Corporate Governance and Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement

SEBI revise Clause 49 of the Listing Agreement pertaining to corporate governance vide circular date October 29th, 2004, which superseded all other earlier circulars issued by SEBI on this subject.   All existing listed companies were required to comply with the provisions of the new clause by 31st December 2005. The major provisions included in the new Clause 49 are: The board will lay down a code of conduct for all board members and senior management of the company to compulsorily follow. The CEO an CFO will certify the financial statements and cash flow statements of the company. If while preparing financial statements, the company follows a treatment that is different from that prescribed in the accounting standards, it must disclose this in the financial statements, and the management should also provide an explanation for doing so in the corporate governance report of the annual report. The company will have Continue reading

Random Walk Theory

History of  Random Walk Theory The term ‘Random Walk’ was popularized by the 1973 book, “A Random Walk Down Wall Street”, by Burton Malkiel, Professor of Economics and Finance at Princeton University. Burton G. Malkiel, did a test where his students were given a hypothetical stock that was initially worth fifty dollars. The closing stock price for each day was determined by a coin flip. If the result was heads the price would close a half point higher, and subsequently if the result was tails, it would close a half point lower. Each time there was a fifty-fifty chance of the price closing higher or lower than the previous day. There were cycles or trends determined from the tests. Malkiel then took the results in a chart and graph form to a chartist (a person who “seeks to predict future movements by seeking to interpret past patterns on the assumption Continue reading

The Link Between Innovation and Strategy

Innovation is usually defined as the successful commercial exploitation of new ideas or simply as the successful implementation of new ideas. This encompasses ideas that are ‘new to the world’, ‘new to an industry’ or merely ‘new to a particular firm’. The prominence given to the role of innovation in strategy is to a large extent the result of the prevailing social and economic conditions. In what Peter Drucker – the most influential management thinker of the second-half of the twentieth century – termed the ‘knowledge economy’ that has emerged due to the rise of the service industry and decline of manufacturing since the end of the Second World War, business organizations have increasingly had to react to change more rapidly if they wish to succeed in the marketplace. Indeed, so important is the successful implementation of new ideas that Drucker famously reflected that: ‘Business has only two basic functions Continue reading

Full Capital Account Convertibility (FCAC)

Capital Account convertibility in its entirety would mean that any individual, be it Indian or Foreigner will be allowed to bring in any amount of foreign currency into the country. Full capital account convertibility also known as Floating rupee means the removal of all controls on the cross-border movement of capital, out of India to anywhere else or vice versa. Capital account convertibility or CAC refers to the freedom to convert local financial assets into foreign financial assets or vice versa at market-determined rates of interest. If CAC is introduced along with current account convertibility it would mean full convertibility. Complete convertibility would mean no restrictions and no questions. In general, restrictions on foreign currency movements are placed by developing countries which have faced foreign exchange problems in the past is to avoid sudden erosion of their foreign exchange reserves which are essential to maintain stability of trade balance and Continue reading

Brand Case Study: De Beers,Volkswagen and Nokia

DEBEERS The market for diamonds has never been characterized by free, dynamic and open competition. Everything about diamond industry is manipulated: supply, pricing, processing and retailing. The leader of the diamond industry is De Beers, a company that produces half of the world’s high-quality diamonds. This case explores the impact of marketing on the diamond market and how it helped to shape the public perception of diamonds as a desirable gift over the course of the 20th century. De Beers ‘Diamonds are Forever’ advertising campaign, which started in the 1940s, was to become one of the most effective of the 20th century. It enabled De Beers to manipulate demand as well as supply. With the help of their agency, they created a mindset, which later swept the world, in which diamonds came to be perceived, not simply as precious gems (of which there are many) that could be traded according Continue reading

Customer Services in Commercial Banks

Customer service is the service provided in support of a bank’s core products. Customer service often includes answering questions; handling complaints. Customer service can occur on site (as when an onstage employee helps a customer or answers a question) or it can occur over the phone or the Internet. Quality customer service is essential to building cordial customer relationship. Banking being a service industry, a lot depends on efficient and prompt customer service. Customer service is the most important duty of the banking operations. Prompt and efficient service with smile will develop good public relations reduce complaints and increase business. Why is Customer Service Important? Changing customer expectations: Today the customer is more demanding and more sophisticated than he or she was thirty years ago. The increased importance of customer service: With changing customer expectations, competitors are seeing customer service as a competitive weapon with which they differentiate their products Continue reading