Home Menu
icon-menu-close.svg

Faculty & Research

Faculty & Research

Research Productive

Show result

Clear
Search Query :
Area :
Search Query :
2761 items in total found

Working Papers | 2011

An Exploration into Technological Capabilities among early stage Indian product based Telecom start-ups

Prageet Aeron and Rekha Jain

New technology based start-ups play a very important role in developing the economy of a country. In India, telecom sector has seen unprecedented growth over the last decade and this has led to emergence of several telecom related start-ups. However, product based B2B start-ups are rare and existing ones have to undergo several challenges in commercializing. Surprisingly not much research work has been undertaken in identifying capabilities among early stage start-ups although the early phase represents a very crucial phase for product based firms and has been known to determine the success or failure for start-ups. Present study explores the technological capabilities that enable commercialization among such early stage start-ups by adopting a multiple case (four independent cases) based inductive methodology with Indian telecom start-ups as the context. We have identified architectural design, algorithmic implementation and product adaptation as components of technological capability of such start-ups. We further drill in to each of the sub-components of the technological capabilities to unearth their antecedents and peculiarities in telecom product company context. As a result we also present a classification scheme for studying the product architecture in the telecom context. We analyze and point out differences in technological capability among telecom start-ups vis-à-vis established firms in the sector .

Go to link
Read More

Working Papers | 2011

Evolution of Technological Capabilities: A study of Indian products based Telecom start-up firms

Prageet Aeron and Rekha Jain

New technology based start-ups play a very important role in developing the economy of a country. However, product based B2B start-ups in India are rare and existing ones have to undergo several challenges in commercializing. Present study explores the evolution of technological capabilities that enable commercialization among such early stage start-ups by adopting a multiple case based (four independent start-ups) inductive methodology with Indian telecom start-ups as the context. We have identified architectural design, algorithmic implementation and product adaptation as components of technological capability of such start-ups. We explore the link between knowledge acquisition, telecom specific knowledge and capability evolution in present work in a regulated and knowledge intensive context. Finally, we put forth a three stage framework mapping the evolution of technological capabilities among telecom start-ups, as well as identify regulatory bodies, standard making bodies and social network as facilitators in the capability evolution process.

Go to link
Read More

Working Papers | 2011

Identification of Marketing Capabilities: A study on Indian product based B2B Telecom start-ups

Prageet Aeron and Rekha Jain

New technology based start-ups play a very important role in developing the economy of a country. In India telecom sector has seen unprecedented growth over the decade and this has led to emergence of several telecom related start-ups. However, product based B2Bstart-ups are still rare and they have to undergo several challenges to stay afloat. Surprisingly not much research work has been undertaken in identifying capabilities among early stage start-ups although the early phase represents a very crucial phase for product based firms and in determines the success or failure for start-ups. Present study explores the inherent marketing capabilities that enable commercialization among such early stage start-ups by adopting a multiple case based inductive methodology with Indian telecom start-ups as our context. We have identified market orientation, positioning and segmentation, selling and after sales services as components of marketing capability of such start-ups. We also identify several idiosyncrasies among telecom start-ups vis-à-vis established firms in the sector. Fina lly we make a case for policy level intervention to promote telecom start-ups in the Indian context.

Go to link
Read More

Working Papers | 2011

Opportunity Recognition in High Tech and Regulatory Environment: A study of product based Indian Telecom start-ups

Prageet Aeron and Rekha Jain

Opportunity recognition forms the first step of entrepreneurship. Off late entrepreneurship research has looked at opportunity recognition from varied lenses with entrepreneurial learning forming the core of most scholarly work. However opportunity recognition in high tech sectors is slightly different due to a high component of knowledge intensiveness inherent in such sectors and has been largely ignored in most work. So, we explore a specific high tech sector in the paper to understand and further the existing concepts within opportunity recognition process. We choose the Indian telecom sector as the context of the study and using an inductive case based approach arrive at conceptual combination as the dominant form of idea generation. The regulatory environment was found to acts as an enabler for the new ideas to flourish. We also bring in the idea of dynamic customization as the driving force behind the venture akin to symbiotic relationship present between organisms in the nature.

Go to link
Read More

Working Papers | 2011

A Framework of Project Risk Management for the Underground Corridor Construction of Metro Rail

Sarkar Debasis and Goutam Dutta

In this paper, we discuss a method of measurement of project risk, based on the expected value method (EVM). Project risk management primarily comprises cost and schedule uncertainties and risks associated with each activity of the project network. We have identified the major risk sources and quantified the risks in terms of likelihood, impact and severity in a complex infrastructure project for the construction of an underground corridor for metro railways. A case study of the underground metro corridor in the capital city of an emerging economic nation of South Asia has been considered for this research work. The methodology for this work was the response from the experts associated and involved in this and other similar projects in metro rail. The risk analysis for the determination of risk cost, risk time, expected cost and expected time of the project has been carried out by the expected value method. Based on this study we find that the project cost overrun and time overrun can be about 22.5 % and 23.4 % respectively, if we use the expected value method.

Go to link
Read More

Working Papers | 2011

Back to the Drawing Board: Exploring Gestalts of Work Design in BPO Firms

Kirti Sharda

This paper formulates a conceptual framework that proposes that certain work designs could contribute to better organizational performance within a sample of outsourcing firms. It explores this proposition using data collected from 60 outsourcing firms across India through survey and semi-structured interviews using principal components factor analysis, wards minimum variance method and K-means cluster analysis, four dominant patterns or gestalts of outsourcing firms are identified, namely, involvement, directed intervention, embedded control and containment.

This research makes some important contributions towards understanding outsourcing firms. It demonstrates that work designs can take a variety of forms. While involvement and containment designs have been studied in prior literature, two new work designs emerge, namely, directed intervention and embedded control. This paper also contributes to the academic realm. It follows research precedents set in general organizational literature, but which have not been used in the context of outsourcing firms. Just as the theoretical foundation of this study draws from the areas of outsourcing, organization theory and strategic human resource management, so also can the findings of this study be used in research in these disciplines.

Go to link
Read More

Working Papers | 2011

Status of Common Service Center Program in India: Issues, Challenges and Emerging Practices for Rollout

Rajanish Dass and Atashi Bhattacherjee

The Common Service Centre is a 1.2 billion USD initiative by the Government of India. It is an integral pillar of the Government's National e-governance Plan. The project was started in the year 2004 with the vision to develop these centres as the front-end delivery points for government, private and social sector services to rural citizens of India in an integrated manner. However as on 31st May, 2010, six years after the initiation of the project, only about 50 percent of the States had reported success in achieving 70 percent rollout status of these centres. Even the successful States were being plagued by issues which were hindering the operation and threatening the sustainability of these centres.

In this paper we have discussed the current status of implementation of the CSCs across the nation and the pertinent issues that are being faced by the various stakeholders in the project. It was interesting to find out that though the country wise rollout had not yet reached the cent percent mark there were some states that were doing well, compared to others, despite the fact that some of these failing states were the first to initiate the exercise.We have also conducted field studies in the states of Jharkhand,Uttar Pradesh and Meghalaya in order to understand the ground level issues and challenges hampering the implementation of these centres. This paper is an attempt to understand the various challenges and bottlenecks that are being faced in making these common service centres sustainable. Given that the CSCs are designed to provide the last mile linkage to G2C and B2C services, the importance and impact of these centres are immense and the program has the potential to overturn the issues related to accessibility that pulls back the sizeable percentage of the populace. It is however, noteworthy that these perceived benefits to the citizens from this project can only be accrued when these centres are operational. Thus it becomes imperative to study the factors that are hindering the setting up and the functioning of these centres. The study also reveals that there was lack of fool-proof planning at the government's end in terms of having no structured framework for roll out and no risk mitigation plan in place for a project of this dimension. Moreover, the study shows that there has been a substantial evolution in the business model (based on PPP) that was being used initially across various states in the country to a business model (based on PPP) that is emerging to be more successful and sustainable than what was initially planned for.

Go to link
Read More

Working Papers | 2011

Adoption of Mobile Financial Services among Rural Under-Banked

Rajanish Dass and Sujoy Pal

During the last decade, there has been tremendous growth in mobile penetration in many countries across the globe and most interestingly in a number of developing countries. On the other hand around, half of the world's population is deprived of banking and financial services. This paper is based on a study that was aimed to identify drivers and inhibitors for adoption of MFS among the rural under-banked population and to compare the same with that of the existing studies. During the study, an extensive review of literature was conducted to identify the factors that were studied and found significantly affecting the adoption of mobile financial services. This was followed by an exploratory qualitative research conducted among the rural under-banked population of three distinct states in India. The findings of the study indicate that the demand for banking and financial services and the amount of hardships faced in availing these services through the existing channels of delivery can act as strong drivers for MFS adoption among the rural under-banked. On the other hand, factors like lack of trust on technology and lack of technology readiness were found to act as barriers to the adoption of MFS.

Go to link
Read More

Working Papers | 2011

Emergence of Informal Sector Firms in International Business

Rao Indu

This paper highlights the emergence of Informal Sector Firms (ISFs) in international business. Due to increasing size and significance of the informal economy in the global context (particularly emerging markets), we attempt to understand the characteristics and relevance of the ISFs. The globally distributed diamond industry thrives in the atmosphere of secrecy and informality that envelops the diamond trade and has for long been labeled as an unorganized sector of the world economy. However, it resembles a close-knit community, composed of thousands of informal sector firms (ISFs) which exports cut and polished diamonds worth USD 20 billion annually while the collective output of ISFs in an emerging economy (India) enjoys a 95 percent market share of net global exports. It is suggested that due to lack of formal systems, ISFs may be largely influenced by their societal cultures which in turn plays a role in the internationalization of ISFs.

Go to link
Read More

Working Papers | 2011

Co-mingling Contrasting Institutional Logics: Exploring the Dialectics of Institutional Change through an Indian-based ES Implementation

George Kandathil, Sue Newell, and Erica Wagner

In this paper we explore how the implementation of an Enterprise System (ES) is related to organizational change, using an institutional theory lens. Our paper responds to institutional theorists' recent calls to first, better understand the ways in which macro, field-level logics of action are framed and applied in micro practices within an organization and second, to understand how material objects contribute to institutional stability and change. We do this through the interpretive exploration of a rich case study of an ES implementation in India. This is an ideal case to examine because the institutional logic inscribed in the ES is developed within one organizational field, but is applied in a very different organizational field, thus allowing us to explore the macro-micro dynamics as well as the role of technology as a carrier and stabilizer of institutional structures and practices.

Read More
IIMA