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In this paper on focus group discussion (FGD), the author reviews the origins of FGD during World War II to its current usages, epistemological positions underpinning FGDs that shape its design and implementation including composition and group size, competencies required for facilitators, recruitment of participants, recording and transcribing FGDs, technology-supported virtual group designs, and ethical considerations of data collection in a social setting.

The introductory paper begins with the issue about the relevance of research in management. It emphasizes the need for scholars to adopt methodologies best suited to the research problem of their choice. This paper contains sections on the nature of management research, dominant research paradigms, the methodological domain, quantitative versus qualitative research, and triangulation in using multiple methodologies. The paper provides a background to the purpose of the book and summarizes in brief the purpose of each the subsequent papers.

Though extant literature has mapped various stages of start-up enterprise growth, there is limited research on the phases that an entrepreneur traverses before the enterprise is started and established as a venture. The paper attempts to understand the lived experiences of young Indians as they negotiate the entrepreneurial path.

Qualitative method, where primary data were collected using in-depth interviews of 15 start-up entrepreneurs. These narratives were compared with Bansal's descriptions of entrepreneurs in her book “Connect the dots”. The interview transcripts and the detailed descriptions were analysed for emergent themes.

Results indicated that there are five distinct stages in the development of a start-up entrepreneur; namely – pre-entrepreneurial stage, inflexion point, cocoon period, initial stage, crisis stage and, depending upon the success factors and support received during crisis stage, either a success stage or failure stage.

This is a narrative-based, qualitative approach to understand the lived experiences of young start-up entrepreneurs in India and an attempt to map developmental phases. The fact that India is a fast-growing market for start-ups and the higher rate of failure of start-ups in India makes the study relevant.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of incorporating SiC nanoparticles into ZA-27 alloy on the corrosion behavior of the produced nanocomposites.

The nanocomposites were fabricated by a double-step stir casting technique. The corrosion behavior of the produced ZA-27 nanocomposites was investigated using potentiodynamic polarization test in a 3.5% NaCl medium. The surfaces of the fabricated metal matrix nanocomposites (MMNCs) before and after corrosion tests were imaged and analyzed using an optical microscope and scanning electron microscope (SEM) to examine the microstructure of the produced MMNCs and morphology of its surface before and after corrosion.

The corrosion test results reveal that the fabricated nanocomposites have an improved uniform corrosion resistance when compared with the corresponding monolithic matrix alloy. On the other hand, the base monolithic alloy is less susceptible to the pitting phenomenon than the nanocomposites. The electrochemical results are consistent with the pits morphology of the corroded MMNCs.

This study highlights the use of SiC nano-particulates for controlling of ZA alloy corrosion behavior and enhancing its anti-corrosion characteristics which will open a new route for industrial applications. The corrosion behavior of ZA-27 alloy-based composite reinforced with different weight fractions of nano-SiC particles have an improved uniform corrosion behavior as compared with the corresponding matrix alloy.