Suvendu K Pratihari | National Institute of Technology Rourkela (original) (raw)

Conference Presentations by Suvendu K Pratihari

Purpose: This research has been aimed to examine the applicability of the Retail Service Qualit... more Purpose:
This research has been aimed to examine the applicability of the Retail Service Quality Scale (RSQS) in organized retail formats in India, a country, which is facing a rapid changing market, new technologies, economic uncertainties, fierce competition, and more demanding customers. This research also attempted to explore the factors affecting customers’ satisfaction as well as their relation with the overall satisfaction of the Indian retail customers.

Design/methodology/approach:
In this study, 300 samples have been randomly selected from the customers of prominent retail stores in Bhubaneswar, India. The study has been conducted among customers having different demographic profiles who are regular and occasional buyers in the organized retail outlets. A cross-sectional quantitative research methodology has been adopted for this study. The instrument given by Dabholkar et al. (1996) has been used as the questionnaire. This approach has been undertaken to examine the reliability and validity of the five dimensions (Physical aspects, reliability, personal interaction, problem solving and policy) of RSQS. Multiple regressions have been used to derive the relation of the factor constructs with the overall customer satisfaction.

Findings:
From the study, it has been found out that RSQS is highly reliable, but could not be validated successfully in Indian retail settings in general and in Bhubaneswar in particular. On exploratory factor analysis, Seven factors have been derived which are different from the five-structured RSQS developed by Dabholkar et al. (1996) except Physical evidence. These seven factors are Physical Evidence, Reliability, Courteousness & Flexibility, Employee knowledge, Doing it right, Problem solving and Policy. A model has been constructed to derive the relation of these constructs with the overall satisfaction of the Indian retail customers.

Research limitations/implications:
The present study has been used a small sample size and is restricted to the city of Bhubaneswar, India. These could impact the extent to which the results can be extrapolated to other retail formats, product types, cities and other socio-cultural settings with a wider respondent base across the other cities of India.

Practical implications:
Prospective and existing retail service providers who place a high priority on quality can use the prescribed model to track the high growth potential of the retail sector in India in general and in Bhubaneswar in particular. It will help to measure their services and increase their customer base by targeting the appropriate dimensions.

Originality/value:
The authors believe that this research reveals new insights about the retail sectors in the context of Indian consumers. This research has managerial and research implications for designing and formulating operation strategies in providing retail services for new markets in India.

Keywords: Customer Expectation, Organized Retailing, Customer service quality

Paper Type: Research Paper

"We are on the threshold of 21st century. As such it provides us with a vantage point where from ... more "We are on the threshold of 21st century. As such it provides us with a vantage point where from we can scan the 20th century and foresee the 21st century with much of confidence and pride. We can learn from our past mistake and prepare ourselves for the future. In the wake of globalization in India, the Industrial environment in which organizations conduct their business has become fiercely competitive and dynamic. The business philosophy and approaches that were applicable in the past few decades are no longer relevant.

The authors are of the view that every change process has both, positive and negative implications. The challenge before organization will be to try and minimize the effects of the negative implications, while maximizing on the positive ones through strategic leadership.

Ultimately in the long run strategic leadership is not only to deal with uncertain ever changing environment, but also to provide a sustainable path for growth, transforming the organizational culture with customers delight and focus and finally responding to changing needs of the global order business Olympic.
"

The micro, small and medium enterprises is one of the biggest mile stone in Indian economy. Looki... more The micro, small and medium enterprises is one of the biggest mile stone in Indian economy. Looking to the current global trend, its importance to the national and international economy cannot be neglected. India is having an agriculture dominant mixed economy whereas; MSMEs are also key players in total industrialization process. Starting from 1991, after liberalization, till today all the stakeholders in this sector enhancing production by the help of suitable sustainability measures such as improved technology, easy financing, incentives, and schemes etc.. The MSME Act 2006 is a new path breaker for further expansion. No doubt, Liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG) is a fine tuner in this development. It has given a versatile direction to MSMEs with plethora of inputs from customers, industrialists, entrepreneurs, researchers and practitioners from the international market. Also the customers’ views, taste, preferences and competitiveness towards global product is quite different after globalization. Inspite of robust growth, MSMEs are also seriously sensitized by many barriers in terms of production, marketing and other areas. The need of the hour is that we all should introspect the viability of this sector. The sunrise plastics industry is no way out of this globalization impact makes a question mark to all future entrepreneurs. Uncertain global economy, increase oil prices, brutal competition has been tumultuous to the Indian plastics industry. The diversified demand from customer is a challenge to keep the ongoing industrial promotion. The success mantra lies in strategic planning, integration and implementation rather than global exposure. Probably porter’s five forces analysis is one of the finest ways to reach the destination. This research paper explains in detail about the potential of MSME sector and the effect of globalization in reference to the plastic industry in India. It will enlighten the future researchers to wipe out the cause in total, making a feasible entrepreneurial model.

It goes without saying that despite acceleration of overall GDP growth rate, the post reform peri... more It goes without saying that despite acceleration of overall GDP growth rate, the post reform period (1991) has witnessed increase in disparities across regions, social groups and between rural and urban areas. To all intent and purposes, growth has bypassed certain vulnerable groups like physically and mentally challenged population, social disadvantage groups like tribal, adolescent girls, small children, widows, poor destitute etc. As a matter of fact, the growth has not percolated to the grass root level of the society. So, there is crying need of the time to have a broad based and inclusive growth to benefit all sections of the society. The main elements of inclusive growth are agriculture, poverty, health, food security, employment and social sector etc.

Financial inclusion acts like a catalytic agent to remove the major impediments to achieve inclusive growth. Financial inclusion has gained currencies in the recent times and has drawn attention of many researchers to give pragmatic suggestions for financial inclusion in our economy. This article dwells upon the complementarities between financial inclusion and financial literacy. In this study, we have tried to examine different initiatives towards the expansion of financial literacy and the level of economic development by selected public sector banks across various regions in India.

This study makes a humble attempt to realize these objectives by employing a well structured and more appropriate methodology and is exploratory in nature. The secondary data has been used in this study has been taken from various magazines, journals, research publications, annual reports of different agencies and banks and their initiatives taken towards financial literacy.

In this study, it is revealed that the selected public sector banks have already taken initiatives for imparting financial literacy in many states. Reserve Bank of India has recommended some pecuniary measures in this regard. However, the public sector banks have to face new challenges in the coming years to adhere financial inclusion through financial literacy. Therefore, there has been a need for paradigm shift from general banking service to financial literacy.

The present study is an effort in the area of health insurance and carried out in Khordha distric... more The present study is an effort in the area of health insurance and carried out in Khordha district of Odisha. Since the main objectives of the study are to analyze the socio-economic and demographic characteristics, awareness and willingness to participate and subscribe for health insurance by the non-health insurance policy holders. In this study, the demographic parameters are explored and hence primary data are collected by structured questionnaire method. Firstly, it has been tested that the respondents, who are aware or not aware about health insurance as well as various sources of awareness; secondly, those who are aware have subscribed or not, thirdly those who have not subscribed and last but not least, are they willing to participate and pay for it? The study was conducted in Khordha district with 214 respondents taken randomly. The method of data collection was based on simple random sampling. Univariate tools and cross tabulation has been applied to analyze the effect of several demographical parameters with awareness and their willingness to subscribe for health insurance. the analysis of willingness to participate and subscribe for health insurance, it has been observed that 36% are in the considering group and need some more time to subscribe health insurance, where as 24% are not ready to buy, 18% can’t take a stand to subscribe, 10% need more information about the value orientation of health insurance and the rest 10%, although not a large share, are ready to subscribe health insurance in near future.

Information and communication technology (ICT) on one hand and tourism and travel on the other ha... more Information and communication technology (ICT) on one hand and tourism and travel on the other hand are among the largest and fastest developing industries in the world. Before the onset of internet, electronic commerce (EC) was usually conducted over a proprietary network connecting a group of organizations and the nature of the business was purely business to business. Nonetheless, the internet made it possible to reach consumer electronically, 24 hours a day and 365 days a year and across different geographic boundaries throughout the globe. Also, it is evident that ICT contributes six percent of aggregate global GDP to the world economy, making it one of the top industry worldwide and the tourism and travel market is world’s biggest IT spender, with IATA companies alone investing some $5bn annually on information system. Also, the tourism industry, unlike many other industries, is a composite of service providers that are normally grouped with other industries. These service providers include travel agents and transporters including air, rail, road and sea transportation operators, hotels, guesthouses and inns, tourist attraction operators, restaurants, shops selling handcrafts, souvenirs, clothing, foot wares, leather items and other items of interest to tourists. In this study, we have made an humble attempt to address the issue of competitive advantage for the travel and tourism industry by using information technology, in particular the internet and the web. Therefore, we propose a framework to counteract the threats, caused by the internet, showing how companies can adopt their business to gain competitive advantage by using the web services. This research is based on the secondary data and is purely exploratory in nature and based on this research, in our future research, we will look at the effects of the internet on competitive strategy of MSME hotels and tourism and travel agencies and provide an overall picture of this important industry.

The Micro, Small & Medium enterprises (MSMEs) has often been termed as ‘engine of growth’ for all... more The Micro, Small & Medium enterprises (MSMEs) has often been termed as ‘engine of growth’ for all developing economies including India. MSMEs have been playing a momentous role in overall economic development of a developing country like India where millions of people are unemployed or underemployed & facing the problems of poverty. MSMEs are providing immediate large-scale employment, with lower investments and prove to be a second largest manpower employer, after agriculture and occupy a position of prominence in Indian economy. Keeping in above backdrop and being one of the largest contributors of employment, the present paper is an attempt to highlight the growth and contribution of MSME sector in the context of generating employment India. The study confirms that the significant growth of MSMEs has been taken place over a period of time and there exist a positive correlation between the growth of MSMEs and employment in this sector. It also reveals that MSMEs are the major contributor to employment in India. This paper also stresses the importance of entrepreneurship education towards enhancing quality outputs in MSME sector. In this context, some aspects on the challenges that the entrepreneurship education is facing in India has been discussed followed by an introduction to the role of B-School in developing entrepreneurship education. This paper is purely exploratory in nature and is the foundation to the future research of undergoing micro level studies in the dimension of entrepreneurship education in developed as well as developing countries like India.

The emergence of Total Quality as a distinct field of study is of rather recent origin, which has... more The emergence of Total Quality as a distinct field of study is of rather recent origin, which has made a significant impact on the institutions as well as nations’ worldwide. Attaining it is a big achievement, but it is just the start. Under the era of liberalization, privatization and globalization (LPG), the role of the government in financing higher education is decreasing gradually. As a result of this policy, a number of private colleges/universities have opened to cater to the needs of target customers. As per the norms of WTO, higher education is treated as a commodity, so product-mix decisions are crucial. The institutions for higher education have to consider suitable HR strategies, to gain competitive advantages for long-term benefit... QIP, IQC and other similar systems are introduced to enhance the overall quality of services. Therefore, a customization approach to both—internal customers and external customers— will work in getting competitive advantages. However, the main lacuna is academic leadership, which needs to be addressed through total quality approach for rationalization.

Publications by Suvendu K Pratihari

Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, 2019

The study highlights the need for measures to accelerate the pace of the business correspondent (... more The study highlights the need for measures to accelerate the pace of the business correspondent (BC) model for financial inclusion in India. The financial analysis of the existing BCs with the existing products and services in practice shows a very diffusive break-even (more than 7 years). The occurrence of such a long-term break-even point can be a potential threat to the sustainability of new and struggling entrepreneurs like a Customer Service Point (CSP). A CSP agent runs a kiosk of a certain bank in a rural context, functioning like a BC between the bank and the beneficiaries. The primary investigation found that high cost and low volume of transaction at the CSP points are two major causes of the long break-even. In this context, the study revisited the constructs related to cost structure, market outreach, market potential and commission structure for channellizing respective banking and non-banking products. The major categories of products include (a) banking operation, (b) loan and over-draft, and (c) social security schemes. In search of a solution, the study adopts a non-random stratified sampling technique with a semi-structured interview process to collect the data from different stakeholders in the BC operation. To develop an economically viable BC model, the researchers use a standard financial modelling technique. In contrast to the existing kiosk model of CSP operation, the study found that while applying the new model a CSP agent takes three years to break-even under the same condition as that of the existing model. The study can also be applied in the domain of bottom of the pyramid (BOP) marketing by treating to create value among the low-income customers and business partners like CSPs. This research can further be extended to investigate the viability of the BC model from the banks’ return on investment perspective.

Journal of Product and Brand Management, 2018

Purpose-The study aims to examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporat... more Purpose-The study aims to examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate branding (CB) and brand loyalty (BL) in the Indian Banking industry. The study further intends to examine the direct and indirect effect of CSR on BL when CSR becomes an integral part of CB. Design/methodology/approach-A structured questionnaire using seven-point Likert's scale is the instrument for data collection. Stratified random sampling is used to collect the cross-sectional data from 430 savings bank customers in India. A new scale is developed and used to measure the CB as a single construct. A multi-model path using structural equation modelling is used to test the hypotheses. Direct and indirect model path analysis is used to examine the integrated effect of CSR and CB on BL. Findings-The results of the study show that there is a significant impact of CSR components (economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic) on CB to enhance customer BL. The study offers new insight into the relationship between CSR and BL by introducing CB as the mediating factor. However, the relationship between "legal responsibility to CB" and "philanthropy responsibility to BL" demonstrate a negative coefficient in the path analysis. Further, the result of the direct and indirect model path analysis confirms that customers' BL can be enhanced more efficiently when CSR becomes an integral part of CB. Practical implications-The strategic incorporation of CSR tools as an integral part of CB strategy can help the managers in the banking industry to enhance their customers' BL. Besides economic and legal responsibilities, managers need to give more emphasis on the ethical and philanthropic responsibilities as critical positioning tools to develop firm's corporate brand followed by enhancing BL. Originality/value-Scale development and validation of CB as a single construct is an original move in this study. Additionally, the study is a pioneer to examine the direct and indirect effect of CSR on customers' BL using CB as a key mediating factor.

International Journal of Bank Marketing, 2018

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to report on the prioritisation of different corporate socia... more Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to report on the prioritisation of different corporate social identities (CSIs) by the banking sectors in India to endorse the corporate branding process. To substantiate the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on banks' profitability, the paper establishes a causal relationship between CSI scores and banks' profitability. The study defines the CSI scores as measures of different CSR initiatives available on the websites and annual reports of leading public and private schedule commercial banks in India. Design/methodology/approach-The study discusses the key role that CSR plays in building the corporate personality of a firm, which is a key ingredient of a corporate brand. Therefore, the main dimensions and sub-dimensions of CSR are analysed by using content analysis method. The data undergo multiple experiments such as "Percentage of Agreement", "Scott's π", "Cohen's κ", and "Krippendorff's α" to check the validity and the inter-coder reliability of the content. Furthermore, the quartile approach of statistical data analysis, weighted average method of prioritisation and simple linear regression methods are used to examine and discuss the study objectives. Findings-There were three major outcomes from this study. First, Indian banks institutionalise their credibility of corporate personality by maintaining the CSR principles and goals as the core elements of their corporate statements. Second, the CSI scores of different CSR initiatives indicate variations in the stakeholder prioritisation among different banks. The result shows that the public sector banks give the highest priority to the community-related CSR initiatives followed by environment and customer among others, whereas the private sector banks emphasise on customers as their top priority followed by environment and community. The overall score depicts the environment-related initiatives to be the highest priority, which follows customer, employees, community and suppliers. Third, the research indicates that the relationship between CSI disclosures and profitability is significant in India. Research limitations/implications-The social aspect of building corporate identity will help in the decision-making process for developing a strong social image through their websites. However, the results suggest that the banking sector should adopt a global standard of CSR reporting and strategic positioning of the social identities among the stakeholders in the value chain. The results are limited to only the Indian banking sector and can be validated and applied to other industries and cross-cultural contexts. Originality/value-This study is one of the pioneering attempts to focus on the role of CSR in the stakeholder-company relationship through the mean-end approach in the development of CSI.

Social Responsibility Journal, 2019

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to understand the perception of the bankers towards an integ... more Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to understand the perception of the bankers towards an integrated approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in a strategic way of achieving sustainable growth of the banking sector. The paper additionally provides insights into different CSR initiatives and their implementation process in the context of scheduled commercial banks (SCB) of India. Design/methodology/approach-The study is exploratory and endorses the qualitative approach of primary research methodology by adopting a non-random stratified sampling method. The localist approach of the face-to-face interview has been applied to collect the data from 26 elite class respondents from 13 SCBs. The interview method was semi-structured and open-ended. The conformity, trustworthiness, credibility, transferability, dependability test of the study have ensured the quality of the data. Findings-The study reveals that the bankers perceive CSR as a moral obligation for the benefit of the society, beyond the regular banking operations. Further, the study comprehends that the CSR initiatives play a vital role in establishing the bank's image, brand and reputation, as well as, building a strong bond of trust among the employees and the bank management. Besides, CSR activities facilitate to cultivate a better culture by improvising in the quality of customer service for achieving competitive advantages. Research limitations/implications-The findings of the study represent a significant contribution to CSR theory from the interface of banking and society. Significantly, the results confirm that CSR initiatives play a vital role in building trust and minimise the gap between the employees and the management of the bank. The banks can increase its acceptance in the society and achieve competitive advantage by integrating CSR objectives with the business objectives to strengthen the corporate personality and brand. Practical implications-The study will help practitioners to develop the social identity of their firm to achieve competitive advantages in long-run. The bankers can channelise their limited resources while planning, designing and the implementation of different CSR activities with the overall goal of the bank in a cost-effective way. The study is confined only to public and private SCBs and limited to the geographical scope of one state in India. Therefore, further exploration may be carried out by considering other banks and geographic regions in India and different cross-cultural settings. Originality/value-The originality of the study lies with the in-depth analysis and quality check of the data. The results can contribute significant value to the qualitative method of conducting research.

Srusti Management Review – A Bi-Annual Journal of Management and IT, Volume-VI, Issue-I, Jan-2013, p-79-83

Chapter in the Proceedings of National Conference on Financial Inclusion titled, “Financial Inclusion in India – Issues, Challenges and Strategies”, Excel Book, ISBN: 978-93-5062-318-3

Papers by Suvendu K Pratihari

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2013

Social Responsibility Journal, 2019

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the perception of the bankers towards an integ... more Purpose The purpose of this paper is to understand the perception of the bankers towards an integrated approach to corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives in a strategic way of achieving sustainable growth of the banking sector. The paper additionally provides insights into different CSR initiatives and their implementation process in the context of scheduled commercial banks (SCB) of India. Design/methodology/approach The study is exploratory and endorses the qualitative approach of primary research methodology by adopting a non-random stratified sampling method. The localist approach of the face-to-face interview has been applied to collect the data from 26 elite class respondents from 13 SCBs. The interview method was semi-structured and open-ended. The conformity, trustworthiness, credibility, transferability, dependability test of the study have ensured the quality of the data. Findings The study reveals that the bankers perceive CSR as a moral obligation for the bene...

International Journal of Bank Marketing, 2018

The purpose of this paper is to report on the prioritisation of different corporate social identi... more The purpose of this paper is to report on the prioritisation of different corporate social identities (CSIs) by the banking sectors in India to endorse the corporate branding process. To substantiate the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on banks’ profitability, the paper establishes a causal relationship between CSI scores and banks’ profitability. The study defines the CSI scores as measures of different CSR initiatives available on the websites and annual reports of leading public and private schedule commercial banks in India.,The study discusses the key role that CSR plays in building the corporate personality of a firm, which is a key ingredient of a corporate brand. Therefore, the main dimensions and sub-dimensions of CSR are analysed by using content analysis method. The data undergo multiple experiments such as “Percentage of Agreement”, “Scott’s π”, “Cohen’s κ”, and “Krippendorff’s α” to check the validity and the inter-coder reliability of the content. Furthermore, the quartile approach of statistical data analysis, weighted average method of prioritisation and simple linear regression methods are used to examine and discuss the study objectives.,There were three major outcomes from this study. First, Indian banks institutionalise their credibility of corporate personality by maintaining the CSR principles and goals as the core elements of their corporate statements. Second, the CSI scores of different CSR initiatives indicate variations in the stakeholder prioritisation among different banks. The result shows that the public sector banks give the highest priority to the community-related CSR initiatives followed by environment and customer among others, whereas the private sector banks emphasise on customers as their top priority followed by environment and community. The overall score depicts the environment-related initiatives to be the highest priority, which follows customer, employees, community and suppliers. Third, the research indicates that the relationship between CSI disclosures and profitability is significant in India.,The social aspect of building corporate identity will help in the decision-making process for developing a strong social image through their websites. However, the results suggest that the banking sector should adopt a global standard of CSR reporting and strategic positioning of the social identities among the stakeholders in the value chain. The results are limited to only the Indian banking sector and can be validated and applied to other industries and cross-cultural contexts.,This study is one of the pioneering attempts to focus on the role of CSR in the stakeholder-company relationship through the mean-end approach in the development of CSI.

Journal of Product & Brand Management, 2018

Purpose The study aims to examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporat... more Purpose The study aims to examine the effect of corporate social responsibility (CSR) on corporate branding (CB) and brand loyalty (BL) in the Indian Banking industry. The study further intends to examine the direct and indirect effect of CSR on BL when CSR becomes an integral part of CB. Design/methodology/approach A structured questionnaire using seven-point Likert’s scale is the instrument for data collection. Stratified random sampling is used to collect the cross-sectional data from 430 savings bank customers in India. A new scale is developed and used to measure the CB as a single construct. A multi-model path using structural equation modelling is used to test the hypotheses. Direct and indirect model path analysis is used to examine the integrated effect of CSR and CB on BL. Findings The results of the study show that there is a significant impact of CSR components (economic, legal, ethical and philanthropic) on CB to enhance customer BL. The study offers new insight into th...

Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, 2016

Keywords: Customer Expectation, Organized Retailing, Customer service quality

Paper Type: Research Paper

Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, 2019

Journal of Product and Brand Management, 2018

International Journal of Bank Marketing, 2018

Social Responsibility Journal, 2019

Srusti Management Review – A Bi-Annual Journal of Management and IT, Volume-VI, Issue-I, Jan-2013, p-79-83

Chapter in the Proceedings of National Conference on Financial Inclusion titled, “Financial Inclusion in India – Issues, Challenges and Strategies”, Excel Book, ISBN: 978-93-5062-318-3

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2013

Social Responsibility Journal, 2019

International Journal of Bank Marketing, 2018

Journal of Product & Brand Management, 2018

Bonfring International Journal of Industrial Engineering and Management Science, 2016

Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers, 2019

Executive Summary The study highlights the need for measures to accelerate the pace of the busine... more Executive Summary The study highlights the need for measures to accelerate the pace of the business correspondent (BC) model for financial inclusion in India. The financial analysis of the existing BCs with the existing products and services in practice shows a very diffusive break-even (more than 7 years). The occurrence of such a long-term break-even point can be a potential threat to the sustainability of new and struggling entrepreneurs like a Customer Service Point (CSP). A CSP agent runs a kiosk of a certain bank in a rural context, functioning like a BC between the bank and the beneficiaries. The primary investigation found that high cost and low volume of transaction at the CSP points are two major causes of the long break-even. In this context, the study revisited the constructs related to cost structure, market outreach, market potential and commission structure for channellizing respective banking and non-banking products. The major categories of products include (a) bank...