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The Indian government has set an ambitious target for reducing the import of fossil fuels by 10% and introducing an all-electric car fleet by 2030. The Government of India launched the National Electric Mobility Mission Plan (NEMMP) 2020 in 2013 to promote Electric Vehicles (EVs) in India with the objective of providing incentives for use of EVs; encouraging research & development in the areas of battery technology, system integration, testing infrastructure; and promoting charging infrastructure. The Indian government is also working on a scheme by which an electric car can be purchased free of cost: zero down payments, and monthly payments out of savings on the cost of petrol. It is envisaged that sooner or later, e-vehicles will transform the automobile market and provide environmental sustainability to the society. Political stability to provide stable policies is expected to play a key role in driving the growth of such vehicles. So far, preliminary research has been undertaken on perception of Indian Society on EVs. Based on empirical research, this paper attempts to address the gap. A study was conducted from November 2016 to April 2017 in Delhi-NCR with a sample size of 220 professionals working in manufacturing and service industry to understand the upcoming green transport facilities and their perceived environmental benefits as perceived by the residents of the society. Convenience sampling was used to collect the data. The Study highlighted that the design and utility of the EVs need to be reshaped so that it can compete with the gasoline vehicles in the current environment. Almost 95% of the respondents are ready to pay a premium for new technology or EVs. The study revealed that infusion of capital support and government subsidies can play a key role in acquiring new customers and establishing the market for EVs in the Indian market. The results show that there is a need to enhance awareness of NEMMP scheme within the society so that the EV market share can be increased. The results highlight that with availability of options, society will use the transport system which is environment friendly.

Strategic management and management of innovation and technology.

The course can be used for undergraduate and postgraduate students. The case would be relevant in the strategic management course to understand the concept of technology strategy and the various evaluation parameters guiding firms in their technology decisions. A refresher of the concept of value chain analysis can also be done through the case. It can also be used to teach innovation and technology management to understand the innovation process and the importance of various organizational factors for taking technology decisions.

The case tries to bring together different aspects of technological innovation and technology strategy at North Delhi Power Ltd, Delhi which has taken various initiatives to turnaround the dilapidated power distribution industry in India. It details the various technological initiatives taken by the company to revamp the power distribution situation of the country. Discussion in the case also revolves around the technology decisions (technology strategy) taken by the company to drive the technological initiatives. The organizational culture supporting technology decisions and the technological initiatives are also woven into the case.

After a discussion on the case students will be in a better position to appreciate various decisions which firms take with respect to technology. They will get an understanding of what is technological innovation and about the technological innovation process. The importance of organizational factors to supplement technology decisions and innovation will be brought out in the case.

Teaching note.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the indirect effects of nutritional knowledge and attitude toward food label use on food label use through self-efficacy and trust, as well as whether gender moderates this relationship.

A sample of Indian adults with multiple chronic conditions was surveyed about their nutritional knowledge, attitude, self-efficacy and use of food labels. Hypotheses were tested using Hayes’s (2013) PROCESS macro for SPSS.

The results show that nutritional knowledge and attitude toward food label use positively predict food label use through self-efficacy and trust. However, these mediation effects are moderated by gender such that the indirect relationship is stronger among men than women.

Food marketers and government agencies engaged in nutrition education campaigns should aim to increase patients’ confidence in comprehending food label information.

Since food labels can be a valuable tool to help patients with chronic diseases to make informed decisions about their diet and lifestyle, regulators may consider mandating nutritional labels on foods to help them improve their food or dietary choices.

This study uniquely applies Fisher and Fisher’s (1992) information–motivation–behavioral skills model as a theoretical framework to examine the influence of nutrition knowledge and attitude toward food label use on food label usage of Indian patients with multiple chronic diseases.

Purpose: The goal of this study is to delve into the causes behind the Fintech sector’s rise in various areas and its prospects. Fintech is rapidly expanding because of government legislation, multiple schemes, consumer expectations, a cashless economy, digitisation, globalisation, innovation, and other drivers.

Need for the Study: Fintech firms are forming alliances with traditional financial organisations to stay afloat and compete. India is becoming a superpower regarding e-startups, especially unicorns. Many startups are undergoing initial public offerings (IPOs). Fintech is an emerging space in India, spreading its wings rapidly in every sector.

Methodology: This work is based on a literature review. It utilises secondary data from numerous research publications, magazines, newspapers, published reports, relevant websites, Forbes magazine articles, stories from The Economic Times, the RBI Portal, and information from StartupIndia, Assocham, and Pwc, among others, to develop a conceptual framework showing the growth drivers of Fintech.

Findings: The whole world has been affected severely due to COVID-19. Crisis always comes with some opportunity, and it is up to us how to turn the calamities into opportunities that further turn into innovation that has the power to lead the world. Fintech is that fruit that had been born normally but grew abnormally (tremendous growth) during the pandemic. Also, the roots are so deeper that they will flourish more and more. It has been found that the emergence of a cashless economy, ease of internet connectivity, etc., are the major factors that paved the way for growth for Fintech in India.

Practical Implications: This study contains the conceptual framework which can guide the stakeholders, policymakers, management teams, field experts, etc., in knowing about their area expertise and looking for improvement, if any.

Originality: There are many papers on the relationship between Fintech and financial inclusion, but this is the first study that builds the conceptual framework for the growth drivers of Fintech.

This paper explores the design dimensions that foster identity construction, legitimation, and growth of digitally mediated platform ecosystems.

A midrange theorizing approach was adopted to assimilate and induct the extant literature on ecosystems, platform business models and innovation, yielding testable propositions on ecosystem design for empirical testing.

The paper suggests that decentralized governance, partner engagement and shared context are three dimensions of criticality for designing a distinct platform ecosystem. These design dimensions nurture interactions, transactions, relationships between platform participants and external actors to make ecosystems authentic and legitimate. Decentralization is relevant for inducing flexibility and autonomy of participants on the platform. Engagement impacts the intensity of relationships the platform has with other firms in the ecosystem, while shared context is essential for creating knowledge and harnessing innovation on the platform.

The paper identifies a set of three testable propositions on ecosystem design for further empirical analysis by ecosystem researchers.

To achieve future readiness, organizations must become resilient to the market environment. With that intent, traditional businesses are revising their operating models to become more collaborative, integrative and efficient. Adoption of digital initiatives for redesigning towards platform ecosystems will make traditional models more relevant as markets evolve. But as a new organization form, platform ecosystem faces the challenge of legitimacy. Author suggests that managers use the organization design lever to meet the challenge.

Emergence of platform-based businesses and transformation of existing models to platform ecosystems are impacting today's competitive environment. During initial phases of evolution, ecosystems aim for identity and legitimacy. The authors contribute to organizational aspects of the platform ecosystem design literature by identifying decentralization of governance, engagement and shared context as dimensions of criticality for future-ready platforms. Secondly, these dimensions are associated with identity and legitimation of platform ecosystems. Decentralization is relevant for supply-side producers of goods and services on the platform, engagement has impact on both supply and demand-side participants of platforms, and shared context is essential for knowledge creation and harnessing innovation.

Emerging economy firms seek strategic assets through cross-border acquisitions (CBAs) to upgrade their capabilities. The paper explores the relation between emerging economy firms' investments in CBAs and subsequent investments in domestic R&D. It investigates the underlying mechanism that links a firm's decision to pursue CBAs and the outcomes from the CBAs. The main idea behind the study is that firms have higher possibility of creating value from cross-border acquisitions when they simultaneously invest in domestic R&D though both investments are constrained by financial and managerial resources.

The hypotheses are tested on a panel data set of 296 Indian firms over a period of 13 years (2003–2015). The authors use a two-stage Heckman procedure for testing their hypotheses. In the first stage, a probit model predicts the probability of a firm being a cross-border acquirer. The second stage model is estimated by a pooled-data GLS (generalized least squares) regression technique.

The authors find a nonlinear (inverted U-shaped) relationship between firm's investments in CBAs and domestic R&D. This suggests a complementary relation between investments in CBAs and a firm's domestic R&D at lower levels of investments in CBAs. At higher levels of investments in CBAs, CBA investments begin to substitute for firm's domestic R&D investments. For firms with higher international product-market experience and those operating in the hi-tech industry, the relationship between investments in CBAs and domestic R&D is complementary even at higher levels of CBA investments.

The study highlights the role of an emerging market firm's investment in domestic R&D as a link between the decision to invest in CBAs and related outcomes thereof. Emerging market firms face resource constraints while pursuing simultaneous investments in CBAs and R&D, but investment in R&D is essential for realizing the acquisition objectives. The authors also establish the significance of industry context and experiential learning in deciding the allocation of resources between CBAs and internal R&D.

The purpose of this paper is to comprehensively analyze the corporate social responsibility (CSR) and sustainability reporting (SR) practices of Indian companies in terms of disclosure quantity and quality, and to investigate the differences in SR practices by SR dimension, industry, ownership structure, firm size and profitability.

Data are collected from annual reports/business responsibility reports (BRR)/CSR/sustainability reports of 60 top-listed companies in India. A comprehensive sustainability reporting index is developed. Content analysis technique is used. Inter-coder reliability is established.

Altogether, 18 items of the index are not disclosed by the majority of companies in India. SR quality is found significantly lower than the SR quantity. Moreover, SR practices significantly differ by dimension/category, industry-type and firm-size but are not influenced by ownership structure. However, the study fails to establish any conclusive relationship between SR and profitability.

The present study has several implications for corporates, practitioners, policymakers and stakeholders. The findings underscore the need for amendments in the Global Reporting Initiative guidelines and BRR framework of the Securities and Exchange Board of India to avoid patchy disclosures and ensure complete reporting by companies.

This study is among the foremost studies in India evaluating SR practices of top-listed companies in the wake of the mandatory BRR requirement from a quantitative as well as qualitative perspective using a multidimensional index.

This study investigates the various factors which lead to the higher employer brand and studies the relationship of employer branding (EBR) with essential aspects of corporate life, namely, corporate social responsibility (CSR), levels of motivation experienced by employees and the intention to stay (ITS).

The study solicited a research sample from employees working in five sectors, information technology, hospitality, banking and consulting sector (n = 296). The study employed structural equation modeling (SEM) to test the nomological network of EBR.

The study underpins the sub-constructs of EBR. A direct positive and significant relationship was found between EBR and CSR and motivation fully mediated between EBR and ITS.

This study uniquely contributes to the literature by exploring the mediating role of motivation on EBR and ITS's relationship. The study validates the nomological network of EBR by considering its various organizational aspects and the corresponding intertwined relationships.