Determinants of Customers' Perceived Value in the Fast Food Industry for Global Brands in Malaysia

The purpose of this research was to investigate the effect of food quality, customer service, physical environment, and price fairness on perceived value in the fast food industry. A survey method was used for the collection of desired information from the visitors of global fast food restaurants in the East Coast region of Malaysia. The returned questionnaires were analyzed by SPSS and structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). Overall, the findings showed that the impact of food quality on perceived value is positive. The results also showed that the effect of customer service on perceived value is insignificant. The outcomes also proved that physical environment has a significant positive impact on perceived value. Finally, the findings indicated that price fairness has a positive effect on perceived value. These results enhance the understanding towards the significance of the selected factors in influencing customers' perceived value in the fast food industry.

Determinants of Financial Literacy Among Indian Youth

The purpose of this study is to examine which factors actually determine the level of personal financial literacy among the youth in India's financial capital city. A total of 650 completed and returned questionnaires have been used for the purpose of this study. The data analysis uses descriptive statistics and multivariate analysis. The explanatory variables are gender, district of residence, educational level, father's educational level, employment, marital status, and parenthood. Findings of the study depict that having children is the most positively correlated (+0.327) with financial literacy. Education (+0.245) and employment (+0.140) are positively correlated with financial literacy. It is also concluded that females are less likely to have a high level of financial literacy (-0.271) compared to males.

An Empirical Note on Comparative Perceptions of Indian Patients and Physicians in Direct-to-Consumer Promotion of Pharmaceutical Products

Direct promotion of pharmaceutical products to patients is not legal in India. Internet healthcare websites, however, have rendered this law moot. Patients today increasingly flock to websites to find health-related information. With the help of a survey involving 400 patients and 200 physicians, this chapter attempts to identify the differences in the perception of physicians and patients. The results indicate that major differences exist in the beliefs held by physicians and patients vis-à-vis merits and demerits of DTC-promotion through health-related websites. As patients and physicians operate as a team while health-solutions are made available to the patients, such major differences in their beliefs regarding the merits and demerits of DTC-promotion may result in emergence of fault lines in their relationship. An exploratory factor analysis has been conducted to confirm if the underlying variables measure the latent factors or not. Regression model has been developed to measure the impact of information perception on patient-physician relationship.

Digital Banking Services in Rural India

Digitization or digitalization of banking services has established a strong network which supports a quick disbursement of banking services across the world. Digital banking service has enabled India to be more operative in reducing the transaction gaps between rural and urban areas. The awareness about cashless transactions has led to the complete transformation in online-banking services. The government initiatives as well as banks (private and public) efforts in implementing digital services such as internet banking, mobile banking, payment of various utility bills, online-ticket booking, digi-lockers for investors (investment), etc. has created a sense of technical significance among rural population. Favorable network condition plays a major role in making digital banking services more triumphant in both rural and urban India. The chapter reveals the ideology of customer's satisfaction towards the digital banking services in Belthangady Taluk, Dakshina Kannada district.

Green Business

Green business is an enterprise that has minimal negative impact on the global or local environment, community, society, or economy. It is the way of doing business that strives to meet the triple bottom line. Green business embraces sustainable operating procedures, product and material sourcing, labor practices, and shipping methods. The goal of green business is to eliminate any negative impact on the environment on both a local and global scale. This chapter elaborates on the challenge and perspective of green business and explores different dimensions to creating environmentally sustainable organizations in India. Towards the end, this chapter also discussed the initiatives taken by different organizations in India to transact eco-friendly business according to the guidelines of GreenCo, India. GreenCo rating is the first of its kind in the world holistic framework that evaluates companies on the basis of their environmental friendly activities using life cycle approach.

Impact of Manipulative Character of Direct-to-Consumer Promotion

Marketing of pharmaceutical products has remained under firm hold of ethical and legal norms. Direct advertising or any other form of direct promotion has been illegal in any or every country. Arrival of information technology, however, has ensured patients now have direct access to every possible detail of their ailments and their treatment through direct-to-consumer promotion (DTCP). Certain studies have shown that physicians consider DTCP to have manipulative character and are designed by pharmaceutical companies with ulterior motives. The aim is to explore relationship between manipulative character on self-medication propensity, negative perception, and poor patient-physician relationship as per the perception of physicians. With data from 218 physicians, insights into perceived manipulative character, self-medication propensity, negative perception, and poor patient-physician relationship have been achieved. The finding has important implications for regulatory bodies, pharmaceutical companies, and healthcare sector stakeholders.

Expats in India

Born global firms are coming up mostly from the developed world (read Uber, Facebook, Airbnb, and such others). In this chapter, the author attempts to find out why born global firms (BGFs) are not originating from India. The author undertakes an exploratory study to answer the research questions. Seventeen expats working in India were interviewed by in-depth personally administered semi-structured open-ended questionnaire. The 17 expert expats provided insights on the difficulties of doing business in India. These insights helped the author to analyze and synthesize how these insights would be indicative of the difficulties in the development of born global firms from India. The data was content analyzed by thematic content analysis. The findings indicate that there are challenges for BGFs to sprout from India in the near future.

The Case of Australian Reluctance With the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative

The One Belt One Road initiative is a global strategy proposed by President Xi in 2013. It was referred to as the new silk road approach which includes a land-based and ocean-based routes. The BRI, were it to reach its milestones, would be a landscape changing plan of the world and not just for China. As Australia's number one trading partner, China plays an important role for Australia especially for its economy. However, there has been a poor and lacking understanding of this strategy since 2013. The chapter highlights the importance of the strategy and the approach by the Australian politicians. Fearing being left behind, Australia politicians begin to pay attention to the strategy and especially any related plans which may or may not include Australia. The aim of this chapter is to ascertain and explain why Australia has adopted a cool and almost negative approach towards the Chinese Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). With further exploration of the Australia-China trade relationship, the chapter raised the question of the importance of China to Australia.

Relationship Quality and Customer Demographics in Indian Retail

Service industries are becoming highly contested markets in India. This has shifted the focus of players towards quality and relationship quality. Building lasting customer relationships is the only way to sustain in the long run. Accordingly, quality in different forms needs to be articulated and deconstructed. The complexity of services makes it difficult for firms to satisfy and retain customers. Relationship quality is driven by trust, commitment, and satisfaction. The chapter sought to validate the retail relationship quality scale in Indian context. The components defining relationship quality were investigated to determine their relative importance across different customer groups. It was found that satisfaction with the employees is the most valued aspect across select demographic groups. This reinforces the role of employees in producing outcomes that are likely to bind customers with the service firm. Operationally, it implies that employee-customer interaction is important in managing retail business.

Facebook as Marketing Tools for Organizations

Facebook has become widely known around the globe. This chapter applies marketing techniques to Facebook. The concern of using Facebook for both users and marketers is also elaborated in this study. Scenarios will help marketers to comprehend how knowledge management tools like plan-do-check-act (PDCA) and root cause analysis (RCA) are used in Facebook marketing. Other than the concern risk, the chapter presents the importance of using Facebook as well as the implication of these technique for future research.