The Reserve Bank, as the regulator of the banking sector, has been actively engaged, from the very beginning, in the review, examination and evaluation of customer service in the banks. It has been ...reviewing the progress periodically and has been continually nudging the Indian banking industry to become more customer friendly and customer centric in its conduct and business practices. RBI plays an enduring role in enabling customer empowerment and the re-enfranchisement of the customer – who, as the adage goes, is the king! Speech at the seminar on Balancing Cost, Profitability and Customer Experience, organised by The Asian Banker at Hotel ITC Maratha in Mumbai.
This thesis investigates the status and the role of Multinational Corporations in the Arab World. Its main hypothesis is that the Multinationals today represent a permanent feature as the major ...world-wide source of modern technology. As such, the Arab countries will continue relying, into the foreseeable future, upon technology produced, owned or controlled by these global firms. The research finds that a century of increasing integration with the western industrialised countries, primarily shaped by the activities of the multinational corporations, has nevertheless left the Arab region less industrialised and more technologically and institutionally backward than many other parts of the world. The Arab Nation as a whole, in all its diversity of countries and regions, has failed to economically or industrially advance at the same rate as other newly industrialising regions. The lack of commitment to national and regional development needs in the Arab World on the part of most multinationals, is matched by an equal absence of any clear sense of purpose and dedication on the part of the Arab countries themselves. Despite the proposition by some Arab professionals and elites that the Arab States must consider breaking with any development strategy that substantially relies on access to capital and technology provided by foreign multinationals, the research contends that, in view of the current underdeveloped state of indigenous technology in the Arab World, the contemplation of the option of "de-linking" from the multinationals is neither possible nor desirable. The fact is, that the Arab States, individually or as whole, are not as yet prepared for the challenges that such a go-it-alone development strategy would imply. The research also finds that, as the multinational' behaviour is governed by diverse objectives, helping out the developing countries of the Arab World to build-up their technological base is not generally one of their distinctive goals. They have their own "growth" strategy while each of the individual Arab States has its own "development" policy. The objectives of each differ, as shown in this thesis, and are often incompatible. Yet, for a multinational corporation to secure profit, growth and security, it will need the goodwill of the Arab countries, while the latter, in order to start building their technological base, need the multinationals. Thus, objectively, they need each other and a fruitful cooperation between the two parties depends on the convergence of two strategies, which usually need to undergo many changes in order to accommodate each other's diverse interests. This means that, what a foreign multinational can really offer depends on how much an Arab country, individually or in collaboration with other Arab countries, may actually be prepared or able to take. From the latter's viewpoint, the ability to take is dependent on the extent to which the Arab countries can cooperate effectively together. The recent trend in the region towards forging economic integration, in the form of regional groupings among neighbouring Arab countries, is widely heralded to be an essential step in the right direction. However, in view of the considerable variations in natural resource endowments which exist among the countries of the Arab World, it has been increasingly suggested by the Arab participants of our main survey, that inter-Arab multinational joint ventures constitute a highly desirable form of organising economic activity, and of accomplishing effective economic cooperation among the countries of the region. Most importantly, the thesis demonstrates that there are many areas in which conventional economic theories are deficient in explaining multinationals' behaviour and impact on the Arab World. Deficiencies between theory and practice arc referred to throughout the work and discussed in particular detail in Chapters 4 and 12. A major conclusion of this study is that, the Arab governments which once feared the multinationals are now actively interested in seeking to court and accommodate them more effectively to local development needs. There is increasing evidence that the Arab countries have learned to bargain with multinationals to make them better serve their specific objectives and interests. Through more contacts and interactions, previously contrasting positions have softened and a wave of pragmatic attitudes on both sides is emerging to promote greater recognition of the mutual interests involved. It is the hope of the author of this thesis that his work will encourage even greater mutual understanding and cooperation between the Arab States and multinational partners in the future. Indeed it is only through such cooperation that joint efforts can be effectively used to promote beneficial development and growth for the future prosperity of the Arab Nation as a whole.
Discussion Trooboff, Peter D.; Zarins, Paul; Mcneill, John H. ...
Proceedings of the annual meeting - American Society of International Law,
1988, Letnik:
82
Journal Article
Modern science, based on atomism and mechanism and established in Western Europe in the 17th century, has successfully revealed the minute structure of natural components and relationship between ...energy and matter by means of laboratory experiments and mathematical expressions. Apparently, however, science has failed to recognize the dynamic movement of the earth's materials which involves the endogenic and exogenic cycles accompanying complex phase changes of matter. Take basalt, a common volcanic rock existing on both the earth and the moon, for instance. Any basaltic rock now resting on the moon should last for the next billion years without the slightest change in shape, position or composition, unless a meteorite hits the rock. However, any basaltic rock exposed on the earth's surface is subject to weathering. Water dissolves ions away from the rock-forming minerals, and ice in the rock cavities breaks the rock into smaller fragments. The dissolved ions and clastic grains are transported by running water to the ocean, where the ions precipitate to form chemical deposits such as rock salt, limestone, and chert, and the clastic grains settle down to form sedimentary rocks, such as sandstone and mudstone. These rocks may be uplifted onto the land again to undergo another exogenic cycle, may be depressed deep into the crust and transformed to metamorphic rocks, or may be transported into the mantle by a subducting plate and put into the endogenic cycle, which may produce the basaltic rocks on the land again. These cycles are maintained by energy from the sun and the earth's interior. The biosphere, unique to the earth and containing the cycle of biosynthesis and biodegradation, can be regarded as a subsystem of these cycles, because the photosynthesis, for example, is maintained not only by carbondioxide, water and the solar energy, but also by many dissolved inorganic materials produced by the weathering. Thus, the most distinctive property of matter on the earth is not derived from its composition nor structure but from cyclic, dynamic movement and phase changes. Since technology is a way to utilize nature for human life, the understanding of nature is an essential factor in technological developments. Take the invention of earthenware for example. The Jomon people, one of the ancestors of the modern Japanese, must have understood thermal hardening of a certain type of clay before they invented the first earthenware about 12, 000 years ago. Because present knowledge on nature derived from modern science is restricted to the physical properties of matter under a certain condition, modern techology, an application of the scientific knowledges, uses only those of exotic materials under the controlled conditions, and neglects the fate of industrial products and wastes which will eventually enter the natural system. Therefore, the more technology advances, the more exotic materials and the more amount of energy are required, causing exhaustion of the precious materials and a shortage of fossil fuels on the earth. In addition, the products and wastes disturb and interfere with the exogenic cycle, because these materials are not transformed nor disintegrated into simple, nontoxic compounds by nature when they undergo the weathering. They eventually damage the biological cycle and cause much harm to the ecosystem, resulting in environmental destruction. In order to overcome the problems caused by the modern technology, technological improvement is important. However, more importantly, we must change our view of the earth in order to lead us to a better comprehension of the actual conditions on this third planet of the solar system. As the Japanese Islands are located on a mobile zone, their geologic setting is quite different from that of Western Europe, which is on a stable continental crust. Under their particular conditions, the Japanese have appreciated the cyclical, dynamic changes in the natural phenomena and
