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This case is a narrative of the acquisition of HIRA, a healthcare IT startup, by Conversant, a large global consulting powerhouse from a few years back. The clash of two different company cultures, their conflicting business strategies, different IT infrastructures, and very different customer sets created significant challenges in their integration after the acquisition. The case requires the reader to analyze the initial backlash from multiple stakeholders and then to formulate an integration project and systems architecture to successfully support the aligned business goals. The strategic vision of the merger provides an articulation of the ideal state of resource usage (human and technology) and a context for decision-making to select joint strategic initiatives to implement in order to achieve the desired integration successfully. When HIRA was acquired by Conversant, a global conglomerate with significant offshore personnel, a service area of HIRA needed to be automated to improve their business profitability. This was more easily conceptualized and realized when HIRA leaders applied metrics to their information technology service management processes. This complex integration project could only succeed through the active participation and leadership of both companies and by carefully addressing their conflicting strategies, policies, cultures, technology and human resources.

AbstractThis meta-analytic review conceptualises and synthesises the study factors related to this phenomenon to effectively comprehend online purchasing intention. This study’s "online purchase intention" concerns consumers’ propensity or likelihood to purchase via online channels. This review develops a conceptual framework that clarifies the aspects influencing online purchase intention by analysing pertinent data. The variables under investigation encompass usefulness, ease of use, congruence, trust, security, e-WOM and many other demographics and contextual factors. The potential moderators were also identified, and the moderating effect is validated in the study variable as framed in the conceptual framework. This review contributes to the field by offering valuable insights into the determinants of online purchase intention, enabling marketers and researchers to devise effective strategies to optimise consumer behaviour in the online shopping domain.

The rapid economic progress of Bangladesh is associated with a swiftly rising demand and energy consumption. Future economic growth will undoubtedly require a proportionate increase in energy availability within affordable prices. Bangladesh is inherently energy-scarce and heavily dependent on imported energy, primarily fossil fuels. Several approaches and strategies were attempted over time to mitigate the energy shortage. Some of them were reasonably successful, while others failed. In this study, we first examine the historical developments of the energy sector in Bangladesh since its independence and then use three approaches--triple exponential smoothing, vector autoregression, and the Cochrane-Orcutt AR(1) process to forecast the energy demand. Data for this study were taken from various sources, including British Petroleum, International Gas Union, International Energy Agency, Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, World Bank, Petrobangla, and Energy Information Agency of the United States. As expected, each model predicts an exponential growth of energy demand in Bangladesh. We then explored the possibilities of mitigating such projected energy demand. Various studies show that Bangladesh has some potential for producing energy from renewable sources, i.e., solar, hydro, wind, wave, and others. However, such possibilities are limited, and many are still in their infancy. Although an increase in renewable energy is desirable from an environmental perspective, it alone will not meet Bangladesh's growing energy demand. At least in the short term, Bangladesh must rely on imported fossil energy. Among the fossil energy sources, LNG is by far the cleanest. With the development of technology, liquefaction, transportation, and regasification, LNG production, transportation, and use are becoming less expensive. Progressively more natural gas-producing countries are joining LNG production and export, contributing to the market's competitiveness. Though historically tied to the oil market, LNG markets are becoming more and more independent because of the increasing number of participants from both the demand and supply sides. Given that both its global price and negative impact on the environment are relatively lower than other fossil fuels, imported LNG should be the fuel of choice for Bangladesh. Government policies should focus on both importing LNG and expanding renewable energy resources. JEL Classifications: Q41, Q47, and Q48 Keywords: energy demand, energy forecasting, Bangladesh, INTRODUCTION The economic progress of Bangladesh has been remarkable since it achieved independence in 1971. The improvement in per capita income, electricity production and consumption, literacy rate, unemployment, poverty rates, [...]

The interlinkages between housing and credit markets can be critical for financial and overall macroeconomic stability. This paper empirically examines the impact of housing prices and expectations on debt buildups. These linkages are analyzed for a set of 41 countries that includes 28 developed and 13 developing countries using dynamic panel estimation over the sample period from 1997:Q1 to 2020:Q1. The findings indicate that the amount of credit generated in an economy is significantly related to housing and equity prices (indicators of sentiments and expectations) in developed and developing economies.

Purpose – The study aims to focus to ascertain the consequence of corporate management and different firms' characteristics on environmental sustainability. Design/methodology/approach – The sample includes 78 non-financial NSE 100 listed companies from 2010 to 2020. Here, the static and Arellano–Bond dynamic panel data model is considered to determine the effect of corporate governance mechanisms and different firms’ characteristics on environmental performance. Findings – The empirical findings of this study indicate that board size is negatively related with environmental sustainability. Similarly a positive influence of age, size and market-based financial performance can be seen on sustainability of the firm. Originality/value – The present study takes an initiative to determine endogeneity and the dynamism effect of corporate governance factors and specific firms' characteristics on environmental sustainability from an emergent nation.

Purpose – This paper aims to investigate the relationship between general attitude toward advertising and consumers' purchase intention. The relationship between cognitive attitude, intrusiveness attitude, evaluative judgments, affective response and general attitude toward ad was examined. Furthermore, reliability as a moderator in the relationship between cognitive attitude, intrusiveness attitude, evaluative judgments, and affective response and the general attitude toward ad were studied. Design/methodology/approach – Data from women consumers who subscribe to fashion magazines in India were collected and analyzed using a structured survey instrument. Women were selected because the products were related to women, including facial and body-care products, women sportswear, shampoos, lipstick, handbags, etc. Unit of analysis in this research is “observations,” and in all, 400 data points were analyzed, and to test hypothesized relationships, hierarchical regression and logistic regression were employed. Findings – A conceptual model is developed and tested where (1) cognitive attitude toward ad, intrusiveness, evaluative judgments and affective responses are related to general attitude toward ad, and (2) general attitude toward ad is related to purchase intention. The hierarchical regression results show that (1) reliability moderates the relationship between cognitive attitude, intrusiveness, affective responses and general attitude toward ad. The logistic regression results support the positive relationship between general attitude toward ad and purchase intention. Research limitations/implications – Since the present research is based on self-report measures, the limitations of social desirability bias and common method bias are inherent. Second, this research focuses only on women consumers and products purchased by women. The research has implications for literature on advertising, especially women-related products. Practical implications – This study contributes to practicing managers who are interested in promoting the women-related products. This study highlights the importance of general attitude toward ad as a precursor for consumers purchase intention. The study provides justification for enormous amounts of money invested in fashion advertising because of their effects on consumer behavior. Originality/value – This study provides new insights about the effects reliability on general attitude toward ad and consumers' purchase intention. The conceptual model developed in this study adds novelty by considering reliability as a moderator, in addition to the direct relationships which have been studied by earlier researchers.

Purpose – The outbreak and the spreading of the COVID-19 pandemic have impacted the global financial sector, including the alternative clean and renewable energy sector. This paper aims to assess the impact of the pandemic, COVID-19 on the stock market indices of the clean energy sector using quantile regression methods. Design/methodology/approach – This study utilized daily data sets on the four major categories of stocks: (1) Morgan Stanley Capital International Global Alternative Energy Index, (2) WilderHill Clean Energy Index, (3) Renewable Energy Industrial Index (RENIXX) and (4) the S&P 500 Global Clean Index. The study adopts a multifactor capital asset pricing model. Findings – Clean and alternative energy stocks are powerful instruments for diversification. However, the impact of the volatility index induced by infectious disease is negative and significant across quantiles. Practical implications – For investors and policymakers, considering how the uncertainty caused by COVID-19 and the geopolitical index influences renewable energy markets is of great practical importance. For investors, it throws insights into portfolio diversification. For policy makers, it helps to devise strategies to reboot the economy along the lines of the deployment of renewables. This study sheds light on a global green-energy transition and has practical implications for renewable energy resilience in post-pandemic times. Originality/value – This paper can be considered as a pioneer that explores the nexus between oil prices, interest rates, volatility index, and geopolitical risk upon the stock indices of clean and alternative sources of (renewable) energy in the COVID-19 pandemic situation. The results have important insights into the area of energy and policy decision-making. Additionally, the paper's novelty lies in using the explanatory variables associated with the Covid 19 pandemic.

The industrial relations (IR) environment in India and its labour market, have been undergoing significant transformations in multiple domains for around two decades after the economic liberalization. Gillan and Lambert (2013) observe several restructurings at the workplace level in the country. These include, among others, farming out job functions or services to any third party through outsourcing, engaging contract labour in the organized sector, the tendency among managers to avoid acknowledging the right of trade unions to collectively bargain and the prevalence of voluntary retirement schemes for having numerical flexibility of the workforce.

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to analyze how product placement through social media influencers (SMIs) during “new normal” can generate user-generated content (UGC) and determine the manners of product placement by SMIs who have become “homefluencers” by their skills. Design/methodology/approach – This research applies a qualitative approach of thematic content analysis of a total of 49 micro and nano-homefluencer's contents in beauty fashion, clothing, workout-yoga, food and lifestyle sectors on Instagram. Findings – The findings of this study identify the main five themes of homefluencers by analyzing UGC in the new normal portraying both positive and negative comments incorporating four manners of product placement as a framework backed by two identified skills: relevance and relationship. Research limitations/implications – This research pioneers the study on how SMIs as “homefluencers” can adapt product placement skills in crises strengthening UGC by proposing a framework in the existing influencer marketing literature, where research is scarce. Practical implications – The findings of this research represent a guideline for effective SMI marketing development in the new normal and post-COVID. Based on the findings, recommendations are provided for the brand managers and influencers uplifting UGC blending skill of relevancy and relationship in product placement. Originality/value – The author has contributed to the body of research by qualitatively analyzing how “homefluencer's” product placement in a crisis period can manage consistency and humanitarian association amplifying UGC and the practical implications in post-COVID.

Professionalisation of the roles that union officials play necessitates certain competencies in them to increase union effectiveness. This paper attempts to understand managerial competencies for union officials in the Indian context. Adopting an interdisciplinary approach, we developed a “mixed model” by matching competencies of student activists with those of union officials. Behavioural event interviews conducted with thirty-six union officials led to a competency dictionary with four competencies: result orientation, aligning critical constituencies, networking skills, and effective feedback sharing. Resting on the classical competency theories which have not seen application in industrial relations (IR) scholarship, this paper provides an actionable path to enhance union effectiveness.

The association of property liability insurance (PLI) consumption with economic growth in the post liberalized era has already been established justifying the need to analyze the economic factors which lead to PLI development. The empirical examination reveals that income and trade development have a positive relation with PLI consumption whereas negative relationship is obtained for interest rate movement and financial development. However, inconclusive relation is derived for infrastructure development and price of insurance. The findings will assist the policymakers, insurance regulator and insurance statutory body in stimulating PLI consumption by focusing on the identified economic factors and devise policies to support the growth in PLI sector.

Use of prefabrication in construction projects is increasing due to the benefits in cost, time, quality, and safety. However, utilizing prefabrication introduces uncertainties inherent with the supply chain of the process. These uncertainties, if not managed, can disrupt the prefabrication process and result in schedule delays and cost overruns. This study proposes a model to measure disruption risks in the prefabrication process. The model was used in measuring the disruption risks of prefabrication of headwalls in patients’ rooms for a healthcare project as a pilot study. The risk model could successfully identify the disruption risks originating anywhere in the supply chain based on input information such as required material quantity, batch sizes of material deliveries, production rates, and batch sizes of transporting the headwall units. Using the model, the project team identified two uncertainties that could lead to possible disruptions: the start of the prefabrication processes and the required production rate to meet the on-site schedule. This is a first step to developing a risk exposure model that can prove valuable to the risk managers to analyse and manage the impact of disruptions. This will help the risk managers in making informed decisions about where to focus their limited resources.

Covid 19 or the Novel Corona Virus outbreak in 2020 has disrupted the world and Indian economy. Tourism industry has suffered the most due to this outbreak. The hotel industry stocks have experience an average fall of twenty three percent within a month of the Covid 19 outbreak. With the help of event-study approach, an attempt has been made to analyse the effect of Covid 19 on Indian hotel stock price movements. Six publicly traded hotel and tourism companies experience a steep fall in their stock prices during the Covid 19 outbreak period. On and after the day the World Health Organisation declared Covid 19 a pandemic, Indian hotel stocks exhibited significant negative cumulative mean abnormal returns, indicating a significant impact of the Covid 19 outbreak on hotel stock performance. Empirical finding can enable Businesses to prepare themselves for alternate uses like isolation wards and save themselves from economic plight.

Video-on-demand (V-o-D) service is quickly establishing its presence in the online entertainment sector. Therefore, it becomes imperative to understand the parameters used by consumers to evaluate V-o-D service quality. Though the service literature has an ample of studies discussing the service quality of various service sector, and their corresponding effects on consumer behaviour, little is known about the dimensions of V-o-D service quality. We address this gap by conducting a robust review of literature to identify the prospective parameters attributing to V-o-D service quality and propose their influence on various dimensions of consumer value such as functional, social, emotional, epistemic, and conditional. Thereafter, the effect of value on loyalty dimensions such as conative and action is examined. These inter-construct relationships explored and identified through the literature review are validated through interview of a small sample of V-o-D consumers.

Purpose – This paper attempts to investigate through empirical exercise how the chances of female employment opportunities rise in a developing country like India, against the backdrop of changes in institutions that are associated with globalization. Design/methodology/approach – The paper develops a simultaneous equation model through a growth equation, gender equation and globalization equation to identify the factors impacting female labor market opportunities in India, based on annual time series data 1991–2019. Findings – The major results of this study are as follows: (1) It is social globalization that positively impacts gender equality in employment opportunities apart from economic growth and trade diversification; (2) Evidence of “feminization of labor force” in the context of trade diversification is found; and (3) Equal gender opportunities reflect in equalizing outcomes in the labor market. Practical implications – Growth strategies need to be constructed in such a way in India that it has redistributive implications and benefits women. The state agency needs to optimize the productive base of human resources and increase women's empowering capability through social and legal sanctions. Originality/value – The uniqueness of the present paper lies in contributing to the existing literature on how gender inequality impacts trade diversification and how trade diversification impacts gender.

Abstract Investment is the procedure of allocating funds in order to produce earnings. In the process of investment, risk and return forms the two sides of a same currency. The term “investment return” is commonly used to compute the effectiveness of an investment. Alternatively, known as “Return on Investment” also helps to appraise the competency of diverse investments at a particular point of time. The focal goal of the cram is to appraise the brunt of investment income at aggregate level that are generated by the service sector in Indian CPSEs from 2010-11 to 2019-20. For this purpose, seven industries are considered on aggregative basis. To analyze the resultant data, both accounting and statistical tools are applied in the study. The results of the study reveal significant positive impact with respect to return on equity in the service sector. This implies that service sector has played an imperative role in the financial growth process of the economy. To earn more returns on investment, the Government should adopt necessary measures like minimization of preset interest cost obligation, efficient use of inner resources and optimization of outfitted efficiency. Key Words: Disinvestment, Impact, Indian CPSEs, Investment Returns, Service Sector.

This paper aims to analyse the determinants affecting the trading of services and examine the causality between the trading of services and the factors affecting the trade. For the study, the fixed effects panel data regression has been used. The results indicate that as the income of a country increases, its trade in services also increases. The use of the internet and mobile phones are also important indicators of trade in services and an increase in their use reduces the cost of trading services. Free trade agreements play an important role in developing countries like Brazil and China for trading services. The paper has been organized as follows –the first section gives a brief introduction about services and the objectives of the study, the second section is a discussion about the existing literature, section three gives the data and methodology used for this study, the fourth section provides the results and analysis, section five concludes the study, and the last section discusses some of the limitations of the study.

Purpose – This paper aims to propose a classroom teaching orchestration technique, analogically drawing a reference from the movie, Prestige (2006). The generation of post-millennials has shorter attention span and motivation and prefers a learner-centric teaching style. This paper attempts to mitigate such challenges by bringing an analogy with a magic trick along with proposing a “divergent-convergent diamond structure” to anchor and synthesise teaching deliverables for the learners. Design/methodology/approach – This is a practitioner’s study where practical experiences of the authors have led to the conceptualisation of the central theme discussed. Findings – From a practitioner’s opinion and interpretation, the proposed “divergent-convergent diamond structure” has the potential to make postgraduate classes more engaging. The proposed structure may suggestively promote self-efficacy, trigger curious minds, bring relevance, indulge participatory learning and consolidate the concepts.

The paper attempts to identify the most influencing factors determining automobile industry growth in India. The paper takes into account a 19-year time period from 1998 to 2016 for 12 firms belonging to the automobile industry in India. The SCP model is used as a framework for examining the performance of the automobile industry. Unlike, the previous studies that are mostly time-series or cross-sectional analysis, the present study employs panel data analysis to measure the impact of selected determinants on automobile industry growth. The paper finds that labour and capital productivity, promotional measures, import intensity, fixed asset turnover, net profit margin and age of the firm as significant determinants of automobile industry growth in India. Further, the findings help to justify the impact of industrial policies on the growth of the industry during this time.

Purpose – This study aims to measure and further compare the countries in terms of the achievement in the degree of financial inclusion over the study period and between income groups considering 26 nations from Asia for the period 2013-2017. Design/methodology/approach – While measuring the degree of financial inclusion, the study prepares an index using weighted arithmetic mean and the inverse of the Euclidean distance method. Further, comparison between the study period and between the income groups has been made using the dependent samples t-test as well as the Wilcoxon signed-rank test and independent samples t-test, respectively. Findings – The study extends empirical insights by laying out the ranks for the countries considered for each of the study periods individually as well as in terms of mean financial inclusion scores for the study period. Further, comparison in terms of mean financial inclusion scores shows significant differences between the income groups, whereas the differences between the study periods turn out to be non-significant. Research limitations/implications – Less availability of intended variables over time restricts the predictive capability of sketching the phenomena in a true sense and claims further an exhaustive research to pursue in the future. Practical implications – With the declining trend except for 2016-2017 in the achievement of financial inclusion scores over time, the study suggests emphasizing the initiatives targeted to include the excluded within the ambit of the formal financial system, which somehow seems unstable. Originality/value – The novelty of the study lies in the portrayal of a measure that seems representative of the scale for development with deeper insight.

Book Review of: “International Trade Policies in the Era of Globalization”, Ahu Coşkun Özer (Ed). IGI Global. 2019. pp.363. ISBN13: 9781522595663 DOI:10.4018/978-1-5225-9566-3.

Corruption enables private gains for public purposes, violates democracy, and incapacitates the majority of people. Though under-discussed, business or corporate corruption rather flourishes from governments' various omissions and commissions. The field-responses in several parts of West Bengal, India reveal that people have sound understanding of both business and government corruption, but their individual efforts are too inadequate in countering corruption. Still, such awareness; and people's continued interest in politics sets the context before collective capability: by non-violent means, people need to use the state's space for asserting empowerment and agency; and revitalize the regulatory agencies, as countervailing forces for strengthening democracy's space against corruption. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The focus of this review is to exhibit a thorough analysis of prominent aspects in bond funds literature and their conceptual developments employing the trending bibliometric analysis. The study was conducted using the Scopus database, which found 354 scholarly documents during a 40-year period spanning from 1982 to 2021, revealing that the amount of research within these fields has a limited presence in the academic literature. The authors, the publications, thematic groups, distribution of keywords, country of publication, trends, and the papers most frequently cited are examined to get an explicit view of the extant research. Thus, the present review identifies the existing knowledge base, examines it, and demonstrates the visualizing patterns to capture the fact-based insight into trending themes in the amphitheater of bond funds. The review further explicitly identifies three research fronts, i.e. performance measures, risk approaches, and bond fund flows. Finally, the findings of the study would be a virtue for researchers, practitioners, and academicians to proceed to further explore the area for an overview of trends and their empirical investigation.

This Article examines the implications of the Eli Lilly case--and international investment law (IIL) more generally--for the operation of an international intellectual property (IP) regime that functions along the lines of the 'neo-federalist' model developed by Professors Dinwoodie and Dreyfuss. The neo-federalist model involves a world in which the international IP regime grants national political communities substantial discretion to pursue their own visions of the normatively proper balance between the rights of IP creators and of those who seek to use it. Importantly, that discretion involves the ability to alter the existing normative balance in either the direction of more or fewer rights for IP creators. Under this view, the international IP regime is not, and should not be construed, either as a universal and comprehensive IP 'code,' nor as a one-way ratchet that only permits member-state experimentation in favor of IP creators. Yet, that sort of systemic rigidity is precisely what the claimant in Eli Lilly sought to impose through the IIL regime. While it is true that the claimant, Eli Lilly, lost its case, a close reading of the award, along with an appreciation of the dynamics of IIL, suggests that substantial danger remains. Using Eli Lilly as a case study, this Article explores the challenges that the IIL system poses for the realization of the neo-federalist vision., I. INTRODUCTION 484 II. DEFINING 'SOCIALLY RESPONSIBLE' IP 487 III. CSR AS AN ADDITIONAL STRATEGY 490 A. The Importance of Multinational Corporations 493 B. International Legal Disputes 495 C. International [...]

ABSTRACT This paper describes the Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering Large Ensemble (GLENS) project, which promotes the use of a unique model dataset, performed with the Community Earth System Model, with the [...]