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Travel and tourism has played an instrumental role in the growth of a progressive Indian economy. Contributing 6.3 per cent to the total Indian gross domestic product in 2015 and expected to rise by 7.3 per cent in 2016, the sector has exhibited positive signs of growth and is delivering to its forecasted potential (WTTC, 2017). To manage this growth, it is estimated that there is an incremental need of 4.9 million people to take up varied job roles. To cater to the growing need and take advantage of being the youngest economy, Skill India mission was launched with a view to training 400 million people by 2022. This paper aims to explore the recruitment of Skill Initiative-certified candidates for Luxury Hotels in India, identify the challenges in recruiting Skill Initiative candidates and explore whether the knowledge of the English language is important to the recruitment of skilled personnel by employers.

Primary information was gathered via conversations with industry practitioners to gauge the effectiveness of the hospitality-based curriculum design and to explore the concept of employability and the challenges they face. To measure the effectiveness of a course designed to develop English language proficiencies, interviews were conducted with language trainers.

Skill India initiative is not delivering the promise that was expected. The key findings were that the initiative is being perceived as a program for those not willing to help themselves or the marginalized who would have opted out or failed to complete formal education. There should be structural changes in primary education to develop English language skills in particular. The program needs to reconsider the time it allocates to developing soft skills. The biggest barrier to the absorption of candidates after being skilled and certified via the Government’s skilling agenda is poor English language communication, especially verbal expression.

Although the issue discussed is a genuine bottleneck, there has been no prior formal research on this topic in relation to the Skill India initiative. There is an abundance of literature on the topic of communication skills as it relates to employment and growth, but there is very limited work in the Indian context, especially in relation to the Skill India Initiative. The research forms a platform for various stakeholders, government planners/agencies (for understanding gaps and making necessary changes), training providers (to identify requisite profile of trainers), researchers and industry specialists (to recognize their role and contribution) to build upon and develop.

This paper aims to profile the Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes’ theme issue “How can the skilling India initiative become a solution to the critical need for skilled labour in the Indian hospitality industry?” with reference to the experiences of the theme editors and writing team.

This paper uses structured questions to enable the theme editors to reflect on the rationale for the theme issue question, the starting point, the selection of the writing team and material and the editorial process.

This paper reviews progress relating to the implementation of the “Skill India” initiative and its impact on the skilled-labour shortage as it relates to hospitality and tourism. Arising from the analysis are suggestions and recommendations to enhance the initiative’s effectiveness.

This paper observes that the Skill India initiative is an ambitious effort to facilitate skills-based training, but there are numerous concerns about its design and implementation.

This paper provides insights from both practitioner’s and academic’s perspectives as to how to overcome the gap in the availability of skilled and trained labour in the Indian hospitality industry.

India is edging China to become the most populous country by 2028. More than 60 per cent of the current population of India is between 15 and 59 years of age, whereas domestically, its relatively youthful profile is seen as the biggest challenge for the government, as India is the largest employable manpower base globally. In the past two decades, the rate of population growth in India has reduced, but the skilled labor force is expected to grow almost 2 per cent annually for the next couple of years. Historically, the Indian economy has been mainly agriculturally based, but, with urbanization, the labor is drifting toward service sectors, and people are increasingly looking to develop their skills in sectors such as hotels, restaurants, airlines, retail and health care. To sustain economic growth, there is an urgent need to develop vocational training programs that address current needs. In spite of all the favorable numbers, the question that must be answered by employers and policymakers remains: Is the available labor being skilled appropriately to be employable? The mushrooming of educational and training institutes in India has imparted professional skills to youth, but industry leaders tend to talk about the unavailability of skilled labor, especially in the culinary skills arena. In a country like India, the labor market tends to alternate between the availability and shortage of skilled labor, and so it seems ironic that on the one hand, there is a shortage of staff and at the same time graduates from various colleges and professional institutes remain unemployed; the reason could be lack of employability skills, especially culinary skills. Given this, the hospitality and tourism industry has emerged as the main driver of the service sector in India; it contributes 6.23 per cent to National GDP and 8.78 per cent of the total employment in India, contributing to significant economic growth. In this context, it is imperative for the government to take appropriate steps in devising strategies to address the problem and also secure successful implementation. This paper aims to analyze the Skill India initiative for the hospitality sector and compare it with the realities on the ground, with particular reference to culinary skills.

The research reported here was conducted using primary and secondary sources. Industry data were collected through focused groups and roundtable discussions. Online sources, magazines, newspapers and books are referred to as secondary sources, and the data collected are critically analyzed to reach a conclusion.

There is a significant increase in foreign and domestic tourists, and the subsectors discussed are very closely linked to food, health, traditional cooking, regional and seasonal cuisines. The demand for Indian food and slow cooking is increasing; however, despite various government initiatives, there is no significant improvement in the skill set of the available labor. As food is an important component of all tourism packages, there is a particular need for public–private partnerships to take the Skill India initiative to the next level. That said, academic standards and curriculum must align with international quality frameworks and be in sync with current and future industry demands and benchmarks.

The dependence on the sources available online and their credibility remains the biggest challenge; however, increasing the sample size and more participation from nodal bodies and government officials would have broadened the base of the study.

The research adds value for industry leaders and policymakers at large. Educational institutions, students and hoteliers will find it useful as they attempt to bridge the gap and plan a roadmap according to industry requirements.

The purpose of this paper is to discuss the issues and challenges that become a hurdle towards implementation of the “Skill India Movement” at the ground level. It is critical to identify the challenges that are faced or experienced by training partners with the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC), skills councils and other bodies if an effort to resolve the same is to be made.

A round-table discussion was organised to seek feedback from all the stakeholders who are directly or indirectly involved in strategising, decision-making and implementing the government’s skills initiative. The primary data were collected through discussions and questionnaires, and the official sites of NSDC and Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojna, along with ministry reports, were referred to as well.

The research is likely to identify gaps in administration of the initiative at various levels and will hopefully provide guidance on removing bottlenecks to achieve effective implementation. It is imperative that the challenges be understood and solutions found, with focus on a long-term sustainable approach, rather than short-term gains for political propaganda purposes alone.

This paper will try to bring value to the stakeholders by exploring the various measures that can be taken to take this mission in a more meaningful direction and work towards giving more employability to the youth and supporting the respective industry segments with much needed trained manpower.

This study discusses the issues and challenges that are impeding effective implementation of the Skill India initiative at the local level and identifies the gaps in administration. Also, it outlines how bottlenecks could be addressed to ensure that the mission is back on track and that the employability of youth is enhanced.

This concluding article identifies the varying perspectives and research findings that emanate from the collection of articles in this theme issue. It also revisits the theme issue question and provides some directions for further research in the form of a call for action based on the key findings of this issue. It is apparent that there is an urgent need for hospitality education in the higher education sector to give space and focus to sustainability practices in their curriculum and ensure that the content is embedded and delivered in a contemporary way. Further, the faculty should be up-to-date and understand their role as drivers of the sustainability footprint for tourism and hospitality. The authors argue that hospitality education not only needs to catch up but also make a determined effort to lead applied research that can inform the industry in terms of what and how more can be done to mitigate the negative impacts of tourism activity.

The paper draws on a content analysis of the article collection in this theme issue: How is hospitality education embedding sustainable practices in their curriculum and programme delivery? An Asian perspective is considered here in order to summarize, conclude and suggest some next steps.

There is an urgent need to support and advance the cause of sustainability in tourism and hospitality, especially in the Asian context. The paper identifies key steps that need to be taken by the hospitality higher education sector in order to contribute to the larger goal of sustainable practices that can be easily understood and adopted by those managing hospitality businesses.

The paper documents the theme issue findings and provides a collaborative research agenda based on the findings of the theme issue writing team.

The presence of voids in the solder layer has been considered as one of the main issues causing reliability problems in optoelectronic devices. Voids can be created due to trapped gas, clean-up agent residues (fluxes), poor wettability at interface or shortcoming of the reflow process. The voids hinder the heat conduction path and subsequently, the thermal resistance will increase. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the influence of lead-free water-washable Sn96.5Ag3.0Cu0.5 (SAC305) solder paste (SP) voids on the thermal and optical performance of white high-power (HP) surface-mounted device (SMD) light-emitting diode (LED).

Five LEDs are mounted on five SinkPAD substrates by using the SP. The SMT stencil printing is used to control the thickness of the SP and reflow oven for the soldering process. The fraction of voids in the SP layer is calculated using the X-ray machine software. The thermal parameters of the LEDs with different voids fraction and configuration are measured using a thermal transient tester (T3Ster) system. In addition, the optical characterizations of the LEDs are determined by the thermal and radiometric characterization of power LEDs (TeraLED) and the electroluminescence by using the spectrometer.

The results showed that the thermal performance and temperature distribution are improved for the LED with lower voids fraction and good filling state of soldering. In addition, luminous flux, efficacy and color shift of the LEDs with different fraction and configurations of voids on the SP layer are compared and discussed. It is found that the color shift of LED1 of low voids fraction and higher thickness are less than other LEDs.

The paper provides valuable information about the effect of water-washable SAC305 SP voids fraction and filling state of solder on the thermal and optical performance of ThinGaN HP SMD LED. A comprehensive overview of the outcomes is not available in the literature. It was shown experimentally that the voids fraction, height and configuration of the SP layer could strongly influence the heat dissipation efficiency and thermal resistance. This study can help in heat diffusion investigation and failure analysis of HP SMD LEDs.

By working through the case and assignment questions, students will be able to conduct a marketing environmental analysis to aid strategic decisions; analyse the first-mover advantages of a retail firm and how these can be sustained; comprehend online retail business models and the challenges therein; understand the trade-offs of online/offline retail experiences specific to an emerging market’s beauty and personal care sector; conceptualize and formulate actionable growth strategies that balance the individual and collective requirements of brick and mortar and retail e-commerce environments.

The case is set in 2022, right after Nykaa – the pioneer of beauty and wellness e-commerce platforms in India makes a blockbuster stock market debut in 2021. Starting in 2012 with a disruptive online model for selling beauty and wellness products online in India, Nykaa had come a long way with expansions in physical retail and other segments such as fashion. The firm, which initially aimed to be a virtual store, is now thinking of aggressively expanding in the brick-and-mortar retail space as it opens its 85th retail outlet.

Falguni S. Nayar, founder and CEO of Nykaa, wanted to roll out 300 physical stores targeting 100 cities in India in the next couple of years. She aspired to establish Nykaa as a category leader as the “Indian Sephora” in the beauty and personal care market. Nykaa’s first-mover advantage in the online beauty and personal care marketplace worked well to establish it as a brand with positive endorsements by digital shoppers that enhanced the investment potential with potential financiers. However, the pandemic had brought every physical retailer to the online platform. Most e-commerce platforms dealing in grocery to lifestyle had added personal care products to their existing merchandise.

Additionally, several start-ups had ventured into the online marketplace. Online was a cluttered marketplace with little to no differentiation. In this bloodbath, would the first-mover advantage for Nykaa in the online space still count as a competitive advantage? Nayar was all set to expand Nykaa’s physical presence aggressively. The concern was that the beauty and personal care segment had also moved online as a function of long stay-at-home periods. In the post-pandemic times, would the customer indeed revert to brick and mortar once again? Nykaa was also into product formulations, but so was every big and small player in the space. What was the differentiated winning formula for the consumer’s heart and mind?

The case can be effectively used in foundation courses in marketing and a wide range of specialized courses on marketing management (core/foundation course), retail marketing and e-commerce/digital marketing and e-commerce for B-school learners. The complex decision points faced by an innovative e-commerce start-up firm on its road to market expansion make the case suitable for niche courses such as Marketing for Start-ups. Moreover, learners in executive MBA programs with considerable experience can benefit from the case analysis that balances a growing retail company’s long- and short-run objectives.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing.