Aravazhi Selvaraj, S. Nedumaran, Disha Bose, Jyosthnaa Padmanabhan, Yesudas Pangiraj and Kiran Sharma
The purpose of this paper is to estimate the market demand and compare the average market margins for six broad categories of fresh produce in different retail formats across five…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to estimate the market demand and compare the average market margins for six broad categories of fresh produce in different retail formats across five select cities of the country. It also tries to qualitatively understand the supply chain management practices of these retailers across cities.
Design/methodology/approach
Registered retail outlets were selected randomly from online sources. Market potential was estimated as the average sales of each category of fresh produce. Personal interviews were conducted with the market players in order to collect qualitative data about their supply chain management practices.
Findings
Potatoes, onions and tomatoes are the largest consumed category of fresh produce across cities. Consumers in Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities exhibit different buying behavior and preferences. Large retailers and small retailers coexist in the cities. Marketing margins of retail formats are not uniform across cities.
Research limitations/implications
The study did not capture the reasons for the differences observed in consumer preferences and buying behavior across cities. The study has taken into consideration only registered neighborhood stores in the study locations.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the paper is first of its kind which has attempted to estimate the categorywise market potential of fresh produce across study cities.
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Vandana Srivastava, Sanjeev Kishore and Deepika Dhingra
Over the last decade, customer experience management has gradually emerged as the most important activity for organisations. Organisations have turned towards leveraging the…
Abstract
Over the last decade, customer experience management has gradually emerged as the most important activity for organisations. Organisations have turned towards leveraging the ubiquitous and easy-to-use technology in enhancing and enabling experience for the time-crunched customers of today who are looking for greater convenience and choices. It is therefore not surprising that disruptive technologies such as smartphones, virtual and augmented reality, cloud computing, big data analytics, Internet of things, artificial intelligence and robotics have also found their way into the design of customer experience. This chapter aims to present an overview of the technologies that have transformed the customer experience landscape. This chapter contributes by showcasing two illustrative cases from very diverse domains, a private sector bank and a public sector transportation organisation, to elucidate how India, a rapidly developing economy, is embracing technology to enhance the customer experience.
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Amritesh, Subhas C. Misra and Jayanta Chatterjee
The article aims to identify the possibility of contextual shift in traditional notions of e‐government service environment. The authors propose the existence of a new…
Abstract
Purpose
The article aims to identify the possibility of contextual shift in traditional notions of e‐government service environment. The authors propose the existence of a new institutional entity as core service providers in addition to the government (G) and citizens (C) in the existing G2C e‐government service environments. Considering the nature of actors involved, the authors position the new e‐government environment under “credence based” service setting that emphasizes user's perspective. The work expands the scope of e‐government to accommodate a much broader range of similar services.
Design/methodology/approach
Scenario study has been chosen to understand the proposed contextual shift in traditional e‐government service setting. Study of one of the e‐government practices – “e‐counseling in India” – has been illustrated to advocate the authors' viewpoint. The data is collected from authorized government websites in India that offer e‐counseling services. In addition, 15 in‐depth interviews were also performed with government officials and users to have a deeper understanding about the new service setting.
Findings
The study has revealed and defended the authors' proposition on “contextual shift” and validated the existence of “credence based” setting in e‐government service environments. Moreover, it provides preliminary insights about why and how information quality can be a critical element for the aforesaid setting.
Practical implications
Identification of “credence based” e‐government service environments may require a different design strategy for structures, policies, systems, and services to fulfil the user expectations.
Originality/value
Attention is given to developing credence based context for G2C e‐government environments. This “contextual shift” identified in this paper contributes to the existing stream of research that emphasizes user's perspective in e‐government services.
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Amritesh, Subhas C. Misra and Jayanta Chatterjee
The purpose of this paper is to acknowledge the potential complexities in conventional notions of e-government service environments, which have earlier been conceptualized as a…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to acknowledge the potential complexities in conventional notions of e-government service environments, which have earlier been conceptualized as a two party interaction system where the government is the service provider and other entities such as businesses, citizens, etc. are the service recipients. In this regard, the authors extend their attention to a core service context and identify the existence of “credence-based” service setting that may involve more than two parties such as government, citizens, and third-party institutions (TPIs).
Design/methodology/approach
An in-depth literature review is performed to build a conceptual foundation for the proposed service environment. A case of an Indian context is exemplified to understand the credence-based service setting and advocate the suitability of broader dimensions of service quality assessment, and propose a preliminary model of service quality assessment in the given context. The case study approach is adopted for gathering and analyzing the data. The data are collected from government web sites, semi-structured interviews with government officials, and students.
Findings
The paper finds that the existence of TPIs changes the nature of normal government to citizen (G2C) service interaction. Service quality conceptualization for this particular kind of e-government setting is bi-dimensional in nature which involves two separate but interdependent constructs quality of information, and quality of service Interaction that collectively contributes to service quality and empowerment of the recipients.
Originality/value
The present work attempts to differentiate the service context of credence-based e-government setting with the traditional conceptualizations of e-government service environments.