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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of culture on religiosity, cosmopolitanism, and ethnocentrism on attitudes towards foreign products, among two religious classes in India. Design/methodology/approach – Quantitative data analysis was employed to attain the above objective. In order to explore the existence of difference between clothing preferences between two religious classes analysis of variance (ANOVA) was employed. It was employed to analyse the difference between group means. Structural equation modelling (SEM) was employed to test the hypothesized paths. SEM was used separately for both the religious classes to explore the possibility of difference between both of them. Before testing the measurement model confirmatory factor analysis was run to test the cleanliness of the measurement items. Data were analysed in two parts A and B. In part A SEM was employed to test the hypotheses developed and in part B ANOVA was used to test the difference between group means. Findings – It was found that both the religious classes were significantly different from each other in their apparel preference. It was also found that the Indians were not collectivist as often labelled in a stereotypical way. Practical implications – The findings of this study would provide useful in-depth knowledge on Indian religious groups for both international and national marketers. The study confirmed that ignoring the diversity of an emerging market and adopting a standardized marketing strategy could prove fatal. It provides better understanding about the cultural diversity and its impact on buying imported products. Such insight should enable marketers, policy makers, and social planners to act more effectively by designing their positioning strategies accordingly. Originality/value – Some unexpected differences was found in individualism and collectivism dimensions and it was also found that the inter-cultural differences between Hindus and Muslims have changed since the original Hofstede data were collected on Hindu and Muslim dominating countries.

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A model is developed to study the eddy current induced in a thin conducting but nonmagnetic plate of finite size when exposed to a time varying magnetic field. The applied field may be uniform or vary in space. This model can accurately estimate the eddy current contour in the plate and loss due to eddy current. Power losses for plates of various dimensions and at different frequencies are calculated to establish the accuracy of the model. We have also calculated the magnetic field generated by the induced eddy current when the plate of finite size is placed between the two parallel poles of a dipole magnet made of magnetic material of very high permeability. The force acting on the plate due to the interaction of the induced eddy current and the applied external field is also calculated. The model can predict the time variation of force and eddy current. The model may be applicable to understand the effect of eddy current on the vacuum chamber of an accelerator. Various other applications, where this model is useful, are also reported. The results are compared against the results obtained by a simulation using a finite element based code. Here the rectangular plate is considered but the model can be applicable for other geometries as well.

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