This study is a pioneering attempt to investigate the impact of foreign direct investment (FDI) on export performance in Pakistan by using the long annual time series data from the period 1974–2012 and by using more rigorous econometric techniques. Autoregressive distributed lag-bound testing cointegration approach confirms the valid long-run relationship between considered variables. Results indicate the significant positive impact of FDI on real exports in long run as well as in short run. Results of Granger causality test, Toda and Yamamoto Modified Wald causality test and variance decomposition test confirm the bidirectional causal relationship between FDI and export performance in Pakistan. Results of rolling window analysis suggest that the coefficient of FDI in export model remains negative from 1983 to 1987, from 2001 to 2006 and in 2011. The coefficient of FDI in export model shows a positive coefficient in remaining years. It can be seen that FDI and real export are connected in complementary way in Pakistan. The policy makers should make policies that favour foreign investors so as to attract more FDI in Pakistan. It has been observed that a stable political and economic environment is desirable to attract more FDI in Pakistan.
Compulsivity is a topic of interest among researchers, academicians and policy makers, particularly because previous studies reveal that it can influence consumer behaviour and well-being. However, researchers have not got clear-cut picture of this phenomenon. Here, authors have used an individuals’ life course paradigm as an integrative framework and derives hypothesis from two theoretical perspective (stress and human capital perspective), and uses a survey of adolescents (15–18) years in India to test the hypotheses. This article endeavours to contribute to the knowledge by suggesting that these two theoretical perspectives can provide an integrative, multi-theoretical structure by which these important phenomena might be better explained and predicted. The results indicate that one’s experience and events in earlier adolescence period are related to their compulsive buying behaviour in late adolescence period. Here, authors have developed a framework to elucidate them, and have discussed implications and future research.
This exploratory study is a pioneering research in the study of chocolate consumption amongst Indian consumers. Most studies look at chocolate consumption as deviant behaviour. However, for a developing country like India the frequency and amount of consumption is low; hence the factors influencing/hindering the consumption are of interest both for academicians as well as practitioners. The study went on to analyze the prevailing attitude towards chocolate consumption and tested the difference in attitude across relevant demographic variables. A cross-sectional consumer survey of 186 Indian chocolate consumers was conducted across the National Capital Region (NCR) of New Delhi, India. Factor analysis of consumer attitudes resulted in two distinct factors—cultural significance of sweets and chocolate value proposition. Younger consumers were found to be more value seeking as compared to older consumers. Taste followed by the brand were the most important criteria while choosing a chocolate and predominant reason for buying chocolates was for gifting purpose.
This article examines the impact of capital formation on economic growth in India covering the period from 1970 to 2012. This paper traces a long-run equilibrium relation between capital formation and economic growth and other control variables by using autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) model. The error correction (ECM) model shows that the capital formation, trade openness, exchange rate and total factor productivity positively affect the economic growth and the inflation negatively affects the economic growth in the short run. It is recommended that government increases the level of capital formation in order to achieve a higher level of economic growth.
Increasing thrust on sustainability has pervaded every form of organization today including business. Active involvement and participation in community activities is no more considered an act of traditional philanthropy but an integral and significant part of the business model and operations for inclusive growth of the multiple stakeholder constituencies along with the organization. This also throws challenges to modern organizations to look for alternative forms and redefined priorities beyond the confines of single-pointed pursuit of profits and economic growth. The present article primarily engages in this search for ‘the other’ form of organization in the pioneering initiative for rural regeneration by the Nobel Laureate poet and philosopher from India Rabindranath Tagore at Sriniketan, in the district of Birbhum in West Bengal. Sriniketan was a novel venture to uplift the neglected village and bridge the gap between the urban and the rural milieu. In this regard, this article will undertake a detailed study of Tagore’s twin objectives—first, to educate the villagers in self-dependence and second, to gift the villagers a complete life. It will also attempt to uphold the ideal of village welfare as envisioned by Tagore through people-centric education with the help of local and global experts. The article explores through a qualitative study of Tagore’s Sriniketan, a rural development project directed towards sustainability in viewing the spirit of cooperatives as an alternative form of organization. It will also finally highlight on how modern organizations can draw lessons on sustainability from Tagore’s cooperative movement for creative and effective corporate social responsibility (CSR) interventions.
The study seeks to examine the contagion effect of the global financial crisis on the major Asian markets, namely, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, South Korea, Malaysia, Japan, India and Taiwan. The study incorporates the impact of leverage effect in the dynamic conditional correlation generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (DCC-GARCH) framework to achieve the goal. The US is taken as the crisis-originating country. The period of study has been divided into three categories, namely, pre-crisis period, crisis period and post-crisis period, to examine the sudden change in average conditional correlation from one period to other period so as to identify the contagion effect. The findings support the contagion effect from US market to the major Asian markets with the exception of Japan. Policy makers seek to study the existence of contagion among markets so that they can strategically manage risk and it further helps in asset allocation. If the markets are contagious, then the investors will be unable to reap benefits through international diversification of portfolio. In such a case, the policy makers will further frame policies so that they can insulate themselves from inflicting heavy damage from various crises.
This article implements autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration to explore whether or not stocks are good hedge against inflation in case of a transition economy like Pakistan, using annual data for the period 1971–2008. Ng–Perron (2001) unit root test is applied to determine the stationarity of the series. The results suggest that stocks act as good hedge against inflation both in the long and short runs. The findings should help formulate appropriate policy to encourage investment in financial markets and thereby promote economic growth.
This article examines the evolution of the concept of energy security and its proper meaning with regard to India’s energy sector. In the context of energy security, it aims to understand the impact of rising gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and change in oil prices on energy use; patterns in production, consumption and import of major sources of energy, such as crude oil, natural gas and coal in India; and the current structure of India’s energy sector and the impact of regulatory policies thereon. The evidence shows that GDP per capita and energy use per capita have a bidirectional causal relationship and these two also cointegrate. There also exists a unidirectional causal relationship from oil prices to energy use. No causal relationship is observed between oil prices and GDP per capita. For all the sources of energy, the indigenous production capacity is unable to match the consumption requirement, and hence there is an increased dependence on the import of these sources. A major impediment in the achievement of energy security by India is the current regulatory and policy environment that fails to make the sector more attractive for private sector participation and investment.
Increased integration of stock markets with other stock markets in the world and other segments of domestic and foreign financial markets is the fundamental reason for the increased volatility in the Indian stock market. Though volatility is an instinct behaviour of stock market, its reasonable prediction can help an investor in making a profitable investment plan. Research on volatility measurement and forecasting is as old as the existence of stock markets. Ex post measures of volatility have lost their significance in the light of evolution of ex-ante measures of volatility, especially, ‘Implied volatility’. Implied volatility can be estimated with the help of option pricing models. The present study examines the role of various determinants of the probability of exercising call options. Volatility, one of the key elements of option pricing, has been measured in three different variants, that is, historical volatility, realized volatility and implied volatility. Probit and Logit model are commonly used in qualitative regression estimation and they are applied to estimate the probability of exercising call options. The results of the analysis brings out the fact that neither the historical volatility nor the Black- and Scholes-model-based implied volatility can demonstrate significant influence on the estimation of probability of exercising call options. Realized volatility based the probability of exercising call options has greater magnitude of impact on Nifty 50 Index returns compared to that of historical volatility and implied volatility based probability of exercising call options. In the estimation of probability of exercising call options, Logit model outperforms the Probit model. The comparatively heavy fat-tailed distribution of Logit model is attributable to the better performance of the model.
Globally, mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) are popular among subscribers in established MVNO markets of America, Europe and Asia-Pacific, where regulatory authorities have allowed them to operate. Their revenues and subscribers have grown fast during last few years. Globally, MVNOs had 134 million customers, with a revenue of more than 25 billion USD in 2014. The Indian government intends to allow MVNOs in the Indian telecommunication market. The government’s approval to allow MVNO’s will open up new opportunities for firms which intend to launch MVNOs. Given the impending introduction of MVNOs in India and its importance, this research article focuses on determining the key factors that will influence MVNOs in India. The study also attempts to identify inter-linkages among various factors and develops a model that would be helpful for industry and academia in getting a better understanding of factors that will drive MVNOs in India. Grounded theory was used to identify the key factors and total interpretive structural modelling (TISM) was used to understand the hierarchy amongst various factors and interpret the relationship amongst them. The identified factors were empirically validated using factor analysis. Key managerial insights were obtained by developing a model for the set of factors, specific to the Indian context. The hierarchical model developed during the study provides a better understanding about relationships between various factors of interest. The research findings can immensely benefit potential MVNOs in identifying the areas they should focus on in the Indian context. Findings report that factors, such as reservation of spectrum capacity by the government, spare radio spectrum, differentiated value-added services (VAS) offered by MVNOs, willingness of mobile network operators, competitive intensity, wholesale tariff regulation, MVNOs’ business strategy and retail tariff, will play a key role in MVNOs’ success in India.
As a growing emerging market (EM), China offers remarkable opportunities for luxury firms from advanced countries. Studies emphasize the global approach to luxury markets, but the uncertainty and cultural distance characterizing the Chinese market increase the risks for firms using standardized global strategies. This article investigates the internationalization strategies of luxury firms in China by exploring the role of design and marketing capabilities. A qualitative methodology is adopted to develop a case study of an Italian company. Design and marketing capabilities emerge as important factors for balancing the advantages of a global strategy while adapting to the unique characteristics of the Chinese market. This process requires dynamic capabilities to maintain coherence with a company’s global brand identity, which is an asset of luxury companies.
There is a growing pressure from the stakeholders and regulatory bodies to promote green consumption. Heightened environmental consciousness is also contributing to greater adoption of green products and services. But still there exists a value–action gap in the way the consumers’ think and respond. This study explores the psychological factors which affect the green purchasing behaviour (GPB) of young consumers in India. Our primary question was ‘what are the factors which play a vital role in the adoption and curtailment of green purchasing behaviour of young Indian consumers?’ Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) revealed existence of five underlying variables namely environmental attitude (EA), environmental consciousness (EC), GPB, environmental involvement (EI) and perceived effectiveness of environmental behaviour (PEEB). Subsequently, regression analysis was performed to explain the role of EI of these young consumers in overall GPB. The study makes significant contribution to existing literature by providing valuable insights into the psyche of young consumers.
This study analyzed whether self-esteem directly predicts ethical behaviours and corporate responsibility values and whether power-distance mediates such relationships. A total of 410 students from two business schools in eastern India participated. A questionnaire was administered to collect information on socio-demographics and on self-esteem, power-distance, ethical behaviours and corporate responsibility values. Results revealed that self-esteem was positively associated with ethical behaviours and corporate responsibility values. Power-distance was a partial mediator in the relationships of self-esteem with ethical behaviours and corporate responsibility values suggesting that promoting self-esteem can partially reduce power-distance and can foster ethicality. These quantitative findings were substantiated with qualitative narratives from middle-level corporate executives.
The purpose of this article is to explore the impact of brand experience dimensions on brand evaluation and brand loyalty. The study used convenience-sampling technique and measured the relationship between brand experience dimensions, overall brand evaluation and brand loyalty. Factor analysis confirmed that brand experience has two major dimensions: emotional brand experience and cognitive brand experience. Using structural equation modelling, the study reveals that emotional and cognitive brand experience dimensions affect brand evaluation, and brand evaluation influences brand loyalty. With the increased importance of brand experience, marketers need to understand various dimensions of brand experience and find how it influences other brand variables. With the growing importance to brand experience dimensions, the study will add value to the existing literature. The current study from the Indian context would benefit both academia and marketing managers. Future researchers can test the model for a specific set of products/service categories and specific set of customers. Researchers can also explore the relation among various brand experience dimensions and other brand constructs.
The body of research assessing the technical efficiency of decision-making units (DMUs) with a special reference to Indian banking sector suggests that a majority of these studies have employed data envelopment analysis (DEA) for measuring technical efficiency with two-input/two-output or three-input/three-output or models with several combinations of various input and output factors. In almost all the cases, the choice of input and output factors was based on the judgement of the researchers. They lack the rigorous justification pertaining to the appropriateness of or the efficacy of such input– output factors to measure the true technical efficiency of the DMUs. This study evaluates 11 select DEA models representing the intermediary approach with various input–output factors and investigates the relationship between the computed efficiency scores and a single performance measure of DMUs by using decision tree (DT) analysis. The objective is to find a better criterion using a scientific method of input–output selection to effectively assess the true efficiency of the DMUs. The article analyzes the relative efficiency scores of 57 DMUs (representing private, public and foreign scheduled commercial banks) from 11 different variable returns to scale (VRS) DEA models with input orientation. The results indicate that 2 out of the 11 models are the most appropriate to measure relative efficiency when intermediary approach is considered to evaluate the banks. This leads to the conclusion that the management of the banks in our study should focus their efforts and resources on the input–output factors from these two models to improve efficiency and increase profitability.
This study aims at examining the practicality and application of customer-based brand equity model based on Aaker’s well-known conceptual framework of brand equity. The study employed structural equation modelling to investigate the relationship existing between dimensions of brand equity and the brand equity itself. It specifically measures the way in which consumers’ perceptions of the dimensions of brand equity affect the overall brand equity evaluation. Data were collected from Indian youth who visited Dominos restaurants (Dhanbad, Jharkhand). The finding shows that brand association (BA) is an important dimension affecting positively the brand equity in fast-food brands. The present study has some implications as managers associated with fast-food industry have to maintain or strengthen their efforts upon the BA dimension.
Supply network planning can be considered as one of the key elements to an effective supply chain management. Decision on where and in which form a company should hold its inventory can give not only cost competitiveness but also responsiveness to customer requirement. This research is based on a case study of a multinational pharmaceutical company with international suppliers and a presence in several countries. The company has a few regional supply factories (affiliates or third parties), including one in Indonesia, serving its Asia-Pacific market. Pharmaceutical products involve many stock keeping units (SKUs) in different packaging formats even though they share the same ingredients. To enhance its supply network, the company is evaluating the option of a regional postponement centre which would serve as a consolidation and repacking facility to direct the demand of similar products from several markets to its supply nodes. This research project evaluates in which country the regional postponement facility should be best located. The research uses a combination of PESTLE-AHP-TOPSIS methodology. The criteria and sub-criteria are derived using PESTLE methodology, while the ranking and analysis is done using AHP-TOPSIS. The final result shows that Singapore is the most suitable location for the company’s regional postponement centre.
Joint dynamics of market index returns, volume traded and volatility of stock market returns can unveil different dimensions of market microstructure. In this study, the joint dynamics is investigated with the help of bivarite Glosten–Jagannathan–Runkle generalized autoregressive conditional heteroskedasticity (GJR-GARCH) methodology given by Bollerslev (1990), as this method helps in jointly estimating volatility equation of return and volume in a one-step estimation procedure and it also eliminates the regressor problem (Pagan, 1984). The study finds negative conditional correlation between volume traded and return of large-cap index. The relation between volume traded and volatility is found to be positive in case of large-cap index but it is negative in the case of mid-cap and small-cap indices. Volatility is affected by pronounced persistence in volatility, mean-reversion of returns and asymmetry in market. The rate of information arrival measured by intra-day volatility (IDV) is found to be a significant source of the conditional heteroskedasticity in Indian markets since the presence of volume (proxy for information flow) in volatility equation, as an independent variable, marginally reduces the volatility persistence, whereas presence of IDV, as a proxy for information flow, completely makes GARCH effect insignificant.
This article explores the relationship between financial development and energy consumption by incorporating economic growth, agriculture and modern sectors in Pakistan over the period 1972–2011. The autoregressive distributive lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to cointegration, assuming structural breaks, confirms cointegration. Innovation accounting approach, used to examine the direction of causality, shows that economic growth causes energy demand. We also fine bidirectional causality between financial development and energy consumption, and between modern sector growth and energy consumption. Energy consumption Granger causes agriculture growth. The results offer valuable insights for policymakers in crafting appropriate energy policy for Pakistan.
Manufacturing firms are facing growing internal and external pressures to adopt manufacturing and supply chain strategies that fulfil the expectations of various stakeholders in value chain. Literature highlights that despite positive relationship between firm performance and sustainable development strategies, manufacturing industry, particularly small and medium enterprises (SMEs), are slow to adopt sustainable practices. Researchers highlight that the inability to identify and prioritize critical factors for strategy formulation and implementation is the main reason that inhibits SMEs to accrue the sustainability-related benefits. This article presents a combination of strength, weakness, opportunities and threats analysis and analytic hierarchy process for identifying and prioritizing critical sustainable manufacturing and supply chain factors by an Indian metal recycling medium-size firm. After assigning priority rankings to the shortlisted strategies, company was able to select and deploy highly successful strategy for improving sustainable business performance.
The study examines the corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies and activities of firms as disclosed in annual reports, and explores its linkages to accounting and market performance of firms. The study examines the annual reports of a sample of 30 firms (out of 50) belonging to the benchmark index of the National Stock Exchange of India and tracks these reports for evidence of CSR activities over a 5-year period from 2007 to 2011. The study employs content analysis to study CSR disclosure and classifies and rates these activities using items from an established scale followed by construction of category-wise CSR indexes. The association of these indexes with firm performance is explored through a pooled regression model after provisioning for control variables and lag effects. The study finds that CSR reporting may not have any significant impact on accounting and market performance of the firm in the short term but environment-oriented CSR disclosure may be negatively related to the market performance of the firm. The study also finds that firms focus heavily on employee- and customer-oriented CSR and the modes of CSR investments are more contributory rather than participative in nature.
This article reports a case study on the Bangladeshi leading fashion brand Yellow. The study investigated Yellow’s international marketing process, following the brand’s journey from Bangladesh to Pakistan and South Korea. Conducting desk research and interviewing corporate personnel from Yellow, this case study obtained in-depth information and broader understanding about the internationalization of Yellow. The article investigated Yellow’s reasons for going international, how it chose its international markets and market segments and the challenges Yellow faced on its journey. The article is divided two parts: the first part discusses Yellow’s local expansion and the second part discusses Yellow’s internationalization.
Notwithstanding the prevalence of multidimensional constructs in marketing research, very few reliability analyses have taken into account the multidimensional structure of their empirical data. In this article, the author argues that if a scale can be divided into two or more distinct though related dimensions, its internal consistency should be evaluated by coefficients designed for such cases. This article presents stratified alpha as a viable alternative to the common practices of computing alpha for the whole scale and averaging alpha values. It also illustrates, using D’Astous and Lévesque’s store personality scale, that the discrepancy between stratified alpha and alpha (or alpha mean) might be substantial. Thus, it would seem more scientifically sound to compute and report stratified alpha.
Political stability normally plays an essential role in the process of economic development of any country. The vector error correction model (VECM) is employed to examine the impact of political stability on economic growth in Tanzania covering the period of 1996–2014. The cointegration test has been ascertained through the application of augmented Dickey–Fuller (ADF) and Phillips–Perron (PP) tests showing that there is a long-run relationship. The results show that only political stability is statistically significant and has a positive relationship with economic growth, while gross domestic investments (GDI) and total labour forces are not statistically significant but have a positive relationship with economic growth.
Performance of Indian microfinance institutions (MFIs) is crucial to ensure access to financial services by the poor who lack access to finance from banks. Improvement in technology of Indian MFIs over a period of time is vital to ensure higher access and expansion of microfinance services to a large number of poor individuals or households in the economy. Better performance of Indian MFIs is also important, as MFIs are social entrepreneurial in nature, expecting fair returns on their investment. This article analyzes the changing trends of technological change in Indian MFIs by using the technological index, decomposed from the Malmquist total factor productivity index (TFP), employing data envelopment analysis (DEA) for a panel of 34 Indian MFIs during the period 2005–2006 to 2010–2011. We further use a static panel data model, such as random effect model (REM), to examine various macro- economic determinants of technological change in Indian MFIs during the period 2006–2007 to 2010–2011. Our result indicates that the technological change in Indian MFIs is positively driven by macroeconomic factors, namely, GDP growth rate and size of the economy, whereas it is negatively influenced by the rate of inflation.
Researchers have found that return of Indian stock price does not follow classical finance theory. It has been termed an anomaly. Behavioural finance says that irrational investors’ decision process about stock price is responsible for this. Therefore, investors’ sentiment may play a role in the Indian stock market. This study has measured this sentiment with the help of appetite for risk explained by Bandopadhyay and Jones (2006). Kyock approach has been applied to explain the relationship between sentiment index and leading stock indices of India, that is, Sensex and S&P CNX Nifty. This approach helps in one way to take both short-term and long-term decisions. On the other hand, it helps to find out the necessary time to absorb the whole sentiment in returns of both the indices. Long-term relationship has been checked with Granger causality test (GCT).
The amount of e-commerce conducted on a global scale has grown exponentially as Internet access has become more widespread. However, there is a gap between the diffusion of online purchasing in Egypt and the overall usage of Internet in the country. This article aims to find out why there is a gap between Internet accessibility and the diffusion of e-commerce. The authors used an exploratory research as represented by the literature review which revealed two independent variables, one dependent variable and three mediating variables. The authors then developed a theoretical framework highlighting the usage of a single cross-sectional analysis. The authors then established and used a questionnaire as part of a conclusive, descriptive research design. The sample size was 113, with a 32.3 per cent response rate using a judgemental sampling technique. It was found that two specific aspects of the Egyptian culture, distrust and collectivism, impact Egyptians’ online purchasing behaviour. Demographics were not found to have a very significant impact with the exception of age. The article is significant as even though there are a considerable number of papers regarding e-commerce, very few papers look at e-commerce in developing nations, and rarely any papers have researched the issue in Egypt. This study aims to address the shortage while simultaneously providing recommendations to the Egyptian business community for increasing e-commerce usage in the country.
This research develops principles for an evaluation criterion of the performance of a service firm. The aim of this article is to provide an analysis on the relationship between information technology (IT) adoption and its usage and firm performance (banking and software firm) in India. Firm performance was measured with the help of three important variables: efficiency, effectiveness and profitability. Each one of the above has been described with a set of pretested questionnaires. Banks in India in particular are geared for comprehensive banking solutions with extensive branch networks. The result from statistical analysis was validated with that achieved from artificial neural network (ANN) modelling.
The idea of materialism is one of the most important in modern consumer behaviour literature. In this article we have attempted at studying this component using the celebrated Richins and Dawson (1992) scale, where the required data has been collected using the standard instrument. This data is analyzed with the help of the mechanisms of item response theory (IRT). Specifically the graded response model has been used to analyze and get an insight into the problem of subjective well-being. Item response theory is an increasingly popular approach for development, evaluation and administration of psychological measures. We have used in this article one of the three IRT fundamentals, namely, the item response functions. We next illustrate how IRT modelling can be put to use to analyze the data collected in the study of the judgement component of subjective well-being. To that end, we have used the grm() function available in R. The results obtained are thereafter interpreted.
To face global challenges, most of the manufacturing organizations are trying to integrate their supply chain (SC). To make a SC sustainable under a dynamic scenario is a major challenge for organizations nowadays. The selection of appropriate SC practices plays a very important role in sustainable improvement of organizations’ performance. Major SC practices are information sharing, buyer– supplier relationships, distribution and logistics, long-term partnerships, etc. The intensity of these practices may vary from sector to sector. To analyze these supply chain management (SCM) practices and their impact on performance, a case study on an auto component manufacturing organization has been conducted. A situation–actor–process (SAP)–learning–action–performance (LAP) approach has been used in order to perform the case study. On the basis of SAP model, different learning issues have been analyzed in order to determine their impact on the performance of the SC of the organization. It is observed that major challenges faced by this organization are lack of advanced information technology (IT) and manufacturing systems, unreliable suppliers in terms of raw material quality and delivery time and inaccurate forecasting systems. The main SC practices being followed by this firm are collaborative planning and forecasting replenishment (CPFR), customer relationship management (CRM) and integrated inventory management to improve effectiveness of SC for facing global competition. By taking different initiatives, the firm has observed improvement in the overall performance in terms of cost and delivery on time. An important finding is that now Indian firms form their strategies taking sustainability into consideration, which is very important to sustain in global competition.
Reverse logistics (RL) practices are gaining attention due to environmental and waste disposal issues, enforced law, rapidly changing technologies and corporate social concern. Reverse logistics has been seen as a part of sustainable development due to reduction in pollution by using a product again after the end of its life. The goal of this article is to evaluate and rank the barriers of RL implementation so that companies can design strategies to tackle them on a priority basis. This article proposes multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) model based on fuzzy analytic hierarchy process (FAHP) to prioritize the barriers of RL adoption. The proposed approach is revealed by empirical case of Indian electronics industry. This proposed method considered fuzzy framework that can handle impreciseness and uncertainty easily. Totally, 38 barriers were identified through literature review and experts’ opinions. These barriers were classified into seven major criteria. The result of the study indicates that customer acuity about RL, lack of coordination/collaboration with third-party logistics (3PL) providers and uncertain quality and timing of return are the three most important barriers of RL adoption. Organizations should overcome these barriers on a priority basis for effective RL adoption. Finally, the robustness of the model is checked by sensitivity analysis.
This study examines the effect of service quality on brand equity. Past literature shows that only limited studies were done to examine the effect of service quality on brand equity in manufacturing contexts. Particularly, the majority of past studies mainly focused on service industries in Western countries. Therefore, to explore our knowledge in this area, the present study was conducted in Malaysian automotive market. The data were collected using survey method from 287 passenger car users in the northern region of Malaysia at several shopping malls. The collected data were analyzed using SPSS and structural equation modelling (SEM). The findings indicated that service quality has a significant positive effect on brand equity. Furthermore, services quality has a significant positive effect on all dimensions of brand equity: brand awareness, brand loyalty, brand image and brand leadership. Based on these findings, practical implications and future research suggestions are presented.
The financial services sector has come a long way from arguing that banks are beyond branding to a phase where banks and other financial institutions are using branding strategically—like any other business. Banks have adopted various customer-centric strategies in order to develop a positive perception in the minds of customers. To develop and implement customer-centric strategies, banks need to provide a consistent brand experience to prevent customers from switching to rival banks. In order to understand the customer perception towards bank brand, there is a need to understand the concept of customer-based brand equity and its main determinants. The customer-based brand equity is a set of brand-related associations held by the consumers in their memory (Keller, 1993). The current article aims to identify the various determinants of customer-based brand equity in the banking industry and to verify whether these determinants vary across bank types. For this purpose, a structured questionnaire was developed and a sample of 120 respondents was taken from selected public sector banks and private sector banks of Jalandhar. Factor analysis produced six factors, that is, brand investments, brand performance, brand salience, brand verdict, brand feelings and brand unfamiliarity, which accounted for 73 per cent variance. The findings revealed that out of the six factors extracted from the study, brand verdict emerged as the most significant factor that led to the determination of customer-based brand equity. The results of independent sample t-test showed no significant differences in the perceptions of customers of public and private banks with respect to customer-based brand equity. Correlation analysis was also conducted on the study variables and the results indicated that there are strong, positive and significant relationships between brand performance and brand feelings, and between brand performance and brand verdict. The multiple regression results showed that only brand performance, brand salience and brand feelings have a significant influence on brand verdict, whereas brand investment had a significant negative impact on brand verdict.
Using extended Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), this study attempts to assess empirically crucial factors affecting cloud computing adoption intentions. It explores security, availability and compliance-related challenges in cloud computing and makes the necessary recommendation which can help to mitigate the risk in cloud computing. A framework was developed to test the effect of security, availability of cloud service provider and compliance-related factors on cloud computing adoption intentions mediated by perceived ease of use (PEOU) and perceived usefulness (PU). A questionnaire for the factors was developed to collect the data from 280 companies in information technology, manufacturing and finance sectors in India. The data was analyzed using exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. Further, structural equation modelling using AMOS 20.0 was used to test the proposed model. The empirical results show that cloud computing adoption intention is determined by PU and PEOU. Further, PU is found to be significantly influenced by PEOU. Risk as well as availability and support are found to be significant on PEOU. In addition, threat, risk, vulnerability and compliance are found to be significant on PU. The model can be used as a guideline to ensure a positive outcome of the cloud computing adoption in organizations. The findings offer cloud computing users with a better understanding of how security, availability of cloud service provider and compliance-related factors affect cloud computing adoption intentions. It also provides relevant recommendations to achieve conducive implementation environment for cloud computing adoption. This study is an attempt to explore and develop model for cloud computing adoption intentions that was theoretically grounded in the TAM.
Today, the economic scenario has become highly turbulent and competitive, with the companies being exposed to multitude of risks. Increasingly, companies are in a twirl of shrinking profits and diminishing market capitalization. The question as to why some firms succeed while others fail to compete and evolve through chaotic times is today one of the most important issues of organization studies. The present research addresses the value and impact of firm-specific factors on the corporate profitability. It aims at understanding and analyzing the pervasive relationship between the firm-specific factors of firm size, liquidity and capital structure (financial leverage). A sample of 50 Indian companies was selected randomly from the companies listed on Bombay Stock Exchange. Correlation and multiple regression technique were used to analyze the relationship among these firm-specific factors and corporate profitability. Correlation and regression results reveal a significant positive relationship between firm size and corporate profitability. With an increase in the scale of investment, the company’s profits showed an upstream. Capital structure exhibits a significant negative relationship with corporate profitability, consequently with an increase in debt-equity ratio, the company’s profits showed a downstream. However, liquidity had an insignificant negative association with profitability. The value of this research lies in highlighting those specific firm factors that need to be revamped to augment corporate profits. The research has strong implications for industry practitioners. Increasing the scale of the business can act as an added boon to the firm. However, increasing leverage and liquidity to higher degrees may be a big bane. The pervasive relationship that exists between different firm-specific factors and corporate profits highlights the need to revamp, redesign and rebuild the firm size, capital structure and working capital management.
This study attempts to investigate the nature and impact of choice overload and Internet shopping anxiety on online shopping patronage in the context of fashion products by examining the extent to which consumers seeking variety while shopping online would experience an overload of the innumerable choices offered to them and whether the availability of large assortment of choices will have a significant effect on the patronage of e-stores providing choice in their product offerings. The study also hoped to examine the anxiety experienced by consumers while shopping online and the resultant effect of shopping anxiety on consumers’ intention to patronize web stores. Findings of the study based on a total of 189 responses reveal that online shoppers’ variety-seeking behaviour significantly affects choice overload, while too much shopping anxiety among online shoppers also significantly contributed to a decrease in the level of online patronage intentions among online shoppers. Based on the results of the study, suggestions are made to lower the anxiety among online shoppers to improve consumers’ patronage intentions as too much information is likely to influence their quality of decisions.
This study discusses the fact that there are a host of possible associations that a firm can build in a brand. Not all associations need to be built but rather those that directly or indirectly affect consumers’ buying behaviour. The article identifies the associations in which the brands are positioned strongly and new associations for weaker or new brands to position themselves. The brand image has been studied using a technique called perceptual mapping, which can have any number of dimensions but the most common are two dimensions. Any more dimensions are a challenge to draw and confusing to interpret. Following that logic, the discriminant analysis of selected attributes that discriminate between objects is used. The brand Dettol is strongly positioned with the functional association of antiseptic nature and Lux with perfect fragrance. In the symbolic associations, Dove positioned itself as ‘Popular among friends’ and Cinthol for its ‘Attractive name’. For experience association, Dove and Dettol are positioned as brands for ‘more self-confidence’ and Lux for ‘Glowing skin’. The article helps in understanding the importance of brands and their features in evolving consumers’ world. It analyzes the significance of brand image building and the value it adds to consumer brand perception and association. The study highlights the effect of brand associations in brand positioning by identifying new associations for weaker brands (repositioning) or new brands to position themselves.
Extensive research has been devoted to examining the predictability of various determinant factors of work engagement (WE). One of the significant conclusions from this research suggests that employee expectations of the job and their feeling of fulfilment at work determine the nature of engagement initiatives. Hence, there is a need to understand the employees’ work context. This context may also include intra- and inter-group relationships within the workplace setting. This research attempts to explain the nature and extent of WE by examining the variability in engagement levels of employees working in an information technology (IT) organization augmented with a framework tested using structural equation modelling (SEM). A sample comprising 100 responses was collected using multistage sampling method. The results show that on an average, employees are moderately engaged at work. Organizational culture (OC) acts as a significant determinant of transformational leadership (TL) and WE. Further, TL resulted in a positive significant effect on job performance (JP), while an engaged employee is likely going to be a high-performing employee in the organization.
During the recent years, value of financial assets has grown exponentially when compared to physical assets indicating that intangibles are growing in importance in their contribution to economic growth. The evidence in support of this phenomenon can be found in the increasing gap between market and book valuation of firms. The present study attempts to measure the intellectual capital (IC) of publicly listed firms in India and empirically examine the relationship among IC, financial performance and market valuation of these firms. Value creation efficiency of the firms listed on CNX Nifty over the period ranging from 2004–2005 to 2013–2014 has been estimated using Pulic’s Value Added Intellectual Coefficient (VAIC). It was observed that firms operating in sectors such as financial services, mining and energy had the highest VAIC scores. Further, there was a positive association between VAIC and all the measures of financial performance—profitability, productivity and market valuations. Efficiency of physical capital employed had a significant positive relation with profitability, market valuation as well as productivity. Human capital efficiency was found to have a strong positive association with profitability, while structural capital efficiency did not have any significant impact on any of the measures of financial performance.
The primary objective of this research article is to study the drivers of employee engagement especially the influence of leadership style. The article has used a multi-cross-sectional descriptive design. The empirical study is based on the data collected from 340 front-line employees from five organizations across the service sector in the Delhi—National Capital Region (NCR). The results from this study reveal significant relationships between leadership styles and employee engagement. A moderating influence of age and education was also found in the relationship between leadership styles and employee engagement. The study highlights the importance and the significant role of employee engagement and the role leadership styles play in developing a culture of engagement. Appropriate leadership styles and human resource (HR) practices that drive engagement need to be fostered in organizations to drive performance. The instruments used for the study are Multi-factor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ-5X Short Rater Form) for leadership style and E3 (Development Dimensions International [DDI]) to capture employee engagement.
Supply chain (SC) risk management (SCRM) is a high-level concern for SC professionals. Supply chain risk management implementation is a difficult task because it requires involvement of various firms across the SC. For effective SCRM implementation, managers need to know the enabling factors and their relative importance. In this research, an empirical study on SC risk mitigation enablers was carried out in Indian automotive industry to examine the relationship between SCRM enablers and SCRM implementation. This relationship was tested using discriminant analysis. The research shows that the most important enabler is information visibility and it is followed by incentives alignment. Contingency planning is the third-most important enabler and last is risk management governance (RMG). Success of the SCRM implementation in terms of its efficiency and effectiveness can be assured by following the sequence of SCRM enablers suggested in this research.
Market orientation–performance relationship is moderated by competitive intensity, market turbulence and technological turbulence. The primary data for the study were collected using census method from 150 owners, sales managers and marketing managers of small-scale industries (SSIs) registered in Battal Ballian Industrial Estate in Udhampur, J&K. Output from moderated regression analysis revealed insignificant impact of market turbulence but significant impact of technological turbulence and competitive intensity on market orientation–business performance relationship. Subgroup analysis showed that higher the level of technological turbulence, weaker is the market orientation– business performance relationship, and higher the level of competitive intensity, higher is the market orientation–business performance relationship. The article suggests that SSIs should be induced to create a competitive environment by extending markets of their products, adding new products to their lines and catering to the needs of new sets of customers. They must keep themselves updated with new technologies through either collaboration with large-scale units or linkages with R&D labs within or outside India. Managers are suggested to use information technology effectively to enable new value creation processes, inter-functional coordination and linkages with external stakeholders. Further, the government should take steps to meet expansion needs of SSIs by providing concessional infrastructure conducive for competitiveness and business sustainability.
This article is an attempt to explore the problems faced by Indian agriculture for food security in terms of inadequate infrastructure and highly inefficient supply chain. Due to lack of efficient infrastructure, supply chain mechanism and food processing, around 30–35 per cent of all foods produced in India are wasted. This article examines the critical issues at subsystem of agriculture supply chain, with a view to integrating them in efficient and effective manner. This article broadly covers some important aspects of agriculture supply chain in India—identification of issues at different levels in the supply chain; transformation in the agriculture due to various supply chain interventions; and the role of information technology in supply chain management. As this article is based on both primary and secondary research methodology, it has led us to finding that there is not much research in this field in India and importance of integration in agricultural development. The article concludes that efficient supply chain plays a very important role for development and is a contemporary issue for agriculture, therefore, the government and the corporates must address the issue of integration, infrastructure development and information management to achieve the objective of a feasible agricultural sector which will lead to food security for all.
India is a land of coexistence. It is a place where unique blends can be witnessed, the old with the new or young, the traditional with the modern and the local with the global; the same can be extended to the ‘advertising horizon’. In administering brands and targeting potential consumers (also read political parties and country citizens), advertising in India has tried to come up to societal expectations in terms of the cultural milieu of India. Advertising is not new to India; we have historical fresco (Wall) paintings dating back to around 200 BC. The post-globalization economic advancement coupled with a strong cultural background and upsurge of the ‘big’, hitherto conservative Indian middle class has brought about changes in the pattern of reaching the target consumers. With reference to advertising, it can be said that there has been a shift from a hard-selling approach to a soft-selling approach—indicator is clear, appeal is the in-thing and is here to stay. The article looks at the various interpretations of advertising through the appeal lens and highlights the ad-shift through two long-living popular fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) products, the Lux soap and Maggi noodles. The selection has been done out of a small survey of households concerning the top-5 FMCG mind recalls and these two happen to be the most popular among ladies and children (refer to household).
The interdependence of resources in a global marketplace, the advancement of technology and rising national economic constraints have compelled companies to excel in their supply chain performance. To that end, Free Trade Zones (FTZs) may help supply chains improve their bottom line while generating economic development to their geographical regions. The shift of manufacturing to overseas and recent changes in global trends, regulations and procedures call for a renewed understanding of FTZs from the perspective of the extended enterprise. Although having significant potential impact on the efficiencies of global supply chains, FTZs in such a context have not been studied in depth in academic literature. With this paper, we aim to modestly draw attention to that gap while providing an overview of the contemporary state of FTZs with a special focus on the USA and the application process therein. We propose a practical decision framework that considers the cost of imported goods and the level of business maturity to help companies make better decisions when they want to integrate with a FTZ.
Most electronic government (e-government) initiatives have the improvement of business atmosphere and the creation of new business as their objectives. This article aims to measure the impact of change of e-government index (and its composing sub-indexes) in the ease of doing business (EoDB) and the rate of creation of new business in the high-, middle- and low-income countries, seeking to test if there is a difference in the effects. The study used a panel data design (repeated measurements), with four points (years 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014), in three change periods (2008/2010, 2010/2012 and 2012/2014), collecting data from various databases: Doing Business Report by World Bank, United Nations (UN) E-government Survey, Corruption Perception Index by Transparency International and World Bank Entrepreneurship Survey. The data were combined and analyzed with linear mixed models procedures with fixed and random effects. Data suggest that different models should be applied to understand the relationship of e-government with outcome variables, according to the income level. Suggestions for future research are presented.
This article investigates the validation of Harberger–Laursen–Metzler hypothesis using Pakistani data over the period of 1978Q1–2012Q4. We have used Gregory–Hansen cointegration approach accommodating structural break in the series. The results confirm the presence of cointegration between the variables. The impact of terms of trade is positive on Pakistan’s trade balance. Domestic income improves local trade balance. Foreign income has a positive impact on Pakistan’s trade balance. The causality analysis indicates the presence of feedback effect between terms of trade and trade balance. Domestic income Granger causes trade balance. The unidirectional causality is running from foreign income to Pakistan’s trade balance. This study opens up new directions for policymakers for improvements in terms of trade to sustain trade balance in Pakistan.
Organizations nowadays want to succeed in every aspect and the key to achieve it is leadership. The main aim of this article is to empirically check the relationship of role satisfaction with leadership behaviour in Indian organizations. The sample contains responses from 333 business executives and managers. On performing correlation analysis, it is found that all the variables in the study have significant relationship. Subsequently, sequential multiple regressions are performed in order to delete those dimensions that do not contribute towards leadership. The findings revealed that achievement, influence, control and affiliation are observed to be the determinants of leadership. Thus, leadership requires the workforce that is high on role satisfaction. This study identified an essential variable that affects leadership behaviour. It is an innovative attempt to utilize role satisfaction to improve leadership in the Indian framework.