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This case examines the queueing issues caused by the growth in popularity of one of the most visited Hindu temples in the world. On January 2, 2015, Ramesh and Vasantha Gupta visit Tirumala Venkateswara Temple, just a day after some 210,000 people crowded the 2,000-year-old site. The case describes the many enhancements that the temple administrator, Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD), has implemented since its management of the temple complex began in 1932. The soaring popularity of the temple, however, has led to safety and comfort concerns for pilgrims. While challenging students to consider additional improvements that might benefit pilgrim throughput rate and time in the temple system, the case highlights the tension TTD must manage between maximizing efficiency and maintaining religious traditions. Additionally, the case demonstrates the importance of perceived waiting times in the management of queues.

Human Resources Management (HRM), Industrial Relations and Strategic Management.

Post-graduate students or executive post-graduate students, Core course in Human resources Management (HRM), Industrial Relations or Strategic Management or in elective courses in Industrial Relations and Strategic HRM.

The Personnel manager of Asian Paints Ltd., Cuddalore (Tamil Nadu) factory, found himself in a Catch 22 situation when a Union leader of the manufacturing unit refused to work. The Union leader had been transferred from the Quality Assurance department to the Production department. The case describes the sequence of events and the backdrop in which the aforementioned situation had unfolded. Given the circumstances that prevailed in the factory, the personnel manager’s decision was likely to have significant impact on the factory’s output.

The student will be able to understand the industrial relations/Union issues in a company and the role of different stakeholders, namely, management, Union, workmen and the government in a conflict scenario. The student will learn the application of principles of natural justice and will be able to evaluate the Industrial Relations (IR) strategy adopted by the organizations to prevent labor unrest at the workplace. The student will understand the impact of critical management decisions on the organization’s performance in an uncertain global environment.

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 6: Human Resource Management.

The financial crisis of 2007-08 originated from the indiscriminate lending by housing finance companies to borrowers, who were in no position to pay back the amount borrowed. Delinquencies arose when the EMIs went up due to rising interest rates and the prices of homes declined. Variable rates of interest often catch the borrower completely unprepared. A part of the blame lies with the housing finance companies that do not explain the implications to borrowers at the time of sanctioning the. This case is based on the actual experience of an HNI (High Net-worth Individual) who is unwittingly caught in the web of high EMI by a bank. He faces the devil's choice. Choose he must, though, between the options presented by the situation. Unwary borrowers may be able to avoid such situations by understanding the various policy prerogatives available.

The purpose of this study is to develop a protective coating system on mild steel panel incorporating epoxidized natural rubber with acrylic polyol resin.

In this work, a novel attempt is made to develop binder coatings using epoxidized natural rubber-based material and an organic resin (acrylic resin) for corrosion protection on metal substrate. Seven different samples of multifunctional coatings are developed by varying the compositions of epoxidized natural rubber (ENR) and acrylic resin. The properties of the developed coatings have been characterized using analytical methods such as Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). EIS has been carried out for 30 days to evaluate the corrosion resistance after immersing into 3.5 wt.% of sodium chloride. Cross hatch cut tester (CHT) has been used to study the adhesive properties. UV–Visible Spectroscopy (UV–Vis) was also used to assess changes in the coating-film transparency of the natural rubber-based coating systems in this study.

The developed coatings have formed uniform layer on the substrate. CHT results show excellent adhesion of the coatings. Higher concentrations of ENR have higher transparency level, which reduces when the acrylic concentration increases. FTIR analysis confirms the crosslinking that occurred between the components of the coatings. Based on the impedance data from EIS, the incorporation of natural rubber can be an additive for the corrosion protection, which has the coating resistance values well above 108Ω even after 30 days of immersion.

The blending method provides a simple and practical solution to improve the strength and adhesion properties of acrylic polyol resin with epoxidized natural rubber. There is still improvement needed for long-term applications.

The work has been conducted in our laboratory. The combination of natural rubber-based materials and organic resins is a new approach in coating research.

Entrepreneurship in emerging markets; the planning of survival and competition strategies of small businesses run by entrepreneurs against well established larger brands.

The case can be used at the post graduate level in principles of marketing, entrepreneurship or emerging markets courses.

The case looks at the antecedents and process of transformation of a small-scale firm into a marketing-oriented organization, through the lens of holistic marketing. The case focuses on a small-scale Bangalore based Indian company, Vishaal Natural Food Products (I) Pvt. Ltd that had used the concept of marketing orientation and holistic marketing to effectively make use of the advantages of its “smallness” and the characteristics of its entrepreneurial setup.

How can an entrepreneur survive in a dynamic environment? How should the company conceptually finalize its growth avenues? How can holistic marketing have an impact on the entire functioning of the organization when radical changes to handle the environmental changes, are made? How does the concept of holistic marketing which in textbooks fits in with the complexities of large corporations when they plan their strategies, have an impact on the functioning of these small businesses. The case delves into the conceptual linkages posed by these questions.

Teaching notes are available, please consult your librarian for access.

This study aims to fabricate the acrylic-based polymeric composite coating with a hydrophobic surface associated with natural oil polyol (NOP) and polydimethylsiloxane with the incorporation of 3 Wt.% SiO₂ nanoparticle (SiO₂np) against the corrosive NaCl media.

The structural properties of the formulated polymeric composite coatings were investigated by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy, water contact angle (WCA) and cross-hatch (X-Hatch) tests. The WCA measurement was used to study the surface wettability of the formulated polymeric composite coatings. The corrosion protection performance of the nanocomposite coated on the mild steel substrate was studied by immersing the samples in 3.5 Wt.% NaCl solution for 30 days using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.

The enhanced polymeric composite coating system performed with an excellent increase in the WCA up to 111.1° which is good hydrophobic nature and very high coating resistance in the range of 10¹⁰ Ω attributed to the superiority of SiO₂np.

The incorporation of SiO₂np into the polymeric coating could enhance the surface roughness and hydrophobic properties that could increase corrosion protection. This approach is a novel attempt of using NOP along with the addition of SiO₂np.

The purpose of this study is to develop anti-corrosion coating systems using disposable waste materials. The dissolved polyethylene terephthalate (PET) has been blended with epoxy resin and stoichiometrically cured with a polyamide resin.

Glycolysis process was found to be the most optimum candidate to dissolve PET. The developed coating systems were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy for confirmation of the molecular bonding structures. The mechanical properties were characterized by performing pull-off test and cross hatch test for mechanical properties on the coated panel. Also, the glossiness test was used by reflecting light on the coated surface. The corrosion protection performance of the coated mild steel panels was examined using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Furthermore, the wettability of the developed coating systems was evaluated by using water contact angle technique.

It was observed that the coating system which contains 10 per cent of dissolved PET (S2) showed the highest adhesion and corrosion protection properties.

Recyclable PET bottles have outstanding chemical properties, adhesion properties, low cost, low permeability to gases and solvents making it suitable as a coating with superior barrier properties.

The purpose of this paper is to develop the bio-composite organic coatings by adding the bio-based additives that are extracted from banana peels and henna leaves as the organic corrosion inhibitors.

Bioactive constituents with inhibition properties are extracted from banana peels and henna leaves by using ethanol to form the ethanolic extract. The inhibiting efficiency of these bioactive constituents on mild steel corrosion in 3.5% sodium hydroxide (NaCl) solution is investigated. The investigation is performed using electrochemical impedance studies for 30 days. The optical and adhesive properties of the bio-composite coating systems have also been studied.

The best protection is obtained as the loading ratio of the banana peels ethanolic extract (BPEE) and henna leaves ethanolic extract (HLEE) are 10 Wt.% and 30 Wt.%, respectively. Overall, the results obtained show that the BPEE and HLEE not only enhance the optical properties but also can serve as an effective inhibitor for corrosion without affecting the adhesiveness of the neat acrylic properties.

Banana peels and henna leaves consist of bioactive constituents that have anti-corrosion properties which could inhibit corrosion.

This study aims to propose that the corrosion resistance of the neat epoxy coating can be further enhanced by incorporating reinforcing agents.

Chitosan, silica and their hybrid compound were used to study the subject of corrosion resistance of epoxy coating systems. This work used 3.5 Wt.% NaCl solution as the electrolyte, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) was used to investigate the electrochemical behaviour of the studied coating systems. Standard and accelerated states were used without and with scratch on the coating layer.

It was found that the impedance value of composite coating incorporated with the hybrid compound was significantly higher at 10¹⁰ Ω after 14 days of exposure in both testing states. The breakpoint frequency (f_b) determination also proves with large capacitive region at low-to-high frequency of impedance plots corresponding to the high corrosion resistance.

The hybrid compound consisting of chitosan as organic biopolymer and silica as inorganic material, respectively, served as a promising reinforcing agent for composite coating as a promising corrosion inhibitor. Different states of EIS measurement were used which are standard (without scratch) and accelerated (with scratch) states associated with the f_b values.

Electronic devices aid communication during new communication phases and the scope of cognitive radio networks has changed communication paradigms through efficient use of spectrums. The communication prototype of cognitive radio networks defines user roles as primary user and secondary user in the context of the spectrum allocation and use. The users who have licensed authority of the spectrum are denoted as primary users, while other eligible users who access the corresponding spectrum are secondary users.

The multiple factors of transmission service quality can have a negative influence due to improper scheduling of spectrum bands between primary users and secondary users. There are considerable contributions in contemporary literature concerning spectrum band scheduling under spectrum sensing. However, the majority of the scheduling models are intended to manage a limited number of transmission service quality factors. Moreover, these service quality factors are functional and derived algorithmically from the current corresponding spectrum. However, there is evidence of credible performance deficiency regarding contemporary spectrum sensing methods

This article intends to portray a fuzzy guided integrated factors-based spectrum band sharing within the spectrum used by secondary users. This study attempts to explain the significance of this proposal compared to other contemporary models.

This article intends to portray a fuzzy guided integrated factors-based spectrum band sharing within the spectrum used by secondary users. This study attempts to explain the significance of this proposal compared to other contemporary models.