The Many Faces of Cyber-Crime:The Implications on E-banking

Technology, particularly IT has brought to mankind a number of features and service delivery channels aimed at offering convenience, enhanced productivity and profitability but not without trade-offs. Crime,fraud and insecurity are some of the associated snags which have hindered in no smaII measure the wide application of IT. This paper reviews the different forms of crime perpetrated through IT, the effects on e-banking and the possible solutions for a wider acceptability

Sesamum Cultivation in Punjab: Status, Potential and Constraints

Sesamum, once an important oilseed crop, has been loosing its importance on the cropping map of the state agriculture, owing to favourable production and marketing environment for other crops like paddy. The study has reported the trends in area, production and yield of sesamum, its relative profitability, factors affecting productivity and various constraints inhibiting its growth in the state. The area under sesamum that had declined over the years, has shown a little progress due to oilseeds development programmes, initiated by the Govt. during late-1980s. On the comparative economics front, sesamum has been found to provide lower returns as compared to paddy. The benefit cost ratio of sesamum has been found to be 1.36 which shows its profitability in absolute terms, but compared with its competing crop, it is much lower. The state average productivity of the crop has been almost stagnant over the years, reflecting inadequate research efforts for the upliftment of sesamum in the state. The regression analysis has brought out that sesamum productivity can be enhanced by spending more on plant protection measures and human labour for pesticide spray. Major biotic constraints faced by sesamum growers have been identified as diseases and pests, while lack of irrigation and drought have been the major abiotic constraints. To give a boost to the sesamum cultivation in the state, two-dimensional efforts, viz technological upgradation and effective market support are required.Crop Production/Industries,

Ananlysis of productivity and efficiency in MSRTC

Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation (MSRTC) has been instrumental in providing access and connectivity across the entire state of Maharashtra. Over the last few years, due to a variety of factors, particularly competition from the private sector, MSRTC’s financial performance has shown a marked deterioration. After the financial turnaround of Karnataka State Road Corporation when it was split in to four smaller organizations, the same solution was suggested by many for large corporations like MSRTC. In this paper, we examine the issue of splitting MSRTC into smaller regions to find out whether it would actually help in its financial recovery. Also, we examine the possibility of improvement in financial profitability by means of enhanced input productivity.State Road Transport Corporations, Scale Economies, Technical Efficiency, Total Factor Productivity

Tying Strategic Alignment and IT Value to Business Success Using Business Process Analysis And Redesign (BPAR)

Information technology (IT) investments are made for the purpose of obtaining value. This paper proposes that the alignment of IT investments with organizational strategic objectives (strategic alignment) leads to the attainment of value. Value results in enhanced business performance. Business process analysis and redesign (BPAR) is offered here as a tool by which strategic alignment can be achieved. The achievement of organizational objectives adds value to the firm which enhances business performance and leads to business success. Business success may be measured by increased productivity, improved business profitability, and created value for the consumer

The impact of business process outsourcing on firm performance and the influence of governance : a long term study in the German banking industry

Does BPO pay off at the firm-level? Although there are several studies which analyze the potential benefits of BPO, there is a virtual absence of research papers on BPO outcomes. Based on an analysis of 137 Business process outsourcing (BPO) ventures at 254 German banks in a period between 1994 and 2005, we found that the outsourcer's financial performance in terms of profitability and cost efficiency was increased significantly compared to industry peers without BPO. The increase stems not from workforce reductions but rather from increased employee productivity. Further, we show how BPO governance ensures BPO success: individually negotiated outsourcing contracts help to improve cost efficiency and profitability measures. Relational governance based on trust has only positive effects on profitability. Keywords: Business Process Outsourcing, firm performance, firm characteristics, banking, German banks, governance JEL Classifications: G21, L14, L21, L2

Innovation and Performance in British-based Manufacturing Industries:Shaping the Policy Agenda

This paper analyses the relationship between business performance, R&D expenditures and innovation output. It utilises the second Community Innovation Survey (CIS2), a large-scale survey into firms’ innovation activities conducted in the UK by the DTI. We matched up CIS2 with performance data as derived from the FAME database, using the four year period after the survey. We find that many enterprises who claim to have produced innovation output, did not register any expenditures on formal R&D. Moreover, we find evidence that it is innovation output, the introduction of new or improved products and processes, which is correlated to productivity growth, not a high expenditure on R&D. The UK’s policy to support innovation via subsidising R&D expenditure may on the one hand fail to effectively target many firms who are successful innovators and on the other reward firms that engage in levels of R&D spending beyond the point where marginal social cost equals marginal social benefit. Our evidence strongly suggests that the key to supporting productivity growth in the economy as a whole is to develop policy initiatives that are able to facilitate product innovation directly

Enterprise Restructuring in Belarus

We explore the impact of privatization and the entry of new firms on enterprise performance in Belarus, a transition economy in which reform and market-orientated institutional development has been limited. We hypothesize that private ownership will enhance company performance, measured in a variety of ways including profitability and capacity to export to the West, and that newly created firms will perform better than state-owned ones. Our work is based on a large enterprise level survey which includes state-owned firms, privatized companies and newly created enterprises. The data refute both hypotheses. We conclude that this is probably because the institutional environment has not evolved sufficiently from the socialist era to permit free competition and effective governance by new owners.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/57203/1/wp823 .pd

ICT AND NIGERIAN BANKS REFORMS: ANALYSIS OF ANTICIPATED IMPACTS IN SELECTED BANKS

Banking has become highly ICT based and due to its inter-sectoral link, it is reaping the benefits of technological revolution as evidenced by its application in most of its operations. The study carried out empirical analysis of the anticipated role ICT has in enhancing the operations of selected Nigerian banks in the light of current reforms. Primary data was employed, which was analyzed using cross-tabulations and regression technique built on the framework of technical progress. Factors such as bankers’ age, educational qualification, computer literacy and type of ICT gadgets, were found to influence banks’ degree of ICT usage, while ICT impacts significantly the speed of banking operations, productivity and profitability. The need for the banks to regularly train their workers, and procure quality ICT gadgets, which will enhance efficiency, etc, was stressed. This is crucial in the sector’s current reforms where attention is focused on the ability of banks to attract and retain customers, which is mainly feasible through efficient service delivery that depend, to a large extent, on the use of ICT

Rural infrastructure to contribute to African agricultural development: the case of irrigation

Report for The Commission for Afric