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Introduction: The ethical implications of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) profiling or DNA fingerprinting or forensic genetics in criminal investigations have gained significant attention worldwide. In India, DNA profiling in criminal investigations has increased over the years. However, the ethical considerations of DNA profiling in India have yet to be examined adequately.

Purpose: The study aimed to examine the ethical considerations of DNA profiling in India and compare them with international guidelines. By examining the ethical considerations of DNA profiling in India, this study seeks to contribute to the ongoing discourse on the responsible use of DNA profiling in forensic investigations.

Methodology: The study used a qualitative research design, and data were collected by reviewing relevant literature and laws.

Findings: The findings indicate that the Indian legal framework has gaps in addressing the ethical considerations raised by international guidelines, such as the admissibility of DNA evidence in court, oversight of DNA laboratories, safeguards against discrimination, and privacy and confidentiality protections.

The comparative analysis highlights the need for strengthening the legal framework in India, adopting best practices from international guidelines, and incorporating safeguards to protect against discrimination and ensure the privacy and confidentiality of individuals. By adopting these recommendations, India can ensure that DNA profiling is conducted ethically and responsibly, promoting public trust in the criminal justice system and upholding the rights of all individuals.

The significance of financial literacy (FL) in deciding how to allocate one’s investment capital has recently attracted much attention from various market participants and stakeholders. The study examines how FL affects individual investors' investment decisions (ID) in emerging markets. Additionally, the study investigates the potential mediating effects of attitude (ATT) and overconfidence bias (OCB) on the association between FL and ID.

The study employed a structured questionnaire to collect data from 311 individual investors in India, using both convenience and snowball sampling methods. The collected data were analysed using Partial Least Square Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM) and processed through SMART PLS 4.0 software to test the study’s hypotheses.

FL alone may not greatly affect ID, but the study enhances understanding of investor behaviour by examining how ATT and OCB mediate the link between FL and ID. The findings imply that FL, combined with positive ATT and overconfidence, empowers individual investors with the knowledge and skills for appropriate decision-making.

This research would benefit financial institutions, financial experts, and individual investors in India since it enables them to evaluate the causes and biases affecting their IDs and manage their portfolios accordingly. Policymakers should develop appropriate FL programs for investors to make informed decisions to achieve financial well-being.

The paper is exceptional in its approach as it delves into the mediating function of ATT and OCB in the intricate association between FL and ID. This innovative approach sets it apart from other studies in the field, making it a unique contribution to literature.

The peer review history for this article is available at: https://publons.com/publon/10.1108/IJSE-05-2023-0370

The purpose of this paper is to validate the theoretical finding that digital MNEs avoid physical presence norms of permanent establishment and royalty characterization rules for business and royalty taxation, respectively, to escape tax incidence in the market economy, using information, communication and technology features and transfer pricing (TP) manipulations.

Multiple case studies of MNEs from technology sector, based on judicial decisions in 141 cases, over taxability of profits earned from Indian economic activities. Additional in-depth case study of the Uber Group to study the tax avoidance structures under platform economy, by routing of Indian profits through The Netherlands, a tax haven.

The study finds a significant number of digital MNEs earning profits from India and avoiding tax by defying physical presence and royalty characterization. In majority of the cases, demand-side business activities are discharged through incorporating and remunerating affiliates at cost plus low markup, thus avoiding tax incidence, using TP manipulations under the arm’s length principle applied by governments for benchmarking the intragroup transactions of the MNEs.

The research findings validate the view that digital features promote tax avoidance in the market economy.

The originality of the study lies in the validation of profit shifting through digital features from the developing market economy and portending that digital MNEs defy physical presence to avoid business taxation through TP manipulations.

This case study allows students to appreciate the value of standard operating procedures in customer management. This case study emphasises the role of employees in delivering superior customer experience. This case study explores many facets of customer experience, reputation, social class membership and standard operating procedures (SOPs). Students will be able to apply theories of customer experience, behavioural psychology and service dimensions relevant to the airline industry. After completing this case study, students will be able to do the following:1. Evaluate the value of SOPs in Customer ManagementThis case study refers to the need for adhering to SOPs to deal with complex situations. Students will be able to evaluate whether compliance to SOPs could have helped Air India avoid the crisis or was it possible that a culture of absolute commitment to customer wellbeing could have prevented the crisis.2. Apply the theory of defensive attribution in customer grievance handling. Discuss if reducing customer effort in getting their problem solved can result in superior customer service.The victim had attributed the blame for not insisting on filing a complaint to the crew. Air India crew had defended their actions or lack of it by stating that they had followed the rule book. Students will be able to appreciate the need for a swift redressal mechanism to protect the self-image and self-esteem of the person/group involved. They will also understand that customer service interactions designed to solve customer problems swiftly and easily can be a very simple dictum to guide all employees in their decision-making while handling a customer complaint.

3. Evaluate the relationship between customer satisfaction and customer experience and examine the value of net promoter score (NPS) to study customer satisfaction.

Air India Airlines was catering to varied customer groups such as the Indian diaspora, large student population pursuing education abroad, first-time flyers and the rising middle class with travel aspirations. Customer expectations vary across segments and change over their lifetime. Airline staff must trace customer corridors and deliver on customer expectation across the touch points that matter to them to ensure meaningful and relevant service delivery. Students will have an opportunity to evaluate the NPS in measuring customer satisfaction and debate whether it is a sufficient metric to guide the organisation on delivering and monitoring customer experience.

4. Examine why reputation risk management and not crisis management should be the focus of Air India in delivering superior customer service because nearly 70%–80% of market value for a company comes from its intangible assets such as brand equity and reputation.

Students will discuss crisis management i.e. handling the threat to reputation after it has occurred and reputation risk management i.e. proactively managing potential threats to its reputation by taking timely actions to avoid or mitigate it. There are three factors (reputation reality gap, changing beliefs and expectation and weak internal coordination) that determine reputational risks. Students can evaluate this model to determine if Air India should address these three factors to manage its reputation proactively.

This case study is set around an incident that happened on 26 November 2022, on Air India flight bound for Delhi from New York when an inebriated 34-year-old man had peed on a 72-year-old woman. The perpetrator of the crime had walked free, and the victim was left dissatisfied with how the cabin crew had handled her ordeal. Air India Airlines was launched in 1932 by industrialist JRD Tata and nationalised in 1953. In 2021, Tata Group acquired the 90-year-old Air India from the Government of India for $2.4bn (INR 18,000 crore) and appointed Campbell Wilson as chief executive officer and managing director. The incident brought to the fore the customer management issues that Wilson had to address. First on the list of Air India’s turnaround plan was delivering “exceptional customer experience”. How was it going to achieve it because the Indian aviation ecosystem lacked infrastructure such as airports, airspace, competition and customer preference-based services? There was also shortage of pilots, engineers, technicians, air-traffic controllers and technocrats to occupy positions within security agencies and regulatory bodies. With Air India’s acquisition, the Tata Group had to find innovative solutions to deal with decades of internal neglect, non-performance and labour union problems. This case study is relevant to address real issues of customer experience, consumer psychology, reputation risk management and standard operating procedures in service management.

This case is suitable for both undergraduate and postgraduate level students of business management. It can also be used for training service personnel of aviation industry.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing

This paper aims to explore how sub-national or regional cultural differences influence backers’ willingness to crowdfund projects. The paper also explores how migrant transnationalism influences the impact of backer’s sub-national culture and crowdfunding relationships.

This paper is based on the experimental design technique using analysis of covariance methods. The authors tested the study hypotheses on a sample of 790 respondents.

The study results suggest that individuals differ in their intent to crowdfund product campaigns depending on value congruence between their cultural values derived from the region to which they belong and the nature of the product category, such as environmentally friendly or happiness-enhancing products.

This paper explores the role of regional cultural differences in determining the intention to crowdfund different campaigns based on the nature of the product. Value congruence, as driven by regional cultural differences with crowdfunding campaigns, has not been explored before.

This study aims to investigate the influence of cognitive and affective trust on the revisit intention of medical tourists to a developing country like India, focusing on the role of country image as a moderator.

This study used partial least square-based structural equation modelling to test the hypotheses using data from 297 medical tourists visiting India from abroad for treatment.

The findings of this study confirmed that all the dimensions of cognitive trust, namely, perceived expertise, performance and reputation of the health-care service providers, have a positive and significant impact on the revisit intention of medical tourists to India. In contrast, none of the two dimensions of affective trust have a significant effect on the revisit intention of medical tourists to India. This study also confirmed that country image significantly moderates the relationship between performance dimensions of cognitive trust and medical tourists’ revisit intention to India.

The study’s findings have significant theoretical and managerial implications as they explore the effect of cognitive and affective trust on medical tourists’ the revisit intention to visit an emerging economy, considering the country’s image as a moderator.

本研究旨在调查认知和情感信任对印度等发展中国家医疗游客重游意愿的影响, 重点关注国家形象的调节作用。

本研究采用基于偏最小二乘的结构方程模型, 使用 297 名从国外到印度接受治疗的医疗游客的数据来检验假设。

本研究的结果证实, 认知信任的所有维度, 即医疗服务提供者的专业知识、绩效和声誉, 对印度医疗游客的重游意愿产生积极且显着的影响。相比之下, 情感信任的两个维度都没有对印度医疗游客的重游意愿产生显着影响。这项研究还证实, 国家形象显着调节认知信任绩效维度与医疗游客重访印度意愿之间的关系。

该研究的结果具有重要的理论和管理意义, 因为他们探讨了认知和情感信任对医疗游客重访新兴经济体的意愿的影响, 并考虑到该国作为调节者的形象。

Este estudio tiene como objetivo investigar la influencia de la confianza cognitiva y afectiva en la intención de volver a visitar a un país en desarrollo como la India por parte de turistas médicos, centrándose en el papel de la imagen del país como moderador.

Este estudio empleó un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales parcial basado en mínimos cuadrados para probar las hipótesis utilizando datos de 297 turistas médicos que visitaron la India desde el extranjero para recibir tratamiento.

Los hallazgos de este estudio confirmaron que todas las dimensiones de la confianza cognitiva, es decir, la experiencia percibida, el desempeño y la reputación de los proveedores de servicios de atención médica, tienen un impacto positivo y significativo en la intención de volver a visitar a la India por parte de los turistas médicos. Por el contrario, ninguna de las dos dimensiones de la confianza afectiva tiene un efecto significativo en la intención de volver a visitar la India por parte de los turistas médicos. Este estudio también confirmó que la imagen del país modera significativamente la relación entre las dimensiones de desempeño de la confianza cognitiva y la intención de los turistas médicos de volver a visitar la India.

Los hallazgos del estudio tienen importantes implicaciones teóricas y administrativas, ya que exploran el efecto de la confianza cognitiva y afectiva en la intención de los turistas médicos de visitar una economía emergente, considerando la imagen del país como moderador.

The case is based on the data collected from various secondary sources only.

Godi India, a lithium-ion cell manufacturing company in India, was working to design e-cell for electric vehicles (EV) which would be compatible with Indian conditions and reduce the cost of battery to the extent possible because e-cell contributes half of the electric vehicle’s price. Godi India was set up in January 2020 by Mahesh Godi. Looking for opportunities in India after having worked in the USA for 17 years, Mahesh found that even with the rise in EV the lithium-ion cell manufacturing in India was almost zero. Using innovation as its main strategy, the start-up started its operation with a team of 30 scientists. The start-up already registered 25 patents under its name with few awaiting. Most of the EV companies relied on Chinese lithium-ion cell. Local lithium-ion cell manufacturing was believed to be the key for EV industry growth in a country. Central government production linked schemes worth INR 18,100 crore were signed by major players like Ola electric, Reliance new energy and Rajesh exports to develop locally manufactured advance cells. The push from the government for locally manufacturing the cells was a major trigger for the rise in the EV industry. The case provides the analysis of the strategies applied by the company to grow in the lithium-ion cell manufacturing industry.

This case can be used in strategic management, entrepreneurship and general management courses/modules at the Undergraduate and Postgraduate level.

The use of technology in 4th industrial revolution is at its peak. Industries are trying to reduce the consumption of resources by effectively utilizing information and technology to connect different functioning agents of the manufacturing industry. Without digitization “Industry 4.0” will be a virtual reality. The present survey-based study explores the factual status of digital manufacturing in the Northern India.

After an extensive literature review, a questionnaire was designed to gather different viewpoints of Indian industrial practitioners. The first half contains questions related to north Indian demographic factors which may affect digitalization of India. The latter half includes the queries concerned with various operational factors (or drivers) driving the digital revolution without ignoring Indian constraints.

The focus of this survey was to understand the current level of digital revolution under the ongoing push by the Indian government focused upon digital movement. The analysis included non-parametric testing of the various demographic and functional factors impacting the digital echoes, specifically in Northern India. Findings such as technological upgradations were independent of type of industry, the turnover or the location. About 10 key operational factors were thoughtfully grouped into three major categories—internal Research and Development (R&D), the capability of the supply chain and the capacity to adapt to the market. These factors were then examined to understand how they contribute to digital manufacturing, utilizing an appropriate ordinal logistic regression. The resulting predictive analysis provides seldom-seen insights and valuable suggestions for the most effective deployment of digitalization in Indian industries.

The country-specific Industry 4.0 literature is quite limited. The survey mainly focuses on the National Capital Region. The number of demographic and functional factors can further be incorporated. Moreover, an addition of factors related to ecology, environment and society can make the study more insightful.

The present work provides valuable insights about the current status of digitization and expects to facilitate public or private policymakers to implement digital technologies in India with less efforts and the least resistance. It empowers India towards Industry 4.0 based tools and techniques and creates new socio-economic dimensions for the sustainable development.

The quantitative nature of the study and its statistical predictions (data-based) are novel. The clubbing of similar success factors to avoid inter-collinearity and complexity is seldom seen. The predictive analytics provided in this study is quite elusive as it provides directions with logic. It will help the Indian Government and industrial strategists to plan and perform their interventions accordingly.

Asia has emerged as the fastest growing economic region in the world at present. The region is endowed with 60% of global population with a huge market size, making the region an attractive destination for trade to the countries around the world. In 2017, almost 38% of global import was made solely by this region. Among the Asian countries, India has been able to establish itself as a consistent performer in trade during last three decades. The volume of its global trade (export + import) has increased remarkably by more than 32 times (from 33.22 billion USD in 1988 to 1,081.36 billion USD in 2017) within this period. India's trade with its major Asian partners has gone through a considerable change in its volume, direction, nature, and composition in the period of trade liberalization. Both export and import have increased manifold during this period with a faster increment in imports over its exports, resulting a huge trade deficit of 109.36 billion USD in 2017. Undoubtedly, it is a matter of concern for India. The present study is an attempt to evaluate the changes in pattern of India's trade, volume of export and import, and balance of trade with other Asian countries in the context of changes in trade policy, tariff rates, exchange rates, FDI, and economic growth during 1988 to 2017.

Introduction: As Internet usage increases, so does widespread concern about surveillance and privacy. While most of the research primarily focuses on a particular digital setting, these problems cut beyond national boundaries and impact economies everywhere.

Purpose: This study critically analyses the Data Protection Bill 2019’s effectiveness within the context of surveillance and privacy in India’s digital economy. Investigating critical provisions of the bill, comparing it to international privacy laws and standards, and identifying potential gaps and weaknesses, this study provides insights into the bill’s ability to protect personal data and limit surveillance practices.

Methodology: The chapter is based on secondary sources of data, including academic articles, government reports, and news articles on the topics of surveillance, privacy, and the Data Protection Bill 2019 in India, involving content and critical discourse analyses.

Findings: The Data Protection Bill 2019 evaluation reveals a set of provisions with the overarching intent to safeguard citizens’ privacy worldwide and curtail undue surveillance practices exercised by both governmental bodies and private enterprises. Intricately delineates the entitlements of individuals concerning their data, encompassing vital aspects such as the right to access, rectify, and erase their data, the bill mandates stringent adherence to the principle of explicit consent when collecting and processing personal data.

Nevertheless, a comprehensive analysis also reveals several gaps and constraints inherent in the bill’s framework. One such area is the inclusion of exemptions for governmental entities, an aspect that raises international concerns regarding potential disparities in data protection practices.