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In a developing country like India, consumers are shifting from high-energy diet to balanced nutritional diet, which enhances the metabolic, physiological, functional and health benefits of consumers. The growing self-care and health-embracing population made the probiotic sector as lucrative market for functional food manufacturers and suppliers. Therefore, an analysis is required to understand consumers’ knowledge and buying behavior regarding probiotic products for product innovation and development.

Awareness, knowledge and consumption patterns of probiotic products were investigated among randomly selected 306 consumers in the Sonipat city of Haryana, which comes in the proximity of national capital, i.e. Delhi, India. A structured questionnaire with exploratory characteristics was developed and face-to-face interviews were conducted as a part of data collection.

The inference is that there is immense potential for the probiotic fruit beverage market as a higher proportion of the population was interested in probiotic products delivered with fruits as a base matrix followed by dairy products. Further, government’s initiation and support are required not only for manufacturing such health-beneficial products having therapeutic value but also to spread awareness regarding the necessity of including such products in the meals of the growing children.

The study shows changing customer attitudes toward probiotic products and sheds light on consumers’ preference on the medium (food matrix) of probiotic delivery, thereby exploring market opportunities in the area of the functional food sector.

Purpose: Consumer acceptance is considered the most important factor in functional food success and is given top priority in new product development. This study focussed on finding factors that influence consumer perceptions about active food and the pattern of active food consumption. This chapter aims to provide a deeper understanding of taste trading based on a consumer decision-making framework.

Research Methodology: Cross-sectional consumer data were collected by floating G-Doc containing the questionnaire which was supposed to be answered by people according to their behaviours, preferences, knowledge regarding functional foods etc. It contained questions about their income, gender, preference towards functional foods, factors affecting decision-making while purchasing functional foods etc.

Results of the Study: The findings suggest that the consumers' attitude towards functional foods was mainly influenced by the quality and suitability of the product. Purchase intent was found based on age, literacy of population, income and health benefits of active foods. Awareness of functional foods and their price significantly affected the purchase of functional foods. Most people were willing to spend more on functional foods in the future regardless of the taste and provided high quality and product suitability.

This study attempts to recognize obstacles and barriers to financial inclusion in the agriculture sector, propose a framework based on the inter-contextual link between the barriers and understand the financial exclusion in the agriculture sector at the grassroots level. Previously published research articles were used to identify the barriers to financial inclusion, followed by informal interviews and collaborative discussions with the local farmers of the Sonipat district of Haryana and expert interviews using a structured questionnaire. TISM and MICMAC analysis are used to decern the nature of the relationship among the barriers discovered. The authors find that inadequate financial literacy, a shortage of financial awareness and the reluctance of various financial institutions are significant linkage barriers to strong driving and dependence power. High transaction costs and poor infrastructural support are the independent barriers. The paper identifies these new barriers to financial inclusion in the Indian agriculture sector and the framework depicting financial exclusion in India. This paper only gives a framework of barriers and does not quantify the effect of any relationship identified, but strongly emphasizes granting the Indian agriculture sector broad and simple financial access to advance and strengthen the nation's sustainable, inclusive economic growth.

This article aims to review the latest management developments across the globe and pinpoint practical implications from cutting‐edge research and case studies.

The briefing is prepared by an independent writer who adds their own impartial comments and places the articles in context.

Creating the biggest steel company in the world is quite an achievement. Creating the conditions to ensure that the businesses within it restructure and merge into one coherent enterprise is a daunting task. When Arcelor and Mittal Steel merged in 2006, the new ArcelorMittal found itself with a genuinely global reach, with large workforces located in mature markets like the USA and Western Europe, as well as emerging markets, such as Brazil, China, Kazakhstan and Ukraine.

The article provides strategic insights and practical thinking that have influenced some of the world's leading organizations.

The briefing saves busy executives and researchers hours of reading time by selecting only the very best, most pertinent information and presenting it in a condensed and easy‐to‐digest format.

This paper aims to find the numerical solution of planar and non-planar Burgers’ equation and analysis of the shock behave.

First, the authors discritize the time-dependent term using Crank–Nicholson finite difference approximation and use quasilinearization to linearize the nonlinear term then apply Scale-2 Haar wavelets for space integration. After applying this scheme on partial differential, the equation transforms into a system of algebraic equation. Then, the system of equation is solved using Gauss elimination method.

Present method is the extension of the method (Jiwari, 2012). The numerical solutions using Scale-2 Haar wavelets prove that the proposed method is reliable for planar and non-planar nonlinear Burgers’ equation and yields results better than other methods and compatible with the exact solutions.

The numerical results for non-planar Burgers’ equation are very sparse. In the present paper, the authors identify where the shock wave and discontinuity occur in planar and non-planar Burgers’' equation.

Information and communication technologies can work wonders for the social as well as economic empowerment of rural people, when implemented successfully. This paper aims to explore and compare the functioning of two ICT models, one each in the public as well as the private sector, in a rural area of MP state in India, identify the usage of various services by stakeholders, i.e. farmers, study the existing need‐service gap and highlight constraints and challenges in the implementation of these models at the field level.

The study is based on both secondary and primary data. The case study method has been used for describing the two models and has been supplemented with the primary data collected in the form of structured questionnaires and interviews from respondents comprising both users/non‐users and kiosk operators respectively.

The study finds that there exists a need‐service gap in service delivery. The information services related to agriculture, i.e. agri input prices, markets arrivals and prices, weather information are valued most by the farmers followed by e‐governance services, health and education. Barriers to adoption of these technologies have also been discussed.

The research is case study‐based and also gives the results of a survey of beneficiaries; therefore it is very useful for managers, policymakers, implementers as well as academicians. The research provides implications for managers as well as policy makers to successfully implement the ICT models in India. Implications for future research are also discussed.

The novelty of the research lies in the context that no effort has been made so far to effect a comparison of ICT models. There is also very little literature available to identify the need‐service gap in this area. The study adds value to the knowledge in the field of ICTs for development and also opens new vistas of research.

The purpose of this study is to develop an algorithm for approximate solutions of nonlinear hyperbolic partial differential equations.

In this paper, an algorithm based on the Haar wavelets operational matrix for computational modelling of nonlinear hyperbolic type wave equations has been developed. These types of equations describe a variety of physical models in nonlinear optics, relativistic quantum mechanics, solitons and condensed matter physics, interaction of solitons in collision-less plasma and solid-state physics, etc. The algorithm reduces the equations into a system of algebraic equations and then the system is solved by the Gauss-elimination procedure. Some well-known hyperbolic-type wave problems are considered as numerical problems to check the accuracy and efficiency of the proposed algorithm. The numerical results are shown in figures and Linf, RMS and L2 error forms.

The developed algorithm is used to find the computational modelling of nonlinear hyperbolic-type wave equations. The algorithm is well suited for some well-known wave equations.

This paper extends the idea of one dimensional Haar wavelets algorithms (Jiwari, 2015, 2012; Pandit et al., 2015; Kumar and Pandit, 2014, 2015) for two-dimensional hyperbolic problems and the idea of this algorithm is quite different from the idea for elliptic problems (Lepik, 2011; Shi et al., 2012). Second, the algorithm and error analysis are new for two-dimensional hyperbolic-type problems.

The purpose of this paper is to present strategic responses of leading Indian pesticide manufacturers to the voice of stakeholders and regulatory authorities regarding environment friendly products and processes. The study has made a unique attempt to analyze the product portfolio of selected Indian vs multinational companies with respect to market attractiveness as well as environmental attractiveness.

A comparison of corporate, business and operational level strategies of domestic vs multinational companies impacting environment has been made by selecting two companies of each type from the industry on the basis of their turnover. The product portfolios of selected companies have been analyzed on the basis of a matrix constructed for market attractiveness and environmental attractiveness.

The study finds that both domestic and multinational companies have been making efforts to reorient their product strategy towards a relatively greener portfolio. Also, multinationals are having more environmentally safer products than their domestic counterparts. Indian firms have been catching up by acquiring brands/companies to expand/reorient their product portfolios, whereas multinationals have been adopting merger and acquisition strategies as well as launching new products using indigenous research and development of their parent companies. Related diversification is the preferred strategic move by both the groups, though in different areas.

The study classifies the products of various companies on the basis of market as well as environmental attractiveness and also recommends the strategies to manage a product portfolio. Similar kind of portfolios could be constructed and used for analyzing the product mix of firms in other sectors.

The originality of the study lies in the fact that, although the pesticide industry is very important to study from both an environmental and a strategic perspective, no effort has ever been made to study the environmental strategies of firms and also the comparison of domestic as well as multinational firms. The product portfolio based on market as well as environmental attractiveness devised in the study is novel in nature.