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PurposeShort-term changes in consumers' shopping behaviour due to the Covid-19 pandemic have been studied, but not the long-term effects. This study fills this gap by exploring the long-term changes in consumers' retail shopping behaviour, due to their experiences of the Covid-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachQualitative data were collected from one hundred fifty-nine respondents, and grounded theory approach was applied for interpretation. Gioia thematic analysis method, open coding, and axial coding were used for analysis.FindingsIndividuals who positively approached their experiences during the Covid-19 demonstrated increased pro-sustainable and pro-environmental self-identity, resulting in sustainable consumption and a shift to online shopping. Individuals having overpowering negative experiences demonstrated heightened fear of missing out (FOMO), loss aversion, and rumination. While shopping, they demonstrated herd behaviour and shifted to online shopping.Research limitations/implicationsThis study highlights emotional and psychological mechanisms influencing long-term changes in consumer shopping preferences post Covid-19 pandemic. The generalizability of the findings is limited due to the study's exploratory nature and the sample size.Originality/valueThis study contributes to shopping behaviour literature by uncovering novel constructs of self-identity, loss aversion, FOMO, and rumination as antecedents to long-term shopping behaviour changes post-Covid-19. It provides a new conceptual model of consumers' shopping behaviour, which may be empirically validated.

PurposeCOVID-19 pandemic-related Government restrictions on the movement of people resulted in consumers moving away from retail outlets. However, sporadic instances of an unexpected surge in retail buying happened across the world immediately after the lifting of such restrictions. This uncommon phenomenon, termed revenge buying, offered an opportunity to revive retail businesses. This paper applies Reactance Theory (RCT) and Self-determination Theory (SDT) to model consumers' revenge buying intentions.Design/methodology/approachData was collected from 384 respondents in India using validated scales. The study used structural equation modelling for model testing.FindingsCOVID-19 restrictions resulted in autonomy need frustration in consumers, which induced psychological reactance and perceived stress. Psychological reactance positively impacted, while perceived stress negatively impacted revenge buying intentions. Thus, revenge buying was observed only when the psychological reactance was more than perceived stress.Research limitations/implicationsThis study, conducted in only one country with a limited convenience sample, limits the generalizability of findings.Originality/valueThis research model the psychological consequences of need frustration to explain the sporadic incidences of revenge buying in retail outlets. Further, it proposes sales recovery strategies for retailers in the immediate post-pandemic market scenarios. Retailers' strategies should focus on alleviating stress and anxiety because of health concerns, highlighting the retail buying experience to stimulate the need to visit the outlet and positioning retail buying as a potential reactance response by consumers.

PurposeCOVID-19 disrupted the lives of consumers across the globe, and the retail sector has been one of the hardest hits. The impact of COVID-19 on consumers' retail choice behaviour and retailers' responses has been studied in detail through multiple lenses. Now that the effect of COVID-19 is abating, there is a need to consolidate the learnings during the lifecycle of COVID-19 and set the agenda for research post-COVID-19.Design/methodology/approachScopus database was searched to cull out academic papers published between March 2020 and June 6, 2022, using keywords; shopping behaviour, retailing, consumer behaviour, and retail channel choice along with COVID-19 (171 journals, 357 articles). Bibliometric analysis followed by selective content analysis was conducted.FindingsCOVID-19 was a black swan event that impacted consumers' psychology, leading to reversible and irreversible changes in retail consumer behaviour worldwide. Research on changes in consumer behaviour and consumption patterns has been mapped to the different stages of the COVID-19 lifecycle. Relevant research questions and potential theoretical lenses have been proposed for further studies.Originality/valueThis paper collates, classifies and organizes the extant research in retail from the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It identifies three retail consumption themes: short-term, long-term reversible and long-term irreversible changes. Research agenda related to the retailer and consumer behaviour is identified; for each of the three categories, facilitating the extraction of pertinent research questions for post-COVID-19 studies.

Infrastructure has a strong, positive correlation with economic growth, making it a preferred instrument for the government to achieve post-pandemic economic recovery. Other large economies too are similarly investing in infrastructure. Indian projects will thus need to compete with other global projects for financing, investors, technology and developers. It is therefore necessary to improve the attractiveness and marketability of India’s infrastructure projects by reducing risks and improving visibility of projects. With increased competition and changes in the environment, the risks of future cash flows from infrastructure investments have increased manifold. This paper examines the perceived risks in the entire lifecycle of infrastructure projects from infrastructure planning to project planning, bidding, implementation and operations along with best practices in each area. A long-term vision for the infrastructure development will provide visibility to projects for the current National Infrastructure Pipeline. The development of the entire project delivery ecosystem requires initiatives in capacity building in the technical, financial and entrepreneurial resources, and engagement with project affected people. Other desirable outcomes of infrastructure investments, for example, job creation, sustainability and reduction in disparity are also discussed. The paper presents a perspective for revitalizing infrastructure development in India so that its efficacy for post-pandemic economic recovery is enhanced.

PurposeThe purpose of the paper is to examine the role of institutional distance as a determinant of outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) from India. The study combines a nuanced view of institutional distance, with traditional location factors to analyze Indian OFDI flows to developed and emerging economies (EEs) during the period 2009 to 2017.Design/methodology/approachThe paper employs fixed effects panel regression model on an unbalanced panel data set.FindingsThe findings suggest that India's OFDI is undeterred by the isomorphic pressures caused by regulatory and normative institutional distance, but cognitive institutional distance acts as a deterrent in developed economies. Indian MNEs engage in institutional arbitrage as they simultaneously engage in strategies of institutional escapism and institutional exploitation. The study also finds that emerging economies have emerged as an important destination for strategic asset seeking FDI, in addition to developed economies.Practical implicationsThe findings of the study present important implications for policymakers and corporate managers. For policymakers, the study points toward the need for improving the general business environment at home to prevent escapist OFDI and trade enhancement as a tool to overcome cognitive barriers and behavioristic stereotypes. For corporate managers, the study's findings underline the importance of adopting different strategies for dealing with different isomorphic pressures in developed and emerging economies.Originality/valueThe study adds value to the sparse literature using the IBV in the emerging markets context, to supplement and enrich existing theoretical frameworks. It is a pioneering study in its use of institutional distance as an explanatory factor for Indian OFDI and provides evidence of institutional arbitrage.

In March 2018, Rajan joined Wondersmoke India Ltd (WIL) as a sales executive for their cigarette business in Odisha, India. Although there was good demand for Wondersmoke as per the internal customer survey report of WIL on Kendrapara district of Odisha, a lot of the time, the demand was not fulfilled as the retailers did not have sufficient stock owing to inadequate working capital. Rajan needed to increase the cigarette sales from retail outlets in Kendrapara by ensuring that there was no loss of sales due to the lack of working capital of the retailers. Further, he needed to achieve the desired sales performance without making any exception to the company policy of no credit.

The altering policy environment in emerging markets and the surge in their outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) calls for an empirical investigation. Accordingly, this paper examines the effect of home country macroeconomic conditions and Government policies on the OFDI flows from India during the period 1984 to 2015. Incorporating the structural breaks in the empirical model, results indicate the existence of a long-run relationship between OFDI flows and home country macroeconomic and Government policies. Government policies relating to foreign trade and investment and financial sector development are found to be significant determinants. The results also suggest the need for the Government to enhance its effort on the development of knowledge infrastructure in order to support the OFDI from India's manufacturing sector and thereby contribute to the success of “Make in India” programme. Policy implications are discussed.

Purpose This study aims to empirically examine the relationship between financial development and trade performance for the Indian economy through a time-series analysis with annual data over the period 1980-2016. Design/methodology/approach The study uses new econometrics techniques such as unit root tests in the presence of endogenous structural breaks and autoregressive-distributed lag bounds test for the analysis. Findings Empirical results reveal that the level of financial development has a significant positive impact on the exports, imports and trade balance of manufactured goods for the Indian economy. Practical implications The findings suggest that the positive effect of financial development on trade performance is a potential mechanism through which the former may affect overall income and growth rates. It also implies that standalone trade liberalisation policies are insufficient to increase Indian exports. Indian policymakers should, therefore, consider the implications of the next set of financial sector reforms on the country’s trade flows, besides their positive impact on the economic performance. The findings are particularly relevant in the present scenario when the export growth is decelerating and there is a marked slowdown in private credit flows because of the problem of non-performing assets. Originality/value This study is the first of its kind which provides a holistic analysis of the relationship between financial development and trade performance for the Indian economy and also investigates the direction of causality between financial development and international trade by considering the possible presence of multiple endogenous structural breaks in the data. Moreover, in contrast to the available literature, the present study focuses on net exports as a key indicator of trade performance rather than trade openness.

Helen Kensett, Sales Mind: 48 Tools to Help You Sell, 2016, Profile Books Ltd., 208 pp., ₹263. ISBN: 9781781256312 (Hardback).

Shyam Sundar, General Manager (Sales and Marketing) at Balram Beverages Pvt. Limited (BBPL), was pondering over the final decision regarding whom to offer the post of Deputy General Manager - Sales. Choice was between Sandeep, Arun and Vimal. Sandeep was an ex-employee of BBPL and had worked with Shyam from 2006 to 2015 as a Sales Manager - Route to Market. Arun Mohan was from a very reputed Indian fast moving consumer goods company, which operated through an entirely different channel than BBPL, and dominated the packaged fruit juice market in India. Shyam expected the sales figures of Coca Cola and BBPL would increase considerably over the next few years due to the natural growth in the market and the planned increase in the product portfolio. The key to harnessing the growth and profitability would be essentially by expanding the distribution channel to include the fruit juice / milk product specific retail outlets, and by driving execution excellence and productivity of the sales force. He wondered how important would be the stability of the sales force as compared to the need to infuse new talent and knowhow about new channels in the sales team. It was further complicated by the resignation of Vimal Dhingra, one of his best performing and trusted Market Expansion Managers, who was tasked with growing the untapped and small rural markets. Vimal however shared that only if he were offered the position of DGM - Sales by BBPL, he would be ready to take back his resignation. How much risk he could take in recruiting someone in senior level of the sales team was a debate for him, also the likely signal that his choice would give to the entire 200 strong field force was unknown.

Sashi Kujur, Branch Manager, LPB Ltd. (a major Television marketer in India) was losing sales in Baleshwar district of Odisha as the distributor of West Bengal (neighbouring state) was selling materials in his territory at substantially lower prices. The Regional Manager of LPB was not very keen on taking any action as the region had a greater stake on West Bengal distributor and the problem was quite common in these areas across competitors and other product categories. Odisha sales team as well as the distributor were demotivated by the unabated infiltration and were also losing faith in Sashi’s leadership. The discount structure of LPB was much higher for a greater volume of sale; hence, competing on price with West Bengal was not a sustainable solution for Odisha. Sashi needed to find a long term solution for the problem and had to take concrete steps immediately.

Brand love has emerged as an important marketing construct among practitioners and academics. Literature on brand love is mainly concentrated on its conceptualization rather than its antecedents and consequences. The authors have applied social exchange theory to the concept of brand love and proposed a conceptual model that highlights the factors affecting brand love, such as respect, brand's liking for consumers, and brand experience, as well as its behavioral outcomes, such as affective commitment, consumer citizenship behavior, and willingness to pay a price premium.

Purpose– The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors that drive consumer love toward a brand and the opportunities a consumer’s love create for a brand in India.Design/methodology/approach– A total of 23 in-depth interviews were conducted with consumers. The interview transcripts were analyzed through thematic analysis using qualitative software Nvivo10.Findings– This paper proposes a conceptual model where respect, brand experience, and brand reputation have been identified as factors driving brand love and affective commitment, consumer citizenship behavior, repurchases intention, consumer forgiveness, and attitude toward the extension as outcomes of brand love.Practical implications– Consumers bond with brand helps in mitigating the feelings of transgressions by the brand, and also protects brand from negative word of mouth. Consumers who are in love with a brand show positive attitude toward its extensions. These results provide pointers to brand managers on how to protect and expand the business.Originality/value– The extant brand love research seems to be solely in the western context. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study of its kind that empirically investigates antecedents and consequences of brand love in India.

International Color Company (ICC), a multinational paint major was an established player in the paint market in India. It had launched its premium 2-pack refinish product range in January 2013. Within first six months of the launch, when the excitement of the new launch had abated, it was found that there were shortage of certain SKU’s. There were incidences of shortage in some specific locations as well as the entire country, which required to be addressed on an immediate basis. The import lead time was 12 weeks by ship and 4 weeks by air which made the solution even more difficult. The situation was becoming more acute every passing day. Jayant, the Product Manager responsible for 2-pack refinish product range had been given two months time by the top management of ICC to get the situation under control. Apart from the mismatches in stock availability and its requirements across the retail outlets and branches, Jayant had inherited problems which were related to the structure and compensation plan of ICC, which made his task even more challenging.

MOMCO was a leading manufacturer and marketer of branded edible oils in India. In its product portfolio, Kurdola was PUFA (poly unsaturated fatty acid) based premium edible oil. It was established in the market as the best product for keeping the heart healthy, based on the findings of medical research. MOMCO’s had in its product portfolio “Healthy tasty blend”, a balanced blend of PUFA and MUFA (mono unsaturated fatty acid), which was positioned as economical product with considerably lower margins for MOMCO. New medical research now established that a blend of PUFA and MUFA was better for heart than a pure PUFA product. Thus “Healthy tasty blend” was better than Kurdola for heart. This completely turned the core value proposition of Kurdola and its extensions. This could lead to serious brand dissonance for the loyal consumer base of Kurdola. The management had to take immediate action in the market as the current positioning and margin structures could lead to serious damage to the brand, cannibalization by low margin products which could drastically reduce the profitability of the company and jeopardize all other businesses.

The deepening waves of globalization since late eighties and the growth in the international integrated production networks (IPN) over the past decade have significantly increased both Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) and merchandise trade flows. India is no exception to this trend, whose share in global FDI inward stock and global merchandise exports have increased from 0.08 percent to 1.13 percent and 0.51 percent to 1.60 percent over 1989-2015 respectively. The current paper attempts to explain the influence of FDI inflows on India’s exports through a time series analysis with quarterly data over the period 1990-91 (Q1) to 2015-16 (Q4). The empirical analysis indicates that while exports influence FDI inflows, the reverse is not true in the Indian context. The result underlines the fact that FDI inflows in the country may primarily be targeting the growing domestic sector, rather than utilizing the domestic resources for reaching the world market. It also suggests that there exist further scope for better utilization of the India-centric trade and investment agreements.

It is shown that the 36 country real effective exchange rate (REER) of India, which is I(1), becomes stationary once a single exogenous shock (corresponding to the implementation of the liberalization policy by the government of India) is separated from its stochastic component and modelled as a break in the deterministic trend. The implication of this for the export supply function is enormous. While without the break real export has a long-run relationship with REER and gross domestic product, with the break the relationship no more exists. JEL Classification: F31, C32, F41

The case is about the challenges faced by a sales supervisor in achieving very steep sales targets in a distributor driven sales set up. It is set in the context of change in role from direct field sales to a supervisory role. It provides an opportunity to discuss the different sources of power that could be tapped by a supervisor to get results from the subordinates who are part of channel intermediaries. The case explores the issue of task and relationship orientation of the supervisor, delegation of responsibility and power as well as the problems of upward delegation in the process of change management.

One of the major dilemmas faced by the multinational marketer is to decide on opening up new markets. This study develops a framework for market development activity by multinational brands based on literature. In the framework, expected customer demand (ECD) is dependent on acceptance of global brand (AGB), image of the parent brand (IPB) and quality perception (QP) about the product. The framework is empirically tested in urban Indian fast food market. The results demonstrate that each of these variables have significant impact on ECD. The priority of marketing budgets allocation should be in order of improving the AGB and IPB and then on QP, so as to have the highest impact on the demand.