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The supply chain (SC) of the fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) sector in India witnessed a significant change soon after introducing the Goods and Services Tax (GST). With the initiation of this tax, companies started moving from individual state-wise warehouses to consolidation warehouses model to save costs. This paper proposes a model that frames a mathematical formulation to optimize the distribution network in the downstream SC by considering the complexities of multi-product lines, multi-transport modes and consolidated warehouses.

The model is designed as mixed-integer linear programming (MILP), and an algorithm is developed that works on the feedback loop mechanism. It optimizes the transportation and warehouses rental costs simultaneously with impact analysis.

Total cost is primarily influenced by the critical factor transportation price rather than the warehouse rent. The choice of warehouses at prime locations was a trade-off between a lower distribution cost and higher rent tariffs.

The study enables FMCG firms to plan their downstream SC efficiently and to be in line with the recent trend of consolidation of warehouses. The study will help SC managers solve complexities such as multi-product categories, truck selection and consolidation warehouse selection problems and find the optimum value for each.

The issues addressed in the proposed work are transporting products with different sizes and weights, selecting consolidated warehouses, selecting suitable vehicles for transportation and optimizing distance in the distribution network by considering consolidated warehouses.

This paper presents a systematic literature review of the various aspects of reverse logistics (RL) and closed-loop supply chains (CLSC) in implementing and achieving circular economy (CE) motives. CE is identified as a method of embracing imperishability into the economic structure, helping shift from a linear to a condition leading to ecological and social benefits.

Systematic literature was used to review a total of 80 peer-reviewed articles are included in the study and covers different concepts related to the implementation of CE, such as cost-saving, network design, sustainable RL, waste management and extended producer responsibility.

The findings reveal that the research in the domain is in a growing phase, and in recent years, a lot of attention has been given by researchers across the globe. However, further research is required in crucial areas for the adoption of CE, such as retail reverse logistics, pharmaceutical industries and resource recycling industry.

The study discusses the business needs and solutions for industries. Key enablers and barriers are listed along with the main activities involved in each sector in CLSC. Managers can design a pathway to decide which lever to use to overcome a particular challenge.

The work contributes theoretically by developing research themes in RL and CLSC practices applied to CE. It also provides theoretical and practical implications of the study, which can be used as a signboard for further research.

To examine the influence of direction of related and unrelated diversification on business groups' performance in emerging markets.

The paper empirically examines a hypothesis based on the theoretical perspective of the resource‐based view. The paper builds a regression model with the dependent variable Tobin's q as a proxy for group/firm value and various other performance measures (derived from financial data) that theory suggests influences firm value. It examines the differences in firm value measure across three classes, namely related‐diversified business groups, unrelated‐diversified business groups and standalone firms.

The results confirm the findings of prior research which suggests that group affiliation is beneficial in emerging markets. However, as a departure, the main finding is that the benefits of group affiliation are not equally available to related‐diversified and unrelated diversified groups.

This research needs to be tested in other emerging markets for generalizability. The results hold under certain assumptions that the paper makes (and mentions) while subjecting data to aggregation and empirical analysis.

While diversified business groups are valued in emerging markets, this work clearly establishes that related‐diversification strategy is better and more profitable in the context of emerging market. Thus, managers of business groups are better off pursuing related‐diversified strategy over unrelated‐diversified strategy.

Prior work has examined the benefits of group affiliation and the extent of diversification question separately. This paper examines the direction of diversification question which is built based on the resource‐based perspective for the first time. This contribution extends the understanding of business groups and performance linkages in an emerging market context.

Human resource management, business ethics, public policy.

The case can also be taught in MBA/postgraduate in management programmes in general management or HR classes to give a lesson in organizational conflict and resolution, negotiation skills (strategies, tactics and power in negotiation) towards the middle or end of the course. The course can also be taught in MBA/postgraduate in management programmes in business ethics classes to make students appreciate the various approaches to ethics – end-results, duty, social contract and personalistic ethics. It also helps students learn how to institute ethics into the cultural fabric of the organization. In public policy programmes, it could be taught to illustrate the crucial role and at times unintended outcomes of actions of street level bureaucracies in policy implementation. The course can also be taught in refresher training programmes for executives to give lessons in conflict management, mediation strategies, union negotiations and ethics.

This teaching case is based on a real incident that took place in a defence production factory of India in the year 2009. It succinctly unfolds a small showdown between two officers that acquires a disproportionate size and explosive dimension and vitiates the environment of the entire organization. The case is a narration of a small row that in no time became a full-blown organizational dispute with layers of issues. Two officers, one very senior and the other influential, got entangled in a conflict, unfortunately in the presence of a large audience; dissatisfied workers and officers fanned the sentiments and encouraged them to unethically leverage legal privileges by gaming in the name of caste and sexual harassment to gain power in the messy dispute. The protagonist Ram Sharma, the General Manager (head) of the factory, is in a precarious situation as the conflict not only puts his managerial skills but also his moral standards and ethics to test.

After discussion and analysis of this case, the students should be able to: appreciate and evaluate the complexities and multiple facets of an organizational conflict including ethical challenges faced in a real life situation, recommend the options and course of action a manager could resort to in a high stake and time bound situation, learn to develop a basic framework for analysing, negotiations and strategize to resolve a conflict as a manager-mediator in such a situation, learn to handle difficult negotiation bound by complexities of unethical and legal disputes, answer to themselves the criticality of ground level bureaucracy's role in implementation of public policies (optional if the faculty decides to discuss the part provided in the teaching note). For international students, this is a case to learn dynamics of “negotiations in Indian context”. Overall development of critical thinking and analytical skills.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

The pandemic has severely affected sharing economy businesses specially ride-hailing services due to high levels of human-touch points. This research investigates the impact of COVID-19 infodemic, identification, and emotional support on intention to use ride-hailing. The authors further examine the moderating effects of internalization, compliance, social currency and informational support in the proposed conceptual model.

The data were collected from 412 respondents from Delhi in India, and hypothesized relationships were tested using hierarchical regression.

The results indicate that COVID-19 infodemic has a negative association with intention to use ride-hailing. Identification and emotional support show a positive association with intention to use ride-hailing. The results also support internalization and compliance as moderators between infodemic, identification and intention to use ride-hailing. Further, social currency and information support moderate the relationship between emotional support and intention to use.

This is the first research, which adds to the expanding literature on ride-hailing, especially during the post-pandemic period of “new normal”.

Loading the work on social capital theory, we have tried to check the influence of social currency (SC) on social media usage (SMU) and its subsequent impact on the brand experience (BE). The study attempted to ascertain the mediation of loyalty (LT) between the SC and SMU as well as the moderation of perceived ease of use (PEU) in the SMU and BE relationship.

The data were collected from 384 respondents employing snowball sampling technique by administering a questionnaire on seven-point Likert scale. The respondents were the active internet users, who devote the significant part of their daily routine to social media activities. Structural equation modelling was used to study the path of the considered variables.

The result of the study strengthened the findings of earlier studies on SC dimensions. This study elaborated about the positive impact of SC on SMU, SC on LT, LT on SMU, SMU on BE. The study also found the mediating effect of LT in the SC and BE relationship. The study did not identify a moderating role of PEU in the SMU and BE relationship.

By taking into account SC, SMU, LT, PEU and BE, the study adds the knowledge to the social capital theory.

This study aids marketers in adjusting social media strategies for the effective use of SC aimed to deliver enhanced BE. Additionally, it demonstrates the value of customer LT in the context of SC and SMU by customers.

This study is among the few research on the SC of the Indian user and its impact on SMU and BE. Checking the mediation of LT and the moderation of PEU in the SC context makes this study novel and different from any study conducted earlier.

Dynamism has been the key to the success and popularity of social media, and users always try to adapt to the available new changes. Continuous growth in the access and reach of social media in the past decade has enabled the users to make a calculative assessment of their social media usage. Social currency is a phenomenon that helps the customer in their evaluation of social media usage. However, this concept is still in its infancy phase, and there have been hitherto no studies to understand the influence of social currency dimensions on Indian users. This paper aims to study the dimensions of social currency for a better insight into social media usage of Indian customers.

Data were collected from 384 respondents from the biggest residential university in Varanasi through a structured questionnaire using the snowball sampling technique. Responses were taken on a seven-point Likert scale. Responses were analyzed by the factor analysis method using the maximum likelihood estimation model.

The result of this study empirically demonstrated that six dimensions, i.e. conversation, information, utility, affiliation, advocacy and identity, constitute the social currency of the user while browsing social media sites. It was also found that among the factors described above, advocacy emerged as the most influential dimension of social currency for Indian users, followed by identity and affiliation.

The findings have various managerial implications for the firms that want to have a significant social media presence. These findings can help marketers to design a tailored social media campaign for Indian users in an efficient manner by successfully incorporating the aforesaid social currency dimensions in their strategy.

This study also reflects the societal impact of the dimensions of social currency on Indian users, as any change in the usage of social media can have a long-lasting effect on the mood of the people. The influence of the social currency dimension differs significantly in the context of Indian users compared to the existing literature, as they give more value to the behavioural aspect of the social currency (advocacy, identity and affiliation), strengthening the sense of belongings among the members.

This paper highlights, for the first time, the level of influence social currency dimensions have on Indian users, as there have been hitherto no studies to understand the influence of social currency dimensions on Indian users. Another significant contribution of this research is the empirical validation of the social currency determinants. Thus, this study may contribute to the social media strategy of the firm for Indian users by incorporating the social currency dimension, as discussed in the study.

Milk cake is a well-renowned khoa-based dairy product in India, produced either from the buffalo milk or using a specific danedar variety of khoa. Under ambient conditions, shelf-life of milk cake is generally up to 3–4 days, whereas under refrigeration conditions, it can last up to 12–14 days. Therefore, the present study aims to evaluate the effect of modified atmosphere packaging (MAP) to enhance the shelf-life and keeping intact freshness of milk cake under refrigerated conditions (4 ± 2 °C).

Different gas concentrations of N₂ and CO₂ (70:30, 50:50 and 90:10) were used as a treatment, whereas control samples were kept under atmospheric air composition. The product was examined for sensory, physicochemical and microbiological parameters at weekly intervals.

The physicochemical and microbiological attributes displayed gradual elevation with progressive storage period in all the samples. However, the overall sensory profile of the product remained acceptable for a longer duration. Most of the quality parameters in control declined more rapidly with a shelf life of 14 days, in comparison to MAP packed samples, where gas flushing with the ratio 70:30 was found to be best suited for extending the shelf life of milk cake up to 28 days at refrigeration temperature.

To extend the shelf life of milk cake, modified atmosphere was provided with different gas ratios to reach a best-suited environment for sensory, storage life and proximate parameters.

This study aims to unfold the education–performance relationship, especially concerning the entrepreneurs from an emerging economy, India. A double-layered complex model was developed showing the moderation of knowledge management (KM) and experience in education and performance relationship mediated through human skills.

Data were collected using cluster sampling from 450 entrepreneurs from India. After checking the survey instrument’s measurement properties with LISREL, Hayes’s PROCESS macros were used to analyze the results.

The results indicate that education does not predict entrepreneur’s performance but predicts human skills, which in turn positively predicts performance. Result also shows that KM (first moderator) and experience (second moderator) significantly influenced the human skills, performance and education–performance relationship.

The multiple moderated-moderation effects of KM and experience are the unique work not contributed earlier. The originality of this research is based on the relationship study between human skills in influencing performance through the moderation of KM (first moderator) and experience (second moderator).

Emerging economies are becoming less reliant on funding from foreign agencies. One of the consequences of this is the formation of more self-funded international partnerships offering new models of inter-university partnerships. This chapter offers a perspective on such an on-going collaborative international partnership between two institutions of higher education – one in the United States and the other in India. It describes the context in which the partnership was formed, the manner in which it evolved over time as both partners faced barriers, and challenges to the instantiation of the original vision. Sakamoto and Chapman’s (2010) Functional Model for the Analysis of Cross-border Partnerships is used to analyze and organize the key factors that have played roles in the development and success of the partnership. In addition, the chapter focuses on one component of the partnership activities, the short-term professional development visits to the United States for educators from Indian partner institution. Drawing on participants’ experiences from both sides of the partnership, this chapter presents the expectations, challenges, and opportunities this partnership has offered to members of both universities. The chapter ends with recommendations to establish or improve international collaborative university partnerships.