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Quality management among multiple business units of a large organization is often difficult if each unit is run independently in terms on their quality standards. In this case, participants will discuss how Bukhari Group of Companies should establish a common brand image through standardized quality. Participants should also understand that common brand image for diverse products does not mean identical level of rejection or customer complaints. It should be understood that different markets have different tolerance for product failures. The participants can chalk out the measures the protagonist of the case should be able to take to effectively steer the Bhukari Group to achieve profits and excellence.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of behaviour-based and buffer-based management mechanisms on enterprise agility using the lens of the agency theory.

This study is based on data collected from 185 manufacturing enterprises using a survey instrument. The authors employ structural equation modelling for data analysis.

The results of this study show that buffer-based mechanisms used for dealing with agency uncertainty of supplier/buyer not only have a positive impact on agility of enterprises, but are also contingent on the behavioural interventions used in the relationship with a supplier/buyer. Behaviour-based mechanisms also positively impact enterprise agility through mitigating the likelihood of supplier/buyer opportunism.

This study demonstrates that buffer- and behaviour-based management mechanisms can be used as complementary approaches against agency uncertainties for enhancing enterprise agility. Therefore, for enterprises to boost their agility, it is vital that their resources and capabilities are fairly distributed across entities responsible for creating buffers through functional flexibility, as well as individuals and teams dealing with stakeholder engagement, in particular, suppliers and buyers.

The authors use the lens of the agency theory to assimilate and model characteristic agency uncertainties and management mechanisms that enhance enterprise agility.

Similar to Western countries, the early origins of special education in India started with Christian missionaries and nongovernmental agencies which stressed a charity model of serving populations such as the visually, hearing, and cognitively impaired. However after its independence from Great Britain in 1947, the Indian government became more involved in providing educational, rehabilitation, and social services. Thus over the past four decades, India has moved gradually toward an inclusive education model. This chapter discusses the implementation of such a model related to the prevalence and incidence rates of disability in India as well as working within family environments that often involve three to four generations. Also included are challenges that an inclusive education system faces in India, namely, a high level of poverty, appropriate teacher preparation of special education teachers, a lack of binding national laws concerned with inclusive education, a dual governmental administration for special education services, and citizen’s and special education professionals strong concern about whether inclusive education practices can be carried out.

The purpose of this study is twofold. First, to examine the contingent role of the product life cycle on the efficacy of purchasing practices. Second, to use the results of the first investigation to explore the adequacy of the profit‐maximization framework for explaining purchasing decision making. This second investigation is motivated by growing evidence on the role of institutional factors in explaining supply chain management practices.

Survey data from a sample of North American manufacturing firms, across four standard industry sectors, are analysed using ANOVA and linear regression, to examine the hypotheses.

The results indicate that product life cycle has a contingent effect on the efficacy of some purchasing practices but not on others. Interestingly, the results suggest that the profit‐maximization framework is capable of explaining only some purchasing decisions but not others; firms adopt certain purchasing practices in certain product life cycle stages, even when these practices have no apparent effect on purchasing performance. This raises a need for an alternative framework to profit‐maximization, to better understand purchasing decision making.

The paper pioneers an empirical examination of how product life cycle moderates the relationship between purchasing practices and purchasing performance. The paper presents novel insights on the inadequacy of the rational profit‐maximization framework to explain purchasing decision making. Furthermore, the paper presents testable propositions on the role of institutional factors that are potentially driving purchasing decision making in managing the product life cycle contingency.

Just‐in‐time (JIT) has been written about since the early 1970s. Studies have investigated the growth of JIT sourcing and its implications. However, there has not been as much discussion of the issues faced by companies involved in the pursuit of JIT sourcing in a global supply chain. Undertakes a systematic review of the JIT sourcing and logistics literature and highlights key findings. Notes a number of key problems and best practice issues in the area, followed by an empirical examination of the potential benefits of adopting JIT policies in global sourcing and logistics relative to non‐JIT global buyers. Compares results attained with those of a group of buyers employing JIT sourcing and domestic suppliers. Significant differences in a number of performance areas are found in the sourcing and logistics practices between companies following JIT practices with their global suppliers, as compared to companies not doing so. Finds that some aspects of domestic JIT sourcing and logistics are applicable across borders, while others are not. Concludes with a research agenda for future investigations in the area.

Methodological consistency and rigour continue to be remaining challenges in cross‐cultural research. Scholars need to reach a degree of standardization in the choice and application of research methods in conducting research across national and cultural boundaries. Seeks to propose a general framework for conducting cross‐cultural research and to demonstrate the use of such a framework to a specific research domain ‐ global sourcing activities. In the process reviews the existing empirical work in global sourcing and illustrates the application of appropriate research procedures.

Today, as we hurtle towards imminent planetary destruction in the age of the Anthropocene, we believe it may be instructive to try and understand if the ancient science of spirituality can prove useful in humankind's ability to change course, even at this late hour. We argue that such a paradigm shift is critically essential for human survival and that without the inner transformation proposed by this science, it may prove impossible to build a society based on the principles of liberty, equality and fraternity. This chapter draws from foundational texts and authoritative sources across multiple religious traditions, based upon which it outlines a brief sketch of the ancient science of spirituality. We begin with an account of the differentia specifica of this science, where we delve into what kind of science this is. Since it is centrally concerned with inner transformation, we briefly outline the theory of change embedded in this science and the kind of rejuvenation it enables, which makes it possible for us to clearly perceive the key elements and the structure of reality. We then spell out the impact this has on the nature of human action, continually teasing out implications for policy and practice in our time. We provide a few concrete illustrations of the same. Inter alia, we also show how many of these insights can be found even within modern scientific and philosophical traditions, thereby indicating possibilities of convergence and synthesis between ancient and modern science, following thereby the guidance of genuine spirituality.

In spite of the fact that literature shows that big data analytics (BDA) pass on a distinct corporate ability, little is thought about their performance impacts, specifically logical conditions. Establishing this research in the dynamic capability view (DCV) and corporate culture and dependent on an sample of 310 Indian production industries, the purpose of this paper is to experimentally study the impacts of BDA on corporate social performance (CSP) and corporate green performance (CGP) using variance-based structural equation modeling (for example, PLS).

A questionnaire was used to accumulate data sets to examine research hypothesis. The authors pre-examined the survey with six scholastics and six directors from production firms in India. With the help of their sources of data, the authors have adjusted their wordings to improve the transparency and guarantee that length of the survey is accurate. Finally, the questionnaire was prepared for definite data collection.

The authors conclude that BDA has noteworthy effect on CSP/CGP. Notwithstanding, the authors did not find proof for directing role of flexible direction and control direction in the connections among BDA and CSP/CGP. This research offers a more nuanced comprehension of the performance ramifications of BDA, and in this way, it is tending to the critical inquiries of how and when BDA can improve in supply chains.

This investigation makes helpful commitments to the BDA research and its effect on CSP/CGP. To the authors’ best of information, this is the first hypothesis-focused approach to clarify the effect of BDA on ecological and social supportability. Second, this investigation likewise gives empirical proof that BDA impact on CSP/CGP and is free of flexible or control direction of the industry.