Search results

The purpose of this paper is to develop a decision‐making procedural hierarchy for evaluation as well as selection of third‐party reverse logistics provider (3PL) under fuzzy environment.

Due to uncertainty, vagueness arising from decision makers (DM) subjective judgment towards intangible (qualitative) selection criteria, fuzzy logic has been utilized to facilitate such a decision‐making process for 3PL evaluation and selection.

Evaluating and selecting 3PL providers can be regarded as a multi‐criteria decision making (MCDM) process in which a decision maker chooses, under several selection criteria, the best suited alternative. The present study highlights a case study on evaluation and selection of 3PL service providers for a reputed Indian automobile part manufacturing company. The fuzzy based decision‐making tool applied here has been proved fruitful for its effectiveness.

There are many research issues remaining in the development of this approach. First, the definition of appropriate fuzzy linguistic variables, corresponding membership functions (MFs) and their numbers, and their universe of discourse for a general use in the algorithm. Second, a methodology for accumulating raw data and analyzing the appropriate MFs for the base linguistic variables. Third, the relative importance of every decision maker, the decision‐making environment and structure may affect the decision‐making process. These have been assumed negligible in this study.

The main contributions of this research are: first, an integrated criteria list (followed by sets of sub‐criteria) has been modeled for service quality evaluation and appraisement of 3PL providers. Each sub criteria set has been structured to be preceded by a main criteria. Second, priority weights of various main criteria as well as sub‐criteria; extent of successful performance (rating) of different sub‐criteria have been expressed in fuzzy numbers. It facilitates in accumulating DMs subjective judgments into a unique numerical evaluation score. Third, decision makers risk‐bearing attitude has been estimated and utilized in computing overall evaluation index for alternative candidates. The decision‐making framework presented here can be extended to solve any decision‐making problem designed under a complex and interconnected set of primary criteria followed by sub‐criteria or more extended elaborate criteria hierarchy.

The study has been aimed to search an appropriate process environment for simultaneous optimization of quality‐productivity favorably. Various surface roughness parameters (of the machined product) have been considered as product quality characteristics whereas material removal rate (MRR) has been treated as productivity measure for the said machining process.

In this study, three controllable process parameters, cutting speed, feed, and depth of cut, have been considered for optimizing material removal rate (MRR) of the process and multiple surface roughness features for the machined product, based on L₉ orthogonal array experimental design. To avoid assumptions, limitation, uncertainty and imprecision in application of existing multi‐response optimization techniques documented in literature, a fuzzy inference system (FIS) has been proposed to convert such a multi‐objective optimization problem into an equivalent single objective optimization situation by adapting FIS. A multi‐performance characteristic index (MPCI) has been defined based on the FIS output. MPCI has been optimized finally using Taguchi method.

The study demonstrates application feasibility of the proposed approach with satisfactory result of confirmatory test. The proposed procedure is simple, and effective in developing a robust, versatile and flexible mass production process.

In the proposed model it is not required to assign individual response weights; no need to check for response correlation. FIS can efficiently take care of these aspects into its internal hierarchy thereby overcoming various limitations/assumptions of existing optimization approaches.

The purpose of this paper is to develop data envelopment analysis (DEA) models and algorithms for efficiency improvement when the inputs and output weights are restricted and there is fixed availability of inputs in the system.

Limitation on availability of inputs is represented in the form of constant sum of inputs (CSOI) constraint. The amount of excess input of an inefficient decision-making unit (DMU) is redistributed among other DMUs in such a way so that there is no reduction in their efficiency. DEA models have been developed to design the optimum strategy to reallocate the excess input.

The authors have developed the method for reallocating the excess input among DMUs while under CSOI constraint and parameter weight restrictions. It has been shown that in this work to improve the efficiency of an inefficient DMU one needs the cooperation of selected few DMUs. The working of the models and results have been shown through a case study on carbon dioxide emissions of 32 countries.

The limitation of the study is that only one DMU can expect to benefit from the application of these methods at any given time.

Results of the paper are useful in situations when decision maker is exploring the possibility of transferring the excess resources from underperforming DMUs to the other DMUs to improve the performance.

This strategy of reallocation of excess input will be very useful in situations when decision maker is exploring the possibility of transferring the excess resources from underperforming DMUs to the other DMUs to improve the performance. Unlike the existing works on efficiency improvement under CSOI, this work seeks to address the issue of efficiency improvement when the input/output parameter weights are also restricted.

Innovation and entrepreneurship are regarded as the key drivers to steer the engine of economic development in any nation. As a result, to understand the context and process of innovation and entrepreneurship there has been a steady rise in scientific literature and empirical studies. The purpose of this paper is to study the trends and progress of academic research on innovation and entrepreneurship in India by identifying the key articles, journals, authors and institutions.

Scientometric methods especially bibliometrics is used, for measuring the maturity of this research field in the country. The paper studies the research landscape in innovation and entrepreneurship in India by doing a bibliometric analysis using data from publications indexed in the Scopus database from the year 2000 to 2018. The study takes a multidisciplinary review of the literature in innovation and entrepreneurship research in India and could be used as a reference for future studies in this theme.

The study finds an increase in the scholarly studies in innovation and entrepreneurship in India in the last decade. It was also found that a large number of publications were joint-authored and collaborations between Indian and foreign universities is happening. The paper also highlights the authorship patterns, top journals and the most cited papers.

A major limitation of this study is that it has considered publications which are indexed in Scopus. This paper has contributed by highlighting the growth of studies in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship in the Indian context. The results can be used by future studies in this area as a starting point to highlight the nature of this research area.

The study attempts to present a trend analysis of published literature on innovation and entrepreneurship in India.

Purpose: In recent times, ‘artificial intelligence (AI)’ has been pervasive even in organisations or at home. AI is defined as programming computers or other technological devices to act, react, respond, or assist the same way humans do. AI has undeniably made people’s lives easier. In organisations, the impact of AI is even more visible. The main aim of this chapter is to examine the significant role of future work skill’s (FWS) each component in the field of on-growing automation. The focus will be especially on emotional and social intelligence (ESI) (a key component of FWS) while adopting AI.

Need of the Study: In terms of human resource management (HRM), AI is useful for people management, payroll services, staff monitoring and improving the recruiting network, among other things. Even managers put their organisation’s job openings on the web and get applicant resumes electronically. People and employees in the organisation have become more advanced and innovative due to AI. A device obtains employee attendance, and human resource (HR) can track their employees and their organisation’s workforce data. HR has now been awarded more authority to manage and fix their employee’s problems because of AI. In a rapidly changing world, AI is affecting all aspects. AI is yearning to automate all of the jobs.

Methodology: Now a question arises how we can stay relevant in AI economic development? As humans, we learned that every issue is a problem of optimisation because we simply require human skills to develop, create and innovate new things. Therefore, researchers recognised that adopting sustainable growth skills encourages people to continue learning throughout their lives. Moreover, AI has enabled machines the ability to learn over time. Still, they will never be able to develop new ideas like human intelligence. A machine can use only one fixed data algorithm. Now humans have made significant progress in various fields with the help of FWS; without integrated computer sciences, brain science would not make such an outstanding achievement. On the other hand, human minds are masters of their intelligence, such as creativity, complex problem-solving, cognitive thinking, ESI and communication. Breakthrough human mind are masters of algorithms represented people have to understand new trends of technology around us, and the best way to move forward is to be aware, adapt and update skills.

Practical Implications: However, AI is required because, regardless of technological advancements, AI is leading Industry 4.0. The industry’s transformation is in 4.0, and hopefully, 5.0 will jump on board soon. Undoubtedly, AI should streamline the process and eliminate redundancy or administrative tasks.

Finding: AI can be more effective in organisations if they incorporate other FWS, particularly the soft human ESI skills, whereas AI is present everywhere, we can still not neglect FWS, especially ESI. So, this chapter highlights the important role of soft skills, that is, ESI and FWS, while adapting AI for an effective HRM.

India has a distinct family hierarchy and a vertical collectivistic culture. Indian traditional cultural norms discourage young adults from having romantic or sexual relationships before marriage. Romantic liaisons and marriages are fiercely opposed outside the caste and social network. Despite this cultural practice, research in the last decade demonstrated that more young adults in India engage in premarital romantic relationships and prefer a marriage of choice. However, they strongly wish their parents to approve of their partner and arrange their marriage. This increasing trend of love-cum-arranged marriages could be considered how Indian culture adapts to the demands of modernization strongly impelled by globalization. This chapter discusses the dynamics of change in the romantic and marital agency among young adults in India. First, the authors provide a brief historical introduction to the Indian marital system. Then, the authors discuss the changing cultural dimensions that promote marital choice and independence in partner selection (e.g., filial piety). Further, the authors provide an overview of the trends in premarital romantic relationships in India. In addition, the authors discuss the distress and conflict in Indian families due to the increasing premarital romantic and sexual relationships among Indian youth, as evidenced by eloped marriages, forced marriages, and honor killings.

This paper aims to explore the concept of capabilities and where they come from as well as their impact on integration and performance.

The paper is presented in the form of a theoretical development and literature review.

This paper proposes a theory of capability development and discusses the conditions under which a capability is effective. In particular, for a capability to be effective both local and global coherence are required. But a capability effectiveness and coherence has an inverted U shape. It increases with coherence up to a certain threshold then decreases. As a result, the development of capability is a powerful integration mechanism that crosses levels and functions.

This is a theoretical paper; the propositions offered have still to be empirically tested.

Opening up the capability black box might help managers better grasp how to develop and shape organizational capabilities that are deemed to contribute to competitive advantage (e.g. the pricing capability). First, capabilities are not to be equated with competitive advantage. They may lead to a competitive advantage only where the context is favorable. Thus consistency with the environment challenges is an important factor to watch. This suggests that managers should give attention to the relationships between what they perceive to be their capabilities and the nature of the challenges faced by the organization. Further this research might promote the development of tools to measure coherence within a context and manage appropriate levels of dissent to trigger the re‐shaping of existing capabilities or the emergence of new one.

The paper bridges highly theoretical questions with practical considerations.

This study aims to explore the challenges faced by the tourism and hospitality industry following the COVID-19 pandemic and to propose effective strategies for recovery and resilience of this sector.

The study analysed the challenges encountered by the tourism and hospitality industry post-pandemic and identified key strategies for overcoming these challenges. The study utilised the modified Delphi method to finalise the challenges and employed the Best-Worst Method (BWM) to rank these challenges. Additionally, solution strategies are ranked using the Criteria Importance Through Intercriteria Correlation (CRITIC) method.

The study identified significant challenges faced by the tourism and hospitality industry, highlighting the lack of health and hygiene facilities as the foremost concern, followed by increased operational costs. Moreover, it revealed that attracting millennial travellers emerged as the top priority strategy to mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on this industry.

This research contributes to understanding the challenges faced by the tourism and hospitality industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. It offers valuable insights into practical strategies for recovery. The findings provide beneficial recommendations for policymakers aiming to revive and support these industries.

This chapter covers basic concepts, ethical theories, and moral paradigms of corporate ethics for identifying, understanding, and responding to the turbulent market challenges of today. The concept, nature, and domain of ethics, business ethics, managerial ethics, and corporate executive ethics are defined and differentiated for their significance. The domain, scope, and nature of related concepts such as legality, ethicality, morality, and executive spirituality are distinguished and developed. Among normative and descriptive ethical theories that we briefly review and critique here are teleology or utilitarianism, deontology or existentialism, distributive justice, corrective justice, and ethics of malfeasance and beneficence. Other moral theories of ethics such as ethics of human dignity, ethics of cardinal virtues, ethics of trusting relations, ethics of stakeholder rights and duties, ethics of moral reasoning and judgment calls, ethics of executive and moral leadership, and ethics of social and moral responsibility will be treated in a later book. The thrust of this book is positive: despite our not very commendable track record in managing this planet and its resources, our basic questions are: Where are we now? What are we now? Where should we as corporations go, and why? What are the specific positive mandates and metrics to corporate executives to reach that desired destiny? This chapter explores responses to these strategic corporate questions.

This study aims to assess the biodiversity of the study area and estimate the carbon stock of two dry deciduous forest ranges of Banka Forest Division, Bihar, India.

The phytosociological analysis was performed and C stock estimation based on volume determination through nondestructive methods was done.

Phytosociological analysis found total 18,888 [14,893 < 10 cm (diameter at breast height) dbh] and 2,855 (1,783 < 10 cm dbh) individuals at Banka and Bounsi range with basal area of 181,035.00 cm² and 32,743.76 cm², respectively. Importance value index was highest for Shorea robusta in both the ranges. Species diversity index and dominance index, 1.89 and 1.017 at Banka and 1.99 and 5.600 at Bounsi indicated the prevalence of biotic pressure. Decreased dbh and tree height resulted in a lowered growing stock volume as 59,140.40 cm³ ha⁻¹ (Banka) and 71,306.37 cm³ ha⁻¹ (Bounsi). Total C stock at Banka and Bounsi range was 51.8 t ha^-1 and 12.56 t ha⁻¹, respectively where the highest C stock is recorded for Shorea robusta in both the ranges (9.8 t ha⁻¹ and 2.54 t ha^-1, respectively). A positive correlation between volume, total biomass and basal area of tree species with C stock was observed. R² value for Banka range was 0.9269 (volume-C stock), 1 (total biomass-C stock) and 0.647 (basal area-C stock). Strong positive correlation was also established at Bounsi range with R² value of 1. Considering the total forest area enumerated, C sequestration potential was about 194.25 t CO₂ (Banka) and 45.9 t CO₂ (Bounsi). The valuation of C stock was therefore US$2,525.25 (Banka) and US$596.70 (Bounsi).

The research found the potentiality of the study area to sequester carbon. However, for future, the degraded areas would require intervention of management strategies for restoration of degraded lands and protection of planted trees to increase the carbon sequestration potential of the area.

Present study is the first attempt to assess the phytosociology and estimate the regulatory services of forest with respect to biomass and carbon stock estimation for the Banka forest division of Bihar.