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The modern helicopters are designed with maximum serviceability and long life expectancy to ensure minimum life cycle cost. The purpose of this paper is to present a framework to incorporate the customer requirements on reliability and maintainability (R&M) parameters into the design and development phase of a contemporary helicopter, and to discuss the way to capture operational data to establish and improve the R&M parameters to reduce life cycle cost.

From the analysis, it is established that the reliability and maintainability cost is the major contributor to the life cost. The significant reliability and maintainability parameters which influence R&M cost are identified from analysis. The operational and design data of a contemporary helicopter are collected, compiled and analyzed to establish and improve the reliability and maintainability parameters.

The process depicted in the paper is followed for a contemporary helicopter and substantial amount of life cycle cost reduction is observed with improvement of R&M parameters.

The benefits of this methodology not only reduce life cycle cost but also improve the availability/serviceability through less failure and less time for scheduled maintenance. The methodologies also provide the reliability trends indicating potential area for design improvement.

The proposed approach assists asset managers to reduce the life cycle costs through improvement of R&M parameters.

Purpose: This chapter discusses the role and use of chatbots adopted by the different categories of banks (private and public sector banks) in India. The chapter presents brief essential services offered by Indian chatbots regarding accuracy, technology providers and virtual assistance, ways to connect, etc. This chapter concluded that most of the questions answered by the Indian chatbots are already available on the banks’ websites, and there is a need for enhancement in the capabilities of Indian chatbots.

Need for the Study: The need for the study is based on the working of banking chatbots, customer query handling, and the efficiency of the chatbots in India. The chapter helps to analyze the services offered by various banks.

Methodology: This chapter is based on secondary data collected from banks’ websites and articles from various journals. The study is based on nine banks (both private and public sectors) those are having working chatbots (SBI, HDFC Bank, ICICI Bank, Yes Bank, IndusInd Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Axis Bank, Andhra Bank, Bank of Baroda). The present study is focused on chatbots, their services, and software applications for various customer-handling capacities.

Findings: The research concluded that Indian banks are investing a small amount in using chatbots, yet Indian chatbots are deficient regarding far too provincial administrations as they are adequate just for standard and basic inquiries. Also, Indian customers are not properly aware of chatbots and virtual assistance.

Practical Implications: This study provides an overview of the working chatbots in India (for both public and private sector banks) and their functions, as well as the capacities of these chatbots. The previous conducted studies are based on the uses, importance, and working of chatbots/artificial intelligence (AI) in banking. In this study, after discussing the different services, it is found that Indian banks need to update their AI/Virtual assistance with more features.

The COVID-19 pandemic compelled the education system to switch over to emergency learning-teaching that is organised remotely. The present study investigated the experience of emergency remote learning (ERL) provided to higher-education learners. The study explores learners' perceived experience regarding the quality of learning resources, the effectiveness of teaching in a virtual climate and the scope of interaction in ERL.

Utilising a snowball sampling method, data were obtained from 470 Indian students of higher education through a cross-sectional online survey using a questionnaire through social media platforms. Data were analysed with relevant statistics.

The majority of students agreed that they had benefited from ERL. The overall impression of the ERL is positive; nevertheless, the students are perplexed and lack confidence in many aspects of the ERL. The Quality of ERL Resources, Teaching Effectiveness, Peer Interaction and Workloads were found to be significant factors in determining the quality of ERL.

Learning from the crisis of a pandemic is paramount for the education system. The education system could not go back to what was considered normal before the pandemic; rather it is time to assess and finalise strategies from the experience during this pandemic that could be taken by the higher-education institutions to make the ecosystem better equipped to create 21st-century learning climate. Accommodating the components of remote learning-teaching and engaging technology towards hybridisation are the needs of the time. Hence, assessing the quality of ERL from the learner's perspective might contribute to redesigning future remote learning.

In recent times, wool- and silk-blended fabrics are popular for creating glamourous products. Silk is blended to wool for creating more lustrous effect and to impart strength; on the other hand, wool is responsible for resilience, softness and warmth properties. Chemically both the fibres are protein-based, but the amount of amino acids is different. Due to this, the dye absorption behaviours of the two fibres from the same dye-bath are different. Wool is become darker than the silk fibre, if both the fibres are dyed together in a single bath dyeing process.

Here the wool fibres are first pre-treated with a commercial synthetic tanning agent (syntan) Mesitol HWS at three different pH values of 2.2, 3.2 and 4.2 and at three different concentrations: 5, 10 and 15 per cent. Then the syntan pre-treated wool fibres are dyed together with silk fibres maintaining the blend ratio as 80:20 by Telon Red MR, Telon Yellow M4GL and Telon Blue MRLW with sodium sulphate at three different concentrations of 10, 20 and 30 per cent.

The dye absorbency of the syntan-treated wool fibres decreased with increase in syntan concentration, whereas the colour strength of silk fibres increased. The resist effectiveness of wool fibres is increased from 6 to 59 per cent with increase of syntan concentration. So after the dyeing process, the colour strength of syntan-treated wool fibres are almost same with the colour strength of silk fibres. The washing fastness of the samples is improved, and wash fastness behaviour of both wool and silk fibres is almost same.

This paper gives an idea about the one bath dyeing process of wool- and silk-blended fabrics to achieve solid dyeing effect.

This paper aims to analyze the stock price reaction because of dividend reduction (DR) announcements in the Indian equity market, controlling for share repurchases.

The sample comprises National Stock Exchange (NSE) 500 companies listed in the NSE Ltd. covering a time span from year 2009 to 2019. Using the event study methodology, the authors measure the impact of DR announcements on security prices around the event day. The authors also examine the price response to DRs at the interim stage versus the final stage and identify the factors that drive the decision to reduce dividends at the interim level versus final level.

The authors find that overall DR announcements negatively impact abnormal returns. Firms that experience stronger adverse price reaction following DR announcements resort to share repurchase in the same year to boost stock prices. The authors find that interim DRs create more negative price reactions than final DRs. Finally, firms experiencing lower levels of prior year earnings, firms with smaller sizes and overvalued firms tend to reduce dividends at the interim level instead of postponing the reduction to the final level.

This paper examines stock price reaction because of DR announcements of Indian firms. The sample comprises firms that reduce dividends with contemporaneous share repurchases as well as firms that reduce dividends without contemporaneous repurchase activity. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, studies on substitution effect of dividends with buyback in the context of Indian equity market are rare. Further, investigating the difference in stock price movement because of DRs at the interim level versus the final level is the unique contribution of this paper.

Strategy.

Post-Graduate and Executive Programmes in Management.

Mr Srinivas Kesineni has been chairman of Kesineni Tours and Travels for the last 19 years. Kesineni Tours and Travels is one of the fastest growing bus travel and transport organisations. The case describes the journey of Kesineni Tours and Travels since its inception. It also outlines different strategies adopted by the Chairman to reach newer heights, to survive and to grow in the turbulent times of changing technology and rising competition from different means of transportation. This unique organisation is run by family, friends and well-wishers of the owners, yet it is professional in its approach in operations. The board of directors of Kesineni Tours and Travels has approved the financial results of 2010, which shows 55 percent growth and Rs 86.71 crores turnover. This is a remarkable achievement and recognition for a company that has been in the business since 1992. In early 1992, entrepreneur Mr Srinivas Kesineni thought of a bus transportation business when he started with just two buses, and today when the organization is the largest tour and travel company in the region serving approximately 15 lack customers in a year covering 75 destinations with around 425 daily schedules. He and his team have been working tirelessly and the company has a remarkable presence in the tour and travel business in India with occasional innovative moves from optimising bus routing, initiating sleeper coaches, introducing Volvo buses to the fleet, entering the cargo transportation business and more. This business has grown at CAGR of 24.07 percent since 2000-2001. Students reading this case may come to the class with preconceived views that the journey of the organisation since its beginning is an ordinary story, but this case creates an opportunity for students to come to their own conclusion how different strategies and the synthesis is important for achieving desired outcomes form time to time. This case facilitates the deductive learning process by identifying different strategic elements form the case and to understand its synergy to explain McKinsey 7s framework.

These include: understanding different strategies and policies adopted by the organisation and its impact on performance; understanding the importance of alignment of processes and departments in achievement of organisational strategy; and analysing and understanding the concept of the McKinsey 7S Framework, which is a helpful tool to understand the performance of the organisation.

Teaching notes are available. Bradach, Jaffrey, Organisational Alignment: The 7S Model, Harvard Business School Publishing are useful for further reading.

The purpose of this study is to optimize single-bath dyeing process of wool and silk blend, to achieve uniform colour strength for both the fibre after the dyeing process. Due to different absorption characteristics of wool and silk, two-stage dyeing is preferred in the industry. If the fibres are dyed together, the wool fibre becomes darker and the silk fibre becomes lighter after the dyeing process. Solid dyeing effect can be achieved using a single-bath dyeing process.

The dye-acceptor sites in the wool fibre are first blocked using one commercial syntan Mesitol HWS. Then, the syntan-treated wool and silk fibres (80:20 blend ratios) are dyed with Telon Navy AMF dyes in the presence of sodium sulphate. To explore the influence of Syntan, sodium sulphate and the experimental conditions on the dyeing process and to optimize the process, central composite design (CCD) of four factors and three levels was tested.

The design process is optimized using four independent variables: Mesitol HWS concentration, sodium sulphate concentration, pH of dyebath and temperature of dyeing. Three levels of Mesitol HWS concentration (5, 10 and 15 per cent), sodium sulphate concentration (10, 20 and 30 per cent), pH (2.5, 4 and 5.5) and temperature of dyeing (70, 80 and 900°C) were selected for this study. These variables are optimized using response surface regression equation of the ratio of K/S wool and K/S silk. The predicted equation matched well with the experimental data.

This paper proposes the use of one-bath dyeing process of wool and silk blend fabric to reduce the dyeing time, process step and to save water.

Indian and Chinese businesses are slowly making advances in each other’s markets. The purpose of this study was to understand factors that influence the business environment of a country and how does it compare between India and China.

The study uses firm-level survey data from the World Bank’s Enterprise Surveys. The study considered survey data for 2,700 Chinese firms and 9,281 Indian firms. Exploratory factor analysis and structural equation modeling were used to analyze the factors that drive the business environment in both countries and why differences appear.

The data set reveals different factor structures for India and China. Across both the countries, infrastructure support and governance play a major role in shaping the business landscape, though in the case of India, regulatory dynamics play a crucial role. The study concludes that these differences drive the basic difference in business environment across both countries.

The study considers only the formal sector, and informal businesses have been left out because of paucity of data. The dynamics of informal business sector can be considered for future studies.

While making market entry or investment decisions globally, businesses can analyze country-specific environmental factors through this framework. As the study is based on the perceptions of businesses, policy-makers can also focus on these factors to attract businesses to specific countries or regions.

The study is an original research study. The study adds to the existing academic literature and is expected to help policy-makers and senior managers in focusing on specific aspects of business environment when developing policies or taking market entry decisions.

Cloud manufacturing (CMfg) has emerged as a service-oriented paradigm that enables modularization and on-demand servitization of resources in the context of manufacturing. The plethora of studies on CMfg has led the authors to investigate its implementation, as most of the literature is theoretical or simulation-based. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the reality of the CMfg concept in terms of adoption.

A tri-theoretic model is developed using the technology adoption model, diffusion of innovation and technology-organization-environment for hypotheses development. Data are collected from 218 US manufacturers. The data analysis approaches are partial least squares structural equation modeling, while data visualization is done to further analysis.

The study shows that most of the US manufacturers are reluctant to adopt the CMfg. Further, the statistical findings imply that competitive pressure, top management support, compatibility and trialability play a vital role in its adoption. The success of the CMfg adoption relies on the implementation of the pre-installation stage and the top management decisions.

For practitioners, the study provides insight on how to supervise the CMfg platform implementation to improve the adoption process. For researchers and academicians, the significance of trialability provides a wide range of research topics on developing the CMfg trials and models.

This paper highlights the concerns of manufacturers about the pros and cons of the CMfg adoption, as this topic has not been given due attention in the literature. This will help to align future research directions according to market concerns and mitigating the factors that are hindering its adoption.

This study examines how chatbots could improve the client experience in the banking sector. Due to their quick and effective customer service, chatbots are becoming more and more popular, but it is still unknown whether they can improve the customer experience. In order to gather data from a simple random sample of Palestinian banking clients in the Gaza Strip, a survey was conducted utilizing the explanatory technique. To test hypotheses, data collected from 337 individuals was evaluated using simple regression analysis. According to the results, chatbots may enhance the customer experience by offering 24/7 availability, prompt support, and customized replies. However, issues with data privacy, lack of human interaction, and chatbot accuracy were also noted. The study comes to the conclusion that chatbots may be an effective tool for increasing customer experience in the banking sector, but their design, deployment, and interaction with current customer service channels must be carefully considered. This study significantly adds to the body of knowledge on chatbots and their potential influence on customer experience. The study offers useful insights into the particular difficulties and potential of employing chatbots in a highly regulated and customer-focused industry by concentrating exclusively on the banking sector. The results show that chatbot implementation in banking needs to be approached thoughtfully and strategically to maximize their potential for improving customer experience while limiting any possible downsides.