---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Case Study 1: Technology changing the face of education ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Technology is changing rapidly with new innovations and discoveries being made a cross the world. The change has touched our lives, directly and indirectly. One of the core aspects of an individual s life is education and today, technology thr ough the availability of expansive data and information is bringing about a revo lution in this world.

Technological advances like e-learning, internet, educational cds, digital class rooms, etc. are being embraced by several educational institutions to provide th e students with large amounts of relevant information. The institutions today ca n have classes with lecturers from across the world or even virtual classrooms w here skills and learning can be put to practical use to the extent unimaginable a few years back. Also, the delivery of the information through these mediums ar e in a much more interactive and creative manner than textbooks, resulting in th ere being a shift in the culture of learning from memorizing to understanding .

The usage of technology has already become an integral part of higher education and has been rapidly trickling down to touch the students at the beginner level. Recently, a school in Mumbai informed all the students from medium school onwar ds to purchase electronic tablets for their educational purposes. This is a disp lay of the drastic change in the educational patterns and processes.

In such age of technological change, the role of teachers is also changing. They are no longer the bearer of knowledge, the one and only point of contact to pro vide information and solutions. The students are faced with a different problem today, the issue being the excess of information available to the students. Ther e is need for the teacher to be a mentor and guide the students through the chao tic bombardment of information in a structured manner.

There have been several issues identified in the form of rising costs, accessibi lity to technology, etc. However, as put by Mr. Arnab Ganguly, former chairman o f CBSE, Technology is playing a vital role in education in developed countries an d this is the fact we can not escape from .

Deepdhar Dwivedi Login ID: JBPO21011200160

------------------------------------------------------------------------Case Study 2 : Social networking in our lives -------------------------------------------------------------------------

The world today has shrunk and it is rightly referred to as a global village, wi th information, data and news flying across to different corners at the blink of an eye. All it requires is the click of a button and all the information you ne ed is in front of you on your screen. The availability of information has also e xtended to our personal lives with the entrance of social networking platforms.

Today, the availability of the social networking platforms like Facebook, Google +, Orkut, Twitter, LinkedIn, etc. information about individuals is freely availa ble to all. One can easily be in touch with thousands of individuals across diff erent phases of their life. One is regularly updated with personal information, photographs, thoughts, opinions, and lots of other aspects of an individual s life .

The nature of social relationships is also undergoing a change. Earlier friends would have picked up the phone to reach out to a friend, today they might choose to poke the friend on facebook or write on the friend s wall. Though the number of people the individual is in touch with in the virtual world increases drasticall y, it is seen that the individuals personal interaction with individuals reduces . The virtual contact creates a false sense of being in touch with others, thoug h the personal one on one interactions with individuals which are vital to any f orm of relationship are reduced.

About twenty years ago, the British anthropologist, Robin Dunbar, observed an as

sociation between the sizes of primate brains--specifically the size of the neoc ortex--and the number of social contacts. Chimps can process a smaller number of contacts than humans. Dunbar concluded that humans can handle regular contact w ith a number of friends somewhere between 100 and 200, and 150 became the standa rd Dunbar number for our species. So, though the social networks tend to give th e perception of an increased friend circle, the individuals are actually in touc h with much lesser. There are also cases of enhanced loneliness amongst individ uals since the only interaction with their friends might be through the virtual media.

Deepdhar Dwivedi Login ID: JBPO21011200160 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------Case Study 3: FDI in Indian retails- Boon or Bane? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Indian economy has continuously recorded high growth rates over the past dec ade. As per the Indian Prime Minister, Dr. Manmohan Singh, the Indian economy is expected to grow at around 7.5% over the coming years. One of the major contibu tors to the growth shall be the Foreign Direct Investments (FDI) and it is predi cted that over the next two years, India could attract FDI worth US$ 80 billion. The latest available data from the Reserve Bank of India shows a 77 per cent ju mp in the FDI in the first half of the current financial year (April-September), compared to what was US$ 19.5 billion during the same period a year ago.

FDI refers to an investment made to acquire lasting or long-term interest in ent

erprises operating outside of the economy of the investor. It is a major source of external finance which means that countries with limited amounts of capital c an receive finance beyond national borders from wealthier countries. In case of India, countries such as Singapore, the US and the UK are amongst the leading so urces of FDI. The sectors which attract higher inflows are services, telecommuni cation, construction activities and computer software and hardware.

Another sector which is looking at benefitting from FDI is the retail sector. Th ere have been discussions about FDI being opened up in retail which has drawn a lot of support from international retailers like Walmart and Tesco. It is also b eing seen as the means to put a structure in place to the highly unorganized ret ail structure prevalent in the country. The additional benefits in the form of l ower costs and enhanced technologies make it an attractive proposition.

However, the policy decision is faced with some resistance from internal organiz ed retailers as well as some representatives of the unorganized sector. The entr y of a new competitors in the retail sector is being viewed as a threat by curre nt players in the market.

Deepdhar Dwivedi

Login ID: JBPO21011200160

------------------------------------------------------------------------Case Study 4: Generalization or Specialization? -------------------------------------------------------------------------

I remember the days when if I fell ill, my mother would take me to a general phy sician. The doctor would prescribe some medicines as per his initial diagnosis o f the illness and past experience. In case of a failure in effectiveness of the medicine, other options were sought to address the illness. Zooming ahead to 201 2, today we look at specialization in all fields. Today if the child s ear is bloc ked the mother will take him to an ENT specialist.

Laws of economics supports the practice, whereby, specialization and division of labour is expected to provide highest levels of productivity. This idea was, fi rst, put forth by Mr. Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, in his book Wea lth of the Nations . Under this regime each worker becomes an expert in one isolat ed area of production, thus increasing his efficiency. The fact that laborers do not have to switch tasks during the day further saves time and money. Specializ ation has also been the basis of trade between nations. The countries specialize d in commodities that their resources could produce efficiently and then proceed ed to trade. It was observed that the world productivity levels improved massive ly.

The world today is shifting from demanding a jack of all trades to demanding the ma ster . The abundance of information in today s world leads to any person adept at in ternet search skills is able to provide a general perspective about any topic un der the sun. The need is to be able to provide a indepth idea about the topic. Also, the level of competition in today s world leaves no scope for error and ther eby, comes the demand for specialization. With a team of such specialists, the p erformance delivered tends to have been scrutinized from the different perspecti ves, leaving lesser scope for flaws.

The shift to specialization has influenced the growth of new industries and mark ets. It has also influenced our lifestyle, career choices and decisions. The nee d of the hour today is to hone the skill that exists nowhere but in yourself and thereby making oneself indispensible.