Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) activities have become essential and viable activities of corporations because of the increase in concern for environmental, social, and governance issues. The motive of this research is to measure the effect of ESG on the financial performance (FP) of healthcare corporations using the market-to-book value (MTB) ratio as a proxy of FP. A sample of 33 pharma companies in India from 2011 to 2020 has been considered. The study relies on the panel data method to assess the association between ESG and FP. The potential moderating role of competition has also been studied to simplify their relationship in this framework. The finding of this study is that there is a significant negative association between ESG and FP, and it is also found that when competition is used as a moderator, it results in a significantly positive impact on the ESG and FP of healthcare companies. This study increases the understanding of the association between ESG and FP and helps corporations to formulate corporate strategies and stakeholders to make investment decisions. The originality of this study is that it addresses the impact of competition on ESG and FP of the healthcare industry and will become foundational literature for future studies.

The present study examines the impact of the Net Stable Funding Ratio (NSFR) on the performance of Indian commercial banks from 2010 to 2021. The study further investigates how the relationship between liquidity and performance varies under the influence of bank-specific factors such as ownership structure (Promoter vs. Institutional investors). Bank performance is evaluated using a two-fold approach—Profitability measures (NIMs and ROA) and NPA levels of banks. Using the Dynamic panel data regression technique, we find that the relationship between NSFR and NIMs is negative, implying that bank NIMs tend to decline as banks comply with NSFR regulation. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that the inverse relationship between NSFR and bank NIMs becomes more profound when promoters’ stakes are high. Finally, the results highlight that for banks with higher institutional holdings, NPA levels witness an upward trend as the NSFR ratio increases. From a policy perspective, study results will help policymakers understand how changes in liquidity levels impact the wider banking sector and guide them on the overall direction in which to progress with the reforms.

This study is conducted to understand consumers’ preferences with different demographic variables on their car purchase decision based on features the car offers and the cost consciousness variables considered mainly by consumers, as suggested by previous studies on this topic. The judgmental survey method was used for this research using a structured & non-disguised questionnaire to collect the responses. The pilot survey was used to understand the instrument’s reliability and validity total of 200 respondents were contacted, but 143 responses were received. The response rate was almost 72% of the reached respondents. But, only 103 usable responses were considered for analysis as there were 40 responses found not to be a worthwhile while. 13 were inconsistent with their answers, 22 had missing values with essential questions, and the remaining 5 were outliers in their response. The shortlisted sample size (with almost 50% responses) is adequate for this type of research. Factor analysis with PCA is performed to group the variables and define the dependent variables for this study. The two dependent variables were defined from this. They are described as features of the cars and cost consciousness. Then ANOVA is used to get p-values for the regression scores of the independent demographic variables to understand the impact. The findings of this study show that none of the essential demographic variables of consumers (here gender, education, occupation and age) has shown a significant impact with features and cost consciousness as dependent variables in car purchase decisions. These findings contradict the studies done in the past. It is find from this study, that the consumers are more fashion-conscious and environmentally conscious than cost-conscious. This result may be because of the characteristics of the sample, which shows that there is no significant impact of any of the demographic variables on the car purchase decision based on the feature of the car as well as cost-consciousness factors like resale value, maintenance and fuel. The results of this study may change if the sample contains equal percentages of the consumers for all the demographic factors. The results may vary if the sample has more part-time employees and other types such as students, retired and unemployed.

Purpose: this paper explored the impact of market competition on the industry 4. O (I4.O) technology adoption in Indian small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs). The research seeks to explore the competitive pressure between SMEs firms always influence digital changes with different technological adoption levels. Design/methodology: This paper is based on secondary data of 142 SMEs firm for the year 2018–2024. This study employed linear and non-linear quantile regression model to understand the association between of the I4.O and competitiveness among Indian SMEs. I4.O is measured by using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Finding: The result of this study revealed that competition have positive and significant effect on the I4.O at all quantile in linear model which signified that low and high adopter are enforced by the competitiveness. In non-linear model, the U-shaped relationship among I4.O and competition. This study used Porter's Five Forces framework and Resource based View (RBV) to understand the impact of external market force on improving the internal competence development. Practical implication: The finding of this study suggest that SME owner and manager have to observe that the adoption of Industry 4.O become a need for the SMEs survival in competitive environment. The policymakers have to implement digital adoption campaign, skill & training development and overall infrastructure which can bring into line the competitiveness among SMEs and enhance the transformation of I4.O among firms in more inclusive manner. Originality/value: We believe that this paper is one of the first to measure industry 4.0 through technical efficiency aspects using DEA and employ quantile regression to examine the effect of competition on the adoption of Industry 4.0 for Indian SMEs. The paper adds to theoretical contribution by incorporating Porter's and RBV frameworks within an emerging economy environment.

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) has gotten traction from all the stakeholders of firms, including banks. It is included in many decision-making processes, including financing and investment decisions. However, the relationship of ESG with the firm’s financial distress (FD) is uncertain. This article aims to investigate this uncertain situation using a panel of data from 12 years (2010–2021) from banks in India gathered to test the association between ESG and FD empirically. It is found that ESG does not impact FD. However, the interaction of ESG with banks’ profitability significantly and adversely impacts FD. Determining the association between ESG and FD when profitability moderates the association is a unique contribution, as no other study has been observed. The study’s main implication is to decouple the ESG from the bank’s profitability. The banks should not cross the limit to invest in ESG, even if they are highly profitable, to maintain their financial stability. The lack of multi-country data can be considered a study limitation, which can also be a future scope. The developing countries are expected to have a similar outcome. However, in a prospective study, comparing developing and developed economies would add further value to the topic.