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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

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.

In the last 10 years, the global financial services industry has significantly benefited from fintech. As the Indian entrepreneurial ecosystem continues to change, more fintech-use case-driven firms are created, and more investors are supporting these enterprises. India is acknowledged as a powerful fintech centre internationally.

The goal of the current research is to comprehend the revolutionary landscape of the Indian financial system.

Methodology: The research methodology entails a thorough review of several research papers and government reports better to understand fintech's role in the Indian financial system. This requires examining the trends, regulations and technical breakthroughs driving the fintech ecosystem to present a comprehensive picture of its influence.

The present chapter indicates that the fintech industry is flourishing in India. Over the following years, technological improvements will fuel the market's continuous expansion and change how financial products and services are produced, distributed and used.

In recent decades, the concept of pro-poor tourism has emerged as one of the integral mechanisms that benefit the poor and the underprivileged sections of society. Eradication of poverty is a top priority of human development that is mentioned in the United Nations (UN) Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). Given the expansion of the tourism industry at present in India, the sustainability of this sector is significant, particularly in the rural and remote areas for the facilitation of income-generating opportunities to these vulnerable sections of society at large. The present research study aims to find out the various factors that determine the growth and expansion of the Indian tourism industry and to evaluate how such factors correlate with the alleviation of poverty in India. A panel regression is fitted to find out the nexus between the growth and expansion of the tourism industry in India and its impact on poverty alleviation standards. The selected dimensions, viz. number of tourists visited, per capita income at the state level, index of poverty as measured by headcount ratio, inequality index measured by GINI coefficient, economic specific variables such as literacy rate and infant mortality rate, and state of instability in states measured as by frequency of incidence of crimes in the region are being employed in the study. The estimated model reveals that the effects of tourism development have significant and bountiful outcomes in reducing poverty in India during the study period 2005–2018, as indicated by the estimated coefficient value of (−0.0655), controlling for the selected economic and state/region-specific variables.

One of the major objectives of India's National Auto Policy (NAP) (2018) is to help the country emerge as a hub for automotive production and research and development (R&D). In order to fulfill this long-term objective, two policies had been proposed by NAP (2018). First, possibility of exploring regional trade agreements (RTAs) with leading countries, having attractive markets for Indian players, was considered. Second, the policy aimed to evaluate the potential implications of joining the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) WP.29 1958 agreement within the next 5 years for tackling the potential major technical barriers to trade (TBT), as India's current accession in UNECE WP.29 1998 agreement may not be sufficient for ensuring mutual recognition of standards in many of the partner countries. India is presently engaged in RTA negotiations with several developed and developing countries, with potentially beneficial repercussions for automobile exports. However, the question of accession to UNECE WP.29 1958 agreement has not received similar attention of late, which may restrain the anticipated sectoral export growth, particularly through RTA-led market access outcomes. Given this background, the current analysis considers India's potential sectoral trade growth with eight partner countries, in the case of RTA-led tariff reforms, through a WITS-SMART simulation exercise. The obtained simulation results indicate that India needs to focus on the technical standard harmonization question for reaping the full benefits arising from tariff reforms in several upcoming RTAs, for boosting auto-exports in the post-RTA period.

India's manufacturing exports are heavily tilted toward primary and resource-based products, while its Asian peers have a significant proportion of high and mid-tech products in their export baskets. An attempt is thus made to understand the hurdles faced by technology-intensive exports by India, using gravity panel estimates on its high, mid, and low-tech exports, using data across 130 countries from 2001 to 2019. In line with the Knowledge Theories of trade, which postulate that technical and scientific knowledge and innovation provide trade advantages, this chapter also tries to understand how India fares on this front. We use Principal Component Analysis to construct an index which provides a relative understanding of India's technical and scientific knowledge base.

We conclude that nontariff measures (NTMs) are a stringent hurdle faced by Indian exports, especially in the European Union. Tariffs have the most debilitating effect on its mid-tech exports and the least on high-tech exports. Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs) are most effective in creating trade for mid-tech exports and least in case of low-tech exports. The index for ascertaining India's relative knowledge base shows that while India ranked 6th in 2017, much higher than its Asian peers, its high and mid-tech exports lagged behind these countries. This puzzle is explained by the fact that scientific research in India has very little industry collaboration and thus is out of sync with market needs. Hence, the prevalent scientific and technical knowledge in India does not have the expected favorable impact on its technology-intensive exports.

India has a distinct family hierarchy and a vertical collectivistic culture. Indian traditional cultural norms discourage young adults from having romantic or sexual relationships before marriage. Romantic liaisons and marriages are fiercely opposed outside the caste and social network. Despite this cultural practice, research in the last decade demonstrated that more young adults in India engage in premarital romantic relationships and prefer a marriage of choice. However, they strongly wish their parents to approve of their partner and arrange their marriage. This increasing trend of love-cum-arranged marriages could be considered how Indian culture adapts to the demands of modernization strongly impelled by globalization. This chapter discusses the dynamics of change in the romantic and marital agency among young adults in India. First, the authors provide a brief historical introduction to the Indian marital system. Then, the authors discuss the changing cultural dimensions that promote marital choice and independence in partner selection (e.g., filial piety). Further, the authors provide an overview of the trends in premarital romantic relationships in India. In addition, the authors discuss the distress and conflict in Indian families due to the increasing premarital romantic and sexual relationships among Indian youth, as evidenced by eloped marriages, forced marriages, and honor killings.

This case is primarily intended fior students to evolve ideas in context to the challenges catering to a green fashion clothing line selling their products in the emerging economy of India wherein the masses are far behind considering the sustainable value of their products. In response to these challenges, the learners would be able toanalyze the influence of internal and external enhancers and inhibitors on a sustainable fashion brand to improve its scalability; articulate the factors influencing diffusion of sustainable fashion apparel; and formulate a strategic plan to aid in the growth and scalability of the brand and building micro-economies that will thrive in the future.The case also addresses topics like consumer attitude toward sustainable fashion clothing line and pricing challenges faced by such brands in developing economies like India.

This case describes the challenges faced by the co-founders, Sanghamitra and Mayuree, who introduced a sustainable fashion apparel brand called Econic. Marketing and sales of Econic’s products came with a bundle of challenges, and it was not easy to convince customers about the authenticity, quality and pricing of these products. Indian consumers had less awareness of the value of sustainable fashion clothing thereby presenting a huge challenge for Econic to flourish and sell their products in India. Thereafter, the brand aimed at expanding beyond the geographical boundaries of India. This further led Econic to face a cutthroat competition from various established players with comparatively huge market shares. Majority of Econic’s sales arose from expatriates or outlanders. Considering the response of local impediments and constraints from India, Sanghamitra began targeting the foreign markets. She saw global expansion as an opportunity for driving the brand’s growth. Eventually, Econic witnessed nascent success when the founders started exporting their products in the markets of UAE [1] and USA [2]. Contrarily, the brand’s co-founder Mayuree felt that it was too early for the brand to enter international market, and instead, it would be more sensible to focus attention in India itself. The approach of both the co-founders seemed paradoxical. At one point, Econic was facing a fierce local competition for their products. How could the brand increase awareness and acceptance of its products was an area of concern for Sanghamitra. Second, expanding into international market posed certain other challenges. The key dilemmas encountered by the co-founders continued to remain that which growth strategy should Econic adopt; how could Econic ascertain to set foot into which market; what were the likely scalability challenges they faced by entering international market; and what could be the finest marketing strategy for their brand.

The case is relevant for students in disciplines of green marketing, principles and concepts of sustainability, climate change and development, corporate social responsibility, marketing and strategy. It is designed for advanced MBA/PGDM and capstone courses.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 3: Entrepreneurship.

Much research has explored high levels of son preference in India, finding that parents often report a desire for more sons than daughters. While scholars have noted that a nontrivial portion of respondents claim to have no sex preference, little is known about (1) the characteristics of this group and (2) how such parental preferences relate to child outcomes. We use data from a representative study of rural South Indian households (n = 7,891 adults) to address these gaps. Descriptive results show that a sizable portion of respondents – one in four – indicated that, at the start of their marriage, they had no preference for the number of daughters or sons they wanted. Further, multinomial regression results show that those who reported no sex preference at the time of marriage were more likely to be female, older, and less likely to be sterilized than those who reported equal or son preference, with additional distinctions across educational attainment and religion. Turning to child-level outcomes, we examined whether parents’ sex preferences related to adolescent mental health through ordinary least squares (OLS) regression models (n = 1,245 adolescents). Adolescents whose mothers stated no sex preference reported significantly fewer anxiety and depressive symptoms than their peers. Fathers’ sex preferences were not significantly related to adolescent mental health. These findings suggest that a lack of sex preference may hold meaningful and positive implications for adolescent mental health. Further, although son preference is a widespread phenomenon, singular attention on those with son preference may mask important nuances among Indian families.

Menstrual hygienic practices are an essential component in public health that significantly impact and, in turn, are affected by the economic and social status of women. This study aims to investigate the usage of hygienic menstrual products among young girls and women between the age group of 15 and 24 years. It also tries to explore various other socio-economic factors including regional disparities in menstrual hygiene management (MHM) practices. To analyze the relationship between these factors, a bivariate statistical analysis has been carried out. The results are based on a secondary dataset, that is, the National Family Health Survey, Fifth Round (NFHS-5), 2019–2021 for India. This study further examines the regional disparities across India, in terms of hygienic practices adopted by women to ensure menstrual health. The results show that there exists a positive relationship between hygienic methods of protection against bloodstains and the socio-economic status of women. This has been analyzed across four dimensions – educational attainment, access to sanitation, financial autonomy and exposure to mass media/mobile phones. A stark urban–rural gap has been observed in terms of the MHM practices in Western and Central Indian states. Therefore, enhancing the economic and social status of rural women requires a more holistic approach toward elevating MHM practices in these regions. The de-stigmatization of menstruation and greater involvement of men in doing so would prove to be pivotal. To accelerate the level of hygienic menstrual practices among rural women in these regions, existing policies need to focus on educational, financial and various other health-related aspects as means to reduce the rural–urban divide in India.