Faculty & Research

Research Productive

Show result

Search Query :
Area :
Search Query :
2757 items in total found

Working Papers | 2015

Competition Law and the Pharmaceutical Sector in India

Shamim S. Mondal and Viswanath Pingali

The Indian pharmaceutical industry is one of the largest in the world both in terms of volume and value. Given its critical importance, the sector has been subject to a series of regulatory interventions, which have altered the nature of the industry quite significantly. With enacting the Indian competition Act (2002), India has joined the list of countries that has a robust competition regime. The purpose of this chapter is to understand the pharmaceutical sector through the prism of competition law.

Read More

Working Papers | 2015

Does Trade Make Asian Children Healthier?

Vishalkumar Jani and Ravindra H. Dholakia

This paper empirically examines the impact of globalization and international trade on the child health status of the Asian countries. In contrast to previous studies we have introduced the initial level of development and income status that seem to play an important role. We have also checked whether the impact on child health status of trade in services is different from the trade in goods. The fixed effects panel data analysis shows that economic and political globalization have positive impact on the child health status measured by child mortality rates and malnutrition. International trade across all countries has no impact on child health but when different groups of countries classified by their initial levels of income and development are considered, trade shows significant impact on the child health. Further decomposing the trade, trade in services show more positive impact on the child health status than the trade in goods.

Read More

Working Papers | 2015

India's Air Traffic System: Network Topologies, Hierarchies and Evolution

Hans Huber

The paper examines multi-dimensional patterns of network characteristics for scheduled Indian airlines between 2006 and 2014. The well-known skewed traffic distribution which concentrates traffic around relatively few hub airports serves as the starting point for decomposing the air traffic system (ATS) into its constituent route types. Operations of distinct airlines along these route classes allows for classifying carrier's network features as an embedded part of the system. Discussion of the carriers' role in the overall domestic ATS includes a spatial component. Inferences about development paths-past, present, future-of the Indian scheduled ATS can be made.

Read More

Working Papers | 2015

Damages in a Consumer Sale Contract: Reviewing the Consumer Protection Bill, 2015

Akhileshwar Pathak

Consumer protection law rests on the foundations of contract law and the law of sale of goods. A consumer law has to conceptually express this foundation and the modifications it is bringing about in these laws. Without this, the law would become unclear, conflicting and confusing. In this respect, the Consumer Protection Bill, 2015 is not secured in its foundation and needs revision. The paper reviews the rights of the consumer (buyer) to receive damages for breach by the seller. The bill recognises only repair and replacement as damages for the consumer. For claiming other damages, the consumer must establish negligence by the seller. The principle of contract law, to the contrary, is that for every breach, irrespective of the intention or diligence, the seller has to pay damages to the buyer. The bill has mixed up contractual damages with damages under the law of torts. In sale contracts, consequential damages arising from defective goods are readily recognised. The bill should recognise this. The paper, reviewing the law, develops draft provisions on the theme. The draft provisions are in the annexure to the paper.

Read More

Working Papers | 2015

Breaking Free From the Bell Curve: An Alternate Proposition for Performance Management

Shrihari S. Sohani and Biju Varkkey

Performance management processes that follow a Gaussian distribution (bell curve) and focus on past performance rather than a future promise have come under critical focus. Such systems have been found to foster short-term focus among the employees that does not augur well for the competitiveness of the firm. Also, utilising the same rating for determination of rewards as well as finding suitability for the role and vertical mobility has been found to be myopic. Off late, many organisations have done away with the bell curve but the move has raised questions about the alternatives. In this manuscript, we have suggested alternate mechanisms of appraisal that handles reward determination and suitability for promotion through two distinct levers. We also present a case study that enumerates a novel approach to performance management that allows accrual of value for the firm along with incrementing employee motivation and engagement.

Read More

Working Papers | 2015

A Quadratic Programming Formulation of the Equidistant Bi-directional Loop Layout Problem

Diptesh Ghosh

A loop layout is a common layout used in
exible manufacturing. In such a layout, a set of
stations or facilities are to be arranged in a closed loop so that the total cost of
ow between
each pair of facilities is minimized. The most common mathematical programming formulation
of the problem is based on a quadratic assignment formulation. In this paper, we modify that
formulation taking advantage of the structure of the problem.

Read More

Working Papers | 2015

Effect of Legal Issues in Infrastructure Development: The Case of Container Terminal Bids in Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust

G. Raghuram, Prashanth D. Udayakumar, and Richa Prajapati

The Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT) is the largest container port in India, handling about 40% of India's container traffic in 2014-15. JNPT has five container terminals (CT) out of which three have already been operationalised, a standalone CT of 330 metres (m) is partially operationalised and a fourth CT is under construction. While the first CT, Jawaharlal Nehru Port Container Terminal, is operated by JNPT, the other four CTs have been licensed to private operators under public-private partnership mode. The development of the CTs is a case study to understand how various conflicts have been addressed or accentuated by policy makers, legal and regulatory authorities, and the mechanisms used to resolve them. Following a case-based analytical approach, case studies, court judgements, published and unpublished papers, media reports, primary data from discussions, and secondary data have been examined to construct a chronological story of the bids for the five CTs during the twenty five years since the commissioning of the port in 1989. The concessioning of each CT to a private stakeholder involved contentious issues which prompted the authorities to revise policy guidelines periodically to address them. Consequent and prolonged litigation resulted in time and cost overruns. Various issues, like policy formulation, contractual rights versus policy guidelines, strategic risks, monopoly prevention versus scale economies, market risks, effect of elections, leadership changes, security clearances, mutuality and clarity in documentation, that emerged during the bidding processes, have been crystallised as lessons learnt.

Read More

Working Papers | 2015

Design Thinking a Fad or Reality

Ashis Jalote-Parmar

Identity crisis faced by design as a discipline is not new. Richardson's essay The death of the designer states that design is in the midst of a crisis of identity, purpose, responsibility and meaning, and 'The viability of the profession as it is currently practiced needs to be seriously considered, its boundaries examined, and its values reconsidered'. Bremer and Rodgers in their recent article state that design crisis comes from a number of different perspectives, including professional, cultural, technological, and economic forces. The crisis raises several challenges for design education. Empirical evidence is needed to demonstrate design's contribution to the viability of business and national economic development. In an attempt to resolve the design crisis, and take the discipline seriously, this paper defines the construct of design and design thinking. The paper describes new roles for design in addressing emerging global challenges. The paper discusses the lacunas in existing design education systems and the need for change, especially in relation to the requirements of multidisciplinary education.

Read More

Working Papers | 2015

E-Retailing and the Consumer Protection Bill, 2015:
Drawing from the European Union Consumer Directives

Akhileshwar Pathak

E-retailing has exponentially grown in the past decade. Alongside, consumer grievances have also started surfacing. The Consumer Protection Bill, 2015 addresses this by giving the right to the consumer to cancel a consumer contract within 30 days. This is called 'cooling-off'. The provision applies to a sale contract as well as a contract of service. The provision, in its current form, is skeletal, only declaring the right. The right needs to be detailed for it to be functional and effective. The European countries have had laws for more than a decade on 'cooling-off', putting into force the European Union directives on consumer rights. Exploring the European Union directives, the paper explores the basis and principles for 'cooling-off' and develops a draft chapter on 'Distance Contract' for inclusion in the bill. The directives also require the seller to give certain kinds of information and take the responsibility for the safe delivery of the goods to the consumer. The draft chapter develops provisions on these additional themes.

The draft chapter 'Distance Contracts' is in Annexure to the paper.

Read More

Working Papers | 2015

When Culture Governs Business Practice….
A Look at Indian Diamond Cutting and Polishing Industry

Rao Indu

In absence of the well-defined strategy, structure and processes in informal firms in emerging markets, it is the intangible aspect of organizing, specifically, the organizational culture that governs business practices. This paper investigates organizational culture of one such firm of the Indian diamond industry to contribute to this emerging area of scholarship. Today, global value chains are comprised of both formal and informal firms but we know little about the informal firm. Since managers of the formal firms need to interact, negotiate and deal with informal firms to transact global business, they also need to understand the organizational aspects of the informal firm. I make an attempt in this direction to inform scholars and practitioners about the organizational aspects of such firms by investigating organizational culture in the Indian Diamond Industry.

Read More
IIMA