The responsibility of managing and accumulating family wealth is increasingly being undertaken by women in developed and developing countries. Wealth advisors and managers must provide differentiated investment avenues targeting women investors to provide a level playing field and promote gender inclusiveness in this hitherto traditionally male-dominated domain. The present paper explores the exogenous factors that influence wealth investment by women to find out what wealth managers must do to serve women investors better in future. The primary data was collected from 250 respondents comprising professionals, housewives and self-employed women in the age group of 30 to 65 years. The questionnaire helps to explore the preferences, personal goals, basis of investment decision and considerations affecting the choice of wealth managers/advisors. The paper seeks to give recommendations to assist wealth managers to address the 'experience gaps' and better connect with this vital and fast-growing women investors segment of wealth market.

This paper is an attempt to examine whether demographic factors like age, gender, income, occupation, marital status and education, and a risk tolerance score calculated through a structured questionnaire could be used individually or in combination to differentiate between investors keen to invest in socially responsible investment avenues and conventional investors whose investment decision is mainly based on risk and return. A single cross-sectional survey was conducted among 236 investors of different age groups and investment experience. The respondents included individuals who have at least two years of investment experience. Age, marital status, occupation and socially responsible investment behavior show strong association with Financial Risk Tolerance (FRT) of Indian investors.

Counterfeit products are replicas of genuine brands having identical packaging, trademarks and labels. India is not new to counterfeit products. Various studies have highlighted the growing demand for and consumers purchasing these products to satisfy their need to be socially accepted and for showcasing their status. In the Indian context, scant research has been conducted exploring the factors influencing the purchase intention towards counterfeit products. The present paper focuses on the dimension of materialism, one of the factors, that has not been documented and explored in the Indian setting and is identified as a research gap. A conceptual model is proposed, featuring various dimensions which influence materialism and eventually result in purchase of the counterfeit products. The literature is extensively reviewed to gauge as to how the constructs of life satisfaction, self-monitoring, family structure and status consumption are moderated by social conformity, eventually leading to materialism and purchase intention. This paper will help the marketers to frame their marketing and communication strategies by considering these determinants which will trigger the purchase intention of the consumers towards counterfeit products in the Indian marketplace.

'Selfie', is the most prevalent, fun-filled and easiest way of clicking photographs of oneself. The aim of the present paper is to identify the antecedents defining selfie-clicking compulsive behavior and posting the selfie on social media among the millennials. The study is empirical in nature with a total of 204 usable responses collected through online survey and analyzed using SPSS version 21. The findings reveal a significant relationship between smartphone addiction, physical attractiveness and self-esteem and selfie-clicking compulsive behavior, while social influence is found to have no significant impact. The study contributes to the extant literature by providing an understanding of the selfie-clicking phenomenon specific to young Indian consumers. It also lends valuable implications for marketers and advertisers to design effective strategies to engage consumers on social media.

Luxury brands possess a desirability that extends beyond their function and provides a perceived status through ownership. As luxury brands are valuable and desirable and have remarkable impact on the minds of consumers, counterfeits that provide these features are becoming increasingly important for consumers. The luxury market is growing faster than many other markets, and counterfeit goods market is thriving accordingly. The consumer demand for the purchase of counterfeit luxury brands has been increasing significantly. Considering the interest of Indian consumers in counterfeit brands, the present study attempts to investigate the factors that influence the attitudes of consumers towards counterfeit luxury brands. The data was collected through a questionnaire administered on a randomly selected sample of 103 consumers, who buy counterfeit luxury brands in India. The influence of social and personality factors on purchase intentions and attitudes was examined. Data was analyzed by correlation and regression analysis using SPSS. The results of the study help us understand which factors affect the Indian consumers' attitude towards counterfeit luxury brands and whether or not there is a relationship between the attitude towards counterfeits and purchase intention of the consumers.

After the recent financial crises, Bitcoin had emerged as the most successful cryptocurrency. Besides its security robustness, two other main properties have probably been its key to success: anonymity and decentralization. The robust network of decentralized payment transactions had attracted a lot of attention among e-commerce users. A cryptocurrency works best when the volume of transactions is large relative to the individual transaction size (e.g., as in a retail payment system). It uses peer-to-peer payment network involving negligible cost with no involvement of third party or financial institution in the transaction. Such anonymity in the Bitcoin network is the unique propagation which was not inherently present in any e-commerce transaction. The present paper explores the awareness and perception regarding Bitcoin in India with special reference to all the generations. It provides a comprehensive description of the details that make the cryptocurrency an interesting research topic. Since public awareness eventually defines Bitcoin's price, the future of Bitcoin depends on increasing positive public perception.

The changing global scenario and sustainability of banks implead amalgamation in the banking industry as a corporate strategy. It enhances their financial and operational strengths, maximizes their global reach, helps them achieve synergy by combining business activities, improves performance and reduces costs. This paper focuses on the six-way horizontal merger between State Bank of India (SBI) and its five associate banks and Bharatiya Mahila Bank which catapulted the SBI group to the top 50 banks of the world. The objective is to assess the impact of SBI merger with its associate banks, their position before and after the merger, find out the reasons behind the merger and study the advantages offered by the merger. The authors conclude that though as per the Earnings per Share (EPS) there is dilution and no competitive advantage obtained due to the merger, the other motives such as enhanced productivity, multi-dimensional banking, increased operational efficiency and customer delights will be advantageous to the evolved entity. Overall, integration of investments and treasuries will bring cost-saving and synergy in this era of megamergers.

To assume a leadership position in the market space, an organization will need to emphasize on the kind of programs they use to improvise performance and productivity and not just how much they simply spend on learning. Training needs identification, therefore it identifies the gap between what the job expects an employee to do, on the one hand, and what the employee is actually doing, on the other. The training needs analysis discovers whether there is a discrepancy between what an employee ought to be doing and what he or she can do. Learning is a continuous process, and even if employees are the best, they still need to refresh and renew themselves with the latest technologies and trends. After globalization and privatization, a lot of competition exists between banks�both in public and private sector�compelling quick and efficient services reinforced by innovative products and services. This development opened up the need for training to the bank employees to adapt to changes and contribute towards efficient service to customers. Banks also use training to improve the ability of their employees for customer satisfaction as a primary goal. Banks consider that giving emphasis on training is the best way to expand productivity. In connection with the above, the present paper aims to investigate the differential changes in public sector bank in their purposes of conducting training, basis for training needs identification and design and implementation of training programs. The study makes an effort to assess the training and development practices in a public sector bank (SBI) with special reference to its impact on employee effectiveness.