Resilient Businesses for Sustainability: Volume 34A

This study attempts to recognize obstacles and barriers to financial inclusion in the agriculture sector, propose a framework based on the inter-contextual link between the barriers and understand the financial exclusion in the agriculture sector at the grassroots level. Previously published research articles were used to identify the barriers to financial inclusion, followed by informal interviews and collaborative discussions with the local farmers of the Sonipat district of Haryana and expert interviews using a structured questionnaire. TISM and MICMAC analysis are used to decern the nature of the relationship among the barriers discovered. The authors find that inadequate financial literacy, a shortage of financial awareness and the reluctance of various financial institutions are significant linkage barriers to strong driving and dependence power. High transaction costs and poor infrastructural support are the independent barriers. The paper identifies these new barriers to financial inclusion in the Indian agriculture sector and the framework depicting financial exclusion in India. This paper only gives a framework of barriers and does not quantify the effect of any relationship identified, but strongly emphasizes granting the Indian agriculture sector broad and simple financial access to advance and strengthen the nation's sustainable, inclusive economic growth.

Kerala is considered to be the must-see locations in a life time of a tourist. Tourism has become an important vital cog in the economy of the state of Kerala. The state boasts of an excellent road and rail networks, lakes and natural canals and the backwaters. The study was done in the back water destinations – Alappuzha, Kollam, Kottayam and Kuttanad. The study was carried out to learn about the relationship between the brand name of the backwater tour operator, the offers they give and the selection of backwater destination post-COVID-19. This descriptive study was conducted through a survey method. The study used qualitative approach by using a questionnaire and the total sample composed of 400 respondents. Analysis was done with the help of chi-square. The researcher found that there exists a significant relation between offers in tour package and backwater destination, but there is no significant relation existing between brand name and selection of a backwater destination.

This study's purpose is to collate data on the existing Green Public Procurement (GPP) legal policies, frameworks and initiatives at the global level and, second, to identify the conditions required for implementing green procurement practices and programs in developing countries such as India. A structured literature review was conducted using the search terms ‘Green Public Procurement’, 'Policy’ and ‘India’. Reports, technical papers and articles in a language other than English were excluded from the search. Finally, 20 papers were shortlisted and reviewed. The study found that GPP has begun taking shape globally and necessitates capacity building at many levels, including knowledge sharing, sourcing resources, fiscal re-distribution and public awareness. National governments emerge as key players in facilitating sustainable procurement, while international bodies continue to develop prospective policy frameworks. However, GPP is at its nascency in India and will require significant pre-assessment and planning to standardize itself among big and medium enterprises. While GPP allows for environmental consciousness, its use in India also presents the potential for innovation and expanding the consumer market. Its establishment requires the government to implement a centralized body that directs GPP activity, incentivizes green technology and develops policies favouring multi-level collaboration. Further research can involve in-depth interviewing of key people in Public Procurement (PP) processes to gauge the preparedness and seriousness of the government to undertake green procurement and understand the inherent challenges in transitioning to more sustainable procurement modalities.

Sustainability, as we all know has become such a crucial global matter that even the United Nations has not failed to take cognizance of it and has addressed the same through the formation of ‘Sustainable Development Goals’. As per an article on Global Reporting Initiative's Medium platform, it has been estimated that ‘the supply chain activities of a firm account for around 90% of its sustainability impressions’ (according to Sustainalytics' future-proofing supply chains study). Taking this view forward, sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) is one such area which has acquired substantial significance in the recent times. Studies in the area of SSCM has found an increasing attention especially in the past two decades. This paper strives to review the recent literature in SSCM to identify the recent trends in this area of research. The paper attempts to identify the contemporary and upcoming research topics and also the research gaps in the field of SSCM which could act as a potential source of further research for the academia.

COVID entered the world in 2019 as a pandemic and the intensity of this health crisis is only increasing in several regions. Therefore, it is critical to study and detect the public's frame of mind, government and economists' perception regarding the COVID crisis, as well as the primary worries that the public has expressed, and how this evolves over time. Responsive measures towards COVID-19 from the Indian economy have been explored as a key objective. Moreover, efforts have been made to explore recovery in India through economists and policymakers. Data have been explored through online interviews of key economists which were published in leading newspapers and covered through media channels such as NDTV, CNBC, etc. Moreover, various newspapers and reports were explored to understand government initiatives to address COVID-19 in India. The study's findings show how essential economic recovery from the second wave is in India, and how it may be achieved by strong fiscal and monetary policies, as well as specific attention to impoverished households, small and micro-businesses and increased employment. The short-term focus of the developing economic strategy must be on giving crisis relief to the most unprotected segments of society since long-term system stimulation is impossible.

For a sustainable and eco-friendly supply chain, the objective is to reduce the harmful effects on the environment caused by a variety of factors, such as supply chain revenue and profit concerns, water and energy use and waste production. The primary barrier to more sustainable supply chains is cost, and smaller enterprises in particular find it difficult to pay for the upfront expenses. The prices are utmost important in freight forwarding services. The chapter aims to identify the different variables that affect the spot freight rate, considering a small number of Indian logistics firms, and to determine the spot freight rate factors that affects freight rates and supply chain management's sustainability. Using a structured questionnaire, the information was gathered from 308 logistics service companies. Descriptive statistics was used and factor analysis using principal component analysis (PCA) are the tools and methodologies employed for the analysis of the data gathered. The software tool utilized for the data analysis is SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) 17.0. SPSS helps to obtain clear and precise results. From the analysis, it was deduced that there are five factors of spot freight rate which was done by using factor analysis using PCA, which affects the volatility explaining a total of 67.75% variation in the data set. The study shows that these identified factors impact the freight rate and also the sustainability in management of supply chain practices in India.

The advancement in science and technology has led to the existence and continuous growth of various physical machines and now computer programs which are supposed to perform once thought unbelievable multi-tasks for humans.

Many firms, governments, industries and syndicates are switching to automated process for achieving maximum output and having minimum cost and errors in the manufacturing and various other processes, hence the role of human involvement is getting decreased. With the Industry 4.0 standards being opted, industry gurus have been forecasting the limiting power of human labour and interaction and fears exist complete replacement of human beings from the working environment by robots and automated machines.

Artificial intelligence has aggressively overtaken almost all fields of businesses and human resource (HR) hasn't been either immune to that. Robotics is an important factor as well.

Technology implementation has its own benefits and negative impacts which is creating fears among various professionals with regards to their complete replacement by machines.

The following paper looks deeply into various researches performed by scholars to have a thorough knowledge of present-day status of human–machine collaboration and the challenges organizations are facing. It will help in understanding the current scenario of HR with modern technologies.

The perception of a situation or reality determines how one responds and awareness is the first step towards understanding, knowing or recognizing it. The majority of the public and the police may be familiar with the phrase ‘cybercrime’, but all of them are fully informed of the nature and scope of these crimes, as well as of the cybercriminals and cyber victims, which has an impact on how they see these issues. This study's main goal was to examine the perception and awareness of cybercrime among undergraduate youth studying in BBA or BCA courses. In this study, we discovered that young people's responses to cybercrime mostly depend on their perceptions of it and their awareness level. To accomplish the study's objective, a thorough examination of existing literature was undertaken. Primary data of 200 students were collected through Google Forms. Percentile analysis, correlation analysis and t-test are done to test the hypotheses. The results of this study may help college administrators better comprehend the mindset of today's youth as they develop laws and policies aimed at reducing cybercrime among students. The results of this study show that the youngsters surveyed have high levels of awareness and a good perception.

This paper tries to retrospect the mounting application of machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) in the human resource management area. The document applies bibliometric analysis and uses relational techniques to explore dimensions of documents in the field. The results highlight publication trends, most impactful authors, countries and institutes in the research area. The science mapping along with co-citation and bibliometric coupling analysis revealed major developments in the field. The thematic mapping and trend analysis highlighted the past and emerging trends towards significant and impactful research in the areas of robotics, big data, AI and data analytics. This paper sets the base for future researchers by coordinating and combining various past researches to help in understanding the evolution of ML and AI in human resource management and expansion of knowledgebase.

Talent management is conducted to maximize an organization's overall performance and efficiency which helps to serve as a competitive advantage. Human resource management is a concept which includes human-related activities, but talent management is a strategy which helps to get new talent, develop their skill sets and provide better employee engagement and experience to retain the top potential employees in an organization. Improvement in recruiting and retention of a workforce results from a well-executed talent acquisition approach. In the 21st century, employee retention has become a primary concern for the organizations specially with work from home and hybrid models.

The workforce for tomorrow is going to be very different from what it has been. Technology is transforming the way people work within organizations. The workplace is rapidly evolving in terms of people and processes and is going through a lot of technological changes. The terminologies such as automation, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and block chain technologies are slowly becoming part of the workplace and everyday activities of the organization.

The challenges are many and especially post-pandemic organizations are going through some major changes such as a mindset shift of employees to take up more remote working opportunities, building virtual teams, increase in the gig economy workers (contractual workers) and a diverse workforce which makes it even more challenging for the organization to manage and retain talent.

The need for mechanization in company operations during the pandemic has been further illustrated by the pressure to use recent technologies for sustainable business practices. Recent technologies like Internet of Things (IoT), artificial intelligence (AI), big data and cloud are being abandoned in favour of automating business activities during and after the pandemic, to build flexibility and sustainability. The objective of this paper is to give an outline of the literature on the bang of digital metamorphosis on organizational adaptability. The paper focuses on the future of business sustainability from dislocations by espousing recent technologies from different perspectives. As well as the anticipated disruptive developments, the benefits of technology on economics and business are also being felt, but still in their early stages. Similar ideas and methods must be implemented as quickly as is practical, and governments and enterprises must be ready and willing to do so. The transition to a commercial environment that emphasizes technology from alternative distribution channels will have a direct influence on organizational structures. Additionally, they could have training in or experience in positive sciences, which will aid in creating the corporate environment of the future sustainably. Absolutely the variety of technologies in business helps to accelerate business activities and attain the maximum goal before and after the pandemic. It still appears that a hypothetical model is required that could simplify the incorporation of using these technologies during a disaster with business processes. The findings may be applied to manage technology and speed up corporate resilience for a better economy.