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Human Resources and Organizational Behavior – dealing with the HR issues in mergers and acquisitions (M&As).

MBA and other similar programs at the post-graduation level.

The current case deals with human resource (HR) issues in the merger of Kotak Mahindra Bank (KMB) and ING Vysya Bank (IVB). The case discusses various aspects of the merger process and focuses on the key challenges that firms face while integrating the employees of the merged entities. The case also highlights the steps taken by KMB to ensure that the merger process is smooth and employees are adequately motivated. The case also discusses the process adopted by the merged entity to efficiently integrate the employees.

The case can be a part of an organizational behavior course and a banking course. The current case allows students to make decisions while dealing with situations pertaining to employees’ integration in an M&A deal. The major expected learning outcomes of the current case include being able to: understand industry structure using the Indian banking industry as a case in point; identify the major challenges in any M&A deal; list down key HR issues in any merger activity; analyse strategies that can be adopted to deal with HR challenges; and construct a plan of action for integrating employees in a merged entity.

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.

Strategic Marketing, Marketing Management, Services Marketing.

MBA and Executive MBA.

The case talks about the inception and growth of OYO Rooms, a company that originally started as ORAVEL Stays Ltd. in 2012, as a platform for booking budget and premium accommodations, but graduated to become OYO Rooms, an online aggregator of hotels, with a unique business model of “managing the partial inventory of rooms” in hotels and offering a proposition of affordable, consistent, quality experience to business, leisure and pilgrim travellers. The company received rounds of funding from Greenoaks Capital, Lightspeed Ventures, Sequoia Capital and DSG Consumer Partners. Moreover, unlike its competitors, OYO adapted itself to the fast-changing consumer preference and grew at an enviable pace and by 2016, was present across 190 cities through a network of 6,500 hotels. However, OYO Rooms had to face a multitude of challenges both from the consumer and hotel owners’ ends, primarily service quality concerns from the customers and majorly concerns out of payment irregularities or non-abidance to written contracts from the hoteliers’ end. The dissatisfaction levels increased to an extent that experts started raising questions on the viability of the business. OYO was growing at an aggressive rate but breakeven point was yet to be achieved. Moreover, growing dissatisfaction and switching amongst its customers as well as hoteliers threatened the very existence of the model. The case allows the students to critically analyse the strategies of OYO for deliberation on whether the business model was sustainable in the long run. It also encourages the students to deliberate on the possible growth strategies for OYO as also on the service recovery strategies for OYO.

The case has been positioned around the following modules: industry analysis; value of a two-sided business model to both parties; sustainability of a unique business model, against the challenges that it faces; applying the VRIO framework (resource-based view); complaint handling and service recovery strategies; applying the Ansoff’s grid for possible growth options.

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 11: Strategy.

The case looks at the Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project from its inception in the year 1860 to 2012 when the Pachauri Committee was about to submit a report on the latest canal alignment (4A) as suggested by the Supreme Court. It takes the reader through a series of developments starting from the initial proposals and alignments to formation of Sethusamudram Corporation Limited and highlights the impact of National Environmental Engineering Research Institute Report, Tsunami Detailed Project Report, and Subramaniam Swamy Report on various issues including environmental, political, religious, security and legal. The case brings out multi-dimensional aspects involved in an Indian infrastructure project and gives both students and the faculty an opportunity to explore the complexities faced by the Indian decision makers in today's context.

In this chapter, we share narratives from our personal experiences with a shared focus on the relationships between personal identities and family language. The acquisition of a family language is said to be accompanied by a specific ‘intercultural burden’ (Kagan 2012), which is manifested at the intersection of different influences and psychological tensions. This psychosocial and cultural reality has the potential for the development of a true intercultural identity that brings together contradictions and conflicts of inherited cultural differences. Here, through a prism of three personal narratives, we create a series of questions and reflections in relation to the family language. The three voices are articulated through three auto-ethnographic accounts of individuals – two linguists and a theatre scholar who are both personally and professionally invested in the topic of post-migration. The common thread of the three narratives is the experience of Serbian as the first language. As an aspect of personal identity, the idealised concept of family language affects one's identity and makes a decisive impact on investment and potentially life-defining decisions.

This paper studies the audit fee structure in Hong Kong. By analysing data concerning a number of variables representing auditee size, auditee risk, complexity of audit, auditor identity, and the timing of audit, we develop a model of the determinants of audit fees which is applicable to the unique environment in Hong Kong. Using a more recent time period of 1992 and 1993, this study strongly confirms that most of the previous research findings are also applicable to the Hong Kong audit service market. We provide additional evidence relating to variables such as the Big Six (previously Big Eight) effects, auditee risk and auditee complexity which have been found to have inconclusive associations with the level of audit fees in previous research. Specifically, auditee size appears to have been the main determinant of audit fees, and the size measure is two‐dimensional, both asset and turnover respectively add explanatory power to that provided by each other. Complexity of audit adds significantly to the cost of audit. There is also evidence of Big Six effects and low‐balling. In addition, some evidence is found for the effects of auditee risk on audit fees. Finally, a longer audit delay, which reflects the possibility of inefficient audit time spent, entails higher audit fees. Future research should consider the importance of other issues such as non‐audit services and the extent of market concentration.

This research aims to discuss the key civil rights problems in mental well-being and the solutions to those challenges in standard-setting and institutional practice, as well as proposes an integrated approach to adapting the emerging principles of practice to divisive mental health concerns.

This study is based on review of literature focused on mental health and human rights with special reference to international standards and clinical practices. Recent articles related to mental health and human rights and mechanisms suggested by United nations were included to draw conclusion.

Review of literature suggested to switch from reactive to a constructive and pragmatic approach, which is community-based, emphasizing alliance, rather than action, when the client is still too damaged to agree. Treatment should go hand in hand with mental health and civil rights education in the neighbourhood, as well as opportunities for engagement in shared interests in the group and interaction of other individuals with living experience.

While consent to care is a vital issue for human rights, the view of individuals with psychiatric illnesses as dangerous and “out of reach” is perpetuated by a disproportionate emphasis on it. Treatment should go hand in hand with mental health and civil rights education in the neighbourhood, as well as opportunities for engagement in shared interests in the group and interaction of other individuals with living experience.

The significance of social media in our lives is manifold. The tourism sector closely interacts with existing and potential tourists through social media, and therefore, social media analytics (SMA) play a critical role in the uplift of the sector. Hence, this review focus on the role of SMA in tourism as discussed in different studies over a period of time. The purpose of this paper to present the state of the art on social media analytics in tourism.

The review focuses on identifying different SMA techniques to explore the trends and approaches adopted in the tourism sector. The review is based on 83 papers and discuss the studies related to different social media platforms, the travelers' reactions to a particular place and how the tourism experience is enriched by the way of SMA.

Findings indicate different sentiments associated with tourism and provides a review of tourists’ use of social media for choosing a travel destination. The various analytical approaches, areas such as social network analysis, content analysis, sentiment analysis and trend analysis were found most prevalent. The theoretical and practical implications of SMA are discussed. The paper made an effort to bridge the gap between different studies in the field of tourism and SMA.

SMA facilitate both tourists and tourism companies to understand the trends, sentiments and desires of tourists. The use of SMA offers value to companies for designing quick and adequate services to tourists.

The article aims to concern identification and development of pathways for a green recovery process post pandemic taking into account the role of digital technologies for unleashing the policies planned within the European Green Deal (EGD).

The study is based on a systematic literature review (SLR). The electronic databases Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) were surveyed. The authors followed the SLR guidelines laid down by Tranfield et al. (2003) and the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Review and Meta-analysis (PRISMA) framework and 65 articles were found eligible after thorough reading and inclusion in the analysis.

The article presents an innovative framework containing the digital technologies and their roles in enabling the achievement of the EGD policies and the barriers to their adoption.

The proposed framework would guide organizations and policymakers' decisions to pursue a pathway in which a green recovery is possible, mainly after the consequences of the current pandemic, considering the pitfalls of the journey. The article is original as it provides an up-to-date guidance toward an emerging theme, which is a green recovery economy including a net-zero carbon worldwide target.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate, from a thorough review of the literature, the role of metaverse-based quality 4.0 (MV-based Q4.0) in achieving manufacturing resilience (MFGRES). Based on a categorization of MV-based Q4.0 enabler technologies and MFGRES antecedents, the paper provides a conceptual framework depicting the relationship between both areas while exploring existing knowledge in current literature.

The paper is structured as a comprehensive systematic literature review (SLR) at the intersection of MV-based Q4.0 and MFGRES fields. From the Scopus database up to 2023, a final sample of 182 papers is selected based on the inclusion/exclusion criteria that shape the knowledge base of the research.

In light of the classification of reviewed papers, the findings show that artificial intelligence is especially well-suited to enhancing MFGRES. Transparency and flexibility are the resilience enablers that gain most from the implementation of MV-based Q4.0. Through analysis and synthesis of the literature, the study reveals the lack of an integrated approach combining both MV-based Q4.0 and MFGRES. This is particularly clear during disruptions.

This study has a significant impact on managers and businesses. It also advances knowledge of the importance of MV-based Q4.0 in achieving MFGRES and gaining its full rewards.

This paper makes significant recommendations for academics, particularly those who are interested in the metaverse concept within MFGRES. The study also helps managers by illuminating a key area to concentrate on for the improvement of MFGRES within their organizations. In light of this, future research directions are suggested.