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The present scenario of logistics & Supply chain management sector is in dire need of a vision and strategic leadership. Many human resources issues and challenges, haunting the sector, could be addressed by connecting its scattered structure and by growing awareness of supply chain occupations, and working with educational institutes at all levels and schools of business management to develop supply chain programming that addresses the sectors growing needs, current and future human resources challenges. These institutions need to assess technologies, innovations and conditions that have the utmost impact on the logistics & supply chain management sector, and to develop a planned human assets action plan for industry and academia. An analysis of the human resources issue in the supply chain management reveals that there is a limited stock of skilled employees, there is need to develop skill sets to manage evolving technologies, and there is need to overcome a common lack of awareness and understanding of the supply chain management. Student's new entrants and those in career shift do not enter the supply chain management by choice, usually by accident, simply because they are not aware of its existence. In order to draw, cultivate and preserve the talent, in the supply chain management, it must race for attention in an atmosphere where other services and industries have already, pledge awareness and recruitment campaigns to address their talent deficiency. Attraction and retention of talent, particularly knowledgeable workers, are important to supply chain management ability to focus on improvements. This is of paramount importance, as supply chain performance directly influences the costs and effectiveness of industry on a national and global scale. There are a lot of growth opportunities for multinational companies in emerging markets. These markets have a large consumer base but the market conditions in these regions are novel to these multinational companies. Various strategies evaluating government regulations, sales, marketing and supply chain have to be analyzed, isolated and implemented so that companies can quickly adapt to new market conditions. The purpose of this paper is to review successful supply chain strategies adopted by multinationals catering to a large number of consumers in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the preliminary results of an empirical investigation into access to finance for Small and Mediumsized Enterprises (SMEs) in general and related to tourism specifically in the India. Methodology: This exploratory study examines data gathered through in-depth, face to face interviews, using semi-structured questionnaire amongst 100 matched businesses related to tourism in various parts of India. The propensity to employ internal and external sources of finance was monitored at the start -up, after two years and over the next five years of the business activity. The survey requested quantitative and qualitative information on sources of finance, both preferred and actually used by owner/managers, during three stages in their firm's business cycle: at start up, after two years and over the next five years. Findings: This paper reports that family and informal lenders were very important for the support of SMEs in India in general. In terms of initial (start-up) funding, a large proportion of respondents relied exclusively on financial support from their immediate family and informal lenders. After two years in business, respondents exhibited a higher reliance on own savings and to a lesser extent on financial support of bank and other financial institutions. In contrast, at the end of five years of uninterrupted economic activity, the need of institutional borrowing increased considerably. Whilst the financial support from informal lenders, personal finance and family declined over the years. We also found that owners/ managers showed a preference for more user friendly financing options, which operated on the element of trust and allow them to remain in full control of their businesses. However with better networking ties generally SMEs owner/managers can access adequate external resources through informal channels. Research Limitations/implications: The research sample used in this study is small and selective. It is not meant to represent a statistically significant selection of Indian SMEs from tourism sectors. The main limitation concerns the extent to which these findings can be generalised to other contexts, outside the specific location within which it was undertaken. Originality/ Significance: The financing preferences of owner/managers in the sample have been influenced by their perception of the relative strength and weaknesses of domestic finance infrastructures. The results of this research study is indicative of SME owner/managers' financing needs, attitudes and perceptions. The research shows the importance of user-friendly financing options for SMEs owner/managers. Nevertheless this paper fulfils an identified need for studying how SMEs in emerging economies make the financing decisions necessary to expand and grow. Social implication: Economies which provide sufficient financing support to SMEs generally enjoy a higher standard of living than the societies which don't. Thus the policymakers should be aware of how financing preferences and decisions made by SME owner/managers impact on the development of SMEs when developing mechanism to support them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the paper is to contemplate guidelines for appropriate social media strategies by businesses in India. Any social media platform predominantly exhibits one or two of the seven functional blocks: identity, conversations, sharing, presence, relationships, reputation, and groups. Each of the blocks support different business functions. Depending on the need of the businesses, listening to customers or advertising, an appropriate social media needs to be adopted. For a successful social media strategy, implementation processes should incorporate mindful adoption, community building, and absorptive capacity. India is one of the fastest growing economies in the world and its business houses are increasingly aspiring to be global players. The extant knowledge on social media use by the Indian business houses seems to be inadequate. We conducted a two stage secondary data analysis on nature of social media use and adoption by Indian business houses. Top hundred corporate houses were chosen on the basis of revenue. An inventory was used to capture the use of social media by content analysis of secondary data - visiting all the company webites and seacrching for the companies in all social media platforms. This database helped in generating a descriptive account of the social media use of businesses in India. In the second stage, we undertook a case study of five firms representing different industrial sectors. The preliminary analysis showed that extant uses of social media by businesses are not differentiated, despite operating in the different industrial sectors. The usage is different for Indian and American businesses. On the basis of the findings and the taken theoretical framework, the paper suggests appropriate implementation strategies. The brief case studies of five companies shows adequate mix of dfferent social media platforms. Further exploration of social media use by different industrial sectors and linkage with the fucntional blocks is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of the annual reports of Indian companies across sectors, reveals the fact that majority of them do not adopt standard practices or deploy known Intellectual Capital (IC) models to manage their intangible assets. The term - Intellectual Capital - is mostly used with reference to the qualification and experience of employees, who are acknowledged as critical assets and details of training and development activities is provided in occasional cases. The paper aims to explore an approach which can be utilized to make the practice of managing Intellectual Capital more popular and widespread in an emerging economy like India. The approach is adopted in an electrical engineering services company based out of Pune, a city in the western region of India. The company was established in the year 1991 and undertakes turnkey projects of electrical installations including design, engineering, supply, installation, testing and commissioning for power distribution, electrification work etc. A preliminary discussion about IC Models revealed that the company was reluctant to invest its time and resources in adopting one. Reframing the discussion from the perspective of managing business risks, the key areas of concern listed down by the management were: i) adverse impact on growth and margins, ii) competent employees leaving the organisation, iii) loss of projects and customers and iv) inefficiency of the company's processes. These risk factors were then connected to various components of IC and a set of indicators finalised in order to manage these risks. The management was comfortable with this approach, which also enhanced focus on relationship with employees and customers. The study brings forth the viewpoint that this approach of listing down the risks to various components of IC, and then drawing a plan of action to minimise those risks - is a simpler and more practical method of IC adoption by companies as they deal with risks as an integral part of doing business in an emerging economy. It will lead to development of an environment that enhances Intellectual Capital and in due course of time, companies would stop treating IC as a complex or alien concept. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]