Literary project to highlight Tagore's love affair with China

China's love affair with Rabindranath Tagore will be the theme of an Indo-Chinese literary collaboration which will see contributors of the likes of Amartya Sen among others.

The publication of the book on Tagore will be the first of a series of works to come out following an agreement between Sage Publications India and Central Compilation and Translation Press, China.

The two parties had signed a pact to publish Indian management books in Chinese and original scholarly works by Chinese scholars into English.

As the first step of this agreement, Sage India will publish in English the book on Tagore, which will have both Indian and Chinese contributors, says Sage India, MD-CEO Vivek Mehra.

"The first write-up is an original essay by Amartya Sen," Mehra said.

Full report here Times of India 

Get the geography right

Global Risk/Global
Opportunity:
Ten Essential Tools for
Tracking Minds, Markets
and Money
Shlomo Maital, DVR Seshadri
Sage
Rs 595; Pp 320

Due diligence is not new to today’s managers who regularly witness, during acquisitions, the investigatory process which can be both exhaustive and exhausting. “In part it exists to avoid legal liability, lest the takeover fails, and leads to shareholder litigation. But mostly due diligence seeks to ensure that management knows precisely what it is acquiring, and avoid unpleasant surprises.” Explaining thus, Shlomo Maital and D. V. R. Seshadri take the concept of due diligence to a higher plane in Global Risk/ Global Opportunity: Ten essential tools for tracking minds, markets & money (www.sagepublications.com).

Country due diligence
Urging managers who seek to do business in new geographies to follow a similar, thorough investigatory process, the authors discuss ‘country due diligence’ as an integrating tool, bringing together the other nine tools, which include risk management, tracking booms and busts, analysing engines of growth, and tracking trade and forex.

Full review here Hindu

SAGE India's foray into Oriental publishing

India was the country of honour at the recently concluded Beijing International Book Fair, SAGE India also participated in the fair and had a stall in the Indian pavilion.

Vivek Mehra, MD & CEO SAGE India met He Yan, President, Central Compilation & Translation Press, China at the fair and signed a MOA (Memorandum of Agreement) to publish Indian management books in Chinese and original scholarly works by Chinese scholars into English. The Central Compilation & Translation Press is a wing of the Central Compilation & Translation Bureau, the highest authority in China when it comes to certifying translation from any global language into Chinese and whenever Chinese works are published abroad. Mr He, a highly respected figure is also a member of the Upper House of the Chinese Parliament

As part of this landmark agreement SAGE India will publish (in English with world rights) a recently published bi-lingual edition of 'Tagore and China' by Prof Tan Chung a leading China scholar, currently living in Chicago. Prof Tan has lived in India for many years and taught at the Jawaharlal National University. His father was also a scholar who was brought to India (specifically to Shanti Niketan) by none other than the legendary Rabindranath Tagore. In China this book is published by the Central Compilation & Translation Press. The book is a fantastic scholarly work which includes an original essay by Amartya Sen. We hope to bring this book out in May 2011 to coincide with Tagore's 150th birth anniversary.

This is a landmark moment in the history of SAGE India as we add another dimension to our language publishing programme and begin our Oriental sojourn

Full report here Afaqs

For a rich, ethnically diverse media landscape

Demographic indicators all point to ethnic media remaining important and viable in the future, as declining birth rates in Western countries continue to encourage immigration to satisfy demand for workers, postulates ‘Understanding Ethnic Media’ by Matthew D. Matsaganis, Vikki S. Katz, and Sandra J. Ball-Rokeach (www.sagepublications.com). Ethnic media provide new immigrants with content that connects them to their country of origin, and also with content that orients them to their new communities in ways that can encourage settlement, the authors aver.

They define ethnic media as media that are produced by and for (a) immigrants, (b) racial, ethnic, and linguistic minorities, as well as (c) indigenous populations living across different countries. Examples cited in the opening chapter include ‘The Haitian Times,’ a newspaper published in New York, for the 2 lakh Haitians there; ‘Korea Times,’ reaching many places in the US; ‘Antenna Satellite’ targeting Greeks in the US and Canada; ‘SAT-7’ with Arab audience across the Middle East and North Africa; and ‘TVBS-Europe,’ a Chinese satellite network that covers many European countries.

Full report here Hindu

Fostering social capital in knowledge economy

Established in 1976 with $25,000 in capital and 11 employees, Acer now ‘ranks No. 2 for total PC shipments and No. 2 for notebooks, and has a global workforce of 7,000 employees. 2009 revenues reached $17.9 billion,’ as www.acer-group.com informs. An interesting case study about the company’s China experience is available in The Global Environment of Business: New paradigms for international management by David W. Conklin (www.sagepublications.com).

SOE system
The company’s ‘production facilities had been concentrated in Taiwan, but it now faced the question whether it should build new facilities in mainland China,’ begins the narrative, sourced from Tsai, Everatt, and Cheng (1999). “The key to Acer’s success had been the ability to continually innovate, and Acer management saw this ability as dependent on its organisational structure, with delegated responsibility and employee initiative. However, potential employees in mainland China had developed a very different set of attitudes toward their work as a result of employment in state-owned enterprises (SOEs) where their pay was guaranteed regardless of performance.”

Full report here Hindu

Financial inner world of India's households

In 2007, a McKinsey report predicted that Indian consumption will quadruple by 2025 due to rising household income spurred by strong economic growth, India’s youthful demographic profile and a decline in the savings rate. This would make India the world’s fifth-largest consumer market, profoundly impacting both the manner in which businesses and policy-makers address the new “middle class” as well as the nature of savings in the subcontinent. Given the contraction in demand from traditional export markets abroad, domestic consumption trends in countries like India and China have become more relevant than ever before.

In that sense, How India Earns, Spends and Saves – Unmasking the Real India is well timed. Based on the results of the National Survey of Household Income and Expenditure (NSHIE) of 2004-05, conducted every five years, the book looks to unravel the complicated landscape of the Indian consumer.

 Divided into seven chapters, the book analyses the earning, spending and saving patterns of Indian households, and discusses income distributions and disparities, specifically dissecting the well-being of urban and rural consumers. Based on a survey that spans 440,000 households spread over 24 states, it is an exhaustive look into the financial inner world of Indian households.

Although the book offers little new material in the manner of analysis, the value-add is in the detail of the data it provides. Given the rising importance of the domestic market, it is crucial for businesses and policy-makers to understand emerging trends in earning, spending and saving.

Full review here Business Standard

Measuring consumer savvy

It is commonly believed that children wield significant influence in big-ticket purchase decisions. But studies seem to show that children may be under the illusion that they are more involved in decision making than is actually the case, notes an essay included in ‘Understanding Children as Consumers’ edited by David Marshall (www.sagepublications.com).

Although the child may think that he or she has had a say in the final outcome it may be that the parents have already narrowed their choice and have allowed the child to choose the detail, explain the essay’s authors, Julie Tinson and Clive Nancarrow. For instance, the parent has decided on the model of the car and the child is given the opportunity to choose the colour.

The authors cite a study by Shoham and Dalakas (2005) which summarises a number of variables that explain children’s influences on decision making. “The degree of influence the child consumer has is likely to be related to the age of the child, parental attitudes towards advertising, the stage of decision making (search, discussion, etc.), the type of product or brand (whether it is only for the child’s personal consumption or part of a wider family activity, and its importance in relation to peer group affiliation in particular.”

Full report here Hindu

Teaching toxicity

Sage India brings out an illustrated guide to hazardous substances in our daily life.

Aniruddha Sen Gupta sets off the conversation with a truism. “The nature has a mechanism in place to handle waste produced by every species in the world except one, which is human beings.” With the death of a scrap dealer in Delhi's Mayapuri area due to exposure to toxic waste still in news, one can only agree with him.

Expanding the thought, Aniruddha has just come up with Our Toxic World, an illustrated guide to hazardous substances that we come across in our daily lives. In simple language, he highlights how toxic waste, that we humans produce, knowingly or unknowingly, is increasingly affecting the quality of our life.

Points out the Goa-based author of children's' books, “I have been working on the guide since 2007, the Mayapuri death is coincidental.” His book is meant for people on the street, who might have heard about or read about things that harm the quality of their lives due to bad waste management but are not aware of its full impact,” he underlines. Through the pages of the book, a Sage India publication, he is stressing the fact that one stitch at the right time can indeed save nine.

Full report here Hindu

Sage set to make new inroads

When Vivek Mehra, MD and CEO, Sage Publications, quoted Martin Luther King Jr’s “I have a dream” catchphrase at the publication house’s 45th anniversary celebrations at the Taj Mahal Hotel in New Delhi on March 17, what he had on his mind was an extensive expansion plan not just in South Asia, but across the globe. Joining him in the resolve were the board of directors of Sage Global — Blaise Simqu, president and CEO, Sage USA, Stephen Barr, managing director, Sage UK. Sage Publications, a pioneer in social science research and text books which was set up by Sara Miller McCune and George McCune, established its Indian wing in 1981.

Mr Mehra’s dream centres around Sage’s brand repositioning: From an academic, non-trade publication house, it is contemplating to diversify itself into retail as well as publishing serious non-fiction, including biographies, books in regional languages and reference journals. “We have a global system of marketing and our products are better placed in the world. Today, there is a need for the Indian books to be sold better abroad,” says Mr Mehra, adding that Sage’s system enables it to have a seamless flow of content across the globe.

Full report here Asian Age

Book tracks rural sanitation movement in India

Squatting with Dignity: Lessons from India  by Kumar Alok is being released at Gandhi Smriti Auditorium in New Delhi today by Dr C P Joshi, minister of rural development. It is published by Sage publications.

From the Blurb

This book provides an analytical view of the successes and challenges encountered while creating the fast expanding rural sanitation movement in India, with a special focus on the last decade.

While attempting to break the sanitation taboo in the country, this book presents a historical account of the importance attached to hygiene and sanitation in ancient India and the evolution of the sanitation policy. The key challenges and debates that have been encountered by policy makers while implementing the Total Sanitation Campaign have been discussed in detail along with a critical analysis of the key factors of success and the lessons learned.
The book targets an audience that includes policy makers, programme managers and implementers, and outlines a vision for the future of sanitation programmes in India. It also presents innovative ideas for launching the second generation of sanitation initiatives that will be relevant not only for India but also for many other countries across the globe.

DC Books fair begins

The eight day DC Books fair began in Thiruvanathapuram, Kerala on March 15.

Novel, poetry books as well as social science, science, management, self help, history, economics, culture and literary criticism are showcased at the fair, which is on till Mach 22.

Penguin, Orient Blackswan, Viva, Jaico, Macmillan, Routledge, Sage, Harper Collins, DC Books, Kerala Bhasha Institute, Olive, Current Books, Devi Books, Mathrubhoomi, Malayala Manorama and Rainbow Publishers are participating.