Quantitative Methods

The presence of seasonal effects in monthly returns has been reported in several developed and emerging stock markets. The objective of this study is to explore the interplay between the month-of-the-year effect and market crash effects on monthly returns in Indian stock markets. The study uses dummy variable multiple linear regression to assess the seasonality of stock market returns and the impact of market crashes on the same. The results of the study provide evidence for a month-of-the-year effect in Indian stock markets, particularly positive November, August, and December effects, and a negative March effect. Further, the study suggests that the incidence of market crashes reduces the seasonal effects.

Foreign exchange risk is the effect that unanticipated exchange rate changes have on the value of the firm. There are a variety of strategies which are designed to manage foreign exchange risk. Each of them, however, is constructed under specific assumptions, for a specific risk profile. It is often the case that several strategies are applicable to a given scenario. The question arises as to which strategy would be expected to yield the best results in a given scenario.

Asset pricing theory is a framework designed to identify and measure risk, as well as to assign rewards for bearing risk. There is a general contention that the simple Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM) does not adequately describe stock return behavior; other macro-economic factors may also play an important role. In particular, emerging capital markets like India provide a challenge to asset pricing theory; markets that have undertaken substantial liberalization of their financial sectors to allow for the free flow of foreign portfolio investments tend to be more sensitive to the macro-economic factors. The present study was based on a sample of fifty stocks listed in the S&P 500 index of the National Stock Exchange, belonging to eight of the most flourishing industries in the Indian economy. The objectives of the study were to compare and assess the CAPM and the Arbitrage Pricing Model (APM), as applied to Indian capital markets, and to find out how macroeconomic variables affect the returns of different securities.

Globalization is the gradual disappearance of territorial differences in economic activities and therefore understanding cross-cultural customs and business practices, working on promoting efficiency and optimizing profitability in a globalized environment is of paramount importance for budding managers.

The MSME sector is a major source of growth in developing and transition economies. Despite their economic significance, MSMEs face a number of bottlenecks that prevent them from achieving their full potential. A major obstacle in MSME development is its inability to access timely and adequate finance. On the other hand, in recent years, there has been a significant increase in the incidence of default from the MSME sector. Hence, there is need to restructure the credit rating models used by banks for this sector.

The human resource outsourcing (HRO) industry in India is at a crucial juncture in its short history. Organizations are increasingly taking up HRO as an opportunity to streamline processes, reduce costs, get access to the latest technology and tools, consistently achieve better quality, and align human resources with the overall business as quickly as possible. On the other hand, providers are seeking to optimize the quality of services to their clients at a cost that still allows for a profit. Reshaping the business model in a way that benefits both buyers and suppliers is critical to the survival of the industry.

Movements in SENSEX are a result of a complex interplay of a host of factors. Hence, it is not easy to make a correct assessment of its movement, and the task becomes all the more difficult when SENSEX witnesses a lot of volatility. Macroeconomic factors do have a lot of influence on the SENSEX movements. The objective of this study is to investigate several key macroeconomic factors and their influence on SENSEX variations. For this purpose, key macroeconomic parameters like Balance of Trade, Index of Industrial Production, Money Supply (M3), MIBOR Rates, FOREX Reserves, Inflation (based on the Wholesale Price Index), and INR/USD and INR/EURO exchange rates were considered to investigate the key factors amongst them which are influencing most the SENSEX variations. The study uses monthly data for past ten years (i.e. from 2001 to 2010), analyzed using Vector Autoregressive techniques.

An increasing number of business-to-business companies are becoming aware of the power of word-of-mouth communication, also referred to as viral marketing, or buzz. This has lead to an explosion of interest in word-of-mouth communication channels, to identify sources through which companies can harness word-of-mouth communication of its products or services.

Commodity markets have been gaining importance in recent years, giving participants an opportunity to go for forward contracting and hedging. In particular, derivative markets have attained more than eighteen times in trading volume when compared to the spot markets.

The presence of seasonal effects in monthly returns has been reported in several developed and emerging stock markets. The objective of this study is to explore the interplay between the month-of-the-year effect and market crash effects on monthly returns in Indian stock markets. The study uses dummy variable multiple linear regression to assess the seasonality of stock market returns and the impact of market crashes on the same. The results of the study provide evidence for a month-of-the-year effect in Indian stock markets, particularly positive November, August, and December effects, and a negative March effect. Further, the study suggests that the incidence of market crashes reduces the seasonal effects.

Many firms in the service industry face the problem of disparate results in terms of efficiency. This problem is a cause of concern for many big organizations such as banks, hotels, courier companies, and so on. In particular, the last decade has witnessed continuous changes in regulation, technology and competition in the global financial services industry, and Indian banks are no exception. Rising cost-income ratios and declining profitability reflect increased competitive pressure. To assess the stability of the banking system, it is therefore crucial to benchmark the performance of banks operating in India. An efficient banking system contributes in an extensive way to higher economic growth in any country. Thus, studies of banking efficiency are very important for policy makers, industry leaders and many others who are reliant on the banking sector.

This paper proposes a goal programming model for working capital management. Goal programming is necessary to model the working capital decision, as a balance has to be achieved between the conflicting objectives of liquidity and profitability. The model determines, for given working capital turnover and fixed assets turnover ratios, how funds should be maintained between working capital/current assets and fixed assets to achieve targeted levels of liquidity and profitability, whilst minimizing the opportunity cost/loss of excess liquidity.

Company investment announcements can be expected to affect the long-term performance of its stock prices. If the stock markets are efficient (Fama; 1970), investors expect the market to react quickly to the announcement, adjusting the market capitalization of the firm by the change in the expected present value of the announcement. Many previous studies conducted in US and UK stock markets have given rise to contradictory views on this issue, leading one to a conclusion that different markets behave differently with respect to company investment announcements. It is a commonly known fact that the effect of an announcement is not abrupt and is spread over a couple of days and in some cases over weeks, and that this in turn can be attributed to the efficiency of the market. This study finds that the company's investment announcement decisions do have an effect on its stock price, and also that the nature of the announcement is a major factor in determining the effect on returns that would result.

e-retailing and database marketing are two emerging industries that require strong support from the CRM system. For a website it is important to keep customers interested and come back frequently to visit. As web data and direct marketing data are available in huge volumes, data mining is an important and popular tool for both industries to develop good CRM systems to target loyal customers. Since most of this data are genuine purchasing data, one could even go one step further to develop models to describe and predict behaviour of customers. In this study two statistical models from the theory of repeat purchase behaviour were used to analyse customer loyalty. The models were able to predict the percentage of repeat-customers, and were able to identify marketing variables which affected the repeat-rate.

Volatility is one of the key factors for an investor before investing in the capital market. High volatility is seen as a sign of investor nervousness, while low volatility is sign of confidence. Contrary to popular perception, volatility has not gone up in the recent past.

Purpose: The process of mergers and acquisitions has gained substantial importance in today's corporate world. During mergers and acquisitions, employees experience several emotional and social challenges. The social identity theory of intergroup behavior emphasizes that an individual"s wants to hold a positive self-concept through personal and social identity. The study analyses the emotional and social dimensions of employees involved in mergers and acquisitions from the perspective of social identity theory. Design/methodology/approach: The study is a qualitative study of the emotional and social challenges faced by employees in mergers/acquisitions, using the framework of social identity theory. The data for the study was collected from a sample of HR managers and employees of the organizations which have undergone merger or acquisition via personal interviews. Research limitations: