Rajasekhar David, Pratyush Banerjee and Abhilash Ponnam
The purpose of this paper is to explore various risks that are associated with recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) strategy in the Indian information technology (IT)/IT-enabled…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore various risks that are associated with recruitment process outsourcing (RPO) strategy in the Indian information technology (IT)/IT-enabled service (ITes) industries.
Design/methodology/approach
Purposeful intensity sampling was used to select respondents from IT/ITes organizations. Twenty-eight respondents were interviewed through face-to-face semi-structured interviews and telephonic interviews. Each interview lasted for approximately 65 min. All interviews were audio recorded with the permission of the respondents and were then transcribed. The data were analyzed with the help of a qualitative technique, thematic analysis.
Findings
Results show that the stakeholders associated with RPO are not satisfied with several issues such as violation of initial contact between the applicant and the potential employer, violation of contracts by the vendor, unfair practices by the vendor, poor quality service provided by the vendor, plausibility that the vendor does not understand the culture of the client organization, inappropriate placement of human resources by the vendor, low morale of the employees and loss of managerial control due to RPO.
Research limitations/implications
Small sample size and qualitative research design reduces the external validity of the findings to certain extent.
Practical implications
Companies deploying RPO should be wary about the plausible negative consequences. This paper offers various solutions to mitigate such risks.
Originality/value
This paper is a novel attempt which details various risks due to deployment of RPO from multiple stakeholder perspectives.
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Lakshmi Hymavathi Chillara, Debajani Sahoo and Abhilash Ponnam
The purpose of this paper is to explore the major determinants that influence the management teachers to practice management consulting. The second objective of this research is…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the major determinants that influence the management teachers to practice management consulting. The second objective of this research is to understand how the experience in management consultancy leads to value addition in their class room teaching.
Design/methodology/approach
To address the first research objective, focus group discussions were conducted with management teachers practicing consultancy. These results were used to generate items for the questionnaire. Factor analysis performed on the data revealed six determinants influencing management teachers to engage in consulting activity. To address the second research objective, focus group discussions with MBA graduates were used to comprehend how teachers with management consulting experience enrich the pedagogy.
Findings
The major findings of the study suggest that the determinants influencing management teachers to practice consulting are: improving competencies, furthering professional advancement, accruing strategic and financial benefit, enabling holistic development. Through study 2, the authors found out that management teachers add value in pedagogy by forging corporate world connection through real-time examples, enable critical thinking by breaking established paradigms, effective classroom delivery through storytelling, etc., and lending student support by assuming a mentor’s role.
Practical implications
This study found that faculty consulting reduces the perceived gap between the industry and academia and it also leads to effective class room teaching.
Originality/value
The study is the first attempt to empirically test the determinants influencing management teachers to practice consultancy services and qualitatively assess how the consultancy experience enriches the in-class performance.
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The purpose of this paper is to empirically sketch the phenomenon about the nature of service value expected in different stages of relationship over time in Indian retail banking…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to empirically sketch the phenomenon about the nature of service value expected in different stages of relationship over time in Indian retail banking context.
Design/methodology/approach
Customer service value dimensions pertinent to Indian retail banking context were explored psychometrically. Later, mean factor scores of obtained service value dimensions across relationship stages (early, intermediate, and advanced) were calculated and fed into PERMAP software to graphically depict the relationship between value dimensions and relationship stages. To validate the PERMAP solution, one-way ANOVA was run for each value dimension with independent variable as a relationship level.
Findings
The service value dimensions pertinent to Indian banking context are customer intimacy, product leadership, service equity, perceived sacrifice, service quality, and operational excellence. The authors could empirically prove that except for operational excellence and service quality, all the other value dimensions exhibited variation in importance over time. Results reveal that customers in the early stages of relationship value tangible value dimensions and the ones in advanced stages of relationship value intangible dimensions.
Practical implications
Managers should formulate marketing strategies which will signal the customers, the superiority of the bank in delivering performance on tangible dimensions during the early stages of relationship, whereas understanding and addressing unique customer needs and establishing an emotional bonding with customers should be emphasized in the advanced stages of relationship.
Originality/value
The current research could adequately establish the essential role of tangible value dimensions in shaping service value during the early stages of relationship and intangible value dimensions in the later stages of relationship.
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Abhilash Ponnam and Jagrook Dawra
There is a lack of a framework that explicates how to determine the benefits that consumers desire from a product. The purpose of this article is to formulate a scientific…
Abstract
Purpose
There is a lack of a framework that explicates how to determine the benefits that consumers desire from a product. The purpose of this article is to formulate a scientific procedure for discerning the benefits that consumers seek from a product. The authors term this procedure as visual thematic analysis (VTA). VTA procedure is illustrated through discerning the benefits of mainstream (non‐financial) English newspapers.
Design/methodology/approach
The focus group method was used to collect data. These data were analyzed using visual thematic analysis which involves using multiple investigators and multi‐dimensional scaling techniques in stages.
Findings
A total of 26 newspaper attributes combined to form eight distinct newspaper benefits namely ease of comprehension, journalistic values, critical insights, general news, entertainment, well‐being, classifieds and offers.
Practical implications
Obtained results may be used further: to segment the newspaper market based upon benefits sought, to position newspapers within the desired segment(s) and to fashion product mix in a way that appeals to the targeted segment(s).
Originality/value
This paper proposes a new method called “visual thematic analysis” for data reduction. One such application of VTA is “discerning product benefits” which is discussed in detail. Other applications of this technique that are mentioned in the paper are in the areas of data reduction when researcher confronts small sample size, data reduction of categorical variables and scale development.
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Juhi Gahlot Sarkar, Abhigyan Sarkar and Abhilash Ponnam
The purpose of this paper was to uncover various factors that make the young consumers in emerging Asian market devotees of brands and sacrilize brands giving rise to a phenomenon…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper was to uncover various factors that make the young consumers in emerging Asian market devotees of brands and sacrilize brands giving rise to a phenomenon called brand sacralization where the individual consumer considers brand as sacred as religion. Another objective of this research was to investigate the acculturation process taking place among the young adult consumers in emerging Asian market.
Design/methodology/approach
Based on prior literature review, the concept of brand sacralization has been defined to bring theoretical sensitivity. Grounded theory method has been used to collect, analyze and interpret the data collected through semi-structured depth interviews.
Findings
Data analysis reveals various underlying dimensions of brand sacralization and various actionable antecedents and consequence of brand sacralization.
Originality/value
Value of the article lies in developing a grounded theory framework for brand sacralization that can guide the marketers doing business in emerging markets to build a strong brand that the consumers would sacralize.
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Abhilash Ponnam, Sreejesh S and M.S. Balaji
Ingredient branding (IB) strategy and incremental product innovation (IPI) strategy are frequently used complementary strategies in food product marketing to build brand equity…
Abstract
Purpose
Ingredient branding (IB) strategy and incremental product innovation (IPI) strategy are frequently used complementary strategies in food product marketing to build brand equity. The purpose of this paper is to assist managers in choosing between both the strategies based upon two governing criteria namely the involvement level of the product category and the level of parent brand equity.
Design/methodology/approach
The study utilized an experimental design approach. A 2 (product involvement: high vs low)×2 (parent brand equity: high vs low)×2 (attribute strategy: IB vs IPI) balanced, completely randomized factorial design was set up to test the hypotheses.
Findings
Findings suggest that IB strategy should be preferred when the product category is perceived as low involvement or when parent brand equity of the brand is low. The IPI strategy should be preferred when the parent brand equity is high. Either of strategies may be favored in case of high involvement products.
Practical implications
The study provides guidance to product managers in choosing between IB and IPI in devising food product development and marketing strategies.
Originality/value
This study is the first of its kind which attempts to compare and contrast between tangible and intangible augmentation strategies to build brand equity.