Search

The New Education Policy, introduced by the Indian government, serves as the cornerstone for reforming and modernizing the country's educational system. The field of education continually evolves to meet the dynamic needs of the modern world. This policy seeks to revolutionize India's educational landscape, prioritizing inclusivity, skilloriented learning, and holistic development. The National Education Policy (NEP) forms a comprehensive foundation for advancing education in India. Adopted in July 2020, its primary aim is to transform the nation's educational system by emphasizing holistic development, competency-based education, and a flexible curriculum. This study anticipates the impact of the new education policy on strategy development and examines how various organizations will formulate strategies, enhance branding, and manage marketing to outperform competitors and establish market leadership. Additionally, the study explores the ways in which organizations can leverage the New Education Policy in marketing, highlighting its benefits across diverse sectors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scents have been used by business organizations for commercializing their products since historic times. Because of the psychological connect that a consumer immediately makes as he smells something unique, olfactory branding is considered as a very productive and effective marketing tool. Trademark law attempts to protect a brand's identity with the ultimate motive of preventing consumers from deceptively similar goods. Scholars and businesses have been raising their voice in a demand call for smell mark protection under trademark law, arguing that smell is just as important for identifying the origin‐point of a product for a consumer as is the brand's logo or name or product shape. While the US courts have been liberal in granting smell mark registrations, EU courts have interpreted the "graphical representation" requirement under trademark law very strictly. Indian law, though not entirely closed on the prospect of smell mark protection, is inclined toward the EU position. After analyzing the current legal scenario, this article explores the more fundamental question as to the feasibility of smell marks, questioning their justification under the philosophical foundations of trademark law, the subjective associations of consumers with respect to smells, the difficulty in evidence analysis by courts in infringement suits and the apprehension relating to the functionality doctrine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: The study aims to investigate the impact of brand nostalgia, self-brand connections and parent brand trust on brand extension purchase intention. Additionally, the research examines the moderating effect of brand attachment on the link between brand nostalgia and intention to purchase brand extensions, as well as the relationship between self-brand connections and intention to purchase brand extensions. Design/methodology/approach: The study collected data from 458 respondents in India using a cross-sectional survey research methodology. The collected data were analysed in two stages in SPSS, using structural equation modelling and the process macro bootstrapping method. Findings: The study's results indicate that although brand nostalgia and self-brand linkages exert a favourable impact on intention to purchase brand extensions, this effect is not significant when it comes to brand trust. Brand attachment acts as a moderator between brand nostalgia and the intention to purchase brand extensions. Additionally, brand attachment acts as a moderator between self-brand connections and the intention to purchase brand extensions. Research limitations/implications: The study adds to the consumer–brand relationship and brand extension literature by proposing and empirically testing a comprehensive model that determines the role of brand nostalgia in the formation of self-brand connections with the brand, trust in the parent brand and, finally, the intention to purchase brand extensions. Additionally, it examines if consumers' attachment to the parent brand increases or decreases their intention to purchase brand extensions. Practical implications: Consumer brand nostalgia may be leveraged while introducing brand extensions into the market. What is more, managers could use brand attachment to enhance the impact of brand nostalgia for favourable brand expansion assessments. Originality/value: To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first research to examine the influence of brand nostalgia and self-brand connections on the intention to purchase brand extensions. Besides, it tests the moderating impact of brand attachment on the relationship between brand nostalgia and intention to purchase brand extensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way brands communicate to their potential and current customers. This paper uses a multimethod approach to specifically study nine corporate Indian chain hospital brands and their online social media presence during COVID-19. The authors sought to decipher the implicit information gained from Facebook pages and conducted a qualitative study with NVivo 12.3. to understand online branding activity over a year, which was for six months pre-COVID-19 and the first six months during COVID-19. This study corroborated these findings through qualitative interviews with six marketing managers from these brands and thus triangulated the findings. The objective of this paper is to understand these changes, and this will pave the way for the country's smaller hospitals that are yet to delve into Social Media Marketing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brands are fundamentally about experiences and relationships, forming the prime basis of an institution's connection with its stakeholders. With the mushrooming of business schools (both private autonomous and government-supported) and fading global boundaries, especially in the Indian context, communicating a business school brand to stakeholders has become extremely important. Indian business schools must have a strong brand personality in India's competitive business education space. Brand personality helps create, evolve, and enhance a brand's positioning and perceptions among stakeholders. These perceptions are critical in influencing an institution's behaviour and performance. The current study is an earnest effort to probe into the mindset of Indian students about how they perceive business schools' brands across India. The study has been undertaken in two phases. The first part of the research seeks to analyse the most relevant factors guiding in the selection of B-schools. The second segment assesses the brand personality of select Indian business schools using the brand personality scale developed by Guenes et al. (2009). This paper extends the current knowledge in measuring the brand personality of business schools, especially in India. This study would help institutions apply brand personality measurements to their business schools and implement focused branding efforts to gain a higher student share and build a quality education brand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a constant evolving country such as India, consumers are adopting new technologies faster than before and are more connected with the world with the help of digital media platforms. These platforms have emerged as a very effective medium to reach out to consumers in ways that are hard to achieve by traditional media. Luxury brands have acknowledged the potential of this digital channel and have been actively participating in digital marketing to reach out directly to their consumers and target audience. The motivation behind this paper is to dissect the effect of digital marketing on young consumers purchase behaviour for luxury products with specific reference to Andhra Pradesh and Telangana. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Tourism development is a potent force of socio-economic transformation particularly in the destinations and it often consequents to irreversible changes including the stereotyping of the image. At the level of image construction, while the destination managers play key roles and pursue experimentations with alternating propositions, there also exists many cases of revealing in nature about the instrumentalities of the 'drifters' or the pioneer tourists in the making and propagation of destination imageries. The influence of the carefree Hippies of 1960s' in creating such imageries across the warmer world including in India has been such that even the destination managers had to exploit those imageries in both overt and covert manners so as to sustain the interest in the destinations. The authors make an attempt to examine the challenges of perpetuating the destination stereoptypes of Goa around the 'flower-power' of 1960's through an autobiographical narrative approach. The results make a strong case for abandoning of the stereotypes and to adapt promotional strategies by bringing Goa's innate strengths in its distinct nature and culture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Brand awareness is a key cognitive metric and a vital component of consumer-based brand equity. Generating and maintaining brand awareness has been an important metric for brands and a significant outcome of advertising and promotional activities. Brand awareness has been studied over the years in the context of market share and mind share and is considered to be the fundamental starting point of a brand relationship. Most branding variables are challenged in their linear definitions by the multi-dimensionality of the connected online world. Consumers may start their brand journey with brand awareness and then proceed to explore higher options in a non-linear fashion. This challenges traditional advertising and brand salience models. In the web context, brand awareness could even happen with little prior cognitive processing. The purpose of this paper is to explore the little researched area of brand awareness in the context of Indian websites. Design/methodology/approach: The study leveraged technology to study the brand discovery behaviour of real estate website users in India. The authors looked at essentially modified processes such as the brand experience journey, specifically, the sources and antecedents of brand awareness for real estate websites. Considering the fact that direct and indirect traffic to a website is indicative of the brand awareness metrics, the authors analyse the metric as a basis of the comparison. Findings: Brand awareness in the digital world can be attributed as firm generated, user generated and, as the authors also discover, experience initiated. The altered dimensions have a profound impact on the brand advertising spends of not just digital brands, but all marketers who will find digital technology increasingly central to their brand communication efforts. Research limitations/implications: Burgeoning websites and media proliferation have increased the source set for website discovery. Customers do not rely solely on advertising or chance encounter to discover a new brand. Usage of search engines remains the key point of discovery for brand awareness. Some of the respondents recognised websites from prior advertising exposure and selected the brand from the consideration set offered in the search results for their keyword search. In other cases, brand awareness followed brand experience as the users did not process the brand information or, in most cases, were not aware of the brand name prior to website visit. The quality of brand experience created brand awareness and had further implications, including brand visit intent. Practical implications: While mass media television advertising and ubiquitous online advertising can build brand awareness, the impact of search engine advertising and search engine optimisation is equally significant, if not more important. Brand managers can additionally focus on branding on the search channel in the light of increasing search intensity. Beyond traditional keyword planning, this can be an enhanced branding platform for reaching out to specific behavioural or character traits of the target audience. Brand experience can mature from task completion to brand awareness and higher level values if the website includes key brand messages and goals. Originality/value: This paper offers insight into the little known field of online brand management. Information intermediary websites are unique in their value proposition, and brand building is challenging. Real estate websites have grown in popularity, but have not merited researcher attention. This paper offers a unique perspective on branding websites, specifically in the context of emerging markets like India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose Management education has assumed phenomenal prominence in India in recent years, with branding being a prime factor used as a yardstick, rather a benchmark or point of reference, for one institution having an edge over the other. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors leading to branding of management education in India. It proposes two frameworks using Total Interpretive Structural Model (TISM) for public and private sector management colleges. For this purpose, variables are extracted using systematic literature review, which play a crucial role in changing the dynamics of college rankings. The inquiry distinctly examines the nature of relationship between them for public and private colleges offering higher education. The study further proposes strategies for improvement of rankings by discussing the hierarchy and interrelationship among the enablers.Design/methodology/approach The study uses Interpretive Structural Model (ISM) to ascertain the linkages between the variables, and employs TISM to validate the reasons of association. The model was fabricated by consulting the experts from various spheres closely allied to branding and higher education, including the private agencies and decision makers in the selected colleges. The variables were furthermore structured for classification using Matrice d’Impacts Croises-Multiplication Appliqué an Classment Analysis.Findings It was observed that the variables behave differently when studied from the perspective of private sector colleges and public sector colleges; the former have seven levels of arrangement while it is only four for the latter. Quality of Faculty and Research were the key areas of concern for private sector colleges while infrastructure featured as a focal point for those in public sector. It was also evident that the placement of variables and their flow were different. Rankings should thus be premeditated differently for both the sectors and different weights should be assigned to rank the colleges.Research limitations/implications The study is confined to branding of management education institutes in India, without considering other important disciplines for generalizing the framework. It is based on literature review followed by ISM, while other approaches such as ethnographic research methods and appreciative inquiry could have been possible alternatives as well.Practical implications The paper helps in developing different frameworks for private and public sector institutes, which would assist them to have a homogenous completion within their respective sectors. The study can be used to measure the performance of colleges on various parameters and gives them linking variables to enhance their productivity.Originality/value The paper discusses the need for developing a different barometer to measure the performance of private sector and public sector colleges offering higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Branding, as a phenomenon, has come to characterize various facets of our lives. Politics is no exception to the same. The concept of political branding has come to reshape the equations of politics in a big way. Nowhere the same was more prominent than the last general election when brand Modi triumphed over its rival political brands. This research paper is aimed at highlighting the significance of political branding as a contemporary facet of politics. This research paper would highlight the factors of making brand Modi and how it reshaped the Indian politics. The paper would talk about the return of charisma, which went into oblivion due to lack of influential leaders, when we think of Indian politics. Also, the research paper would talk about how regional political brands play a significant role in the overall scheme of Indian politics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Branding, as a phenomenon, has come to characterize various facets of our life, and politics is no exception. It has reshaped the political equations and has made its presence felt during elections. Nowhere was it more prominent than in the last general election, when brand Modi triumphed over its rival political brands. However, the rise of political branding has found prominence in India only in the recent years. In contrast, the western democracies have borne testimony to it for the past many decades. This research paper aims at bringing to the fore understanding related to political branding and its numerous characteristics. This study is expected to help the readers understand the concept of political branding and relate to its concepts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper defines television advertising message from the consumers' point of view within the discourse of cross-cultural marketing communication. It highlights the 'consumer preferred' cultural elements in a scenario, where attitude towards advertisement, attitude towards brand and purchase intentions are absolutely relevant. As the paper explores the major 'message' elements employed in television advertisement, Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) have been conducted to identify a smaller number of factors. It has been found that for Indian consumers, advertising messages that affect brand relationship in television advertisement are Entertainment, Social Values, Individual Values, Product Information and Logic. These factors have been found to be well identified in the message and can be studied individually. There is no study that draws the attention of Indian consumers towards message from cross-cultural context. This is one of the original studies that respects the practitioners and academics views, but explores the Indian consumers' view to justify the need and importance of future research in this country. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The global demand for organic food products is growing at a very rapid rate. Ever since the environmentalists raised their concern regarding harmful effect of increasing use of chemicals in farming, the consumers are getting conscious and selective about edible products. This increasing awareness has caused shifts in consumers' tastes and preferences which have led to the domestic as well as global rise in demand for organic products. The organic food industry in the world is worth US $ 35 billion with a growth rate of 15 percent with most of the growth concentrated mainly in U.S.A, U.K. and Japan (Willer, 2004). To supplement this demand, farmers have taken to organic farming for getting price premiums which resulted in around 3.5 million hectare land across the globe under organic farming .In India, the farmers have followed the path for organic food production, but the share of India in the world organic market is less than one percent. In order to boost trade in Indian agricultural products and capture significant share in global market, it is an imperative that India focuses on organic products which give it competitive edge in global market, namely organic cotton, spices, essential oils, medicinal and aromatic plants and fresh fruits and vegetables. Organic farming in irrigated and intensive farming areas holds another kind of promise, a source of sustainable and value added commercial farming. India can take advantage of the growing opportunities in this sector making use of its varied agro-climatic conditions and traditional organic resources and farming practices. There are certain challenges to be met before India takes on to the world organic markets. The Indian produce has to create a competitive niche in global markets. The challenges in international marketing of organic food are standardization of products according to the customers' tastes and preferences, certification, consumer education, branding and promotion. Production of organic products also face challenges with regard to availability of right and quality inputs, research and dissemination of appropriate technologies, processing, certification, production information and infrastructure support and also policies of the government need to be revisited to fulfill its objectives to tap global organic markets. Therefore, the study is based on the strategic analysis of Indian organic product industry with respect to global markets [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this research is to identify the perceptual maps for leading companies in sectors such as Automobiles, Banking & Financial Services and Telecommunications according to the clusters of prospective employees based on the employer attractiveness scale propounded by Berthon et al (2005) Descriptive research design was used to conduct in this study using surveys. A questionnaire was administered to the students of various disciplines. Participants were required to evaluate the five potential employers under each sector using the sixteen attributes elaborated from the five values (interest value, social value, economic value, developmental value and application value) given by Berthon et al., (2005) using a five point Likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree; 5 = Strongly agree). The results indicate that the employers need to use different strategies to attract talented prospective employees for each sector. The results also show the positioning of companies within each sector for each of the cluster. Hence employers can use different strategies for different clusters of prospective employees. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Branding in the global sense of the marketing discourse has firmly entrenched itself in India like most international markets. Branding and Urban processes are creating a whole new way of looking at oneself and creating new notions of self-worth. This paper will examine the obsession with the idea of branding that cuts across not only just products that are advertised for monetary purchase but also branding that cuts across matters of national concern, of belonging to ideological frameworks, and even reading cultures. Clearly, everything seems to require a label, a sign that comes with a ready sense of identity, of a shelf value that gives temporary sense of collective spirit and provides a much needed soul-stirring experience. This paper will examine recent media-driven branding exercises for issues of national importance against the backdrop of Gandhi as a super-sign and a brand that is revisited at every juncture of social and political phase in the country even today. The paper takes recourse to Umberto Eco's theory of sign production and the theory of codes to understand that signification is a complex process and all signs do not qualify as semiotic judgments. Herein, is the importance of Gandhi as a super sign – the power of cultural codes and Gandhi's ability to identify the semantics of these codes, where most contemporary branding exercises have failed. Another equally important example of a super-sign in India, the game of cricket is an exemplary of cultural codes and the modes of sign production coming together to stand in for “nationalism” of lasting value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Brands are fundamentally about experiences and relationships, and therefore they form prime basis of an institution's connection with their stakeholders. With the mushrooming of business schools (both private autonomous and government supported) and fading global boundaries, especially in the Indian context, communicating a business school brand to stakeholders has become extremely important. It is imperative for Indian business schools to differentiate and build strong brands in the competitive business education space in India. Brand building helps in creating, evolving and enhancing a brand's positioning and its perceptions among stakeholders. These perceptions are critical in influencing behavior and hence the performance of an institution. The paper aims to assess the brand equity of select Indian business schools (from the prospective student's perspective) using a familiarity–perception–preference–choice framework. The branding framework proposed in this study highlights how consumer-based brand equity measures can be used to improve business school positioning and hence the brand image. This paper gives an opportunity to extend the current knowledge in measuring the brand equity of business schools, especially in India. This study would help institutions apply brand equity measurements to their business schools and implement focused branding efforts to gain a higher student share and build quality education brands. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Abstract: Local brands are rapidly gaining agricultural market share in developing countries. However, it is not well understood how they reshape agricultural value chains. In a detailed case study of the value chain of makhana in Bihar, we see the fast emergence – a doubling over 5years – of more expensive packed and branded products. The effect on consumers is ambiguous. While the emergence of brands leads to increasing differentiation in retail markets, the brands in these settings provide however mostly incomplete or misleading information for the consumer and quality contained in branded bags is often lower than for loose products. We further also find that there are little direct benefits to the farmers from the presence of these brands. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

The Indian Pharmaceutical sector is highly fragmented with more than 20,000 registered units. It has expanded drastically in the last two decades. At least as many as 250 pharmaceutical companies share lead of this market and are constantly challenged by severe price competition and government price control. In order to sustain competitive advantage, pharmaceutical companies have to develop and build brands that meet real needs and are differentiated in the minds of our customers. Brand equity is a set of brand asset and liabilities linked to a brand that includes brand loyalty, brand awareness, perceived quality and associations. The brand loyalty of the customer base is often the core of brand’s equity. Building awareness is much easier over a longer time period because learning works better with repetition and reinforcement. Perceived quality is the customer’s perception of the overall quality or superiority of a product service with respect to its intended purpose, relative to alternatives. Much research has been done on whether or not branding plays a role in consumer purchases. In case of pharmaceutical industry in India, creating good enough brand awareness, loyalty and communicating compelling quality for good perceptions amongst numerous generic environments is a key challenge to increase brand equity. The above original article focuses on three brand equity parameters (loyalty, awareness and quality) attribute of brand equity model of David Aaker. Primary research is conducted in India by the author in order to supplement information learned through secondary research, in order to answer specific questions to gain a perspective on consumers. Perceptions of branded versus generic drugs on the aspect of three parameters are studied here. Results are discussed, followed by recommendations about how to effectively increase brand parameters to impact brand equity of pharmaceutical products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose is to distinguish the initiatives taken by the state authorities and Central authorities to promote tourism in India. Gaps in the centralized promotional campaign, "Incredible India" are identified in this study. The methodology includes collection of secondary data and discursive analysis. Information relevance, Promotion strategy, and Key events and places were used for the comparative analysis for the purposes of the research paper. Above mentioned three factors need to be added to the centralized campaign, to give a holistic picture of India. The paper is unique as it is the first time that identification of gaps in the centralized campaign is done. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay is an exploration of the relationship between Mahatma Gandhi as a contested figure in present-day Indian public culture and Gandhi as himself an innovative technician of mass publicity. I begin with an analysis of the scandal that erupted in early 2002 when one of the Mahatma's descendants appeared to have signed a deal with a U.S. corporation to license Gandhi's name and image for use in consumer goods advertising. I proceed to situate that controversy within the larger field of recent Gandhian reference in India, focusing on the complex connections between his iconization and his demonization. The second half of the essay turns the analysis around to inquire into what I call “Gandhian publicity.” I show that although Gandhi's thinking on communicative efficacy is nowadays often assimilated into a commercial brand logic, Gandhian publicity remains irreducible to such appropriation. Ultimately, I argue that the scandal of “branding Gandhi” has less to do with any violation of his supposed saintly otherwordliness than with the “untimely” provocation posed to consumerist publicity by his understanding of the intimate relationship between the management of corporeal energies and socially transformative mass communication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sports and games helps in the all-round development of an individual's personality. Sports and games have come a long way from the amateurish set up to the modern day professional approach. It is offering career opportunities both on and off the field. It teaches us to be modest in victory and generous in defeat. A leading educational group in the Eastern part of India initiated a three year full time Bachelor Degree program in Sports Management in 2005 under the affiliation of West Bengal University of Technology. The primary goal of this course was to churn out professionally trained sports manger to manage and run Indian sports in a more professional manner. However, even after 10 years from its inception, the course did not receive the kind of response it was expected to get. This case study will first help in analyzing the Segmentation, Targeting & Positioning (STP) strategy adopted by the college. Thereafter, identify the reasons for low intake in Sports Management Course and the reasons why the college failed to take the "First mover advantage" and finally suggesting a Branding strategy the college should embrace to promote the sports management course. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Sport events are being increasingly used by destinations to enhance their image and promote tourism. The 2010 edition of the Commonwealth Games will be organised in India. This is the first major sports event to be hosted by New Delhi since the 1982 Asian Games. Indian tourism industry is the one which will benefit the most from Commonwealth Games 2010. But as the global recession nibble, most countries, including India is prompted to ask the question, 'How we can use sports event such as Commonwealth Games2010 to promote tourism and brand destination?' This paper will describe, what benefit sports events brings to tourism, how sport events can be part of destination branding exercise and what steps are needed to do it effectively with specific reference to India's Commonwealth Games 2010. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Several monoclonal antibodies are used as drugs. After facing various technical challenges, most of these drugs came to the market only after 1995. The list of approved drugs in the US (provided) and in Europe is largely similar. Two monoclonals have been brought out by Indian companies, and a few more are under development in India. The importance of patenting as a pre-requisite for drug discovery is highlighted. The problems being faced by Indian academic scientists in patenting their inventions and innovations, and the solutions proposed by DBT, New Delhi are pointed out. Patents important to the development of monoclonals as drugs are listed. The nature of patent claims is discussed with examples from prominent monoclonal patents. The manner in which the life of a patent may be extended is also discussed with a case study. The factors that go into a business decision on whether or not to develop monoclonal therapeutics are briefly outlined. Finally, the importance of branding -- for a product or for a company -- is also touched upon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]