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This paper aims to epistemologically extend and explore the present theories from prior research conducted in the area of responsiveness. Furthermore, it determines to benchmark the prominent theories, characteristics, context and methodologies (TCCM) used in the domain since its inception to advance the science and practice of marketing and logistics discipline.

A seven-step methodology (SSM) has been introduced to create a comprehensive dataset. Based upon the selection criteria of high-ranked journals and language, the research studies have been retrieved from Scopus, Web of Science, Business Source Complete and journal homepage to avoid the error of exclusion. Moreover, the dataset has been compiled using manual and electronic searches without any limitation of time.

The search for a suitable dataset retrieved 642 documents by identifying “1969” as the beginning year of research in the subject domain. The analysis found that responsiveness has been prominently studied in the manufacturing industry. The results also advocate responsiveness as the vital antecedent to performance and satisfaction. Frameworks have been proposed with significant propositions for future empirical testing and theory inventiveness by researchers.

The study pioneers its utility for retailers to recognize the firms' inherent abilities and strengths, which can be promoted to create responsiveness more than ever. The analysis results can act as the compelling force to understand the driving power of various factors influencing responsiveness.

The ease and convenience of online shopping are shifting the customers to e-tailers. This has prompted offline retailers to re-examine behavioural patterns along with a reconfiguration for a responsive retail model. The paper investigates the influence of responsiveness on customer satisfaction, cross-buying behaviour, revisit intention and referral behaviour.

Data were collected via a survey answered by 793 fashion customers from India, and for data analysis, partial least square structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was employed. Path analysis was used to determine the interrelationships amongst the constructs used in the study.

The standardized path coefficients depict competitive responsiveness as the highest contributor of retailers' responsiveness followed by service responsiveness, employee responsiveness and customer responsiveness. The findings suggest that customer satisfaction acts as the biggest contributor to referral behaviour followed by cross-buying behaviour and revisit intentions.

This study has made a substantial contribution to fashion apparel retailing. The findings revealed that responsive retailing influences the customers' post-purchase behaviour as they engage in more cross-buying, revisiting and referral behaviour. The retailers are encouraged to carefully monitor their preparedness to deliver a combination of sensory, emotional, cognitive and social experience to their customers.

The purpose of this study is to explicate the relationship between knowledge-based dynamic capacities (KBDC) and innovation-based performance (INPF) in information technology (IT) firms in India by examining the mediating impact of absorptive capacity (ABCP). The paper aims to determine whether and how the ABCP of the firms is recognized as the essential facilitator of INPF.

A survey of 511 respondents from Indian IT employees at the upper and middle management levels was undertaken. In this study, the partial least squares (PLS) technique explored the causal links between constructs with the use of the software application SMART-PLS 3.0.

The outcomes of this study proved the existence of a statistically significant relationship between the ABCP and INPF of information technology firms. Furthermore, ABCP's influence as a mediator between KBDC and INPF is significant. Therefore, findings imply that ABCP mediates the relationship between KBDC and INPF, however, only to some extent.

With the dynamism of the global market, the research has made significant gains in illustrating the criticality of ABCP for strengthening its KBDC in a much-needed Indian context. Therefore, following the recommendations and findings of this study, practitioners should concentrate on strengthening both ABCP and KBDCs to improve their INPF. To do this, managers must proactively organize their resources, procedures, and structure to promote knowledge absorption and dissemination, fostering innovation.

It is a ground-breaking study that proposes that the ABCP plays a crucial role in enhancing the INPF of the firms. The software industry will likely benefit from this study by understanding ABCP's potential impact on its INPF and designing knowledge management methods accordingly.

In ethnographic research, negotiating insider–outsider perspectives is essential in order to get closer to the participants’ lives. By highlighting the importance of empathy and reflexivity, the paper attempts to trace my reflexive navigation as a novice researcher as I enter the field as an outsider. The process of co-creation between the researcher and the participant is mediated by the nuances of the researcher’s identity, thereby shaping the researcher–participant relationship.

The current study elaborates my journey as a Ph.D. scholar in an ethnographic study of persons with spinal cord injury or amputation. The different themes organised around my personal reflections discuss the various challenges I faced and how I navigated through them.

The paper reflects on how different aspects of my identity, such as being non-disabled, a female and differences in socioeconomic status shaped the researcher–participant relationship. Additionally, it highlights how I traverse through the blurred worlds of insider–outsider and explore the role of reflexivity and empathy in creating a horizontal researcher–participant relationship.

This reflexive journey offers potential insights into budding researchers who often face dilemmas whether or not it is necessary for qualitative researchers to be members of the population they are studying. The paper also contributes to an understanding around practising reflexivity while working with a sensitive population. It argues researchers to look beyond the insider–outsider debate and utilise reflexivity as a tool for a nonhierarchical researcher–participant relationship.

This paper aims to explore the interaction between knowledge management (KM) and dynamic capabilities (DCs) to identify the factors that attribute to their integration. The amalgamation of the DC and KM will result in a firm’s superior performance. This study will, therefore, use meta-analysis to identify the factors and use the “total interpretive structural modelling (TISM)” to establish the hierarchy and inter-relationships concerning the identified factors.

The research in this paper uses an exploratory design. This entails reviewing the literature on KM and DCs by adopting a scientific methodology, i.e. meta-analysis. A structural interpretive framework has been developed based upon the identified factors. Further, TISM modelling has been used to develop a classified arrangement of these factors to validate the framework.

Overall, 15 factors related to KM and DCs, based upon 220 empirical studies have been identified. The validated framework, based upon heterogeneous factors, describes how the interactions between KM and DCs can facilitate a competitive advantage.

This study contributes towards the discussion of how efficient management of knowledge is defining the DCs of firms for improved innovation and performance. It provides practitioners with an insight into the directional linkages towards the competitive performance based on the interactions of KM and DCs. For researchers, the study could serve as an initial outline for interpretation of the linkages and theory building concerning KM and DCs, as the proposed framework draws upon scientific review and expert interpretations.

The framework is the result of the qualitative modelling technique based upon the heterogeneous factors derived out of the meta-analysis. It will provide meaningful insight into the field of KM and DCs. The derived framework shall help corroborate the opinion of experts with the literature in the field of strategy and management.

In today’s dynamic situation, innumerable challenges are posited in the education sector because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Higher educational institutes (HEIs) are compelled to adopt digital technologies and technology-mediated learning in the teaching-learning processes. The purpose of this paper is to understand the factors affecting learning effectiveness, learning satisfaction and the mediating role of prerecorded videos from the learners’ perspective.

A self-designed structured questionnaire based on previous similar studies is adopted as a survey instrument. It consists of 22 questions to address the five constructs of the proposed hypothesized conceptual model, developed for the study. Data of 311 students from HEIs of Maharashtra state in India were collected. Confirmatory factor analysis is carried out to test the model fitness, reliability and validity, and structural equation modeling is applied to conduct path analysis and hypotheses testing of the model.

Hypotheses testing reveals that perceived usefulness (PU) significantly affects the perceived learning effectiveness, which again affects the learning satisfaction of the students. In addition, perceived ease of use affects the PU as suggested in the technology acceptance model. The prerecorded videos have a moderating role to play in the computer self-efficacy and the perceived learning effectiveness of the students. This research will provide meaningful acumen to enhance the overall learning process among students in urban as well as rural India.

This study explores the technology-mediated learning during the unexpected and dynamic situations of the COVID-19 pandemic in the context of higher education in India. For sustainable use of technology-assisted learning, educators must understand the key factors that influence students’ learning effectiveness and satisfaction. The research outcomes will lead toward developing the human capacities, as the prerecorded videos at the HEIs of India will provide new approaches for effectively adopting digital technologies and technology-mediated learning.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of fairness concerns of the retailer on the pricing policies of the supply chain partners, their individual profits, and the overall performance of a dual-channel supply chain composed of one manufacturer and one retailer. First, the authors model the dual-channel supply chain under retailer’s fairness concern. Second, the authors derive the optimal pricing policies of the channel members. Third, the authors analyze the effects of retailer’s fairness and bargaining power on the pricing strategies and profit functions of the dual-channel supply chain system.

The authors adopt the manufacturer-led Stackelberg game theoretic framework, where the dominant manufacturer’s pricing decisions are based on the retailer’s pricing decision. The paper considers Nash bargaining solution as the fairness reference point to formulate the utility function of the fair-retailer. The paper uses this approach because it endogenously accounts for the competitive power and cooperative contribution of the channel members when they interact.

The authors find that the retailer’s fairness concerns are not always beneficial for its better performance. If the retailer is moderately sensitive towards its fairness, it will positively influence its performance. However, if the fairness concern becomes too high then it will negatively impact the retailer’s performance because it results in customers’ migration towards direct online channel for buying the products. In addition, if the retailer’s fairness concerns are mild, the manufacturer’s prices will decrease in retailer’s bargaining power, which is opposite otherwise.

The authors use Nash bargaining solution model as the fairness reference in the context of dual-channel supply chain, which is comparatively a recent approach and has been used independently from dual-channel supply chain system.

The purpose of this paper is to highlight the biological activities of low-calorie natural sweetener, i.e. monk fruit (Siraitia grosvenorii), which are associated with its bioactive constituents.

Recent investigations focused on biochemical characterization and nutraceutical potential of monk fruit (traditional Chinese perennial vine) have been critically reviewed. Also, the safety and influence of monk fruit on organoleptic characteristics of prepared food products have been documented.

Biochemistry of monk fruit revealed that mogrosides are the principal compounds responsible for the high-intensity sweetness in the monk fruit. The fruit induces several biological activities including anti-oxidative effect, hypoglycemic response, anti-allergic properties, anti-carcinogenic and anti-tissue damage activities. Attributing to great potential as a bio-functional sweetener in food products, monk fruit extract has been approved as Generally Regarded as Safe.

This paper highlights the biological potential of monk fruit opening the doors to future investigations for its utilization in products of commercial importance including food and pharmaceutical preparations.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of board structure on financial performance of Indian software companies. It is an empirical study carried out on 92 software companies from 2011 to 2018.

The board size, board independence, board meetings, CEO duality, audit, remuneration and nomination committee are used as board structure variables. Two accounting-based measures, return on assets (ROA), return on equity and one market-based measure Tobin's Q are used as a representative of financial performance of software companies. Panel regression is used to test the hypothesis.

Results demonstrates that board size, board meetings, remuneration and nomination committee have positive impact on more than one performance measures, while audit committee do not have any relation with any of the performance measures. It is also found that CEO duality has negative but significant relation with firm's performance and board independence has negative influence on ROA.

The findings of the study attract the attention of company's policymakers, shareholders to know the importance of board structure in increasing the firm's performance. The outcome of the study has relevance in other developing economies also. The results of the study can be utilised by policymakers and regulatory bodies in the formulation of good corporate government (CG) practices for the enhancement of profitability and market value of companies.

The findings suggest that special attention should be given to quality of CG, specifically board structure while measuring corporate financial performance.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to decipher the role of technology in the supply chain management (SCM); to understand the importance of supply chain integration with various stakeholders in the supply chain in increasing efficiency and effectiveness; and to comprehend the challenges in the implementation of technology in SCM.

This case study presents Haryana’s challenges in implementing the digitization of the supply of food grains to the public. Mr Srinivas, a consultant to the Department of Food and Public Distribution, is required to suggest the future roadmap while accounting for the challenges faced in the digitization of the distribution of grains to the public in the state of Haryana. The students are expected to use the information given in the case and exhibits to discuss and critically think about the various stakeholders involved when change initiatives are implemented on an organizational level and recommend solutions based on the voices of various internal stakeholders.

Postgraduate/Masters in Business Administration/Masters in Management.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 9: Operations and Logistics.