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Working Papers | 2008

Indo-US Trade in Wheat and Mango: A Game-Theoretic Approach to SPS Standards

Satish Y. Deodhar and Siddhartha K. Rastogi

The gradual elimination of quotas and tariffs from international agricultural trade has given way to non-tariff barriers such as the SPS measures. SPS standards are mostly based solely on agro-biological scientific evidence. However, over-cautiousness in standard setting may lead to trade distortions and lower welfare. We summarise various approaches used to study SPS restrictions, propose a game theoretic approach to assess strategic interaction between two trading partners, and juxtapose the cost-benefit analysis to estimate payoffs of the game. As a topical application of the proposed approach, we pick up the case of potential Indo-US trade in mangoes and wheat. Estimates of the payoffs, which are the net changes in welfare, would suggest whether or not complete ban is justifiable in terms of economic welfare, and, what levels of SPS restrictions may be optimal.

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Working Papers | 2008

Modeling and Simulation of Condensation on Plastic Condenser Cooling under Night Sky

Girja Sharan and T. Madhavan

The Kutch region of north-west India is hot and semiarid, chronically short of drinking water. Dew forms frequently in the areas near the coast, over a span of eight-month (October- May) coinciding with the entire dry part of the year. Dew water is potable and safe. Dew harvest systems - devices to condense and collect dew - have been developed which could be installed on building roofs (condenser-on-roof), open ground (condenser-on-ground) and on frames (condenser-on-frames). The key component is the condenser, made of thin plastic film insulated underneath, which cools at night by radiative exchange with cloud-free sky. Condensation occurs when the film cools to or below the dew point of the surrounding air and humidity level is high - upwards of 85%. Over the season of eight months, 15-20 mm of dew water can be harvested. In this region where rainfall is very erratic and in normal years only 300 mm, harvested dew water can be an appreciable supplement. It can also be a small but critical supply for plants in nurseries. Design principle of efficient dew condenser is discussed and dew water collection in some recently installed working systems reported.

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Working Papers | 2008

Maternal Health Situation in India: A Case Study

Kranti S Vora, Dileep Mavalankar, K. V. Ramani, Mudita Upadhaya, and Bharati Sharma

Maternal Health Services are one of the basic health services to be provided by nay government health system as pregnant women are one of the most vulnerable victims of dysfunctional health system, India, in spite of rapid economic progress is still farm away from the goal of lowering maternal mortality to less than 100 per 100,000 live births. It still accounts for 25.7% maternal deaths. The maternal mortality in India varies across the states. Geographical vastness and socio-cultural diversity make implementation of health sector reforms a difficult task. The chapter analyses the trends in maternal mortality and various maternal health programs implemented over the years including the maternal health care delivery system at various levels including the recent innovative strategies. It also identifies the reasons for limited success in maternal health and suggests measures to improve the current maternal health situation. It recommends improvement in maternal death reporting, evidence based, focused, long term strategy along with effective monitoring of implementation for improving Maternal Health situation. It also stress the need for regulation of private sector and proper Public Private Partnership (PPP) policy together with a strong political will for improving Maternal Health.

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Working Papers | 2008

The Changing Role of Auxiliary Nurse Midwife (ANM) in India: Implications for Maternal and Child Health (MCH)

Dileep Mavalankar and Vora Kranti

The world's democracy and its second most populous country, India was the first developing country to have a national family planning program and has implemented countrywide reproductive health programs such as RCH I. India's primary health care and the family planning programs have come a long way after the independence in improving health indicators in general, yet it has high material and under five mortality rates. The country has developed an extensive network of primary health centers and sub- to provide basic medical care to huge (80%) rural population. In the rural health care system, the ANM is the key field level functionary who interacts directly with the community and has been the central focus of all the reproductive child health programs. In contrast with resident ANM of sixties who was providing delivery and basic curative services to the community, today's commuting multi purpose worker is more involved in family planning and preventive services. This has implications on the implementation and coutcomes of maternal health programs in rural India. The midwifery role of the ANM should be restored if the goal of dcreasing maternal mortality has to be met. The priority will have to change from family planning immunization to comprehensive reproductive health including maternal and neonatal care. These changes will require sustained and careful planning/resource allocation. Increasing resources along with systemic reforms will improve health status for women and children who are the focus of Reproductive Child Health programs.

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Working Papers | 2008

Motivations, Capability Handicaps and Firm Responses in the Early Phase of Internationalization from Emerging Economies: A study in the Indian Pharmaceutical Industry

M. R. Dixit and Yadav Sudhir

This paper identifies and analyses the motivations, capability handicaps and responses of a sample of Indian pharmaceutical firms in the early phase of internationalization. It distinguishes between the experiences of two types of internationalisers -initial internationalisers and later internationalisers - in the industry. It argues that the initial internationalisers face several discontinuities vis-a-vis the experience of meeting the needs of domestic market. They need to cultivate new capabilities by leveraging on whatever is available within the firms and the external environment. Their capability to cultivate depends on their internal processes to absorb the new experiences. The later internationalisers do not experience these handicaps. They can benefit from the industry experience and congregate capabilities to move faster. Their capability to congregate depends on the initial endowments of the founders. Based on its findings, the paper outlines scope for further research in capability building for internationalization in the context of emerging economies.

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Working Papers | 2008

Quality Perceptions of Private Label Brands: Conceptual Framework and Agenda for Research

Abhishek and Abraham Koshy

Private Label brands had seen an impressive growth in past few decades. Though, initially private label brands had a low-priced strategy, retailers made efforts for serious quality improvements in recent years. However, they have continued to suffer from poor quality perceptions. Previous research dealing with quality perceptions of store brands did not adequately examine the ways to improve the quality perceptions of private label brands. The paper examines how retailers can influence the quality perceptions for private label brands by providing additional information cues to the customers. The nature of additional information cues may have differential impact on quality perceptions of private label brands vis-à-vis national brands. The paper proposes extrinsic high scope cues-in form of manufacturer's name and public quality label-to improve the quality perceptions of private label brands. Furthermore, the familiarity of the product may influence the quality perceptions, consequently influencing the purchase decision. The paper also proposes differential impact of information cues across different product categories on quality perceptions of private label brands.

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Working Papers | 2008

Issues and Constrains in Manpower Supply in Indian Hospitality Industry

Subbarao Srinivas P

By the very nature of tourism as a service industry, its efficient management and successful operation depend largely on the quality of manpower. In India, the shortage of skilled manpower poses a major threat to the overall development of tourism. In particular, the rapid expansion of hotels of an international standard in India is creating a high level of demand for skilled and experienced staff. The nature of the decisions facing hotel management is continually expanding. For their business to remain competitive, managers must be skilful in many diverse areas. Tourism statistics reveal that both domestic and foreign tourism are on a robust growth path. This growth will need to be serviced by a substantial increase in infrastructure, including air-road, rail connectivity as well as hotels and restaurants The availability of skilled and trained manpower is a crucial element in the successful long-term development and sustainability of a tourist destination. Skilled and trained human resources will ensure the delivery of efficient, high-quality service to visitors, which is a direct and visible element of a successful tourism product. High standards of service are particularly important in sustaining long-term growth, since success as a tourist destination is determined not only by price competitiveness or the range of attractions available, but also by the quality of the services provided, there by the qualified human capital. This paper elaborates the issues and constrains relating to demand and supply of manpower in hospitality industry and also suggested the recommendations to fill the gap.

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Working Papers | 2008

Access of Poor Households to Primary Education in Rural India

Ravindra H. Dholakia and Shreekant Iyengar

The Planning Commission's premise that the growth in India has bypassed the weaker sections due to their ineffective access to the basic services like primary education needs to be tested against the evidence. Traditionally identified weaker section on social criteria (SC and ST population) seems to have a similar or relatively better access to the primary education. However, there is no direct evidence available for the weaker section on the economic criteria or the population living below poverty line (BPL). The present paper attempts to provide an empirical evidence for the premise of the Planning Commission from the household survey of BPL families in five states of India including the survey of primary schools for the same states and localities. Our findings suggest that there is a problem of access of the poor (BPL) households to the primary education services in rural areas. Primary enrolment ratios among the children of poor households are considerably lower than the respective state average and also the aggregate enrolment ratio of the country. Our findings also reveal that the incentives such as mid-day meals, free textbooks and cash subsidies given by government schools to the poor children do actually reach them. The problem of insufficient effective access of the poor to primary education still persists. It calls for a change in the policy level thinking. Qualitative aspects like school infrastructural deficiencies and functioning of teachers having a direct bearing on the quality and access of education in the rural areas need urgent attention.

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Working Papers | 2008

FDI and Human Capital Development

Subbarao Srinivas P

FDI has considered a major catalyst in promoting sustainable development in developing countries. FDI has the potential to generate employment, raise productivity, transfer skills and technology, increased income, enhance exports and contribute to the long-term economic development of the world's developing countries. The investing countries usually supply superior technologies to the host countries. At the initial stages, however, the less developed countries (LDC) lack not only the necessary skills and infrastructure to attract FDI in high technology sector but also the knowledge for proper implementation of technology. Since this requires less technical capabilities, skill building in the host LDC is less. However, such skill building, even though small, creates a platform for the LDC to develop their existing technology and capital productivity. This helps in improving the human capital of the country by facilitating education and technical training to a greater mass of people. Eventually, with the development of the economy the country moves from the subsistence level to the point where the dependence on FDI gradually shifts from mere manufacturing level to the managerial level of a company. At this point of time, the LDC should aim at attracting effective FDI. By effective FDI, we mean the FDI that is development friendly-FDI that fosters not only growth of the nation, but also growth and development of each resident of the country. In other words, effective FDI indulges in enhancement of human capital of the country. The growth of an economy can sustain only though the growth of an increasing, economically productive labor force. This paper explains importance of human capital skilling, the relation between the FDI and Human Capital development besides the experiences of these two in different regions of the world i.e., Asian and Latin American experiences.

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Working Papers | 2008

A Unified Theory of Capability Building: Need and Response

M. R. Dixit, Amit Karna, and Sunil Sharma

Strategy literature is replete with isolated contributions to the jigsaw puzzle of building capabilities by firms. The isolation is primarily caused by the way resource-based view and capability literature has developed over time. There is a need to overcome this isolation and build a unified theory of capability building process which takes into account both internal as well as external perspective and explains it for new as well as established firms, successful as well as not so successful firms . We respond to this need with a unified theory that explains deliberate and emergent process of capability building by recognizing the independent and interdependent contributions of the firm and its external environment. The capability building process is characterized as a three phased process with different starting points for different categories of firms. The phases in capability building-Participative, Competitive, and Leadership-reflect the strategic intent of the firm and its position vis-à-vis the environment. Each phase in the process witnesses capability building through an interaction between internal firm dynamics and corresponding external environmental forces. The theory encompasses the evolution of capabilities not only by exploiting the opportunities but also by overcoming the external constraints and the rigidities inherent in the capability. It incorporates context, processes, antecedents and consequences within each stage and across different stages. It answers important questions like why firms are different in terms of their capability building approach. The theory is unique as it unearths the unexplored process of capability building with a holistic and temporal perspective.

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