Volume XXXVIII • Number  4 • April  2008

Meal Experience: Mapping The Mind of The Indian Customers, An Application of Artificial Neural Network

In India, meal research is considerably less represented in academic journals. Though abundant books & articles are available pertaining to culinary recipes, food critique, Indian culinary history etc, meal experience research in Indian context is negligible. The objective of this research was to identify critical predictors, which exert influences on satisfaction, repurchase decision and recommendation behaviour of the Indian customers.

A Study of Mobile Phone Usage Among The Post Graduate Students

Usage of mobile phone has increased among the students in the recent time. Rapid growth and competition among the mobile handset companies and mobile service provider companies have decreased the rates for mobile handsets as well as mobile services. This has resulted in the increase of customer base.Now a days we can find a mobile phone with every student. Thus it is of significant interest to assess the student’s view on usage, necessity and spending on mobile phones.However, to the best of our knowledge, there has not been any survey that exclusively compares the student’s perspective on the different mobile handset companies and mobile service providers.

Marketing Mix Strategies Adopted By Selected Indian Business Outsources

Outsourcing refers to a transfer of some business functions or components of business process to an outside contractor. It is also defined as the transfer or delegation to an external service provider, the operations and day-to-day management of a business process. It is the outcome of recent technological change and new competitive environment.Business Process Outsourcing is becoming the norm because companies see outsourcing as an edge technology. Many companies begin to look at outsourcing not just as a quick fix, but also as an integral part of their long-term business strategy.

A Study on Consumer Trust,Value and Loyalty in Relational Exchanges

The Success of any business lies in maintaining a strong base of loyal customers. The organization exists for the customers and the customers are the deciding forces behind success or failure of a business organization. Keeping the customers and ensuring customer satisfaction is thus very crucial for the success and growth of all service firms, no matter what is the size or nature of the business. The growing importance of relationship marketing has heightened interest in the role of trust in fastening strong relationships.

MALL MANAGEMENT has emerged as the single most differentiating factor in today's scenario where the numbers of malls are multiplying (Malls in India, 2005). The need of the malls to differentiate themselves is a sure way of emerging as a winner and this positioning is ensured through mall-management. Mall-management is all about differentiating mall from the rest, getting maximum footfalls, converting the footfalls to purchase and keeping the footfalls and the tenants happy and satisfied. It strives to provide an entire consumer spend basket to make the mall a happening destination besides also creating and maintaining the adequate infrastructure. Right from the tenant mix, ensuring the creation of right ambience, cleanliness that creates customer satisfaction, managing various income-streams for the developer, the role of mall-management is complex and dynamic (Asif Zameer, 2006). One of the key functions of mall-management is Event Management (Malls in India, 2005).

Promotions and Barriers Towards Services Sector Economy

Service Sector is playing an important role in an economy. The Service industry such as computer and software development, Business Consultancy, Tele Communication, banking, finance and insurance are growing very fast when compared to the manufacturing and agriculture. Though it is having rapid development there are many barriers standing in the way of the development of service sector. The main objective of this paper is to understand the concept of services, promotions and barriers towards Services Sector Economy

A.Kadhar Lal
Lecturer & Research Scholar
Department of Commerce
The New College,Chennai
klal405@yahoo.co.in
 

Retailing in India:Recent Trends & Challenges

Retailing is the mantra of success for the companies today.Retail is the fastest growing sector in the Indian economy. Traditional markets are making way for new formats such as departmental stores, hypermarkets, supermarkets and specialty stores. Western-style malls have begun appearing in metros and second-rung cities alike, introducing the Indian consumer to an unparalleled shopping experience. India is currently the ninth largest retail market in the world.The Indian retail market is estimated at US$ 350 billion whereas organised retail is estimated at only US$ 8 billion. However, the opportunity is huge—by 2010, organised retail is expected to grow to US$ 22 billion.An intense war in retailing has also begun.Recently Sunil Mittal’s Bharti signed a pact with Wal-Mart to enter Indian retail segment.Seeing this AS Watson Ltd, one of Asia’s top retailers and the world’s largest in the health and beauty segment which is a part of Hutchison Whampoa, has zeroed in on Dubai-based Landmark for an India entry.In response to Indian local players such as Mukesh Ambani’s Rs 25,000-crore and Kumar Mangalam Birla’s Rs 15,000-crore retail ambitions, Adi Godrej has also initiated talks with four leading global retailers, including Carrefour and Tesco, for a slice of the $7-billion organised retail business.Though the scope of success is immense in retailing but all these players have to cope with the challenges alongwith.How to drive out customers out of kiryana shops,how to cope with the intense competition for the big players and how the government will protect the kiryana playes,all these challenges will make retailing very interesting and happening sector in the near future in India.

                       Harpreet Singh
Lecturer
Punjab Institute of Management &Tech
Mandi Gobindgarh,Punjab
harry_166@rediffmail.com