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The main theme of this edition of the Business review is the urban sphere and there are six papers devoted to this concept. The remaining are devoted to general topics relating to management.

The reason for focusing on the urban sphere is simple and straightforward. This is the sixtieth year of our independence, and a lot has been written about our robust economy and how well it compares with most of the countries in the world. Conferences and seminars of various types focus on this topic and everyone is busy patting everybody else on the back and congratulating themselves on how well the country is doing. Great pride is taken on having got rid of the low rate of GDP growth.

If we look at infrastructure, globalization is, in many ways the reason why cities suffer from infrastructure related problems. No one will deny that there are positive aspects to becoming integrated with the global economy. Unfortunately, it is the flip side of the coin which causes trouble. Globalization has brought in its wake imbalanced growth and unequal economic development, and both these factors have made the life of the ordinary citizen a difficult one.

Globalization and its impact on the Indian economy are topics which most business magazines focus on, and everyone is busy patting everybody else on the back and congratulating themselves on how well the country is doing. However, if we look at the causal link between globalization and urbanization, it is evident that the link is not a happy one. The giveaways are the infrastructure related problems in cities. 

What we see around us on a daily basis in the cities (and we do not mean the up-market sections of the cities), in no way reflects that we are anywhere near even the very foothills of what is expected in terms of urban infrastructure, cleanliness and beauty. The reverse is in fact the case. We have not even reached Base Camp.

For example, in almost all cities in India, there are the up market sections which can stand comparison with any city in the developed world. But as we all know, this is offset by the acres of sprawling slums which  co exist, and where the occupant does not have access to many basic amenities required in order to live a decent life. 

We thus felt that in this day and age, it is necessary to take a wider perspective   in terms of what is happening in our world and not merely look at specific indicators of progress as far as this country is concerned. We felt that a look at the urban environment and what is happening in that area is important. More importantly, how do happenings in the area of urban matters impact the ordinary citizen?

To ask a simple question - why choose the urban sphere when there are equally other important areas we could have chosen? We argue that the reason is straightforward and for us, the reason is embedded in our concept of the urban sphere which is a down to earth one. We are also of the opinion that it is necessary for all of us to be involved in this concept and that too, not from a theoretical perspective.

This involvement should, we feel, naturally take the form of some kind of action so that we can try and cleanse the cities of the truly unbelievable amount of filth and degradation which has accumulated. This should be our first concern.

Planting occasional saplings and beautification of roads whenever a ‘VIP’ is expected to travel on them does not answer or solve the problem. Unfortunately, this is how we operate, and the reason for this can be seen in the foundations laid in the first decades of our independence, when the politician and the government babu held complete control of what was happening in almost every sphere of a citizen’s life.

Regrettably, this did not include the inculcation of the basic principles of urban cleanliness and related matters. Perhaps such matters were considered too basic and not of sufficient importance to exercise the minds of policy makers and policy implementers.

Whatever the reason, the results are now glaringly evident.  Parts of our cities look like something out of a cartoon of a cityscape by RK Laxman, with no sense of beauty or aesthetics in them and with no sense of proportion or uniformity. 

Dr Vinod Vyasulu, Director of The Centre of Budget and Policy Studies, Bangalore,  in his presentation on ‘The Indian Economy – After 60 Independent Years’ made on 15 August 07,  stated that  ‘if one goes by the newspapers, one word may suffice to describe the state of the Indian economy today: 'optimistic' for one school and 'sold-out' to another. There seems to be no middle ground: It is either India Shining or India Crying! It is in the nature of economic debate that the same country for the same time period, from the same data sources, can be described in such diametrically opposite ways. One school, (and there are differences within the schools too) - the pro-reformers of today—are represented by economists like Suresh Tendulkar, Jagdish Bhagwati and T.N. Srinivasan. The other school—the anti-reformers—is represented by economists like Amit Bhaduri, Prabhat Patnaik, and Amiya Bagchi. They are all distinguished scholars, and state their own positions clearly. In this swordplay of giants, the citizen must be dazed!’ Dr Vyasulu goes on to add that ‘Growth is important, but growth alone is not. How are the fruits of growth shared? Here there is considerable disagreement. One school believes that growth will ‘trickle down’ if there is enough of it. The other argues that growth never trickles down: policies of redistribution are essential. In my view, evidence for a ‘trickle down’ is hard to come by. It remains a hope’.

We agree with this. But we also feel that the citizen is dazed by the condition of the cities which have become cesspools. There is no ‘trickle down’ and the reason for this is primarily because there is no accountability for the people who are meant to look after basic amenities.

Once the payment of salary is assured, then the quality of that person’s output has to deteriorate. Every action indeed has an equal and opposite reaction.

Take any of today's environmental problems faced by the inhabitants of Earth, and its causes and pressures can easily be traced back, directly or indirectly, to urban areas. The forces and processes that constitute 'urban activity' have far-reaching and long-term effects not only on its immediate boundaries, but also on the entire region in which it is positioned.

In a very broad sense, the urban environment consists of resources, human and other; processes, that convert these resources into various other useable products and services; and effects of these processes, which may be negative or positive. There are Natural Environments (resources, processes and effects related to flora and fauna), Built Environments (resources, processes and effects related to buildings, housing, roads, railways, electricity, water supply, gas etc.), and finally there are  the Socio economic Environments (resources, processes and effects related to human activities, education, health, arts and culture, economic and business activities, heritage - urban lifestyles in general).

It is the intersection and overlay of these three dimensions that constitutes an 'urban environment'. Taking any one dimension at the exclusion of the other two poses the inevitable danger of missing the forest for the trees - the interdependency and inter disciplinarity of the three dimensions have to be fully understood in the development of coherent and sustainable policies and programs for the urban environment.

If the contents of the two paragraphs immediately preceding are accepted, we say that one need not be an urban planner to see that something is seriously wrong with what is happening around us. It should be evident to any responsible, caring citizen of this country. And yet nothing is tackled on a war footing or anything done to improve the condition of the urban environment. There are perhaps three main reasons for matters not improving as far as the urban sphere is concerned:

1. we are so used to living in such conditions that we have got into the dangerous mental ,mode of accepting what we see around us as a matter of routine. Our minds have stopped noticing what the eyes are seeing.

 

2. we are, as a nation, a very patient set of people. Where the people of other countries would have created havoc at having to endure the urban squalor, the chaotic traffic et al, the average Indian takes them all in his or her stride and attributes this stoicism to his or her mental strength and the ability to face hardships without a murmur.
3. We refuse to acknowledge that there is anything wrong in what we see around us.

 

All three of the above are recipes for disasters.

You, the reader, will have noticed that we are focusing on the cities and not on the villages. The reason for this is that there is still a modicum of cleanliness outside the urban sphere, though of a functional and basic nature. While matters are not perfect in rural India, neither are they as critical as they have become in the cities.

Given these conditions, what is the ordinary citizen to do? The following alternatives are available:

• he or she can ignore what they see around them and get on with their lives based on the belief that twenty years from now matters will be just the same
• they can make appropriate remarks in appropriate forums to show they are concerned citizens
• they can actually start doing something in terms of physical activity to clear the mess

 

Regrettably, while there are a number of initiatives which can be included in the third category, ‘garbage in’ literally swamps ‘garbage out’ in this instance, and matters progressively keep becoming worse day by day. We are not exaggerating; the daily commute to and from the office should convince most people of the truth of what has just been said.

So what is one to do in these circumstances? To throw in the towel and say that nothing is going to change is taking the easy way out. The editors of the Business Review strongly feel that it is up to the individual to take the pains to see that matters improve. It is our belief that most of our policy implementers suffer from illusions of grandeur as far as their official importance is concerned. Puncture this grandeur by ridicule, make them a laughing stock and publicize this fact, and we feel that action will follow. This is a trait we have observed over the years. We also feel it is the only way to improve matters.

The foregoing paragraphs have tried to explain the reasons why this issue of the Business Review has focused on the urban sphere.  We urge all the readers of this edition of the Review to do their bit so that the quality of our lives improves. It is going to be a long haul, but then we have to start somewhere.

And the sooner the better.

Contributors of the papers relating to the urban sphere are experts in their area. They include a paper on ‘Urban Transport in India – Problems, Responses and Strategies’ by BR Balachandran (Director, Alchemy Urban Systems, Bangalore), Bhargav Adhvaryu and Abhijit Lokre.  In their paper the authors’ indicate that during the last decade, India witnessed tremendous urban growth.  Presently, thirty-eight Indian cities are million (one million = 10 lakhs) plus cities, with most having poor public transport systems.

The paper highlights the problems we face in urban transport and their reasons.  It explains the relation between urban planning, land use and density planning, road network and road design and the impact they have on our lives.  It concludes by outlining a comprehensive, integrated and sustainable approach to urban transport for Indian cities to enable them to urbanise without compromising on the quality of life. 

Dr Bakul Rao’s paper ‘Urban Water Resource Management for Bangalore’ focuses on the importance attached to water as an essential element for sustaining all life forms. Because of this importance, proper planning, development and management of water resources need to be governed keeping in mind the national perspective.  This paper tries to analyze the various legislative provisions, the current governmental bodies responsible for the development and regeneration of water bodies in the city of Bangalore and the issues of water management.

VS Radhakrishnan’s and Tanaya Kilara’s paper ‘Urban Microfinance – its Importance for Urban Development’ indicates that the recently developing field of urban microfinance must be viewed within the context of urbanization and urban development. The world is seeing a trend towards rapid urbanization and India is not far behind. The demographic shifts in the Indian context are also accompanied by a section of the population, namely the urban poor, who may be left behind in the development story.

The paper goes on to state that cities are growing faster than the services in these cities and the urban poor are often at the receiving end. The various policy initiatives by the Government, attempt to deal with the issue of poverty, though traditionally, most of the initiatives were directed at the rural poor. Thus, microfinance also had its genesis in the rural sector.  

Dr Vinod Vyasulu’s note on the setting up of a Metropolitan Planning Committee forcefully argues that quite a few issues need debate to generate clarity that must form the basis of a campaign in Karnataka to set up the Metropolitan Planning Committee for the Bangalore urban region. 

Some of the questions raised are - why did the Constitutional Amendments specify an MPC? It reads like an after-thought. Since in India, rural and urban are handled by different departments, have different ministers, each needs a turf to control. The District Planning Committee as described in the 73rd Constitutional Amendment is flexible enough to handle large cities in its territory. But the Constitution, which went for two Amendments for basically one issue—devolution—has this duality built into it. Now that this is a reality, how does one uniquely define the role of the MPC? The author is of the opinion that a lot more debate on the subject is required.

S Gopiprasad’s paper ‘Opportunities for Development of Small and Medium Towns Planning Perspective’ presents an overview of the role of Small ad Medium Towns (SMTs), the challenges that they face to evolve as important urban centers. The paper argues that the key challenges for the SMTs are to overcome obstacles within these towns such as the capital for development of infrastructure, skill base, quality of life, amenities, but there is also the necessity to link with the larger regional economy and to follow a consistent growth path in a sustained manner.

Bala Elangovans’s paper ‘Managing Cities in India’ looks at the problems existing in cities which come in the way of their rapid development, and then examines the various government mechanisms which are in place for effectively managing the cities in India. The growing urban population is contributing to the cities’ developmental issues and is at the same time adding to the problems faced by urban infrastructure which is already not sufficient to handle the issues thrown up. Funding is also another serious problem which faces town planners and their associates. The various mechanisms which the government has put in place to tackle the problems faced by cities is detailed in the paper.

We have received papers across a broad spectrum of topics as far as the papers relating to general management are concerned. We have a paper on ‘What Business Do IRBs Have in Business?’ by Dr. John M. Garic and Dr. Gregory M. Wilson, University of Central Oklahoma. Their paper explores the issue of Institutional Review Board (IRB) oversight of research in the disciplines in Business. Initially, the paper provides a general outline of the historical roots of IRBs at colleges and universities in the United States. It then reviews some of the controversies involved between IRBs and various disciplines. Finally, the article analyzes the role which IRBs can and should play in the disciplines in Business, and concludes by indicating that notwithstanding any criticisms, it was found that in most instances there are significant benefits to the researcher when completing an IRB application for review and this especially includes the business researcher.

The paper on ‘Interrelations Between System Variables and Effectiveness Variables in the Context of Organizational Change’ by N Rajagopal and Ajay Kumar Pillay, of the SCMS School of Technology and Management, Kochi elaborates on how the last few decades has witnessed an immense focus on globalization, which has made the study of organizational change a very popular one. Managing change has become very important for development of organizations especially in the public sector. The main theme of this establishes a relationship of important variables of organizational change. The study was conducted among the employees in one of the leading public sector organization in Kerala, India.  The findings indicate that the variables of organizational change are closely associated.

The paper on ‘Legal Process Outsourcing’ by Darrell G. Ford, J.D. and Dr William J. Wardrope, (University of Central Oklahoma, USA) begins by indicating that over a decade ago, India’s outsourcing expert Jagadish Dalal predicted a new global business model driven by Business Process Outsourcing (BPO), a transformation in the way companies do business that could “mean the difference between surviving and succeeding.” The paper then goes on to examine the costs, potential spin-offs and challenges facing the LPO sector. It concludes by stating that as the trade in legal services between India and the United States continues to exemplify the international trade in services worldwide, the projections for this area of trade mirror the future for other service industries as well.  

S Muralidhar’s (Professor, St Joseph’s College of Business Administration) extract from a presentation he made in the Indian Institute of Management, Kozhikode, on the topic of ‘Managing the People Dimension of Globalization’ shows how transformation is the end result of a highly energized process that combines human ingenuity along with its indomitable spirit to make new things happen and to create value in corporates. He indicates that transformation is about turning aspirations into realities and converting setbacks into opportunities and concludes that if cross cultural diversity is not properly managed than the cost and damage to the organization will be high.

Author Guidelines

General

• Manuscripts should be limited to 5,000 words, including references.
• Include a summary of the paper (as an appendix to the paper, not included in the word count) to assist the Review Committee in their assessment.
• Please ensure accuracy of all facts, including dates and correct spellings of names.

What the Review Committee will look for in manuscripts submitted

• Is the paper relevant for more than one industry?
• Is the paper relevant in other countries?
• Does the paper offer something innovative or provide a new insight?
• Is the research of sufficient depth to back up the authors’ points?
• Would a practicing manager find the paper useful?
• How familiar is the author with the existing literature on this topic?

Endnotes

The Journal will as a general rule not identify references by date and author’s last name in parentheses in the text (unless this will disrupt the flow), with a bibliography at the end of the article. Instead, we request that authors place in the text superscripted numbers that refer to a list of endnotes assembled at the end of the article.

We also request that the following points are kept in mind:

• Do not spell out the first name of authors in endnotes.
• Do not italicize book or magazine titles. Enclose book titles in quotation marks.
• Place within quotes and do not italicize magazine names.

Examples of  Endnotes

Books

G. Hollenback and W. Vestal, eds., “Developing Leaders at All Levels” (Houston: American Productivity and Quality Center, 1999).

J. March and H.J. Simon, “Organizations,” 2nd ed. (New York: John Wiley & Sons, 1966), 4-13.

Usage note: The use of ibid. is acceptable when referring to a single work cited in the endnote immediately preceding. 

Article Cited in Anthology; Chapter Cited in Book

M. Shaw, “Communication Networks,” in “Advances in Experimental Social Psychology,” ed. L. Berkowitz (New York: Academic Press, (1964), 131-153.

S.M. McKinnon and W.J. Bruins, Jr., “Information for the Longer View,” chap. 3 in “The Information Mosaic” (Boston: Harvard Business School Press, (1992).

Newspapers

W. Robbins, “Big Wheels: The Rotary Club at 75,” New York Times, Sunday, Feb. 17, 1980, sec. 3, p. 3.

“Poverty in the U.S.,” International Herald Tribune, Sept. 29, 2000.

Journals

D. Kenny and J. F. Marshall, “Contextual Marketing: The Real Business of the Internet,” ‘Harvard Business Review ‘78 (November-December 2000), 119-125.

T.J. Allen and S. Cohen, “Information Flow in R&D Labs,” ‘Administrative Science Quarterly’ 14 (December 1969), 12-19.

Internet Sources

Usage note: Internet sources are those that exist solely online. A print publication that has an Internet incarnation is not considered to be an “Internet source.”

D. McCullagh, “ACLU Loses Digital Copyright Battle,” April 9, 2003, news.com.com

“Corporate America’s ‘Most Wanted’,” April 2, 2003, www.salon.c