In today's competitive environment, customer loyalty is an important strategic option. This can be achieved by providing better quality of service. It brings a competitive advantage to the firms. The various parameters like reliability, responsiveness, completeness, access, courtesy, personal interaction, credibility, security and physical appearance contribute to service quality. Against this backdrop, Ranjith P V and Rajesh Nair, in the paper, "A Comparative Study of Service Quality of D'Mart and Apna Bazaar", have studied the difference between two retail outlets in terms of service quality provided. It is observed from the study that personal interaction followed by the look of the outlets play a vital role in choosing an outlet. Based on the results, the paper concludes that D'Mart is better than Apna Bazaar in ensuring service quality.

To gain and sustain competitive advantages in the fast changing retail banking industry in India, it is crucial for private banks to understand what customers perceive to be the key dimensions of service quality and its impact on customers' attitudinal loyalty. The paper "Influence of Service Quality on Attitudinal Loyalty in Private Retail Banking: An Empirical Study", by S Arun Kumar, B Tamil Mani, S Mahalingam and M Vanjikovan, examines the importance of perceived service quality dimensions of Indian private banks dealing with retail banking. The statistical analyses of the survey reveal interesting findings about the service quality dimensions preferred by retail banking customers. The results suggest that the factors of responsiveness and reliability of service quality dimensions determine customer satisfaction more than assurance, empathy and tangible aspects.

Footwear is an important accessory of dressing, which defines the dignity of an individual. There is a wide variety of footwear patterns, one among them being shoes. There is a wide choice to choose from shoes in terms of brand, price and quality. Different factors are taken into consideration while purchasing shoes. Soumya Saha, Munmun Dey and Sumanta Bhattacharyya, in the paper, "Factors Affecting Consumer Buying Behavior of Shoes in Kolkata: A Case Study", analyze the factors influencing the purchase decision of shoes by consumers. According to this study, quality and durability are found to be important factors in purchasing shoes.

With the advent of globalization, a plethora of opportunities has been opened in international markets for Indian business. This paves the way for exporting goods to various destinations by different means of transportation. One such method of exporting is through shipping agents. The shipping agents are facing various problems due to lack of infrastructure facilities and government regulations. In this context, the paper, "A Demographic Study of Problems Faced by Indian Shipping Agents with Special Reference to Indore", by Shefali Tiwari and Shuchi Khandelwal, attempts to understand the level of perception of problems by employees of various intermediaries/shipping agents. It has been observed that one sure way is to better the learning curve, i.e., the experienced employees handle the problem in a better way than the inexperienced ones. Neither the position of the employee nor the qualification does have any significance in handling the problems.

Small Scale Industries (SSIs) play a vital role in the socioeconomic development of the country. They significantly contribute to the overall growth in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), employment generation and exports. Human resources are very crucial to any organization. No organization accomplishes its goal without competent personnel. Industrial history reveals that SSIs are handled by non-professionals, most of them being family-owned businesses and they lack awareness about the human resources practices. Rajiv B Khaire, in the paper, "Understanding the Awareness of Human Resource Practices in Nagpur SSIs: An Empirical Study", aims at dislodging these myths. It is concluded from the study that most SSIs are not aware of the different current facets of HR.

-- K Rajanath
Consulting Editor