Management, Rural, Entrepreneurship/Enterprise, NGO , Business, Corporates

2009-04-14T00:50:00.001-07:00

Classification of Services

2009-04-10T00:12:00.000-07:00

Classification of services:
There are a number of ways in which services can be classified. Some of them are mentioned here.

1. On the basis of the END USER the services can be classified into following categories:
• Consumer : leisure, hairdressing, personal finance and package holidays
• Business to Business: advertising agencies, printing, accountancy, Consultancy
• Industrial: Plant Maintenance and repair, workwear and hygiene, installation and project management.

2. The DEGREE OF TANGIBILITY can be used to classify a service.
• Highly tangible: car rental, vending machines, telecommunications
• Service linked to tangible goods: domestic appliance repair, car service.
• Highly tangible: psychotherapy, Consultancy , legal services.

3. Services can be broken down into LABOR INTENSIVE (PEOPLE based) and EQUIPMENT based services. This can also be represented by degree of contact.
• People based services: high contact : education, dental care, restaurants and medical services
• Equipment based: low contact: automatic car wash, launderette, vending machine, cinema.

4. The EXPERTISE and SKILLS of the service provider can be broken down into the following categories:
• Professional: medical services, legal services, accountancy, tutoring.
• Non Professional: baby sitting, care taking, and casual labor.

5. The overall BUSINESS ORIENTATION ( PROFIT) is a recognized means of classifications:
• Not for profit: The Scouts Association, charities, and public sector leisure facilities.
• Commercial: banks, airlines, tour operators, hotel and catering services

Christopher Lovelock gives another classification of services based on the customer involvement in production process:

 People processing: tangible actions to people’s bodies, such as airline transportation, haircutting and surgery. Customers need to be physically present throughout service delivery in order to receive the desired benefits of such services. It is important to figure the process and output to identify the benefits created. Also some non- financial costs are to be identified – such as time, mental and physical effort and even tear and pain – that customers incur in obtaining these benefits.

 Possession Processing: Tangible actions to goods and other physical possessions, such as air freight, lawn mowing, and janitorial services. In these instances, the object requiring processing must be present, but the customer need not be.

 Mental Stimulus Processing: intangible actions directed at people’s mind, such as broadcasting and education. In this instance the customers must be present mentally but can be located either in specific service facility or in a remote location connected by broadcast signals or telecommunication linkages. Services that interact with people’s mind have the power to shape attitudes and influence behavior. So when the customer is in a position of dependency or there is a potential for manipulation, strong ethical standards and careful oversight is required. This type of service can easily be converted to digital bits or analog signals, recorded for prosperity, and transformed into a manufactured product, such as a compact disc, videotape, or audio cassette, which may then be packaged and marketed much like any other physical good

 Information Processing: Intangible actions directed at intangible assets, such as insurance, investment banking, and Consulting. For these services, no direct involvement with the customer may be needed, once the request for the service is initiated. Services highly dependent on effective collection and processing of information include financial services, accounting, law, marketing research, management consulting, medical diagnosis and a variety of other professional services. Tradition and a personal desire to meet the supplier than often determine the extent of customer involvement in such services more by the needs of operation process.

Rural management

2009-04-06T01:59:00.000-07:00

According to the report on rural management education in India by Prof M S Sriram, IIM Ahmedabad , one of the pioneering initiatives that has fuelled the demand for qualified professionals in the agri sector is the e-choupal experiment of ITC. which is a quiet digital revolution that has been reforming the lives of farmers in remote Indian villages. E- choupals are village Internet kiosks managed by farmers, which enable the agricultural community to access ready information on the weather and market prices.
In his report, Prof Sriram says that it was with the introduction of such a concept in the rural market place, that the demand for rural managers started moving from the theoretical co-operative space to structured corporate buying.Thus a typical rural manager would have the satisfaction of working with farmers, earning a decent pay package and enjoy the prestige attached to working with a reputed corporate. On the retailing front, starting with RPG's entry into the retail segment through its erstwhile partnership with Foodworld and later with the entry of players like Big Bazaar, Reliance, Bharti and Subhiksha, there has been a demand for managers who possibly comprehended this type of business better.

According to the same report, the failure of the co-operative banking system led to the private sector banks foraying into the rural territory. As these banks usually do not have a branch network in rural India, they had to come up with innovative solutions to reach the small and remote customer. The knowledge of rural management graduates can thus be very handy in this sector.

Today, the focus in agricultural studies is on developing the entrepreneurial skills of the students in areas such as agri-business management, post-harvest technologies and marketing.There is also an increasing appreciation of the need for greater synergy between general and agricultural education.With intensive agriculture raking up environmental problems, environmental protection and management have also started receiving increased attention.
Although it is possible to have a career in this sector without any formal training, given the range and scope of career in the agriculture sector it is essential to obtain formal training to become successful particularly in the areas of research and agro-industry. When questioned about the essential skill sets that one needs to have to join the sector, Pranav Prashad, Head - Rural & Agriculture Business Group, ICICI Lombard says, ""The only requirement is a willingness to work in rural areas. There are special products that our organisation has developed for the rural areas which one needs to understand. An understanding and familiarity with the local geography does help in selling products to the local masses.""

Entrepreneurship

2009-03-31T00:34:00.000-07:00

Entrepreneurship vs. Small Business

Many people use the terms "entrepreneur" and "small business owner" synonymously. While they may have much in common, there are significant differences between the entrepreneurial venture and the small business. Entrepreneurial ventures differ from small businesses in these ways:

1.

Amount of wealth creation - rather than simply generating an income stream that replaces traditional employment, a successful entrepreneurial venture creates substantial wealth, typically in excess of several million dollars of profit.

2.

Speed of wealth creation - while a successful small business can generate several million dollars of profit over a lifetime, entrepreneurial wealth creation often is rapid; for example, within 5 years.
3.

Risk - the risk of an entrepreneurial venture must be high; otherwise, with the incentive of sure profits many entrepreneurs would be pursuing the idea and the opportunity no longer would exist.
4.

Innovation - entrepreneurship often involves substantial innovation beyond what a small business might exhibit. This innovation gives the venture the competitive advantage that results in wealth creation. The innovation may be in the product or service itself, or in the business processes used to deliver it.

2009-03-31T00:10:00.000-07:00

2009-03-31T00:07:00.000-07:00

2009-03-31T00:00:00.000-07:00

Hina Shah, of Ahemdabad honored as BHARAT JYOTI AWARD in dec, 2008
In the past, this award has earlier been presented to luminaries like Beatified Mother Teressa, Vice President B.D. Jatti, Sarod Maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan, cricketer Sunil Gavaskar, celluloid evergreen stars Rajesh Khanna & Shammi Kapoor besides others.

link: http://icecd.org/director.html

Think! beside traditional subjects in MBA/ Management program

2009-03-30T23:10:00.000-07:00

In this recession time affecting almost all sectors, one should think before going blindly for Finance, HR, Marketing, IT or other subjects and specialization in a management program. Some are Rural management, enterprise and entrepreneurship management and NGO management. They are the different courses and can really fetch with good career.

Entrepreneurship

2009-03-30T23:02:00.000-07:00

Entrepreneurship is the lifeblood of the business world and good managers have the ability to spot business opportunities and come up with new ideas.

Many people are mistaken in thinking that entrepreneurial management is some kind of mystery. There are numerous books promising to improve the reader's management skills, but the same claims are seldom made about entrepreneurship as it is often considered as a talent or skill that can’t be taught. Thankfully, though, that’s not the case.

Any entrepreneurial manager is charged with the difficult task of turning a business idea into reality, either through starting a new business or injecting new life into an existing one. To help them along each step of the journey – from finding the idea in the first place through to its planning and implementation – the manager can draw inspiration from the experiences of others who have been on similar journeys before them.

As a means of entrepreneurship development, the footsteps of others can be followed and the entrepreneur can benefit from the wisdom of those who have found a route to success.

Entrepreneurship management demands innovation, as well as the marriage of profitability and growth.

Career in Rural Management

2009-03-30T22:58:00.002-07:00

Apart from corporates, avenue open for rural management professional are the research institutes. There are also equal opportunities in agencies like United National and its subsidiary social research agencies.

The main work for a rural management professional is planning systematic development of the region where one is working. Secondly, the person is expected to collect necessary data on topics like illiteracy rate, nourishment rate, development of women and social relevant information. These data are further classified into broader heads and many plans done accordingly.

The entire development of any project depends on the rural development professional whose accuracy and perfection is of utmost importance.

As far as United Nations is concerned, the organization through its other agencies like, United Nations International Children Education Fund. UNICEF and UNESCO contribute a lot to the rural development of India. These projects are assigned to individual parties and organizations specializing in the particular area.

For the Government of India, there are plenty of projects both handled by the Central Government or the State Government. The states focus more agricultural front and that is where local expertise of the rural management professional is greatly required. The professional studies the topological area of the regions and the socio-economic distribution of the region. Through such one can plan an ideal mix of product description and fund allocation. Therefore, such planning needs meticulous calculations as any lacunae would damage the entire exercise.

This also enhances skills in Business research and further can help in entrepreneurship also.
http://icecd.org/diploma/index.html

Rural Management

2009-03-30T22:48:00.000-07:00

Career opportunity in Rural management include challenging responsibilities in the rural co-operative sector, in development organizations, agri-business enterprises, areas related to micro-finance, food and agricultural marketing and management of agro products. During this recession period as the agro business is least likely to be hampered this managements are being highly in demand.