The Importance of Market Research

Why It's Critical For the Success of any Business

Market Research is defined as the process of gathering data on goods and services to determine whether the product or service will satisfy customers' needs. Market research can identify market trends, demographics, economic shifts, customer's buying habits, and important information on competition. Knowing this information is essential for the success of any business. It will guide entrepreneur in making strategic business decisions, uncovering unmet customer needs, and in many cases, help to discover new ideas for products or services.

Every entrepreneur runs their business idea by their nearest and dearest, gauging their reaction and obtaining what they deem to be useful information. Although primarily, it can produce ideas and objections that may not have been explored yet, it is vital to remember who these reviews are coming from; they will be biased! An entrepreneur’s enthusiasm and passion for their business idea, along with their personal connection to those they are asking will mean the data is far from relevant or useful. In order to take any business idea to the next stage it is essential to prove, using reliable information, that the idea is wanted or needed by the target market. Every entrepreneur will know starting up a business is taking a step into the unknown; it is therefore essential to arm your business with as much information and data on your target market as possible. Conducting primary market research is an opportunity that an entrepreneur should not miss out on; it is a chance to get into a customer’s head and get to grips with their purchasing decisions.

The majority of start-up businesses will produce a business plan to outline vital strategic information before launching a product or service. It can however be noted that the level of research that is conducted to strengthen a business plan is relatively low. It is vital to conduct both primary and secondary market research into your business idea to fully understand the feasibility of the project as well as key target market information.

Secondary market research will give a background look into your market, the success of previous products or services as well as your target market’s previous purchasing habits. By conducting such research it can give entrepreneurs an outline of where to take further research; it will reveal holes in current data and areas for deeper investigation.

Start-ups have a series of barriers to overcome when seeking credit; primary research can help remove some of these. Once primary market research has been conducted and an idea has been modified and finalised into a business plan, a funding will increase dramatically. By showing an investor primary market research findings that underpin a business plan and highlighting the potential for success, it will present as a lower risk to them.

In short, market research helps the entrepreneur to:

Ø  Communicate effectively

Ø  Identify and understand opportunities

Ø  Pinpoint obstacles or problem

Ø  Benchmark and evaluate his success

Dr. Harmeet Matharu, HOD, Commerce and Management Department.

GENETIC ALGORITHM IN SCHEDULING

Rumana Anjum

Lecturer in CS dept

Brindavan PU and Degree College

Boopsandra, Bangalore

Scheduling problems most often use heuristic algorithms to search for the optimal solution. Heuristic search methods suffer as the inputs become more complex and varied. This type of problem is known in computer science as an NP-Hard problem. This means that there are no known algorithms for finding an optimal solution in polynomial time.

Genetic algorithms are well suited to solving production scheduling problems, because unlike heuristic methods genetic algorithms operate on a population of solutions rather than a single solution. To apply a genetic algorithm to a scheduling problem we must first represent it as a genome. One way to represent a scheduling genome is to define a sequence of tasks and the start times of those tasks relative to one another. Each task and its corresponding start time represent a gene.

With genetic algorithms we then take this initial population and cross it, combining genomes along with a small amount of randomness (mutation). The offspring of this combination is selected based on a fitness function that includes one or many of our constraints, such as minimizing time and minimizing defects. We let this process continue either for a pre-allotted time or until we find a solution that fits our minimum criteria. Overall each successive generation will have a greater average fitness i.e. taking less time with higher quality than the proceeding generations. In scheduling problems, as with other genetic algorithm solutions, we must make sure that we do not select offspring that are infeasible, such as offspring that violate our precedence constraint.

The Opportunities and Challenges of FDI in Retail in India

FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) is an investment in a foreign country with an intention to gain managerial interest in a company operating in that country. There are many foreign players who have invested and are investing in this way in India. The main interest of any person interested in operations in this issue would be supply chain. The large retailers would complement the investment of government in supply chain i.e. roads, energy. This would lead to decrease in transaction costs of business- both Business to business and business to customer such as information  costs, search costs, transport costs, communication costs, contractual costs, distributional costs, etc.

The Growth of FDI in the global economic land scope over the last two decades has made it an integral part of the development strategy of both the developed and developing nations. It acts as a major catalyst in the development of a country through up-gradation of technology, managerial skills and capabilities in various sectors. Rise in purchasing power, growing consumerism and brand proliferation has led to retail modernization in India. The growing Indian market has attracted a number of foreign retailers and domestic corporate to invest in this sector.FDI in the retail can expand markets by reducing transaction and transformation costs of business through adoption of advanced supply chain and benefit consumers and supplier. Oppositions have raised concerns about employment losses, promotion of unhealthy competition among organized domestic retailers resulting in exit of small domestic Retailers from the market and distortion of urban cultural development. the overview of the Indian retail sector along with the opportunities of expansion of FDI in retail in India and the major challenges that it faces.

The government of the host country may limit the percentage of foreign stake in any company with the intention to avoid foreign control over its country’s economy and people. This percentage varies from industry to industry depending on how crucial the industry is for the country. Even India limits the percentage of foreign stake. The industry-wise limitations are 100% for tourism, hospitality, education, roads and highways, pharmaceuticals, petrochemicals; 51% for multi-brand retail; 49% for civil aviation, insurance, D2H, public sector banks; and 26% for print media, defence, etc to name a few. Retail industry in India is on of the most developing industries and has a huge potential to grow further. It contributes about 15% to GDP and 8% to employment of the country. It can be classified into single-brand and multi-brand retail. Only 4% of the retail in India is organized. The FDI limit for single-brand retail and multi-brand retail in India was increased to 100% and 51% respectively in 2012.

The Indian Government, however, recommends that retail firms source a percentage of manufactured products from the small and medium domestic enterprises. With a restriction of this sort, the opening up of the retail sector to FDI could therefore provide a boost to small-and medium enterprises. Moreover, expansion in the retail sector could also generate significant employment potential, especially among rural and semi-urban youth. So it is very difficult to predict the future of Indian retail sector. But the government of India must be cautious about the apprehensions raised by the critics and adequate safeguards must be taken so that the positive effects may outweigh the negative ones and the traditional retailers co exist even after big foreign retailer enter the markets.

  Shariba Tasleem, Faculty of commerce & Management Department

RETAIL SECTOR IN INDIA: ISSUES & CHALLENGES

 MRS. SHBANA TAJ*; ** *Lecturer Marketing. **Brindavan College Bangalore.

ABSTRACT

This paper provides detailed information about the growth of retailing industry in India. It examines the growing awareness and brand consciousness among people across different socio-economic classes in India and how the urban and semi-urban retail markets are witnessing significant growth. It explores the role of the Government of India in the industries growth and the need for further reforms. In India the vast middle class and its almost untapped retail industry are the key attractive forces for global retail giants wanting to enter into newer markets, which in turn will help the India Retail Industry to grow faster. The paper includes growth of retail sector in India, strategies, strength and opportunities of retail stores, retail format in India, recent trends, and opportunities and challenges. This paper concludes with the likely impact of the entry of global players into the Indian retailing industry. It also highlights the challenges faced by the industry in near future.

India is the second fastest growing economy in the world. It is third largest economy in the world in terms of GDP and fourth largest economy in terms of Purchasing Power Parity. India presents a huge opportunity to the world at age, to use as a hub. Standing on the threshold of a retail revolution and witnessing a fast changing retail landscape, India is all set to experience the phenomenon of global village. India is the “promised land” for global brands and Indian retailers A “Vibrant economy”. India tops in the list of emerging market for global retailer and India’s retail sector is expanding and modernizing rapidly in line with India’s economic growth. The future is promising; the market is growing, government policies are becoming more favorable and emerging technologies are facilitating operations.

Retailing in India is gradually inching its way toward becoming the next boom industry. The whole concept of shopping has altered in terms of format and consumer buying behavior, ushering in a revolution in shopping in India. Modern retail has entered India as seen in sprawling shopping centers, multi-storied malls and huge complexes offer shopping, entertainment and food all under one roof. The Indian retailing sector is at an inflexion point where the growth of organized retailing and growth in the consumption by the Indian population.

CONCLUSIONS

With organised retail on the rise and increase in the disposable income retailing certainly looks a promising option.

Neurosynaptic chips

In many ways computers today are nothing more than very fast number-crunchers and information manipulators. They can process lots of data, but they really don’t think. They all adhere to the Von Neumann architecture, largely unchanged in the last half-century, in which computers are constructed by separating memory and processing and operate by executing a series of pre-written “if X then do Y” equations.

With the advent of Big Data, which grows larger, faster and more diverse by the day, this type of computing model is inadequate to process and make sense of the volumes of information that people and organizations need to deal with.

The cognitive capabilities of the brain includes understanding the surrounding environment, dealing with ambiguity, acting in real time and within context – all while consuming less than power than a light bulb and occupying less space than a two-liter bottle of soda. These new silicon, neurosynaptic chips allow for computing systems that emulate the brain’s computing efficiency, size and power usage.

Each corelet has a particular function that can be put together in different configurations to create new applications. For example, a corelet could include all of the individual cores that perceive sound. The programmer could use that corelet in conjunction with others that represent edge detection and color identification to develop a new application that takes advantage of all those features.

Article  By

Basavaraju S

Asst. Professor, ISE Dept

Brindavan College of Engineering

Bangalore-63

NEXT GENERATION OF CYBER CRIME

           

            Cybercrime and cybercriminals have been around since businesses first began using the Internet for commerce. The rise of criminal to criminal activity distinguished the fourth generation of cybercriminals. A robust and efficient underground economy emerged, providing the opportunity for cybercriminals to buy and sell goods and services to each other. Distinct, specialized cybercrime businesses came into prominence, including Exploit Auction Houses, Malware Distribution Services, Botnet Rentals, Next Generation Identity Sellers, Licensed Malware, Social Networks for Cybercriminals. The current batch of successful cybercriminals is more entrepreneurial than past generations, fueling the growing cybercrime economy with cash. As a result, attacks continue to grow in sophistication, chain and frequency.

            Pay-Per-Install (PPI) malware distribution schemes have been a key area of growth.PPI sites are now taking steps to improve the productivity of their affiliates. Some sites offer help developing content for affiliate scams. Many provide guidance or tutorials on how to make their malware less detectable by antivirus software, or “FUD” (Fully Un-Detectable). Even live support is available for affiliates of certain PPI sites.

           

“Point-and-Click” Cybercrime

           Threats in the current generation are increasingly automated, allowing cybercriminals to be more productive in less time. Cybercriminals take advantage of malware tools and scripting techniques to automate various stages of their schemes.Less skilled hackers can purchase tools to easily identify vulnerable targets, compromise systems and steal data. More sophisticated cybercriminals may buy tools or develop custom tools and scripts on their own. In some cases, integration across multiple tool sets that perform distinct functions has been observed in larger cybercrime schemes.

APT: Advanced Persistent Threats

            The term Advanced Persistent Threat, or APT in short, became prominent as a name for targeted attacks on specific organizations by determined, well-coordinated cybercriminals. In the cybersecurity community, APT most often refers to sophisticated attacks aimed at governments and corporations to gather intelligence or achieve specific nonfinancial objectives.APTs are frequently attributed to nation-states or agents of nation-states. On some occasions, APTs have been linked to terrorist and fringe political groups.

            APTs are not unique to the current generation of cyber criminals. These kinds of threats have been active for years, executing operations such as“Titan Rain” to gather intelligence. However, the skill and sophistication of APTs has evolved along with the cybercrime.

Conclusion

             Cybercriminals are constantly evolving with changing methods, tools and motivations. The only constant is that tomorrow’s cybercriminal will pose a greater threat to the earth than today. Hence the defenses now will not be sufficient for the next year, and they must be strategic in how they allocate their security resources.The strategies may be Comprehensive information security risk assessment,support risk based information security policy,establishing threat intelligence function,enabling more effective day-to-day security operations as well as mid-to-long term functional management.

Submitted by

S.Vijaya Rani

Asstt. Professor

MCA Department

 BLUEJACKING

     
        Suneeta Nashishettar MCA.M.TECH

       Asst, professor Department of  MCA , Brindavan College, Bangalore(Karnataka)

ABSTRACT

Bluejacking is the sending of  messages over Bluetooth to Bluetooth-enabled devices such as mobile phones, PDAs or laptop computers, sending a vCard which typically contains a message in the name field (i.e. for blue dating or blue chat) to another Bluetooth enabled device via the OBEX protocol. Bluetooth has a very limited range; usually around 10 meters on mobile phones, but laptops can reach up to 100 meters with powerful transmitters.  

INTRODUCTION

Bluejacking allows phone users to send business cards anonymously using Bluetooth wireless technology. Bluejacking does not involve the removal or alteration of any data from the device. Bluejackers often look for the receiving phone to or the user to react. In order to carry out a bluejacking, the sending and receiving devices must be within 10 meters of one another. Phone owners who receive bluejack messages should refuse to add the contacts to their address book. Bluejacking is technique by which we can interact with new people and has ability to revolunerise market by sending advertisement about the product, enterprise etc. on the Bluetooth configured mobile phone so that the people get aware about them by seeing them on the phone.

Now a day it is used in sale promotion or sale tools and in dating. This technique is used in many fields like cinema , train station, shopping malls ,mobile phone shops etc. now a days there are new tools available in the markets by which bluejacking can be done. The basetechnology behind bluejacking is similar to Bluetooth because we can do bluejacking in the mobile or PADs or computers or laptop configured with Bluetooth.

CONCLUSION

Bluejacking is technique by which we can interact with new people and has ability to revolunerise market by sending advertisement about the product, enterprise etc. on the Bluetooth configured mobile phone so that the people get aware about them by seeing them on the phone.Now a day it is used in sale promotion or sale tools and in dating. Nowaydays this technique is used in many fields like cinema , train station, shopping malls ,mobile phone shops etc. now a days there are new tools available in the markets by which bluejacking can be done. The basic technology behind bluejacking is similar to Bluetooth because we can do bluejacking in the mobile or PADs or computers or laptop configured with Bluetooth.

So we conclude that in future this technology become the key for advertising and to interact with world and to get the location messages on the phone when you are somewhere out, Bluejacks are location specific.

REFERENCES

1.BluejackQ. http://www.bluejackq.com/ [referenced 4 Nov 2003].

2.Clemson H, Coulton P, Edwards R, Chehimi F (2006) Mobslinger.