NOPR Collection:

Attitude to Collaboration With Industry: A Latent Class Typology of Academic Scientists in India

2000-08-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Attitude to Collaboration With Industry: A Latent Class Typology of Academic Scientists in India Authors: Nagpaul, P S; Roy, Santanu Abstract: There is a dearth of empirical studies on identifying barriers to initiating collaboration between the academia and the corporate world. This paper attempts to map the attitude of academic scientists towards cooperation with industry in the context of status of the academic scientist, field of specialization, and the type of institution where employed. The data were collected through a sample survey in which about 1100 scientists in twenty universities in India had participated. The population of a university was classified into four categories - periphery, center, semicentre, and semiperiphery. Attitude to collaboration was tapped through six items - mission incompatibility, lack of challenge, constraint on academic freedom, lack of response, cultural incompatibility, and ethical incompatibility and measured on a 5-point Likert scale (1-strongly disagree to 5-strongly agree). Latent class analysis was used as a methodology of typological analysis for classifying the respondents into clusters based on similarities of their attitude to collaboration with industry. The distribution of contextual variables in the derived clusters was subsequently probed. The structure of multivariate relationships between the classification categories and the categories of the contextual variables was analyzed through multiple correspondence analysis to provide a synoptic view of the global structure of the data. The fine-grained structure of the relationships of typology categories and the categories of contextual variables was analyzed through a series of simple correspondence analysis. About 33 per cent of respondents constituted a group characterized by a positive orientation towards collaboration with industry and they came from applied science area. Only 13 per cent constituted a group characterized by the ivory tower attitude towards collaboration with industry while a large number of respondents (53 per cent) formed a group which appeared to be neutral to the collaboration with industry. The results have implications for the management of collaborative projects among the universities and industries. Page(s): 753-764

Managing Customer Relationships in the e-Business Economy

2000-08-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Managing Customer Relationships in the e-Business Economy Authors: Chatterjee, Jayanta Abstract: Old business practices built around traditional product marketing and sales are being rapidly modified or replaced by customer centric relationship marketing in which share of customer is the economic driver. Technology has reached a state where quantum leaps can be made toward the ultimate competitive form of relationship building, one- to -one marketing. In this new paradigm, customer data is both a strategic asset and critical success factor. Relationship marketing in its best competitive expression, one-to-one marketing, rests on three very simple ideas about reducing costs and increasing long-term profitability: customer loyalty, scope and efficiency. ECRM, i.e., Customer Relationship Management at the convergence of e-business is a discipline as well as a set of discrete software and technologies which focuses on automating and improving the business processes associated with managing customer relationships in the areas of sales, marketing , customer service, and support, eCRM software applications not only facilitate the coordination of multiple business functions (sales, marketing, customer service, and support ) but also coordinate multiple channels of communication with the customer —face to face, call center and the web—so that organisation, can accommodate their customers’ preferred channels of interaction. Page(s): 749-752

Knowledge Management in A Consulting Engineering Company in the Process Industry

2000-08-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Knowledge Management in A Consulting Engineering Company in the Process Industry Authors: Datta, Amalendu Abstract: In the competitive market of process industry, the process contractors face difficulty in knowledge management with respect to knowledge sharing and continuous updating of knowledge base. A balanced approach to knowledge sharing as a part of marketing strategy appears to be the best. Each contractor has its own way of development, maintenance, use and improvement of knowledge base. The strong potential of information networking in sourcing the necessary knowledge base throughout the world for bidding and execution of projects has enhanced its competitive edge. Most contractors have their own design standards, engineering manual and procedures that are constantly up-dated. The complete knowledge base of process design and engineering covering first principle to black box category are now simulated through mathematical models and high level control strategies are used to exploit the optimal performance of the plant. These technical challenges are met through rigorous models and sophisticated computer software. Security, maintenance, uses and upgradation of software is another area of knowledge management. Multidisciplinary contributions are necessary for the development and execution of total technology solution along with good teamwork. Hence, in addition to knowledge management, personal management also plays an equally critical role in all these projects. Page(s): 741-748

Knowledge Management — Converting Expertise Into Processes and Systems: Lessons from the Mature Industry

2000-08-01T00:00:00Z

Title: Knowledge Management — Converting Expertise Into Processes and Systems: Lessons from the Mature Industry Authors: Phatak, Ajay Abstract: Knowledge, on the face of it is an intangible asset for the organization. The need of managing knowledge is paramount in the software industry where ad-hocism is still at its highest. Software engineering attempts to systematize at least some amount of expertise (an intangible) into a process (which is more tangible). Practical experience suggests that dependence on people is a norm rather than exception. However, with systematic efforts of documenting the process and the expertise, it is many a time possible to reduce this dependence substantially. Process, then becomes an asset, which can produce products of substantial value. Lessons can be learnt from process evolution and process maturing of the conventional engineering industry. Rigor of process implementation has two sides as usual. These are acceptability of the specified rigor for process implementation and predictability of the outcome of defined processes. More the rigor, lesser is likelihood of acceptability by the people. This refinement of process of production than the product itself has created the ability to perform the same task at a much lower skill and knowledge level. The mechanism to institutionalize knowledge should not depend on the ‘kind’ of knowledge but should be more general purpose than that. Converting knowledge into easy to follow process is the proposed answer to the knowledge management. Page(s): 738-740