Behavioural Economics and Demonetization

Behavioural economics is a subfield of economics that focuses on the psychological social and emotional factorsthat influence decision making which is different from traditional economics.

As defined by Dick Thaler and Cass Sunstein book named “Nudge”,there exist two kind of personalities in the market one the human and other the Econs. The Econs are the ones that are true follower of traditional economics and thus tend to take perfect rational decisions. Where as humans are emotional and impulsive while taking decisions.

Assuming market is full of Econs isa myth and in reality, the market majorly comprises of humans. Studying behavioural economics enables us to understand individuals, their behaviour, their reactions and their action patterns.

The most talked about event last year was Mr. Modi government’s massive demonetization program of discontinuing 500 and 1000 notes. An Econs viewpoint would be excepting the policy without hesitation and without complaints. However, an Econs viewpoint would be quite different.

We all are aware that the implementation of this policy resulted in lot of inconvenience and chaos especially within the people whose daily transaction was in cash. The human behaviour advocates that we all hate losses more than we love gains. However, despite this, the Indian citizens preferred standing in long queues and supported the nation’s decision of demonetization. There can be possibly two main reasons for this behaviour, which is contrary to the expected one.

Firstly, a strong belief that today’s inconvenience would enable us to have a fairer society in future. This belief of fairer society was inculcated in people psychology with help of the second reason that was the persuasive dialogues and speech of the prime minister which motivated the people believe that today’s little inconvenience and tolerance would definitely lead to a corruption free and fair future. 

Ms. Manisha Gupta

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Management Studies

Feminism

FEMINISM is related with the answer of some questions such as who is a woman? What characteristics does it mean to be a woman? Is she a sister-mother-wife-daughter? Or is she more or less than that? What is her role in society at present and how does it play out in different organizations? Does she really face domination? If so, how? Is Feminism really an answer to her problems? And does she need liberation? Who will bring about this liberation and how? Basically Feminism is a range of views and social movements that share a common goal and political movements to define establish and achieve equal political, economic, personal and social right for women.

In reality there are three broad themes in the support of feminism:

The first one is the conceptualization of women as a socio-political category, second one is the various ideas of women’s oppression, and third one is the idea of emancipation.

This includes seeking to establish equal opportunities for women in education and employment. Feminist typically advocate or support the rights and equality of women in every field.

Feminism is a broader term that continues to campaign for women’s rights which includes right to vote, to work , to earn fair wages, to own property, to receive education etc. It promotes autonomy and integrity and to protect females from rape, sexual harassment and domestic violence.

Although Feminist advocates mainly on women’s rights which does not mean that feminism is about suppressing male from their right which they already uphold.

Feminism is not supposed to be popular. It’s supposed to attack deeply ingrained social structures that, obviously, people are going to want to cling to. If the only stances you ever take are the ones that you know everyone’s going to agree with, you are not changing the world. Feminism didn’t teach us to hate men but it did teach us to stop prioritizing them over women.

Since feminism is against gender stereotypes, so generalizations like "men are bad" would actually fall under the category of "anti-feminist," since it is itself a gender stereotype. But in actual, the cultural views of men as more aggressive, impulsive, and cold are just a few of the stereotypes feminism aims to combat. So feminism does acknowledge is that men (not to mention white people, able-bodied people, and other advantaged groups) have privilege, and that this privilege can be used for good or for bad depending on your choices and behavior.

A number of people argue that by calling themselves "feminists" rather than "equalists" and bringing attention to the way people's experiences differ based on gender, feminists are actually reinforcing gender rather than striving toward a post-gender society. Feminists may have differing views on what gender is, but most of us can agree on is that nobody should feel like they have to behave a certain way because of their gender. We can maintain this belief while acknowledging that we live in a world where gender is very, very real. A post-gender society (or at least a post-compulsory-gender society) would be great to live in, but we can't pretend that exists already.

Dr. Ruchi Singhal

Associate Professor

Dept. of Management Studies

MEDIA AND DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY

                                                                                                           

Digital media is a form of electronic media where data is stored in digital (as opposed to analog) form. It can refer to the technical aspect of storage and transmission (e.g. hard disk drives or computer networking) of information or to the "end product", such as digital video, augmented reality or digital art. Florida's digital media industry association, Digital Media Alliance Florida, defines digital media as "the creative convergence of digital arts, science, technology and business for human expression, communication, social interaction and education".

 Basically digital media refers to any type of electronic media out there. Today media can be accessed in many ways, including with hand held devices like mobile phones, laptops, desktops, mp3 players, and more. Digital media must be stored in an electronic way, so there is a lot of digital content on the internet today, including text content, pictures, audio content, as well as video content. Through the history of internet, digital media has been developing in various ways. Here's we'll take a look at how it has affected the Internet and ways that it may be integrated moving forwards.

The digital revolution in information and communication technologies has created the platform for a free flow of information, ideas and knowledge across the globe. The new media (internet) has been able to incorporate all other means of communication the newspaper, magazine, radio, television, cinema, photographic image, and video. The consequence is the Internet divergence from mass communication. Not only has it led to normative rethinking on the traditional role of the press, it has also led to the adaptation of publication roles. Apart from the more apparent evolution of the content in mainstream mass media, it has also led to a rethinking of the role of the media professionals.  Added to this is the greater ’interiority’ and also ‘interactivity’ of the audience, which is no longer regarded as a passive entity. The fragmentation and blurring of the media institution is fallout. It is no longer an impervious monolith, but subject to constant evolution by the audience. The proliferation of the new media also leads to reduced social control.

You may have heard of digital media, but you may have no idea what it is and how it can help you out when it comes to marketing. It's definitely important that you get up to speed so you can use this to benefit your business. Basically digital media refers to any type of electronic media out there. Today media can be accessed in many ways, including with hand held devices like mobile phones, laptops, desktops, mp3 players, and more.

Digital media must be stored in an electronic way, so there is a lot of digital content on the internet today, including text content, pictures, audio content, as well as video content. Through the history of internet, digital media has been developing in various ways. Here's we'll take a look at how it has affected the Internet and ways that it may be integrated moving forwards.

One type of digital media is text; this in fact represented the very first explosion of this type of content out there on the Internet. When the Internet first got big, there was an explosion of content on the web, especially with all the text editors and word processing options out there today. Larger companies started to put date on computers instead of storing it in cabinets, and the internet definitely allowed a great way to share, transfer, and store content as well.

As the Internet grew, images began to appear. Instead of just text emails, soon people could send photos, and soon photo sites for sharing photos began to pop up. Then in the middle 1990s, audio began to become an important part of digital media with the mp3 files that could be easily used. Soon music and more was shared online with sites that allowed you to share audio.

Last in the digital media development was video. YouTube definitely made video sharing a hugely popular form of modern media distribution and this is continuing to grow as we speak today. Now with new technology seen in things like the iPhone, this new form of virtual media is available in handheld devices as well, and no doubt this sector is only going to continue to grow in the future.

Now that you understand a bit more about the technology side, you may be wondering how it can help your business. Well businesses are using digital media for marketing more and more today, realising that there is a huge marketing field out there and that it can help to draw in visitors and can even provide better search engine visibility with you.

Text content can be kept updated on your site and helpful content is a great part of good marketing. Expertise in your field can really help your business and get traffic flowing into your business website. Photos, charts, diagrams, and models are always popular online and will help you to get more visibility as well. Audio allows you to use music on pages or to do podcasts for your business. Creating videos is a popular method of digital media marketing today, and videos do very well in search engines.

With the popularity of digital media, it is definitely important that you continue to create and use it for good marketing and business results. Even if you have to hire someone to help out, the benefits will make it worth the money. So knowing about and using digital media is definitely important for a business success today.

CONCLUSION

I don't think there are any rules in life that everyone should stick to anymore. Each to their own I say, and if you agree then you're on the right track to being a confident individual who knows when to say no.

I think one of the big errors people are making right now is thinking that old-style businesses will be obsolete, when actually they will be an important part of this new civilization. Some retail groups are introducing e-commerce and think that the bricks are no longer useful. But they will continue to be important. The Internet is becoming the town square for the global village of tomorrow.

 Dr. Manish Srivastava

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Communication Studies

Search Engine and Social Media Marketing trends in 2016

The two fields of social media and search are frequently progressing, with plenty of changes that affects in consumer and marketer behavior.

To stay ahead in the curve, following are the strategies to adopt.

1. Mobile optimization

The business owners must cater to the needs of their mobile audience to generate leads and increase conversions. It is important to have mobile friendly websites and the sites need to be responsive to provide the best user experience to your visitors regardless of the device they are using.

                         

2. Voice search presents huge alterations in keyword research

Siri, Now and Cortana are making the lives of users so much more convenient. The users use different search terms when speaking and typing. Voice searches lean toward long-tail keywords, so the marketers have to be sure to include these terms to escalate their chances of ranking.

3. Local SEO will be even more significant

With the launch of My Business, Google places even more prominence to local SEO. It is important to have your business listed on Google to improve search visibility. Google-My Business is a great place to get started, allowing marketer to control multiple accounts from one central location.

4. Social posts get ranked higher

Many marketers are by now utilizing social media to increase more visibility in search engines. When customers enter your company name, one must ensure that the social media profiles are seen on the first page. Various social media sites also now boost long form content, especially Facebook with their revamped Notes feature.

5. Learn the new on-page SEO

On-page SEO includes click-through rates, engagement, social signals and relevant content. By measuring these important site metrics, one can see which areas of the site need improvements.

6. Sell on social

Facebook and Pinterest, in particular, have introduced “Buy Now” features. It’s a win-win position since social media users can now buy products without downloading the app, allowing for a great user experience.

7. Enhancements in in-app functionality

Facebook has introduced a lot of new features last year such as Instant Articles and automatic video playing when scrolling. They are working on making their own digital assistant. So it’s essential to make enhancements in the app to experience a boost in ROI.

8. Videos will continue to dominate

YouTube still receives a massive amount of hits per day. Plenty of studies also show that content within videos have higher engagement rates compared to those that only contain plain text. It is recommended to entertain the audience with videos. This helps in increasing traffic on your site.

Conclusion:

Google, Facebook and Twitter are releasing new feature after new feature, improving the overall experience of their users while instantaneously keeping marketers on their toes as they try to adjust to all the changes.

Ms. Shikha Kukreja

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Communication Studies

RAIN

(Redundant Array of Independent Nodes)

RAIN is a disk sub system that is used to obtain distributed data storage and security in network architecture by integrating management software and inexpensive hardware.

RAIN is designed with a view to achieve reliable and scalable network attached storage (NAS) by blending distributed computing and commodity hardware with effective management software. It aims at improvement of pitfalls of NAS systems that are non-redundant.

The concept of RAIN derived from redundant array of independent disks (RAID), which is similar system that is implemented at the disk level.

Redundant array of independent nodes may simultaneously be termed as redundant array of inexpensive nodes.

RAIN technology was designed as a research program jointly by Defense Advanced Research Project Agency and California Institute of Technology and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

RAIN technology is implemented as to increase fault tolerance in a cluster.

A centralized management interface is used to manage the storage clusters. A virtual pool of storage devices is created by the management software, which do not need network and storage administrators physically.

Any new RAIN node is automatically detected by the RAIN management software and all the nodes can communicate with each other.

If any of the nodes fail, the lost data is replicated among other nodes of RAIN architecture in a cluster to avoid immediate replacement of the failed nod.

Effective load balancing characteristics makes RAIN based grids more adaptable/resilient to application workload changes.

RAIN architecture provides high end solutions that reduces the number of nodes in the chain that links/connects the client and server, as well as to make the current node more autonomous and more robust.

The aim of RAIN technology is to design a system that is fault-tolerant, has high performance, and architecturally implements a portable clustering technology.

The RAIN technology aims to recognize and create key building blocks for distributed systems that are reliable, build using economically off-the-shelf components. RAIN technology also includes the new feature of re-establishing an out of order node with a new one and thus avoiding the break in information flow.

RAIN technology follows an open architecture approach to storage that implements inexpensive computing hardware in hand with a significantly smart management software to make it reliable and efficient.

The elements of RAIN configuration run in parallel with network protocols and operating system. The management software that is used provides the fault tolerance feature.

Advantages of RAIN

1. Fault tolerance - A RAIN cluster works as a true, distributed computing system that is susceptible to faults, it employs the principle of graceful degradation.
2. Simple to destroy and manage–RAIN technology deals with the issue of scalability on the layer where it is happening without the need to create additional layers in the front. The management software permits the user to monitor and configure the entire cluster by connecting to any of the nodes.
3. Open and portable –This technology is open and highly portable. It is compatible with a variety of hardware and software environment. Lately, it has been ported to Solaris, NT and Linux.
4. Support for heterogeneous environment – It supports a heterogeneous environment as well where the cluster can consists of nodes of different operating systems with different configurations.
5. No distance limitation –There is no distance restriction to RAIN technology. It allows clusters of geographically distributed nodes. It can work with many different Internet applications.
6. Availability – Another advantage of RAIN is its incessant availability. In case of Rainwall, it detects failures in software and hardware components in real time, shifting traffic from failing gateways to functioning ones without interrupting existing connections.
7. Scalability – RAIN technology is scalable. There is no limit on the size of RAIN cluster. Rainwall is scalable to any number of new Internet firewall gateways and allows the addition of new gateways into the cluster without service interruptions.
8. Load Balancing and Performance – New node can be added into the cluster on the spot to take part in load sharing, without detoriating the network performance as in case of Rainwall. Rainwall keeps track of the total traffic going into each node. When a disproportion is sensed, in the network traffic, it moves one or more of the virtual IPs on the more heavily-loaded node to the more lightly-loaded node. Any new nodes can be added into the cluster to participate in load sharing, without taking down the cluster.
9. Use of inexpensive nodes – RAIN uses loosely couples computing clusters using inexpensive hardware devices.  It uses management software that transmits tasks to various computers, and, in the event of a failure, will retry the task until a node responds. Many of the loosely coupled computing projects makes use of, to some degree, a RAIN strategy.

Ms. Priyanka Gupta

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Information Technology

Online Education - What traditional Indian education institutions need to know?

Online Education - What traditional Indian education institutions need to know?

2016 witnessed some major trends in E-learning and attracted some of the most popular online learning platforms in India like Udacity. This has also raised the bar of stress for the colleges and universities in India about how to compete with the MOOC ventures disrupting the Industry. In a country where having a degree was the main source of getting a job, online learning platforms have been successful in placing students in top companies. Where “Flipkart partners with MOOC venture Udacity for interview-less hiring” made the news headlines in VCCircle, private institutions have started looking for threats and opportunities in the digital learning space. Some have started developing online learning portals to compete with the MOOC ventures.

However, understanding where to innovate and where to compete are crucial parameters in developing a successful digital strategy. Simply replicating MOOC style online courses as a part of digital strategy might turn out to be ineffective. To be able to compete strategically, colleges and universities have to think beyond delivering recorded classroom lectures.

The first thing to understand is that delivering recorded classroom lectures cannot replace the real learning/ class environment. This is because  of the following reasons:

    · The learning does not happen in class listening to lectures only but also engaging with students, peer to peer interaction, study groups, group projects, professor feedback etc.

    · Only creating recorded classroom lectures might be okay if the goal is to make it accessible to students for future review but might not be a perfect solution for digital change.

The  core benefits of MOOC are:

     ·  MOOCs are flexible i.e. people can study at their pace, pause, take notes and review it in future and access it whenever they want to from wherever they are. Therefore, the idea of creating the recorded classroom lectures should rather focus on improving current teaching methods and student performance, where the current classroom sessions could turn into case study discussions, discussing homework and projects, skill and practical learning sessions etc.

     · The second thing is to understand where to innovate that considers the areas that are actually being disrupted by technology. As the value of degree declines and the value of industry-specific skills increase, MOOC ventures have tied up with major firms to recruit students with top skills even if they don't have a degree. Companies are creating their own learning courses that allow them to teach skills with projects that are required for a specific job role in the company. These factors are eliminating the relevance of a graduation degree that played a major role in getting a job offer in a company.

      · Finally, the digital strategy should be carved based on the objectives and where they need to compete to have a competitive advantage. This can be either by utilizing the technology to improve current methods of teaching or to make it open and accessible to everyone. Either the courses should focus on particular skills/topics or full   classroom lecture recording. Either the courses are offered for free or with a paying structure. Or if the goal is to offer courses from renowned faculty. 

Ms. Shruti Minocha

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Management Studies

MBA- The Key to Career Success

The most obvious factor in an MBA’s appeal to individuals wishing for a career change is the knowledge and job opportunities it offers. An MBA degree from the top B- schools will help the students in development of the skills, expertise and know how necessary to prosper on the new career path. Many business schools also help the students with networking by arranging trips with companies in the desired industry, during which they learn a lot about the operational aspects of business. Students also get a chance to interact with employees and develop valuable contacts.

Another aspect of the MBA that can help the students with their career swap is the MBA internship they are expected to complete over summer break. Most colleges assist their students in finding intern positions by hosting recruiter events or reserving MBA internships with various companies. This is a built-in feature of the MBA that provides the students with the experience they need in the desired field as well as a chance for a possible career in the company once they have earned their degrees. Many companies give priority to their pool of former interns when hiring new employees, so making a good impression during the MBA internship can go a long way.

Even if the students are interested to start their own business, an MBA degree can prepare everything from writing a business plan to acquiring venture capital to launching an IPO. MBA graduates enjoy lucrative job placements across the world. National and multinational companies always search for fresh and experienced MBAs with excellent academic record. If you’re not sure which career to pursue but know you need a change, business school is the perfect place to discover which industry is right for you. Networking and discussions with career counselors and second-year students, as well as school programs aimed at acquainting students with various industries can help the students narrow down their interests. Some schools these days are even offering online self assessments and group activities to assist incoming students in determining their career goals.  

Although having an MBA will impress potential employers, it is important to remember that business school won’t do all the work for students. While they may have enjoyed higher positions and salaries in their former field, they may have to settle for less as a newbie. Also, it is important to select the best MBA college n terms of curriculum, faculty, placement, location, and fee. The decision whether or not to pursue an MBA is a tough one. A serious thought should be given to the money and time involved. But for those who decide that getting an MBA is the path they wish to take, the degree might open up a whole new world of possibilities.

Ms. Karnica Tanwar

Assistant Professor

Dept. of Communication Studies