Thought leadership - view points

Boeing's Dreamliner: Takeoff Delays?

Case Study - By Mercy Mathew

On October 10, 2007, the Boeing Company (Boeing) announced a six month delay in its initially planned deliveries of 787 Dreamliners. Deliveries of the strong-selling Dreamliner were now slated to begin in l

ate November or December 2008, versus an original target of May 2008. The announcement made investors wary, as Boeing has in-hand orders for 762 Dreamliner from 52 customers. But the management remains confident and still aims to deliver 109 jets in 24 months. That doesn’t pacify the concerns of investors and customers amidst – engineering changes, struggling suppliers, weight reduction, aircraft certification and a challenging target of getting on production from zero to six airplanes a month by 2009.
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Mahindra & Mahindra: Driving Scorpio to US

Case Study - By Mercy Mathew

Pawan Goenka, president, automotive sector, Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M), remarked “Entering the US market will not only add value to our brand, but it also gives us proximity to high-end technology.” It is a very honest response to global expansion strategy for a company like M&M with a good track record in India, Europe and South Africa. But such quest are followed by words of caution, as one industry expert put it, “M&M will be facing its toughest competition for SUVs, since this [US] is the battleground for all automobile makers.” Will US customers consider buying a less-expensive vehicle from India? How long will it take before M&M would be viewed as a real competitor to other automakers?
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Re-engineering Public Library services

By Parameswaran N., Librarian and Vimal Kumar V., Asst. Librarian

Public libraries have a social mission which involves in providing collections and services to meet a community’s information needs. They exist to serve communities. It is the local gate
way to knowledge and provides a basic condition for life long learning, independent decision making and cultural development of the individual and social groups. But tremendous changes in the Information and Communication Technology and changing life style have greatly influenced the information seeking behavior of the library users. Library services based on the conventional service model lack the new information services and there exist a large gap between user needs and actual library service. The public library services should be re-engineered to meet the changing atmosphere. Library leaders must have the skills to
create and nurture a new type of library culture in which change is encouraged and new visions of service implemented. A new focus on the needs of non traditional library users has also become necessary to attract the community
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Scholarly communication in networked environment: Problems and Prospects

By Vimal Kumar V. , Asst. Librarian.

This article gives an over view of how popularity of World Wide Web and open access concepts challenge the existence of traditional scholarly communication. New publishing outlets such as blogs, wiki and podcasting facilitate agile communication channels for scholarly communication.
Open access concepts in scholarly communication enable free access of knowledge. Research community and information professionals hope that scholarly communication through Internet makes available wider access of knowledge.
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Kazhakkoottam: A Legacy bolstered by Technopark

By Mercy Mathew

Technopark is the single largest source of employment in Kerala, employing nearly 17,000 people directly and generating another 30,000 employment indirectly. On the human development index, Kazhakuttam stands a mark higher than many of the cities in Kerala.
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Managers As Thinkers

By Prof. K. Balakrishnan, Dean Admissions and Chairman Knowledge Management

Managers need to be increasingly aware enough of their remote and proximate environment to understand its fundamental drivers. ASB believes that the challenge of an educational institution lies in adding as much value as possible, to those who have the potential to cope with the course, rather than restrict the education to only the “priviledged”. A core course in Critical Thinking equips participants with the lifelong ability to examine any issue critically, deeply and dispassionately. This course is one of the most challenging and satisfying one to participants.
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