is further assumed to be guided either by thinking or feeling, and divided into the "NT" (scientist, engineer) or "NF" (author, humanitarian) temperament. An "S", by contrast, is assumed to be guided more by the judgment/perception axis, and thus divided into the "SJ" (guardian, traditionalist) or "SP" (performer, artisan) temperament.[6] These four are considered basic, with the other two factors in each case (including always extraversion/introversion) less important. Critics of this traditional view have observed that the types can be quite strongly stereotyped by professions (although neither Myers nor Keirsey engaged in such stereotyping in their type descriptions[5][6]), and thus may arise more from the need to categorize people for purposes of guiding their career choice.[7] This among other objections led to the emergence of the five-factor view, which is less concerned with behavior under work conditions and more concerned with behavior in personal and emotional circumstances. (It should be noted, however, that the MBTI is not designed to measure the "work self," but rather what Myers and McCaulley called the "shoes-off self."[8]) Some critics have argued for more or fewer dimensions while others have proposed entirely different theories (often assuming different definitions of "personality").


Psychoanalytic theories
Psychoanalytic theories explain human behaviour in terms of the interaction of various components of personality. Sigmund Freud was the founder of this school. Freud drew on the physics of his day (thermodynamics) to coin the term psychodynamics. Based on the idea of converting heat into mechanical energy, he proposed psychic energy could be converted into behavior. Freud's theory places central importance on dynamic, unconscious psychological conflicts.
Freud divides human personality into three significant components: the [[id,ego and the superego,]. The id acts according to the pleasure principle, demanding immediate gratification of its needs regardless of external environment; the ego then must emerge in order to realistically meet the wishes and demands of the id in accordance with the outside world, adhering to thereality principle. Finally, the superego(conscience) inculcates moral judgment and societal rules upon the ego, thus forcing the demands of the id to be met not only realistically but morally. The superego is the last function of the personality to develop, and is the embodiment of parental/social ideals established during childhood. According to Freud, personality is based on the dynamic interactions of these three components[9].
The channeling and release of sexual (libidal) and aggressive energies, which ensues from the "Eros" (sex; instinctual self-preservation) and "Thanatos" (death; instinctual self-annihilation) drives respectively, are major components of his theory.[9] It is important to note Freud's broad understanding of sexuality included all kinds of pleasurable feelings experienced by the human body.
Freud proposed five psychosexual stages of personality development. He believed adult personality is dependent upon early childhood experiences and largely determined by age five.[9]Fixations that develop during the Infantile stage contribute to adult personality and behavior.
One of Sigmund Freud's earlier associates, Alfred Adler, did agree with Freud early childhood experiences are important to development, and believed birth order may influence personality development. Adler believed the oldest was the one that set high goals to achieve to get the attention they lost back when the younger siblings were born. He believed the middle children were competitive and ambitious possibly so they are able to surpass the first-born’s achievements, but were not as much concerned about the glory. Also he believed the last born would be more dependent and sociable but be the baby. He also believed that the only child loves being the center of attention and matures quickly, but in the end fails to become independent.
Heinz Kohut thought similarly to Freud’s idea of transference. He used narcissism as a model of how we develop our sense of self. Narcissism is the exaggerated sense of one self in which is believed to exist in order to protect one's low self esteem and sense of worthlessness. Kohut had a significant impact on the field by extending Freud's theory of narcissism and introducing what he called the 'self-object transferences' of mirroring and idealization. In other words, children need to idealize and emotionally "sink into" and identify with the idealized competence of admired figures such as parents or older siblings. They also need to have their self-worth mirrored by these people. These experiences allow them to thereby learn the self-soothing and other skills that are necessary for the development of a healthy sense of self.
Another important figure in the world of personality theory was Karen Horney. She is credited with the development of the "real self" and the "ideal self". She believes all people have these two views of their own self. The "real self" is how you really are with regards to personality, values, and morals; but the "ideal self" is a construct you apply to yourself to conform to social and personal norms and goals. Ideal self would be "I can be successful, I am CEO material"; and real self would be "I just work in the mail room, with not much chance of high promotion".

Advertising .

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Advertising is a form of communication used to influence individuals to purchase products or services or support political candidates or ideas. Frequently it communicates a message that includes the name of the product or service and how that product or service could potentially benefit the consumer. Advertising often attempts to persuade potential customers to purchase or to consume a particular brandof product or service. Modern advertising developed with the rise of mass production in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.[1]
Commercial advertisers often seek to generate increased consumption of their products or services through branding, which involves the repetition of an image or product name in an effort to associate related qualities with the brand in the minds of consumers. Different types of media can be used to deliver these messages, including traditional media such as newspapers, magazines, television, radio, billboards or direct mail. Advertising may be placed by an advertising agency on behalf of a company or other organization.
Organizations that spend money on advertising promoting items other than a consumer product or service include political parties, interest groups, religious organizations and governmental agencies. Non-profit organizations may rely on free modes of persuasion, such as a public service announcement.
Money spent on advertising has increased in recent years. In 2007, spending on advertising was estimated at more than $150 billion in the United States[2] and $385 billion worldwide,[3] and the latter to exceed $450 billion by 2010.[citation needed]
Advertising is communication used to influence individuals to purchase products or services or support political candidates or ideas. Advertising can be displaced on billboards, newspapers, T.V., websites, movies and more.


Types of advertising



Television
Main articles: Television advertisement and Music in advertising
The TV commercial is generally considered the most effective mass-market advertising format, as is reflected by the high prices TV networks charge for commercial airtime during popular TV events. The annual Super Bowl football game in the United States is known as the most prominent advertising event on television. The average cost of a single thirty-second TV spot during this game has reached US$3 million (as of 2009).
The majority of television commercials feature a song or jingle that listeners soon relate to the product.
Virtual advertisements may be inserted into regular television programming through computer graphics. It is typically inserted into otherwise blank backdrops[10] or used to replace local billboards that are not relevant to the remote broadcast audience.[11] More controversially, virtual billboards may be inserted into the background[12] where none exist in real-life. Virtual product placement is also possible.[13][14]
[edit]Infomercials
Main article: Infomercial
An infomercial is a long-format television commercial, typically five minutes or longer. The word "infomercial" is a portmanteau of the words "information" and "commercial". The main objective in an infomercial is to create an impulse purchase, so that the consumer sees the presentation and then immediately buys the product through the advertised toll-free telephone number or website. Infomercials describe, display, and often demonstrate products and their features, and commonly have testimonials from consumers and industry professionals.
[edit]Radio advertising
Radio advertising is a form of advertising via the medium of radio.
Radio advertisements are broadcasted as radio waves to the air from a transmitter to an antenna and a thus to a receiving device. Airtime is purchased from a station or network in exchange for airing the commercials. While radio has the obvious limitation of being restricted to sound, proponents of radio advertising often cite this as an advantage
[edit]Print advertising
Print advertising describes advertising in a printed medium such as a newspaper, magazine, or trade journal. This encompasses everything from media with a very broad readership base, such as a major national newspaper or magazine, to more narrowly targeted media such as local newspapers and trade journals on very specialized topics. A form of print advertising isclassified advertising, which allows private individuals or companies to purchase a small, narrowly targeted ad for a low fee advertising a product or service.
[edit]Online advertising
Online advertising is a form of promotion that uses the Internet and World Wide Web for the expressed purpose of delivering marketing messages to attract customers. Examples of online advertising include contextual ads on search engine results pages, banner ads, Rich Media Ads, Social network advertising, online classified advertising, advertising networks and e-mail marketing, including e-mail spam.
[edit]Billboard advertising
Billboards are large structures located in public places which display advertisements to passing pedestrians and motorists. Most often, they are located on main roads with a large amount of passing motor and pedestrian traffic; however, they can be placed in any location with large amounts of viewers, such as on mass transit vehicles and in stations, in shopping malls or office buildings, and in stadiums.
[edit]Mobile billboard advertising


The RedEye newspaper advertised to its target market atNorth Avenue Beach with a sailboat billboard on Lake Michigan.
Mobile billboards are truck- or blimp-mounted billboards or digital screens. These can be dedicated vehicles built solely for carrying advertisements along routes preselected by clients, or they can be specially-equipped cargo trucks. The billboards are often lighted; some being backlit, and others employing spotlights. Some billboard displays are static, while others change; for example, continuously or periodically rotating among a set of advertisements.
Mobile displays are used for various situations in metropolitan areas throughout the world, including:
 Target advertising
 One-day, and long-term campaigns
 Conventions
 Sporting events
 Store openings and similar promotional events
 Big advertisements from smaller companies
 Others
[edit]In-store advertising
In-store advertising is any advertisement placed in a retail store. It includes placement of a product in visible locations in a store, such as at eye level, at the ends of aisles and near checkout counters, eye-catching displays promoting a specific product, and advertisements in such places as shopping carts and in-store video displays.
[edit]Covert advertising
Main article: Product placement
Covert advertising, also known as guerrilla advertising, is when a product or brand is embedded in entertainment and media. For example, in a film, the main character can use an item or other of a definite brand, as in the movie Minority Report, where Tom Cruise's character John Anderton owns a phone with the Nokia logo clearly written in the top corner, or his watch engraved with the Bulgari logo. Another example of advertising in film is in I, Robot, where main character played by Will Smith mentions his Converse shoes several times, calling them "classics," because the film is set far in the future. I, Robot and Spaceballs also showcase futuristic cars with the Audi and Mercedes-Benz logos clearly displayed on the front of the vehicles. Cadillac chose to advertise in the movie The Matrix Reloaded, which as a result contained many scenes in which Cadillac cars were used. Similarly, product placement for Omega Watches, Ford, VAIO, BMW and Aston Martin cars are featured in recent James Bond films, most notably Casino Royale. In "Fantastic Four 2: Rise of the Silver Surfer", the main transport vehiche shows a large Dodge logo on the front. Blade Runner includes some of the most obvious product placement; the whole film stops to show a Coca-Cola billboard.
[edit]Celebrities
Main article: Celebrity branding
This type of advertising focuses upon using celebrity power, fame, money, popularity to gain recognition for their products and promote specific stores or products. Advertisers often advertise their products, for example, when celebrities share their favorite products or wear clothes by specific brands or designers. Celebrities are often involved in advertising campaigns such as television or print adverts to advertise specific or general products.
The use of celebrities to endorse a brand can have its downsides, however. One mistake by a celebrity can be detrimental to the public relations of a brand. For example, following his performance of eight gold medals at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, China, swimmer Michael Phelps' contract with Kellog was terminated, as Kellog did not want to associate with him after he was photographed smoking marijuana.

Liberalization

In general, liberalization (or liberalisation) refers to a relaxation of previous government restrictions, usually in areas of social or economic policy. Liberalization of autocratic regimes may precede democratization (or not, as in the case of the Prague Spring).
In the arena of social policy it may refer to a relaxation of laws restricting for example divorce, abortion, homosexuality or drugs.
Most often, the term is used to refer to economic liberalization, especially trade liberalization or capital market liberalization.

Although economic liberalization is often associated with privatization, the two can be quite separate processes. For example, the European Union has liberalized gas and electricitymarkets, instituting a system of competition; but some of the leading European energy companies (such as EDF and Vattenfall) remain partially or completely in government ownership.
Liberalized and privatized public services may be dominated by just a few big companies particularly in sectors with high capital costs, or high such as water, gas and electricity. In some cases they may remain legal monopoly at least for some part of the market (e.g. small consumers).
Liberalization is one of three focal points (the others being privatization and stabilization) of the Washington Consensus's trinity strategy for economies in transition. An example of Liberalization is the "Washington Consensus" which was a set of policies created and used by Argentina
Liberalization vs Democratization
There is a distinct difference between liberalization and democratization, which are often thought to be the same concept. Liberalization can take place without democratization, and deals with a combination of policy and social change specialized to a certain issue such as the liberalization of government-held property for private purchase, whereas democratization is more politically specialized that can arise from a liberalization, but works in a broader level of government.

IBM launches new network analysis technologies

IBM, global major in providing software solutions, has launched two new network analysis technologies named as Social Network Analysis (SNA) technology and IBM Customer Analyst technology.
The SNA technology will allow the telecom service providers to have a complete analysis of the pattern in which services are being used by the customers. It is developed by the scientists in IBM research lab in India.
The technology will facilitate the telecom operators with the calling patterns of the subscribers that will enable them to devise more attractive and useful schemes for the users.
Mr. Guruduth Banavar, Director, IBM India Research Lab and Chief Technologist, IBM India and South Asia said that the field of telecommunication is growing at a very fast pace and the mobile telephony market is getting highly competitive. The companies require intelligent solutions to analyze customer behavior so that they can increase customer satisfaction and grab more market shares.
Mr. Banavar added that the IBM’s India center has been researching on the technology for the past two years.

Nobel Economics Prize wraps up awards season

STOCKHOLM — The 2009 Nobel season wraps up Monday with the announcement of the winner of the Nobel Economics Prize, expected to attract special attention in the wake of the global economic crisis.
The Swedish Academy of Sciences that attributes the prize releases no list of nominees, so pundits are left to speculate wildly up until the announcement at 1:00 pm (1100 GMT).
The Economics Prize is the only one of the six Nobel prizes not created in Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel's 1896 will -- it was created much later to celebrate the 1968 tricentary of the Swedish central bank and was first awarded in 1969.
Since then, men have swept the Economics Prize, with no woman clinching the 10-million-kronor (1.42-million-dollar, 980,000-euro) honour which can be shared by up to three winners.
Americans also dominate the list of economics laureates, with 42 of the 62 prizewinners since 1969 holding US citizenship.
Last year, the coveted award went to US economist, New York Times columnist and fierce George W. Bush critic Paul Krugman for a trade analysis theory that determines the effects of free trade and globalisation, as well as the driving forces behind worldwide urbanisation.
At online betting site Ladbrokes, Eugene Fama of the US, often dubbed the "father of efficient market hypothesis", is -- as last year -- tipped as the most likely winner on Monday, with 2-to-1 odds.
He could possibly share the prize with Kenneth French, a professor at Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
Together, the duo questioned the traditional way of measuring market returns and developed an alternative method called the "Fama-French three factor model."
Other Americans mentioned in the media as possible laureates are Paul Romer, Matthew Rabin and William Nordhaus.
Swedish paper of reference Dagens Nyheter speculated however that the winner would most likely be Austria's Ernst Fehr, a behavioural economist from the University of Zurich who has specialised in the importance of the social group, cooperation and fairness in economics.
Others rumoured to be in the running are Bengt Holmstroem of Finland, Frenchman Jean Tirole, who among other things specialises in game theory and the psychology of economic decisions, and Indian economist Jagdish Bhagwati, a professor at Columbia University in New York and the founder of the Journal of International Economics.
For the five Nobel prizes awarded last week -- for medicine, physics, chemistry, literature and peace -- nine of the 11 laureates were US citizens, including US President Barack Obama who sensationally won the prestigious Peace Prize.
The formal prize ceremonies will be held in Stockholm and Oslo on December 10.

SWOT Analysis ITC

Formerly Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited (ITC).
ITC is one of India's biggest and best-known private sector companies. In fact it is one of the World's most high profile consumer operations. Its businesses and brands are focused almost entirely on the Indian markets, and despite being most well-known for its tobacco brands such as Gold Flake, the business is now diversifying into new FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) brands in a number of market sectors - including cigarettes, hotels, paper, agriculture, packaged foods and confectionary, branded apparel, personal care, greetings cards, Information Technology, safety matches, incense sticks and stationery. Examples of its successful new FMCG products include:
• Aashirvaad - India's most popular atta brand with over 50% market share. It is also present in spices and instant mixes.
• Mint-o - Mint-0 Fresh is the largest cough lozenge brand in India.
• Bingo! - a new introduction of finger snacks.
• Kitchens of India - pre-prepared foods designed by ITC's master chefs.
• Sunfeast - is ITC's biscuit brand (and the sub-brand is also used on some pasta products).
Strengths
ITC leveraged it traditional businesses to develop new brands for new segments. For example, ITC used its experience of transporting and distributing tobacco products to remote and distant parts of India to the advantage of its FMCG products. ITC master chefs from its hotel chain are often asked to develop new food concepts for its FMCG business.
ITC is a diversified company trading in a number of business sectors including cigarettes, hotels, paper, agriculture, packaged foods and confectionary, branded apparel, personal care, greetings cards, Information Technology, safety matches, incense sticks and stationery.
Weaknesses
The company's original business was traded in tobacco. ITC stands for Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited. It is interesting that a business that is now so involved in branding continues to use its original name, despite the negative connection of tobacco with poor health and premature death.
To fund its cash guzzling FMCG start-up, the company is still dependant upon its tobacco revenues. Cigarettes account for 47 per cent of the company's turnover, and that in itself is responsible for 80% of its profits. So there is an argument that ITC's move into FMCG (Fast Moving Consumer Goods) is being subsidised by its tobacco operations. Its Gold Flake tobacco brand is the largest FMCG brand in India - and this single brand alone hold 70% of the tobacco market.
Opportunities
Core brands such as Aashirvaad, Mint-o, Bingo! And Sun Feast (and others) can be developed using strategies of market development, product development and marketing penetration.
ITC is moving into new and emerging sectors including Information Technology, supporting business solutions.
e-Choupal is a community of practice that links rural Indian farmers using the Internet. This is an original and well thought of initiative that could be used in other sectors in many other parts of the world. It is also an ambitious project that has a goal of reaching 10 million farmers in 100,000 villages. Take a look at eChoupal here http://www.itcportal.com/agri_exports/e-choupal_new.htm
ITC leverages e-Choupal in a novel way. The company researched the tastes of consumers in the North, West and East of India of atta (a popular type of wheat flour), then used the network to source and create the raw materials from farmers and then blend them for consumers under purposeful brand names such as Aashirvaad Select in the Northern market, Aashirvaad MP Chakki in the Western market and Aashirvaad in the Eastern market. This concept is tremendously difficult for competitors to emulate.
Chairman Yogi Deveshwar's strategic vision is to turn his Indian conglomerate into the country's premier FMCG business.
Per capita consumption of personal care products in India is the lowest in the world offering an opportunity for ITC's soaps, shampoos and fragrances under their Wills brand.
Threats
The obvious threat is from competition, both domestic and international. The laws of economics dictate that if competitors see that there is a solid profit to be made in an emerging consumer society that ultimately new products and services will be made available. Western companies will see India as an exciting opportunity for themselves to find new market segments for their own offerings.
ITC's opportunities are likely to be opportunities for other companies as well. Therefore the dynamic of competition will alter in the medium-term. Then ITC will need to decide whether being a diversified conglomerate is the most competitive strategic formation for a secure future.
TC was incorporated on August 24, 1910 under the name of 'Imperial Tobacco Company of India Limited'. Its beginnings were humble. A leased office on Radha Bazar Lane, Kolkata, was the centre of the Company's existence. The Company celebrated its 16th birthday on August 24, 1926, by purchasing the plot of land situated at 37, Chowringhee, (now renamed J.L. Nehru Road) Kolkata, for the sum of Rs 310,000. More . . .

What is "free-float market capitalization"?

Many different types of investors hold the shares of a company! The Govt. may hold some of the shares. Some of the shares may be held by the “founders” or “directors” of the company. Some of the shares may be held by the FDI’s etc. etc!

Now, only the “open market” shares that are free for trading by anyone, are called the “free-float” shares. When we are calculating the Sensex, we are interested in these “free-float” shares!

A particular company, may have certain shares in the open market and certain shares that are not available for trading in the open market.

According the BSE, any shares that DO NOT fall under the following criteria, can be considered to be open market shares:
• Holdings by founders/directors/ acquirers which has control element
• Holdings by persons/ bodies with "controlling interest"
• Government holding as promoter/acquirer
• Holdings through the FDI Route
• Strategic stakes by private corporate bodies/ individuals
• Equity held by associate/group companies (cross-holdings)
• Equity held by employee welfare trusts
• Locked-in shares and shares which would not be sold in the open market in normal course.
A company has to submit a complete report about “who has how many of the company’s shares” to the BSE. On the basis of this, the BSE will decide the “free-float factor” of the company. The “free-float factor” is a very valuable number! If you multiply the "free-float factor" with the “market cap” of that company, you will get the “free-float market cap” which is the value of the shares of the company in the open market!
A simple way to understand the “free-float market cap” would be, the total cost of buying all the shares in the open market!

So, having understood what the “free float market cap” is, now what? How do you find out the value of the Sensex at a particular point? Well, it’s pretty simple….
First: Find out the “free-float market cap” of all the 30 companies that make up the Sensex!

Second: Add all the “free-float market cap’s” of all the 30 companies!

Third: Make all this relative to the Sensex base. The value you get is the Sensex value!

The “third” step probably confused you. To understand it, you will need to understand “ratios and proportions” from 5th standard mathematics. Think of it this way:

Suppose, for a “free-float market cap” of Rs.100,000 Cr... the Sensex value is 4000…
Then, for a “free-float market cap” of Rs.150,000 Cr... the Sensex value will be..

So, the Sensex value will be 6000 if the “free-float market cap” comes to Rs.150,000 Cr!

Please Note: Every time one of the 30 companies has a “stock split” or a "bonus" etc. appropriate changes are made in the “market cap” calculations.

Now, there is only one question left to be answered, which 30 companies, why those 30 companies, why no other companies?

The 30 companies that make up the Sensex are selected and reviewed from time to time by an “index committee”. This “index committee” is made up of academicians, mutual fund managers, finance journalists, independent governing board members and other participants in the financial markets.

The main criteria for selecting the 30 stocks is as follows:
Market capitalization: The company should have a market capitalization in the Top 100 market capitalization’s of the BSE. Also the market capitalization of each company should be more than 0.5% of the total market capitalization of the Index.

Trading frequency: The company to be included should have been traded on each and every trading day for the last one year. Exceptions can be made for extreme reasons like share suspension etc.

Number of trades: The scrip should be among the top 150 companies listed by average number of trades per day for the last one year.

Industry representation: The companies should be leaders in their industry group.

Listed history: The companies should have a listing history of at least one year on BSE.

Track record: In the opinion of the index committee, the company should have an acceptable track record.
Having understood all this, you now know how the Sensex is calculated.

What is "market capitalization"?

market capitalisation (an estimation of the value of a business that is obtained by multiplying the number of shares outstanding by the current prie of a share)


You probably think that you have never heard of the term “market capitalization” before. You have! When you are talking about “mid-cap”, “small-cap” and “large-cap” stocks, you are talking about market capitalization!

Market cap or market capitalization is simply the worth of a company in terms of it’s shares! To put it in a simple way, if you were to buy all the shares of a particular company, what is the amount you would have to pay? That amount is called the “market capitalization”!

To calculate the market cap of a particular company, simply multiply the “current share price” by the “number of shares issued by the company”! Just to give you an idea, ONGC, has a market cap of “Rs.170,705.21 Cr” (when this article was written)

Depending on the value of the market cap, the company will either be a “mid-cap” or “large-cap” or “small-cap” company! Now the question is, how do YOU calculate the market cap of a particular company? You don’t! Just go to a website like MoneyControl.com and look up the company whose market cap you are interested in finding out! The figure in front of “Mkt. Cap” will be the market cap value.

Having seen what market cap is and how to find out the market cap of a particular company, let us try to understand the concept of “free-float market cap”

BUSINESS STANDARD

Business Standard is a financial daily from Business Standard Ltd (BSL). It is published in two languages (English and Hindi) from 14 centres in India. The main English edition comes out from 12 centres - Mumbai, New Delhi, Kolkata, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad, Hyderabad, Chandigarh, Pune, Lucknow, Bhubaneswar, and Kochi - and reaches readers in over 1,000 towns and cities across the country.
Started in 1975 by the Ananda Bazar group in what was then Calcutta, the paper was hived off as a separate company in 1996, and then bought by Mumbai-based financial investors, after which it began a phase of rapid expansion with the launch of new editions.
T.N. Ninan has been the editor since 1993, after he moved over from the editorship of The Economic Times. Business Standard sells 184,000 copies daily, making it the second largest out of six financial dailies in India. It has a reputation for reliable reporting and responsible journalism, as well as for its stimulating page of analysis and editorial comment. It has pioneered the ranking of the wealthiest Indians (in the Billionaire Club), and offers along with the paper free monthly magazines on motoring and aviation. In 2006, the paper started its Sunday edition from three publishing centres.
The Hindi paper is a first. Launched in February 2008, it comes out from seven centres, stretching from Mumbai in the west, and running across the Hindi heartland, to Kolkata in the east. The paper is edited by Bhupesh Bhandari.
The newspaper's website is business-standard.com, through which visitors can also access the Business Standard e-paper, with a choice of editions. BSL also publishes periodicals, including BS Motoring, Indian Management and the Asian Management Review.

Stolper-Samuelson theorem

Stolper-Samuelson theorem is a basic theorem in trade theory. It describes a relation between the relative prices of output goods and relative factor rewards, specifically, real wagesand real returns to capital.
The theorem states that — under some economic assumptions (constant returns, perfect competition) — a rise in the relative price of a good will lead to a rise in the return to that factor which is used most intensively in the production of the good, and conversely, to a fall in the return to the other factor.
It was derived in 1941 from within the framework of the Heckscher-Ohlin model by Paul Samuelson and Wolfgang Stolper, but has subsequently been derived in less restricted models. As a term, it is applied to all cases where the effect is seen. Jones & Scheinkman (1977) show that under very general conditions the factor returns change with output prices as predicted by the theorem. If considering the change in real returns under increased international trade a robust finding of the theorem is that returns to the scarce factor will go down, ceteris paribus. A further robust corollary of the theorem is that a compensation to the scarce-factor exists which will overcome this effect and make increased trade Pareto optimal.
The original Heckscher-Ohlin model was a two factor model with a labour market specified by a single number. Therefore, the early versions of the theorem could make no predictions about the effect on the unskilled labour force in a high income country under trade liberalization. However, more sophisticated models with multiple classes of worker productivity have been shown to produce the Stolper-Samuelson effect within each class of labour: Unskilled workers producing traded goods in a high-skill country will be worse off as international trade increases, because, relative to the world market in the good they produce, an unskilled first world production-line worker is a less abundant factor of production than capital.
The Stolper-Samuelson theorem is closely linked to the factor price equalization theorem, which states that, regardless of international factor mobility, factor prices will tend to equalize across countries that do not differ in technology.
•
Derivation
Considering a two-good economy that produces only wheat and cloth, with labour and land being the only factors of production, wheat a land-intensive industry and cloth a labour-intensive one, and assuming that the price of each product equals its marginal cost, the theorem can be derived.
The price of cloth should be:
(1) P(C) = ar + bw,
with P(C) standing for the price of cloth, r standing for rent paid to landowners, w for wage levels and a and b respectively standing for the amount of land and labour used.
Similarly, the price of wheat would be:
(2) P(W) = cr + dw
With P(W) standing for the price of wheat, r and w for rent and wages, and c and d for the respective amount of land and labour used.
If, then, cloth experiences a rise in its price, at least one of its factors must also become more expensive, for equation 1 to hold true, since the relative amounts of labour and land are not affected by changing prices. It can be assumed that it would be labour, the intensively used factor in the production of cloth, that would rise.
When wages rise, rent must fall, in order for equation 2 to hold true. But a fall in rent also affects equation 1. For it to still hold true, then, the rise in wages must be more than proportional to the rise in cloth prices.
A rise in the price of a product, then, will more than proportionally raise the return to the most intensively used factor, and a fall on the return to the less intensively used factor.

Key Issues In Supply Chain Management

The supply chain management issues concern activities of the firm at various levels of decision making, ranging from operational level to strategic level via tactical level.
The strategic level : The decision making at this level is made with long term objectives and with long lasting effects. These include decisions regarding location of various facilities, including the manufacturing plant, distribution warehouses and the structure of the distribution channel.
The tactical level: Decision making at this level is concerned with purchasing and production functions, inventory policies and transportation strategies. These decisions will be usually updated on an annual basis.
The operational level: Decision making at operational level will concern day to day management of activities such as scheduling, routing and vehicle loading etc.
Your text provided details of some of the key issues identified by the authors. Your text is laid out in that line. The key issues in contemporary supply chain management are:
• Configuration of distribution network : This issue deals with the design of a distribution network to serve a specific market. This will consist of a set of warehouses and retail outlets, together with the manufacturing plant and supply sources. The design will be based on consideration of location and capacity of each of these elements. The total network cost will include the costs of inventory at various levels and costs of transportation between various facilities. This will also determine the level of service available to the customers.
• Inventory control: This is concerned with the levels of inventory to be held at various points in the supply chain. As inventory represents costs, the sensible approach is to hold as low an inventory as possible but businesses are forced to hold inventories as a buffer to counter the affects of an uncertain demand. How to minimise the uncertainty and therefore the necessity of holding unnecessary inventory which increases the cost at the end?? This is one of the key issues in supply chain management.
• Distribution strategy: The distribution strategy is concerned with the distribution of the firm's products. There are several strategies available such as cross-docking, the classical distribution strategy or direct shipping. Which one is the best suitable for the firm to achieve its supply chain and corporate goals??
• Supply chain integration and strategic partnering: This is concerned with the complex issue of strategic inter organisational partnership for achieving competitive advantage. This is about sharing of information and efficient use of the information for coordinating business processes to deliver a superior value to the customers. How to achieve this and what are the challenges? This is one of the emerging issues in supply chain management.
• Product design: This is concerned with the design of the product and its impact on total cost of the product. How does the design of a product affect the various cost elements within the supply chain? It is possible that the design determines the strategies to be followed regarding inventory or transportation. The design may also determine the length of the product life cycle and the extent of uncertainty associated with demand for this product. How to leverage design to achieve supply chain management objectives.
• Information technology and decision support systems: The enabling role of information and communication technologies has been identified. The concerns of contemporary supply chain management are the efficient use of modern technology including the Internet and computerised decision support systems. The technology allows acquisition of vast quantity of data, information and their subsequent processing in accordance with selected decision criteria. Will these technologies emerge as key determinants of success in the management of supply chains?
• Customer value: The key issue is the definition of customer value in an age of increasing consumer power. How will supply chains will be designed to provide value to the customers and how will firms define value?

What Is Recession? Economic Recession Definition

Many professionals and experts around the world believe that a true economic recession can only be confirmed if GDP (Gross Domestic Product) growth is negative for a period of two or more consecutive quarters.

The roots of a recession and its true starting point actually rest in the several quarters of positive but slowing growth before the recession cycle really begins. Often in a mild recession the first quarter of negative growth is followed by slight positive growth, then negative growth returns and the recession trend continues.
While the "two quarter" definition is accepted globally, many economists have trouble supporting it completely as it does not consider other important economic change variables. For instance, current national unemployment rates or consumer confidence and spending levels are all a part of the economic system and must to be taken into account when defining a recession and its attributes.
The agency that is officially in charge of declaring a recession in the United States is known as the National Bureau of Economic Research, or NBER. The NBER define's a recession as a “significant decline in economic activity lasting more than a few months.”

We often do not receive official word of an economic recession until we are several months into it as NBER must take time to calculate the multitude of variables available before making their decision. While economic recessions are foreseeable, they generally are not detected until already in motion.
It is actually more common than you might realize for countries around the world to experience mild economic recessions. Recession (or contraction) is a natural result of the economic cycle and will adjust for changes in consumer spending and consumption or increasing and decreasing prices of goods and labor.
Rarely though entirely possible, experiencing a multitude of these negative factors simultaneously can lead to a deep recession or even long economic depression.


Causes of economic recession
An economic recession is primarily attributed to the actions taken to control the money supply in an economy. The Federal Reserve is the agency responsible for maintaining the delicate balance between money supply, interest rates, and inflation. When this delicate balance is tipped, the economy is forced to correct itself.
The Fed sometimes deals with these situations by dumping huge amounts of money supply into the money market. This helps to keep interest rates low, even as inflation rises. Inflation is the rise in the prices of goods and services over a period of time. So, if inflation is increasing, it means that goods and services are costing more now than they did before. The higher the level of inflation, the smaller the percentage of goods and services is which can be bought with a certain amount of money. There can be many contributing factors for inflation, which include but are not limited to increased costs of production, higher costs of energy, and/or the national debt.
In an environment where inflation is prevalent, people tend to cut out things like leisure spending. They also budget more, spend less on things they usually indulge in, and start saving more money than they did. As people and businesses start finding ways to cut costs and derail unneeded expenditures, the GDP begins to decline. Then, unemployment rates will rise because companies start laying off workers to cut more costs, because consumers are not spending like they were. It is these combined factors that manage to drive the economy into a state of recession.
This set of circumstances, coupled with the ability of people to get access to greater amounts of loan money due to extremely lax loan practices, creates a cycle of unsustainable economic activity that will eventually grind an economy to a near halted existence. You could also say that a recession is actually caused by factors that might stunt the growth that is available from the short term benefits to an economy that can be brought about by such things like spiking oil prices or even war. And while these are very short term in nature usually, they have been known to correct themselves quicker than the full blown recessions that have happened in the past.


Effects of economic recession
Generally, an economic recession can be spotted before it actually happens. There are ways to spot it before it actually hits by observing the changing economic landscapes in quarters that come before the actual onset. You will still see GDP growth, but it will be coupled with signs like high unemployment levels, housing price declines, stock market losses, and the absence of business expansion. When an economy sees more extended periods of economic recession, it goes beyond a recession and is declared that the economy is in a state of depression.
The only real benefit of an economic recession is that it will help to cure inflation. In fact, the delicate balancing act that the Fed struggles to pursue is to slow the growth of the economy enough so that inflation will not occur, but also so that a recession will not be triggered in the process. Now, the Fed performs this balancing act without the help of fiscal policy. Fiscal policy is usually trying to stimulate the economy as much as is possible through such things as lowering taxes, spending on programs, and ignoring account deficits.