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In 2006, four successful entrepreneurs decided to establish a world-class mega university. Initially, the project progressed slowly until Vineet Gupta was able to locate a small plot of land in Sonipat, Haryana. Forty-eight hours before the payment deadline, Ashish Dhawan and Sanjeev Bikchandani agreed to invest in their personal capital to kick start the project. They however suggested a pivot in favour of a smaller private liberal arts college. Meanwhile, Pramath Sinha, with prior experience in establishing the Indian School of Business launched a pilot through the Young India Fellowship (YIF). Dhawan and Bikchandani, through their extensive entrepreneurial networks, raised scholarships for the first two batches of the fellowship in the hope of attracting other donors to the board and getting a buy-in for Ashoka University. The team faced a number of challenges: managing the new model of collective philanthropy, recruiting faculty and finding jobs for the first undergraduate batch. At Ashoka University's first graduation ceremony in 2017 they wondered whether this model could revolutionise the higher education space like the IITs and IIMs had done for the country.

The purpose of this paper is to study the analytical hierarchy process (AHP) based on assessment of sustainability indicators for public transportation system including pedestrians and feeder services in developing country.

A hybrid approach based on the AHP is considered for assessment of the sustainability of public transportation system including pedestrians and feeder services. Sustainability related indicators for public transportation system (namely for metro, bus and feeder bus) and pedestrians based on past data were reviewed and subsequently, more important indicators catering needs of developing country have been added to achieve significant sustainability score and a total of 17 indicators were selected for assessment of comprehensive sustainability (seven indicators under economic, six under social and four under environmental categories).

For quantifying the assessment, specific user interview surveys are performed in south Delhi region and accordingly perception of user and transportation-related operational characteristics of the public transport system were also collected. Preliminary result shows air pollution in environmental category, public health in social category and productivity in economic category is most influential parameters in developing country.

AHP method is applied for rating the criteria and setting out the priority of designed sustainable indicators. Subsequently sustainable mitigation measures and scenarios for the study area can be evaluated utilizing developed comprehensive sustainability indicator for public transportation system including pedestrian and feeder services available in developing country.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate combined exposure factor (CEF) due to impact of different transport-related environmental pollutants, air quality and noise level in Delhi city.

The Estimation of CEF takes into account the potential relative uptake of each pollutant (CO, NO, NO₂, O₃, SO₂, PM10 and PM_2.5) by the boarding and alighting of commuters at Public Transport facility and using motorcycle. With the help of CRRI mobile air pollution monitoring laboratory and previous CRRI reports.

Combined exposure to environmental pollutants is determined based on the taking weighting factor of pollutant stressor. Results shows average stressor for CO, NO, NO₂, SO₂, PM_2.5 and noise were 2.79 mg/m3, 331.83, 210.25, 16.70, 241.3883 µg/m3, and 72.5 dB(A), respectively. Similarly for motorcyclist, results shows average stressor for CO, NO, NO₂, SO₂, PM_2.5 and noise were 5.1 mg/m3, 483, 398, 19.3, 295 µg/m3, and 82.7 dB(A), respectively. The results show higher exposure value for motorcyclist.

Knowledge of exposure factor due to air and noise pollutant for bus commuter in sitting and standing and motorcyclist is not known for Delhi city.

Understanding of the farmers’ buying process is of great economic and strategic relevance for agri-business firms. The purpose of this paper is to explain the extensiveness of the buying process of Indian farmers in their purchase of agri-inputs and discusses its implications for agri-industries.

Four different dimensions of the buying process, namely, buying decision time, number of information sources used, number of evaluated suppliers, and number of conversations with suppliers were used to study the extensiveness of the buying process of the farmers. Responses of 278 farmers were analyzed with the help of mean and frequency distribution, analysis of variance, and Pearson correlation coefficient.

Overall, the extensiveness of the buying process for the frequently purchased inputs was less in comparison to that of the infrequently purchased inputs. However, there were differences in the extensiveness of the buying process for the inputs within the same category. Farmers’ characteristics influenced their buying process and the impact was more evident in case of frequently purchased agri-inputs. All the four dimensions of the farmers’ buying process were found to be positively correlated for most of the agri-inputs.

The farmers’ buying process varies for different agri-inputs and is dependent on the farmers’ characteristics. Firms can use the findings of the study to develop appropriate marketing strategies to broaden their customers’ base and increase sales.

The paper offers an insight into the farmers’ buying process in India and how the farmers behave in different dimensions of the buying process. There are very few studies on the subject carried out in the Indian context.

This paper develops a comprehensive marketing framework that firms could use as a foundation for developing a successful business model that ensures sustainability in BOP markets.

The study employs a qualitative research approach based on semi-structured in-depth interviews with founders or senior managers of Indian firms who have been successfully operating in the Indian BOP market. The data is then systematically coded and categorized with the help of software to get better insights.

The findings of the paper indicate that although the traditional 4As of marketing are important, they do not explain the success of firms adequately. Based on the findings of the interviews, we propose an 8A model that comprises the original 4As along with adaptability, assistance, action innovation and accelerating scale.

The proposed 8A framework would be useful for domestic and multi-national firms aiming to make a foray into the Indian BOP market.

The paper contributes to the literature on the BOP market by identifying the factors important for succeeding in the BOP market. It builds on the 4A model to propose 8As marketing framework in the context of BOP markets.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and compare the factors which affect the consumers’ buying behavior of vegetarian and non-vegetarian food products in an emerging middle-size market. The paper also compares the preferences of the consumers for various food products and their respective market attributes.

A total of 282 households of two middle-sized cities of India were personally surveyed with a structured questionnaire. Simple statistical analysis such as frequency distribution, factor analysis and analysis of variance, and logit regression were carried out to infer the required information.

The results indicate that consumers consume more of vegetarian product than that of non-vegetarian products. Most of the consumers were interested in seeing and verifying the products of both of the categories before buying. Age and income of the consumers play important role in influencing their buying behavior for vegetarian food products, but not that of non-vegetarian food products. It was found that credence attributes of products, and market attributes play a dominant role in influencing the consumers’ behavior for both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food products. Packaged branded products were not popular in both the food categories.

The localized nature of this study limits the scope of wider generalization. Future research could use larger samples spread across all regions having different food culture.

The findings of the study will be of help to food retailers who are interested to know whether the consumers’ buying process for these two categories of food products is more or less same or different in nature. This would help them to customize their product-specific marketing strategies as per the customers’ preferences and requirements.

The paper gives a comparative insight on consumers’ behavior toward both vegetarian and non-vegetarian food. It provides specific reasons for having different or similar marketing strategies for two categories of food.

This study aims to investigate antecedents of forgiveness from the non-complainers point of view after a service failure in India.

This study bases itself on the theoretical foundations of the Cognitive Emotive Coping model. In the first study, a survey-based design was used for soliciting responses from 291 respondents. An experimental research design was undertaken in the second study, and data were recorded from 120 respondents. Data were analysed using both SPSS and AMOS.

All the antecedent variables, except, affective commitment was found to influence forgiveness significantly. Further, forgiveness also positively influenced repurchase intentions and had a negative influence on negative word-of-mouth. The findings also suggest that the service failure severity effectively moderates the relationship between empathy and forgiveness.

This paper extends the cognitive emotive coping model from the non-complainers point of view by adding relational constructs to it. This study observes that affective commitment is not necessarily related to forgiveness in contrast to existing literature. The relationship between empathy and forgiveness is stronger when failure severity is low.

Movement of people from one retail trade area to another in search of better options and deals has been studied across the world owing to its large impact on trade flow. Studies have been done in various rural and urban settings. However, almost all except one fails to provide a comprehensive model of outshopping which has its own limitations with regard to its applicability’s across cultures and in various settings. Nonetheless findings from the literature provides necessary inputs to start studies in various other cultures and settings. Results are presented in form of various definitions, various types, methodologies used, factors identified (individual characteristics, market characteristics, product related variables and accessibility factors) and patterns across continents. Attempts have also been made to explain their applicability to Indian conditions along with various limitations and gaps.

Hypermarket is the most successful amongst organised retail formats in India. The purpose of this paper is to identify segments of hypermarket shoppers based on shopping motivation. The study profiles the identified segments on demographic characteristics and shopping outcomes, and compares the shopping motivation of hypermarket consumers with that of traditional store shoppers.

The study involved a survey of 201 actual shoppers in a hypermarket and that of 117 actual shoppers in 20 traditional stores. Principal components analysis of the motives for shopping at hypermarket and traditional store identified the respective dimensions of shopping motivation. Cluster analysis of the factor scores obtained on shopping motivation at hypermarket revealed the typology of hypermarket shoppers. Chi-square test and MANOVA were used to profile the identified segments of hypermarket shoppers on demographic characteristics and shopping outcomes respectively.

Results revealed different dimensions of motivation to shop at the hypermarket and traditional store and four types of hypermarket shoppers were identified: utilitarians, maximisers, browsers and enthusiasts. The utilitarians are motivated by functional benefits such as the price and variety of products; the maximisers seek functional as well as recreational benefits; the browsers are high on social motivation; and the enthusiasts are high on all dimensions of shopping motivation. These segments showed overall significant differences on demographic characteristics and shopping outcomes.

The proposal for allowing FDI in multi-brand retail in India, a rapidly emerging market for global retail players, is at an advanced stage of policy making. Many national and multi-national retailers are in the process of expansion in India. This study adds to their understanding of Indian consumers. Based on the identified typology, the study suggests different strategies to target different segments of hypermarket shoppers.

The study contributes to the growing field of cross-cultural research on shopping motivation by highlighting the typology of Indian hypermarket shoppers.