INDUSTRY WATCH

Consumer Health Trends, Developments and Prospects 2013 : Consumer health is thriving in the face of rising healthcare costs, a greater incidence of chronic diseases, hectic lifestyles and other demographic, public health, regulatory and corporate trends. To control the increasing healthcare costs, regulatory agencies are taking a variety of steps to make self-medication safer, more accessible and more affordable.

Textile and Clothing : India is amongst the world's largest potential reservoirs of cotton. Currently, India is the second largest producer and consumer of raw cotton in the world, after China. India’s domestic cotton demand is increasing primarily because of large increase in consumption by mills, driven by lower cotton prices. Larger mills have increased their stock levels.

Aquaculture in India : The aquaculture industry is defined as production through the farming of aquatic organisms, in both inland waters and marine areas, which includes freshwater fishes, marine fishes, diadromous fishes, molluscs, and crustaceans. The market specifically refers to output from aquaculture activities, which are designated for final harvest for consumption.

Passenger Vehicle Service Pattern in India : More than half of the customers prefer to seek the services of local service centers (LSCs) for their regular servicing needs. They tend to visit the authorized service centers mainly for major and accidental repairs, specifically, when spare parts need to be replaced. This report talks about dynamics and trends in the passenger vehicle service industry in India from a customer behavior and expectation perspective.

Dairy Market in India: Consumption of protein based food items are witnessing upward trend in the global market. Consumption of milk and other dairy products, which is an important part of the normal diet is growing rapidly. Indian dairy sector witnessed enormous changes post white revolution.

ARTICLE ALERT

The Executive’s Role in Social Business : C-suite executives increasingly see social business as important, and many believe it has the potential to change how work gets done. Many business leaders today recognize the importance of macro trends in social media, such as consumer use of social media on tablets and phones, to their organizations’ marketing function.

Family Representatives in Family Firms : Prior research on family involvement in family firms has generally focused on the involvement of family members. This study highlights the role played by family representatives (non-family members who act as representatives of the controlling family’s indirect shareholdings in the firm). It is found that controlling families use family members and family representatives differently and that family members and family representatives provide shareholders with different net benefits and costs.

Making the Connection : It happens every second of every day. A consumer needs a quick answer to a nagging health care issue. An aching knee. A sharp pain in the side. A sudden tightness in the chest. So where do today’s consumers turn to find answers to their health care troubles? More than likely, the impatient patient starts on the Internet, often using a mobile device, letting the Web provide a quick diagnosis.

Leading with a Social Conscience: As entrepreneurs embark on a venture, they face a moral choice—should they lead the way or follow in the path laid out by another? Being a follower has many advantages. Building on a tested and proven idea reduces risk and can lead to success much quicker. Leading, on the other hand, entails hunting for new horizons and is fraught with the danger of failure.

Use Customer Cash to Finance Your Start-Up : Many start-ups spend too much time looking for financing—and invest too much money in prototypes or inventory. Some entrepreneurs avoid those traps by adopting business models that give them advance access to customers’ cash as a means of funding early growth. It’s important to choose a model that suits your industry and to use the tactics (and skirt the pitfalls) specific to your choice.


ARTICLE ALERT

Hard times for soft skills
: The challenge for business schools is how to react to the dual pressures of shorter programmes coupled with greater content. This may not be an easy circle to square. However, it would be folly to ignore the opinions and needs of students and their future employers. Soft skill training may sound dispensable but in fact it is an essential area that should not be neglected.

IIM-Kozhikode admits 54% women candidates : Of the entire 361 students inducted into the fresh batch (2013-15) of the IIM-Kozhikode's post graduation course, there are 196 women candidates, which is 54.29 per cent of the total strength.

MBA Alumni Networks by the Numbers : With the commencement ceremonies at Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Management and Stanford Graduate School of Business wrapping up in the past week or so, it’s official: The graduates of Bloomberg Businessweek’s top 10 MBA programs are students no longer. They’re alumni, and they’re about to find out how useful, or not, their school’s alumni networks will be as they pursue their careers.

Porsche funds chair of family business at HHL Leipzig : Porsche, the sports car manufacturer, is to sponsor a chair of strategic management and family business at HHL, the Leipzig-based business school, for an undisclosed sum. The sponsorship is for an initial term of five years. The first holder of the chair will be Stephan Stubner, who has been academic director of HHL’s programme for international entrepreneurship since 2007.

MBA programmes must tackle the business issues of climate change : The MBA still clings to a past era when energy and resources were not important. A few ‘green MBAs’ are now offered, but this means in practice they are concerned with corporate and social responsibility. The greening of capitalism is the biggest change to the world of business since the second industrial revolution – and it is time for business schools to catch up.

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