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Risk management in supply chain (SC) is not an easy task due to different uncertainty and intricacy. Management of risk is necessary for smooth operation of SC. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate multi-criteria decision-making (MCDM) approaches to select the best SC which has minimum risks.

In proposed methodologies different steps, i.e. goal, risk attributes, risk sub-attributes and alternatives are identified for the selection of best SC using analytical network process which is being followed by the Multi-Objective Optimization by Rational Analysis method.

Findings of this paper are highly valuable for Indian manufacturing industries for risk management in SC. It helps the researchers and managers to deal with different types of uncertainty and risks associated with SC.

This research is limited only for risk management in SC. Other issues in SC can be analyzed and further extended by other MCDM approaches.

This paper identified the different risks in SC and a systematic way to find out the best SC which helps the researchers and managers in risk mitigation.

This paper aims to focus on identifying various human enablers that could influence the performance of a firm using advanced manufacturing systems (AMSs), and to develop a framework to manage them through an analytical case study.

In this work, digraph and matrix technique through case study was utilized for finding the single numerical value, i.e. human enabler index (HEI), for quantifying the impact of human enablers of a firm under consideration using AMSs.

The major finding of this analytical case study is that a firm can identify the weak human‐related issues existing in their organizations. The HEI value for the considered organization is found to be low because it does not understand its corporate social responsibility, therefore the necessary decisions/actions may be taken for the performance enhancement and optimal utilization of the human element. In this way, the effectiveness of an AMS can be enhanced without big investments.

A larger number of human enablers could be considered for the analysis. However, the ranking has been done on the basis of the survey and expert opinion which may have an element of bias.

Analytical case study and the evaluated HEI could be used for quantifying the impact of human enablers in an AMS environment. This index can also be used to rank different organizations according to their capability to extract benefits in manufacturing from human characteristics.

The major and unique contribution of this research is to perform an analytical case study of a company using AMSs. Besides this, evaluating the HEI value for the organization, framework for comparison of two organizations and ways to improve its performance have been the unique contribution in its domain.

Today's volatile condition of the market is forcing the manufacturing organizations to adapt the flexible manufacturing systems (FMS) to meet the challenges imposed by international competition, ever‐changing customer demands, rapid delivery to market, and advancement in technology. There are certain enablers, which help in the implementation of FMS or in the transition process from traditional manufacturing system to FMS. The utmost need is to analyze the behavior of these enablers for their effective utilization in the implementation of FMS. This paper aims to address these issues.

This paper presents a methodology based on graph theoretical approach for finding the feasibility of transition to FMS for any industry. A universal feasibility index of transition (FIT) is proposed that evaluates and ranks different organizations according to their capability to be converted into FMS. This FIT value is obtained from a permanent feasibility function obtained from an enablers' digraph of FMS.

The major finding of this paper is that one can judge whether a particular industry is fit for FMS or not by calculating its FIT value. This FIT value can also be utilized in ranking different industries for their possible transition to FMS.

The FIT obtained from a permanent function indicates the strength of enablers and their inter‐relations. More is the value of this index; more will be suitability of that organization for FMS adoption. In this way, managers can judge that a particular organization is suitable or fit for FMS implementation or not, without making the huge investments for such a complex production system and thus, minimize their risks.

Identification, classification of enablers into some important categories, and their analysis is a unique and innovative effort in the area of FMS.

Uncertainties in manufacturing and changing customer demands force manufacturing industries to adopt new strategies, such as the reconfigurable manufacturing system (RMS). To improve the implementation and performance of RMS, it is necessary to review the available literature and identify future trends in this field. This paper aims to analyze existing literature and to see trends in RMS-related research.

The systematic literature review and analysis of RMS-related research papers from 1999 to 2020 is carried out in this literature. The selected studies are analyzed based on the year of publication, journals, publishers, active authors, research design, countries, enablers, barriers, performance evaluation parameters and universities.

After the analysis of selected RMS-related research papers, the top countries, universities, journals, publishers and authors are identified in this domain. Research themes and trends in research are identified in this study. Besides, it has been noted that there is a need for further research in this domain and for the creation of a generalized framework that can guide researchers and practitioners to increase RMS adoption.

Research insights, guidance and observations from this paper are provided to RMS-related researchers and practitioners. Important research gaps are identified in this study, which can provide direction for future research and trends in RMS research.

The study presented focuses mainly on the method of collecting, organizing, capturing, interpreting and analyzing data to provide more insight into RMS to identify future trends in research.

Using the case of women home-based workers in India and the aspirations they have for their children, this chapter argues that aspirations across generations can reveal constraints and conflicts of current social positions. As workers in the informal economy, women’s work experiences are shaped by a matrix of oppression shaped by gender, class, caste, and religion. Yet, resistance to this work only became apparent when discussing hopes for their children’s future. It was in these articulations of aspirations that women stressed the exploitative characteristics of their work and their wish for their children to avoid these same experiences.

Green manufacturing (GM) has received growing attention in the last few years. As today’s business environment is highly competitive, dynamic and volatile in nature, GM is seen as the winning strategy to be adopted by manufacturers. In this scenario, successful implementation of GM by manufacturers can give them an edge over their competitors. The purpose of this paper is to identify and develop the structural relationship among different factors for the successful implementation of GM.

A questionnaire-based survey and interpretive structural modeling (ISM) approach has been applied in this study. In this research, 12 factors have been identified, such as top management commitment, supplier and materials management, green product and process design, employee training and empowerment, etc. On the basis of survey results and opinions of experts from industry and academia, a structural relationship model has been developed through an ISM approach.

Top management commitment has the highest driving power for the implementation of GM. Effective implementation of GM will improve organization performance in terms of product cost and quality. For effective implementation of GM, management should not ignore development of people, product and processes.

The developed model will be useful to managers, decision makers and practitioners of GM in prioritizing their resources more effectively.

Critical success factor play a pivotal role for the assessment and implementation of GM practices. Identification of key success factors and their mutual relationship can help in implementation of GM practices in various organizations. It is probably one of the leading attempts to provide road map to the implementation of GM practices in Indian manufacturing industries.

This chapter will portray the long and up-hill battle to abolish child marriage in India. It will focus on a few key moments of changing discourses on child marriage. While being categorized as a legitimate customary cultural practice over the centuries, there was a crucial generational shift towards addressing it as a violation of human rights within the past decade/s. For portraying these shifts, the metaphor of an up-hill battle has been chosen mainly for two reasons. On the one hand, it explicitly asks for investigating into the two parties (armies) involved in the violent “battle” over territory and/or ideas. On the other hand, it requests an understanding about the (metaphorical) landscape, with its slopes and pitfalls, reflecting the socio-cultural and political “landscape” where the battle is set.

At the global level, the United Nations has consistently advanced the agenda of addressing and safeguarding human rights, specifically for children. In India, successive governments have contributed to improving the protection of young girls, and boys, and tackling child marriage has been a crucial step to doing so. Thus, global conventions have been translated not only into national policies, but also into comprehensive legislation/s. Above all, the current Modi government strongly endeavours to (re-)brand India as a rapidly emerging digital global economy, rather than one characterized by violations of human rights, such as child marriage. Conceptually, the chapter will portray child marriage as a form of structural violence, where governance mechanisms fail to protect children from falling victim to human right abuses.

This chapter makes an attempt to provide an outline of the contributions of the Indian democratic socialist tradition to the expansion and radicalization of the canvas of democratic theory and practice in India. While doing so, it also briefly discusses and highlights the historical and cultural context of the emergence of democratic imagination in India.11The democratic socialist tradition in India owes its origin during the Nationalist Movement by way of the establishment of the Congress Socialist Party (CSP). The CSP was a left-wing group, within the Indian National Congress, established to intensify the nationalist movement by turning it unequivocally, anticolonial and anti-imperialist. It also intended to radicalise the agenda of the nationalist struggle by incorporating into it aspirations of a socio-economic transformation of Indian society. After independence, the CSP severed its relation with the Congress and ramified into a number of splintered groups and parties over a period. See, John Patrick Haithcox, Nationalism and Communalism in India (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1968). In addition, the chapter also tries to grapple with certain central issues of democracy and civil society in contemporary India and shows how socialist input into Indian democracy could help in overcoming some of its predicaments. This analysis is done in three sections. The first section discusses the historical and cultural context of the emergence of democracy in India in terms of the nationalist movement and the framing of the Indian Constitution. The second section identifies the central issues that Indian democracy confronts today. Finally, the third section highlights the significance of the Indian democratic socialist discourse both in identifying the problems of Indian democracy as well as in providing amicable solutions to them.