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The IT industry, particularly IT enabled services (ITES), in India has shown remarkable growth over the past decade and continues to show resilience even in the face of a global downturn in the sector. While India has not been able to match China in manufacturing prowess, it may have found its competitive advantage in the area of knowledge‐based services to which its factor endowments are uniquely suited. Yet, the tremendous potential and promise of this sector in spurring economic growth and national competitiveness may not be realized, if the numerous obstacles to the sector’s growth are not removed. This paper traces the evolution of the IT industry in India, its positives and negatives and its potential to contribute to India’s global competitiveness. Structural barriers in the national environment to the growth of this industry are identified and discussed. Conclusions and policy implications are presented.

For well over forty years, academics have debated the effectiveness of the standardization/adaptation of international advertising, with practitioners beginning four decades earlier. As the debate has progressed, a critical distinction in the literature has developed related to this issue, that of process and program standardization. In this study, we examine the association of process and program standardization, inclusive of consumer market and environmental similarity, within a sample of U.S. multinationals operating in India. Results indicate a positive association between process and program advertising standardization of U.S. multinationals operating in India. Implications for academics and practitioners are presented.

This study seeks to examine the impact of owner's knowledge of information technology (IT) on business and IT strategic alignment, as well as on IT use in the small firm context, using the resource‐based view as a theoretical foundation.

A random sample of 217 small manufacturers and financial services firms in the USA answered a two‐page survey containing questions pertaining to the company's business strategies, the extent IT supported each business strategy, types of IT used, and the level of owner's IT knowledge.

Owner's knowledge of IT was found to be a significant predictor of IT strategic alignment, as well as adoption of traditional IT and internet technologies, while controlling for differences in firm attributes (size, age, industry affiliation, and strategic focus).

Small firm owners are well advised to seek ways of improving their knowledge of IT, integrating IT use in firm‐level business planning, as well as reexamining their business strategy and IT use to detect and correct misalignments, if any.

From the resource‐based view, the owner's IT knowledge is a critical resource that cannot be easily codified, hence less susceptible to competitive erosion, since it is embedded in the owner's tacit knowledge and expressed in the unique but complementary use of IT in support of the firm's strategic goals. This study confirmed small firm owner's knowledge of IT as an important, knowledge‐based capability and a vital component of business‐IT strategic alignment.

Importance of corporate social responsibility (CSR) in marketing domain is increasing immensely. The effect of CSR perception on the purchase intention differs on the basis of mediators and contexts. The objective of this study is to examine the consumer behaviour of young consumers. For this, impact of CSR perception on purchase intention, satisfaction and price fairness of Generation Z is studied.

Preliminary data analysis is run to check normality, skewness and common method bias. PLS-SEM is deployed to examine the relationships amongst the research variables. Sequential mediation through PLS bootstrapping helped in exploring new and exciting research results which are supported with literature.

The CSR perception of Generation Z does not have a direct effect on their purchase intention. Interestingly, satisfaction and price fairness fully mediate the relationship between CSR perception and purchase intentions separately, i.e. CSR perception of Generation Z influences purchase intention only through satisfaction and price fairness. Furthermore, satisfaction and price fairness are also found to sequentially mediate the relationship between CSR perception and purchase intentions.

The research will aid not only the fast-food industry but the industries that are looking to focus on what Generation Z consumers expect in emerging markets including India. Understanding consumer expectations out of CSR initiatives will help them to incorporate social considerations into their marketing strategies and increase their profitability. Generation Z is regarded as the most challenging consumer demographic to market due to their proclivity for conducting extensive research and comparison shopping before making a purchase decision. As a result, the companies that want to use CSR as a strategy may find it advantageous to investigate how marketing of their CSR initiatives will lead to competitive edge and influence purchase decisions of this generational cohort.

This study adds to the academic literature by developing and evaluating a research model for consumer responses of a very important generation cohort to CSR in an emerging economy setting. CSR activities alone may not be enough to improve purchase intention of Generation Z adults. Sequential mediation for Generation Z adults' relationship between CSR and price fairness flows through satisfaction and finally to purchase intention is interesting because it clearly establishes a link amongst belief, attitude and actions of the target audience under study in a meaningful way within the framework given by cognitive consistency theory.

This paper aims to deal with the study of interaction between multiple cracks in an aluminum alloy under static loading. Self-similar as well as non-self-similar crack growth has been observed which depends on the relative crack positions defined by crack offset distance and crack tip distance. On the basis of experimental observations, the conditions for crack coalescence, crack shielding, crack interaction, crack initiation, etc. are discussed with respect to crack position parameters. Considering crack tip distance, crack offset distance, crack size and crack inclination with loading axis as input parameter and crack initiation direction as output parameter, an artificial neural network (ANN) model is developed. The model results were then compared with the experimental results. It was observed that the model predicts the crack initiation direction under monotonic loading within a scatter band of ±0.5°.

The study is based on the experimental observations. Growth studies are made from the growth initiation from two cracks in a rectangular aluminium plate under static loading. The present study is focused on the influence of crack position defined by crack offset distance and crack tip distance on growth direction. In addition to this, ANN has been used to predict crack growth direction in multiple crack geometry under static loading. The predicted results have been compared with the experimental data.

The influence of the interaction between multiple cracks on crack extension angle greatly depends on the relative position of cracks defined by crack tip distance S, crack offset distance H and crack inclinations with respect to loading direction. The intensity of the crack interaction can be described according to degree of crack extension angle and relative crack position factors. It is also observed that the progress of the outer and inner crack tip direction is different which mainly depends on the relative crack position.

It is limited to static loading only. Under fatigue loading findings may differ.

It is important to investigate the growth behaviour under multiple cracks and also to know the effect of crack statistics on the growth behaviour to estimate the component life. The study also focused on the development of a high quality predictive method.

The results show trends that vary with crack geometry condition and the ANN and empirical solution provides a possible solution to assess crack initiation angle under multiple crack geometry.

Both the military and non-military organizations (NMO) bring assets, skills, and capabilities to a humanitarian crisis, however, their capabilities and competencies are very diverse. Identification of the specific competencies and capabilities that are core to these types of organizations can enable better planning by both military and NMOs, allowing them to achieve greater effectiveness and efficiency in the humanitarian response. The purpose of this paper is to explore the core capabilities of the military and NMOs engaged in humanitarian operations.

The work builds on existing literature on the core competency of the corporation. The authors extend the concept of the ability to identify, cultivate, and exploit the core capabilities in the private sector to the organizations that want to respond efficiently and effectively to disasters. The authors develop a core competencies test for such organizations.

The research identifies the competencies and capabilities that are core to the US military and NMOs for humanitarian assistance and disaster relief. By identifying such abilities the authors establish a vein of research for exploring the role of such organizations to facilitate greater understanding among academics, policy makers, and decision makers in public administration, public health, and international aid.

Existing literature in humanitarian logistics does not adequately address identification of those competencies and capabilities that are core to the military organizations and NMOs and are most needed during the operational life cycle of a humanitarian crisis. In addition to identifying them, the authors compare the core capabilities of the military and NMO.