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The role of technology in customer-company interactions and the number of technology-based products and services have been growing rapidly. Although these developments have benefited customers, there is also evidence of increasing customer frustration in dealing with technology-based systems. Drawing on insights from the extant literature and extensive qualitative research on customer reactions to technology, this article first proposes the construct of technology readiness of people and discusses its conceptualization. It then describes a program of research that was undertaken to operationalize the construct, develop and refine a multiple-item scale to measure it, and assess the scale's psychometric properties. The article concludes with a discussion of potential practical applications of the scale and an agenda for additional research aimed at deepening our understanding of technology's role in marketing to and serving customers.

Drawing on insights from the extant service‐quality literature (which is dominated by an end‐consumer focus), this paper examines customer service in business‐to‐business markets. It first presents a typology of seller‐customer links and discusses the domain of customer service in business‐to‐business contexts. It then develops a research agenda by identifying a variety of issues pertaining to the scope, measurement, and potential impact of customer service in such contexts. It is hoped that this agenda will stimulate further discussion on the role of customer service in business and industrial marketing, and motivate much‐needed research on this topic.

The Central and State Governments in India have actively
intervened in redefining land use pattern, often to the detriment of the
peasant cultivators. In most situations, the real beneficiaries were the
speculators, developers, builders, bureaucrats, and the planning and
executing body. The case of New Bombay is a classic example of state
intervention that completely redefined the relationship between land and
peasant-cultivators. The New Bombay project acquired large amounts of
agricultural and saltpan land from peasants in 95 villages for meagre
cash compensation. The objective of the paper is to trace the origin of
the idea-for the creation of New Bombay and a port to attract people and
industry so as to decongest Bombay-and assess the condition of peasants
who had lost land to the project. The study shows that the port, like
most other modem industrial projects, seriously undermined the economic
position of a large number of households. The small and marginal farmers
and the fishermen were seriously affected due to others' land
acquisition and their own loss of access to the sea, as well as denial
of employment in the project. The project also failed to assess the
skills and capacities of the affected people and facilitate them to
engage in alternative productive activities. Women were productively
engaged in agriculture, saltpan- and fishing-related activities in the
affected villages. The loss of land and access to the sea have led to a
greater degree of pauperisation of women, and increasingly confined them
to the margins of the labour market.

Attentional factors can influence user interaction with automated and semiautomated monitoring systems. Three aspects of human-computer monitoring are considered in this paper: (1) vigilance effects in complex monitoring tasks, (2) factors influencing optimal combination of human and computer monitors, and (3) effects of increased automation on the relationship between mental workload and vigilance. Results of laboratory and simulation studies suggest that vigilance effects can limit performance in complex monitoring tasks. Performance deficits may occur because of either vigilance decrement over time or sustained low levels of vigilance. However, the specific factors that influence sustained performance with complex displays have not been identified precisely. Computer assistance to enhance performance is feasible but may not be effective in all cases. Performance gain is dependent on several factors, including the decision rule for combining human and computer decisions and the level of mental workload imposed on the human monitor. Finally, in assessing the impact of increased automation the beneficial effects on mental workload have to be traded off against possible adverse effects on vigilance. The implications of these factors for the design of automated monitoring systems are discussed.