Self-efficacy in building self-identity amongst the differently abled employees of a fine dining restaurant in Mumbai has been used as the precursor to building up of a sustainable business model to create social capital. The outcome of this successful profitable business model has been able to demonstrate that such hearing and speech impaired individuals could be turned from being ‘social liabilities’ to ‘social positive assets’. The ‘social liability’ denotes to Mirchi & Mime employees being hearing and speech impaired who suffer from social, economic, financial and familial exclusion. The focal point of this study is to understand the transformation of such entities termed as ‘social liability’ to ‘social capital’ which has been possible within the span of three years. The study uses mixed method research to elicit, quantify and substantiate the building of social capital through the positive psychological, social and economic changes brought about in people who belong to the bottom of the pyramid (BoP). The study uses four different approaches to assess and validate the conceptual model and research objective. One, using survey instrument for guests (consumers) which included 32 items in total and 27 items were measured using likert type scale (5= strongly agree & 1- strongly disagree). Two, employee interview questionnaire was open ended. The questions intend to address the aspects such as regular vs special schooling, challenges experienced in daily routine, employee’s aspiration, pre-employment- economic, social and psychological condition and their post-employment changes, including their perception about the society. Three, the in-depth video-based interview with employee’s family- the questions revolved around their economic, social and psychological transformation pre and post-employment. Fourth, is personality assessment of selected few employees to understand implicit perception about ‘self’ and ‘world’. The quantitative outcome is obtained through descriptive and inferential analysis. The study empirically captures the social capital development with an extensive research from individual psycho-sociological perspective to familial- societal perspective. The study encapsulates an inward to outward outlook of hearing and speech impaired employees and how Mirchi & Mime a fine-dine restaurant (a profit making firm) has successfully converted a social liability into a social capital. Mirchi & Mime consistently maintained its top ranking on Indian restaurant search and discovery service (Zomato). Hence, the study contributes in justifying the viewpoint that social liability is a myth in fact if, employed strategically this would lead to economic and social inclusiveness and business sustainability.

In branding literature, the customer based brand equity (CBBE) model developed by Kevin Lane Keller finds many applications. The CBBE model (Keller, 1993) involves six brand building blocks out of which the brand resonance block is considered to be the most valuable helping firms to reap a host of benefits like higher brand loyalty, greater price premiums and more efficient and effective marketing programs. This research focuses on the factors that influence brand resonance among past customers (alumni) with the objective of building competitive and innovative service strategies that would help in building strong educational brands. The proposed framework for brand resonance includes existing sub dimensions (behavioral loyalty, attitudinal attachment, sense of community and active engagement) along with two additional dimensions (sense of belonging and gratitude) and aims to identify the key drivers of brand resonance. Since brand resonance characterizes the bond shared by past consumers (alumni) with the brand (educational institute) identifying the significant sub dimensions would provide input while devising strategies to engage with past customers (alumni). The present study provides initial empirical evidence that behavioural loyalty and sense of community create feelings of gratitude which impacts brand resonance; alumni who do not have strong feelings of gratitude limit their interaction with their alma mater on all parameters. Since higher education is an experiential service, it is imperative to understand the construct of gratitude that creates brand resonance and use it to develop relationships and competitive service strategies. The ultimate objective of all marketing activity is to build strong and well differentiated brands that would stand the test of competitive forces over time. Building emotional relationships with alumni as past customers rather than maintaining transactional relationships would be possible only if alumni feel emotions of gratitude and sense of belonging with their alma mater.

British heritage brand Yardley was bought by Indian multinational Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting Group in the year 2009 from UK based Lornamead group for USD 45.5million. The task of reinventing the magic of the British heritage brand in contemporary India was not easy. Brand Yardley was perceived as a “grandmother’s brand” given the history and memory of its existence since centuries. In order to connect with young Indians, the company hired Bollywood actor Katrina Kaif (with British lineage) as their brand ambassador to evoke nostalgia of British era in India and promote heritageness of brand Yardley. However, this communication strategy failed to connect with the consumers. This research paper attempts to understand the significance of heritageness, nostalgia, unique positioning and functional benefits as influencers in creating consumer-brand relationship leading to buying intention by the consumer in the personal care category, using heritage brand Yardley as the pivotal point. This research was conducted in three phases. In phase one, qualitative research approach was used with in-depth interviews and focus group discussions after which variables for the study were generated. In phase two, an elaborated questionnaire was developed. The first part of the questionnaire included demographics like gender, age, occupation and income. The second part of the questionnaire related to recognizing brand Yardley among five print advertisements featuring Katrina Kaif as a model but not revealing the brand for which Katrina Kaif had modeled for. The final survey was conducted with 16 assessing questions for four factors namely, heritage, unique positioning, functional benefits, nostalgia and buying intention. The study was pilot tested once (n=89) and revised once (n=235) for clarity and accuracy. Three questions were revised and reduced. The scale used was Likert type (1 = strongly disagree to 5 = strongly agree). The sample unit was within a university campus in Mumbai as the young residents were the target audience for the brand. The outcome of the survey resulted in high Cronbach alpha of .87 and clear rotated factor structures. In phase three of the research, a set of competing brands of soaps with respect to Brand Yardley was generated from the focus group discussions and multidimensional scaling by direct method was carried out using two attributes (functional benefits and unique positioning). The research approach employed was both symmetric and asymmetric analysis to provide analytical outcome using multiple regression analysis, structural equation modeling and application of complexity theory for contrarian cases and could be the first to formally examine tenets of complexity theory in personal care category research contexts. The research outcome revealed that functional benefits and unique positioning of brand Yardley should be crystallized using sensory branding and storytelling format that weaves around the evolution of its heritageness to evoke nostalgia resulting in buying intention.

This paper establishes the link between the “World of Barbie” and its influence in shaping the mindset of young, educated, urban Indian girls born post 1985 to belong to an albeit Transnational Imagined Community. Barbie, launched in India in 1985 by Mattel Toys India Ltd, quickly captured the mind, hearts and lives of young girls in the age 4-8years. Girls in the urban affluent Indian households became addicted to this “World of Barbie” and have enthusiastically imbibed the Barbie culture. Barbie, as Macdougall (2003) calls is a “Transnational Commodity”, has changed the way young Indian girls think of themselves belonging to a “Transnational Imagined Community”’ – be it the type of outfit they wear, how they converse with their peers, the way they define ‘glamour’ or ‘well-turned out’, or their aspired future state. The authors conducted a research amongst English speaking educated urban Indian affluent girls born between 1985 and 1998 who have internalized the “World of Barbie” which includes fashion accessories, bath sets, kitchen accessories etc. and enquired into how young girls think beyond their immediate environment , so as to delve deeper into the seminal work of Anderson(1983) on “Imagined Communities”. The present paper adopts the mix method research approach. Study 1 (Depth Interview) uses the deep understanding principle of case study research. Case study research is knowledge of “sense-making” processes created by individuals for a given stimuli (Woodside, 2010). Theory is built using case study research (CSR). “CSR method is an inquiry that focuses on describing, understanding, predicting, and/or controlling the individual” (Woodside (2010). Using CSR approach, Study 2 (focus group discussion) with Control group (girls not played with Barbie) and Research group (played with Barbie) was conducted. The authors used interpretive phenomenological analysis to infer the transcripts to understand the influence of “World of Barbie” on Transnational Imagined Community. Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA) explores in detail how participants are making sense of their personal and social world; the inferences were given conceptual code as following factors viz.,i) Past memories with Barbie, ii) Possession Attachment iii) Personal Internalization, iv) Behavioral Manifestation v) Global Imagined Community. The study 3 was fixed point (Likert type) survey analysis. The questionnaire consisted of 35 questions covering above mentioned factors. The final survey was conducted with sample size of N= 315. Structural equation modeling was used to derive the results. To conclude, ‘home country culture’ into which the respondent is born is seen to be malleable if internalization of certain alien culturalartifacts are positively imbibed into early childhood. The process of internalization of this new culture should be embedded in early childhood memories to bring about this cultural transformation in adulthood. This process of reculturation in the young urban Indian girls has been facilitated through the ‘World of Barbie’ helping their mindset to migrate into a distinctly different global culture as defined in the Transnational Imagined Community.