An Empirical Study to Identify Consumer Brand Relationships During a Crisis

Countless businesses exist only to serve the varying demands of the world's customers, and those consumers find themselves constantly bombarded by an overwhelming selection of goods and brands. The brand distinguishes the company from its rivals and aids consumers in making educated purchasing decisions. However, when faced with a catastrophic event like the COVID-19 outbreak, consumers' assessment criteria shifted in response to shifting priorities and circumstances. As a result, shoppers are rethinking their brand loyalties and choosing new ones. This article used the brand archetype framework to determine what factors customers value during times of crisis. It also used the brand archetype framework to identify the elements consumers consider important during a crisis. Data were collected from 207 respondents and using the Relative to an Identified Distribution (RIDIT) approach, the top-rated brand elements were identified based on level of importance or agreement. This study will help practitioners incorporate the identified elements into their brand image. Their subsequent actions will help them remain relevant and essential for their consumers, even in challenging situations. © 2023, Associated Management Consultants Pvt. Ltd.. All rights reserved.

Sustainable marketing and customer value

Anticipating that marketing will experience a strategic change in the new normal post COVID-19, this book sets out to capture interesting insights from researchers and practitioners through in-depth research on the myriad aspects of industrial transformation. It discusses the facets in which markets can be reached sustainably delivering value to people, planet and create prosperity. Sustainable Marketing and Customer Value establishes an overview and framework for major ideas that connect marketing, consumption and sustainability. It addresses dominant areas of research of sustainability from the marketing perspective, the origin of interest in sustainability, as well as the practice of deprioritising sustainability ideas in pursuit of short-term business goals. Research scholars and business students will find this book of primary relevance, but it is also written for marketing academics and professionals, especially those in large corporations. © 2023 selection and editorial matter, Subrata Chattopadhyay, Sundeep Singh Sondhi and Arunava Dalal;individual chapters, the contributors. All rights reserved.

Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Gastroenterology Training in India

Introduction The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has affected the healthcare system. The residents who are at the frontline of this pandemic have suffered the most. The extent of the training loss due to the COVID-19 pandemic on gastroenterology (GE) training is not studied in India. Methods We designed a 36-question based google survey and distributed it to the GE residents all across India, via email. All the responses collected were analyzed using appropriate statistical methods. Results A total of 140 responses were received. No significant decrease in teaching sessions/ classes was reported. Most of the residents (83.5%) reported inability to complete the target thesis enrolment. The number of patients seen by the residents in outpatient department, patients managed in wards and endoscopic procedures done by residents have decreased significantly (p -valve <0.001 for all). An overwhelming 89.9% (n = 125) of the GE residents were posted for COVID-19 duties. Almost half (50.4%) of them were COVID-19 positive. Conclusion The COVID-19 pandemic has affected the training of GE residents in India immensely and an extension period of 3 months may be offered to them.

Online Learning Trends During the Pandemic: Case of Service Sector Professionals

During the COVID pandemic with the employees in the different sectors working from home, there was perceptually spare time for self-development and enhancement of knowledge. The objective of the paper is to understand whether the same was perceived as an opportunity by the professionals and fruitfully utilized this spare time. The key purpose of this research paper is to study the professionals from the service sector to understand their view on the enhancement of their learning during the COVID pandemic. One hundred and twenty valid responses were collected from professionals in different industries. Statistical tools were used to find out the reliability statistics;factor analysis was done to identify the core factors and significant relationship of different cofactors and the satisfaction level was analyzed. The analysis indicated two main factors for online learning of the professionals: “upskilling or skill enhancement” and “utilization of spare time”, which explained 68.166% of the variance. The research highlighted the importance that professionals have placed on their upskilling and reskilling during the COVID pandemic through online modes and how industries can realign their learning and development programs for their employees using this medium. A framework has been proposed, using which organizations can be productive in upskilling their workforce amidst the new evolving working environment due to the pandemic. © 2022 selection and editorial matter, Arunava Dalal, Ajay Kumar Ganguly and Subrata Chattopadhyay.

A study of the adaptation to innovative online teaching-learning pedagogy by stakeholders in Covid times

Advancement in technology has been a boon for mankind. It has helped in all segments and industries and the educational sector is no different. There have been new modes of delivering education, engaging with the learners, and enriching the learners' knowledge through the use of technology. The Covid-19 pandemic and the subsequent lockdowns that were implemented across many countries only helped in accelerating the adaption of these new technologies bringing in an innovative online teaching-learning pedagogy. The necessity of continuing with the education process and enhancing knowledge during a lockdown situation has led to a spectacular awareness of online education. This paper looks into the impact of online education from the students' perspective, they being the main recipients of this process, and the views of the faculties who are the enablers. It also tried to understand the effects that the external ecosystem consisting of technology partners, content developers, and the organizations in the online education sector have in developing the online teaching-learning process. The paper through primary research has looked into the benefits and drawbacks of this education model, the learnings which can be used in the future to make this an innovative teaching-learning methodology even post the Covid-19 era. © 2021 Ecological Society of India. All rights reserved.

Rapid and Sensitive Detection of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 in Label-Free Manner Using Micromechanical Sensors.

Coronavirus (COVID-19), caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), has been identified as a deadly pandemic. The genomic analysis of SARS-CoV-2 is performed using a reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) technique for identifying viral ribonucleic acid (RNA) in infected patients. However, the RT-PCR diagnostic technique is manually laborious and expensive; therefore, it is not readily accessible in every laboratory. Methodological simplification is crucial to combat the ongoing pandemic by introducing quick, efficient, and affordable diagnostic methods. Here, we report how microcantilever sensors offer promising opportunities for rapid COVID-19 detection. Our first attempt was to capture the single-stranded complementary DNA of SARS-CoV-2 through DNA hybridization. Therefore, the microcantilever surface was immobilized with an oligonucleotide probe and detected using complementary target DNA hybridization by a shift in microcantilever resonance frequency. Our results show that microcantilever sensors can discriminate between complementary and noncomplementary target DNA on a micro to nanoscale. Additionally, the microcantilever sensors' aptitude toward partial complementary DNA determines their potential to identify new variants of coronavirus. Therefore, microcantilever sensing could be a vital tool in the effort to extinguish the spreading COVID-19 pandemic.