The Paradox of Risk in Managerial Psychology

Number of words: 630 The greater the risk, the smaller the case for the project. Risk-taking holds its pride of place among the managerial virtues for reasons deep in managerial psychology, for managers need no urging to take chances. The most purblind old buffer in the boardroom will cheerfully approve ventures of total insecurity. The … Read more

The Interplay Between Sales and Marketing

Number of words: 481 The marketeers have not only pushed production men into the cold – they have ousted the salesman. The standard sneer against ‘non-marketing-orientated’ companies is that they have merely called the sales manager a marketing manager. This is more sensible than importing a dear and dearly educated marketing manager and downgrading the … Read more

The Myth of Cost-Effectiveness in Government Management

Number of words: 573 By business standards, however, McNamara’s reign at the Pentagon was an enormously expensive failure. His hatchet-men found many sweet cost savings – the duplicated purchasing which bedevils all widely spread businesses had become gross in the Pentagon, and the management techniques which produce better housekeeping were badly needed. But exacting more … Read more

The Cultural Significance of Allahabad in History

Number of words: 279 The rebellion of 1857 brought the East India Company to its end. Its territories in India were put directly under government control. The Governor-General was replaced with a Viceroy, a representative of the Crown. The ratio of Europeans to Indians in the army was pushed up to 1:3 from 1:9. That … Read more

The Rise of the Marathas: A Response to Mughal Oppression

Number of words: 357 Aurangzeb’s big push was into the southern peninsula. He shifted to the Deccan in 1682 and would never see Delhi again. He lived in a constant state of campaigning for the next twenty-six years. Aurangzeb extended the empire but he also destroyed it. The never-ending wars were disastrous—for the Land and … Read more

The Rise and Fall of Vijayanagar

Number of words: 528 The city of Vijayanagar was established just after the brutal raids of Alauddin Khilji’s general, Malik Kafur. Around 1336, two brothers, Hukka and Bukka, appear to have got together to defeat rival groups and build a fortified new city. This city was called Vijayanagar or City of Victory. At its height … Read more

The Ambitious Journey of Babur

Number of words: 1,056 Babur was a direct descendent of Ghengis Khan from his mother’s side and Taimur the lame on his father’s side. However, Taimur’s empire had been largely lost by the time Babur was born. At the age of twelve, Babur inherited a tiny kingdom in the beautiful Ferghana valley in Central Asia. … Read more

The Cultural Renaissance of Central India in the Medieval Era

Number of words: 391 The Turks were eager to gain wealth and spread their religion but there was also another important interest they had in mind—the capture of slaves. Over the next few centuries, hundreds of thousands of Indian slaves—particularly from West Punjab and Sind—were marched into Afghanistan and were then sold in the bazaars … Read more

The Chola Empire’s Legacy in Southeast Asia

Number of words: 441 The Cholas were an ancient dynasty and are even mentioned in the Ashokan inscriptions. In the ninth to the eleventh century CE, they created an empire that covered most of peninsular India and briefly extended to the banks of the Ganga. The empire even included Sri Lanka and the Maldives! They … Read more