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Entrepreneurship, finance, technology and innovation, general management.

This case is suitable for students in finance, entrepreneurship and general management. The case seeks to understand the challenges of funding in technology startups and how they vary from product to service areas.

Availability of capital, short term and long term, is a major constraint faced by entrepreneurs. In India, in the technology sector, services companies have been able to innovate and grow whereas product-based companies that survived the challenges of funding have been scarce. Aluru Karthik Prasanth is presented in the case as a young entrepreneur with passion and drive to pursue the commercialization of an idea he developed during his undergraduate studies in engineering. Leaving behind the beaten paths ofMTech and employment, he decides to pursue MS entrepreneurship at IIT Madras. As he starts with his program, he analyses the challenges faced by previous technology start ups, Karthik has a dilemma – deciding whether to follow a product idea or change his plans to a technology service.

A detailed analysis of the case would help students address the following questions in entrepreneurial decision making: should an entrepreneur in technology in India pursue a product idea or service idea?. What are the pros and cons of each choice in financing? How can an entrepreneur pursue a product idea and minimize his/her risks? How does an entrepreneur's personal attributes influence his/her course? (e.g. family background, need for control) What are the challenges and opportunities in each kind of funding: debt, venture, angel, etc. in the Indian context?

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The purpose of this study was to examine the process of the use of management’s positivity and negativity sources and their mediation on pharmaceutical members’ satisfaction that, in turn, enable a health-care organization to meet its business objectives with more agility.

Data were obtained from a survey of 106 pharmaceutical members regarding their relationships with management.

The results of LISREL analysis revealed that the use of positivity variables such as reward enhanced each of referent, expert and positive conflict; in addition, referent boosted satisfaction. However, the use of negativity variables such as opportunism enhanced power, but weakened each of referent, expert and legitimate power sources. The use of coercion enhanced power too, but produced dissatisfaction. Further, the prevalence of negative conflict caused dissatisfaction.

This study also reported major contributions when it examined the effect of the mediation of the use of positivity intrinsic power sources on satisfaction. It found that referent power functioned as a full mediator by dropping the amount of the relationship between the use of reward and satisfaction to zero and as a partial mediator by dropping the amount of the relationship between the use of coercion and satisfaction. In addition, the use of referent power mediated the joint effect of both the use of coercion and reward power sources, triggering a positive effect on satisfaction. Several managerial implications were discussed.

The purpose of this study is to fabricate and compare the mechanical and thermal properties of Sansevieria and Kaans fiber reinforced polyester matrices composites.

Treated Sansevieria and Kaans fiber was used as reinforcement for the fabrication of polymer matrix composites. Kaans fiber, which was available plenty in the delta region, but physical and mechanical properties of Kaans fiber were low when it compared with Sansevieria fiber. To make use of Kaans fiber for the fabrication of composite, the physical and mechanical properties have to be enhanced. So Egg shell powder was selected as a filler material to enhance the Kaans fiber reinforced composite. The selected fibers were properly weaved after alkali treatment. A three-layered (0°/45°/0°) Sansevieria fiber reinforced polymer (S-FRP) and Kaans fiber reinforced polymer (K-FRP) composite plates were fabricated using the compression molding method. As per American Society for Testing and Materials standards, the specimens were cut and mechanical, thermal and absorption properties of Sansevieria and Kaans fiber composites were investigated experimentally.

Tensile and flexural test reveals that K-FRP composite has good ductility and bending property than S-FRP composite plate. But from the other test results, S-FRP possesses high elongation capability than K-FRP. Thermo gravimetric analysis, moisture absorption and swelling test too done which clearly appeared S-FRP composite plate has prevalent execution than K-FRP composite plate.

This original research study enlists the mechanical, thermal properties and absorption properties of fabricated S-FRP and K-FRP composite plates.

The purpose of this paper is to enhance understanding on supply chain partnership strategy-environment context co-alignment and its relationship with performance. Using the environment-strategy-performance view framework and the supporting relational perspective, the study develops a model and hypotheses to understand how supply chain partnership strategy as a response to co-align with operating context elements may impact operational and overall firm performance. Additionally, the study investigates the interrelationships among partnership strategy elements.

Data for testing the hypothesized relationships in the conceptual model was collected through a survey of managers in the Hoover’s database of US manufacturing firms. The survey sample included 115 responses from a wide variety of manufacturing forms.

Findings support the conventional wisdom relating collaboration to operational and financial performance. While product complexity associates with the “building block” resources, resource complementarity and resource specificity, technological turbulence relates significantly with only resource specificity. Interestingly, competitive intensity associates differentially with the resources – positive with resource specificity and negatively with resource complementarity. The results also reveal mediating influences of resource specificity and collaboration.

The research findings have to be considered in context. The moderate size, wide industry/firm diversity and robust research design notwithstanding, and the cross-firm nature can potentially obscure causal linkages. Besides, more comprehensive insights could be obtained by modeling the co-alignment of strategy with other factors in the operating context such as industry munificence, and market unpredictability.

Firms derive operational and financial performance benefits from close collaboration with partners since the operational enhancements from such relationships have customer service implications. Besides, the synergistic interrelationships among strategic partnership resources and their eventual impact on operational and financial performance is highlighted suggesting that firms develop a proper mix of unique and complementing set of resources and leverage them through collaborative behaviors. Importantly, the results provide a framework for managers to understand the criticality of aligning their resources with contextual elements to realize enhanced operational efficiencies, customer service, and financial benefits.

Much of the evidence on the rent generation capabilities in supply chain partnerships is still anecdotal and extant empirical research lacks adequate explanation. Thus this study offers an initial strategic response framework for an appropriate co-alignment of partnership resources with environmental context factors to realize operational benefits and overall financial performance. The framework answers the critical question: does a supply chain partnership strategy that matches “fit” or co-aligns with its critical operating environment context realize better performance? Additionally, it unravels the interrelationships among strategic partnership resources.

The purpose of this study is to advance the understanding of resource orchestration in inter-firm partnerships that appropriately configure and align strategic cross-firm supply chain resources and capabilities generating synergies to deliver superior performance.

Applying the resource orchestration logic, supported by the relational view of competitive advantage, the study draws from an empirical analysis of survey data from 152 top-level executives of US manufacturing firms to investigate the effect of leveraging and coherently combining cross-firm supply chain resources with capabilities on operational performance.

The study underscores the view that appropriately orchestrated combinations of key partnership resources and capabilities as mechanisms for marketing strategy implementation, enhance performance. Specifically, research results suggest that complementary inter-firm resources and lean align, and similarly idiosyncratic resources and agility align synergistically to deliver superior operational performance outcomes. The results also accent partnership responses to intense competition, enabling enhanced operational performance. The findings thus enrich the understanding of the resource orchestration logic and strategy, making important theoretical contributions.

As is typical in marketing and strategy research, the study research design has a cross-sectional framework, thus limiting insights on the resource orchestration dynamics that can otherwise be generated using a longitudinal design. Also, the resource orchestration stream is still nascent. Further research is needed to delineate the orchestration mechanisms that deliver on performance outcomes, especially in supply chains.

A key insight for supply chain and marketing managers is that close-knit inter-firm partnerships are critical for accessing idiosyncratic and complementary resources that can be configured and symbiotically aligned with market-facing agility and lean capabilities, respectively, to deliver market value. Proactive partnerships, especially in highly competitive and disruptive environments, enable mobilizing cross-firm resources and building appropriate matching combinations with capabilities to deliver on operational performance.

The study, guided by theory, advances the understanding of how key cross-firm resources and capabilities deliver performance gains. The key to competitive advantage and enhanced performance outcomes may lie in acquiring, leveraging and deploying appropriately matched resource-capability combinations. The present study investigates this proposition within the context of supply chain partnerships, focusing on cross-firm resources and capabilities.

The rousing phenomenon of the ageing population is becoming a vital issue and demanding fulminant actions. Population ageing is a resultant of the enhanced health-care system, groovy antibiotics, medications and economic well-being. Old age leads to copious amounts of ailments. Aged people, owing to their reduced mobility and enervating disabilities, tend to rely upon caretakers and/or nursing personnel. With the increasing vogue of nuclear families in the society, the elderly are at the risk of being unveiled to emotional, physical and fiscal insecurities in the years to come. Caring for those seniors will be an enormous undertaking.

There is a dire need for an intelligent assistive system to meet out the requirements of continuous holistic care and monitoring. Assistive robots and systems used for elderly care are studied. The design motivation for the robots, elderly–robot interaction capabilities and technology incorporated in the systems are examined meticulously.

From the survey, it is suggested that the subsystems of an assistive robot revamped for better human–machine interactions will be a potential alternative to the human counterpart. Affirmable advancements in the robot design and interaction methodologies that would increase the holistic care and assistance for aged people are analyzed and listed.

This paper reviews the available assistive technologies and suggests a synergistic model that can be adopted for the caring of the elderly.

The purpose of the study reported in the paper is to apply a structured problem-solving approach based on the Lean approach to analyse weld defects and derive appropriate solutions.

Manufacturing organisations involved in welding fabrication are expected to reduce weld defects to attain competitive advantage. Weld defects need to be systematically analysed for valve performance enhancement. In this research study, Lean approach is used to reduce variations and waste by annihilating the root causes for failures that occur during submerged arc welding (SAW) process.

The deployment of solutions facilitated weld defect reduction and substantial financial savings for the organisation.

The framework has been test-implemented for analysing variations and wastes generated in the SAW process. In future, studies could be conducted for assessing different welding processes.

The proposed Lean framework has been successfully implemented in a large-scale manufacturing unit involved in fabrication work.

Lean framework has been test-implemented in a large-scale manufacturing organisation involved in weld fabrication work.

The growing environmental awareness all through the world has motivated a standard change toward planning and designing better materials having good performance, which are very much suited to the environmental factors. The purpose of this study is to investigate the impact on mechanical, thermal and water absorption properties of sawdust-based composites reinforced by epoxy, and the amount of sawdust in each form.

Manufacturing of the sawdust reinforced epoxy composites is the main area of the research for promoting the green composite by having good mechanical properties, biodegradability or many applications. Throughout this research work, the authors emphasize the importance of explaining the methodology for the evaluation of the mechanical and water absorption properties of the sawdust reinforced epoxy composites used by researchers.

In this paper, a comprehensive review of the mechanical properties of sawdust reinforced epoxy composite is presented. This study is reported about the use of different Wt.% of sawdust composites prepared by different processes and their mechanical, thermal and water absorption properties. It is studied that after optimum filler percentage, mechanical, thermal properties gradually decrease, but water absorption property increases with Wt.% of sawdust. The changes in the microstructure are studied by using scanning electron microscopy.

The novelty of this study lies in its use of a systematic approach that offers a perspective on choosing suitable processing parameters for the fabrication of composite materials for persons from both industry and academia. A study of sawdust reinforced epoxy composites guides new researchers in the fabrication and characterization of the materials.

The purpose of the research is to concentrate on the most important smart metropolitan applications which are smart living, smart security and smart maintainable. In that, Power management and security is a most important problem in the current metropolitan situation.

A smart metropolitan area utilizes recent innovative technologies to improve its living, security and maintainable. The aim of this study is to recognize and resolve the difficulties in metropolitan area applications.

The main aim of this study is to reduce the metropolitan foremost energy consumption, to recharge the electric vehicles and to increase the lifetime of smart street lights.

The hybrid renewable energy street light applies smart resolutions to substructure and facilities in rural and metropolitan areas to create them well. This study will be applying smart metropolitan solar and wind turbine street light using renewable energy for existing areas. In future, the smart street light work will be implemented everywhere else.

The case traces the genesis of NASSCOM and presents a decision situation faced by the new president who has to formulate a road map in the light of changed circumstances. NASSCOM has been an exemplary trade association. However, it faces challenges that can jeopardize the future if the industry. While the challenges do not have short term effect on the growing Indian IT-BPO industry, as the active industry ally NASSCOM's new leader has to ensure long term success of IT-BPO industry. The case can be best used to understand the IT industry dynamics through the eyes of an exemplary trade body and also understand how a trade association in emerging economies can play an important role to fill institutional voids.