Vol. 4 No. 4 (2013)

Mergers and Acquisitions (M&As) is one of the most accepted inorganic strategic tool in the hands of decision makers. Though, it is a major decision as it requires huge investments but it propels the wings of growth instantaneously and such investment decisions are largely based on financial aspects of business. It brings growth as well as unavoidable challenges for Transferor and transferee Company. Such challenges may include work culture related factors and psychological factors, which directly affect the work force of the transformer company as it is observed in case of ICICI Bank and the Bank of Rajasthan Ltd. BoR amalgamation when all the bank employees of BoR agitated. Therefore, the aim of this research paper is to identify the most prominent factors (merger stressors) which affect the stress level of bank employees during post merger. The factors are divided into two heads i.e. work culture related factors and psychological factors which covers total 13 and 11 factors respectively. For this purpose, a large sample of 60 BoR bank employees has been drawn from Udaipur city and the factor analysis has been performed. We found that cultural fit and HR policy framework are two prominent factors for high level of stress and dissatisfaction among bank employees. This study is a small contribution for the betterment of the bank employees and provides guidelines for bank policy makers, strategists, scholars and researchers.

In India pre-marital sex although is taboo, interplay of multitude of factors exposes adolescent girls to pre-marital sex leading to unwanted pregnancy and further intricacies. Awareness of emergency contraceptive pills (ECP) can shield girls against such predicaments and associated social stigmas. Hence, this paper assesses the sexual exposure and awareness of ECP among the never married adolescent girls in India by taking the National Family Health Survey 2005-06 (NFHS-3) data. Out of the total sample, 15,320 adolescent girls of the age group 15-19 years, who are never married and de jure residents are retained for this study. Levels are found out through percentage distribution; associations are assessed through cross tabulation and logistic regression is applied to find out the determinants. It is found that in India, about 0.6 percent of never married adolescent girls have already experienced sex, out of whom 22.4 percent were active during four weeks prior to the survey. Multi-variate result shows that with the increase in age, probability of having pre-marital sex also increases, whereas with the improvement in household wealth index, probability goes down. Overall merely 4.9 percent of adolescent girls are aware of ECP. Age, education, religion and exposure to sexual intercourse exert significant effect on the awareness of ECP. Older, better educated, richer and sexually experienced girls are more likely to be aware of ECP, whereas rural and Muslim girls are less likely to be aware of ECP.

Thai female entrepreneurs often establish entrepreneurial ventures as time-sensitive operations that are not necessarily intended to be the principal income generators for a household but act as supplementary sources of income. Such ventures might also provide other secondary benefits, including occupation for migrant women with no other occupation or qualifications, while the flexible nature of their operation can make it possible for operators to combine it with care for children or other dependents. It has also been found that network connections created and maintained by some entrepreneurs, including women, can be mobilized for other mutually advantageous purposes. This research study explored these issues through a questionnaire-based survey of 80 female Thai entrepreneurs. It was shown that the majority of these women started their businesses of their own volition and maintained autonomy over operations. The structure of these businesses is different, therefore, from family-owned businesses which tend and are intended to remain in operation for multiple generations and which have their destiny ultimately controlled by men. Various results of the study are discussed and used to draw conclusions and make recommendations about the management of such businesses in the future.

Julian Assange of Wikileaks has become a cult figure. Not much was known about this founder of a whistle blowing web site until recently when he published what most governments around the world would not have us, ordinary people, read. On South Africa’s Reconciliation Day, 16 December 2010, Al Jazeera, an international news channel, blew a second whistle on Boeing. I call this a ‘second whistle’ because two former employees (let us call them Mr and Mrs Jones) of Boeing had earlier blown a whistle that warned the American government against substandard manufacturing and procurement processes employed by Boeing. These whistle blowers warned that Boeing 737 NG was pretty much a death trap for passengers. Boeing's 737NG is flown by more than 150 airlines worldwide. As procurement and safety officers respectively, Mr. & Mrs. Jones discovered flaws in the production and manufacturing processes of key structural parts for many of Boeing 737NG’s. Al Jazeera (2010) reported that Mr and Mrs Jones told the United States (US) Department of Justice in a detailed written report that the parts - made by a sub-contractor for Boeing between 1996 and 2004 - were ill-fitting and illegal, but that Boeing used many of them to build the aircraft. Aviation experts working with these whistle blowers confirmed in a television program that the problem with these parts could lead to a “catastrophic failure” of aircraft fitted with them. While Boeing dismissed these allegations as lacking merit, the American Federal Aviation Administration – which regulates the US aircraft industry - backed Boeing (Al Jazeera, 2010). Interestingly, Ducommun Technologies, an aviation services organization backed the whistle blowers. In 2005, when it became clear that there was no urgency on the part of the US Department of Justice to respond to their report, they (Mr & Mrs Jones) went to court. To date, the US government has failed to respond seriously to the issues raised.

In recent years, significant changes are experienced in practice as well as theory to the field of industrial relations. Globalization, rapid progress in the field of technology, such as reduction of the importance of class conflict factors affect the industrial relations field. In this paper, the perspectives of (IR) Industrial Relations and (HRM) Human Resource Management disciplines within the framework of the text books compared. During the first part of this comparison information about the conceptual framework of the discipline of industrial relations. In the second part referred to the concept of human resource management. In the last chapter of human resource management and industrial relations textbooks, certain themes will be examined in a comparative framework. Thus, the perspectives of the two disciplines against each other is aimed.

This paper introduces Bayesian analysis and demonstrates its application to parameter estimation of the logistic regression via Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) algorithm. The Bayesian logistic regression estimation is compared with the classical logistic regression. Both the classical logistic regression and the Bayesian logistic regression suggest that higher per capita income is associated with free trade of countries. The results also show a reduction of standard errors associated with the coefficients obtained from the Bayesian analysis, thus bringing greater stability to the coefficients. It is concluded that Bayesian Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithm offers an alternative framework for estimating the logistic regression model.