Introduction
In 360-degree appraisal, also called as multi-rater assessment, the employee receives feedback from his immediate boss, his subordinates, customers, and others. Multiple raters as well as multiple techniques (Role Play, Business Games, Interviews, In-Basket Exercise) are used for assessment. The basic idea is to eliminate the various errors as well as the effect of bias [...]

In his book Good to Great, Jim Collins writes of foxes and hedgehogs: the fox knows many small things, but the hedgehog knows one bighting. If we were to apply this concept to books, Chris Anderson’s The Long Tail would be a hedgehog. It has essentially one big idea—that the nature of demand has changed [...]

Introduction
In economic downturns, you must constantly evaluate the impact of your actions on both your short-term and long-term financial performance. Three general rules to be followed are: Avoid reactionary budget cuts; position with value engineering; and select products, services, and above all, customers.
Avoid Reactionary Budget Cuts
During difficult economic times, often organizations completely abandon their marketing [...]

New Generation Islamic Banks

Introduction
The ideology behind Islamic banking, i.e., `interest-free banking’, is based on basic ethical standards with just one main difference – Muslims are not allowed to pay or receive interest. This does not mean that business activities or making a profit are not encouraged, in fact, they are, but only as long as [...]

Citigroup’s tale is considered to be a case of bad market conditions and not necessarily of a bad model. It admits that its own internal risk management team and other executives never understood what it takes to succeed as an integrated financial supermarket. Reports indicate that its past acquisitions were not properly integrated, cultures were [...]

“Life is the sum of all your choices”, said Albert Camus aptly. The same holds good even for organizations—their success or failure is the culmination of a series of decisions taken over their lifetime. Thus, decision making remains at the very heart of not only personal and professional lives, but also business organizations.
Bill George, former [...]

The all-pervasive economic gloom—rising unemployment, foreclosures and corporate bankruptcies, capped by a forecast of fall in growth in world economy by 0.8 percentage points to 2.2% by the IMF—made everyone expect something dramatic to come out of the recent economic summit of G-20 countries held on 15th November in Washington, DC. Indeed, many have gone [...]

If you are a manager, do not spend time on technical or production tasks that can or should be delegated, and do not micromanage employees past where it is useful or effective. Many managers engage in these activities because they are comfortable, familiar and make you feel more productive. You need to exercise some discipline [...]

“iPhone is Winning!”
iPhone was first termed and phased in the year 2004, when Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple Inc. declared that Apple will create a touch-phone which will revolutionize music. iPods were still in the nascent stage at that time, and something like iPhone was never heard of. Still, the hopefuls claimed that Apple was [...]

`Mentoring’ is a word which is traced back to its roots from Greek literature, illustrated in the Greek epic, The Odyssey. Odysseus son’s teacher donned the dual role of a coach/mentor to his son and the role of friend to Odysseus. His character as a mentor served as a teacher, advisor and the role model [...]