Amit Mittal

Religion in the Indian context is an inseparable element that dominates Indian lives, culture and psyche wherein significant number of people undertake pilgrimages every year. Pilgrims travel to different religious sites spread throughout the country and an intimate bonding exists between people and religious sites that invariably constitute their heritage. The worship of deities is a significant and popular ancient custom in the history of Indian culture. Pilgrims to any religious heritage site participate in different activities and their involvement in these activities builds their spiritual experience. So, the purpose of this research was to investigate the pilgrims experience at a religious heritage site. For this, a suitable framework called ASEB framework (activity, setting, experience and benefit) was used, and qualitative research was conducted in a natural setting at one of the venerated Hindu pilgrimage sites in North India. Certain themes and codes were identified which acted as salient parameters to evaluate the pilgrim experience at a Goddess worshipping site, called Shaktipithas. The parameters used in the study which are described as themes and codes in the research process, include specific words, phrases or issues, which commonly occurred within and across the discussion groups. The entire study is based on the authors’ direct and participant observation on site for a period of three years from 2015-2018 and the interviews conducted with different stakeholder groups. The conducted research contributes to the current body of knowledge on religious studies, as it provides a deeper insight into how the various parameters affect the spiritual experiences of a pilgrim at a religious site and moderate the visitor experience affecting the notion of pilgrimage. The research also opens up opportunities to do more qualitative/quantitative studies on the themes identified in this exploratory study or may lead to the identification of similar themes which affect the pilgrims

Telemedicine has emerged as a solution to the triad of accessibility, cost and quality in case of healthcare delivery systems world over. Despite its immense potential, its rate of usage is disap-pointingly low. The research identifies various factors influencing telemedicine acceptance in India. A modified version of UTAUT2 (Unified Theory of Acceptance and use of Technology is proposed to understand the integration of telemedicine by doctors in India. Government policy, support of the senior management and project team capability are additional variables being proposed in the study. Along with the drivers, the barriers and moderators affecting the behavior intention and actual usage of telemedicine in India are also identified through literature review. The results would assist policy makers and healthcare managers to recognize the variables influencing the acceptance, adoption and diffusion of telemedicine and, therefore, realize its potential in an emerging country like India.

Volume 3, Issue 2/4 Abstract: The financials of retail firms are very sensitive to margins on the brands they sell. One way of ensuring better margins on merchandise sold is by offering store brands also known as private labels (PLs). In addition to better margins, PLs also give retailers greater control over the supply chain; negotiating leverage with national brand

ABSTRACT The study attempts to identify perceptions of consumers towards existing retail formats in India. To have in-depth study of consumer perceptions, the basis on which consumers have been segmented keeping in view the products to be sold need to be understood. Customers of today carry out extensive research in gathering maximum information about product to be purchased, occasion for which the purchase is to be made as well as from where the purchase is to be made. Their evaluative criteria include price, brand reputation, distribution, promotion, personal selling. The factors causing planned vs unplanned purchasing behaviour and consumer decision process model need to be understood thoroughly. The customers remain in dilemma about outlet choice vs brand choice. Retail is an emerging sector in India. Marketers are leaving no stone unturned to influence the customers by offering them in various ways, at various locations, in various forms resulting in emergence of various retail formats throughout the country. Customers are highly influenced by image of the retail outlet, its attributes, product range, variety, services, employee’s behaviour, décor, music and marketing strategies. For this, we need to understand the process of outlet selection, consumer choice and shopping behaviour, the shopping process, shopper types and shopping strategies, choice decisions during shopping process, attempts made by marketers to close the gap between expectation and performance and so on. The retailers should put in efforts focusing on attracting the customers towards the store outlets on continual basis by focusing on their distinct features, thus, adding to the retail formats, followed by persuasion of paying a visit to the store causing a positive impact on the prospects by their effective formats, convincing them to make first purchase, in turn, followed by repeat patronage. Customers of today are not focusing only on the purchase, however, less it is; they are equally concerned with external as well as internal environment of the retail format. Their pre-purchase experience is highly influenced by family members, friends and channels of communication in comparison to competitive offerings. Moreover, needs, perceptions and experiences of customers vary to a great extent which a marker needs to identify and thus make offerings accordingly.

In an increasingly competitive and uncertain business environment, recruiting employees with specialized skills isn't sufficient any longer. Over and above specialized capabilities, employees need to demonstrate essential business abilities to take empowered decisions that are consistent with the goals of their organizations. The objective of the present study is to identify the major employee competencies that are essential for the successful functioning of an organization and to understand how these competencies can affect the business performance. For this, the data was collected through in-depth interviews from 20 top executives of Indian infrastructure firms. The results of in-depth interview identified some major employee competencies which are essential in today's business environment. The study also identified different approaches followed by these organisations to narrow down the gap between required and actual competencies of an employee. This is the one of the first study in Infrastructure industry in Indian context that examined the important employee competencies required for the overall development and growth of the organization.

The triggers of "post purchase dissatisfaction" are emerging as a highly debated aspect in case of consumer electronics and electric goods worldwide. The triggers of phenomenon of "consumer dissatisfaction" often involve the dimensions of "consumer driven" or "product driven" or "non-product driven" as well as "organization driven". Such "triggers" seem to instigate the consumer to feel either satisfied or dissatisfied. This research article emphasizes and explores the role of two evident triggers "Product based functional failure" and "Product based visible failure" as two obvious causes of post purchase dissatisfaction. The study operationalizes the factors with aid of pre-validated scales and concentrates on a sample size of 648 across Chandigarh capital region and sub urban areas with access to white goods. The study relied on factor analysis for extraction and incorporated AMOS based modeling of relationships across constituent factors. The study based operationalized scales achieved a reliability (cronbach alpha) in range of 0.5 to 0.9.The study established the prevalence of statistical significant relationship between "product failure" and "consumer based dissatisfaction" as well as prevalence of statistical significant relationship between "visible failure" and "consumer based dissatisfaction". The study based outcomes owe implications for theory, practicing managers and marketers.The research findings support the earlier outcomes with regard to contextual antecedents of consumer's dissatisfaction based perceptions and behavior.

The purpose of this research paper is to understand the role of employability skills and emotional intelligence toward employer satisfaction in recruiting fresh information technology engineering graduates from institutions of higher learning in India. Using a structured questionnaire, the study surveyed 507 employers from the information technology sector companies in India, who as recruiters conduct campus placement drives across various engineering schools in the country. An application of structured equation modeling to the data revealed emotional Intelligence partially mediates in the relationship between employability skills and employer satisfaction while recruiting these fresh engineering IT graduates. The finding of the study will be supportive for the students, academicians and practitioners in recognizing the need of soft skills for making young engineering graduates employable.

AbstrAct The purpose of this study is to attempt to address the effect of country of origin (COO) on brand image in case of different product involvement levels, Further to identify the influence of consumer characteristics on product evaluation based on country of origin image to measure the extent of Indian consumers' country of origin knowledge with respect to different products and brands. In today's globalized world there are no boundaries and the world is becoming global market or a " Cultural Bazaar ". Where consumer can pick and choose brands based on their beliefs about the quality of the product originating from certain country. Consumer from anywhere in the world chooses to use any product from their own country as well as they have access to the foreign brands in the same product category. In context of India, the new policy system drastically pushed the concept of more open & market oriented economy, which makes COO image an important cue which the producers have to keep in mind while serving their end users. Considering this global scenario our research is directed towards analysing the relation considering brand image as one variable because number of new brands entering Indian market in both low and high involvement product categories. So this study could help the marketers to understand how COO effect impact the brand image, also, this study also helps in comparing and contrasting various antecedents of country of origin image in order to explore the relationship between Coo image, brand image and Product involvement which could help the manufacturers and marketers in their decision making. Hence, this study is an attempt to fill the gap identified above and focuses upon assessing the relationship between three variables.

Materialism is an area of concern to marketers in emerging markets. This study is based in India which represents one of the largest emerging markets in the world today and seeks to contribute to the scarce understanding of materialism in the context of Indian women consumers. Specifically, the study explores: (a) the degree of materialism in women consumers in India; (b) the relationship between materialism and shopping enjoyment better known as hedonic shopping motives of Indian and (c) the influence of the working-status of Indian women on their materialistic attitudes. Based on a survey of 194 Indian women one myth dispelled is the longstanding belief that Indians are traditionally averse to materialism since the findings of this research show the reverse is true. Paradoxically, even though previous research posits that materialism and happiness are inversely related, this research suggests that materialism and hedonic shopping behaviour are positively related. Another outcome of this research is that there is no evidence that working women are more (or less) materialistic than those women who do not work outside their home. Implications for marketers and future researchers are drawn.

Keywords: Materialism, Hedonism, Indian Women

Present study like to examine the variables that are significant, in the selection of offshore outsourcing locations for the voice based jobs in India and Philippines. The study has statistically tested human resources factors, finance factors, national level factors, communication, language, culture, client and service provider relationship, service delivery, organizations credentials and regulatory environment. The study has used descriptive research design, survey questionnaire method and deliberative purposive sampling techniques on the total sample size of 178 top and middle level employees of BPOs and Call centres. Data were analyzed using structure equation modeling, multiple regression, weighted least square method and Path analysis. Results of the study shows, overall affects of above discussed factor variables on the selection of location as Philippines are more than choosing India as preference of location for voice based jobs.

This paper studies how similar store attributes compare on customer evaluations when taken as a comparative between two retail segments. Two of the largest retail segments viz. grocery & apparels have been taken for the purpose of comparison of importance according to store attributes. This study is significant given that the retail sector in India is presently on a growth trajectory & the right retail format is still a very critical area of managerial decision making. The retail format-which represents the right mix of various store dimensions-will eventually depend upon the interplay between various store attributes. This study uses a research instrument developed by the author in an earlier study for the comparative analysis. A very significant pointer from this research is that while there is some commonality of attributes between retail sectors, the precise importance and mix are, arguably, determined more by the motivation of the customer behind each specific shopping excursion. The grocery and apparel store attributes dimensions that have emerged from this study prove that the factors are different in terms of their composition and importance.

Store Choice has been a subject of frequent research in the developed retail markets of the
west. However, the retail sector in India has been largely fragmented and unorganized.
However, the retail scenario in India is changing at a very brisk pace. Many international
retailers entering India and many Indian retailers in the organized segment are coming up
with stores all across the country, but a majority of these stores have merely transplanted
western formats onto the Indian retail scene without actually evaluating the salience of
various store attributes from the customer perspective. In light of this the purpose of this
paper is to study the store choice criteria in the context of apparel retailing in India.
Drawing from major global and Indian studies conducted in the past, this research has
identified two dimensions, which in different combinations could create sustainable store
choice and hence, store loyalty. These two dimensions are termed loyalty drivers and
experience enhancers