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Trimster was a premium men’s personal care e-commerce start-up founded in 2015. In India, where trust deficit was a primary reason for the failure of new brands, most customers preferred cash on delivery (COD) modes of payment. Companies, however, preferred prepaid orders not only because they guaranteed the customer’s intent to purchase but also because COD orders were much more likely to result in returns that would take a heavy toll on Trimster’s reverse logistics costs, reducing the company’s profit margins and leaving less money for the company to invest in marketing to acquire new customers. In an increasingly competitive market, Trimster’s senior vice president of sales and marketing needed to decide on the best payment modes to pursue in order for the company to achieve sustainable growth.

Trimster was a premium men's personal care e-commerce start-up founded in 2015. In India, where trust deficit was a primary reason for the failure of new brands, most customers preferred cash on delivery (COD) modes of payment. Companies, however, preferred prepaid orders not only because they guaranteed the customer's intent to purchase but also because COD orders were much more likely to result in returns that would take a heavy toll on Trimster's reverse logistics costs, reducing the company's profit margins and leaving less money for the company to invest in marketing to acquire new customers. In an increasingly competitive market, Trimster's senior vice president of sales and marketing needed to decide on the best payment modes to pursue in order for the company to achieve sustainable growth.

Alliances have become a core component of many firms' strategy, but they are often characterized by a high level of instability that can lead to failure. Ambiguity is an intrinsic aspect of strategic alliances and effective management of it determines how well the partners are able to make the alliance work. Alliances are subject to three types of ambiguity-partner, interaction, and evaluative-that are important at different stages of alliance evolution. Partner-related ambiguity is most prevalent at the formation stage of the alliance, interaction ambiguity at the operational stage, and evaluative ambiguity at the outcome stage. This article examines the mechanisms by which firms can best manage these different types of ambiguity to achieve a successful alliance.

This article outlines the way in which Indians negotiate and highlights the difficulties that such a style may pose for North Americans. It begins by describing some dominant Indian cultural values, and subsequently assesses their impact on the Indian negotiating style. The coexistence of individualism and collectivism, an idealistic mind, a strong nationalistic sentiment, a subjective view of time, and the presence of a hierarchical culture constitute dominant cultural values that have resulted in a complex and highly imaginative Indian negotiator. Implications for Western corporations include the presence of drawn out negotiations, the growing importance of maintaining social relationships, accepting that contractual obligations have less sanctity in India, and finally dealing with a perception of fairness that is relatively more outcome based. The article also explores the possible strategies that North American managers may employ in their interactions with Indians. By being patient but firm, working with the Indian's high aspiration levels rather than against it, recognizing the virtues of flexibility, inducing Indian negotiators to behave differently by being less aggressive, and accepting that negotiated agreements may not be implemented in a timely way, North American negotiators can successfully operate in the Indian business environment.