The objective of the present study is to bring out a multidimensional metric to measure service quality delivered by employees serving in Indian small & medium manufacturing enterprises. 144 executives working at top/middle level in different small-medium manufacturing units of north India responded to a questionnaire survey. The respondents were asked to assess service quality being delivered by the shop-floor workers serving their respective units on the 1-5 perception scale. Application of exploratory factor analysis resulted in an interpretable latent structure comprising of 5 determinants and 22 indicator items. Confirmatory factor analysis condensed this scale to bring out the final scale 4 determinants viz., Dependability, Agility, Professionalism and Understanding with 13 indicator statements. This scale thus emerged is tested for validity and reliability using established tools. The study provides a framework to SME managers to assess services of their workforce. It also contributes to researchers to build up more such metrics for similar situations in other sectors so that more concrete generalizations can be made.

The developing theoretical managerial concepts and applied managerial techniques comprise the basis for the modern innovative management of an agricultural enterprise. Management consulting occupies a special place in the managerial process. It is aimed at rendering experts’ support to the specialists of an economic entity as well as developing recommendations for the promotion of activity efficiency in the enterprise on the basis of theoretical and applied knowledge in the field of management. Complicated conditions for activity carried out by the Russian agricultural commodities manufacturers cause the necessity in the real managerial activity integration with the scientific research works in the field of management. Hence, the necessity occurs in professional manage-ment consulting by considering technological features of the production process and the scientific basics of management. This article considers the economic essence of management consulting, offers a conceptual model and methodological instruments, and develops the system of key indicators of social-economic activity efficiency as an instrument of management consulting.

This paper investigates the influence of total quality management (TQM) on export performance of manufacturing sector of Pakistani’s Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs). The data was collected from manufacturing SMEs participating in exports and three hundred sixty-four (364) responses were received and further used for statistical analysis. The statistical SEM analysis was evaluated through Smart PLS-3. The results of the study show that TQM had an influential role in SMEs’ export performance. Firms with the higher-level implementation of TQM will be more successful in the international market and can achieve better export performance. Thus, the study reveals that TQM is a valuable and dynamic intangible resource which can increase the SME export perfor-mance. The study presented the relationship between TQM and SME export performance and pro-vided some insights for the practitioners and the researchers. In other words, practitioners and re-searchers will be able to make a better decision about the implementation of TQM. Furthermore, the current study contributed to the literature of TQM and SME export performance, empirically. The absence of TQM can affect the firm performance in the international market.

This paper compares and evaluates the performance of five different conventional job selection dis-patching rules for scheduling of multi-load automatic guided vehicles (AGVs) serving for material handling operations in variable sized flexible manufacturing system (FMS) layout. Four sizes of FMS layout are considered for the performance evaluation of the five types of conventional job se-lection dispatching rules. The FMS layouts under consideration are served by the two multi-load AGVs. The multi-load AGVs cruises under machine initiated the nearest vehicle (NV) dispatching rule for the material handling activities at all work centers (WCs) for all four sizes of FMS layout. Four sizes of FMS layout produce five different types of parts and consist of three, six, nine and twelve work centers and loading-unloading centers, respectively. In the simulation test, it is found that the identical destination first (IDF) job selection rule having selection criterion based on the destination similarity of two picked up jobs outperforms all other job selection dispatching rules for an overall production rate of the FMS (parts/hr) in all four FMS layouts.

Variation exists in all processes. There is not even a single process that is completely true. Measuring the trueness of the process is itself a process which can also imitate the process variation. Therefore, measurement system should be strong enough to wager on the trueness of the process. This paper is an attempt to indicate the true method and substantiate the use of measurement system analysis (MSA) by using it in two different environments i.e. in manufacturing as well as process industry. Also, a comparison among various analyzing techniques has been drawn for authenticating the candid method followed by an evaluation using fuzzy TOPSIS for authenticating the results of comparison. The organization’s type, also, strongly influences the performance of MSA as revealed in the conclusion of the article. The results calculated by various methods and in both environments were discussed and as a result ANOVA comes out to be the best method. The application of correct MSA is highly required which ultimately results in increased organizations’ performance. The study is one of its type and will motivate the researchers and industrialists to use and explore the new and efficient ways of MSA.

The aim of this article is to study the impact of marketing innovation and the visual and verbal ele-ments of packaging on customers purchase intentions. After a brief literature review, an empirical study is conducted among 140 customers of Coca-Cola brand in Tlemcen city. To this end, a model of intention has been developed to be tested by structural equations modeling. The results of this study showed that marketing innovation and the visual and verbal elements of packaging directly affect the purchase intentions of the customers of this brand.

India has turned out to be one of the most favorite destinations for the patients who want to undertake cost effective medical care for various medical problems and who have infuriated from the long waiting lists for medical and diagnostic procedures in their home countries. This research aims to analyze different factors along with their intensity affecting medical tourism industry in a developing country like India so that managers and policymakers can take better decisions which will help in growth & promotion of Indian health tourism market. The study has been done by performing a cross-sectional survey within major hospitals in India and exploratory factor analysis and graph theory and matrix approach have been used to evaluate the intensity of variables affecting Indian medical tourism sector. Nineteen variables have been identified through review of literature, and four factors have been extracted including cost, quality of treatment and care, availability of experts, competitive advantage and political, legal and visa related factors. With the understanding of the intensity of different variables suitable precautions can be taken by the healthcare managers so that these variables can be handled very carefully.

Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW) is widely used to perform cladding so as to enhance corrosion resistance and several other properties of substrate material. However, the success of cladding us-ing GMAW depends on the optimal selection of its critical parameters. Therefore, in this study, the cladding of stainless steel over mild steel substrate using GMAW process is investigated with an aim to optimize the GMAW process parameters. Three GMAW process parameters i.e. current, voltage, and torch angle were selected and their effect on the time required to complete the cladding and arc power was investigated and optimized. Multiple objective optimization based on ratio anal-ysis (MOORA) method was employed to evaluate and optimize the effect of the selected process parameters. It was found that the current and voltage have significant effect in reducing the time and power required for the cladding process.

Fair HRM practices are indispensable for the success of any company, especially the growing companies. The aim of this exploration is to understand the impact of certain personal characteris-tics of the employees of Telecommunication Company on HRM practices in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. A booklet consisted of HRM practices questionnaires along with personal characteristics blank sheet were used to gather the information of the respondents. A total of 210 sample collected from public and private sector Telecommunication Company existing in the Kingdom. The collected data was analyzed by inferential and descriptive statistics and the results were analyzed. The results revealed that married & unmarried, public & private sector, younger & older, high & low income and high & low experienced group of employees differ but in a varied degree on HRM practices in terms of performance appraisal, training and development, security and health, recruitment and se-lection, intention to stay in the company communication, working conditions, compensation and benefits, job analysis and co-worker relationships. The findings’ significances and implications were also elaborated at length and few suggestions were provided that could enhance the fair HRM practices in the telecommunication company in the Kingdom.

Conveyors and automated guided vehicles (AGVs) are important mechanical handling equipment used to transport loads from one place to another. Selection of proper material handling equipment is an intricate process. In the present paper two material handling equipment selection problem was solved using various newly developed multi criteria decision making (MCDM) methods. First a conveyor selection problem with six conflicting criteria and four alternatives was solved using four MCDM methods, i.e. combinative distance based assessment (CODAS) method, evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS) method, weighted aggregated sum product assessment (WASPAS) method and multi-objective optimization on the basis of ratio analysis (MOORA) method. Second an automated guided vehicles selection problem with six conflicting criteria and eight alternatives was solved using CODAS, EDAS, WASPAS and MOORA methods. Spearman rank correlation coefficient was calculated between the ranks obtained by various methods. The ranks obtained by these methods were even compared with the ranks of other MCDM methods and it was found that the relatively new methods CODAS, EDAS and WASPAS were in good agree-ment with each other.