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This paper aims to examine the factors that lead to the failure of startups in India and proposes a ‘Four Dimensional (4D) Strategic Framework’ to drive success.

This study is exploratory and uses a narrative analysis methodology to analyse the accounts of key startup stakeholders – founders, investors, former employees and consumers; to identify their failure factors. A conveniently selected sample of 165 startups was studied to understand better the reasons for their failure within a thematic framework developed from David Feinleib’s (2012) handbook “Why Startups Fail”.

Results indicate that a dearth of capital or running out of money and inadequate sales and marketing strategy, which leads businesses to fall behind rivals and lose money on each transaction, are the most common factors for startup failure in India.

“Startups” are substantial for emerging economies like India because they fuel technological innovation and economic progress and provide for the modern workforce’s needs and aspirations. However, they seem to be typically unprofitable, with a modest probability of survival. Subsisting studies mainly focus primarily on success factors and very few on why startups fail, with significant disagreement on an appropriate methodology. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study that analyses failure factors of Indian startups using narrative analysis of its key stakeholders. It aims to aid the conception of profitable entrepreneurship by reducing the failure frequency in the startup and small business ecology.

This paper aims to examine the work-life balance (WLB) experiences of tribal working women belonging to the matrilineal Khasi and Jaintia communities of Meghalaya, India, using an identity-based approach.

Semi-structured interviews conducted with 18 tribal women working in the formal sector helped generate descriptions of the subjective subliminal tensions they experienced in their efforts to balance work and home life.

Six key themes emerged: webs of role-based responsibilities; reframing family around work; revising self-identity through work; challenges and coping tactics; traditional community influences on management of work and home life; and enacting womanhood as problem-solving.

This study contributes to the literature on women and WLB in that it expands the theoretical understanding of the impact of identity work on women’s WLB.

A healthy WLB is crucial for enhanced intrinsic motivation and consequently women’s psychological empowerment and career satisfaction. This has important social and practical implications for enriching tribal women’s quality of life in India and facilitating their contribution towards the betterment of their communities and the economy at large. To this end, policymakers should launch awareness campaigns pertaining to tribal women’s WLB, to aid organizations in rolling-out contextually relevant work-life management programmes for these women.

This study extends an identity-based approach as a general theory of the self to examine matrilineal tribal women's WLB construction as a distinct form of “doing” and “being”.

This study reviews the literature on institutional theory in international business and examines the institutional factors behind the success or failure of multinational corporations (MNCs) in emerging markets.

This systematic literature review analysed 116 peer-reviewed articles published in leading journals between 2005 and 2022. The R package Bibliometrix and VOSviewer visualization software were used for analysis. A hybrid methodology combining bibliometric and content analyses was utilized to obtain a descriptive evaluation of the publication impact along with a keyword co-occurrence map, context-specific institutional effects and subsidiary strategies.

The Journal of International Business Studies, along with influential authors such as Mike W. Peng, Klaus Meyer, and Mehmet Demirbag, have taken the lead in advancing institutional theories for MNC internationalization in emerging markets. The clusters from the co-word analysis revealed dominant MNC entry modes, institutional distances and MNC localization strategies. The content analysis highlights how the institutional environment is operationalized across the macro-, micro- and meso-institutional contexts and how the MNC subsidiary responds in emerging markets. Meso-level interactions emphasize the relational aspects of business strategies in emerging markets.

Contextualizing subsidiary strategies and institutional forms can help managers align their strategic responses to the dynamic relationship between subsidiaries and the institutional environment. The review findings will enable policymakers to simplify regulatory policies and encourage MNC subsidiary networks with local stakeholders in emerging markets.

Legitimacy strategies such as corporate community involvement in emerging markets are crucial for enhancing societal support and removing stakeholders' scepticism for MNC business operations in emerging markets. Moral legitimacy should be implemented by managers, such as lending support to disaster management efforts and humanitarian crises, as they expand to new business environments of emerging markets.

This study is the first to explore institutional diversity and subsidiary strategic responses in a three-layered institutional context. The findings highlight the relevance of contextualizing institutional perspectives for international business scholars and practitioners as they help build context-specific theoretical frameworks and business strategies. Future research recommendations are suggested in the macro-, micro- and meso-institutional contexts.

This case is primarily intended fior students to evolve ideas in context to the challenges catering to a green fashion clothing line selling their products in the emerging economy of India wherein the masses are far behind considering the sustainable value of their products. In response to these challenges, the learners would be able toanalyze the influence of internal and external enhancers and inhibitors on a sustainable fashion brand to improve its scalability; articulate the factors influencing diffusion of sustainable fashion apparel; and formulate a strategic plan to aid in the growth and scalability of the brand and building micro-economies that will thrive in the future.The case also addresses topics like consumer attitude toward sustainable fashion clothing line and pricing challenges faced by such brands in developing economies like India.

This case describes the challenges faced by the co-founders, Sanghamitra and Mayuree, who introduced a sustainable fashion apparel brand called Econic. Marketing and sales of Econic’s products came with a bundle of challenges, and it was not easy to convince customers about the authenticity, quality and pricing of these products. Indian consumers had less awareness of the value of sustainable fashion clothing thereby presenting a huge challenge for Econic to flourish and sell their products in India. Thereafter, the brand aimed at expanding beyond the geographical boundaries of India. This further led Econic to face a cutthroat competition from various established players with comparatively huge market shares. Majority of Econic’s sales arose from expatriates or outlanders. Considering the response of local impediments and constraints from India, Sanghamitra began targeting the foreign markets. She saw global expansion as an opportunity for driving the brand’s growth. Eventually, Econic witnessed nascent success when the founders started exporting their products in the markets of UAE [1] and USA [2]. Contrarily, the brand’s co-founder Mayuree felt that it was too early for the brand to enter international market, and instead, it would be more sensible to focus attention in India itself. The approach of both the co-founders seemed paradoxical. At one point, Econic was facing a fierce local competition for their products. How could the brand increase awareness and acceptance of its products was an area of concern for Sanghamitra. Second, expanding into international market posed certain other challenges. The key dilemmas encountered by the co-founders continued to remain that which growth strategy should Econic adopt; how could Econic ascertain to set foot into which market; what were the likely scalability challenges they faced by entering international market; and what could be the finest marketing strategy for their brand.

The case is relevant for students in disciplines of green marketing, principles and concepts of sustainability, climate change and development, corporate social responsibility, marketing and strategy. It is designed for advanced MBA/PGDM and capstone courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

In the light of the case study and the accompanying case study questions, the incumbent would be able to gain a comprehensive understanding on the theoretical underpinnings of retail store expansion, identify the challenges for expanding a brand into emerging markets such as India and apply various marketing strategies aimed at in-depth analysis retail expansion. Learners can further comprehend the importance of brand communication incorporated by the brand to attract its customer subset.

It was in December 2022, when Mason Chatterjee, the Indian brand head of Armani Exchange (A|X), was confronted with the managerial dilemma whether launching the second store in the city of Ahmedabad would be a right decision. Another issue that was troubling him was how to go about launching a second store in a city which was not a home to other luxury sublabels. The case study illustrates the decisional aspect of retail expansion adopted by Chatterjee, considering the distinct managerial perspectives. Chatterjee found potential in the city of Ahmedabad, owing to an increased number of high-net-worth individuals and other macro factors. The case study is primarily an outcome of research carried out at A|X store at Ahmedabad One mall, Ahmedabad, for over a fortnight in the month of February 2023. The expansion decision of Chatterjee proved to be a success in the city of Ahmedabad reaching a sales figure of INR 1 crore (US$130,344.11) in the very first month of its launch. However, he was confronted with the managerial dilemma of further expansion, just six months after the launch of the latest expansion.

The case study is intended for advanced undergraduates or postgraduate programs in management or electives such as marketing, retail management and strategic management. It has not only been specifically designed for teaching the concept of retail expansion but can also be used to integrate contexts on brand’s merchandise mix, retail positioning, visual merchandising and brand communication. The case study has an overview of each of these elements. The instructor may choose them into the context for a wider encompassing detailed lesson or particularly on the main aspect of the case.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS8: Marketing

The purpose of this study is to identify important criteria for sustainable recovery of digital entrepreneurship from distress situation using shared resources. During pandemic disruption, the importance of sharing economy in managing business efficiency is reflected through this research.

The present study advances the knowledge on shared resources in business by integrating case study approach with multi criteria decision-making (MCDM) model. A fuzzy analytic hierarchy process approach is adopted to compute criteria weights, and a fuzzy technique for order performance by similarity to ideal solution (TOPSIS) technique is used to rank the sharing economy entrepreneurial ventures during COVID-19 pandemic in the context of emerging economy.

The present study identified five most important enablers (technological innovation, technology expertise, convergence of virtual and physical spaces, collaboration rather than competition, and benefits to underserved groups through transparency) for sustainable recovery of sharing economy ventures in emerging economy. For example, the study highlights online tutoring through shared intellect as the most sought after sharing economy venture during pandemic disruption, which fulfills the identified enablers.

The proposed framework provides an accurate decision support tool to rank the various identified potential enablers of sharing economy during disruptions. Further, the approach is practically relevant to sharing economy entrepreneurs in selecting the best approach to recover sustainability during pandemic.

The study is unique in addressing the need of sustainability for digital ventures via sharing economy approach in emerging economy (India). To develop a conceptual framework, the present study incorporates a case based approach together with the hybrid MCDM model. Further, the extant literature on disruptions is enhanced by prioritizing the enablers for sharing economy during pandemic.

Recently, disruptive technologies (DTs) have proposed several innovative applications in managing logistics and promise to transform the entire logistics sector drastically. Often, this transformation is not successful due to the existence of adoption barriers to DTs. This study aims to identify the significant barriers that impede the successful adoption of DTs in the logistics sector and examine the interrelationships amongst them.

Initially, 12 critical barriers were identified through an extensive literature review on disruptive logistics management, and the barriers were screened to ten relevant barriers with the help of Fuzzy Delphi Method (FDM). Further, an Interpretive Structural Modelling (ISM) approach was built with the inputs from logistics experts working in the various departments of warehouses, inventory control, transportation, freight management and customer service management. ISM approach was then used to generate and examine the interrelationships amongst the critical barriers. Matrics d’Impacts Croises-Multiplication Applique a Classement (MICMAC) analysed the barriers based on the barriers' driving and dependence power.

Results from the ISM-based technique reveal that the lack of top management support (B6) was a critical barrier that can influence the adoption of DTs. Other significant barriers, such as legal and regulatory frameworks (B1), infrastructure (B3) and resistance to change (B2), were identified as the driving barriers, and industries need to pay more attention to them for the successful adoption of DTs in logistics. The MICMAC analysis shows that the legal and regulatory framework and lack of top management support have the highest driving powers. In contrast, lack of trust, reliability and privacy/security emerge as barriers with high dependence powers.

The authors' study has several implications in the light of DT substitution. First, this study successfully analyses the seven DTs using Adner and Kapoor's framework (2016a, b) and the Theory of Disruptive Innovation (Christensen, 1997; Christensen et al., 2011) based on the two parameters as follows: emergence challenge of new technology and extension opportunity of old technology. Second, this study categorises these seven DTs into four quadrants from the framework. Third, this study proposes the recommended paths that DTs might want to follow to be adopted quickly.

The authors' study has several managerial implications in light of the adoption of DTs. First, the authors' study identified no autonomous barriers to adopting DTs. Second, other barriers belonging to any lower level of the ISM model can influence the dependent barriers. Third, the linkage barriers are unstable, and any preventive action involving linkage barriers would subsequently affect linkage barriers and other barriers. Fourth, the independent barriers have high influencing powers over other barriers.

The contributions of this study are four-fold. First, the study identifies the different DTs in the logistics sector. Second, the study applies the theory of disruptive innovations and the ecosystems framework to rationalise the choice of these seven DTs. Third, the study identifies and critically assesses the barriers to the successful adoption of these DTs through a strategic evaluation procedure with the help of a framework built with inputs from logistics experts. Fourth, the study recognises DTs adoption barriers in logistics management and provides a foundation for future research to eliminate those barriers.

Many supply chains have faced disruption during Covid-19. Artificial intelligence (AI) is one mechanism that can be used to improve supply chain resilience by developing business continuity capabilities. This study examines how firms employ AI and consider the opportunities for AI to enhance supply chain resilience by developing visibility, risk, sourcing and distribution capabilities.

The authors have gathered rich data by conducting semistructured interviews with 35 experts from the e-commerce supply chain. The authors have adopted a systematic approach of coding using open, axial and selective methods to map and identify the themes that represent the critical elements of AI-enabled supply chain resilience.

The results of the study highlight the emergence of five critical areas where AI can contribute to enhanced supply chain resilience; (1) transparency, (2) ensuring last-mile delivery, (3) offering personalized solutions to both upstream and downstream supply chain stakeholders, (4) minimizing the impact of disruption and (5) facilitating an agile procurement strategy.

The study offers interesting implications for bridging the theory–practice gap by drawing on contemporary empirical data to demonstrate how enhancing dynamic capabilities via AI technologies further strengthens supply chain resilience. The study also offers suggestions for utilizing the findings and proposes a framework to strengthen supply chain resilience through AI.

The study presents the dynamic capabilities for supply chain resilience through the employment of AI. AI can contribute to readying supply chains to reduce their risk of disruption through enhanced resilience.

Purpose: In this technologically advanced era, it is crucial to understand how consumers adopt innovations so that producers and marketers can cater to these needs effectively. While existing technology adoption models have good explanatory power, a hybrid model must account for newer contexts.

Need for the Study: Most technology adoption papers in extant literature deal with the phenomenon’s functional, environmental and cognitive aspects. However, a mindset-oriented approach is largely absent from current studies. Mindsets are core beliefs people have about the malleability of human traits and characteristics that ultimately shape consumer behaviour. Investigating the adoption of such technologies through a deeper psychological lens will advance the field substantially.

Methodology: This conceptual paper utilised a literature review and theoretical integration to present a novel technology adoption model. The literature review of secondary data helped identify extant gaps, while academic integration of major concepts helped fill said gaps.

Findings: Based on the existing gaps in the literature, this study conceptualised a novel technology adoption model based on the foundation of Mindset Theory. Overall, relevant constructs, variables and scales have been presented along with future research propositions.

Practical Implications: From a global perspective, the findings of this chapter will enable marketers and practitioners to understand consumer adoption of new-age technologies. Producers of such technologies will also be able to cater to consumers more efficiently as a result of this study.

This paper aims to examine the components or factors influencing tourists’ destination brand selection behaviour in Indian context with evidence-based management modelling by using the Relative to an Identified Distribution (RIDIT) approach. This evidence-based tourism marketing research has contributed to enhance understanding the tourists’ motivation to support decision in tourism marketing domain. The present study has focused on identifying the most relevant factors in the order of priority that influence destination brand-choice behaviour pertaining to Indian tourism sector. The current research has also tried to arrange the different items relating to tourists preferences for better understanding the insight of potential tourists relating to Indian-tourist destinations.

A descriptive, survey research design was chosen to investigate and organize the different components or items in degrees of priority to explain the tourists’ destination brand selection behaviour. In total, 387 empirical tourist samples were collected across India covering both domestic and international tourist segments. An evidence-based management modelling with RIDIT analysis is done to examine the factors, which have influencing role on tourist-destination brand choice behaviour related to Indian tourism market.

The outcome of this research paper should enable the tourism marketers, tourism service providers, tourism brand managers and consultants to create better linkages between the prospective tourists’ preferences and the marketing mix of the destination brands by using evidence based management modelling.

The present research is an original and innovative thought process, trying to evaluate the components or factors influencing tourists’ destination brand selection behaviour pertaining to Indian tourism sector by using the RIDIT approach. Research undertaken so far in tourism marketing area has investigated the different components related to tourism behaviour and destination-brand selection intention of the potential tourists in an unintended and less organized manner. This study can be seen as the first empirical evidence in the domain of tourism marketing where evidence based management modelling with RIDIT approach is done.