Search results

This chapter explores how coming into contact with the narratives of environmental victims helps to develop different forms of reflexivity useful for imagining and confronting environmental crises. The generation and sharing of environmental data and of visual and narrative experiences of lived environmental harms by ‘ordinary people’ amounts to more than merely supplying robust data to fellow citizens, scientists and decision-makers. It is also a proactive claim for social and environmental justice, especially when these people are silenced or even criminalised. While forms of civic monitoring can be regarded as a contribution to environmental governance, they have instead often been labelled as ‘subversive’ or illegal practices. In this contribution, the authors explore how ‘green’ activist criminology may help in the challenge to have these voices enabled and listened. The challenge has to be taken up by developing an active listening attitude towards the voices of people (‘folk voices’) affected by/exposed to environmental harms, enhancing visual imagination and complexity about the contested notion of the environmental victim, together with new ways of taking care and a new paradigm of the ‘active victim’. In the conclusion, the authors acknowledge the potential of an art-based inquiry that is inclusive of civic imaginaries and knowledge. However, they also stress that cultural barriers and ideologies may hamper this potential. Critical attitude and integrity of any scientific approach should be sought and preserved.

Considering the role of the textile industry in the generation of employment and export in the Indian economy, it is important to comprehend the efficiency level in the operations of the textile units located in different states in India. In this light, the purpose of this paper is to examine the operational efficiency of textile manufacturing units in Haryana, a northern state of India.

The study applies data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach consisting of input-oriented CCR and BCC techniques along with the return to scale technique for the analysis of five years of data from 2015–2016 to 2019–2020.

The results reveal that Haryana’s textile units have significantly underperformed operationally, with an average technical efficiency score of just 0.25 for five years, from 2015–2016 to 2019–2020. The yearly ratings of the overall technical efficiency of the selected textile companies include 0.20, 0.18, 0.18, 0.40 and 0.28; PTE scores are 0.43, 0.43, 0.55, 0.60, 0.62 and scale efficiency scores 0.54, 0.44, 0.29, 0.71, 0.38, respectively, from 2015–2016 to 2019–2020. On the other hand, average of 5.8 units are functioning at the constant return to scale, 10.2 units are at increasing return to scale and average of 45 units are functioning at decreasing return to scale (DRS). It is found that most of the companies are functioning at a DRS; to boost efficiency, these companies must reduce their input size since they are running at a DRS.

The results of the current paper provide key insight into the inefficiency level of the textile manufacturing industry in the context of northern India. Industry professionals can take corrective measures based on these findings. Moreover, for investors and portfolio managers, knowing which companies are efficient and which are not will help them make better decisions. The study helps policymakers to frame appropriate policy guidelines to make the textile units in the state more efficient and competitive.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, no study has been done so far on the operational performance of the textile industry in Haryana based on the DEA technique. So, it will contribute to the extant literature on the performance of the textile industry.

This paper aims to provide insight of virtual onboarding and the importance of good technology and making good first impressions in the hybrid working era.

The paper followed a structured opinion piece byline, taking into account statistics and research from survey and methodology to include factual points on the current situation of employee experience in hybrid working.

The paper provides empirical insights about how change is brought about during internal brand building. It suggests that successful leaders act as “integrating forces” on two levels: integrating the elements of corporate identity structures, and mediating between the corporate branding structures and the individual.

This paper fulfils an identified need for businesses to drive good employee experience when virtual onboarding.

This paper aims to estimate the relationship between defect structure with gas concentration for use as a gas sensor. The change in defect concentration caused a shift in the Fermi level, which in turn changed the surface potential, which is manifested as the potentiometric response of the sensing element.

A new theoretical concept based on defect chemistry and band structure was used to explain the experimental gas response of a sensor. The theoretically simulated response was compared with experimental results.

Understanding the origin of potentiometric response, through the generation of defects and a corresponding shift in Fermi level of sensing surface, by the adsorption of gas. Through this understanding, the design of a sensor with improved selectivity and stability to a gas can be achieved by the study of defect structure and subsequent band analysis.

This paper provides information about various types of surface defects and numerical simulation of material with defect structure. The Fermi energy of the simulated value is correlated with the potentiometric sensor response.

Gas sensors are an integral part of vehicular and industrial pollution control. The theory developed shows the origin of response which can help in identifying the best sensing material and its optimum temperature of operation.

Low-cost, reliable and highly sensitive gas sensors are highly demanded which is fulfilled by potentiometric sensors.

The operating principle of potentiometric sensors is analyzed through electron band structure analysis. With the change in measured gas concentration, the oxygen partial pressure changes. This results in a change in defect concentration in the sensing surface. Band structure analysis shows that change in defect concentration is associated with a shift in Fermi level. This is the origin of the potentiometric response.

This paper aims to derive a model that explores how the interplay between knowledge integration capability and innovation impacts strategic orientation, leading to the attainment of sustainable competitive advantage. The study considers the constituents of strategic orientation, namely, customer orientation, competitor orientation and technology orientation, as the basis for achieving sustainable competitive advantage. The study suggests that the firm’s capacity for integrating external and internal knowledge shapes how strategic orientation influences sustainable competitive advantage through service innovation.

This empirical research relies on qualitative and quantitative data gathered from telecom professionals to assess how knowledge integration and service innovation influence sustained competitive advantage. Structured equation modeling is used to examine the model and its interrelationships.

The research establishes significant relationships between strategic orientations, knowledge integration capability, service innovation and sustainable competitive advantage. Knowledge integration capability and service innovation are found to mediate the relationship between strategic orientations and the achievement of sustainable competitive advantage.

The study highlights the significant contribution of a firm’s knowledge integration capability in driving service innovation, especially in technology-intensive service industries facing hypercompetition. It also advocates prioritizing technology orientation and integrating knowledge from internal and external sources for competitive advantage.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to model the effect of knowledge integration capability and service innovation on strategic orientation-led sustainable competitive advantage.

This paper aims to develop a conceptual framework as a valuable investigative tool for future empirical studies examining stakeholders’ interactions within a high-performance computing (HPC) service ecosystem and identifying the enablers for better value co-creation under various service provisioning contexts.

This conceptual paper follows a theory adaptation research design that systematically examines the literature on a substantive topic encompassing HPC technology adoption and usage by European small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Furthermore, it introduces theoretical perspectives from service innovation research as its methodological approach (method theory) to develop a theoretical framework for value co-creation within an HPC service ecosystem.

The conceptual framework presented in this paper identifies the critical resource elements of SMEs, which can potentially be integrated with other stakeholders’ resources and complement the limited internal resources of SMEs for enhanced value co-creation within an HPC service ecosystem.

The conceptualisation of an HPC service ecosystem and the potential of value co-creation through integrating stakeholders’ resources, presented in this paper, underscore further empirical research in this direction.

Findings from this paper can inform European policymakers for regional development to frame regional strategies and policies that enable SMEs to better uptake HPC services. Service providers can revisit their business models to reconfigure their organisational resources for enhanced value proposition and co-creation.

This study advances the agenda of transformative service research that aims uplifting changes and societal well-being through a more inclusive and sustainable value co-creation among a wider set of stakeholders within the service ecosystem.

The paper addresses an under-investigated research gap by examining SMEs’ adoption of HPC services and opportunities for higher value co-creation using a service ecosystem approach based on multi-actor interaction, collaboration and resource integration.

The present study examined the status of globalization of the public relations (PR) agency industry and its environmental factors by analyzing 101 countries.

Data were constructed from content analysis and multiple archival sources. Cluster analysis and multiple regressions were used for data analysis.

The present study identified the four distinctive groups of countries in the number of global PR agencies per country. These groups are (1) globalized top countries, (2) globalized major countries, (3) globalizing countries and (4) peripheral countries. The study also found that the degree of globalization of the PR agency industry in a country was associated with its democracy, economic system (gross domestic product (GDP) and foreign direct investment inflow), legal system (rule of law), cultural system (power distance and long-term orientation) and media system (Internet penetration rate) factors.

The previous studies on the global PR agency industry was limited to investigating a few leading agencies, but this study analyzed 114 global PR agencies and their diffusion in 101 countries and explored the influence of each country's characteristics (i.e. political, economic, legal, cultural and media factors) identified as the global PR environment factors.

The proliferation of ride-hailing businesses brings significant considerations for improving the driver's operational performance. Informed by the literature on sharing economy, general deterrence theory and protection motivation theory this research investigates the behavioral factors impacting ride-hailing drivers' operational performance.

The authors empirically test the antecedents impacting a ride-hailing driver's operational performance using an online survey dataset comprising 513 ride-hailing drivers working for Uber and Lyft in the United States.

Ride-hailing drivers' intention to comply with the ride-hailing company guidelines results in better operational performance for the driver. Moreover, drivers believe that ride-hailing companies have effective penalties to deter drivers from violating company guidelines. However, drivers also believe that the chances of being caught while ignoring the company guidelines are low.

The results of this research support the decision-making processes of ride-hailing company managers and offer insights on how managers can enhance the operational performance of their drivers.

This study provides unique contributions to emerging research at the intersection of peer-to-peer asset sharing, behavioral studies and technology management. This research is one of the first to explore the role of behavioral factors such as coping mechanisms on the operational performance of sharing economy workers.

This study aims to evaluate the financial performance of the textile industry in Haryana located in the northern part of India.

Input-oriented Cooper, Charnes and Rhodes (CCR) and Banker, Charnes and Cooper (BCC) techniques of data envelopment analysis, as well as the return to scale (RTS) technique, were used to conduct the analysis.

The findings show that textile units in Haryana have hugely underperformed financially with a consolidated technical efficiency score of only 0.35. Both private and public limited textile companies with respective scores of 0.46 and 0.24 are technically efficient. Public limited textile companies are more efficient than private limited companies. Private limited textile companies need to increase their input scale because they are operating at an increasing return to scale while public limited textile companies have to lower their input scale because most companies are operating at a decreasing return to scale to enhance their efficiency.

The study can assist in decision-making to all key stakeholders (Shareholders, management, government, tax authorities, debtors and creditors, among others) by identifying efficient and inefficient companies. Appropriate policies can be framed based on that knowledge.

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate those factors which are responsible for the sales misconduct in Retail banking services across the world and try to find out the determinants which majorly affect the Indian Retail banking industry. The authors also try to find out whether the sales approach leads to malpractices in sales and how does it affect the different categories of the customers.

Primary data have been collected from the bank account holders having account in various private and public sector banks operating in India.

The authors have come out with finding that sales misconduct is majorly affected by misrepresentation of facts, complexity of products, lack of disclosure norms and more. They also found that push sales approach is adopted by banks, particularly by private banks to majorly tap the class customers to sell the financial products without their requirement and achieve the revenue targets.

Banking regulators can keep a close supervision on sales mal practices in banking sector and implement stringent norms to reduce these kinds of practices.

Very few studies have been conducted on the basis of the class of the customer, and how sales approach leads the malpractices in sales and how it affects the class of the customers.