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Quantum key distribution (QKD) is a technology, based on the quantum laws of physics, rather than the assumed computational complexity of mathematical problems, to generate and distribute provably secure cipher keys over unsecured channels. The authors are using this concept of QKD for the online banking systems. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

In order to function properly, any system using QKD needs to transport both quantum and classical data from a specified source to a specified destination, resolve competing requests for shared hardware, and manage shared keys between neighboring trusted nodes via a multi-hop mechanism. In this paper the authors are going to explain the transmission and control system for QKD implementation in online banking systems.

This paper presents the transmission and system control of QKD for online banking system is feasible under specific conditions outside a laboratory. Above, the authors have shown the research on the QKD based online banking systems. Though the current researches are focused on QKD systems for online banking systems, the techniques discussed can be applied to other quantum information processing involving photons. Combination with other efforts that are not mentioned here, such as entangled-photon-sources, single photon sources, two-qubit gates, and so on, will provide a rigid foundation for future quantum information technologies.

Recognizing the importance of online access as one of the vehicles for the development of cheaper, faster and more reliable services there are areas of improvement where all involved parties should endeavor to improve toward the deployment of services without unnecessary or excessive risks. This improvement applies to both retail and commercial customers and does not endorse any particular technology.

The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of sensitization on the metallurgical characteristics of weld joints made up of austenitic stainless steel (AISI 316L) and ferritic stainless steel (AISI 430), using the gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW) process with ER316L filler wires.

A non-consumable tungsten electrode with a diameter of 1.6 mm was used during the GTAW procedure. The filler wire, ER316L, was selected based on the recommendation provided in literature. To explore the interconnections among the structure and properties of these weldments, the techniques including scanning electron microscopy and optical analysis have been used. In addition, the sensitization behaviour of the weldments was investigated using the double loop electrochemical potentio-kinetic reactivation (DLEPR) test.

Microstructural analyses revealed the occurrences of coarsened grains with equiaxed columnar grains and migrating grain boundaries in the weld zone. The results of the DLEPR test demonstrated that heat affected zone (HAZ) of AISI 430 was more susceptible to sensitization than HAZ of AISI 316L. Microstructure analysis also revealed the precipitation of large amounts of chromium carbide at the grain boundaries region of AISI 430 welded steel, causing more sensitization and, as a result, more failure or breaking at the side of AISI 430 weld in the dissimilar weldment of AISI 316L–AISI 430.

The present work has been carried out to determine the appropriate welding conditions for joining AISI 316L and AISI 430, as well as the metallurgical properties of the dissimilar weldment formed between AISI 316L and AISI 430. Owing to the difficulties in measuring the performance of these types of dissimilar joints given their unique mechanical and microstructural characteristics, research on the subject is limited.

The purpose of this study is to examine and identify the predominant themes in the literature on economic freedom. The paper also highlights the key journals, leading authors, top countries and organisations in the literature on economic freedom.

This paper uses the Scopus database to examine 1,512 articles covering the disciplines of economics, finance, business and social sciences from 1942 to 2022. Vosviewer software is used for creating bibliometric networks.

The findings suggest that significant growth in the economic freedom literature has occurred in the last ten years. Considerable attention has been devoted to examining the relationship between economic freedom and growth. The paper also finds that most of the research on economic freedom has been undertaken in the context of developed countries.

This study is one of the first attempts to undertake a bibliometric analysis of economic freedom. The article also highlights the less-researched areas in the literature and thus provides directions for future research.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-09-2023-0690.

The purpose of this study is to examine the impact of economic freedom on four key health indicators (namely, life expectancy, infant mortality rate, under-five mortality rate and neonatal mortality rate) by using a panel dataset of 34 sub-Saharan African countries from 2005 to 2016.

The study obtains data from the World Development Indicators (WDI) of the World Bank and the Fraser Institute. It uses fixed effects regression to estimate the effect of economic freedom on health outcomes and attempts to resolve the endogeneity problems by using two-stage least squares regression (2SLS).

The results indicate a favourable impact of economic freedom on health outcomes. That is, higher levels of economic freedom reduce mortality rates and increase life expectancy in sub-Saharan Africa. All areas of economic freedom, except government size, have a significant and positive effect on health outcomes.

This study analyses the effect of economic freedom on health at a broad level. Country-specific studies at a disaggregated level may provide additional information about the impact of economic freedom on health outcomes. Also, this study does not control for some important variables such as education, income inequality and foreign aid due to data constraints.

The findings suggest that sub-Saharan African countries should focus on enhancing the quality of economic institutions to improve their health outcomes. This may include policy reforms that support a robust legal system, protect property rights, promote free trade and stabilise the macroeconomic environment. In addition, policies that raise urbanisation, increase immunisation and lower the incidence of HIV are likely to produce a substantial improvement in health outcomes.

Extant economic freedom-health literature does not focus on endogeneity problems. This study uses instrumental variables regression to deal with endogeneity. Also, this is one of the first attempts to empirically investigate the relationship between economic freedom and health in the case of sub-Saharan Africa.

Permeation of private sector banks has triggered intense competitiveness in the Indian banking sector; therefore, customer satisfaction has become the epicenter of all activities. The study seeks to explicate the antecedents and reverberation of customer satisfaction in the Indian retail banking sector.

Top six Indian private sector banks were selected based on market capitalization. Cross-sectional data from 460 retail bank customers were collected by employing a structured questionnaire and evaluated wielding structural equation modeling.

The study discerns seven antecedents of customer satisfaction, namely tangibility, reliability, empathy, responsiveness, assurance, perceived service innovation and bank reputation. The results unveil that assurance, bank reputation and perceived service innovation significantly escalate customer satisfaction, which further markedly accentuates customer loyalty. However, tangibility was the only dimension bearing an insignificant relationship. In addition, both perceived trust and perceived risk significantly moderate the association between customer satisfaction and customer loyalty in the model.

Incorporation of merely private sector banks and considering cosmopolitans restraints generalization of findings to some extent. The study bespeaks essential determinants of customer satisfaction that might succor bank professionals to retain customers and ameliorate profitability.

There is a paucity of literature on “perceived service innovation” and “bank reputation” in the Indian banking scenario. Therefore, the study augments the literature by integrating aforesaid important constituents along with other antecedents and reverberation. Moreover, the study uses theoretical lens to anchor its hypotheses through a comprehensive conceptual model in the backdrop of Indian retail banking.

Geographic diversification results in the improvement of firm value through an increase in scale and scope of economies, gains in synergy, reduction in cost and improved corporate governance, however, the capabilities of financial institutions get heavily affected due to information asymmetries, varied macro and microeconomic factors across economies. In this context, the purpose of this paper is to empirically analyze the impact of geographical diversification on the performance of Indian Banks.

For an unbalanced panel data set of Indian Banks over the period 2001–2016, fixed effect model (FEM) with a distributed lag is used and tested for firm and time fixed effects. Further, the study also examines the role of bank size and ownership on the above association.

Findings of the study suggests that geographical diversification helps in increasing bank returns for the overall sample but does not have any significant impact on bank risk. For foreign and public banks, geographical diversification helps in increasing bank returns but does not have any significant impact on bank risk. This indicates toward the adverse selection, poor monitoring incentives in new markets and suggesting a lack of managerial skills.

The study indicates that while formulating the policies regarding branching and expansion these findings can serve as a guiding tool for managers and regulators. Findings have important implications for financial institution and policymakers in globalized financial markets.

This paper aims to explain transitions in a socio-technical system characterized by non-economic entities that influence economic activity, i.e. embeddedness and coalitions. The selected socio-technical system is an Indian electric network with an interventionist policy. Its embeddedness and coalitions drive the transition. The insights from such analysis expand socio-technical transition theory and provide valuable insights to practitioners in their policymaking.

The authors need to observe the effects of non-economic institutions in their setting. Moreover, in India, the regional policies influence decision-making; therefore, selected two Indian states. The two Indian states, along with their non-economic entities, provided diverse analytic and heuristic views.

The findings show that coalitions, with their embeddedness in the absence of any mediating policy systems, act as external pressures and influence innovation and the socio-technical system’s transition trajectory. Their coalitions’ embeddedness follows a shaping, not selection logic. Thereby influence innovations in cumulating as stable designs. Such an approach provides benefits in the short-term but not in the long-term.

The study selected two states and examined two of the four trajectories. By considering other states, the authors can obtain more renewable energy investments and further insights into the transformational trajectory.

The study highlights the coalition dynamics specific to the Indian electric power network and its transition trajectories. The non-economic entities influenced transition trajectories, innovation and policymaking of the socio-technical system.

The study expands the socio-technical transition theory by including embeddedness. The embeddedness brings a shaping logic instead of a selection logic.

The learning outcomes of this study are to gain an understanding of the banking regulations and their impact on banking performance, to understand the intermediation role of banks by channelizing depositors’ savings and providing loans to borrowers, to explain an impact of a recent regulatory change in the Indian banking that directly impacts their financial performance, to critically evaluate the different financial ratios to analyze the performance of a bank and to build a DuPont analysis framework for banks.

The case serves as a primer on banking regulations in India and provides insights into banking performance. Banking regulations play an important role in maintaining financial stability, specifically in emerging economies like India. The protagonist of the case is Salil Kumar who presented his internship project to the review committee of Stock Investment Company on April 16, 2021. However, he had to rework and present his final project within seven days on the basis of the feedback received from the committee. Kumar faced the dilemma of bringing together a comparative study across two banks, namely, Industrial Credit and Investment Corporation of India (ICICI Bank) and State Bank of India (SBI) and building a DuPont framework covering the different aspects of banking performance. The case exemplifies the intricate regulatory landscape in India within which banks operate and highlights the recent alterations introduced by the Reserve Bank of India. For instance, the framework for dealing with domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs) was introduced in 2014 and subsequently adopted in August 2015. The D-SIB framework provides inherent guarantee to large banks such as ICICI Bank and SBI. This ensures government backup in the event of any failure, thereby securing financial stability. The case study is suitable for banking and financial accounting courses taught in postgraduate management programs. Once the case is studied, the students are expected to understand the basics of banking, regulations, impact of regulations on banking performance and financial measures.

The case provides valuable insights into the intricate dynamics of the banking industry, offering a critical perspective for analysis. A well-structured teaching note would serve as a valuable tool for instructors, allowing them to facilitate engaging classroom discussions and effectively guide students toward achieving the desired teaching objectives.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 1: Accounting and Finance.

Considers that when efficiency and effectiveness of systems are measured by the quantity and quality of their output they may be inadequate for the purpose of comparing one system with another. Seeks new criteria and defines entropy, wastivity and quality concepts in relation to system performance. Establishes the interdependence of the three concepts. Proposes that system wastivity should be used as a measure of system performance.

The case focuses on the importance of the brand-building process, which takes place in B2B companies. Commodity companies focus a lot on the sales and distribution aspect of their marketing strategies but do not emphasize the importance of developing their brands. At the end of the discussion, the participants would be able: to examine the steps involved in conceptualizing the brand identity for an existing product in a highly competitive B2B market, as per Kapferer’s Brand Identity Matrix. To understand the steps involved in the journey of internal and external brand-building processes in B2B. To analyze the various challenges and issues faced by large organizations dealing in the metals and commodity business.

The case discusses a marketing challenge faced by Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) in launching a new brand of thermomechanical treatment (TMT) products in the market. Traditionally, the company had focused on the sales and distribution aspect of their marketing strategies but did not emphasize the importance of developing their brands. This case is based upon the challenges faced in the creation of a new brand identity for JSPL’s TMT products by the protagonist, Mr Paras Sharma (who is the brand custodian and manager in this case).

Postgraduate/Masters in Business Administration (MBA), Masters in Management Studies, Executive MBA.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.