Investors' Preference Regarding Mutual Fund Products in Palakkad District

Vol. 10  Issue 1
Year:2015
Issue:Jun-Aug 
Title:Investors' Preference Regarding Mutual Fund Products in Palakkad District
Author Name:Bindu.T
Synopsis:
Financial systems include a set of complex and closely inter related financial institutions, markets, instruments, services, practices and transactions. Financial services in India have witnessed remarkable changes in the recent past years after liberalization, privatization and globalization. Mutual funds act as an important financial service in India. Mutual fund industry is still in introductory stage in India, but has assumed considerable significance in the post liberalized market economy. A mutual fund is set up in the form of a trust, which has sponsor, trustees, asset Management Company and custodian. The mutual fund is the most suitable investment for the common man, as it offers an opportunity to invest in a diversified manner and managed by fund managers at relatively low cost. This study focused on the preference of investors in mutual funds investment. It was found that the investors prefer bank deposits than mutual funds investment. It was also found that majority of the respondents do not invest their funds in mutual funds because of higher risk and, that schemes of investment preferred by investors are more or less equal.

Enhancing Accounting Students' Core Competencies through Service Learning

Vol. 10  Issue 1
Year:2015
Issue:Jun-Aug 
Title:Enhancing Accounting Students' Core Competencies through Service Learning
Author Name:David Hossain, J.Gregory Kunkel and Asad Yavari 
Synopsis:
This paper examines whether service learning enhances accounting students' core competencies. A sample of 223 accounting seniors completed a questionnaire, designed to test their problem solving/decision making skills, one of the personal core competencies as defined by the AICPA (American Institute of Certified Public Accountants). The results show that accounting seniors who served as VITA (Voluntary Income Tax Assistance) student-volunteers significantly outperformed other accounting seniors who were not VITA volunteers. The results indicate that service learning creates an environment that is conducive to learning. The results have implications for accounting and business programs as they attempt to integrate service learning into the curriculum.

Assessing Consumer Behavior in Diverse Markets: The South African Experience

Vol. 10  Issue 1
Year:2015
Issue:Jun-Aug 
Title:Assessing Consumer Behavior in Diverse Markets: The South African Experience
Author Name:Aimee Wesso and Robert W. Robertson
Synopsis:

Trying to understand the South African population can be a tricky and time consuming exercise. As a country, South Africa has a significant cultural diversity and the large size of the country leads to considerable variation within the population, which demands inventive and careful analysis when determining key traits. This paper is aimed at developing a better understanding of the South African consumer and their behavior patterns as well as potential methods to use this knowledge to better reach and influence behaviors.

Due to diversity along demographic, geographic and cultural lines, assigning traits and characteristics through traditional segmentation tools proves to be particularly challenging. Through the integration of established marketing tools and innovative segmentation techniques, a better understanding of the motivators and drivers of behavior behind certain segments of the population was attained. Amalgamation of existing research based on value dimensions and industry specific market materials provides a better comprehension of the various divisions specific to the South African market and the South African consumer.

Assessing Consumer Behavior in Diverse Markets: The South African Experience

Vol. 10  Issue 1
Year:2015
Issue:Jun-Aug 
Title:Assessing Consumer Behavior in Diverse Markets: The South African Experience
Author Name:Aimee Wesso and Robert W. Robertson
Synopsis:

Trying to understand the South African population can be a tricky and time consuming exercise. As a country, South Africa has a significant cultural diversity and the large size of the country leads to considerable variation within the population, which demands inventive and careful analysis when determining key traits. This paper is aimed at developing a better understanding of the South African consumer and their behavior patterns as well as potential methods to use this knowledge to better reach and influence behaviors.

Due to diversity along demographic, geographic and cultural lines, assigning traits and characteristics through traditional segmentation tools proves to be particularly challenging. Through the integration of established marketing tools and innovative segmentation techniques, a better understanding of the motivators and drivers of behavior behind certain segments of the population was attained. Amalgamation of existing research based on value dimensions and industry specific market materials provides a better comprehension of the various divisions specific to the South African market and the South African consumer.

Denny's Learns to Manage Diversity

Vol. 9  Issue 4
Year:2015
Issue:Mar-May
Title:Denny's Learns to Manage Diversity
Author Name:Stephen J.Mcguire, Bahram Mahdavian and Asad Yavari
Synopsis:
The case discusses Denny's Corporation, the largest full-service restaurant chain in the United States, and the evolution of its diversity management. During the early 1990s, Denny's was involved in a series of discrimination lawsuits involving cases of servers denying or providing inferior service to members of minority racial groups, especially African American customers. The restaurant chain acquired a reputation as a “poster child for racism.” At the time Denny's had no diversity training and almost no members of minority groups held management positions, owned franchises, or had vendor contracts. After a $54.4 million settlement for the discrimination lawsuits, Denny's rolled out an industry-leading racial sensitivity training program for all of its employees. In 2008, Denny's had come to be considered one of the nation's best companies in dealing with delicate racial issues. It appeared on lists of top places to work for minorities and women, an indication that it has completely reversed its direction on diversity. Rapid technological change, globalization, the demand for skills and education, an aging workforce, and greater ethnic diversification in the labor market had all contributed to making diversity management a high priority for Denny's and its rivals in the competitive U.S. restaurant industry. However, diversity also had negative effects on companies in the industry, and in spite of its commitment to diversity, performance at Denny's suffered. Hard evidence that managing diversity provided a discernable business advantage was elusive.

Employee turnover among Nurses – A Comparative Analysis with Respect to Push and Pull Factors

Vol. 9  Issue 4
Year:2015
Issue:Mar-May
Title:Employee turnover among Nurses – A Comparative Analysis with Respect to Push and Pull Factors
Author Name:D.Rajan
Synopsis:
This comparative study has been undertaken in Tirunelveli City, Tamilnadu with the objectives of identifying and differentiating perception of nurses working in multi-speciality hospitals and single speciality hospitals towards push and pull factors of employee turnover. The study has analyzed 24 factors in terms of push factors and 18 factors in terms of pull factors. The study has stratified the target group into nurses working in multi-speciality hospitals and nurses working in single speciality hospitals using stratified random sampling techniques. A total of 120 nurses have been sampled from both kinds of organizations using judgment sampling techniques. Both Mean and Standard Deviation have been administered to identify and differentiate push and pull factors of employee turnover of nurses working in both kinds of organizations. The analysis has shown that the majority of the push and pull factors discussed in this study have commonly and equally been perceived by majority of the nurses working in both kinds of organization. The study has given suitable suggestions to control and prevent turnover of nurses in private hospitals.

On the Causality Relationship of Economic Growth and Domestic Savings in the Asean Economies:A Co-Integration Analysis

Vol. 9  Issue 4
Year:2015
Issue:Mar-May
Title:On the Causality Relationship of Economic Growth and Domestic Savings in the Asean Economies:A Co-Integration Analysis
Author Name:Yagoub Elryah and Nai Qian Qian 
Synopsis:
This article proposes to estimate the causality relationship between economic growth and domestic savings. A cointegration and Granger Causality methods are employed with panel data from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN); the authors excluded Myanmar from the sample due to unavailability of data. To this end, they extracted time series annual data from the World Bank and Asian Development Bank for the period of 1980 to 2014. The results demonstrate the significant differences of relationship between economic growth and savings among the countries. The study finds that the domestic savings cause the economic growth of Singapore, The Philippines, Brunei and Vietnam. Meanwhile, the economic growth causes the domestic savings of Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand. A bidirectional causality relationship is showed for Cambodia and Lao PDR.