(SME) School of Management and Entrepreneurship

<p>Shiv Nadar University is a comprehensive, multidisciplinary, research-focused, and student-centric University offering a full range of academic programs at the undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral level. With state-of-the-art infrastructure, the University comprises of academic wings, sophisticated labs, international standard sports facilities, amphitheaters, auditorium, conference rooms and smart classrooms. The University&rsquo;s goal is to become internationally recognized for the quality of its research and creative endeavors and their applicability to improving quality of life, generating new insights and expanding the boundaries of human knowledge creativity. Committed to excellence in teaching, research and service, the University aims to serve the higher education needs of India and the world beyond.</p>

Shiv Nadar University

It is essential to monitor the development of resource and pollution intensive industries such as textile, leather, pharmaceutical etc., under burgeoning pressure of environmental compliance. Keeping the above-mentioned objective in mind, the case analyzes the sustainability strategies of a leading leather enterprise in India - Veera Tanneries Private Limited. Veera has undertaken initiatives to determine how it should address sustainability challenges to reduce environmental impact and ensure business growth. A discussion on such a problem would allow the case to look at the company's motivations for adopting eco-friendly measures in the Indian leather industry (to address sustainability challenges), the potential impact on business performance of such measures, for instance increasing cost to production and other business strategies to support the company's growth. © 2019 World Scientific Publishing Co.

Decision Sciences, Operations Management, and Information Systems

World University root node

Asian Case Research Journal

Veera Tanneries Private Limited: An Indian Leather Enterprise's Drive Towards Sustainability

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to utilise the research patterns of the most prolific contributors to Lean and Six Sigma methodologies over a 15-year period to inform the discussion on whether the methodologies should be or are being integrated. Design/methodology/approach: Structured searches using keywords were carried out using a single database (SCOPUS) to identify the most prolific contributors to research articles in the areas of Lean, Six Sigma and Lean Six Sigma, and thereafter patterns were analysed in five-year periods between 2000 and 2015. Findings: This research demonstrates clear changing and evolving patterns of research activity. Not only is there a clear emergence of research focussed on Lean Six Sigma rather than a single methodology, there are also indications that researchers publish work using different methodologies in response to different challenges. Research limitations/implications: The research is restricted to a single database and includes only the 21 most prolific contributors in each five-year period. The analysis is based on the focus of each peer-reviewed paper contributed to. Practical implications: This research is intended to support and inform organisations which are developing or running business process improvement approaches by demonstrating the flexibility of Lean and Sigma, and evidencing that researchers work across different approaches and combine them when appropriate. Originality/value: This paper provides a unique perspective on the debate for the integration of Lean and Six Sigma by looking at the patterns of work of researchers themselves to identify whether the focus of research has in fact moved on from exclusively lean or Six Sigma to more integrated approaches as has been argued in individual pieces of research. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Fulltext

International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management

A critical perspective on the changing patterns of Lean Six Sigma research

Purpose: A sustainable freight transportation system involves freight processes that are economically efficient, socially inclusive and environment friendly. For enhancing sustainability in the freight operations, mode selection is a crucial strategic decision. Therefore, the purpose of this paper is selecting the best mode, or a combination of modes based on various criteria to carry shipments from origin to destination. Design/methodology/approach: This study has used an integrated grey relational analysis based intuitionistic fuzzy multi-criteria decision-making process (GRA–IFP) and fuzzy multi-objective linear programming model. Three scenarios have been developed for analyzing sensitivity of decision variables with the variations in parameters under relevant conditions. A real case of Indian third-party logistics service provider has been used to demonstrate the effectiveness of the model. Findings: The most relevant criterion emerged out in this study for multi-mode selection problem is costs. It can be concluded from the study that multi-modal freight transportation has the potential to improve the sustainability of freight transportation by reducing the costs, damages, emissions, traffic congestion and by increasing the speed of delivering the shipment. The sensitivity analysis further shows that road is the economical mode, whereas sea and rail together are the greenest as well as socially responsible modes of transportation. Originality/value: This study provides an integrated tool, which can be used by freight transporters to decide upon the sustainable modes of transportation for their various shipments. © 2019, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Industrial Management and Data Systems

A model for the selection of transportation modes in the context of sustainable freight transportation

<p>Although projects are considered indispensable elements across many industries, practitioners and researchers have realised that projects’ high failure rates are costing many firms several million dollars a year. This paper presents the first comprehensive and systematic literature review of failed projects. In our research, we noticed an increasing trend in publications for case study-based research which limits the generalising of the findings due to the customised nature of these projects. Most of these failed project studies were conducted in the information technology (IT) sector due to its project-based organisational structure. We found that less effort has been made to analyse the similarities and differences in project monitoring and performance assessment approaches under diverse scenarios (e.g., process improvement, R&amp;D, etc.). We also identified the need for more research on project failure predictions under dynamic scenarios, and we therefore recommended the input-process-output model for project monitoring and evaluation. © 2018 Elsevier Ltd</p>

Computers and Industrial Engineering

Systematic literature review of project failures: Current trends and scope for future research

Drawing on literature on institutional complexity and social movement and paradox theories, we examine the possibility for institutional complexity to provide opportunities for social entrepreneurship. Our ethnographic case study based on a social venture in India shows that institutional complexity manifests in forms of overlapping and/or contradictory institutional logics and provokes paradoxical tension. We identify four strategic responses to institutional complexity: appropriation, integration, differentiation, and working-through. These strategies enable reaching out to a broader range of stakeholders. In conclusion, we argue that institutional complexity can be resourceful in a dynamic process of social value creation. © 2017 Elsevier Inc.

Marketing Management

Journal of Business Research

Social entrepreneurship: Creating value in the context of institutional complexity

Purpose: Burgeoning challenges of climate change and poverty alleviation across many parts of the world have enforced the policy makers and researchers to develop an alternate system for performance assessment of an individual, a country, and a corporate. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the sustainability strategies of three leading states in the Indian leather industry – Tamil Nadu (TN), West Bengal (WB) and Uttar Pradesh (UP) – to gain insights into their efforts and progress in generating economic, social, and environmental values. Design/methodology/approach: This study used case study approach for investigative analysis, and triangulation method – interviews and field visits, for data verification. The study examines the various sustainability strategies by applying economic value creation (evaluation of growth in total turnover, evaluation of the growth in profitability, evaluation of leverage), social value creation (evaluation of the growth in wages, evaluation of the growth in employee welfare expenses), and environmental value creation (conservation in raw material consumption, conservation in energy consumption, evaluation of waste management practices). Findings: The findings reveal that the three states differ significantly from each other both in terms of efforts made and progress achieved during the period of study, 1998-2013. UP seems to be making the most consistent progress in achieving economic value, while WB shows the most progress in creating social value, and TN leads the pack in terms of creating environmental value. Thus, the three leading states in the Indian leather industry have been allowing trade-offs to get competitive advantage over others. Research limitations/implications: The opaqueness with which the Indian leather Industry conducts social and environmental practices clearly limits the sources of accurate and reliable data, and the ability of researchers to precisely identify the problems and suggest solutions. Practical implications: The opaqueness with which the Indian leather Industry conducts social and environmental practices clearly impacts the policy makers, practitioners, and researchers to continue such initiatives and improve the lives of people in India for whom continuing this profession is a big challenge and a hurdle to accomplish their livelihood. Originality/value: The paper gives a theoretical explanation of the sustainability in the leather industry with respect to its strategies in terms of economic value, social value, and environmental value. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Benchmarking

Sustainability strategies in the Indian leather industry: an empirical analysis

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the interdependence among dimensions of sustainability, i.e. economic, social and environmental performance, this study focuses on leading states of the Indian leather Industry. Design/methodology/approach: This study followed exploratory research where partial least square (PLS) based structural equation modeling has been used. The states have been selected based on judgmental sampling. The study used unit level data for the leading states of Indian leather Industry − namely, Tamil Nadu (TN), West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh. The study has used Annual Survey of Industry data from 2007-2008 to 2011-2012. The proposed hypotheses have been tested using WarpPLS 5.0 software. Findings: The structural equation analysis of unit-wise leather industry data supports a significant bi-directional negative relationship between social performance and economic performance among all the selected states. In contrast, the relationship between economic performance and environmental performance, as expected and supported by many existing theories, has shown a bidirectional positive relationship. However, the relationship between social and environmental performance has shown quite mysterious and mixed trends. TN has depicted significantly negative coefficients, which could be attributed to higher pressure for environmental compliance that might have led to a trade-off between the two to gain cost competitiveness. Research limitations/implications: Unavailability of data for many critical indicators is the biggest limitation of this study. Originality/value: The sustainability framework proposed in this work is an original contribution of authors to the existing literature. Moreover, this study on the Indian leather industry fills the gap and resolves the mystery of interconnection among the dimensions of sustainability. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal

Interdependence among dimensions of sustainability: Evidence from the Indian leather industry

Sustainable freight transportation (SFT) and cold-chain for perishable food products are the two most prominent areas where research is tremendously growing with increasing number of publications in various reputed journals. The area of SFT for perishable products is still in the nascent stage and not much explored. There are a number of published articles in the cold chain, but only a few have addressed the issue of sustainability. Perishable products require careful handling throughout their supply chain, which often requires reefer vehicles and cold storage facilities. They need to move fast in the supply chain as their longer stay would cause more energy consumption and higher perishability losses leading to increased cost and carbon footprints. The paper analyzes existing literature on this vital problem area and attempts to derive valuable insights using a structured approach termed as literature review analytics, which involves bibliometric and network analytics. This review analyzes the articles published during 1985–2017 using a set of keywords. Some of the key findings of this study unveil (1) research on SFT of perishable items is growing rapidly; (2) among all, Italy followed by the United States is the most contributing country in this research area. Further, network analytics is used to analyze the co-occurrence network for authors and keywords. © 2018, Operational Research Society of India.

OPSEARCH

Literature review analytics (LRA) on sustainable cold-chain for perishable food products: research trends and future directions

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to illustrate the systematic role played by Six Sigma methodology in improving the quality of healthcare. The literature review identifies the relevant opportunities for successful introduction and development of Six Sigma approach in healthcare sector. Design/methodology/approach: A systematic methodology to identifying literature on Six Sigma in healthcare is presented. Web of Science, Medline, Emerald Insight, ASQ and ProQuest databases (1998-2016) were searched, and 68 papers of fair methodological quality were identified. Findings: The findings of the systematic review reveal a growing interest in research on Six Sigma adoption in healthcare. The findings indicate that Six Sigma applications in healthcare have been focused on the entire hospital with no real focus on a particular department or function. The key findings on benefits, success factors, challenges and common tools of Six Sigma from the existing literature are also presented in the paper. Research limitations/implications: The papers included in the systematic review were peer-reviewed papers available in English. Due to these limitations, relevant papers may have been excluded. Moreover, the authors have excluded all conference and white papers for their inclusion in this study. Originality/value: This paper can serve as a guide on how Six Sigma approach can be applied to improve the quality of healthcare. The authors also believe that this is possibly the most comprehensive systematic literature review on the topic and will set the foundation for various research avenues based on the key findings of this study. © 2018, Emerald Publishing Limited.