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People with disabilities (PwDs) encounter several impediments to employment prospects, contributing to India's huge employment gap. Entrepreneurship offers a different avenue for PwDs to overcome these constraints. Entrepreneurship Support Organizations (ESOs) play a significant role in assisting PwD entrepreneurs. The present study aims to explore challenges encountered by entrepreneurs with disabilities (EwDs) in starting or sustaining a business in an Indian ecosystem. The study further aims to examine the status of entrepreneurial outcomes while comprehending the intersection of the challenges of disability and entrepreneurship. The study draws on stakeholder and social identity theories to understand this critical connection.

A qualitative approach is applied to study the phenomenon. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 13 EWDs and 5 ESOs to explore the challenges faced and the available support in the Indian context. The study explores the level of coordination and roles these organizations play in fostering an entrepreneurial culture for PWDs.

The research findings explore novel challenges and facilitators of entrepreneurial pursuits of EwDs. The study further offers implications for policymakers to foster inclusive infrastructure, financial institutions to provide accessible credit options, and ESOs to amplify tailored assistance. Importantly, these dynamics have implications for advancing relevant Sustainable Development Goals.

The intersectional lens of disability and entrepreneurial challenges offered to study PwD entrepreneurship highlights new directions for exploring the phenomenon in deeper detail. Further, the theoretical underpinnings of stakeholder and social identity theories provide practical and indispensable insights into the phenomenon.

The purpose of this study is to analyze two global brands (i.e. Benetton and Tommy Hilfiger) and one Indian brand (i.e. Wills Lifestyle) in terms of general brand impression, brand specific associations and brand commitment. In addition, the study investigates how the regional differences in India and Indian consumers' affinity towards global brands influence the consumer-brand relationships.

The research framework has been developed based on consumer-brand relationship theory. The consumer–brand relationship is an important indicator of the success of brands, especially when brands attempt to expand to other markets (Roper and Parker, 2006; Bastos and Levy, 2012). Three brand types were chosen for this study. The choice of the US global brand is Tommy Hilfiger, the European global brand is United Colors of Benetton, and the Indian domestic brand is Wills Lifestyle. The study utilized a repeated measure (split-plot) design involving more than two independent groups. A split-plot analysis of variance analyses a design in which a repeated measure (i.e. within subjects) factor is crossed with a between-subjects (i.e. treatment variable) factor.

The results confirm the importance of global brands over local brands in the Indian apparel consumer market. This study also examined how Indian consumers' affinity for global brands influences their evaluation of the global brands and the local Indian brands.

The study expands the literature on Indian consumer brand preferences through the investigation of three brands. The theoretical background of the study is the consumer-brand relationship theory that explains the importance of consumer–brand relationship when brands attempt to expand to other markets.

This study investigates the role of an augmented reality (AR)-based tool in customers' shopping processes.

Using the stimulus-organism-response (SOR) and consumer decision-making models, this study builds a comprehensive theoretical model that investigates the mechanism sequentially connected AR-enabled shopping tool and customer responses. Décor Matters was chosen as the AR-enabled mobile application for this study. Qualtrics, which conducted the survey, collected 150 responses in the USA. The authors used structural equation model to test the hypotheses.

This study enriches the retail-related AR theory by offering a holistic and structural view of the factors that connect customers' cognitive and affective internal processes with customers' shopping task. However, having used only one type of AR-enabled app in the study, the findings remain limited.

This research advances the understanding of AR's role in the customer shopping process by validating the positive effect of immersion on purchase intention, as well as revealing the mediating effect of decision-making quality and the moderating effect of privacy concerns. However, as only one type of AR-enabled app was used in the study, the findings are still limited.

The findings can help retailers to understand why and how firms can benefit from investing in AR-enabled apps (i.e. by focussing on customer perceived immersion and decision-making quality with AR).

This study's originality lies in the SOR model's extension, which integrates the customer decision-making model, allowing for connecting customers' cognitive and affective internal experiences with their shopping task. The findings can help retail managers to understand more clearly and in-depth why and how AR works in customers' shopping process.

This study defines a three-angled research plan to intensify the knowledge and development undergoing in the retail sector. It proposes a theoretical framework of the customer journey to explain the customers' intent to adopt artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) as a protective measure for interaction between the customer and the brand.

This study presents a research agenda from three-dimensional online search, ML and AI algorithms. This paper enhances the readers' understanding by reviewing the literature present in utilizing AI in the customer journey and presenting a theoretical framework.

Using AI tools like Chatbots, Recommenders, Virtual Assistance and Interactive Voice Recognition (IVR) helps create improved brand awareness, better customer relationships marketing and personalized product modification.

This study intends to identify a research plan based on investigating customer journey trends in today's changing times with AI incorporation. The research provides a novel model framework of the customer journey by directing customers into different stages and providing different touchpoints in each stage, all supported with AI and ML.