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On completion of this case study, students will be able to understand collaboration and synergy between farmers and organisations through value creation, like fundraising, based on the comprehension of the resource-based theory; understand the overview and concept of the value chain and supply chain management in the agribusiness to reduce costs of inventories; understand the concept of segmentation and positioning to increase revenue for organisations by leveraging existing resources – human and financial; and understand the branding strategy to create a sustainable competitive advantage for Suguna Foods.

Suguna was started by two brothers, B. Soundararajan and G.B. Sundararajan, to help other farmers. Suguna, with just 200 broilers in 1984, grew to be the number 1 poultry company across India. Soundararajan was a pioneer and innovator who started “contract farming” in India in 1991. This model helped both the farmers and the company to became successful. The farmers always struggled to pay the cost of feed and other materials, as credit was not readily and easily available from financial institutions. Suguna helped farmers by providing feed, medicines, etc., free of cost in return for the good rearing of chickens. Because of the success of this venture, they decided to continue with it. Today, Suguna is a successful company that sells chicken, eggs and processed meat. They modernised the retail chain to supply consumers with fresh, healthy and hygienic meat. Suguna’s vision was to “Energize rural India” by helping farmers succeed. They helped over 40,000 farmers from 15,000+ villages in 18+ Indian states. Although the growth helped both farmers and Suguna, the increased cost of raw materials for Suguna and increased input costs/power costs for farmers had to be tackled on a war footing so that both could have good income despite the increased inflation. Moreover, the retail price of live chicken was more or less stagnant in the past five years, especially after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This case can be used as the basis for a 90-min class discussion. This case study is suitable for use in an master of business administration course module or in an executive education program on developing an understanding of value creation in the business model in a rural market and also how the supply chain works. This case study can also be used to teach pricing, segmentation in marketing and supply chain perspectives and decision-making skills.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS8: Marketing.

Literature suggests that branding effectiveness measures are present in for-profit sectors but lacks such comprehensive measures for the non-profit sector. Moreover, most of the branding effectiveness measures are either based on brand image approach or on brand identity approach. The purpose of this paper is, therefore, to propose an integrated branding effectiveness measurement metrics for non-profit organizations (NPOs).

Judgmental and simple random sampling techniques are used for data collection. The final sample comprises 150 respondents including donors, volunteers, beneficiaries and media who were administered interview schedules. Based on the ratings given by the respondents regarding branding effectiveness parameters of the five NPOs of a major city in Northern India, branding effectiveness score of each NPO is computed. The branding measures adopted by NPOs rated high are selected in the proposed brand effectiveness metrics.

The proposed metrics encapsulates brand identity parameters such as management profile, vision, culture, as well as brand image parameters such as brand awareness, brand understanding, brand association of the stakeholders, etc. The metrics also link the two through brand performance parameters.

Multiple hierarchical structures of government infested with bureaucracy and lack of specialized staff with focused approach have reduced the effectiveness of their socio-development programs in emerging economies. This has led to an increase in number, diversity and impact of NPOs that compete for resource generation. Branding is a powerful tool for NPOs not only for resource generation but also for driving the social goals. The branding effectiveness metrics would help NPO managers reinforce the internal identity by increasing the cohesion and the capacity of the organization as well as create a strong brand image by garnering the support of multiple stakeholders through mutual trust thereby creating a greater social impact.

The uniqueness of the study stems from the fact that the proposed branding effectiveness measurement metrics in non-profit environment encapsulates brand image, brand identity and brand performance parameters.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a two-dimensional model of Green–Lindsay theory for micropolar magneto-thermoelastic medium to study the photothermal effect. The model is used to study the coupling between elastic waves and plasma waves generated due to thermal changes in a micropolar elastic medium.

Normal mode analysis is used to obtain the analytical solutions of the governing equations.

Effects of magnetic field, micropolarity, photothermal and time are highlighted on various physical fields such as stresses, temperature, displacement and carrier density. The above physical fields also conform to the boundary conditions. It is further observed that all the physical quantities become zero outside some bounded region of space, thus confirming the notion of generalized theory of thermoelasticity.

The values of physical fields are computed numerically using MATLAB software considering material constants for silicon. Furthermore, the effects are depicted graphically and analyzed accordingly. The study is valuable for the analysis of thermoelastic problems involving magnetic field, micropolarity and elastic deformations.

The purpose of this study is to assess the quality of honey from different agro-climatic zones of Himachal Pradesh in terms of physicochemical characteristics and mineral status.

Three honey-producing locations were selected within each agro-climatic zone, honey sampled from four separate apiaries within each location and analyzed for physicochemical characteristics and mineral status using standard methodologies. The data were analyzed using one-way analysis of variance with one-way classification, after appropriate transformation through online OP-STAT software and MS Excel. The correlation coefficient (r) was also calculated. Principal component analysis was done using XL-STAT software.

The honey of Zone 4 had highest fructose (36.62%), F:G ratio (1.55), acidity (46.07 meq/kg), vitamin C (25.04 mg/100 g) and diastase (19.22 DN), whereas the pollen density (76,666.67 pollen grains per 10 g), pH (5.94), sucrose (6.94%), hydroxy methyl furfuraldehyde (70.20 mg/kg), amino acid (103.83 mg/100 g), phenols (77.39 mg/100 g), Ca (81.04 mg/kg) and K (354.17 mg/kg) were highest for Zone 2. Highest electrical conductivity (0.24 mS/cm), moisture (16.50 %), glucose (34.20%) and P content (62.93 mg/kg) were recorded for Zone 1. Correlation studies indicated a significant positive correlation between pH and EC; EC and moisture; colour and pollen density. Examining the graphical distribution of the honey samples, a natural separation between honeys of four different agro-climatic zones was obtained.

The impact of geographical/agro-climatic variations in physicochemical characteristics of honey has not been worked out under the present scenario in Himachal Pradesh.

This paper aims to assess the existing situation of psychological empowerment to employees and explore the relationship between psychological empowerment and competitive advantages in service sector of Nepal.

The study followed descriptive cum exploratory research design. Data collected through structured questionnaire based on Menon’s three-component model and Wright’s four-component model used to measure psychological employment and competitive advantages from employees of banking and hospital sector.

Psychological empowerment of employees in service sector is significantly different between public and private organizations. Even though the factors that are extracted are quite different than of Western practices, psychological empowerment has positive and significant impact on the competitive advantages.

This study is mainly based on service sector of Nepal: Banking and Hospital.

This paper is useful to academicians and practitioners seeking to develop psychological empowerment to achieve competitive advantages in their organizations and help to add values in people management areas particularly in South Asian corporations.

This is perhaps the very first investigation of its kind in the Nepalese context.

The purpose of this paper is to establish a model of two-dimensional half-space problem of linear, isotropic, homogeneous, initially stressed, rotating thermoelastic medium with microtemperatures. The expressions for different physical variables such as displacement distribution, stress distribution, temperature field and microtemperatures are obtained in the physical domain.

Normal mode analysis technique is adopted to procure the exact solution of the problem.

Numerical computations have been carried out with the help of MATLAB programming, and the results are illustrated graphically. Comparisons are made to show the effects of rotation, time and microtemperatures on the resulting quantities. The graphical results indicate that the effects of rotation, microtemperatures and time are very pronounced on the field variables.

In the present work, we have investigated the effects of rotation, time and microtemperature in an initially stressed thermoelastic medium. Although various investigations do exist to observe the disturbances in a thermoelastic medium under the effects of different parameters, the work in its present form, i.e. the disturbances in a thermoelastic medium in the presence of angular velocity, initial stress and microtemperature have not been studied till now. The present work is useful and valuable for analysis of problems involving coupled thermal shock, rotation parameter, microtemperatures and elastic deformation.

The present investigation is concerned with the two-dimensional deformations in an inhomogeneous fiber-reinforced thermoelastic medium under the influence of gravity in the context of Green–Lindsay theory.

Material properties are supposed to be graded in x-direction, and normal mode technique is adopted to obtain the exact expressions for the temperature field, displacement components and stresses.

Numerical computations have been carried out with the help of MATLAB software, and the results are depicted graphically to observe the disturbances induced in the considered medium. Comparisons made within the theory of the physical quantities are shown in figures to highlight the effects of fiber reinforcement, inhomogeneity parameter, gravity and time.

In the present work, we have investigated the effects of fiber reinforcement, inhomogeneity parameter, gravity and time in an inhomogeneous, fiber-reinforced thermoelastic medium under the influence of gravity. Although various investigations do exist to observe the disturbances in a thermoelastic medium under the effects of different parameters, the work in its present form i.e. thermally induced vibrations in an inhomogeneous fiber-reinforced thermoelastic material with gravity has not been studied till now. The present work is useful and valuable for analysis of problems involving thermal shock, gravity parameter, fiber reinforcement, inhomogeneous and elastic deformation.

The dual-phase-lag (DPL) model is applied to study the effect of the gravity field and micropolarity on the wave propagation in a two-temperature generalized thermoelastic problem for a medium. The paper aims to discuss this issue.

The exact expressions of the considered variables are obtained by using normal mode analysis.

Numerical results for the field quantities are given in the physical domain and illustrated graphically to show the effect of angle of inclination. Comparisons of the physical quantities are also shown in figure to study the effect of gravity and two-temperature parameter.

This paper is concerned with the analysis of transient wave phenomena in a micropolar thermoelastic half-space subjected to inclined load. The governing equations are formulated in the context of two-temperature generalized thermoelasticity theory with DPLs. A medium is assumed to be initially quiescent and under the effect of gravity. An analytical solution of the problem is obtained by employing normal mode analysis. Numerical estimates of displacement, stresses and temperatures are computed for magnesium crystal-like material and are illustrated graphically. Comparisons of the physical quantities are shown in figures to study the effects of gravity, two-temperature parameter and angle of inclination. Some particular cases of interest have also been inferred from the present problem.

The study aims to facilitate the medical tourists visiting emerging countries for various kinds of ailments by ranking the possible destinations to avail medical treatments.

A Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchical Process (FAHP) with a mixed-method approach is applied to analyze data collected from patients and substantiate it with medical tour operators in India to gain managerial insights on the choice-making patterns of the patients.

India is a preferred emerging market location due to the low cost and high medical staff quality. India offers value for money, whereas Singapore and Thailand are preferred destinations for quality and technology.

The study will facilitate the emerging markets' governments, hospitals and medical tourists to understand the importance of various determinants responsible for availing medical treatment outside their country.

The study recommends that cost and quality care are the patients' prime focus; government policies must provide clear guidelines on what the hospitals and country environment can offer and accordingly align the marketing strategies.

This study is the first attempt to rank various factors affecting medical tourism using the FAHP approach.

Describes how, in a highly competitive environment, Larsen & Toubro attracts and retains its talent in a strategic way.

Researches the firm’s various talent-management and leadership-training strategies.

Reveals that 360-degree talent management is necessary to empower employees and to develop leadership capacities.

Presents a framework for talent management and leadership development in a manufacturing business which can be recast to suit different organizational set-ups.

Explains that the company recruits many of its workers from rural India. Employees are recruited for their potential as much as for their existing skills.

Describes a new dimension of talent management being practiced and its success in a manufacturing business.