Walk through the halls of the University of Chicago’s Graduate School of Business during the school year, and along with students cramming facts for macroeconomics and operating strategy you may encounter some students stretching their bodies and doing something really unusual for business school students: relaxing.

They’re members of Chicago’s yoga club, a student group founded earlier this year by two GSB students and which last term attracted 15 to 35 regular attendees to classes in the school’s Harper Center. The classes are “time to shut your brain off,” says Jody Kirchner, one of the group’s founders.

The Chicago GSB yoga classes reflect a growing popularity of yoga in the U.S., with about 16 million Americans engaging in the practice, according to statistics released by Yoga Journal. The publication said $5.7 billion is spent annually on yoga classes and products, nearly twice as much as four years ago.
Indian Odyssey

During a school-sponsored trip to India last year, Kirchner and fellow student Doug Neal bonded over a mutual interest in yoga. Kirchner and Neal, who both had been practicing yoga for years before they met, eventually decided to start a group dedicated to the practice on campus—after Kirchner noticed that other business schools had yoga groups, but Chicago didn’t.

In midyear, Neal, a 2008 MBA graduate, and Kirchner, a rising second-year student and co-chair of the club, conducted an interest survey for the group. Of the 1,100 students attending the school, about 200 expressed interest.

Kirchner said she was surprised at the large response the survey garnered, finding that a sizable portion of the student population already practiced yoga, at least to some extent. “People I know outside of school say the same thing,” she said. “After a stressful day, it’s time they can do something easily to take their mind off their stress.”

Neal says yoga isn’t just for stress relief. “Yoga is very multifaceted, and the benefits of yoga are different for each person,” he said. “Some use it for exercise, for meditation poses, some for relaxation, some for injuries.”

In today’s highly competitive corporate world, working professionals are keen to upgrade their skills and qualifications like never before. SP Jain Center of Management, a business school that offers programs of intensive management business, both working for executives as well as full-time students, recently sought applications for its Executive MBA second batch of sixty and was overwhelmed by the response.

SP Jain Center of Management, located at Knowledge Village, Dubai has a legacy of being at the cutting edge of management education. Its parent campus, SP Jain Institute of Management and Research (SPJIMR), ranked seventh by Asia Inc, the Singapore based business magazine, and India’s top business school for job placements, has been constantly innovating not just the curriculum and pedagogy but also the imparting methodologies employed in business education. These advances are now available at Dubai’s SP Jain campus for the region’s business management aspirants to benefit from.

The relative efficacy of a global marketing strategy vis-à-vis a tailored marketing strategy remains one of the hotly debated issues of international marketing. As is the case in any debate, polarizing arguments for (or against) each abound. Proponents of a global strategy point to the increasing homogenization of customer tastes and preferences and suggest that significant economies of scale can be attained by standardized products marketing world wide (Levitt 1983). Critics, on the other hand, dismiss the potential of a global strategy and underscore economic, environmental and other cultural differences among nations as impediments to its implementation. They argue that reflect adaptation strategy to market-country differences will generate improved response (Kotler 1986).

Often overlooked in this fierce debate is a middle ground approach that takes into account not only differences or similarities among both markets but. As Quelch and Hoff (1986) point out, the real issue is not whether to standardize but rather how to tailor the global marketing strategy. Indeed, reliance on a global strategy can result in missing out on important target markets and positioning inappropriate. Likewise customizing marketing strategy to individual countries implies loss of potential economies of scale as well as exploitation opportunities for product ideas on a scale against (White Lock and Chung 1989).

The writings of recent genre suggest that comprehensive and tailored strategies are not necessarily mutually exclusive and that they can be used in tandem to reap the maximum benefits. In this vein, Jain (1989) and Kale and Sudharshan (1987) offers interactivity Market segmentation approach to world markets and point to the feasibility of identifying homogeneous segments which transcend national boundaries. Once identified these so-called strategic segments equivalent (Kale and Sudharshan 1987) can be reached via global marketing strategies aimed at different cross-national segments (Verhagen, Dahringer and Cundiff 1989). The idea of reconciling the different viewpoints of global marketing strategies and tailored intuitively appealing and is certainly represents a significant forward link in the design of multinational marketing strategies. However, the empirical support to middle ground viability of this approach is evidence to scanty and its Effect comes mainly in the form of anecdotes (Ohmae 1985, White Lock, 1987).

The study reported here is intended to partially fill in this void. Specifically, consumers in six countries including the United States, Mexico, The Netherlands, Turkey, Thai and Saudi Arabia were studied for InterBase Market segmentation on the basis of two criteria, perceived risk and brand loyalty (Kreutzer 1988). Consumers were questioned about their degree of perceived risk and loyalty for two brand products, bath soap and toothpaste. These products were chosen since they are widely available in different brands and are purchased on a frequent basis by the consumers in these countries. It was maintained that the consumers in these countries are not sufficiently similar regarding the effects of risk perception on brand loyalty, the underlying rationale for a single global marketing strategy at least within the context of products here would disappear under consideration. On the contrary, such a circumstance would render the middle ground approach feasible.

The Faculty Council of Indian Institute of Management, Calcutta (IIM-C), Tuesday, a petition before the Supreme Court for impleading itself as co-respondents in the case of PIL against cut costs, for HRD on the Union in all Department of IIMS Government of the European Union.

Hearing on PIL is scheduled to begin on 16 April.

The IIM-C Faculty decided to representation, whoever may be made by the Board of Governors of the Institute. Prof. Asish Bhattacharyya, Dean (planning and management) of IIM-C and spokesperson of the Faculty, said the Business Line, there is a clear difference between the opinion of the Faculty and some members of the Board of Governors Tax on the issue of interface and the exercise of autonomy of the Institute.

The Faculty Council felt that the independence of representation should be addressed to bring the case before the Court of art.

“The Faculty feels that some members of the Board of Governors can not exercise their independent judgement in the interest of the institute. It is therefore responsible for the faculty, for the interests of the Institute, its teachers and students present and future, “Spokesman.

The Faculty Council, in its application at the end of court, said that “autonomy have so far by the Institute in the pursuit of excellence, not by any political or bureaucratic influence, it would be possible to l ‘Institute, to achieve their current status.

The Faculty is therefore every interest in ensuring that these non-interference in its affairs under way should continue, so that the Institute could be the target, without distraction. ”

Prof. Bhattacharyya also stressed that for the question of standing was concerned, has always questioned, the respondents in the previous hearings, the Institute of the Faculty was better placed than the Alumni Association of the IIM - C. He said, however, were Alumni of transition assistance of the Faculty.

The IIM-C Board of Governors In the meantime, was unable to formalize its response to the Apex Court directive last week for a model to 16 April.

According to some sources, the technical problem of convening a meeting of council is therefore a period of 15 days.

The director of IIM-C and the chairman of the Governing Council understood to have discussed issues related to the Institute’s response to the edge Court directive also as a form adoption of the resolution drafted by the presidency.

The fate of the planned meeting between the Faculty and the president on 15 April seems uncertain, given the evolving situation. Informed sources suggested that IIM-C could try for some time by the Court of art for its presentation, but is optional.

How IIM, Ahmedabad, the Supreme Court today for some cases, pressure on IIM-C, for a formal presentation.

Education should focus more on morals and ethics and should fight against fundamentalism, St. Joseph’s College principal Friday Ambrose Pinto said on Thursday. Education for the poor too is a vital aspect that should be taken up, he added. As Pinto speaking at ‘with relevance Excellence “, a conference of Catholic College of Karnataka on Thursday.

Speaking on ‘Vision of Christian higher education and its overview, and implications of Christian education, education Friday Pinto said should make people more moral and humanizes them. “While maintaining the highest standards, its demands that we produce a radical change in the person we educate - from selfish concerns to generosity to others.”

Emphasising on education for the poor, Pinto said Friday: “Education should struggle against unjust society, it should cater more to the poor and programmes should be taken up to empower them. Principal of St. Stephen’s in New Delhi, Dr Anil Wilson called for steps to rediscover the real meaning and purpose of education. “Let systemic changes be a reasoned response to needs and not a knee-jerk reaction to the time.”

The objective of the day-long conference was to create a model which is yet local to global, spiritually vibrant, socially relevant, emotionally balanced and leading to human enrichment. Deliberations also included topics like, if excellence in education can be fused with greater accessibility to Christian institutions.

Among the other speakers were Professor Jose and PD Leader of the Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, Rev. Joe Fernandes, Vice-Provincial, Salesians of Don Bosco, Bangalore and Head and Professor, Department of Christian Studies, University of Madras, Joe De Mannath .

The Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, which appealed against slapping of a whopping Rs 3.19 crore income tax by the department, will now pay only 50 per cent of the amount, a top IIMB source said.

“Tax authorities raised a demand for Rs 3.19 crore for the assessment year 2003-04. We have appealed against this and have now been asked to pay 50 per cent of the amount,” Ketoki Basu, Financial Controller, IIMB told PTI today.

Taking into account the returns filed by the B-school for the assessment year 2003-04, the IT department denied exemption under section 10 (23C) (iiiab) of the IT act, 1961, on the grounds that “we (IIMB) are not wholly or substantially financed by the government,” she said.

The IIMB, she said, has filed an appeal against this and “we are also contesting the denial of the benefit under sections 11 to 13 of the Income Tax Act, 1961.” The B-school has also written to the Human Resource Development Minstry (MHRD), for a notification stating it (IIMB) is “wholly or substantially financed by the government,” Basu said.

However, till date the IIMB, has not received any response on the application, she said.