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The purpose of this paper is to explore the impact of recruiter gender and profit margin on the duration of the hiring process in professional services firms (PSFs).

In evaluating over 500 recruiting transactions in a PSF, a factorial ANOVA was performed to determine if there is a significant interaction between recruiter gender and profit margin on days it take to fill an open position.

The results suggest a significant interaction exists between the recruiter gender and profit margin variables in effect on days that it takes to fill an open position. At lower job position profit margins, female recruiters were found to outperform their male counterparts. Conversely, at higher job position profit margins, male recruiters appear to outperform female recruiters.

This research is focused on the duration of the recruiting process and does not address the quality of candidate selection. An evaluation of the quality of candidate selection contrasted with the time it takes to hire should be an essential consideration for future research.

If job vacancies remain vacant at client firms for an extended period, this could adversely impact the financial and reputational health of small PSFs. By focusing on key variables that impact the recruiting timeline, management may be able to consider interventions that would improve both the recruiting process and firm’s financial health.

This study provides a unique contribution by focusing on the recruiting timeline, recruiter gender, profit margin, and the resulting ability of a PSF to proactively manage its revenue.

The purpose of this paper is to develop a radical innovation launch model that shows the relationship of the market, entrepreneurial and learning orientations with each other, with radical innovation launch marketing capabilities and the subsequent effect on radical innovation launch success. It will provide practitioners with best practices and add to current marketing theory.

An online survey was done, resulting in a usable sample of 176 radical innovation launch practitioners from a cross-section of US companies, namely, small to large, business-to-business and business-to-consumer firms offering a variety of products and services. A partial least squares structural equation modeling technique was used to test construct relationships and the effect on each other.

An organizational learning orientation has a direct effect on the market and entrepreneurial orientations. Learning and marketing orientations are critical links to having radical innovation launch marketing capabilities. While an entrepreneurial orientation has a direct effect on radical innovation launch success, proper, dynamic marketing capabilities are a significant driver. Over 40% of the variance in radical innovation launch success is directly or indirectly affected by the three studied strategic orientations and radical innovation launch marketing capabilities.

This study was conducted only in the USA. A cross-cultural study could be undertaken. Type and size of firm, type of external environment, radical innovation department structure, transformational leadership strength and competitive intensity effect could be studied. New, up-to-date adaptable marketing capabilities should be researched and validated.

For radical innovation launch success, it is critical that a firm develop the market, entrepreneurial and learning orientations and have specific, dynamic marketing capabilities in place. Existing managers should be trained, or new talent hired, to give the firm the capability to develop unique, radical innovation launch strategic, brand identity and new target market plans, to select and manage new downstream partners, and to have quick, customer launch feedback mechanisms in place.

An empirical study of the effect of all three strategic orientations on radical innovation launch marketing capabilities and subsequent radical innovation launch success has not been previously addressed.

The purpose of this paper is to explore a real world vehicle routing problem (VRP) that has multi-depot subcontractors with a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles that are available to pickup/deliver jobs with varying time windows and locations. Both the overall job completion time and number of drivers utilized are analyzed for the automated job allocations and manual job assignments from transportation field experts.

A nested genetic algorithm (GA) is used to automate the job allocation process and minimize the overall time to deliver all jobs, while utilizing the fewest number of drivers – as a secondary objective.

Three different real world data sets were used to compare the results of the GA vs transportation field experts’ manual assignments. The job assignments from the GA improved the overall job completion time in 100 percent (30/30) of the cases and maintained the same or fewer drivers as BS Logistics (BSL) in 47 percent (14/30) of the cases.

This paper provides a novel approach to solving a real world VRP that has multiple variants. While there have been numerous models to capture a select number of these variants, the value of this nested GA lies in its ability to incorporate multiple depots, a heterogeneous fleet of vehicles as well as varying pickup times, pickup locations, delivery times and delivery locations for each job into a single model. Existing research does not provide models to collectively address all of these variants.

With the tremendous increase in the number of netizens, online consumer behavior has become an important issue nowadays. One of the important issues of online consumer behavior is e-consumer conformity. This paper aims to explore prominent factors of e-consumer conformity and its impact on consumer attitude, which helps marketers to understand this new business arena and involve this relationship to enhance their business.

For the purpose, convenience sampling was used with sample size of 510. Offline as well as online mode of survey was applied. The resultant hypotheses (based on the developed model depicting normative and informational consumer conformity effect on attitude) were examined by structured equation modeling.

The present study presents the different dimensions of e-consumer conformity and its difference in metro and non-metro cities on which marketers have to frame their strategies. The study revealed that the customer attitude is largely affected by others expectations (conformance with others expectations, NCC) rather others knowledge and expertise (ICC). Additionally, the comparison of virtual conformity behavior of metro and non-metro customers was made, and it was found that conformity behavior does not significantly differ in these two contexts.

Business saturation in metro cities, infrastructural growth and technological advancement in non-metro cities, companies are moving toward non-metro cities. Due to contextual differences existing between metro and non-metro market, it is difficult to trace the changes in the marketing policies and device the appropriate strategy accordingly for the marketers. In lieu of this, the present study presents the different dimensions of e-consumer conformity and its degree of difference in metro and non-metro cities on which marketers have to frame their strategies.

Good number of research has been conducted on consumer conformity in India; however, there is a scarcity of literature in virtual consumer conformity in India. This research is not only establishing the relationship between virtual consumer conformity and consumer attitude but also establishing the difference of virtual consumer conformity in metro and non-metro cities in India.

The role of data analytics is significantly important in manufacturing industries as it holds the key to address sustainability challenges and handle the large amount of data generated from different types of manufacturing operations. The present study, therefore, aims to conduct a systematic and bibliometric-based review in the applications of machine learning (ML) techniques for sustainable manufacturing (SM).

In the present study, the authors use a bibliometric review approach that is focused on the statistical analysis of published scientific documents with an unbiased objective of the current status and future research potential of ML applications in sustainable manufacturing.

The present study highlights how manufacturing industries can benefit from ML techniques when applied to address SM issues. Based on the findings, a ML-SM framework is proposed. The framework will be helpful to researchers, policymakers and practitioners to provide guidelines on the successful management of SM practices.

A comprehensive and bibliometric review of opportunities for ML techniques in SM with a framework is still limited in the available literature. This study addresses the bibliometric analysis of ML applications in SM, which further adds to the originality.

This study aims to investigate the impact of I4.0 technologies and their interoperability on supply chains (SCs) performance and how the integration of such technologies and their interoperability can create pathways for SCs resilience post-COVID-19. This is of paramount importance in the context of COVID-19 as the investigation around I4.0 technologies may provide relevant insights on how SCs may better respond to unexpected situations like the current pandemic with the use of digital technologies.

A survey research method was designed based on some constructs extracted from the literature regarding the main disruptive technologies, interoperability, elements of supply chains processes (SCPs) performance such as integration, collaboration, transparency, efficiency, responsiveness and profitability. The data were collected from March to July 2020 from different regions of the world when the peak of the first wave of the pandemic had occurred. The survey resulted in 115 valid responses. The study used a combination of descriptive, correlation and multiple regression methods to analyse the data.

The study indicates that disruptive technologies significantly impact SCPs performance (integration, collaboration, responsiveness and transparency) and their resilience. The findings did not support the notion that these technologies improve the efficiency of SCs, a significant contrast to the existing literature. Our findings also refute the existing understanding that interoperability moderates the impact of disruptive technologies on SCPs performance and enhancing the resilience of SCs. However, the findings show that the integration of I4.0 technologies and their interoperability has a positive impact on SCPs profitability.

The findings strongly advocate that this integration plays an important role in improving SC performance, and a future pathway of SC resiliency post-COVID-19. Considering that the I4.0 trend will impact SCs in the coming years, this study brings a relevant contribution to researchers and practitioners.

This study makes a unique contribution by investigating a novel causal relationship between the main elements (I4.0 technologies, interoperability, processes performance and strategic outcomes) related to the SC in this new context.

Purpose: This chapter explores the two major schemes applicable to skill development in India: Skill Acquisition and Knowledge Awareness for Livelihood Promotion (SANKALP) and Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY).

Need for the Study: The primary objective of this research is to check the role of these schemes in enhancing the skills of socio-economically stressed community members for their livelihoods. The secondary aim is to analyse the outcomes of these schemes through a qualitative inquiry.

Methodology: A survey was conducted, and the data was collected from trainees of the skill development programmes. Based on the responses, a qualitative content analysis was performed, which showed that most trainees have the thirst and urge to enhance their life skills for a minimalistic livelihood.

Findings: The study concluded that though there are many schemes, only PMKVY is active. They focus on more than just youth communities. Instead, they consider individuals in different age categories.

Practical Implications: The Government of India (GOI) is progressing towards a healthy economy to compete with other countries. For this mission to be achieved, skill and labour development is paramount. Appropriate training must be provided and administrated through government schemes.

The purpose of this paper is to identify and rank different dimensions of strategic orientation and firm’s performance using the approach of interpretive structural modeling.

The study uses interpretative structural modeling and the MICMAC technique to establish a hierarchical relationship among different dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation and manufacturing performance of Indian SMEs.

The final outcome of interpretative structural modeling and the MICMAC analysis revealed a relationship between the variables under study along with the categorization of all in two different categories, depending upon their driving power and dependency, which decision-makers can also use while devising their strategy to improve performance.

To date, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, no significant contribution about such interrelationship was reported; therefore, this study is one of its types to fill this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to conduct an in-depth analysis of the literature and provide new insights on skill development research in India. Objectives in the study are twofold. First is to conduct descriptive analysis in terms of structural dimensions such as geographical context, focus on skill development, research methods, economic sector, type of training and origin of the study. The second objective is to conduct thematic analysis on importance of skill development, institutional and regulatory mechanisms, skill development as an antecedent for technology adoption, role of skill development in women empowerment, integrating skill development with secondary education and labour market reforms for skill development.

Systematic literature review method is employed to review 45 articles on skill development research in India conducted between 2004 and 2017.

The review discusses about the importance of skill development, the role of institutions such as NSDA and PMKVJ, skill development as a necessity in the advent of technological changes, an effective measure to empower women in the country and the need of integrating skill development with secondary education. Labour market reforms are required to overcome challenges such as mismatch between theory and practice, low quality of skills assimilated, the mismatch between demand and supply of skilled labour force, low level of in-house training, low cooperation from students and employees due to lack of incentives and lack of qualified teachers.

This study is the first to offer a systematic literature review on skill development. The study provides insights into the concept of skill development, specifically for academicians to carry out research in a niche area and for government authorities in policy formulation.