Sunita Guru, Anamika Sinha and Pradeep Kautish
The study aims to facilitate the medical tourists visiting emerging countries for various kinds of ailments by ranking the possible destinations to avail medical treatments.
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to facilitate the medical tourists visiting emerging countries for various kinds of ailments by ranking the possible destinations to avail medical treatments.
Design/methodology/approach
A Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process (FAHP) with a mixed-method approach is applied to analyze data collected from patients and substantiate it with medical tour operators in India to gain managerial insights on the choice-making patterns of the patients.
Findings
India is a preferred emerging market location due to the low cost and high medical staff quality. India offers value for money, whereas Singapore and Thailand are preferred destinations for quality and technology.
Research limitations/implications
The study will facilitate the emerging markets' governments, hospitals and medical tourists to understand the importance of various determinants responsible for availing medical treatment outside their country.
Practical implications
The study recommends that cost and quality care are the patients' prime focus; government policies must provide clear guidelines on what the hospitals and country environment can offer and accordingly align the marketing strategies.
Originality/value
This study is the first attempt to rank various factors affecting medical tourism using the FAHP approach.
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Sunita Guru, Subir Verma, Pratibha Baheti and Vishal Dagar
The successive waves of the Covid-19 SARS-II pandemic and the attendant lockdown imposed by the governments worldwide drove the economic activities to a halt. Offices and…
Abstract
Purpose
The successive waves of the Covid-19 SARS-II pandemic and the attendant lockdown imposed by the governments worldwide drove the economic activities to a halt. Offices and factories closed, production of goods and services declined and supply chains got severely disrupted. Many companies were embattled with the grim reality of shrinkage of aggregate demand, first due to supply shock and later due to loss of jobs and wages. Amidst all this, the handling and shipping of commodities became extremely complex. As the pandemic shifted consumer preference in favour of digital platforms, more and more fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies were confronted with multiple strategies and choices of an appropriate distribution channel to ensure smooth delivery of raw materials and products. The present study aims to study this shift and its implications in the Indian context.
Design/methodology/approach
A mix-method approach, integrating quantitative and qualitative analysis, is employed to investigate the factors influencing the selection of distribution channels amongst general trade, modern trade, e-commerce and hyperlocal for FMCG companies in India. The first phase of the study uses exploratory factor analysis (EFA), followed by the application of analytical hierarchy process (AHP) approach in a fuzzy environment to realise the priority weights and ranking of the identified factors. Finally, sensitivity analysis is performed to confirm the robustness of the fuzzy analytical hierarchy process (FAHP) outcomes.
Findings
The study revealed that modern trade has emerged as the most favoured channel in the post-pandemic Indian economy. It has the potential to disrupt general trade. The study also revealed that the hyperlocal delivery model is not economically viable, and the partnership of FMCG companies with these applications is at best a short-term solution. However, it must be submitted that due to its sheer capability to ensure quick deliveries within a confined geographic area, hyperlocal delivery will gain momentum with the advancement of technology.
Originality/value
This study can be seen as the first attempt to investigate the issues related to the selection of the distribution channels in the FMCG sector of India using multi-criteria decision-making technique (MCDM).
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Jitesh J. Thakkar, Shashank Thanki and Sunita Guru
The present situation of COVID-19 pandemic has put the health-care systems under tremendous stress and stringent tests for their ability to offer expected quality of health-care…
Abstract
Purpose
The present situation of COVID-19 pandemic has put the health-care systems under tremendous stress and stringent tests for their ability to offer expected quality of health-care services, as it decides the sustainability and growth of health-care service providers. This study aims to deliver a quantitative framework for service quality assessment in the health-care industry by classifying the health-care service quality parameters into four balanced scorecard (BSC) perspectives.
Design/methodology/approach
To determine the service quality for the Indian health-care system, decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory and analytical network process are integrated in a fuzzy environment to contemplate the interaction among BSC perspectives and respective performance measures.
Findings
The results indicate “internal processes” perspective assumes the key role within BSC perspectives, while performance measures “nursing staff turnover” and “staff training” play the key roles. The results also signify that “patient satisfaction” is the most vital issue and can be strongly influenced by measures belonging to the “learning and growth” perspective. In “learning and growth” perspective, “staff training” is the most decisive criteria, very highly influencing “patient satisfaction”, highly influencing “profitability,” “change of cost per patient (both in and out patients)” and “outpatient waiting time” while moderately influencing “staff satisfaction,” “bed occupancy” and “nursing staff turnover”. Moreover, “staff training” criteria have a positive influence on “nursing staff turnover.”
Originality/value
The contributions of this study are in two folds in the domain of quantification of service quality for the health-care system. First, it delivers an assessment framework for Indian health-care service quality. Second, it demonstrates an application of the framework for a case situation and validates the proposed framework.
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Shashank Thanki, Sunita Guru and Bhavin Shah
Popularity of organic food and food products is growing across the globe due to rising awareness towards health and environment, leading to quality life. However, the multitude of…
Abstract
Purpose
Popularity of organic food and food products is growing across the globe due to rising awareness towards health and environment, leading to quality life. However, the multitude of challenges associated with the purchase and consumption of organic food remain insufficiently addressed within the context of developing nations, such as India. This study attempts to fill this gap by identifying the crucial barriers and analyzing them further to establish contextual relationships among them.
Design/methodology/approach
In total, 18 barriers identified with a literature review are classified into 6 major barriers (constructs) using exploratory factor analysis (EFA). Further, fuzzy decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory (DEMATEL) approach is employed to relegate these barriers and sub-barriers into the cause-and-effect group. Moreover, causal relationships among these barriers are also established to assist organic food producers and food processing industries in developing the strategies to overcome these barriers.
Findings
The study results indicate that “acceptability,” “preferability” and “reachability” are the most prominent barriers. Moreover, “reachability’ is the leading cause group barrier, while “acceptability” is the major effect group barrier. “Usualness,” “visibility” and “readiness” of the organic food exhibit significant challenges in the organic food consumption.
Practical implications
The findings of this study act as a roadmap and guiding principle for various stakeholders, such as organic food manufacturers, organic food processing industries, government policymaking bodies and food certification agencies, in organizations and government regulatory agencies for devising and implementing targeted strategies to enhance the accessibility, appeal and, in turn, adoption and consumption of organic foods. This successively contributes to broader efforts in improving public health and ensuring sustainable agricultural practices.
Originality/value
The contribution of this study is two-fold. First, it investigates the interdependences among the organic food consumption barriers. Second, it provides policy-related recommendations to enhance the consumption of organic food, especially in India.
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Pradeep Kautish, Sunita Guru and Anamika Sinha
The purpose of this study is to survey the associations among innovation perspective on value priorities, i.e. hedonic vs utilitarian facets, satisfaction among customers and…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to survey the associations among innovation perspective on value priorities, i.e. hedonic vs utilitarian facets, satisfaction among customers and behavioral intents for online fashion apparels in the Asian economic context, i.e. Indian market.
Design/methodology/approach
The research used a hypo-deductive strategy and all the constructs were amended from the previous scholarly work. The two-step methodology with structural equation modelling in terms of covariance-based methodology was deployed to weigh the measurement and structural models.
Findings
The conclusions reveal that value priorities in terms of hedonic vs utilitarian dimensions have a substantial influence on satisfaction, and satisfaction significantly affects intentions for online apparels. Additionally, customer satisfaction performs the role of a partial facilitator between hedonic and utilitarian values and purchase intents. In comparison to hedonic, utilitarian priorities display a superior outcome on customer satisfaction and purchase intents for fashion apparels getting sold online portals.
Research limitations/implications
The research will facilitate online researchers and fashion managers recognize the underlying dimensions of innovation-led perspectives on values, i.e. hedonic vs utilitarian, for satisfaction and behavioral intents.
Practical implications
The study results will assist online marketers, fashion portals and specialists recognize the characteristics of hedonic vs utilitarian dimensions to improve satisfaction facets and behavioral intents for online fashion apparels.
Social implications
The present scholarly work presents useful insights related to social transformation with respect to innovative online fashion apparel buying paradigms.
Originality/value
In an Asian market context, the paper is pioneer work to examine the comparative relationships among value priorities, e.g. hedonic vs utilitarian dimensions and their influence on satisfaction and purchase intents for the fashion apparels sold online sector a two-dimensional measure of consumption values.
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Sunita Deswal, Devender Sheoran and Kapil Kumar Kalkal
The purpose of this paper is to establish a model of two-dimensional half-space problem of linear, isotropic, homogeneous, initially stressed, rotating thermoelastic medium with…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to establish a model of two-dimensional half-space problem of linear, isotropic, homogeneous, initially stressed, rotating thermoelastic medium with microtemperatures. The expressions for different physical variables such as displacement distribution, stress distribution, temperature field and microtemperatures are obtained in the physical domain.
Design/methodology/approach
Normal mode analysis technique is adopted to procure the exact solution of the problem.
Findings
Numerical computations have been carried out with the help of MATLAB programming, and the results are illustrated graphically. Comparisons are made to show the effects of rotation, time and microtemperatures on the resulting quantities. The graphical results indicate that the effects of rotation, microtemperatures and time are very pronounced on the field variables.
Originality/value
In the present work, we have investigated the effects of rotation, time and microtemperature in an initially stressed thermoelastic medium. Although various investigations do exist to observe the disturbances in a thermoelastic medium under the effects of different parameters, the work in its present form, i.e. the disturbances in a thermoelastic medium in the presence of angular velocity, initial stress and microtemperature have not been studied till now. The present work is useful and valuable for analysis of problems involving coupled thermal shock, rotation parameter, microtemperatures and elastic deformation.
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Reetika Goyal, Sunita Deswal and Kapil Kumar Kalkal
In the framework of GN-II theory, this paper aims to address the plane wave propagation in a two-dimensional homogeneous, transversely isotropic magneto-thermoelastic medium with…
Abstract
Purpose
In the framework of GN-II theory, this paper aims to address the plane wave propagation in a two-dimensional homogeneous, transversely isotropic magneto-thermoelastic medium with rotation and voids.
Design/methodology/approach
To investigate the problem, the fundamental governing equations are modified in the purview of Green-Naghdi theory without energy dissipation. These equations are converted to non-dimensional form using dimensionless quantities and are further solved to obtain four quasi plane waves travelling with different phase speeds in the considered medium. Amplitude ratios and energy ratios have been provided in explicit form after implementing the proper boundary conditions.
Findings
Numerical calculations are carried out using MATLAB software. For graphical representation of the expressions for phase velocities, reflection coefficients and energy ratios, a particular material is chosen to demonstrate the effects of magnetic field, rotation and void parameter.
Originality/value
The reflection coefficients are strongly affected by rotation, void parameter and magnetic field, as evidenced by conceptual and numerical findings. For validation of this study, the outcomes have also been compared to earlier published studies. In addition, it has also been established that the energy conservation law is also justified during the reflection phenomena. In the current research, the authors have included rotation and magnetic field in a transversely isotropic thermoelastic medium having voids, which has not yet been addressed in the published research. The results of current problem are very useful in a number of fields, such as soil dynamics, geophysical processes, chemical engineering and petroleum sector.
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Sohit Jatain, Sunita Deswal and Kapil Kumar Kalkal
The purpose of this paper is to establish a two-dimensional model of Green–Lindsay theory for micropolar magneto-thermoelastic medium to study the photothermal effect. The model…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to establish a two-dimensional model of Green–Lindsay theory for micropolar magneto-thermoelastic medium to study the photothermal effect. The model is used to study the coupling between elastic waves and plasma waves generated due to thermal changes in a micropolar elastic medium.
Design/methodology/approach
Normal mode analysis is used to obtain the analytical solutions of the governing equations.
Findings
Effects of magnetic field, micropolarity, photothermal and time are highlighted on various physical fields such as stresses, temperature, displacement and carrier density. The above physical fields also conform to the boundary conditions. It is further observed that all the physical quantities become zero outside some bounded region of space, thus confirming the notion of generalized theory of thermoelasticity.
Originality/value
The values of physical fields are computed numerically using MATLAB software considering material constants for silicon. Furthermore, the effects are depicted graphically and analyzed accordingly. The study is valuable for the analysis of thermoelastic problems involving magnetic field, micropolarity and elastic deformations.
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Shilpa Chaudhary, Sunita Deswal and Sandeep Singh Sheoran
This study aims to analyse the behaviour of plane waves within a nonlocal transversely isotropic visco-thermoelastic medium having variable thermal conductivity.
Abstract
Purpose
This study aims to analyse the behaviour of plane waves within a nonlocal transversely isotropic visco-thermoelastic medium having variable thermal conductivity.
Design/methodology/approach
The concept of enunciation is used in the generalized theory of thermoelasticity in accordance with the Green–Lindsay and Eringen’s nonlocal elasticity models. The linear viscoelasticity model developed by Kelvin–Voigt is used to characterize the viscoelastic properties of transversely isotropic materials.
Findings
It has been noticed that three plane waves, which are coupled together, travel through the medium at three different speeds. The derivation of reflection coefficients and energy ratios for reflected waves is carried out by incorporating suitable boundary conditions. Numerical computations are performed for the amplitude ratios, phase speeds and energy partition and displayed in graphical form.
Originality/value
The outcomes of the numerical simulation demonstrate that the amplitude ratios are significantly influenced by variable thermal conductivity, nonlocal parameters and viscosity. It is further observed from the plots that the phase speeds in a transversely isotropic medium depend on the angle of incidence. In addition, it has been established that the energy is preserved during the reflection phenomenon.
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Subhash C. Kundu and Sunita Rani
– The main purpose of the study was to assess the entrepreneurial orientation based on personality and attitude of female aspirant human resources in India.
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of the study was to assess the entrepreneurial orientation based on personality and attitude of female aspirant human resources in India.
Design/methodology/approach
For collecting primary data, the scale on entrepreneurial attitude orientation developed by Robinson et al. (1991) was used. Statistical tools such as correlations, analysis of variance, means, grand means, standard deviations and percentages were used for the analysis of the primary data gathered from 500 female respondents.
Findings
The results showed the highest score of the female respondents on the achievement motivation as compared to other three personality descriptors and lowest but positive score on the self-esteem dimension. Among attitude components, the cognition had emerged as highest. MBAs showed comparatively less entrepreneurial orientation than other categories of female aspirants. Results indicated that lower age, lower educational qualifications and high socioeconomic status supported the entrepreneurship.
Research limitations/implications
The study was limited to only four personality traits and three attitude components. Another limitation of the study was that the data were collected from North India that could have been collected from the wider area.
Practical implications
The study will be helpful to the female aspirant participants to decide whether to choose managerial or entrepreneurial careers. By taking cues from this study, educators can build curriculum and develop programs to encourage and empower future female entrepreneurs.
Originality/value
Inclusion of Indian female aspirants of different backgrounds will definitely add value to the existing knowledge, management theory and practice.