Gordhan K. Saini

Comparing retail formats in an emerging market

Purpose – This study aims to examine the importance of credit and low price guarantee (LPG) on consumer purchase intention across types of retail store formats in an emerging market context. Design/methodology/approach – A 2 (kirana/modern retail)×2 (high/low LPG)×2 (credit/no credit) experimental design was used for this study. A sample of 200 respondents was asked about their purchase intention for a newly introduced hypothetical toothpaste brand and six hypotheses were tested. Findings – Findings show that credit and level of LPG determine consumers purchase intention across store formats. The presence of credit and high LPG increases the purchase intention; however, relatively importance of these two varies by type of store. The absence of credit at kirana store definitely reduces the buying intention, while same is not true for modern retail store, where level of LPG is more important than the credit. Interestingly, buyer is likely to discount high LPG for a months credit offered by a kirana store....

Employer Brand and Job Application Decisions: Insights from the Best Employers

Communication of employer brand to external stakeholders has, in the recent past, seen new developments in the form of best employer surveys (BESs) and a potent form of employer branding lies in the BESs. In this article, we examine the impact of firm-related and job-related attributes on a candidate’s job application decisions by selecting firms from the BES lists. The study is based on the secondary and primary data of 139 companies which have appeared in four major BES lists from 2001 to 2012 (the longest time period for which data is available in an emerging economy—India) and primary data collected from 2,854 respondents. We find that both firm-level and job-related variables significantly influence a candidate’s job application decisions, such as, intention to apply and consideration of the best companies to work for. Firms, with an objective to attract huge candidates, should carefully examine the factors that positively affect the job choice decisions and make concerted effort to improve on those parameters. The study fills several research gaps present in the literature due to inadequate empirical studies, insufficient sample size and consideration of a limited variables in the past studies.

CSR in India: Critical Review and Exploring Entrepreneurial Opportunities

Abstract The current discourse on corporate social responsibility (CSR) is dominated by this ‘middle path’ approach, establishing collaboration and synergy, and attempting to define the balancing roles of business. In the CSR literature, interactions between business and society have been studied less. CSR research is also skewed towards the western and developed countries. We attempt to address these two issues by studying perception gaps among the community residing in a mining region and tourist destination in western India, Goa. The studied dimensions are company’s commitment to the community, areas for company’s support, company’s involvement with stakeholders, community’s commitment to the company, and media’s role to promote CSR activity and CSR as benefiting the company. In general, the variables such as age, education, place of origin and caste lead to divergence in community attitude towards various CSR dimensions. Later, we review a few unique and successful CSR projects, their design and implementation with a strategic ‘entrepreneurial orientation’. Our article points towards a new paradigm for CSR implementation that is beyond pure philanthropy. Innovative models are being discovered and designed with pro-activeness and reasonable experimentation which provide these corporates unique competitive advantage. Lastly, we propose that entrepreneurship has a viable role to play in balancing community and business interest.

Application of Social Marketing in Social Entrepreneurship Evidence From India

Recognizing the importance of social marketing strategies for the success of social entrepreneurial ventures (SEVs), the present article examines nine SEVs with different profit orientation to understand the role of social marketing in social entrepreneurship (SE). Using grounded theory approach and case study method, the present article cross-examines cases and develops propositions thereof, providing a holistic understanding of current and potential application of social marketing strategies in SE. The outcome of this study may help social entrepreneurs to choose appropriate strategies from a pool of social marketing strategies available. However, there is a need to test these propositions with a larger set of data in future research. Also, it is equally important to study social marketing strategies adopted by failed cases of SEVs so that the existing and potential social entrepreneurs can learn from their mistakes.

An Empirical Study of Latitude of Quantity Acceptance (LQA) in an Emerging Economy: India

ABSTRACT This study examines three important research questions. First, is there a latitude of acceptance with respect to small quantity changes? Second, is there an asymmetric effect of quantity changes? Third, is there a differential effect between high-equity and low-equity brands in response to quantity changes which is acceptable to customers? The effect of quantity change on purchase intention was examined through the decrease (increase) in original quantity of high-equity brands (low-equity brands), keeping price constant. ANOVA and ANCOVA were used to estimate the main and interaction effects. Empirical results show that: (a) there is evidence for LQA; (b) the effect of quantity change is asymmetric; and (c) the LQA range is larger for low-equity brands. A lower range of LQA for high-equity brands limits quantity reduction choice as a firm strategy and lowering price by a small percentage is unlikely to be successful for a low-equity brand.

Information Source Credibility and Job Seekers’ Intention to Apply: The Mediating Role of Brands

In this article, we first examine the role of perceived credibility of three information sources—customer reviews, employee testimonials and corporate communication in influencing a job seeker’s intention to apply; second, we examine the mediating role of three brand application levels (i.e., product brand, employer brand and corporate brand) between the perceived credibility of information sources and a job seeker’s intention to apply. Using a standard questionnaire, data from 385 respondents were collected and analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM). The results show that for intention to apply, the perceived credibility of employee testimonials and corporate communication was higher than the perceived credibility of customer reviews. The employer brand ‘fully’ mediates the relationship between the perceived credibility of employee testimonials and intention to apply, while the corporate brand ‘partially’ mediates the relationship between the perceived credibility of corporate communication and intention to apply. Human resource (HR) managers may thereby use employee testimonials for attracting a greater number of applications, and such recruitment communications can be complemented by corporate communication for recruitment effectiveness. Organizations looking to improve their employer brand may focus on using employee testimonials and corporate communication as their principle branding activities. This study contributes to literature related to boundary spanning benefits of strong brands.

Latitude of Quantity Acceptance: Conceptualization and Empirical Validation

As a result of increasing costs, consumer packaged goods companies (i.e., fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) companies) are facing significant pressure on operating margins. For example, the increasing cost of raw material resulted in a steep decline of almost 50 % in operating profit margins in the second quarter of 2010 for Britannia (Economic Times 2010). Firms have been using innovative strategies to adapt to increasing costs in materials. One such strategy has been to decrease the quantity (weight) of a product packet while keeping the price constant. For instance, Frito Lay has reduced the weight per pack by 10–20 %; Cadbury has reduced the pack size of Bournville chocolate by 17–18 % (DNA Syndication 2011), and ITC has substituted raw material edible oil with butter, reduced the quantity per pack, and also hiked the price of high-margin biscuit packs (Economic Times 2010).

The Hatch-Waxman Act and Indian pharmaceutical firms: an analysis

In the USA, the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984 (the Hatch-Waxman Act or HWA) was designed to provide cheaper drugs to consumers while leaving intact a financial incentive for research and development for pharmaceutical firms. The HWA permits non-brand-name generics to market their molecules subsequent to patent expiry; however, recent judgments on ‘authorized generics’ have tilted the scale towards large pharma brand-name firms by decreasing the ‘playing space’ available to the generic manufacturer. On the other hand, recent rulings in the USA have the potential to help Indian pharmaceutical firms by allowing them earlier access to the molecules that brand-name firms are investigating. Recent case law has revisited the trade-off between the interests of innovator and generic companies.

Hatch Waxman Act and the Indian Pharmaceutical Firms: An Analysis

In the US, the Drug Price Competition and Patent Term Restoration Act of 1984, (the Hatch-Waxman Act or HWA), was designed to provide cheaper drugs to consumers while leaving intact a financial incentive for research and development for pharmaceutical firms. The HWA permits non-brand name, generics to market their molecules subsequent to patent expiry; however, recent judgments on “authorized generics” have tilted the scale toward large pharma brand name firms by decreasing the “playing space” available to the generic manufacturer. On the other hand, recent rulings in the US have the potential to help Indian pharmaceutical firms by allowing them earlier access to the molecules that brand name firms are investigating. Recent case laws have revisited the trade-off between the interests of innovator and generic companies. Today, Indian companies need to revisit their generics focused strategy given the implications of recent case law. Although Indian companies have already adapted authorized generics route besides maintaining a steady flow of ANDA filing, Indian companies have to be careful in striking a proper balance between. generics and authorized generics, innovator and copy cat strategy. This paper evaluates the impact of recent case law on the prospects of Indian pharma firms.