The Leptonic Higgs and Dark Matter

This is a short review of the framework proposed in \cite{Goh:2009wg} which gives rise to indirect Dark Matter (DM) signals explaining the recent cosmic-ray anomalies and links cosmic-ray signals of DM to LHC signals of a leptonic Higgs sector.The states of the leptonic Higgs doublet are lighter than about 200 GeV, yielding large 2 tau and 4 tau event rates at the LHC. For the case of annihilations, cosmic photon and neutrino signals are constrained.Comment: Talk given at the SUSY09 conference in Boston, June 2009. 4 pages, 3 figures. To be published in the American Institute of Physics Conference Proceeding

Family and Store Choice - A Conceptual Framework

Retail Store choice has traditionally been studied from the perspective of an individual. The retail offering is however consumed more by the family than by an individual. This study questions the study of store choice by an individual and argues that the family is the relevant unit of analysis. The study draws on the extensive literature available on store choice and also on the family decision making for products and services. It identifies the key factors from the literature, which might be affecting the store choice of a family. On the basis of these factors, it proposes a conceptual framework for studying the retail store choice as a family decision.

International Approaches to Real Estate Development

Book ReviewInternational Approaches to Real Estate DevelopmentSquires, G. and Heurkens, E., 2015. International Approaches to Real Estate Development. Routledge, UK. ISBN (hbk): 978-0-415-82857-4, ISBN (pbk): 978-0-415-82858-1, Paperback: US$49.95, Hardback: US$165.00

Using Transaction Utility Approach for Retail Format Decision

Transaction Utility theory was propounded by Thaler to explain that the value derived by a customer from an exchange consists of two drivers: Acquisition Utilities and Transaction utilities. Acquisition utility represents the economic gain or loss from the transaction. Where as transaction utility is associated with purchase or (sale) and represents the pleasure (or displeasure) of the financial deal per se and is a function of the difference between the selling price and the reference price. Choice of a format has been studied from several dimensions including the cost and effort as well as the non-monetary values. However, the studies that present the complete picture and combine the aspects of the tangible as well as intangible values derived out of the shopping process are limited. Most of the studies, all of them from the developed economies, have focussed on the selection of a store. They represent a scenario where formats have stabilised. However, in Indian scenario formats have been found to be influencing the choice of store as well as orientation of the shoppers. Also, retailers are experimenting with alternate format with differing success rates. The author has also not found a study that has applied this theory. It is felt that the Transactional Utility Theory may provide a suitable approach for making format decisions.

Segmenting Shoppers on their Behaviour

A retail stores attracts shoppers who vary in their profiles. While some of them are serious shoppers, many of them are "visitors" to the stores. It is not possible for the store to differentiate its offerings to these segments. Classifying these shoppers on demographic and their orientation to shopping has been tried in the developed economies. However, it is felt that in an evolving market like India where shopping orientation are yet to be formed, one of the basis of understanding that shoppers could be their behaviour at the store because behavioural cues are factual data on which a retailer can develop its strategy. Through a study that involved participant observation of 284 shoppers conducted in Ahmedabad segment profiles have been developed. The shoppers were classified into 26 segments based on their behaviour. These segments have also been profiled on the basis of gender, store format and the type of product that they bought. The retail mix ingredients that could be used to deliver better value to each of the segments have been suggested. Based on the study a framework to understand shopper behaviour has been proposed.

An Insight into the Growth of New Retail Formats in India

The Indian retail sector is going through a transformation and this emerging market is witnessing a significant change in its growth and investment pattern. Both existing and new players are experimenting with new retail formats. Currently two popular formats -hypermarkets and supermarkets are growing very fast. Apart from the brick -mortar formats, brick -click and click-click formats are also increasingly visible on the Indian retail landscape. Consumer dynamics in India is changing and the retailers need to take note of this and formulate their strategies and tactics to deliver value to the consumer. This paper investigates modern retail developments and growth of modern formats in this country. We also discuss the challenges and opportunities available to the retailers to succeed in this country.

The Path to Purchase during Shopping

Increasingly shopping behaviour is being seen from the holistic perspective of the entire shopping experience. The experiential view of shopping takes a far more holistic approach to the consumption process, right from involvement to post purchase usage. The decision making process and value perceptions could vary depending on individual shopping orientations, the cultural orientations as well as the economic and competitive environment in which the consumer shops (Woodruffe, Eccles and Elliott, 2002). This study will attempt to understand the impact of the major factors on the purchase behaviour of shoppers by examining purchase paths across different product categories signifying different shopping orientations; across culturally distinct regions; and across different stages of retail evolution.

Loyalty Programmes: Practices, Avenues and Challenges

<div align=justify>Complexity of modern business requires managers to strive for innovative strategies to acquire and retain customers in any product market field. As acquiring new customers is getting costlier day by day, business organizations have offered continuity/loyalty programmes to retain/reward existing customers and maintain relationships. The premise of CRM is that once a customer is locked in, it will be advantageous to both the organization as well as customer to maintain relationships and would be a win-win situation for both. Consumers find it beneficial to join such programmes to earn rewards for staying loyal. Through loyalty programmes, firms can potentially gain more repeat business, get opportunity to cross-sell and obtain rich customer data for future CRM efforts (Yuping Liu, 2007). This paper, exploratory in nature, attempts to provide a conceptual overview of Loyalty in organized retail sector, outlines practices of grocery retail outlets in Ahmedabad, the largest city in the state of Gujarat and the seventh-largest urban agglomeration in India, with a population of 56 lakhs (5.6 million). It also throws light on consumer expectations, perceptions and problems faced through indepth exploration. Based on literature review and environment in India, an emerging economy, it attempts to predict future of such programmes specifically in Indian organised retail sector and discusses managerial challenges of managing loyalty programmes and provides agenda for future research directions.</div>

An Investigation of Incongruency and Distraction Hypotheses: The Context of Dubbed TV Commercials

When one looks at the Television commercials scene in India, one easily sees three distinct patterns of communication. One is the nation-wide campaigns that are language neutral, meaning, they are purely music based. The other kind is a pure regional communications, with regional content starting from the language to the props used. The third variety is more like the ‘transition-ads’ that are between a pure nation-wide and a pure regional communication. These are basically nation-wide commercials dubbed in the regional languages, while not changing any part of the visual: thus they are ‘national’ with their visuals and regional with their sound track. The current study seeks to understand the effectiveness of such dubbed advertisements. Here incongruency and distraction hypotheses are investigated through two experiments. A social message against the use of cell-phones is used with students as target audience. The results of the first experiment while indicates distraction effects, the ANOVA tests have a very low power. The second experiment apart from repeating the first experiment with a little larger sample also looks at amount of counterarguments in the treatment conditions. The results of the second study do not validate any of the hypotheses. However the recall results are intriguing. Divided attention and incongruency are found to be two competing theories in explaining the recall effects of dubbed advertisements.