DR. RANJAN DAS
Professor of Strategic & International Management
Indian Institute of Management Calcutta

Dear Readers,

General Management Review (GMR) continues the journey towards its vision of creating a strategic management journal. Like the previous numbers, this issue too has tried to achieve GMR’s objective of creating and disseminating knowledge in the areas of strategic and general management with special emphasis on problems and challenges of managing in big emerging markets such as India.
“The future of work and companies” takes a look at the nature of work, the characteristics of employees and the organization of companies in the future. The author argues that the mental aspect of work, consisting of the emotional and social environment, will have more importance than the purely material and physical aspects. He also observes that in the Dream Society, to which he perceives the future will evolve into, a company can be likened to a tribe sharing a set of values, rules, rituals, myths, and stories and the employees working there will not be on contract. Success in such organizations will be a function of how meaningful and challenging the job is.
“Unlocking Profit Potential - Is Knowledge the Key?” explores how firms can create opportunities in a dynamic business environment characterized by over-capacity, saturated markets, and fleeting competitive advantages. The author observes that a firm’s relentless cultivation and development of knowledge will be critical for its future success. The paper outlines the nature and modes, directions and dimensions, frames and insights for harnessing knowledge toward creating and amplifying the possibilities for wealth-generating opportunities.
Culture differs across the globe along with the shift of latitudes and longitudes. Behavior that is proper and familiar in one culture may be rude, offensive and strange at the other. And these contrasting values may cause conflict at the conference table. “Spanning the chasm of culture gap” discusses how to avoid such blunders and explains the cultural basics-habits, values, attitudes, sentiments and expectations of people of various parts of the planet.
Politics play a central role in all organizations but to this point they have largely been seen as a negative force. The article “Politicking - The Smart Way to Management” exposes this as a misunderstanding and show how political behavior is entirely endemic to managerial activity and how understanding and managing it can have extremely powerful positive effects. It also provides an approach to managing politics by balancing personal and organizational interests at large.
“Keeping pace with the mercurial shift” explains that while new ideas are destined to combat with the old and new emphasis and trade-offs will be required to focus attention on profits, the companies will have to adjust to the new realities. The authors recommend a number of actions such as reshaping the way business views people, including the customer, the leader and the employee, and using some new tools to combat the unfolding turbulent changes.
“Corporate Ethics” focuses on ethics as the moral code of professional behavior and stresses the importance of pragmatic corporate ethics in helping create a positive image and reputation for the firm. It also discusses how a meaningful, written code of conduct helps in creating a high ground for ethical practices.
There is also a case study on “Corporate Governance”. The case is based on a real life experience and describes the subject company’s initiatives to introduce certain corporate governance practices. In addition, there is also the regular section on reviews of books and articles.
The articles and the case study are in line with the objective of GMR stated earlier. I hope you will find the content professionally stimulating.
I look forward to receiving your comments and suggestions for further improvement.

With best regards, Dr. Rajan Das Guest Editor General Management Review.