The Business Review

School of Business Studies

University of Kashmir

ISSN: 0972-8384

Small businesses play a vital role in an economic development as they can provide the economy with competence, innovation, and remove unemployment. Businesspersons are accountable for the success of their ventures and have to face up to definite tasks in doing so. To understandthe critical determinants of small business success, the data was collected from 60 randomly selected respondents in the Srinagarcity ofJammu Kashmir, who were administered with a questionnaire. Regression analyses of the resultsshowed the positive and significant impact of experience, investmentand culture and business profile with R2=0.627 and F= 11.212. The establishment of a system to create ample opportunities for skill development to enhance businessperformance is seen as a sensibleapproach towards future

This paper examines the impact of two individual characteristics namely, gender and age of employees on their Job satisfaction. The impact is examined through an empirical study involving 183 academic staff members from two top universities (Jawaharlal Nehru University and Banaras Hindu University) of India, using the independent samples test and one way Anova test. The results provide that among the two individual characteristics of academic staff members under study, only gender of the employees has a significant impact on their Job satisfaction

A step further towards the sustainable Human resource development praxis aimed at continuous improvement of performances within the organisations by a system that allows an improvement plan which can be measured again after a spell of time on the same criterion laid down for the appraisal of performance. The entire process is aimed at attaining organisational effectiveness by large making human resource development possible at all levels. The present review paper based on past and contemporary research studies is an attempt to untangle the idiosyncrasies of 720 degree appraisal for today’s business world, focussing on its perspectives, practices and future scope from an individual as well as organisational viewpoint, differentiating it from its origin-360 degree appraisal, working out the merits and demerits of the appraisal source.. 360 degree appraisal as a source of appraisal is notably a precursor to 720 degree appraisal proposed for measurement of performance on a continuum rather than a transient phenomenon, leading to a strategic human resource development approach. The research study also provides directions for future research which could be carried out for further contribution to the area of performance appraisal management.

Financial knowledge and cultural values are inevitable aspects of the sustainability especially in the economic analysis of sustainable development. We argue that lack of these factors deprives the sustainability discourse in policymaking which led to scheme failure and suicides as evident in agricultural financing of farmers. In this backdrop the study is having its contribution in enhancing the effectiveness of credit financing schemes and acting as a hedge against the possible negative outcomes. Hence this research is an attempt to study the relationship that exists between financial knowledge, cultural values and financial behaviour in view of recent entrepreneurial financing schemes through (EDI) Entrepreneurial Development Institute Kashmir. As these schemes were introduced recently in Jammu & Kashmir but little emphasis was put on the information regarding management of finances hence the increased default rates in loan repayments with the result most targeted unemployed youth have no plans for these loans. Therefore, data was collected through a structured questionnaire from 200 respondents (who have availed the scheme) through random sampling technique. Further analysis of collected data was performed through statistical software’s like SPSS using descriptive statistics, correlation and ANOVA. The findings reveal low financial literacy among respondents that led to low financial behaviour which is further reinforced by cultural values

Fossil fuel energy primarily consisting of petroleum products is a biggest driver for growth and development through all sectors both developing and developed world. Oil prices have stagnated over the last 40 years except when there was a boom from early 2000 till 2007-08(oil prices peaked to 147 U.S.Dollars per barrel). After the two oil price shocks in 1970’s the writ of OPEC has largely diluted. The OPEC cartel has lost. its prerogative in determing price and production. This is primarily due to petroleum production and supply by Non- OPEC countries. Correspondingly there has been substantial growth in the production of non-conventional sources of energy which has, to a great extent, reduced the demand of fossil fuel, petroleum products. The new climate change regime is seriously castigating the use fossil fuel energy instead promoting the use of cleaner energy. This phenomenon will also result in less demand for petroleum products. The present paper traces out the price behavior of crude oil over a period spanning 47 years (1970-2017). The price behavior is captured for the crude oil produced by both OPEC as well as Non-OPEC countries

Profession is an economic domain in which an individual enjoys high amount of expertise in the shape of knowledge, skill, autonomy, ethics and moral uprightness. While as, business education refers an education system that deals with business trade, commerce and industry. More specifically, it is a form of education that educates, trains a learner about the conceptual, theoretical and practical aspects of the domain and enables him to apply such knowledge for his individual, societal and corporate benefits . Accordingly, it has emerged a most cherished branch of education among all the stakeholders mainly from student’s sense. Consequent upon, it is overwhelmingly demanded, the business education has to produce more competent and visionary professional degree holders to meet the needs of business and corporate houses. Nevertheless, the argument is raised that business education today is largely delivered on conventional lines and lacks the over all professional touch and approach. This results in production of army of business education degree holders who prove worthless in the real world and competitive labour market. Therefore, to improve the relevance, utility ,employability of the degree holders of business education , the study advocates that there is a strong need to develop the business education on professional lines .And accordingly ,the paper suggests the appropriate methodology for developing the professionalism in business education

Abstract: The saffron as a product is in market complexities. The main factors which accounts for the decline of saffron in Kashmir include the improper marketing facilities, ineffectual nature of the government to keep a check on adulteration and counterfeiting of cheap saffron which then is repackaged and sold as saffron as a brand of Kashmir. Nevertheless, during the past few years the saffron industry is running into losses due to low productivity and unorganized market practices. The present study is an approach to understand, and analyse the problems regarding the brand equity of saffron in its contextual rural marketing framework. The study is an attempt to establish a brand for saffron product by mixed method methodology through measuring the brand equity and understanding the effect of these brand equity dimensions on the brand value of saffron product. Successful brands not only provide competitive edge but also are vital for long term sustainability of the company and the products in market. Consumer-based brand equity takes into consolidation the consumers’ feelings of a particular product to associations that are not necessarily related to specific product attributes, but exist independent of the product itself. The customer level measurement, evaluates brand value originating entirely from the consumers perception (what they buy, how they buy, why they buy, etc.). Many researchers have focused on measuring the brand equity in order to evaluate its contribution towards the success of business. The study is descriptive in nature since it will provide an accurate picture of some aspects of market environment. The significance of this study is that it will help in removing the irregularities in the rural market in general and saffron market in particular through brand market and public policy interventions

The term “Administrative Reform” has different meanings in different nations with different political systems. It is a process of change in administrative structures or procedures within the public services because they seem to have become in appropriate in the changed social and political environment. Administrative reform is often referred to as an attempt to modernise and change society by using the administrative system as an instrument for social and economic transformation. Administrative modernisation is based on the urge to upgrade the administrative capabilities through the use of scientific management and modern management techniques. The purpose generally is to promote coordination in the management of public affairs though measures as standardising organisational patterns and practices, establishing uniform rules and regulations for public personnel, making management practices more effective and strengthening budgetary process. The focus of this paper will be administrative reforms in Jammu and Kashmir.

An attempt in this paper is made to discuss organizational leadership in the context of power, politics, conflict, culture and climate. Accordingly the aforesaid concepts have been discussed in the Introduction. Power and politics are among the most important concepts in the study of organization behavior. Both power and politics are dynamic concepts and are a function of the interaction between different players in organizations. Although politics is generally regarded as negative and undesirable, but politics may be both sometimes good for the organization. Conflict frequently arises in the workplace. Goal incompatibility between groups or individuals, differentiation, task interdependence, scarce resources, ambiguity, and communication problems can all lead to a situation that promotes conflict. The organizational climate and culture are the powerful tools that have tremendous effect on the morale, performance and job satisfaction of the members in any organization. The climate and culture play a vital role in an organization as these are usually associated with the perceptions, ideas, values, beliefs and most importantly the behavior of its players. The paper also attempts literature review, the study highlighting in brief rationale-objectives-methodology. The paper finally after detailed discussion arrives at conclusions.

In this paper we checked empirically if the Phillips Curve exists in Tunisia and therefore estimated the structural unemployment rate over the period (1970-2010). The answer of this issues was gradual starting by both theritical and empirical literature afterwards econometric tools. Our empirical results using the OLS method have clearly revealed the existence of the Phillips curve in Tunisia thus the relationship between inflation and unemployment rate is negative and significant, as well using the maximum likelihood method with the kalaman filter technique, the structural unemployment rate is around 5.41%. Comparing to the reality of the labor market and the unemployment case of Tunisia during the period mentionned above, this result appears quite convincing because in the long run, the unemployed become discouraged diminish their probability of finding a job and stopped pointing into employment agencies.

Reliance Jio launched its VoLTE services in the Indian market; other telecom service providers have also gained momentum to give a tough competition to the Jio. Whether it’s Airtel, Vodafone, Idea or any other, the telecom service providers were founded launching many exciting offers, tariff plans, and schemes in order to stay ahead in the battle. This paper discusses about Jio’s predatory strategies and pricing has led to a lot of uncertainty for the key players. This confusion and a knee-jerk reaction have triggered a price battle that is causing a scene of carnage in the telecom sphere.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between transformational leadership and employee engagement of academic staff in sample select institutions. The study will also analyze the existing perception of respondents towards transformational leadership and employee engagement elements. Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-5x) developed by Bass and Avolio (1995) was employed to measure transformational leadership. The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale, developed by Schaufeli et al. (2006) was used to measure employee engagement. The reliability of constructs varies from .70 to .85. The data collected was analyzed using various statistical tools such as mean score, standard deviation and correlation. The findings of the study reveal that there prevails a favourable perception of academic staff towards transformational leadership and employee engagement. The results also depict that there is a positive and significant association between transformational leadership and employee engagement. It is suggested that transformational leadership practices should be further strengthened in sample select institutions in order to increase the employee engagement of academic staff

Wedding tourism is one of the latest developments so far as the various emerging forms of tourism is concerned. Weddings can be conceptualized as falling into the arena of events tourism. Weddings are recognized as planned events and belong to private events domain, together with parties and social events (Getz, 2005, 2008). Wedding tourism comprises of first time marriages, re-marriages, commitment ceremonies and same sex marriages, each distinguished by their features and motivations. Wedding tourism continues to grow and contribute billions of dollars to the tourist places like, Carribean, Dubai, South Africa, USA, UK, etc. Different countries have come up with various measures to become more friendly towards this form of tourism like, creating infrastructure, framing legislation, building resorts etc. as per the estimates; Every year an average of 2.4 million weddings are performed in the U.S., $29,858 is the average amount spent on a traditional American wedding. The wedding market in India is a multibillion industry with thousands of weddings taking place in the country throughout the year. The industry has flourished since time immemorial and is probably the only one that thrives even in the face of recession. The wedding industry is flourishing at a growth rate of 15% per annum and is pegged at an estimated 250,000 crores or $40 billion. Indians spend 80% of their wealth on weddings. The sector has proved to be a great contributor to GDP. Taking into consideration the above facts and statistics regarding wedding tourism, their lies a huge opportunity for the Valley of Kashmir. Being rich in nature, culture and archeology, Kashmir can prove to be an ideal destination for wedding tourism. In this regard the study is being done to discuss and analyze the present scenario of wedding tourism, to study the potential of Kashmir as a Wedding tourism destination, to discuss some challenges for Kashmir as a Wedding tourism Destination and to put forward some measures that are needed to be taken for overcoming the challenges for developing and promoting Kashmir as a wedding tourism destination. For this study, qualitative data collections methods are utilized. The methods include semi-structured interviews, documentary and visual methods

Tourism is one of the largest and fastest growing industries across the globe. It is an important source of income, employment and wealth to many countries. However, its rapid expansion has detrimental environmental, economical and socio cultural impact, which has given rise to sustainable development in tourism. Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. However, there are number of issues and challenges that are faced by the destinations managers across the globe while opting the concept of sustainable tourism development. The main endeavor of the present paper is to study the existing literature on the sustainability tourism development. This article also confers the various contemporary issues and challenges faced by the destination managers while opting the concept of sustainable tourism development. The research is qualitative in nature and the data was collected through secondary source by using online resources like Ugc inflibnet, Ebsco host and Google Scholar etc

The importance of developing relationships with customers has increased in the recent past with the increase in competition, fragmentation of markets and increasing customer awareness. The companies are focusing more on developing customer relationships and securing customer loyalty in order to achieve the desired profitability in the market. In this study an attempt has been made to understand the influence of customer loyalty on customer relationships and the various constructs that effect customer loyalty directly are also reviewed. Relationship marketing or CRM is a business strategy that aims to interpret, anticipate and manage the needs of an organization’s current and potential customers. It helps an organisation to enhance its customer interaction by increasing the customer approachability and the organisation's accountability which in turn improves customer acquisition, retention and profitability. The companies need to incorporate various marketing strategies and customer loyalty programs in order to develop customer loyalty through developing trust, commitment and satisfaction among the customers. In order to retain the existing customers the companies now a day’s require to understand the needs and preferences of their customers so that they provide them with the customized products and services It is also important for the companies to develop a close relationship with the customers by interacting with them on daily basis so that customer loyalty can be created which further helps in developing strong bonds between the companies and its customers.