TITLE

Perspectives on CSR from Mauritius -an Emerging Economy

AUTHORS

HEMANT KASSEAN¹, TD JUWAHEER²

ABSTRACT

Purpose - To determine the overall CSR practice in Mauritian private and public sector companies. CSR, a complex concept, encompassing an ever-widening range of issues has been evolving over the past decade. CSR has broadened its scope to include not only aspects of corporate conduct that impinge on social, environmental and human rights issues, but also the role of business in relation to poverty reduction in the developing world. Evidence from literature, however shows a predominance of perspectives from an American and European multinational companies, NGOs, governments, trade unions and academics, with very few from developing nations. This paper has a research objective in increasing knowledge about what constitutes CSR in emerging markets, with Mauritius as a case. Design/methodology/approach - A sample of 100 companies from the Top 100 companies' were chosen to participate in a face to face interview which was carried out over a period of 4 weeks. Findings - The majority of the companies are involved in CSR activities. Key areas of CSR involvement: Donation to welfare organisations, Sponsorships (NGOs, sports, district council, Environment Protection schemes, Health and Safety Programs e.g. health alertness campaigns). Benefits for involvement in CSR activities were in terms of enhanced corporate image, good relationship between company and society, credibility towards stakeholders. Limitations: measurement of the true impact of CSR initiatives have not been carried out.

Keywords: CSR, Small Island Developing State, Benefits, Impact.

¹Department of Management, University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius

² 'Department of Management, University of Mauritius, Reduit, Mauritius

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TITLE

Extracting Discourse Norms From Novels

AUTHOR

MAYA KHEMLANI DAVID¹

ABSTRACT

It can be argued that literature represents social reality. The symbiotic relationship between literary works and authentic interactions opens the door to cross-cultural communication. Therefore reading various literary texts will help readers enrich their cultural knowledge and understand other cultures. A range of literary texts are selected to exemplify this connection between talk in these literary texts and the understanding of a range of speech acts across cultures. The speech acts include greetings, requests, and compliments performed in various cultures. Examples of the various forms of each of these speech acts will be provided. Such practices are culturally bound and provide readers a wide, rich and interesting cultural experience. Learning the discourse norms of other cultures through literary texts is pedagogically practical and beneficial. The methodology will be exemplified and the advantages of using such texts discussed.

Keywords: :Culture, Discourse, Novels

¹Faculty of Languages and Linguistics University of Malaya Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

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TITLE

Challenges Faced by Working Women in Bangladesh - A Study on Khulna City

AUTHORS

FEROZ AHMED¹TANIA JALAL²MD. REAZ UDDIN³

ABSTRACT

An attempt has been made in this study to identify working environment of female employees in Bangladesh. This study was carried out within Khulna City of Bangladesh which covered mainly the Bank, Insurance, MNCs, and Govt. organizations located in Khulna city. A set of structured questionnaire which included both closed and open ended questions were used to collect data from the targeted group. This study identified that female employees are discriminated in case of promotion and taking leaves especially in case of maternity leave. This study also found that there is no day care center or feeding room at the office for the mother officials. The female employees are also dissatisfied with fresh room facility and their sitting arrangements.

Keywords: Working, Women, Discrimination and Promotion

¹Professor Business Administration Discipline Khulna University

²Independent Researcher of Khulna ²'Independent Researcher of Khulna

³Lecturer Business Administration Discipline Khulna University

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TITLE

Performance Management in Retail Sector in India-An Empirical Study

AUTHORS

DR. ANUKOOL M. HYDE¹PROF. KALPANA AGRAWAL² & MS. HEENA JAIN³

ABSTRACT

Retail sector is a market where there is organized methodology for the sale of goods. The retail sector is presently undergoing a transition in India. Previously, customers used to go to 'Kirana' stores to purchases their necessities. The Indian retail market, which is the fifth largest retail destination globally, was ranked second after Vietnam as the most attractive emerging market for investment in the retail sector by AT Kearney's seventh annual Global Retail Development Index (GRDI), in 2008. The share of retail trade in the country's gross domestic product (GDP) was between 8-10 per cent in 2007. It is currently around 12 per cent, and is likely to reach 22 per cent by 2010. Performance management includes activities to ensure that goals are consistently being met in an effective and efficient manner. Performance management focus on performance of the organization, a department, processes product or service, employees' qualities etc. This study is an attempt to find out the factors which are important for performance management in retail sector in Indore city.

Keywords: Retail, Performance Management

¹Dr. Anukool M. Hyde is Reader at Prestige Institute of Mgmt. and Research, Indore

²Prof. K. Agrawal is Lecturer at Prestige Institute of Mgmt. and Research, Indore

³Ms. Heena Jain is Alumnus of Prestige Institute of Mgmt. and Research, Indore.

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TITLE

Intruders Altering the Perception of Customers in the Life Insurance Sector of India - A Comparative Empirical Study Between Public & Private Life Insurance Companies

AUTHORS

NISHITH DUBEY¹IRA BAPNA² & ANUSHRUTI NEEMA³

ABSTRACT

The insurance sector, along with other elements of marketing, as well as financial infrastructure, have been touched and influenced by the process of liberalization and globalization in India. The customer is the king in the market. Life insurance companies deal in intangible products. With the entry of private players, the competition is becoming intense. In order to satisfy the customer, every company is trying to implement new creations and innovative product characteristics to attract customers. Keeping this in mind, the present study is designed to analyze the innovation in life insurance sector in India.

Keywords: Perception, Life Insurance, Public, Private

¹ Dr. Nishith Dubey, Professor, Maharaja Ranjit Singh College of Professional Sciences, Indore

² Dr. Ira Bapna, Professor, Maharaja Ranjit Singh College of Professional Sciences, Indore

³ Anushruti Neema, Lecturer, Maharaja Ranjit Singh College of Professional Sciences, Indore.

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TITLE

A Study on the Determinants of Equity Prices in the Stock Markets in India

AUTHORS

DHITESH J. SHUKLA¹ & JEENAL DEVANI²

ABSTRACT

This study is to understand and analyze the interrelationship between the equity prices and some explanatory variables i.e., book value per share, dividend per share, dividend yield, dividend cover, growth, price earning ration and earnings per share. The researchers tried to find out the determinants of equity prices in the Indian context. The primary objective of the study was to understand and analyze the determinants in equity share prices among the sample companies over the period of study. The period of the study was from 2005-2009. It could be concluded from the correlation and regression analysis that price earnings ratio, earning per share, dividend per share and dividend cover were the variables which contributed significantly in determining the share prices followed by dividend yield and book value.

Keywords: Earnings per Share, Price Earnings Ratio, Dividend per Share, Market Price

¹Associate Professor, Department of Business Management (MBA Programme) Saurashtra University

²Researcher, Saurashtra University.

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