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Of the global carrot production, 20–30% is outgraded as carrot rejects and waste (CRW) at the primary processing level, which is partially used toward animal feed and the remaining ends in the landfills. This study was undertaken to identify the hurdles and seek potential solutions for using CRW in food processing.

CRW were procured from the processing unit in Ontario, Canada, as (1) outgraded carrots (OGCs) and (2) processed discards (PDs). The physical parameters of CRW, imperfections responsible for their separation from the graded carrots and shelf-life studies were recorded.

A significant difference with p ≤ 0.05 was recorded for both the physical parameters and the nature of imperfections in CRW. Discolored carrots (42.37 ± 3.59%) and the presence of vertical splits (52.71 ± 3.18%) were among the top defects in the OGCs. In contrast, the presence of broken tips (54.83 ± 2.52%) and vertical splits (40.56 ± 2.65%) were among the primary cause for the generation of PDs. In total, five percent of CRW were initially infected, which later increased to 30% during the seven days storage period.

The limitation of the study was that only two varieties of carrots were considered and these were procured from one processor (the authors’ industry partner) at different time intervals of the year. Microbiological analysis could not be completed and reported due to prevailing coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) situation but is included for future studies.

Development of specialized post-harvest packaging and handling protocols and separation of infected fragments are essential before suggesting the use of CRW in food processing.

Numerous studies report on the post-harvest management and processing of graded carrots, but limited to no studies are published on the usage of CRW in food processing.

Marketing.

The courses in which this case can be used include e-business, e-commerce, digital marketing, retailing and marketing strategy. This case can be used to teach MBA students. This case is also having the equal relevance for the executive programmes.

AaramShop is digitizing the Grocery General Trade ecosystem. There are of millions of neighbourhood kirana stores spread across all the cities of India. AaramShop is bringing these neighbourhood kirana stores online, and making them not only e-commerce-ready but also capable of using technology to take their stores to the next level in terms of service and delivery. The case lists out the issues and challenges faced by AaramShop.

This case challenges the participants to understand the new business model in the e-commerce space. The participants can look at the different angles of the business model proposition, namely, how AaramShop approach delivers on the retailer proposition, consumer proposition and the brands proposition. The participants can also be sensitized about the obstacles in making the business model more successful. These obstacles can be posed by the retailers, consumers or brands. The case will lead to a discussion about the logistics model opportunity available to Aaramshop.com.

Teaching notes are available for educators only. Please contact your library to gain login details or email support@emeraldinsight.com to request teaching notes.

CSS 8: Marketing

Pearl millet (Pennisetum glaucum) is a rich source of nutrients as compared to the major cultivated cereal crops. However, major factors which limit its utilization are the presence of anti-nutritional factors (phytate, tannins and polyphenols) which lower availability of minerals and poor keeping quality because of higher lipase activity. Therefore, this paper aims to focus on the impact of different processing methods on the nutrient composition and anti-nutritional components of pearl millet.

This is a literature review study from 1983 to 2017, focusing on studies related to pearl millet processing and their effectiveness in the enrichment of nutritional value through reduction of anti-nutritional compounds.

From the literature reviewed, pearl millet processing through various methods including milling, malting, fermentation, blanching and acid as well as heat treatments were found to be effective in achieving the higher mineral digestibility, retardation of off flavor, bitterness as well as rancidity problems found during storage of flour.

Through this review paper, possible processing methods and their impact on the nutrient and anti-nutrient profile of pearl millet are discussed after detailed studied of literature from journal articles and thesis.

This paper conceptualizes the broaden-build and self-determination theories that act as the major theoretical framework to investigate the role of psychological detachment and job crafting behaviours in predicting intrinsic motivation through emotional stability. It was hypothesized that emotionally stable employees are better able to detach themselves from work and craft their job according to their preference and abilities, which would inculcate experience and make them intrinsically motivated.

The sample comprised 396 employees, who are employed in different organizations across India. To test the hypotheses, the authors conducted structural equation modelling on SPSS AMOS 22.

The results highlight the partial mediating role of emotional stability in the association of psychological detachment with intrinsic motivation as well as the fully mediating role between job crating and intrinsic motivation.

The study is conducted in a non-western collectivist culture and it makes significant contribution to the available literature on intrinsic motivation by proving that psychological detachment and job crafting act as predictor and highlighting the psychological state through emotional stability. The study further adds toward theory building around the construct of emotional stability, as it is still in its infancy.

This study has depicted that emotionally stable employees who are psychologically detached and have proactive job crafting behaviour can achieve higher intrinsic motivation.

On the basis of the recovery process (i.e. the effort-recovery model), the broaden and build theory and self-determination theory (SDT), this paper demonstrates that emotional stability plays the role of mediator that drives psychological detachment and encourages job crafting, which has the ability to intrinsically motivate the employees.

The purpose of this study is to examine how formal and informal institutions play a role in the Iranian context in shaping corporate social responsibility (CSR) policies and practices.

Using a multiple case-study approach combining comparative and cross-sectional methods with semi-structured interviews, primary data was collected from eight corporations that actively participated in CSR activities in Iran. A microanalysis approach was used to examine the meanings and dynamics in the data. Through thematic analysis and pattern-matching techniques, the authors separately examined the roles of formal and informal institutions. Cross-case analysis was used to highlight the cases’ similarities and differences.

This study demonstrates that both formal and informal institutional structures exist in Iran and that both types influence CSR. This study also shows that informal institutions (such as personal values, culture, religion, traditions, charity and philanthropy) play a more explicit role than formal institutions (such as legal regulations and laws) in shaping CSR adoption policies and practices. The results indicate that, among institutions linked to CSR, formal and informal institutions are complementary and potentiate each other in Iran. Nevertheless, compared to formal ones, informal institutions play a more prominent role in shaping CSR policies and practices.

The authors recognize that, although the eight corporations are large, and although they interviewed their key personnel, they do not claim that these findings are generalizable, owing to the qualitative nature of the study and the small number of selected corporations.

This study makes relevant theoretical and empirical contributions. First, it contributes to the growing body of CSR literature that highlights the necessity of linking informal and formal institutions. Although the CSR literature lacks research on informal institutions in developing economies, researchers have yet to push forward and explore how the CSR adoption process works in developing economies that have influential informal institutions.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate experimentally the effect of several input process factors, namely, feed rate, spindle speed, ultrasonic power and coolant pressure, on hole quality measures (penetration rate [PR] and chipping diameter [CD]) in rotary mode ultrasonic drilling of macor bioceramic material.

The main experiments were planned using the response surface methodology (RSM). Scanning electron microscopy was also used to examine and study the microstructure of machined samples. This study revealed the existence of dominant brittle fracture and little plastic flow that resulted in a material loss from the base work surface. Experiment findings have shown the dependability and adequacy of the proposed mathematical model.

The percentage of brittle mode deformation rises as the penetration depth of abrasives increases (at increasing levels of feed rate). This was due to the fact that at greater depths of indentation, material loss begins in the form of bigger chunks and develops inter-granular fractures. These stated causes have provided an additional advantage to increasing the CD over the machined rod of bioceramic. The desirability method was also used to optimize multi-response measured responses (PR and CD). The mathematical model created using the RSM method will be very useful in industrial revelation. Furthermore, the investigated answers’ particle swarm optimization (PSO) and teacher-learner-based optimization (TLBO) make the parametric analysis more relevant and productive for real-life industrial practices.

Macor bioceramic has been widely recognized as one of the most highly demanded innovative dental ceramics, receiving expanded industry approval because of its outstanding and superior characteristics. However, effective and efficient processing remains a problem. Among the available contemporary machining methods introduced for processing typical and advanced materials, rotary mode ultrasonic machining has been identified as one of the best suitable candidates for precise processing of macor bioceramics, as this process produces thermal damage-free profiles, as well as high accuracy and an increased material removal rate. The optimized combined setting obtained using PSO is feed rate = 0.16 mm/s, spindle speed = 4,500 rpm, ultrasonic power = 60% and coolant pressure = 280 kPa with the value of fitness function is 0.0508. The optimized combined setting obtained using TLBO is feed rate = 0.06 mm/s, spindle speed = 2,500 rpm, ultrasonic power = 60% and coolant pressure = 280 kPa with the value of fitness function is 0.1703.

Benchmarking research has explored the role of organizational practices and business processes rooted with human capabilities for achieving growth performance. The role of high performance work system as an organizational practice and business process is yet to be studied. Even if studied, no study has been conducted on the role of training transfer climate on high performance work system and organizational performance. The current research aims at examining high performance work system on organizational performance. Further, the study also examine training transfer climate as a mediating variable between HPWS and organizational performance.

Data collected from 415 executives of a high performance-based power sector company of Gujarat, India. The survey instrument consists of high performance work system, training transfer climate and organizational performance. Confirmatory factor analysis was used for a simultaneous assessment of overall and specific elements of measurement validity and reliability. Structural equation modelling used to test the hypothesized model.

The result proved the capability of high performance work system to predict organizational performance. Further, the result supports the hypothesis that training transfer climate acts as a mediator between high performance work system and organizational performance.

The result has important theoretical and managerial implications. Theoretically, the research extends the scope of benchmarking to high performance work system. The managerial implications have been discussed from the training transfer climate perspectives.

The originality of the study lies with proving the role of high performance work system and training transfer climate as an organizational practice and business process within benchmarking research.

Herd behavior has been studied herein and tested based on primary respondents from Indian markets.

The paper expounds the empirical evidence by applying the cross-sectional absolute deviation method and reporting on herd behavior among decision-makers who are engaged in trading in the Indian stock market. Further, the study attempts to analyze the market-wide herding in the Indian stock market using 2230 daily, 470 weekly and 108 monthly observations of Nifty 50 stock returns for a period of nine years from April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2018 during the normal market conditions, extreme market conditions and in both increasing and decreasing market conditions.

In a span of a decade witnessing different market cycles, the authors’ results exhibit that there is no evidence of herding in any market condition in Indian stock market primarily due to the dominance of institutional investors and secondly because of low market participation by individual investors.

The results reveal that there is no impact of herd behavior on the stock returns in the Indian equity market during the normal market conditions. It highlights that the participation of individuals who are more prone to herding is more evident for short-run investments, contrary to long-term holdings.

This paper aims to design the fractional order sliding mode controller for highly maneuverable remote piloted unmanned aircraft with time-varying delays.

With the assumption that the time-varying delays are bounded and identical for different outputs, an observer-based control technique is implied which reformulates the state variables based on the system model and delayed outputs. The estimated state variables are fed as feedback into the controller. Based on the delayed output observer, a fractional order sliding mode controller is designed. Further, the stability of the closed-loop system is analyzed and asymptotical convergence is realized using Lyapunov–Razumikhin theorem.

The simulation is done in Matlab and Simulink. The parametric variations and trajectory tracking results are illustrated which looks propitious.

In practical operation, measurement signal is often delayed, which significantly degrade the control performance or even disturb the stability. It is emphasized to choose attitude as the evaluation indicator for unmanned aerial vehicle time delay.

A novel fractional order sliding mode control technique is designed to enhance the trajectory tracking, thus autonomous flight performance, of the aircraft system. Also, the main idea behind this novel procedure is formulated for minimizing the parametric variations in presence of time delays.

Key success factors (KSFs) of total productive maintenance (TPM) have historically played a vital role in attaining economic and ecological sustainability but have overlooked social sustainability. Hence, this study analyses and ranks the most significant TPM KSFs for attaining social sustainability in manufacturing small and medium enterprises (SMEs).

The research employs a deductive methodology to identify the relevant TPM KSFs and social sustainability indicators and then uses Fuzzy Technique for Order of Preference by Similarity to Ideal Solution (TOPSIS) to rank the TPM KSFs in order to achieve social sustainability, followed by a sensitivity analysis to assess the methodological robustness.

The findings indicate that the top five TPM KSFs influencing social sustainability are employee health and safety, organizational culture, top management commitment, employee engagement and effective communication and effective workplace management. In addition, the results indicate that effective equipment utilization is the least significant TPM key factor affecting social sustainability.

SME manufacturing managers do not need to worry about all of the TPM KSFs if they only concentrate on the ones that will have the most impact. If managers use the top 5 TPM KSFs as a starting point, they may create customized TPM training programs for their companies. As a result, this will facilitate the efforts of their personnel toward social sustainability.

In the existing literature, little emphasis has been paid to social sustainability and how SMEs may implement these practices. This research adds to the current theory of TPM and social sustainability and sheds light on how SMEs might use TPM to advance toward more socially sustainable operations.