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The purpose of the current article is to explore the rotational behavior on nanofluid flow over an exponentially stretching surface. Heat and mass flux are formulated upon Cattaneo–Christov theory.

Effect of thermophoretic, Brownian motion and thermally convective conditions is further retained. Novel boundary layer approximations are applied to transform the governing equations of continuity, momentum, energy and nanoparticle volume fraction. Convergent series solutions are obtained to manage the rotating flow with the aid of homotopy analysis method (HAM).

Depending on the several dimensionless parameters including the local rotation parameter the Prandtl number Pr, the thermophoresis parameter, the Brownian motion parameter, the Lewis number Le, Biot number Bi, Deborah number in terms of heat flux relaxation parameter and Deborah number in terms of mass flux relaxation parameter with the dimensionless physical quantities are deliberated through graphs. Present results are also likened with the foregoing results in significance.

No such assumptions have been made for the development of analytical solution so far.

Rural Marketing, Sales and Distribution Management, Salesperson Motivation, Channel Management.

The case can be used in sales management, channel management and rural marketing courses offered to graduate students of MBA degrees. In the sales management courses, the emphasis is on understanding the typical tasks that the rural salesperson is required to conduct. The case can be used to design a suitable motivation-mix for a rural salesperson after analysing their approach towards work. In a rural marketing course, the case can be used to understand the sales and distribution management of fast-moving consumer good products in rural India. The case can be used in channel management courses to design an appropriate channel structure in the rural market in India and utilized for managing the distributors’ salesforce for effective and improved market coverage in rural areas.

Candy Confectioneries Private Limited started its operations in 1995, and was one of the largest confectionery players in India with a market share of 20 per cent. The company had achieved sales of Rs 20bn in 2014 and had 15 confectionery brands in the market. The company was also trying hard to establish itself in the snacks category. The company had nationwide operations, and it was important for the company to expand into the rural market. It served its markets through a comprehensive urban and rural distribution setup. In the rural distribution network, the rural sales representatives (RSRs) played a key role and perhaps were one of the most critical factors in covering the rural market. The RSR system was typical to suit the requirement of product-market coverage with its limitations. The case broadly profiles eight RSRs who were engaged to cover a specific territory in the State of Bihar in India. It also describes their approaches to work and complexities emerging thereof in achieving the best results for the organization.

The case has the following learning objectives: Understanding the design of sales and distribution channel structure followed for distribution and selling of confectionery products in rural India. Examining whether the existing system is adequate to achieve the goals of the firm. Evaluating the performance of each salesperson and identifying common factors to formulate the salesforce policies. Arriving at a suitable motivation-mix for the rural salesperson.

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CSS 8: Marketing.

This paper aims to identify various macroeconomic variables that affect the stock market performance of developed and emerging economies. It also investigates the effect of these factors on the stock markets of both economies. The impact of these variables on broad market indices and sectoral indices is investigated and compared too.

The publications for the study were retrieved from databases such as Emerald Insight, EBSCO, ScienceDirect and JSTOR using the keywords “Macroeconomic variables” and “Stock market” or “Stock market performance.” The result demonstrated a growing corpus of scholarly work in the domain of stock market. The study was carried out separately for each macroeconomic indicator. Given a large number of articles under consideration, the authors began by reading the titles and abstracts of all publications to identify those that were relevant. The papers are evaluated in Excel and the articles for review range from 1972 to 2021.

The authors found that gross domestic product (GDP), FDI (Foreign Direct Investment) and FII (Foreign Institutional Investment) have a positive effect on both emerging and developed economies’ stock market while gold price has a negative effect. Interest rates had a negative impact on both economies except for a few developing countries. The relationship with oil prices was positive for oil exporting countries while negative for oil importing countries. Inflation, money supply and GDP are the macroeconomic variables that have the same effect on sectoral indices as they do on broad market indices. The impact was sector-specific for the remaining variables.

This paper gives an overview of relation and effect covering variety of macroeconomic variables and stock market indices. Still, there is a scope for further research to analyze the effect on thematic, strategy and sectoral indices. A longer time horizon with new variables, such as bank deposit growth rate, nonperforming assets of banks, consumer confidence index and investor sentiment, can be studied using high-frequency data. This research may help stakeholders adopt and manage their policies during a crisis or economic slump.

This study will assist investors, researchers and educators in the fields of economics and finance in understanding how macroeconomic factors affect the stock market. Furthermore, this study can guide in portfolio diversification strategy across multiple sectors by examining the impact of macroeconomic factors specific to sectoral indices. This paper provides insight into society and researchers since it integrates a number of macroeconomic variables and their interaction with the stock market. It may also help pension funds and mutual fund firms to hedge their funds and allocate equity portfolios.

With respect to India, this study looked at new macroeconomic variables and sectors. It contrasted the impact of these variables in developed and developing economies. The effect of broad and sectoral stock indexes was also investigated and compared. The authors examined how these variables responded during crisis and economic downturns by using articles from a longer time frame. This research also looked into how changing the frequency of data for the variables altered stock performance. This paper emphasized the need for more research into thematic, strategy and broad market indices, such as small-cap and mid-cap indices.

In a dynamic and uncertain business environment, it is necessary for companies to adapt to be capable of addressing the changing circumstances and ensure business continuity. Hence, companies are employing advanced Industry 4.0 (I4.0) technologies. This study aims to explore the role of advanced I4.0 technologies in facilitating companies’ development towards supply chain resilience (SCR).

The study adopted a structured approach of Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) to identify 234 articles. Under PRISMA, we adopted a three-phase methodology of planning, conducting and reporting the review results. The data of these articles were synthesized using a Scopus database to investigate the relationship between I4.0 technologies and SCR.

The study’s findings map the technologies appropriate in different supply chain nodes and bridge the literature gap in the intersection of I4.0 technologies and SCR. The study results indicate the role of I4.0 technologies role in achieving resilience in key functions of an organization through an I4.0 technologies-enabled sourcing, manufacturing, distribution and return resilience (I-SMDRR) framework. The I-SMDRR framework also depicts the relationship being moderated by internal and external risk factors.

The study offers a unique framework by mapping sourcing, manufacturing, distribution and return resilience through I4.0 technologies. Additionally, the review delineates the theory-mapped research gaps helpful for future researchers. In summary, this systematic review of the literature identifies the components that lead to developing SCR.

This paper aims to fill a gap in the authors’ understanding of alliance-level and the partner-level alliance performance by analysing the influence of behavioural factors for alliances formed by SMEs. Prior studies on the topic have arrived at inconclusive results. This study plugs gaps in prior studies' approach such as deployment of inconsistent performance measures, and omission of contingent factors.

The survey method was used to collect responses about 86 alliances of Indian SMEs. The data were analysed using PLS-SEM technique.

Two relationship capital variables – Trust and Commitment – were found to have differential influence on the two levels of SME alliance performance, and their influence was mediated by the presence of two exchange climate variables – Communication and Conflict.

Since the study employs perceptual measures of performance, it is subject to the limitations of these measures. Similarly, given the relatively small sample size on which analyses were based, the results may need to be replicated in order to generalize the findings.

The study tested a comprehensive model for alliance and partner performance in the context of SMEs. The study's results may be particularly useful to managers of SMEs for focusing on the key factors that influence alliance performance as well as their performance.

The model tested in the study is comprehensive and also accounts for the subtleties about the impact of the two key types of behavioural factors – Relationship capital and Exchange climate – on alliance and partner performance.

Building on resource orchestration theory (ROT), this study assesses the link between corporate social responsibility (CSR) and firm performance considering the influence of female director representation and ownership structure.

This study has employed secondary panel data on Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) listed Indian firms. Fixed-effect models are applied to estimate our regression models. Additionally, the study employs models with robust standard errors to correct for heteroscedasticity.

The findings reveal that the performance effect of CSR is insignificant. However, the presence of female director representation positively moderates this relationship and, therefore, highlights the effectiveness of CSR in gender-diverse boards. Moreover, promoter ownership positively moderates the CSR–performance relationship, and thus, indicates promoters' long-term strategic interests in CSR initiatives.

Building on ROT, this research investigates the CSR–performance relationship dynamics, emphasizing the roles of female director representation and promoter ownership, particularly in the emerging market contexts. Moreover, it deepens our understanding of the CSR–performance relationship by utilizing secondary panel data from BSE listed Indian firms.

The aim of the study was to determine how the different types of resources possessed by a small- and medium-sized enterprise (SME), in conjunction with the environmental uncertainty perceived by the SME's managers, affect SME's alliance formation.

Personal interview method was used to collect responses to a survey instrument from Indian SMEs. Logistic regression technique was used to analyze the responses obtained from 127 manufacturing enterprises.

The study finds that while both tangible and intangible resources possessed by an enterprise positively influence the enterprise's alliance formation, the influence of intangible resources is significantly stronger. The authors also observed the interactive effect between each resource type and environmental uncertainty to be a significant predictor of alliance formation.

The study does not account for temporal effects such as changes in resources and perceived environmental uncertainty, which may affect alliance formation. Similarly, because the data were obtained from a geographically restricted sample, replication of the study in other geographies may be necessary for generalizing the results.

The paper responds to the call for research to link firm resources and perceived environmental uncertainty toward explaining alliance formation by SMEs. The study went beyond making a distinction between the two types of resources by explicating how the interaction of resource type and environmental uncertainty will affect alliance formation.

This paper aims to evaluate and prioritize the key supplier selection indicators and to establish the relationship between available alternatives and selected indicators by using step-wise weight assessment ratio analysis (SWARA) and weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS).

Authors have extracted the supplier selection criteria from literature and used a combined SWARA-WASPAS method to evaluate and rank the criteria’s. SWARA is applied for evaluating and weighting selection criteria, whereas WASPAS helped in evaluating different available alternatives based on supplier selection indicators.

Finding from SWARA suggests that supplier management is the high weighted criteria followed by information sharing and joint actions. WASPAS was used to evaluate the available alternatives and supplier A1 got the highest priority. Additionally, sensitivity analysis indicates the different scenarios for the best supplier selection.

Working executives can use the SWARA for assessment of weights of finalized indicators for their firm in the cement industry. Further, the calculated weights can be used for product and sum weightage through WASPAS to finalize the best supplier.

The originality of the manuscript lies in the sector and methodology. Author(s) applied the SWARA and WASPAS method for supplier selection in the Indian cement industry that will help working executives to evaluate their supply chain partners.

Nanosized honeycomb-configured materials are used in modern technology, thermal science and chemical engineering due to their high ultra thermic relevance. This study aims to scrutinize the heat transmission features of magnetohydrodynamic (MHD) honeycomb-structured graphene nanofluid flow within two squeezed parallel plates under Joule dissipation and solar thermal radiation impacts.

Mass, energy and momentum preservation laws are assumed to find the mathematical model. A set of unified ordinary differential equations with nonlinear behavior is used to express the correlated partial differential equations of the established models, adopting a reasonable similarity adjustment. An approximate convergent numerical solution to these equations is evaluated by the shooting scheme with the Runge–Kutta–Fehlberg (RKF45) technique.

The impression of pertinent evolving parameters on the temperature, fluid velocity, entropy generation, skin friction coefficients and the heat transference rate is explored. Further, the significance of the irreversibility nature of heat transfer due to evolving flow parameters are evaluated. It is noted that the heat transference rate performance is improved due to the imposition of the allied magnetic field, Joule dissipation, heat absorption, squeezing and thermal buoyancy parameters. The entropy generation upsurges due to rising magnetic field strength while its intensification is declined by enhancing the porosity parameter.

The uniqueness of this research work is the numerical evaluation of MHD honeycomb-structured graphene nanofluid flow within two squeezed parallel plates under Joule dissipation and solar thermal radiation impacts. Furthermore, regression models are devised to forecast the correlation between the rate of thermal heat transmission and persistent flow parameters.

Recent technological advancements, often linked to Industry 4.0, require organizations to be more agile and innovative. Blockchain technology (BT) holds immense potential in driving organizations to achieve efficiency and transparency in supply chains. However, there exist some insurmountable challenges associated with the adoption of BT in organizational supply chains (SC). This paper attempts to categorically identify and systematize the most influential challenges in the implementation of BT in SC.

This study resorts to an extensive literature review and consultations with experts in the field of supply chain management (SCM), information technology and academia to identify, categorize and prioritize the major challenges using VlseKriterijumska Optimizacija I Kompromisno Resenje (VIKOR) and Combined Compromise Solution method (CoCoSo).

The top three classes of challenges revealed in this study are privacy challenges (PC), infrastructure challenges (IC) and transparency challenges (TC). Maintaining a balance between data openness and secrecy and rectification of incorrect/erroneous input are the top two challenges in the PC category, integration of BT with sustainable practices and ensuring legitimacy are the top two challenges in the IC category, and proper and correct information sharing in organizations was the top most challenge in the TC category.

Future scholars and industry professionals will be guided by the importance of the challenges identified in this study to develop an economical and logical approach for integrating BT to increase the efficiency and outcome of supply chains across several industrial sectors.