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The increasing availability and popularity of ways to capture personal memories using technologies such as digital cameras is beginning to alter the way in which personal memory images are produced, retained and circulated. Unlike the analog technologies, it is now possible to create an immediately available presence on the Internet. When examined from the perspective of voice, this phenomenon expands the potential of creating personal history narratives that could be collated together to produce a non‐institutional history of an era. This paper explores the ways in which the digital technologies can facilitate the production of such histories and what the technologies could do the sense of presence of an individual in the realm of the virtual.

The chapter discusses how adolescents are moving beyond the dichotomy of biological and linguistic socialization, forming interpretive meanings at home through the reading of literature in their mother tongue, Bengali. Involving cultural relevance and non-vulnerability, the chapter conceptualizes “leisure activities” and “leisure pursuits” of reading practice of the IXth and Xth graders from both Bengali and English medium schools in Kolkata. The discussion from the theoretical construction mentions the further conceptualization of reading habits and language choice. This is where adolescents derive their agency. Adolescents from the Indian and especially from the Bengali perspective have a path of colonial discourse. From historical standpoint, the change in Bengali language and its grammar structure has influenced the acceptance of Bengali literature among adolescents in varying degrees through generations. Using mixed methods and content analysis, the chapter focuses on young teenagers’ narration on the way they maneuver curriculum and literature in their respective homes. Authors, for example, Sunil Gangopadhyay, Satyajit Ray, and Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay, form the Bengali identity construction in the present time. Rabindranath Tagore’s, Sarat Chandra Chattopadhyay’s and Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s works are always prevalent in the Bengali language syllabus. These are considered the foundational modern literary figures of pre-independent India. These are taught from a nationalist and gender discourse perspective. The adolescents in this chapter also read those at a minimum level at home and attempt to juggle the difficult vocabulary involved. The simple language of post-independent literature is much sought after by teenagers compared to pre-independent literature. Sunil Gangopadhyay’s Kakababu series, Satyajit Ray’s Feluda and Professor Shanku series, and Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay’s Chander Pahar stand out among the adolescents from both English and Bengali medium unanimously in this chapter.

Previous studies have argued that improvement in organizational performance though change management processes is grounded in external knowledge acquisition and assimilation. However, there is ambiguity in how existing knowledge, in the form of intellectual capital (IC), is mobilized in this context. In response, this paper develops a context-based mediator model depicting the relationship between IC processes, absorptive capacity (AC) and organizational performance following the introduction of external knowledge.

A qualitative longitudinal case study approach is adopted, collecting data over three phases of a quality improvement program over a three-year period.

With the development of relational capital facilitated thorough changes in the work environment and the structured enhancement of knowledge-processing capabilities, the study identified the mediating role of AC on the relationship between IC mobilization and improved organizational performance.

Whilst there have been studies of relationships between IC and organization performance, to the best of the “authors” knowledge, this is one the few empirical studies to explore associations between IC types, existing knowledge sharing processes and IC mobilization, mediated by the AC of a firm, to exploit external knowledge.

Marketing, Marketing environment, Marketing strategy.

Post Graduate (MBA), Executive Education Program.

The present case study deals with the marketing strategies of Punascha (meaning re-beginning), a publisher of Bengali non-textbooks based in Kolkata, India. This case is suitable for teaching in Marketing Management course in a Post Graduate Program in Business Management. It could also be taken up for an executive program in marketing strategy. The case study is a live case study, which was based on in-depth interviews with the company people and company site visit. The case study discusses how Punascha started from a humble beginning in 1988 and became one of the leading publishers of Bengali books in India. The key focus of the case is on how a company can use marketing tools effectively (and uniquely) and become successful.

Understanding the basics of 4Ps of marketing and how they are used in synchronisation with each other to achieve the marketing objectives. Understanding the role of marketing environment in marketing strategy. Realizing the need of a new product development strategy. Assessing the need of non-traditional modes of marketing communications and its role in product promotion.

Teaching notes.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the trade linkages and degree of export competitiveness between Singapore, China and India.

Balassa's export performance index and the dynamic RCA index was adopted, as suggested by Kreinin and Plummer to identify the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) of the above countries in industrial products by SITC 1‐ and 2‐digit levels. The Spearman's rank correlation coefficient is used to identify the degree of complementarity between RCA indices.

Given the abundant resources, China and India have comparative advantage in a broad range of manufactured goods as compared to Singapore. From the disaggregated analysis at 2‐digit level, the paper finds that the Singapore and China exports are complements, although the degree of complementarity has being declining over time. Meanwhile, Singapore and India exports are found to be stronger complements and stable over time. The results also show that China and India exports are strong substitutes. The paper also finds that the export specialization of China and India has experienced significant changes and shifting to new export products over time.

Given the recent trade agreements between China and Singapore and India and Singapore, it is important to examine the trade linkages (complementarity/substitutability of trade) between these countries. The paper highlights the importance of China and India in complementing countries such as Singapore as it climbs the technological ladder to maintain its competitiveness in the world market.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM) motivations of regulatory-focused customers with positive and negative consumption experiences.

An online survey is conducted in Beijing and Shanghai. A random sampling technique is used to collect data from 854 respondents. Two scenarios of eWOM communication – positive and negative consumption experiences – are randomly assigned to each respondent. This study employs the structural equation modeling and confirmatory factor analysis techniques. However, it uses ordinary least squares and logistic regression to analyze 137 participants in the experimental study.

Promotion-focused customers that aim for self-enhancement and obtaining social benefits are motivated to spread positive eWOM on social networking sites. However, prevention-focused customers are driven by vengeance and anxiety, revealing higher intentions to post negative eWOM on review sites. eWOM generation is subject to gender, as promotion-focused male customers spread it more than both prevention-focused and promotion-focused female customers. Moreover, platform assistance (PA) has a significant positive impact upon regulatory-focused customers and eWOM (positive vs negative) relationships.

This study provides a deeper understanding of motivational factors of eWOM communication. Specifically, in case of product or service failure, negative consumption experiences drive prevention-focused customers to generate negative eWOM. Thus, using various tactics, marketers need to shift customers from focusing on prevention to focusing on promotion. For example, redeemable free coupons can shift customer attention and generate positive eWOM.

This study provides unique insights about eWOM motivation across genders. It examines regulatory focus, positive vs negative consumption experiences and moderation of PA.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interaction effect between customer satisfaction and monetary incentives on online reviews and test the moderating effect of personal characteristics, filling the research gap in online review behavior from the senders.

Using a project role-playing technique that is widely applied in the marketing field, the authors conducted two experimental studies in a laboratory setting with student subjects and collected 390 and 362 acceptable samples for analysis in Studies 1 and 2, respectively.

This research confirms the positive effects of satisfaction and incentives on review scores and tests the interaction effect between satisfaction and incentives on review scores with the moderating effects of moral judgment and sensitivity of promotion. Incentives could strengthen customers’ review scores except under small incentives situation where dissatisfied customers decrease scores instead. Additionally, the moderating effects of moral judgment and sensitivity of promotion are more significant in the case of dissatisfaction.

As this study focuses exclusively on a single service context and uses student samples, limitations persist regarding the generalizability of the results.

The research provides new insights for marketers on designing effective incentive programs, as well as how to better balance costs and benefits in promotion strategies.

This is one of the first studies to explore the interaction effect between satisfaction and incentives on online reviews considering the moderating effects of moral judgment and sensitivity of promotion. As a result, a new model is forwarded.

It is empirically proven that enhanced engagement with a focal medium motivates a consumer to post electronic word-of-mouth (eWOM). However, what has not been explored is whether enhanced exposure to eWOM results in greater consumer brand engagement (CBE). While answering this question, this study also assesses the influence of eWOM and CBE on customer loyalty and satisfaction with the brand. The study has been conducted across two products –a search product and an experience product.

A model is developed and hypotheses are proposed using the Elaboration Likelihood Model which are then tested using PLS-SEM. Data was collected from 712 respondents across India.

Findings indicate that eWOM significantly and positively affects CBE in both product categories. CBE significantly and positively influences both satisfaction and loyalty. eWOM is not significantly related to loyalty for both search and experience products. It is, however, found to be significantly and positively associated with satisfaction in case of the experience product, while a non-significant relationship was found for the search product.

The present study uses the survey method and PLS-SEM as the analysis technique which makes it correlational and confirmatory. The study, therefore, makes no firm claims on establishing causality.

The paper presents an original idea that CBE fully mediates the relationship between eWOM and satisfaction. This study attempts to fulfil a critical gap in the existing literature by establishing that eWOM generated by other users/consumers about a brand has a significant impact on CBE irrespective of the type of the product that is search or experience.

The study investigates the effect of political instability and employee tenure security on the performance of firms in middle-income economies (MIEs) after controlling for the influence of corruption, international quality certification, external auditor services and firm age. It examines whether ownership and sector effects matter in the explored relationships.

The study adopts the generalized method of moments estimator and collects firm-level cross-sectional data from 77 MIEs.

The evidence shows that political uncertainty, employee tenure security and firm age negatively impact firm performance. Also, external quality assurance mainly improves firm performance. Additionally, foreign-owned firms benefit from corruption more than their domestic counterparts. Moreover, there are ownership and sector effects in the firm performance drivers.

The findings suggest the need for MIE firm managers to implement policies and programs to improve permanent employees' efficiency, commitment and honesty. Policy makers and political actors must work toward a stable political environment in MIEs. The policy must also focus on at least minimizing corruption.

The study shows the contributions of employee tenure security, political instability and corruption to the performance of MIE firms. It documents sector and ownership effects in the factors influencing firm performance.