Research and Development – Strategic Key for Competitive Advantage Product Innovation and Process Improvement:  With the increasing pace of liberalization and ferocity of competition in the corporate business world, it is mandatory for the firms to invest in research and development activities to sustain in the market. In most of the developing countries, scant attention has been paid to research and development activities. A survey indicates that countries like Japan and United States of America spend 2.8 percent of their Gross National Product on R and D, while it is a mere 0.9 percent of the Gross Domestic Product in the case of some Asian countries. What role does research & development play in the industry and economy? Why it is important for the developing countries to invest more on R and D? In spite of the tax rebate offered by most of the governments for R and D, why industries don’t contribute much to indigenous research? Global Competition: It becomes difficult for business organisations to compete in national and international markets both on quality and cost fronts, primarily because of absence of strong base in science and technology. Third world nations are used to buying technology from developed nations, that make them dependent and technology starved. Limited resource is another problem faced by these business firms, the allocation of which becomes difficult owing to rising costs. Invasion of Multinational and Trans national Giants: Another serious aspect to be considered is the invasion of multinational and transnational giants in every sector due to liberalization, globalization and privatization policies of the developing nations. This leads to panic in the industry, as a result of which, the business firms either go for forged alliances or infuse large amounts of funds into R and D activities hurriedly, both of which is a futile exercise to protect themselves from the onslaught of transnational companies. Science and Technological Advancement: The wiser move for the business firms to withstand the competition on an international level, would be to build their empires on a sustainable basis, by honoring the scientific and technological efforts. A thorough knowledge of all the research activities progressing around the world proves useful in managing their activities and operating with limited resources. This demands a long term plan that will support, strengthen and nurture the specified area of science base selected for research and development. Research Management: A well devised research management programme will help the business firms to formulate short and long term technical plans that aid in the research programme. It is very important for a country to encourage the budding population to become more research oriented, that will help the nation prosper in terms of science and technology, besides which, it also helps in the growth of one’s own economy. Chanakya’s 7 Secrets of Leadership The Research and Development strategic management lays emphasis on formulating plans, that support the short and long term objectives of a business firm, by employing innovative minds in the process and periodically reviewing and restructuring strategies in the light of changing demands of the society. The focus of an R and D manager should be on appraisal of technological and competitive environment, assessment of corporate strengths and weaknesses and making strategic decisions, while formulating R and D...

National Accounting Concepts Why knowing about national accounting concepts is important? National income data are of great importance for the economy of a country. In modern days they are regarded as the accounts of an economy, which are known as social accounts. Social accounts tell us how the aggregate of a nation’s revenue, output and product result from the income of different individuals, products of industries and transactions of international trade.     National policy formulations: The computation of national income forms a basis for a nation to develop its policies for important spheres of action such as employment policies, monetary policies and fiscal policies that determine the growth of an economy. These figures enable us to know the direction which the industrial output, investment, saving etc. take and proper measures can be adopted to bring the economy on the right path.   Facilitates Planning: Gross Domestic Product Gross National Product Net Domestic Product Net National Product Per Capita Income Disposable Personal Income     All these factors comprise the national income and indicate the money value of the flow of goods and services available annually in an economy. Also this statistics helps a nation for proper economic planning. The per capita income refers to the earning capacity of individuals in an economy and more the per capita income, higher is the economic welfare of a country. Uncontrolled population growth and unemployment are major reasons for low per capita income. The wealth cannot be evenly distributed owing to high birth rates and low mortality rates and making the ends meet with the available scant resources becomes a major problem for developing countries.   Distribution of income From the data pertaining to wages, rent, interest and profits, we learn of the disparities in the incomes of different sections of the society. Similarly the regional distribution of income is revealed. It is only on the basis of these that the government adopts measures to remove inequalities in income distribution and attempts at regional equilibrium. There have been differences of opinion regarding ‘nation’ in the concept of national income. In the calculation process, the term ‘nation’ has to be defined exactly as to whether it is the geographical entity of the country to be taken up for computing national income or the incomes earned by the nationals including those residing abroad. Further, since everything has to be equated to the money value, services produced in the economy out of love for humanity cannot be brought under the term national income. Besides, there is an overlapping of occupations, especially in the rural sector of certain countries, which makes it difficult to know about incomes from various...