This paper intends to analyze the impact of store layout, ambient factors, and employees on impulsive decision-making among female customers visiting the apparel outlets. The responses were collected through a single-stage mall intercept survey method using a structured questionnaire from 385 respondents in leading apparel stores in selected Tier I and Tier II cities in the state of Karnataka, India. The responses were analyzed using multiple regression analysis. Constructs such as store layout, ambience and employees were found to be significantly positively correlated with impulse buying behavior. The variables largely explain the variation in impulse buying under store ambiance. Except 'attention to the window display' and 'friendly staff' all other twelve variables considered in the study were found to have significant impact on the impulse buying behavior. Though store ambiance, well-structured layout, and pleasant shopping experience are essential determinants of customer satisfaction, the study results imply that the number of store staff and sales skills are critical aspects of impulse buying in the apparel business and true assets to the retail organization. Additionally, poor customer interaction, staff shortage, and high employee attrition could discourage the store's revenue generation.

The advent of Industry 4.0 presents a spectrum of challenges for entrepreneurs in India, demanding specific skills and resources. Within this transformative landscape, engineering disciplines assume a pivotal role in navigating the complexities of the new industrial revolution yet pose challenges in instilling entrepreneurial skills. While universities are recognised for fostering entrepreneurial skills, a gap persists in comprehending students’ intentions to pursue entrepreneurship after completing their studies, especially within technical education systems. This emphasises the necessity for a comprehensive examination of variations in entrepreneurial orientation among diverse engineering disciplines. The study employed cross-sectional research and surveyed 370 final-year engineering students from leading engineering colleges in Karnataka, India. The data analysis included Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) and Structural Equation Modeling (SEM). The findings demonstrate a significant propensity for entrepreneurship among engineering students, highlighting attributes such as innovativeness, risk-taking, and proactiveness. However, contrary to expectations, the study does not discern distinct entrepreneurial orientations across different engineering disciplines. Importantly, it unveils that college education has minimal influence on students’ entrepreneurial intentions.

The remarkable growth of the Indian retail landscape over the last decade is reflected in the proliferation of supermarkets, departmental stores and hypermarkets in India. Evolving consumption patterns, raising living standards has sparked a huge demand in the food and grocery retailing. Impulse buying is a time-tested tactic by which retailers grab customer’s attention and boost average purchase value. Prior research has deliberated extensively on impulse buying in the store and its determinants. However, little effort has been made to examine the impulse buying behaviour, particularly at the retail checkout. To bridge this gap, we conducted an empirical study in the leading food and grocery modern retail stores in selected Tier I and Tier II cities in the state of Karnataka, India. The data was collected from 385 respondents using a structured questionnaire. The responses were analysed using confirmatory factor analysis and multiple regression. Our study shows that impulse buying at the store checkout area is minimal and sporadic for most of the product categories at the checkout. Impulse buying at the checkout is instigated by factors such as store environment, credit card availability, momentary mood, in-store promotion, offers and discounts and large merchandise. The study has important implications for retail stores by emphasising on the choice of merchandise offered for sale at the checkout area. Further, the investigation reveals that Indian shoppers are health-conscious and cautious about their purchase at the checkout rather than being impulsive.

Efficient market hypothesis (EMH) states that financial markets are “informationally efficient”, implying that current prices fully reflect all available information. The present study aims at testing the weak form of market efficiency of the individual stocks listed on the Bahrain Bourse for the period 2011 to 2015. Weak form of EMH is tested using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov goodness of fit test, run test and autocorrelation test. The K-S test result concludes that in general the stock price movement does not follow random walk. The results of the runs test reveals that share prices of seven companies do not follow random walk. Autocorrelation tests reveal that share prices exhibit low to moderate correlation varying from negative to positive values. As the study shows mixed results, it is difficult to conclude the weak form of efficiency of Bahrain Bourse.

Oil export is the major source of revenue for the countries in the Middle East. Their economies are sensitive to fluctuations in oil prices. The present study examines the impact of oil crisis on the performance of selected banks of Kingdom of Bahrain using profitability, efficiency, capital adequacy and liquidity ratios in the pre-crisis and crisis periods. The study reveals that there is no significant difference in the performance of banks in the pre-crisis and crisis period. The results indicate that there is a significant difference in the performance of conventional banks and Islamic banks in the pre-crisis period. However, there is no significant difference in the performance of conventional banks and Islamic banks during the crisis period.

Semi-monthly effect is a kind of calendar anomalies which is less explored in the financial literature. The main objective of this paper to investigate the presence of semi-monthly effect in selected sectoral indices of Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE). The study uses the daily stock returns of five sectoral indices viz S&P BSE Auto Index, S&P BSE Bankex, S&P BSE Consumer Durables Index, S&P BSE FMCG Index and S&P BSE Health Care Index for the period of 10 years starting from 1st April 2007 to 31st March 2017. The data were analyzed using two approaches namely calendar days approach and trading days approach. To test the equality of mean returns for the two halves of the month, Mann-Whitney U test is used. The empirical results of the study did not provide any evidence for the presence of semi-monthly effect in the selected sectoral indices. Nevertheless, BSE Auto Index showed significant difference in the mean returns of first half and second half of trading month during the study period.