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On completion of this case study, students will be able to describe a circular economy and cross-marketing; discuss the common strategies under the circular economy paradigm; describe the benefits and risks of cross-marketing brand alliances and their strategic implications; examine the role of growth strategy in driving the growth of an organization; classify what constitutes the elements of a strategy for HelpUsGreen LLP; and discuss measures to be considered while selecting a partner for a cross-marketing brand alliance.

HelpUsGreen LLP was a start-up founded by Karan Rastogi in 2019, which manufactured incense sticks using the circular economy model. After deflecting from his earlier partner in 2019 and after approximately two years of effort, Rastogi expanded his business of making incense sticks using a circular economy model. Students through this case can step into the shoes of Rastogi, who, as of 9 January 2023, was in Kanpur and was in an urgent need to replicate a similar circular economy model in different cities. With over 21,060 tonnes of temple flower waste recycled, 210 tonnes of chemical pesticides offset and 100% natural products delivered, multiple opportunities emerged at the cross-marketing brand alliance and new product segment levels. Rastogi entered into several cross-marketing brand alliance arrangements and tasted success. Rastogi believed that choosing the right partner for cross-marketing was key to successful cooperation. Considering cross-marketing as a way forward, he urgently needed to develop a strategy that aligned with his mission to take HelpUsGreen LLP’s circular economy model to other parts of the country. Students should take into consideration the data regarding the processes at HelpUsGreen LLP that helped Rastogi restart from scratch and make assumptions to decide the growth route for entering different cities.

This case can be used as an introductory case in a post-graduate class on growth strategy for a business based on the circular economy model, as it delineates the challenges faced by a firm while creating a circular economy and managing its growth phase. The case can also be used in an entrepreneurship management course and a strategic management course. This case allows students to learn about the circular economy and challenges faced by the company during the growth phase. Thus, the case can be used for covering multiple perspectives related to growth strategy (e.g. the application of Ansoff matrix), for defining what is cross-marketing brand alliance and discussing what measures need to be considered while selecting a partner for cross-marketing brand alliance, and it is ideal for teaching the elements of strategy.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 11: Strategy.

Paytm has become a popular method to make cashless payments in India. Be it for transferring funds through mobile numbers, online payment of utility bills, cabs, etc. or payment to offline merchants. This case elaborates on the position Paytm has attained in the market thus far and its ambitious future growth plans. It describes the strategies being adopted by Paytm’s competitors and the new developments in the payments business in India. The case finally narrates the challenges the Fintech firm faces at present and poses a pertinent question: is Paytm on a growth trajectory or committing suicide by leaping so fast?

The case collates secondary data pertaining to Paytm’s current position and recent developments in the Indian mobile wallet industry. It presents the facts and data published on websites, newspapers, and magazines in the form of a case study.

This case can be applied to strategic management at under graduate and introductory level in post-graduate marketing of digital products.

This study aims to analyze how perceived organizational support (POS), perceived supervisor support (PSS) and perceived co-worker support (PCS) as components of social exchange at work influence turnover intention through affective commitment.

Perception of sales professionals working in life insurance companies, categorized as liquid knowledge workers, on the study variables was assessed through a questionnaire-based survey. Data on a sample of 212 such professionals across 11 companies were analyzed using structured equation modeling. Maximum likelihood estimate method was used to test the extent of model fit. Mediation has been confirmed through bootstrapping.

Results reveal a significant direct relationship between PSS and turnover intention. POS and PCS were found to have significant indirect effects on turnover intention, mediated by affective commitment.

Overall results prompt the authors to recommend that organizations in insurance business must invest resources in promoting organizational support and also adopt a supportive work culture in which social exchange can easily occur. Level of withdrawal intention among sales professionals can be lowered by establishing emotional bonding with them. Supervisors may also be provided adequate training in soft skills to support their subordinates.

This study has highlighted that support at workplace is a binding force between an employee and his/her organization, and thus it negatively affects his/her withdrawal intention directly or indirectly via affective commitment. This paper stands out in the multitude of existing research as especially the relation of PCS and turnover intention has been explored less. It also adds to the scarce literature available on turnover intention among liquid knowledge workers in Indian insurance sector.

The primary research question addressed through this paper is whether and how corporate social responsibility (CSR) can create business value for organizations as measured through employee attitudes and behaviours. Specifically, this study aims to examine the impact of CSR on employee engagement through its influence on psychological meaningfulness, safety and availability.

In total, 187 business professionals working for a wide variety of organizations in India constituted the study sample. Regression analysis was used to test the proposed hypotheses.

CSR positively predicted employee engagement. Psychological conditions of meaningfulness, safety and availability fully mediated the relationship of CSR with employee engagement.

The study establishes CSR as an important talent management tool in the hands of management to cultivate an engaged workforce. The results provide corporate managers with the necessary evidence to justify their investment in CSR initiatives.

The study by establishing CSR as a determinant of employee engagement addresses the need for micro-level CSR research, and, hence, bridges the macro-micro gap in the CSR literature. In addition, the application of micro-level theories helped to establish the psychological processes defining CSR and employee engagement relationship. In doing so, the study empirically tests Khan’s theory of engagement and the underlying mechanisms of engagement.

Women's empowerment is nothing new; it has been acknowledged as an essential element of eradicating poverty and advancing the economy. However, it remains problematic in most developing countries, such as Afghanistan. This research evaluates women's empowerment experiences by utilising Self-Help Groups (SHGs) as a fundamental development method to empower women economically and socially. This study adopts a qualitative research style, with data mainly acquired from rural areas (Kabul province). The findings indicated that SHG involvement is closely associated with families' socio-economic well-being, meaning that SHG participants are more empowered than those who do not engage or are oblivious to SHGs. SHGs confront various obstacles in Afghanistan, including (but not limited to) erroneous cultural norms, security issues, inadequate financial assistance and poor member participation, all of which influence operations. This study makes important recommendations for promoting and achieving women's integration and active participation in SHGs, including increasing social awareness, support from civil society and the government, laws and regulations that support women, strategies to increase women's economic and social empowerment and linking groups to commercial banks.

This study examines the link of effective change implementation (CIE) with select human resource (HR) practices and employees' resistance to change (RTC) amidst ongoing mergers in Indian public sector banks (PSBs). It also intends to highlight the role of RTC as a mediator in this mechanism.

The authors used a structured questionnaire administered through a survey of employees of select PSBs that have undergone mergers. The hypothesized relationships were tested on 220 responses with structural equation modelling.

Training and communication of change as HR practices were found to have significant effects in implementing change. RTC fully mediated the relationship of training and CIE, and partially mediated the association of communication and CIE. Communication had a stronger influence on RTC than training. This finding upholds the importance of communication but also implies that training can reinforce effective communication of change and may not affect the implementation if not directed towards handling resistance.

The significance of communication as a finding supports the theory of planned behaviour. The authors’ results also align with the social exchange theory and can be extended to the job demands-resources model. PSBs may plan for phase-wise training initiatives starting from the announcement till the end of a merger. PSBs also need to effectively communicate all relevant HR issues to employees, thus being transparent and fair. Both online and offline modes of communication can be explored. Overall, the senior management has to imbibe the handholding of employees in the short term and a sense of empathy in the longer term.

Research on HR in Indian banking mergers seems to take a back seat vis-à-vis strategic issues and financial performance. There also is a limited empirical examination of the role of HR practices in effective change implementation. This paper addresses both these issues by proposing a conceptual model and empirically validating it amidst the merger of PSBs. The authors also highlight how training and communication are effective in handling resistance to change.

The present research work has tried to investigate the impact of workplace bullying (WB) on turnover intention (TI); the study has also analyzed the effect of psychological health (PH) and resilience (RS) indirectly as mediators in between WB and TI. Further, the role of perceived HRM as a moderator directly and through RS has been tested. The study has been carried in the context of Indian IT sector.

The analysis of the moderated mediation model was done through PLS-SEM, owing to the medium size of the sample. SmartPLS 3 was used to check on the psychometric principles if any for the measurement model and also adopt a two-step analysis for the proposed model.

The findings of the present study have validated the empirical model, showing a significant relationship in between the proposed constructs. WB had a positive impact on TI whereas PH and RS turned out to be partial mediators but there was no evidence as to which mediator had a larger impact. Further, perceived HRM served as a moderator in between WB and TI and also through RS.

The study is first of its kind which has tried to investigate an exhaustive mediated moderation model in the Indian IT sector. The study has postulated that it is not just the HRM content but the perceptions of employees toward HRM which can be beneficial in resolving sensitive issues such as WB and eventually turnover intents.

Banking sector is an important subset of any economy and plays a very crucial and significant part in its growth and development. The expansion and credibility of banking sector is attributed to the fact that it caters to the financial needs and accordingly provides customised solutions for the people at large. The new millennium has witnessed metamorphosis in the banking sector. The pace and trend of transformation is all set to accelerate in the coming decade. The process of Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation Model (LPG Model) banking practices which being unleashed a few decades back will reach to greater heights as we step into the next decade. The innovative technology has brought about a paradigm shift in all aspects of banking like routine operations, transactions, products and processes, delivery of services in terms of various e-channels, credit administration and credit management, audit and compliance and Fin-Techs partnership. Digital transformations in the banking sector have received much needed thrust because of ‘The Digital India Moment’. The current study attempts to highlight the role of technology in banking and how technology-led innovations and initiatives will determine the business of banking as a whole. The significance of these technology-driven innovations and transformations is that they put both banker and customer in a win-win situation as drawn from existing literature related to financial institutions. The focus is on investigating the digital innovations adopted by the different banks both public and private to understand the economic structural changes resulted out of it.

This study aims to integrate Delone and McLean’s information system success (DMISS) model with the innovation resistance model to evaluate the relationship between behavioural intention to use (BIU) and innovation resistance in the context of neo-banking. The primary objective of this study is to identify the drivers of neo-banking adoption and the barriers to its adoption and incorporate constructs such as e-trust (ETR) and personal innovativeness (PIV) to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the factors influencing neo-banking adoption.

A structured survey-based questionnaire was used to gather data from a diverse sample population in India. The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) model was employed to further examine the adoption of neobanking services and users' intention to use neobanking services.

This study reveals a significant correlation between BIU and the uptake of neobanking services, demonstrating the value of consumers' readiness to embrace these offerings. However, resistance to usage has emerged as a major obstacle for consumers concerned about data security, technology reluctance and perceived risks associated with digital-only neobanks.

Analysing the driving and restraining factors will provide substantial information on the formation of consumers' decision-making processes in the Indian banking industry, which is undergoing rapid digital transformation. This information is of great importance to scholars, practitioners and policymakers, as it highlights the factors that may facilitate or impede the adoption of neobanking in India. The outcomes of this analysis will be of particular interest to researchers, experts and stakeholders in the field as they will provide valuable insights into the dynamics of consumer behaviour in the Indian banking sector.

This study represents an initial effort to examine BIUs and usage resistance within the rapidly developing neobanking sector in India. The findings of this study build on the existing research in this area and contribute to the ongoing discussion on the adoption of neo-banking.