Life is a series of negotiations because we go through a series of natural and spontaneous changes of which success is not always an outcome.  An average adult makes about 35,000 conscious decisions each day. Each decision, of course, carries certain consequences with it that are both good and bad. We encounter several negotiation situations each day, each moment/each hour. Yet, most people misunderstand a negotiator as someone who can manipulate people into getting what he wants. 

What we don’t realize is that almost every conversation we have, each day, is some kind of negotiation. We all use our strength to tackle all kinds of situations, we go through ‘highs and lows.’ We go through moments when we feel a sense of loss, confusion and self-doubt. In times like these it is only our determination that comes to our rescue and helps us to stand tall and save our self-worth.

Negotiation is a dialogue between two or more parties to resolve points of difference, gain an advantage for an individual or group of people for positive outcomes to satisfy various interests. The parties aspire to agree on matters. Whenever there is a want, desire or a need present on either side, we are in a negotiation. And we every day have wants, desires and  needs. The thing that trip up people is they knowingly or unknowingly get into action of negotiation as bargaining. For example, buying vegetables, fruits, milk, eggs, bread, what to cook for meal, getting the house cleaned from maids, getting the garden watered, which mattresses to use on bed, when to change curtains of windows, whether to attend a function or not, planning a holiday, planning a function ….so many negotiations we conclude before making decisions.   

There are bigger negotiations we go for such as: buying a car, negotiating a salary, buying a home, renegotiating rent, choosing a life partner, investment decisions, health related decisions etc. As we mature in life, we take emotional intelligence and intuition to the next level, before negotiating.  Emotional intelligence is critical for mastering negotiation skill. Emotional Intelligence is the ability to manage both your own emotions and understand the emotions of people around you.

We learn to negotiate better when we go with an open mind, we think and plan, when we articulate our thoughts, we succeed. Perseverance is most important requirement while negotiating. When we detach ourselves from the result negotiation works out better. Also, any negotiation is not one sided, we should think about other side too. A very important point is at times we get confused with want exactly we want. knowledge of the subject matter being negotiated, ability to think clearly and rapidly under pressure and uncertainty also matters. Most important skill in negotiation is listening skill.

In business negotiations most negotiations are sharp but need to be dealt with calm and composed mind, carrying the figures in head, quantifying every trade-off is fundamental to the deal. Or that’s what the science of game theory says. In real life however, people are not always rational under pressure, when time is short, and the stakes are high. In business, the biggest challenge in a negotiation is to stop emotions from overtaking logic.

Warren Buffett is one of the world’s most successful investors and has built an impressive, estimated wealth of $85.3 billion. He has also earned a strong reputation as one of the world’s most skilled negotiators. Buffet is known for doing his research and preparing for negotiations with meticulous detail. His ability to identify value, negotiate favourable terms, and build strong relationships has been key to his incredible success in the business world. He keeps his ego out of the door. He is ruthlessly unemotional while negotiating.

Indira Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo is known for her flexibility during negotiations. She always was open to alternative solutions and willing to adjust her stance based on new information or changing circumstances. This adaptability allowed her to navigate complex deals successfully and overcome unexpected challenges.

Nooyi believed in thorough preparation before entering any negotiation. Whether it was a merger deal or a supplier contract, she ensured that she and her team were well-informed about the industry landscape, the counterpart’s interests, and potential areas of compromise. She always built strong relationships with stakeholders.  She looked at alternative solutions willingness to adjust her decisions based on new information or changing circumstances. Also, her communication skills made her a popular leader.

When we look at negotiation, it’s basically discovering what the other side wants, we must try to uncover their reasoning and motives. Nelson Mandela is remembered for being one of the most talented negotiators in history. He served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999 and used his strong negotiation skills to fight apartheid and secure a more peaceful society for millions of South African people. Mandela is well known for his resilience, patience, and strategic thinking. It took him decades to achieve his goals, and his focus on the greater good played a crucial role in ensuring a peaceful transition to democracy.

When we don’t recognize a negotiation as a negotiation, it’s much harder to be successful in it. In both personal and professional realms, the ability to negotiate effectively is an art and science. Science as a metaphor for negotiation emphasizes the strategic, analytical, and data-driven aspects of negotiation. It highlights the importance of preparation, research, and understanding the underlying dynamics of negotiation that can make the difference between success and failed opportunities.

Outsourcing is the business practice of contracting with a party outside a company to perform services or create goods that usually were traditionally performed in-house by the company’s own employees and staff. Outsourcing is a practice usually started by companies as a cost-cutting measure. Particularly, the non-core areas such as sanitation, security, household, pantry, etc are outsourced by a company. The company makes a formal agreement with the contracted agencies. These contracted agencies are specialized agencies. Services outsourcing in India started in the 1980s and rapidly accelerated in the ’90s. In today’s world where information technology has become critical to business, the meaning of outsourcing has undergone a drastic change over the years.

When organizations decide to go international, they look for ways to tap into new markets and expand their operations with help of outsourcing. Global outsourcing helps businesses get services from countries with lower labour costs, save money and stay competitive.

Organizations prefer lean structures; lean organisations often have cross-functional teams, flexible job roles, and a strong commitment to continuous improvement. This structure aligns with Lean principles, fostering a culture of efficiency, waste reduction, and customer-centricity. And lean organizations prefer outsourcing to cut down on wastage of any sort, especially lean organizations cut costs by employing minimum labor. They also prefer saving on operational costs. Following are some reasons why outsourcing has gained importance in organizations:

Multitasking is inevitable

Multitasking usually hurts employee’s productivity. As a result, organizations have difficulty motivating them and getting the required quality output in their work, thus affecting customer satisfaction. Outsourcing’s potential for further savings is one of the main reasons it is a sought-after strategy. An eight-hour shift could be easily consumed by routine tasks such as answering emails, data encoding, bookkeeping, filing, record keeping etc. These tasks can drain the energy, effort, and creativity of a team, eventually resulting in more employees leaving organization. Employee retention is a big challenge. This is one of the reasons why companies outsource time-consuming tasks to free up their team’s time so they can take on the core aspects of their responsibilities.

Focus on core competencies

The entire idea of an outsourcing strategy is to save money, time, and effort to focus on the core competency of a business. Organizations can focus on their core competencies by delegating small, day-to-day tasks to outsourcing firms. When used effectively, this gives them some control to fight competitors, plus allow employees work-life balance.

Why outsourcing?

Outsourcing, and at times offshoring (the practice of relocating business processes or work functions to another country to cut costs and increase efficiency) remains to be an integral and cost-effective part. Whether outsourcing a business process or manufacturing services, teaming up with an external outsourcing partner allows organizations with several advantages. Most companies flourish when they partner with qualified professionals from external firms. In response to the sudden boom in the industry, organizations have responded positively to the service provided by outsourcing agencies.

Outsourcing is essential globally as companies pave the way to gain access to better services. It ensures prospective employees do not waste their process potential and skills, whether on the other side of the world or behind a couple of time zones.

India is preferred outsourcing centre

India is becoming the world’s largest outsourcing centre. In the global market, all multinational corporations and other large corporations want to reduce their variable and fixed overheads, which has a huge impact on their profits. Information Technology is India’s core competency, but other than IT services, India is a well-known outsourcing nation that also supplies HR processes, financial solutions, data management service, and more. With so many services the country can offer, it is not surprising that many global companies are attracted to India. The following reasons make India an attractive outsourcing centre.

Qualified and skilled manpower

When compared to other countries, India has the largest workforce. On the other hand, the more highly skilled labor is costly to company’s payroll. To avoid rising payroll costs while lowering other expenses, India is the best place to outsource work. India has more work-friendly environment that provides a development model for multinational corporations.  The time zone variations work out as the biggest advantage for outsourcing to India. It is time saving.

Time zone advantage

Due to time zone differences, work is completed at night, resulting in increased efficiency. India’s time zone is advantageous for businesses located in other parts of the world, such as the United States and Europe get advantage in engaging Indian companies in outsourcing. The time difference allows Indian outsourcing companies to provide 24-hour operations, ensuring that projects are completed faster and more efficiently.

Young and English literate labor

India has highest English speaking and very young workforce. Outsourcing problems typically arise when there is a lack of understanding due to a language barrier. However, because English is the medium of instruction in most higher education institutions, many Indians speak fluent or native-level English. This is one reason why foreign companies prefer Indian employees. The Indian workforce is ideal for customer support services because they have no trouble conversing with end-users and addressing their concerns.

Types of outsourcing:

Outsourcing is a multifaceted business strategy, and companies often engage in various types of outsourcing depending on their specific needs and objectives. Understanding these different categories provides insights into the diverse ways businesses can use external power to enhance efficiency while focusing on their core competencies.

Business Process Outsourcing (BPO)

Payroll processing services, data processing services and tax solutions are examples of horizontal BPO. Vertical BPO concentrates on functional services in specific industry domains such as manufacturing, retail, finance and accounting services and healthcare. Business Process Outsourcing involves contracting out specific non-core business functions to external service providers. Infosys is one of the leading outsourcing companies in India as per NASSCOM, it provides services and operations in Brazil, China, Philippines, Europe, and Australia. As of June 2023, it has over 57,000 employees worldwide and has made an annual revenue of over 1 billion USD in 2022.

It specializes in providing services such as Business Transformation, Master Data Management, Customer Care Solutions, Robotic Process Automation, Finance and Accounting, Annotation, and Legal Services among others. Its solutions include Cloud Computing, Cybersecurity, Robotics, Data Analytics, AI solutions, and other outsourcing and consultancy solutions.

Information Technology Outsourcing (ITO)

Information Technology Outsourcing focuses on delegating technology-related tasks and responsibilities to external vendors. This includes software development, infrastructure management, network maintenance, and technical support. ITO facilitates companies to stay technologically competitive while leveraging expertise and cost advantages offered by external specialists.  There are other aspects as well that we can include in IT outsourcing. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), utility systems, and cloud-based services are all examples of IT outsourcing services. Several types of industry-specific software development are also included in IT outsourcing such as application development, mobile, web design, web app development, and more. Wipro is one of the leading Big Tech companies. Wipro’s capabilities range across cloud computing, computer security, digital transformation, artificial intelligence, robotics, data analytics, and other technology consulting services to customers in 167 countries.

Knowledge Process Outsourcing (KPO)

Knowledge Process Outsourcing involves outsourcing more complex, knowledge-intensive tasks that require specialized expertise. This often includes research and development, data analysis, and other high-level cognitive activities. Companies choose KPO to access domain-specific knowledge, innovation, and advanced analytical capabilities. Genpact is a leading global KPO services firm that started its humble beginnings in 1997 as a business unit within General Electric to being a publicly traded company ten years later. The firm runs some of the most complex business process operations primarily for Global Fortune 500 companies. Genpact serves various industries such as commercial and consumer banking, consumer goods, energy, healthcare, industrial manufacturing, and retails.

Manufacturing outsourcing

Manufacturing outsourcing result in contracting the production of goods to external suppliers. This is particularly common in industries such as electronics, apparel, FMCG and automotive. Companies outsource manufacturing to take advantage of cost savings, global supply chains, and specialized production capabilities. In India, Coca-Cola works with various bottling partners that manufacture and distribute beverages for the company. Hindustan Coca-Cola Beverages (HCCB) is among the largest bottling manufacturers in the country with 16 factories; additionally, it maintains eight contract parking facilities, 20 lakh sq ft of warehousing. It manufactures and sells 60 different products across seven categories such as Coca-Cola, Thums Up, Sprite, Minute Maid, Maaza, Smart Water, Kinley, Limca, Fanta. The company has 115 factories in India, and it is outsourcing services – bottling for more than 20 global beverages.

Accounting

It is one of the most common areas where small businesses choose to outsource. It takes a lot of time and skills to learn all the processes and compliance standards a company requires to meet. However, a skilled accountant can often manage this area for multiple businesses at once. This increases efficiency and saves organization’s money. Patron Accounting LLP is an ISO certified accounting firm based in India and has successfully registered 100+ Foreign Companies in India. Their clients are based out from Dubai, Germany, Australia, USA, UK, Russia & other parts of the worlds.

Marketing & Sales

When it’s time to grow business, an outside marketing firm can be very useful to help quickly. The seven functions of marketing are marketing information management, financing, product and service management, pricing, promotion, selling, and distribution. To help the business grow, we need each area to come together and build a productive marketing approach. Indian pharma firm, Orchid Chemicals and Pharmaceuticals has picked up its second marketing partner in the US. Last year it tied up with Par Pharmaceuticals, a subsidiary of US-based Pharmaceutical Resources, for marketing its oral cephalosporin formulations in the US.

Administrative Tasks

When running a business, it is quite demanding for organizations to perform administrative tasks on their own. It starts from taking phone calls, schedule customer appointments, make travel arrangements, manage email accounts, facilitate staff, handle payrolls and much more. Post Covid, outsourcing is in practice across the globe. The globalization of outsourced goods and services is highly effective in helping enterprises to drive their profitability. A lot many factors are instrumental in increasing its widespread acceptance. Cheaper salaries/wages, impressive currency exchange rates, and a wider range of facilities are the prominent reasons for its growing success. It is surprising to note that over 67% of businesses now outsource their administrative activities to third parties.  

Customer Service

For businesses that deal with customers mainly online or over the phone, prefer to outsource their customer service strategy to a call centre or chat service. Customer Satisfaction is the top goal for every business. The key criterion in achieving this is timely transfer of information. Call Centres typically assist organizations in achieving this. Genpact Ltd, WNS Global Services, 3i Infotech, TCS BPO, IBM Daksh and 24/7 Customer Pvt Ltd some of the famous customer care service providers. 

Shipping and Logistics

Today e-commerce is become part of our life. The arrival of e-commerce and m-commerce (mobile) has transformed the entire retail sector.  Retailers are tapping multiple channels for selling their merchandise; from traditional stores, using catalogue, through the internet and more and more via smart phones and tablets, no stone is left unturned. For surviving the competition in the e-commerce world distribution has become key component of the business. Supply chain and logistics experts have become key players. They assist in services right from strategic locations for Distribution Centres (DC). Outsourcing logistics is when a company uses an external provider (third-party 3PL, fourth party 4PL) to handle various supply chain functions. These can include a mix of shipping, storing, packing and/or delivering a company’s physical goods, from raw materials all the way to the finished product.

Blue Dart Express Ltd. an Indian logistics company is South Asia’s premier express air, integrated transportation & distribution company. It offers secure and reliable delivery of consignments to over 55,400+ locations in India. Blue Dart is a provider of choice for its stakeholders due to its customer centric approach and aims to further strengthen this partnership. As part of DHL Group’s DHL eCommerce division, Blue Dart accesses the largest and most comprehensive express and logistics network worldwide, covering over 220 countries and territories, and offers an entire spectrum of distribution services including air express, freight forwarding, supply chain solutions, customs clearance etc. It offers a complete suite of online services for shipment preparation, package tracking, shipment rates and tools for international shippers and small businesses.

Research

Global industries have realized that apart from technical support and software development, India is also a great place to outsource research and analysis services. Presence of specialized resources with multi-domain expertise, combined with exceptional processes have made India an ideal outsourcing destination for high-end processes like financial research analysis, market research analysis, and business research analysis. Today, India has taken over other outsourcing destinations like China, Russia, and the Czech Republic because India provides highest cost savings, excellent operational efficiency, access to skilled professionals, and quality services.

The present and future of the pharma companies will see a huge R&D, sales and marketing network spread across geographies, and their infrastructural costs can grow exponentially. Therefore, pharma companies need to adopt technology that can offer dynamic lines of communication between the global markets and their manufacturing and research centres in India. Ultimately, India’s growth as a global player depends on its ability to overcome challenges and given the scenario outlined, integrating, and facilitating cost-effective communication is a major benefit for India.

Human Resources

Human resources encompass any tasks in a business related to hiring, onboarding, or managing the team. The most common type of outsourcing in this area is to work with a recruiting service to bring in qualified candidates for a new position. However, there are options for outsourcing training, benefits administration, payroll, and time and attendance issues as well. Human Resource Outsourcing is a practice in which an organization hires a third-party organisation to handle its human resources activities and administrative tasks. In other words, HR outsourcing is the process of receiving work previously completed by corporate personnel from sources outside the company. ABC Consultants in India is among the top 10 HR Outsourcing companies.  They are one of the best leading recruitment brands of India who have shaped the career of 1,65,000 professionals in 50 years. Their network is widespread across 8 main Indian cities with over 465 consultants. ABC Consultants believe in providing customized recruitment solutions across 24 industry practices. They have developed long-standing relationships with their existing clients because of their high-quality output. Their vision is all about “Building Careers”.

Title of an article, a book, thesis, a project, biography, newspaper article, a conference, a workshop or a seminar is very important part because it condenses the content of the writing or the event in a few words and captures readers’ attention. A good title on its own introduces the topic to the fullest extent in a concise manner.

Title of a researched article can be either descriptive, declarative or a question. It plays important role in both marketing and visibility of an article. Visibility creates a positive impact on the number of citations and downloads of the article. Users go by the title as the main source of information. One recent research conducted in the area of library science showed that differences exist between articles with different types of titles in terms of downloads and citations, especially articles with question mark titles tend to get downloaded more but get cited less than the others. Articles with longer titles get downloaded somewhat lesser than the articles with shorter titles. Titles with colon mark tend to be longer and receive fewer downloads and citations.

A suitably titled article contains few words; the few words adequately describe the contents and purpose of the article/book/project/thesis. The title is without doubt the part of a paper that is read the most, and it is usually read first. Therefore authors must engage readers with an interesting title. They hook target audience because they convey about the plot and quality of the content.

Scan, scroll, dismiss, scan, scroll, dismiss, scan …click! This is what happens on Internet. This is what we all do today. In our inbox, on social media and on blogs, we scan through headlines, dismissing most and clicking a few. For getting clicked the title has to be catchy, more than anything else. Our work is judged instantly and ruthlessly by the short set of words used in titles. Adman David Ogilvy used to say “on the average, five times as many people read the headline as read the body copy. When you have written your headline, you have spent eighty cents out of your dollar”.  For publishing papers in journals some writers do not spend much time on the titles of their manuscripts. But, some authors consider the title to be the most important part of their written work. In addition to catching the eye of potential readers, the title is the first chance to make a good impression on reviewers and journal editors.

Here are some suggestions for choosing the best title for your document:

i) keep the title short

ii) let the title consist of key words

iii) don’t ask questions as titles, instead provide answers

iv) do not exaggerate your work with superlative words

v) avoid abbreviations and jargon. 

Writing a good title is a difficult task; most writers get stuck and end up giving irrational titles. Most often, titles are written at the end of the writing process, so the first step in creating a great title is to complete an article. Even if the content is good, many good articles get lost in journals, Internet and repositories. It is always better to take help of some seasoned writers/your friends/mentor etc. And, it is advisable to write three or four options for a title. Take a feedback of few friends, see which title grabs their attention, and select that title.

One of my articles which has accomplished numerous hits on my blog is http://drvidyahattangadi.com/why-bibliography-is-important-in-research/

Why citations are important in your research work?

The answer for this question is the fact that we are living in an information economy, in every research work of yours, your ability to allow readers quick access information is more important than the knowledge you present. Providing readers the ability to obtain the information is often more appreciated than the method through which it is obtained.

A citation is a way of giving credit to individuals for their creative and intellectual works that you utilized to support your research. It can also be used to locate particular source which helps in plummeting plagiarism. Citing or documenting the sources used in your research serves purposes such as

i) it allows you to gives due credit to the authors of the work or ideas which you incorporated into your paper

ii) it allows those who are reading your work to locate your sources

iii) in order to trace from where you got your ideas that you included in your paper.

It is ethical to cite your sources

Even if no one reads your article/paper/book but clicks the link they regard your honesty for showing appreciation and giving credit to the hard work of those who helped you out. Make it a practice to religiously cite your sources. You might feel that proper acknowledgement of sources might make you look dumb, yet, there are instances in Universities where PhD thesis have been turned down for the lack of inadequate and genuine citations. Please don’t be under wrong impression that your work goes unchecked by referees.

Non-citing the sources in your literature goes out to portray your academic dishonesty, and the potential snags of plagiarism. While accuracy is all important in any writing, the very act of looking up a reference for verification serves as an accuracy check. 

Citation makes you a better researcher

Some of the hallmarks of good research include attention to detail and the ability to distinguish outlines and make coherent connections with your own thought process. Honest citation practice portrays your reading habits. It shows your patience in reading variety of literature available on a topic while it also necessitates you to add many details, such as correct page numbers, the spelling of author names, and of course, the accuracy of facts that you are presenting in your own article or your thesis. This habit helps you becoming a detail-oriented researcher. As for the ability to spot trends and patterns, preparing a good bibliography trains you for this task which is crucial in scientific analysis.

Citation practice make you a good writer

We all researchers aspire to write elegant papers in which the style is as persuasive as the content and good acknowledgment habits build a strong foundation towards that goal. Citing specific sources for the various facts that we present removes the intellectual laziness, ambiguous thinking, and of course slack writing. A good writer will always write matter which can be substituted with specific sources. And, when you cite sources appropriately, you leave no question in your readers’ minds regarding your point. Furthermore, by citing, you can easily use precise language.

It is important to note that in the Academic Ranking of World Universities also known as Shanghai Ranking the parameter of citations a university has acquired attracts 30% of overall score. It looks at the role of universities in dispersing new knowledge and ideas.

It examines research weight by capturing the number of times a university’s published work is cited by scholars globally. In 2014, Thomson Reuters examined more than 50 million citations to 6 million journal articles, published over five years. The data are drawn from the 12,000 academic journals indexed by Thomson Reuters’ Web of Science database and include all indexed journals published between 2007 and 2011. The citations help to show how much each university is contributing to the sum of human knowledge. It shows whose research has stood out, has been picked up and built on by other scholars and, most importantly, it has been shared around the global scholarly community to push further the boundaries of our collective understanding, irrespective of discipline.

Well-presented bibliography shows your scientific knowledge

A bibliography is the compilation of the various sources that you have read and cited in your own manuscript, dissertation, book, etc. Thus, an extensive bibliography is naturally a sign of extensively read and well-informed researcher. It shows your deeper insights on the topic. It also improves your credibility as a writer.

Citation enables better substantiation of your work

Any piece of academic writing gets examined several times over before it finally makes it into print or onto a website. Whether one is a peer reviewer, editor, or editorial assistant whose job is simply to track down sources in the bibliography and make sure that the citations are exact. This helps your paper easily to be passed through the multiple rounds of editing with negligible criticism. 

I conclude my article with point on bibliography that it is the key element of a research/thesis which is used to judge the quality of the work done by the researcher.  Therefore, use up-to-date citations and cite your references scientifically. Please do not ignore the quality of bibliography. It exhibits your critical thinking, it proves you have read and understood your sources, it establishes your work as a valid source and you as a competent researcher, and it situates your study and topic in a continuing professional conversation. And finally, your bibliography might stimulate other researchers to carry on further work on your chosen topic of research.

Some of the recent scientific studies have found that people who receive higher education live longer than those who do not. What’s more, it also found that failing to obtain a high education could be as damaging to a person’s life as smoking cigarettes. According to a new study, reading books as well extend lifespan by up to 2 years, and the more often you read, the better.

The authors of one of such famous study include professors and research associates from the University of Colorado-Denver, New York University and the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. This includes Patrick Krueger, who is an assistant professor in the Department of Health and Behavioral Sciences at the University of Colorado-Denver’s Anschutz Medical Campus and a member of the research faculty at the Institute of Behavioral Sciences at the University of Colorado-Boulder.

Education has received a renewed attention by researchers, because it endures throughout the life course and is open to policy intervention,” Krueger said in an email. “Annual income can change a lot from year to year. Although most individuals support policies to improve schools and to make education more easily reached, changing the distribution of income and wealth is more divisive.

One undeniable fact is of college professors: they live longer and remain intellectually agile much longer than the rest of the population. The reason is said to be they engage in research most of their lives for teaching, for publishing which increases their longevity and most importantly also slows down their ageing process. Because they mingle most of their lives with youngsters, they tend to remain young in heart and soul.

It’s no secret that over the last few decades, life expectancy in the United States has been rising. However, recent data shows that not everyone has benefited from this encouraging trend. A new finding from Harvard Medical School and Harvard University shows that individuals with more than 12 years of education have notably longer life expectancy than those who never went beyond high school. “We like to think that as we as a country get healthier, everyone benefits,” says David Cutler, dean for social sciences at the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard University.

Over the years, much attention has been paid to mortality rates based on socio-economic status, but less attention has been paid to recent trends in life expectancy, mortality, and education level. To understand recent mortality trends, David Cutler and John Meara of Harvard Medical School combined death certificate data with census population estimates and data from the National Longitudinal Mortality Study. Restricting analyses to whites and non-Hispanic blacks, the team created two separate data sets, one covering 1981-1988, and the other 1990-2000. In both data sets, life expectancy rose for individuals who had more than 12 years of education.

For example, comparing the 1980s to the 1990s, better educated individuals experienced nearly a year and a half of increased life expectancy, while the less educated experienced only half a year. For 1990-2000, life expectancy rose an additional 1.6 years for better educated, while remaining fixed for the less educated.

Let’s look at what benefits educated people? Educated people get routinely involved in social networking; they get access to information because of their ability to understand information. People with higher education feel like they have better ability to deal with adversity and have self-efficacy; they have more cognitive skills to manage any sort of complicated situation. They can easily navigate the health care system; they have more social support.

Another contributor to the study is Virginia Chang. Chang, an associate professor of public health at New York University and of population health at NYU School of Medicine, said education improves a person’s life in more ways than one, many of which are often unconsidered.

Reading helps us understand how other people think and feel. Reading improves our emotional intelligence. This understanding can improve the overall quality of a person’s life as it would allow the person to act with better judgment and more insight into the feelings and thought pattern of others. Research has shown that reading changes certain areas of the brain and activates certain other parts. According to neuroscientists, reading “rewires” those areas of the brain responsible for spoken language and vision. Hence, we see good readers with strong communication skills and cognitive intelligence. Reading can improve the functioning of the brain area that filters the massive amount of visual information that we see every day. This effect can also be observed in adults who learn to read much later in life.

Learning Has No Age Bar. Each and every human is born with a right to be educated irrespective of his or her age. So don’t hold back your urge to learn.

Yagya is the fundamental process of manifestation of nature. In physical terms, Yagya (homam, havan or agnihotra) is a process of herbal sacrifices in holy fire aimed at the finest utilization of the subtle properties of sacrificed matter with the help of the thermal energy of fire and the sound energy of the mantras. Modern scientific research has also shown significant therapeutic applications of Yagya and also affirmed its potential in purification of environment.

The literal meaning of Yagya is selfless sacrifice for noble purposes. It means sacrificing ego, self-interest and material attachments to adopt rational thinking, humane compassion and dedicated creativity for the welfare of all living beings in the universe. The philosophy of Yagya teaches a way of living in the society in harmony, a living style to promote and protect higher humane values in the society – which is indeed the basis of the ideal human culture.

Approximately 15 crore people are volunteers of All World Gayatri Pariwar who selflessly promote and perform Gayatri Yagya in people’s homes. Gyatri Yagya is the source of fulfilling all desires. This appears to be true in view of the positive effects, at physical, mental and spiritual levels, of performing Yagya and ideal elevation of life by adopting the universal philosophy of Yagya in action. “Agni Mode Purohitam” The first revelation of Rig Veda of is said to have given knowledge of kindling fire to the first man on the earth. The knowledge of other powers of Nature is said to have descended afterwards. Fire and thermal energy are also the key sources of materialistic development. “Fire worship” is prevalent in one form or the other in almost every religion or cult. In Hindu religion and Indian culture, the sacrificial fire of Yagya is of auspicious importance.

Five Gayatri Upasaks (practitioners) performed Gaytri Yagya at my sisters’ home in Pune. The team was led by Mr. Jatin Dave – instrumentation engineer working at L&T, Adv. Gayatri Nayak practicing lawyer in Mumbai High Court, Mr. Hitesh Joshi – a senior scientist at BARC, Ms. Suchita Shetty – lecturer in Human Resource Management and Ms. Krishna Mahajan who is studying Hotel Management. Suchita Shetty was keen to perform one yagya for me and she finally did it. All of these youngsters are well placed, highly qualified people. They do not expect anything in return. At the end of yagya, Mr. Jatin Dave appealed all of us to sacrifice ego, any fear, and jealousy in the homam. The atmosphere at home turned serene and the herbs offered in the yagya made the surrounding aromatic. Mr. Dave sat in Padmasana for almost three and half hours. The other four uapsaks were doing their jobs with agility and so sincerely. I found all five of these sevaks very noble.

It is heartwarming to learn that the young Gayatri Upasaks of All World Gayatri Pariwar carry on a campaign called “Gruhe, Gruhe Gayatri Yagya Upasana” (Gayatri Yagya in each home). The main aim of which is to revive the Vedic Culture of Yagya to harmonize the ecological balance, purify the gross and the subliminal environment of Nature and life and effectuate creation of heavenly atmosphere on the earth. Under this project, the upasaks go to homes of people to perform the yagya and the expenses are bare minimum. All that they require is the bare minimum samagri (items or contents for yagya).

The power of sound vibrations is long since acknowledged in the field of science. These vibrations can penetrate the energy spheres at the subtle and cosmic levels. All the alphabets of the Sanskrit language are endowed with special vibrational powers, which set out harmonious wave patterns when pronounced. It is interesting to note that an American Scientist has established that recitation of Gayatri Mantra produces 110,000 sound waves per second. It purifies mind, it purifies environment. Till recently it was accepted that research into science can furnish answer to all of man’s problems. Today we find increasing number of diseases including malfunctioning of body organs due to increasing severity of pollution in the atmosphere. Experimental studies show that the incidence of physical ailments, sickness and disease are reduced in the houses, where the Yagya is regularly performed.

Recently AIMS (All India Medical Science) declared based on their research chanting of Gayatri Mantra quiets the mind. If a Gayatri Mantra is pronounced every day by making it a daily practice, it can increase the power of your mind. And the AIMS team also claims good effects in concentration and development in all areas of mind and body. This powerful mantra helps people get rid of all their problems and helps fulfill wishes. Out of all the mantras, Gayatri Mantra has most phenomenal powers.

I appeal all readers of this article to at least once in lifetime perform a Gayatri Yagya at your home to reap the rich benefits for mind and body.

It is an era of social media and the Internet is bustling with many blogs. Social media sites are full with links to blog posts on every subject under the sun. For any and every topic you find a few blog post out there. The question is whether researchers can cite contents from blogs?   Why citing is important for researchers? The answer to this question is that it is important to cite sources which they use in their research for several reasons; one most important is authenticity of citation and its relevance to the topic. A good source adds quality of the work conducted. The listing of sources is important for the referee and other reader’s information. To be a responsible scholar, he/she needs giving credit to other original work and acknowledge the source.  No researcher, author, academician can take credit for somebody else’s idea.

There is evidence that blog coverage of scholarly articles associates with increased visibility and impact. Unfortunately, there are a number of obstacles that might limit the use of blog posts as an altmetry source (altmetrics are metrics and qualitative data that are complementary to traditional, citation-based metrics). First, only a small percentage of articles are covered in blogs.

Second, the definition of “scholarly blogs” and the decision about which blog data to use is challenging. When relying on certain collective work and networks for blog data we miss the impact of articles covered by blogs outside the data collection range. The coverage problem is not specific to blogs, or even to altmetrics, but it extends to bibliometric (bibliometrics is statistical analysis of written publications, such as books or articles databases) which are also chosen as sources and to indexing.

Third, there is a lack of sustainability, in sense maintaining a certain level. While most peer-reviewed journals enjoy professional archiving and printed copies (with ISSN/ISBN numbers), blogs can close down or move without leaving a trace (except perhaps in archive.org and similar sites). For blog-derived data to be reliable, they need to be properly indexed and archived. Bloggers need to create more authenticity for their blogs.

What are the reasons to Trust Online Blogs? Blogs can provide readers with insider information. This means that many blogs are typically written by experts actually working within specific fields of interest. They are providing their readers with firsthand knowledge that can help guide the decision making process.

Blogs normally are written without restrictions. Industry writers typically have more freedom when choosing the types of blogs they write. They don’t usually have a chain of checks and re-checks before being published like online periodical pieces would have. Because of the nature of blogs, even the most controversial topics are given an outlet for discussion. Plus, blogs are usually informally written, allowing readers to easily relate to the language and message. This is perfect for writers looking to provide informative web content that their target audience can connect with and act on. Blogs are usually niche blog covering a specific area.

Blogs are frequently updated. This means that web sites that feature regular blog posts provide evolving information that remains relevant and useful. Site owners don’t want their readers to be turned off by stagnant sites that rarely change, so they put significant efforts into creating stimulating content that appeals to their audience. By doing so, blog writers provide their readers with up-to-date information that is relevant to what is happening in the world around them at any given time.

If a researcher wants to quote or interpret part of a blog post, he/she needs to create a reference to a particular specific post, although many blogs end up being outlets for personal opinions and ideologies to be shared, the fact remains that blogs also serve as legitimate sources of news and information from industry experts. Online blogs are clearly in great quantity, and the list just keeps growing every day.

The global increase and popularity of social media stimulates interest in the utilization of blogs for research purposes. There is, however, a significant lack of information about the manner and scope of blog used in certain areas of research. The fact that all of the big citation styles for instance APA which uses citation formats which not only cover newspapers and reports and web pages but also blogs. APA Style is a writing style and format for academic documents such as scholarly journal articles and books. It is commonly used for citing sources within the field of behavioral and social sciences. It is described in the style guide of the American Psychological Association. Therefore, it clearly suggests that researchers and authors CAN USE BLOGS FOR CITATION.

The Fourth International Conference on Grey Literature (GL ’99) in Washington, DC, in October 1999 defined grey literature as follows: “That which is produced on all levels of government, academics, business and industry in print and electronic formats, but which is not controlled by commercial publishers.” While purposefully searching for sources on a research topic, grey literature helps in providing a more comprehensive picture. It becomes necessary to search for this unpublished information due to publication bias. The meaning of publication bias is there are some studies that have negative or insignificant results and therefore they do not get published.

Conclusion of the topic: Can scholarly blogs be cited in research work? The answer is YES.

The style and format of research papers varies from subject to subject and researcher to researcher. There are certain guidelines which can be followed for all subjects. These are some hints for people who might just have started to write papers. How you write depends on the journal/type of reader you are addressing. Also, keep in mind some role models – people you know or famous papers. The general aim is to be attractive to non-experts as much as can be expected, while interesting and not offensive to experts. You make a beginning by choosing a topic for your paper.

Choose a topic: Generally describe the topic and how it fits into your field of study. Describe the environment and its conditions. Describe what you intend to show; argue your point in depth. Discuss reasons. Tackle points such as why, when, what and how? Discuss significance of your study.

Illustrate your points with interesting examples. Remember you are writing for an audience and want to capture their interest. Begin to define terms, concepts, vocabulary. Make use of trustworthy sources for literature review. Mention your sources in the footnote.  There is a large pool of sources out there on Internet which provides you with a broader perspective of the topics within your scope of research. Along the way you will find many topics within your field that do not interest your research aptitude. Remember, you need a large variety of sources that you can use, which can be in favor of your topic, against your topic. You need to look at it from different perspectives to “carve” shapes out of nowhere to guide you toward topic that is directly relevant to your choice of topic.

The good news is that as you research you may find that some of your sources that were published in the same decade or so will cite and reference each other. Remember, the more your read, your ideas will get clarified. Make note of the references.

Review the Literature: The Literature review is a vital part of the research process.  You will gain important insights by reviewing assortment of literature available on your topic of research. By reviewing literature you will gain an approach, knowledge, and more awareness on your chosen topic for research. An in-depth literature evaluation will help you in setting the stage for a better-designed study and will help improve your chances in obtaining significant results.  Therefore, it is worth the time and effort to analyze it in right fashion.

Reviewing the literature involves finding the sources, analyzing, amalgamating, and interpreting. You might find incompatible and contrasting views expressed by different authors on your topic. These conflicting points of view might be the indicators of swerving theories within the same topic. To shape up a genuine research, you need to be aware of these conflicting theories as well. Remember, verity of arguments and your views add flavor to your paper. Being aware of those theories will help you later in your life; you will be able to talk and apply your knowledge in your work from different perspectives.

Develop your Hypotheses: Your hypothesis is your proposed explanation that you will test to determine whether it is true or false. Avoid over-generalizing, and reference the research findings of others to support why you think this will work. There is no rigorous, formulaic way of devising hypotheses; hypotheses are typically a product of experience, intuition, insight, analogy, and extrapolation.  Your hypothesis may be correct or even wrong. It needs to be verified through your work.

Styling: Give enough information. List the variables used. These are what change, or that you manipulate, throughout the test. Look for empirical research. Whenever possible, look for peer reviewed empirical research. These are articles or books written by experts in your field of interest, whose work has been read and vouched for by other experts in the same field. These can be found in scientific journals or via an online search.

Findings: This is descriptive and numeric data. You can present them in tables, charts, pictures etc. Develop your argument based upon your findings. While the data may read for itself, you will need to interpret:

• How it validates your hypothesis.
• What falls outside of validity?
• How it impacts the literature you have cited in your paper.

Conclusions: Reaffirm and recap your findings and discussion either in order to simply complexity or to provide a summary for those who skip to it. A conclusion is like the final chord in a song. It makes the listener feel that the piece is complete and well done. This applies to your paper writing and for your audience. They should not feel incomplete after reading your paper. You should therefore support what you stated in your research. You then become a reliable author for them and they are impressed by that and will be more likely to read your work in the future. They may also have learned something and maybe have had their opinion changed by what you have written or created! The conclusion need not be long. It can be accomplished in as little as two sentences.

Recommendations: A research paper is not a dissertation, an editorial, or a story. All declaration of fact must be documented. Be careful while making any generalization. Try your best not to make any ambiguous inquiries. It is worth stressing that the evaluation of your paper will never be determined by whether or not your hypotheses are verified. It is important to remember that a hypothesis supported by the data does not mean that it is true as there possibly are an infinite number of other theories that lead to the same prediction. Similarly, failure of support does not necessarily mean that your hypothesis is wrong: it may be hold true in some populations.

References: These are very important for your paper. It shows your capability of sourcing the right data for your paper as a researcher.  Present them at the end of your paper.

Case study is a form of qualitative and also quantitative research that focuses on providing a detailed account of one or more cases. Eg: how important is sales training in e-commerce: how different e-commerce companies used sales training to the best of their advantage. And, the best part is that the case study is the most flexible of all research designs which allows the researcher to retain the holistic characteristics of real-life events while simultaneously allowing him/her to investigate the empirical events. In general, a case study is an empirical inquiry which investigates a contemporary phenomenon within its real-life context. Empirical research is based on observations made by the researcher – his/her actual experience rather than any theory or belief. Many times, the theory and observations can have contrasting facts; this is where case study type of research scores higher rank, it allows making the boundaries between phenomenon and context clearly evident and in it multiple sources of evidence are used.

Case studies are one of many ways of doing social science and humanities research: it can be carried out with experimentation, observation, surveys and archival information. Each form of data collection is suited to a certain type of research problem; degree of experimentation has control over events and historical/contemporary perspective and focus. By design researchers chose case studies usually when their topic is their principal subject and they chose selected examples of a social entity within its normal context. At the simplest level, the case study provides descriptive accounts of one or more cases; it depends on the researcher’s perspective how many cases he should handle in his research. It gives the researcher a chance to experiment intellectually more and more insights of one or more selected social factors within a real-life context.

Before deciding to use case study as your research type these are few things you need to do: first decide whether case studies can be useful for your specific investigation. There are three factors that determine the best research methodology: 1. the types of questions to be answered 2. Decide to what extent you have control over behavioural events of the respondents and your chosen sample 3. Understand the degree of focus on present-day as opposed to historical events. You will have to tackle these issues in framing your research questions which are most significant in determining the appropriate approach. Who, what when and where questions can be examined through documents, archival analysis, surveys and interviews. Therefore, I feel that case studies are one approach that supports deeper and more detailed investigation of the type that is normally necessary to answer how, when and why questions.

Case study research is also good for present-day events when the appropriate behaviour cannot be manipulated. Typically case study research uses a variety of evidence from different sources, such as documents, artefacts, interviews, journals, data banks and observation, and this goes beyond the range of sources of evidence that might be available in historical study. In summary then, case study research is useful when: A how or why question is being asked about a contemporary set of events over which the investigator has little or no control.

In contrast to surveys, typically the numbers of units studied in a case study are lesser in number, but the extent of details available for each case can be greater. As compared with an experiment, the case study researcher has much less control over the variables, than if an experiment were used to investigate a situation. In a survey data may be collected from a number of organisations in order to generalise to all other organisations of the same type. In contrast in a comparative case study across a number of different organisations, the objective is to compare or reproduce the organisations studied with each other in a systematic way, in the investigation.

Lesser usage of statistical examination:

While analyzing results for a case study, researcher need not use complex statistical tools because the analysis becomes more opinion based than statistical method based. The usual idea is to try and collate data into a manageable form and construct a narrative around it.

In subjects like social sciences and humanities conservative use of statistics reduces the significance and application of the topic. I have observed that often over usage of statistical tools destroy results which are often reported in an unnecessarily obscure manner. Secondly, in my opinion, the null hypothesis testing concept is extremely flawed. And, thirdly, there are several issues, independent of the particular statistical concepts employed, which limit the value of any statistical approach. For instance, difficulties of generalizing to different situations, and the weakness of some research in terms of the size of the effects found. I have seen how some Universities insist often over usage of statistics which kills the essence and core of a topic.

Therefore, case study as a research plan often emerges as one of the best options for research students and mature researchers who are seeking to undertake a modest scale of research project based on their workplace or the comparison of a limited number of organisations. The most challenging aspect of the application of case study research in this background is to lift the assessment from a descriptive account that can claim to be a worthwhile; it contributes modest addition to the research.

Some facts of case study:

• Case study is an empirical inquiry that Investigates a contemporary phenomena within its real life context.
• It is helpful when the boundaries between phenomenon and context are not clearly evident. This statement emphasises that an important strength of case studies is the ability to undertake an investigation into a phenomenon in its context; it is not necessary to replicate the phenomenon in a laboratory or experimental setting in order to better understand the phenomena.
• Thus case studies are a valuable way of looking at the world around us. On the other hand, it is important not to confuse case studies with ethnographic and other strictly qualitative research paradigms. Case study research can be based on any mix of quantitative and qualitative approaches. Typically, it uses multiple data sources including two or more of direct detailed observations, interviews, and documents. In addition, case studies can involve single or multiple cases as discussed in the next section on research design.

• Case studies are in-depth investigations of a single person, group, event or community. Typically, data is gathered from a variety of sources and by using several different methods.

Do you know that the case study research method was originated in clinical medicine (the case history, i.e. the patient’s personal history). Case studies are widely used in psychology and amongst the best known were the ones carried out by Sigmund Freud. He conducted very detailed investigations into the private lives of his patients in an attempt to both understand and help them overcome their illnesses.

In Business management studies case studies like Malden Mills, Start bucks, Tylenol’s 1982 scandal, David VS Goliath, Tesco’s international expansion and Enron are some of the famous case studies which are so in-depth that while reading them you don’t need to use other referrals. They are well described, well analysed, with apt data and conclusions and observations.

]]> https://drvidyahattangadi.com/case-study-is-one-of-vital-type-of-research/feed/ 0 https://drvidyahattangadi.com/crowdfunding-is-the-in-thing/ https://drvidyahattangadi.com/crowdfunding-is-the-in-thing/#respond Thu, 30 Apr 2015 01:16:11 +0000 http://drvidyahattangadi.com/?p=2369 Crowdfunding is the in thing

Small budding entrepreneurial enterprises need not wait any longer for want of the endless procedures for raising funds any longer. All that is required is a good, workable idea and there are people known and unknown who are ready to back a venture. This practice is called crowdfunding. One can raise money from a large number of people, usually through social media – via the Internet.

In India, filmmaker Srinivas Sunderrajan raised Rs. 5,26,000 from 79 supporters for the post-production of his film Greater Elephant. Student filmmakers Aniket Dasgupta and Swathy Sethumadhavan raised Rs. 1,01,000 from 49 supporters for the pre-production of their documentary The Other Way on the indie film movement in India while 21-year-old Vanshaj Kapur raised Rs. 1,15,000 from 32 contributors for completing his film through Wishberry.  Vasudha Sharma’s raised Rs. 5,65,000 from 119 supporters for her music album. So, things are changing fast. There are people out there who would like to support a good idea, a good movement, a good workable business.

Traditionally, if you want to raise capital to start a business, you need to work out your business plan, for which you need to knock on doors of market research companies and consultants, prepare prototypes, and then shop your idea around to a limited pool or wealthy individuals or institutions. These funding sources included banks, angel investors, venture capital firms, non banking finance companies NBFCs were just few options to whom you would go for funding. And, you would experience frustration losing time, energy and money to get the funds required to start your enterprise.

But, with crowdfunding you can think of this fundraising approach as a channel tapping into wide audience and investors all over the world. Crowdfunding platforms give you, a single platform to build, showcase, and share your resources. This approach noticeably outsmarts the traditional model of fundraising. In the older method where you would spend months examining your personal network, selecting potential investors, and spending your own time and money to get in front of them, in crowdfunding, it’s much easier for you to get your opportunity in front of more interested parties and give them more ways to help grow your business. It’s worth a mention here that there are a plethora of crowdfunding platforms available today. There are industry-specific general platform; so you can go to one in which your startup fits the best. This will also enable investors who are willing to invest in specific sector. This will also enable you to get some tips and advises from other entrepreneurs who have used crowdfunding.

From tapping into a wider investor pool by enjoying more flexible fundraising options, there are some other benefits to crowdfunding over traditional methods.

Wider Reach: Through crowdfunding, you have access to thousands of accredited investors whom you can see, interact with, and share your fundraising campaign. Through this platform, you can present the precious process of looking at your business in a wholesome manner; its history, grip in terms of workability, offerings, market, value proposition, and much more. All this can be presented in a polished easily digestible manner.

Sales & Marketing: Right from launch, you can share and promote your business and ideas through social media, email, and cloud computing and other online marketing tactics. As your marketing campaign progresses, your business gets more noticed allowing you to grow faster. Also, your concept gets validation from the masses. As potential investors begin to express interest and ask questions, you can swiftly see if there’s something missing that would make them more likely to buy in.

Effective impact: One of the best things about online crowdfunding is its capacity to centralize and streamline your fundraising efforts by just building a single, comprehensive profile to which you can pull all your prospective and potential investors. You need not follow each of them individually. This process eliminates duplication of printing documents, compiling binders, and manually updating each one. You can present everything online in a much more accessible format, leaving you with more time to run your business instead of fundraising.

There are three general categories crowdfunding. They are Equity, Donation, and Debt.

Equity-based: Equity–based crowdfunding is asking a crowd to donate to your business or project in exchange for equity. Equity crowdfunding is a method that enables broad groups of investors to fund startup companies and small businesses. Investors give money to a business and receive ownership of a small piece of that business. If the business succeeds, then its value goes up; just like the value of a share in that business. Coverage of equity crowdfunding indicates that its potential is greatest with startup businesses that are seeking smaller investments to achieve establishment, while follow-on funding required for rapid growth. The funds might come from many sources.

Donation-based: Donation-based crowd-funding is a way to source money for a project by asking a large number of donors to donate small amounts to it. In return, the donors may receive token rewards. The tokens might be pre-sale item, some small gifts. The donors contribute their monies for the idea or concepts of the business. Sometimes donation crowdfunding is also referred to as rewards crowdfunding. Donation-based crowdfunding can also be used in an effort to raise funds for charitable causes. Because this type of crowd funding is based on donations, funders do not obtain any ownership or rights to the project, nor do they become creditors to the project.

Debt-based: This type of crowdfunding is asking a crowd to provide funds to your business in exchange for financial return and/or interest at a future date. In the U.S. debt-based crowd funding from non-banks became more prominent as a form of crowd funding in 2012, with the launch of the lending clubs which use technology to operate a credit marketplace at a lower cost than traditional bank loan programs, passing the savings on to borrowers in the form of lower rates and to investors in the form of solid returns. In U.S lending clubs have distributed more than US$500 million in loans via its website by April 2012. Prospective borrowers of the Lending Club first submit their requirements, and are then matched with pools of investors who are willing to accept the credit terms. Platforms such as the Lending Club gained popularity, as banks increased interest rates or reduced their level of lending activity.

Crowdfunding is useful for a variety of opportunities; fundraising for disaster-relief, creative projects, creating a salable product, or creating a start-up. Crowdfunding platforms allow you to market your project, generate interest, and receive funds. Because it works on social media platform it can provide useful feedback about a project. Once your business idea and concept gets a support, there is no looking back. Crowdfunding is not limited to certain kind of project, there is no discrimination, only great ideas. The more creativity and fun you have, the more likely you’ll get funded.

There is also a bad side to it. Your project can be copied by potential copycats. There are some delays here also. It just doesn’t happen in jiffy. Crowdfunding platforms often limit the amount of funds you expect to receive. Crowdfunding regulations and taxation can be difficult to work with.

Last piece of advice to all those young budding entrepreneurs is that you are lucky to raise a large amount of money from crowd but that does not give you assurance that your startup will run successfully; you have to still run your business by putting in hard efforts on daily basis. There is still no substitute to working hard. And, the future of crowdfunding largely depends on how successfully startups use it to build their companies and repay the investors. The startups need creative and workable ideas and of course smart strategies. I wish to list few leading crowd-funding platforms for the reader’s choice.

RocketHub: Initially launched with the arts in mind, it expanded to include science, education, business and social good projects. It gained footing in the sciences with its annual SciFund Challenge, an online effort to fund science projects. It also launched a partnership with A&E Networks through which some select projects will be chosen to receive extra support from the joint initiative.

Peerbackers: Recognized as one of the top crowdfunding websites in the industry, peerbackers, focuses on funding entrepreneurs and innovators. The platform has hosted thousands of creative, civic and entrepreneurial projects from around the world. Recently it has extended its arm to young entrepreneurs who are aged 13 to 17 through partnerships with student organizations.

MicroVentures: Calls itself an “investment bank for startups.” It carries out  due diligence on startups and then, if approved, helps raise capital from angel investors via its SEC-approved online platform, giving angel investors the ability to invest small amounts of capital to crowdfund a startup.

Crowdfunding in India is still in its nascent stages. However, the potential is incredibly high for Indian crowdfunding; 50% nation is youthful, educated, and restless with big dreams. There are lakhs of dynamic and fascinating independent projects breaking boundaries. The Securities and Exchange Board of India has proposed new norms for ‘crowdfunding’ or collection funds through web-based platforms and social networking sites; a move that would help start-up companies raise capital and also check misuse of such avenues. Under the proposed norms, crowdfunding platforms can be provided by only SEBI-registered entities, while companies can raise up to Rs.10 crore in a year through this route. Given the high-level of risks associated with this new way of fund-raising activity, SEBI has also proposed that only ‘accredited investors’ be allowed to participate in crowdfunding activities.