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It has been widely recognized that agility enables manufacturing systems to respond to dynamic and unpredictable changes in today’s competitive environment. Develops a quantitative analysis framework and a simulation methodology to explore the value of agility in financial terms. Addresses the issues pertaining to the assessment of how an agile system performs in an environment of unanticipated changes, the comparison between two or more systems with different designs and hence different agility levels and the justification of investments in agility. Proposes an exploratory framework for a structured analysis of the various segments of the manufacturing system in which agility at different levels is built‐in through different pathways and links it to a set of aggregate performance measures. Then develops a simulation model that captures dynamic and unanticipated changes in the operating environment and facilitates performance appraisal and investment justification decisions using a quantitative financial metric.

This study aims to investigate the influence of Big Five Personality traits (i.e. openness to experience, conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness and neuroticism) on young consumers’ intentions to share branded viral video advertisements. Further, this study also demonstrates that the advertising appeal (informational versus emotional) used in the viral advertisement moderates the effects of specific personality traits on the sharing of viral ads.

A conceptual framework is proposed based on the Five-Factor Model of Personality (McCrae and John, 1992) and advertising effectiveness literature. Using experiments, responses from young consumers were collected and hypotheses were tested using hierarchical regression and ANOVA.

Results reveal that the two personality traits, extraversion and openness to experiences, are positively associated with consumers’ viral ad sharing intentions, whereas conscientiousness, agreeableness and neuroticism are not. Moreover, individuals scoring high on openness and extraversion prefer sharing branded viral ads containing informational appeal vis-ã-vis those containing emotional appeals.

Studies decoding the factors behind the success of viral advertisements have more often focussed on the ad content rather than on personality dimensions of the ad sharers. This study bridges this gap by investigating the influence of Big Five Personality traits on young consumers’ intention to forward viral ads, in interaction with ad appeal. Young consumers represent key audience segments consuming and sharing viral content online, and hence, it is important to have a deeper understanding of this market segment.

The public listing of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is a recent phenomenon in India, started in 2012. Such a paradigm shift for SMEs has altered the ownership structure of these firms. In addition, the listing has provided a notable status to SMEs, leading to a shift in exposure to market competition. Literature signifies that these changing dynamics are likely to impact the firm value. This study aims to examine the effects of promoters’ ownership and market competition on the firm value of listed SMEs in India. Ownership concentration (promoters’ ownership) is investigated as the primary proxy for internal governance mechanism, while market competition is investigated as an external form of firm regulation.

Three years of panel data from 2018 to 2020 of 80 listed Indian SMEs are used to conduct the analysis. The fixed effects model and cluster robust standard errors captured the detected fixed effects while adjusting for heteroskedasticity and autocorrelation. Besides, moderation analysis is conducted to test if competition regulates the relation between promoters’ ownership and firm value.

Promoters’ ownership does not impact the firm value significantly. However, market competition is significant and negatively drives the firm’s value. So, the market competition provides external regulation and coerces the firms to behave well to conserve the firm value. Finally, competition does not regulate the relationship between ownership effects and firm value. Therefore, the study contrasts the belief that the benefits of internal governance (especially promoters’ ownership) for firms in competitive economies are subject to market competition.

The study establishes the possibility of an integrated approach where internal and external governance mechanisms coexist to drive the firm value and endorses the same. The study is relevant to shareholders, practitioners, lawmakers and academics.

Corporate governance across small and medium enterprises (SMEs) is undergoing unremitting changes, primarily due to the listing of SMEs on SME exchanges. The changing aspects of governance may influence the financial performance of SMEs. This paper examines how corporate governance influences the financial performance of listed SMEs in the context of developing economies like India. Ownership concentration (promoters' holding) and information disclosures measure corporate governance in this examination.

The sample for this study includes 88 listed SMEs from the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE) SME platform in India. The data are collected for the period between 2018 and 2020. The study employs panel data analysis. The fixed effects model, coupled with the computation of cluster robust standard errors, is used to test the relationship between variables.

The results demonstrate that ownership concentration is not significantly related to financial performance. Further, information disclosures are inversely significant for financial performance. The results show that agency problems and information asymmetry plague the sampled firms. Further, the results of the study are indicative of inefficiencies in the governance structures of SMEs. Thus, it is evident that listed SMEs fail to reap the benefits of corporate governance.

The study's findings should enlighten SME owners and managers on the benefits of corporate governance for SMEs. This is a pressing need at current times as the listing of SMEs is shifting the landscape of SME governance. Today, all firms, including SMEs, are expected to adopt and maintain near internationally benchmarked corporate governance standards. Secondly, the study's implications on how the ownership and information disclosures can be used to influence the financial outcomes of SMEs will benefit the overall business ecosystem. The policyholders and academics can use this study to boost the regulations and research in line with each other.

Reforming monitoring mechanisms of firm activities and restructuring disclosure practices are essential for SMEs to produce better financial outcomes. The true benefits of corporate governance cannot be realized without attention to financial performance. The study is relevant to practitioners, lawmakers and academics to advance corporate governance for SMEs.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a new easy-to-implement distribution-free integrated multivariate statistical process control (MSPC) approach with an ability to recognize out-of-control points, identify the key influential variable for the out-of-control state, and determine necessary changes to achieve the state of statistical control.

The proposed approach integrates the control chart technique, the Mahalanobis-Taguchi System concept, the Andrews function plot, and nonlinear optimization for multivariate process control. Mahalanobis distance, Taguchi’s orthogonal array, and the main effect plot concept are used to identify the key influential variable responsible for the out-of-control situation. The Andrews function plot and nonlinear optimization help to identify direction and necessary correction to regain the state of statistical control. Finally, two different real life case studies illustrate the suitability of the approach.

The case studies illustrate the potential of the proposed integrated multivariate process control approach for easy implementation in varied manufacturing and process industries. In addition, the case studies also reveal that the multivariate out-of-control state is primarily contributed by a single influential variable.

The approach is limited to the situation in which a single influential variable contributes to out-of-control situation. The number and type of cases used are also limited and thus generalization may not be debated. Further research is necessary with varied case situations to refine the approach and prove its extensive applicability.

The proposed approach does not require multivariate normality assumption and thus provides greater flexibility for the industry practitioners. The approach is also easy to implement and requires minimal programming effort. A simple application Microsoft Excel is suitable for online implementation of this approach.

The key steps of the MSPC approach are identifying the out-of-control point, diagnosing the out-of-control point, identifying the “influential” variable responsible for the out-of-control state, and determining the necessary direction and the amount of adjustment required to achieve the state of control. Most of the approaches reported in open literature are focused only until identifying influencing variable, with many restrictive assumptions. This paper addresses all key steps in a single integrated distribution-free approach, which is easy to implement in real time.

Managers prefer semantic imbeds in brand names, but extant literature has primarily studied fictitious names for their sound-symbolic perceptions. This paper aims to explore sound-symbolic perceptions of products with blended brand names (BBNs), formed with at least one semantic and one nonsemantic component. Unlike most extant literature, this study not only estimates the effect of vowels and consonants individually on product perceptions but also of their combinations. The boundary condition for this effect is examined by classifying products by their categorization and attributes by their abstractness.

Through a within-subject experiment, this paper tested perceptions of products with BBNs having high-/low-frequency sounds. A mixed-design experiment followed with sound frequency, product-level categorization and attributes’ abstractness as predictor variables.

For BBNs, vowel sounds convey brand meaning better than the combinations of vowel and consonant sounds – and these convey brand meaning better than consonant sounds. Differences in consumers’ perceptions of products with BBNs occur when the degree of attributes’ abstractness matches product-level categorization, such as when concrete attributes match subordinate-level categorization.

Brand managers/strategists can communicate product positioning (attribute-based) through BBNs created specifically for product categories and product types.

This research presents a comparative analysis across vowels, consonants and their combinations on consumers’ perceptions of products with BBNs. Manipulation of names’ length and position of the sound-symbolic imbed in the BBN proffered additional contributions. Another novelty is the interaction effect of product categorization levels and attributes’ abstractness on sound-symbolic perception.

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate hygro-thermo-mechanically induced normalized stress intensity factor (NSIF) of an edge crack symmetric angle-ply piezo laminated composite plate (PLCP) using displacement correlation method.

In the present work, the governing equations are solved through conventional finite element method combined with higher order shear deformation plate theory utilizing the micromechanical approach.

The effects of crack length, the thickness of the plate and piezoelectric layer, stacking sequences, fiber volume fraction, position of piezoelectric layer, change in moisture and temperature, and voltage on the NSIF are examined. The numerical results are presented in the form of a table for the better understanding and accuracy. The present outlined approach is validated with results available in the literature. These results can become a benchmark for future studies.

The mathematical models theoretically have been developed by considering different parameters. The results are generated using MATLAB 2015 software developed by the authors’ side.

The fracture analysis of a single edge crack PLCP with the effect of a piezoelectric layer at the different location of cracked structures, plate thickness, and actuator voltage and hygro-thermo loading is the novelty of research for health monitoring and high-performance analysis.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and analyze the interactions among different readiness factors for implementing agility in healthcare organization. Total interpretive structural modeling (TISM) based readiness framework for agility has been developed to understand the mutual interactions among the factors and to identify the driving and dependence power of these factors.

The identification of factors is done by TISM approach used for analyzing the mutual interactions between factors. Cross-impact matrix multiplication applied to classification analysis is utilized to find the driving and dependent factors of agile readiness in healthcare.

This paper identifies 12 factors of readiness for change in literature review, which is followed by an expert interview to understand the interconnection of factors and to study interrelationships of factors. The study suggests that factors like environmental scanning, resource availability, innovativeness, cost effectiveness, organizational leadership, training and development are important for implementing/improving the readiness of agility in healthcare organizations.

This research focuses mainly on readiness factors for agility in healthcare sector.

Top management must stress on readiness factors that have a strong driving power for efficient implementation of agility in healthcare. This study helps the managers to take quick decisions, and continuous monitoring of readiness factors would be more beneficial to improve the quality of service, which makes the organization more agile.

In this research, TISM-based readiness for agile framework structural model has been proposed for healthcare organizations, which is a new effort for implementation of agility in healthcare.

Extant research on comparative advertising has focused only on “market leader” comparisons (a brand targeting the market leader), whereas in the marketplace, “multi-brand” comparisons are more prevalent (Kalro et al., 2010). Moreover, most research focuses on direct comparisons only. Hence, this research aims to investigate the interplay between comparison ad strategy (“market leader”/“multi-brand” comparisons) and comparison ad format (direct/indirect comparisons) on the effectiveness of comparative advertising.

This paper uses four 2 × 2 fully crossed factorial designs (comparison ad format: direct vs indirect and comparison ad strategy: market leader vs multi brand) with established and new brands in two categories: powdered detergents and smart phones. All studies were conducted in metropolitan cities of India.

By and large, the experiments indicated that direct (indirect) comparisons lowered (heightened) perceived manipulative intent and enhanced (reduced) attitude-toward-the-ad for multi-brand (market leader) comparisons.

Findings suggest that when advertisers use comparative advertising, they may use direct ads when using multi-brand comparisons and use indirect ones when using market leader comparisons. It could also be argued that when advertisers use multi-brand comparisons because of fragmentation in the marketplace, they may directly compare against these multiple brands. When advertisers need to compare against a market leader, they may do so indirectly.

This research is among the first to investigate multi-brand comparisons that are widely used in the industry and that too in the context of both direct and indirect comparison formats.