A Peek into Special Economic Zones

A Special Economic Zone (SEZ) refers to a geographical region within a nation where the economic and financial laws enforced in other parts of the nation are either suspended or relaxed so that the laws are more free-market-oriented. This special zone is more like a foreign territory that not only benefits from tax exemptions and relaxed financial and environmental regulations but also gets subsidized water and electricity.

The objective behind creating special economic zones is to encourage foreign investors to make foreign direct investment. However, for the foreign investors to make investments it is necessary that the conditions are favorable for their businesses. The government can achieve this by creating certain areas as special economic zones with reduced taxes and relaxed financial and environmental regulations. Only then would the government be able to encourage rapid economic growth.

Special economic zones broadly divided into more specific zone types namely

* Export Processing Zones (EPZ)

* Free Zones (FZ)

* Free Trade Zones (FTZ)

* Industrial Parks or Industrial Estates (IE)

* Free Ports

* Urban Enterprise Zones

Due to the immense benefits of special economic zones, almost all governments of the world support it. There are approximately 3000 special economic zones in 120 countries. As far as India is concerned, there are 143 special economic zones in India and more than 500 formally approved by the government. Among Asian countries, India was the first country to realize the benefits of creating Export Processing Zone (EPZ) in promoting exports. The first EPZ was set up in Kandla, Gujarat in 1965. Among the 143 special economic zones, 7 have been set up by the central government, 15 approved before the enactment of the SEZ Act 2005, and the rest after the enactment of the SEZ Act. The operational economic zones are in Tamil Nadu (26), Andhra Pradesh (21), Karnataka (15), Maharashtra (15), Chandigarh (1), Gujarat (10), Haryana (3), Kerala (8), Orissa (1), Rajasthan (3), Uttar Pradesh (10), and West Bengal (5).

The SEZ Act, 2005 along with the SEZ rules came into effect on 10 February 2006. Creation of SEZ benefits the nation considerably by facilitating (as per the SEZ Act)

* generation of additional economic activity

* promotion of exports of goods and services

* promotion of investment from domestic and foreign sources

* creation of employment opportunities

* development of infrastructure facilities

* maintenance of sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State and friendly relations with foreign States

Special economic zones definitely promote growth and investment as proved by the different success stories in different parts of the world. With different success stories in the making, special economic zones are something that needs to be encouraged rather than opposed.

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HIPAA and HITECH: Need of the Hour for the Healthcare Industry

Information Technology having entered every industry, most of the data and information are stored and transferred in electronic form.  Though the electronic storage and retrieval of data has cut short the manual labor and work-hours involved in the process, safe handling of this electronic data is a challenge faced by the industries.  The growing dependence on IT in the health care industry and related enterprises has raised issues of security of the customer-centric personal data, the leakage or disclosure of which might lead to problems beyond the control of the organization.


Safety of electronically stored data is crucial for the healthcare sector as the data they handle are sensitive and pertains to the patients. Further, electronic medical records and other such private data are information that needs to be secure as per the HIPAA compliance regulations. Technological innovations have facilitated the development of security software to ensure safety of the various databases, which are accessible through Internet or the corporate networks.


HIPAA, the Health Insurance Portability and accountability act came into effect in the year 1996, to ensure privacy and security of sensitive medical records and confidential data with the help of administrative, technical, or physical safety methods. This was followed by the HITECH Act in 2009. The Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act was enacted  to ensure that electronic health records are well safeguarded.


The need for HIPAA/ HITECH compliance arose to provide the customers improved portability and continuity of health insurance coverage irrespective of the location they move on in a globalized environment. Further, these compliance regulations ensure improved efficiency and standardization with easy interchange and privacy of electronically stored data. The HITECH aspect ensures the organization's stick to the compliance regulations of HIPAA with strict notifications, penalties and changes in liabilities and responsibilities.


However, for the layman, the HIPAA/HITECH compliance combines IT compliance and healthcare compliance.  Being similar in approach towards the problem of security and privacy, the business associates also become accountable for the data breaches and non-compliance. Nevertheless complying with both HIPAA and HITECH is time-consuming and complex process.


The advent of cloud computing technology has made HIPAA and HITECH free from high-tech hardware and software. Leaders in the industry sector have developed unified security monitoring and enterprise compliance management software with encryption protection systems that work towards safeguarding the electronic health records within the policy framework. This cloud –based service with a single and centralized repository for all compliance related evidence has the ability to be customized as per business needs and can be integrated with external business associates and vendor management.


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Ensuring an Integrated Compliance Business Environment

Technology has enabled the growth and expansion of business to locations beyond geographical boundaries. However, this growth has also brought in challenges for the organizations.  Organizations no longer just rely on the handshake agreement between two businesses but need a number of legal binding contracts negotiated at the onset of business transactions. Moreover, with a large number of vendors from various locations involved in the business process, streamlining vendor relationships also becomes very necessary.


Most of the new age enterprises and the financial institutions follow the vendor management roadmap. This is a process undertaken to access the risks involved in the building business relationships with third party enterprises and vendors in an era of data sharing and outsourcing. Further, in face of aggressive competition in the business environment, the ability of the key personnel in handling various issues during the lifecycle of the contract becomes the focal point.


A vendor management solution developed by leading service providers in the industry sector enables automation and streamlining of the vendor relationships. Being a web based solution; this facilitates risk-based vendor selection, vendor relationship management, centralized document management, remediation management and vendor compliance monitoring. The key features of this vendor management services includes automatic monitoring and management of sensitive data and technical controls, assess vendor risk and IT compliance ratings. It also enables measurement of vendor compliance to policies, regulations and procedures, and trace and identify non-compliance vendor assessment process.  


The world-class cloud based automated IT security and compliance management solution offered by these technology giants can be deployed in both small and medium business houses as well as large conglomerates.  Being a truly integrated IT compliance and security compliance solution, this paves way for a quicker and complete end-to-end automation of security, compliance audit and risk management requirement of the organization.


With built-in support systems for HIPAA compliance, ISO, COBIT and PCI compliance, this is scalable, completely channel focused and customizable too. This innovative, unified monitoring service delivered through the cloud has easy to use vendor compliance management framework. Further, this lone multi-tenant solution available in the market today has a graphic user interface which can scale up from a single user to multiple users and has built-in templates for policies and procedures.


Data breaches caused by the third party vendors are kept at bay by deploying the vendor compliance manager. The holistic vendor management process addresses the risks and works towards developing a governance, risk, and   regulatory compliant business environment.


Also read on - vendor management, meaningful use of electronic health records

Changing Social Gaming Market Trends

It has been estimated that over the next 12 months, the social gaming market is bound to evolve and grow. However, this trend was not a hard one to predict considering the number of social gamers the like of Farmville, Playfish and Zynga has generated in these few years. 2012 thus is being considered as a year where the social gaming market is all set to witness a phenomenal growth and innovation. Furthermore, 2012 could well be a year where an arena that was often scorned by conventional gamers finally crosses over to the core.

 

The social gaming market does not become social until you are playing with another person. As such social games assist users to take turns. Turn-based games are not a new concept, however in these present environment turn-based games takes on a new meaning. It is essential to bear in mind those “turn-based” games is not a requirement, but rather a frequent feature found in “social games”.  When you are able to see that your news feed includes updates about your friend’s score it encourages you all the more to take part in the game.

 

Key Changes in the Social Gaming Market

 

The social gaming market has witnessed phenomenal changes in the past few years. Some of them are:-


* The social gaming market has transformed from a lonely, individually played act to a global social experience that is today shared with friends and family.

* The recent changes indicates that the modern day marketers need to forget the conventional stereotype of the geeky online gamer playing by himself on his computing device

* Social networks enabled gaming to arrive mainstream and research highlights that the casual gamers are the consumers of social gaming content

Eminent service providers have come up with social analytics tools that help you to measure the social game metrics. Some of their features include the following:-


* Helps in offering real-time social gaming analytics seamlessly

* The tools present users with gaming-specific actionable insights that are accessible to marketers and developers to enable them increase engagement, enhance retention, broaden reach, and maximize revenues.

* Assists in arriving to the root solution fast with certain drill – down analysis tools

* With automation tools, the metrics allows lean teams to impact goals with minimal effort

If you want to understand the social gaming market better it is essential that social gaming organizations have direct access to data analytics and other social media analytics tools.  Furthermore, it is important that they consistently monitor and analyze the social activity of users through wall posts, profile updates, viral invites and the like.

Learn more about :- Facebook analytics

Maximizing Potentials in Business for Increased Returns

There has been a rapid development in business operations due to advanced technologies. The current environment is dynamic and unpredictable. Along with the increasing advantages the risks are also high, and the challenges overwhelming. You have to implement intelligent and practical practices to survive the volatile circumstances and demonstrate your true strengths. Poor performance deliveries, spiraling costs and delayed responses are the factors that can stunt the growth of your business. You need competent and flexible tools that have the tenacity to adapt to any situation and provide you with constructive results.


You must ensure a streamlined and
optimized supply chain process in your business so that you can deliver rich customer experiences and garner more support with prompt and reliable order fulfillment services. It is advisable to invest in the cloud solutions that help in easy deployment and management of the processes and provides you with on-demand services. The solution provides you with non-stop monitoring and tracking services to furnish you with quick reports regarding any changes in the environment, and increases your visibility thus giving you an opportunity to take decisions that will help you in the future.


The current situation is very demanding. You have to run your business following a set of protocols. The
supply chain solution provides you with intelligent processes and can be customized to meet the requirements of your business optimally. It also ensures that it helps your business to operate smoothly without violating the compliance regulations. An efficient quality control management process helps to maintain the consistency of quality which is extremely critical if you expect loyalty from your customers. The solution leverages integration which increases the collaboration between the applications with the help of the rack and stack integration platform.


The solution simplifies your
retail packaging processes and sets up an organized system for order acceptance, packaging and shipping functions. It provides you relief from unnecessary losses by eliminating excessive stocking of products with limited shelf lives. You have the controls and the authority to choose the best packaging systems from the hand-assembling, shrink-wrapping and eco-friendly options. Process visibility is enhanced which helps you to assess the progress anytime and detect any obstacles that thwart your operations.


Mindless investments are not going to bear you fruits. The tools and processes that you invest in must give you worthy returns. Insightful decisions must be implemented in the choice of tools to avoid a dysfunctional business operation. Hasty and unplanned strategies will render poor results and cause unfathomable damages.

Learn more about : Returns Management & Retail Distribution

Effect of Grey Market Sales on Manufacture’s Bottom Line

Innovations in technology, marketing strategy, globalization and business expansion are all aimed at increasing the organization's net earnings or net income. Referred to generally as the ‘bottom line’ this includes all actions that affect the overall profit of the organizations. Enterprises, big or small follow the same business tactics and aim to improve the bottom line either by generating revenues or by increasing efficiency or cutting costs. However, the growth of technology has also paved way for the growth of the ‘grey market’.

 

The 'grey market’ refers to the distribution channels that steers branded products from a manufacturer and from the authorized distribution channels and funnel it across to the consumer through a series of legitimate distributors across the world. The grey marketers take the products and import it to other countries at lower prices. The difference in the price tags offered by various legitimate markets creates an opportunity for the middlemen to obtain branded products at discounted prices and sell it for a higher profit. These distribution channels open up a wider customer base for the product manufacturers. Grey markets also pose serious challenges to IT manufacturers and their authorized distributors. A study conducted by KPMG shows that IT product manufacturers collectively end up losing up to US$5 billion in profits annually.


However, the grey market affects not just the IT industry but other industrial sectors too. Automobiles, consumer products, pharmaceuticals, fashion accessories, are other industries that are affected by the grey market activity, which is very detrimental.  It paves the way for customers to purchase products with invalid warranties, or designed for use in particular countries or made up of counterfeit parts.  Cons counterfeiting erodes customer satisfaction and damages brand reputation, leading to significant effects on the net earnings for manufacturers.


To improve the bottom line, enterprises work out strategies to trim expenses as well as increase revenue by new product launches or locating new market for an existing product. Further, in this aggressively competitive environment, product manufacturers are turning towards globalizations and look for new global markets to outsource their products. However the globalization led cost –savings comes with a considerable risk of product counterfeiting and unauthorized channels. Thus, enterprises need to be well equipped with proper tools and anti counterfeiting solutions to protect the products from violators.


Leading service providers have designed sophisticated counterfeit detection and online fraud detection solutions, which would help enterprises, locate grey markets and violators to recover revenue, stock value and lost brand reputation.

Translation Memory Software: Bridging Multilingual Gaps

Translation of any text written in one language into another has been carried down  by bilingual experts specialized in the topics. However, technological innovations and spread of business worldwide has brought in demands for professional translators with ability to translate vast amounts of data. Technological experts have worked to develop specifically designed translations tools to empower professionals in the arena.


With digital age having a great impact in the work environment of business houses and corporate sectors, the most significant tool used by the professional translators in this environment is the translation memory software. Translation memory (TM), a product of machine translation is a database application, aimed to boost the productivity level of the professionals and helping them work on large-scale translation projects. The TM database stores the source and its translated content as segments or translation units.


However, as technology progressed, the translation applications became more effective when used in conjunction with computer assisted translation tools. Word processor and terminology management systems further the inclusion of multilingual dictionary and quality control as a part of the project management features have only made it much more demanding.


Globalization has led to the growth of localized content either as website content, product documentation, marketing messages or support guides. To cater to the growing demands for repeated translated content, the translation memory software developed by the leading software providers will help capture the repeated content. This software not only speeds up the website translation and localization process, but also dramatically improves the quality and efficiency of multilingual communication.


Storing all the previously translated content in a multilingual database aids in the faster translation of new content. Irrespective of the file formats, this scalable software can be used on any desktop on the network. Moreover, the ability of this software to be integrated with translation management systems and other automated translation solutions benefits the localization professionals in increasing their productivity.


For the translation professionals, the translation memory software helps in instant translation of technical documents and one with specialized vocabularies. Further, the software ensures that the document is completely translated including definitions, phrases and terminology.  This software makes it feasible for small and medium enterprises to translate large volumes of data in a variety of formats. The translation memory solutions benefits end-users with reduced translation costs, facilitates website translation in 50% more languages, and up to 70% faster translation with consistency and improved quality, thus ensuring that customers remain satisfied and loyal.


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Expansion of Indian Clinical Trials

India has been working hard to make its name in the global pharmaceutical arena as a preferred hub for eminent global enterprises to conduct clinical trials. It is a challenge for both the private and government sector to establish a healthy balance between trade and ethics. Indian government has been playing an active role in standardizing the regulations by governing the way clinical trials are being conducted. The private sector comprising of clinical research organizations (CRO) and pharmaceutical companies have succeeded in carrying out global clinical trials in India.

At the same time, there has been an increased awareness of good and healthy clinical practice requirements, a strong desire for internal acceptability of research conducted outside India. This in turn inducted constructive changes in the attitude of Indian medical technicians towards contributing for clinical trials. Investigators are keen on taking part in clinical trials that adhere with GCP and are interested to abide by the protocol constraints.

Leading Indian CRO’s have introduced research programs that assist in executing high-end and innovative models on clinical pharmacology, pharmacokinetic analysis, and other bio-analytical methodologies that are conducted by selected teams of well-trained clinical co-coordinators. They follow a 360 degree approach concerning clinical trials and makes sure that the sponsor benefits from a selection of services as listed below :-

 

* Pharmacy Services that assures a strict adherence to GCP and other allied international regulatory requirements

* Feasibility Studies

* Clinical Trial Supplies & Management

* Bio Statistics

* Project Management

* Clinical Monitoring

* Volunteer Recruitment & Planning

Clinical researches and trials comprises of a portfolio of research domains that assist in disease treatment and drug development. Other sections that fall under it are medical writing, biometrics, bio analytical services, and many more. In the recent past India has seen the emergence of numerous CRO’s that are responsible in carrying out numerous clinical trials and other studies, such as the Phase I Study.

According to a joint study conducted by Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry and global consultancy Ernst & Young, India today takes part in more than 7 percent of all international Phase III and 3.2 percent of all international Phase II trials. In addition to that, a report presented by RNCOS, a market research firm it is noted that the Indian clinical trials outsourcing market is estimated to expand at a compound annual growth rate beyond 30 percent during 2010-2012 and by $600 million by 2012.

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Functions of a Clinical Laboratory

Any medical trial or clinical research is incomplete without a clinical laboratory. Traditionally speaking, a clinical laboratory examines and analyses components in blood, urine and body fluids. Blood grouping & Rh typing can also be performed. The Clinical lab has the capability to perform quantitative and qualitative analyses of urine, blood and other fluids as explained below:-

 

  • Qualitative Analysis is a test that is set up to identify the constituents of a substance or mixture. The question addressed is what is in it?
  • Quantitative Analysis is a test that is set up to understand the amounts or proportion of the substance or mixture used. The question addressed here is how many or how much is in it?

 

In the recent past, with medical activities gaining momentum in India, renowned CRO’s (clinical research organization) have specialized in innovative clinical laboratory services. This laboratory forms the foundation of medical studies and research. Accreditation by third parties - NABL and CAP assures high standards of quality and testing that are internationally acceptable.. The lab is well equipped with state-of-the-art infrastructure and impeccable logistics. The prominent part of a clinical laboratory is that it deploys highly experienced and trained personnel; Laboratory Information System is used for online information transfer and ensures short turnaround time with commendable levels of quality and consistency.

 

Clinical laboratory services include a wide range of investigations. They are:-

 

  • Hematology
  • Coagulation
  • Biochemistry
  • Serology & Immunology
  • Urine Analysis
  • Hormonal assays

 

Clinical laboratories owned by Indian CRO’s also help in conducting Phase I study by providing  the necessary lab support.. The study includes the following aspects:-

 

  • First-in-human
  • Single Ascending Dose studies
  • Multiple Ascending Dose studies
  • New Chemical Entities
  • Dose Escalating studies

 

clinical laboratory is the backbone of all experiments and drug developments. Hence it is essential to upgrade it from time to time with adequate resources.

 

Read Also On: Biometrics

 

Positive Transformations with Remarkable HR Consulting Services

Employees are precious assets with incredible powers that influence the fate of your business. The unconditional support of your employees is a profound blessing that can help overcome all the challenges and emerge victorious. Identifying individual potentials and assessing the capabilities of your employees efficiently will help save costs and ensure highly productive outcomes. It has become an utmost priority to have a flexible, scalable and practical human resource management process that can understand the needs of your business and your employees and maintain a healthy balanced atmosphere.

Pitching your business in the global forum against seasoned contenders is a courageous act. But this act can be risky if you do not have equally compelling strategies that delivers outstanding results. Many have spent their entire lives negotiating through these tricky landscapes to find a sure footing. If you want to achieve success and leave an impressionable impact you need the support of the global human resource management counselors who have invested a lot in gaining the knowledge and experience in the human resource management arena.

They provide the best solutions after carefully evaluating your business and considering the rights and privileges of your employees. The issue of deserving wages has always created a rift between employers and employees. The global human resource management experts employ a wise jurisdiction to recommend global payroll solutions that will help to bridge the gap between you and your employees. They provide relevant and crucial employee benefits consulting services in healthcare, compensation, retirement planning, tax planning and legislative compliance that result in a happier and satisfied taskforce.

Compliance regulations govern your business policies and you have to follow these codes of conduct religiously to avoid any damaging penalties. The professional consultants provide services that are aligned with the latest compliance standards such as HIPAA which emphasizes on practices that release non-toxic and harmful effects in the environment. They also ensure that the services they provide are acceptable and fulfill all the requirements according to the ERISA and COBRA compliance standards.

 

The professionals provide valuable assistance in managing the employee onboarding process by selecting eligible candidates and saving your costs on the hiring process. They recommend automated, simple and optimized processes that save time and provide you with opportunities to focus on employing effective strategies that leverage your business. Human resource management is a complex task and if you are not confident you should seek the professional advisory services so that you do not implement incorrect or regretful actions.

Read Also On: HIPAA Compliance, Human Resources Solutions, Human Capital Management