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2757 items in total found

Working Papers | 2005

Determinants of Entry in the Indian Manufacturing Sector

Rakesh Basant and Subhendra Nath Saha

Since 1991, the Indian economy has experienced major structural and policy changes. These changes were expected to reduce barriers to entry and increase competition. While anecdotal evidence seems to support the contention that contestability of various product markets in India has increased in recent years, due to easier entry conditions, no study has attempted a detailed empirical analysis of the same. In exploring the determinants of entry, two specific contributions are made: one, heterogeneity of potential entrants is recognized; two, appropriate econometric techniques are used for estimating the relationships. In the context of the emerging needs to study determinants of entry in the current Indian context and the research gaps, the study (1) identifies key factors that determine entry into the Indian manufacturing sector; (2) explores the difference in the factors that determine entry of different types of entrants and different modes of entry; and shows that it is analytically useful to distinguish between the impact of various causal factors on the incidence vis-à-vis extent of entry into a sector. While achieving the above objectives, the paper provides insights that will be useful for policy makers and managers designing strategies for incumbents and potential entrants.

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Working Papers | 2004

Revisiting the Concept and Classification of Distribution Service Outputs

Lievens Annouk, Haes Joeri De, Piyush Kumar Sinha, Waterschoot Walter Van, and Burt Steve

Distribution service outputs structurally play a pivotal role in retail and channel management. This paper critically assesses the nature of Bucklin's classic formulation, which is concerned with numerically expressible economic benefits resulting from the execution of the distribution function, within a perfectly operating economic channel. It is distinguished from post-classic extensions which provide alternative multi-functional or institutional approaches. The paper captures both approaches in a generic higher-order customer value scheme, which also redefines and broadens the traditional economic customer benefits. The proposed generic framework also extends to any marketing subfield, and provides the potential for more focussed theoretical and empirical research.

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Working Papers | 2004

Empirical Assessment of Coherence in Information Technology Firms

D. Karthik and Rakesh Basant

Coherence is the ability to discover new-potentially profitable-combinations of various types of knowledge assets where complementarity is the basis for relevant combinations. Assets are considered complementary if doing (more of) any one of them increases the returns to doing (more of) others. Despite its strategic importance, few studies have addressed the issue of coherence in the Information Technology (IT) industry. This paper develops a novel methodology assess the extent of complementarity and coherence in the IT firms grounded in 'sensemaking', evolutionary economics, and strategic management. This paper uses managerial perspective for defining businesses. Managers and IT experts identify a typical IT firm based on the dimensions of applications (verticals) and specializations (service lines). Another feature of this paper is the use of survivor principle for assessing complementarity. The results on complementarity suggest that in case of applications, the boundaries between Transport & Ports and Airlines & Railways are getting blurred and these could become a generic combination. Similarly, in case of specializations Software maintenance migration and RDBMS, Datawarehousing & Datamining could become a generic combination. The results also suggest that there is substantial scope for improvement in coherence in both applications and specializations. Analysis of coherence also indicates greater fungibility of knowledge in applications than knowledge in specializations. Another finding is that the IT firms retain coherence with large number of applications but not with large number of specializations. Finally, as the number of applications and specializations reach a critical limit, the average coherence shows a definite decline.

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Working Papers | 2004

Towards a Unified Market for Trading Gilts in India

Jayanth R. Varma

A Working Group of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) under the chairmanship of Dr. R. H. Patil has recommended that Indian government securities should be traded in two separate and segregated markets. Banks and primary dealers are to trade on an anonymous electronic screen based order matching trading system - a monopoly exchange based on the Negotiated Dealing System (NDS) owned by the RBI. Households, pension and provident funds and most other investors are proposed to be relegated to a separate segregated market driven by compulsory market making. The Patil Report also recommends that the RBI should indulge in systematic market manipulation in the NDS to reduce the borrowing cost of the government. This paper argues for a reconsideration of most elements of this design. Government securities are a unique asset class to which all Indians should have non discriminatory access. Segregated markets are unacceptable. Nor are monopolies desirable since intense competition is the principal mechanism for fostering innovation and investor protection. Market manipulation is unacceptable in any financial market even if this manipulation is performed by the state itself. Moreover market manipulation to reduce interest rates would reintroduce financial repression through the back door and would reverse the principal success of the financial sector reforms initiated in 1991. The paper proposes an alternative design for the government securities market and also a new regulatory architecture. Unified markets, non discriminatory access to all classes of investors, intense competition and investor protection are the key elements of the proposed design.

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Working Papers | 2004

Incentive Outlay Ratios in Fast Moving Consumer Goods Sector

Vyas Preeta H

Inflationary trends in economy have led to increased media costs, forcing many companies to increased expenditure on sales promotion activities. It has been recognized that well-planned sales promotion activities have a strategic role to play in brand building and enhancing customer loyalty. This study examines the nature of schemes offered in the FMCG(fast moving consumer goods) category, to find out ratio of incentive and outlay (which the consumer is expected to make to avail sales promotion offers), explore the relationships, find out the rationale behind these offers, and provide guidelines to managers designing sales promotion activities. Eight different product categories were selected for the study. Information on actual offers made in these categories in a quarter was compiled and tabulated through content analysis in terms of brand, MRP(maximum retail price), offer(size of the incentive offered), nature of the scheme, pack being promoted, and outlay. Variations in I/O(incentive-outlay) ratios across product categories revealed that the non-food category exhibited more variations than the food category.The level of incentive in the nonfood category was higher than that of the food category , 0.33(33percent) was the most frequently offered level of incentive, Bonus pack followed by free gift and price offs were the popular tools used across product categories , Except for toilet soaps, in other categories medium to large pack was promoted more often. The findings suggest that managers need to be creative to create an impact , otherwise consumers would tend to be less loyal to any brand in a category and drift from one promoted brand to another. Several propositions generated in this research need to be addressed in future research. Factors to be considered and managerial issues concerning the design are also discussed.

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Working Papers | 2004

An exploratory study of international marketing in India: Indian firms, multinationals and their competitiveness

Prathap Oburai

Indian firms are more international than ever before. Internationalisation drives and export orientation are prominent in the organisational strategies of a number of leading Indian firms and multinationals located in India. This is a significant indicator of the growing competitiveness of firms, industries and the nation. This paper examines the sources of competitive advantages in a few chosen sectors, selected firms, and explores the internationalisation possibilities and potential. Internationalisation is a varied process and allows multiple strategies (Baker 1985) and a variety of associated operational capabilities. We investigate the international marketing strategies adopted in twelve different business sectors in India in an attempt to explore and explain the similarities and differences found in this varied set of industries. The examples span the old economy industries such as the assembly and manufacturing enterprises that are both skill and capital intensive, and also the new economy sectors that are information intensive. Our study identifies several elements of international marketing strategies that may have the potential to affect business outcomes across sectors. Marketers can leverage this understanding in designing and implementing international marketing strategies by paying appropriate attention to important dimensions in order to achieve desired outcomes. Our study may prove to be helpful to businesses in making strategic and operational decisions concerning configuring their product and service portfolios to suit the markets they operate in and the new markets may have plans to enter.

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Working Papers | 2004

Is India's Federal Debt Sustainable? - Revisiting an Old Debate

Karan Navendu, Ravindra H. Dholakia, and T. T. Ram Mohan

That India faces a 'fiscal crisis' has been a recurrent refrain of the literature on India's economic reforms. Indeed a central objective of the reforms process, one that has proved elusive so far, is the reduction in the fiscal deficit of the central government. The supposed intractability of the fiscal problem has provided the motivation for the passage of the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act in 2003 that commits the government to targets for the fiscal and revenue deficits. We revisit the proposition that India's debt problem is unsustainable in light of the recently changed outlook for growth and interest rates. Using a decomposition model, we separate out the effects on the fiscal deficit of growth and government behaviour in the past. We find that if recent government behaviour were to continue, the Indian economy would to achieve a growth rate of 6.5 per cent in the coming years, something that seems eminently achievable. Next, positing a nominal growth rate of 11 per cent (or a real growth rate of 6.1 per cent) in the coming years and making suitable assumptions about revenue buoyancy and other receipts, we empirically estimate the growth in primary expenditure that would be permissible. We find that no deceleration in primary expenditure is required if we assume a revenue buoyancy of 1 or above. We compare our optimistic projections with the sombre estimates of the Kelkar Task Force and find that our estimates differ from KTF's because the KTF report postulates much higher levels of debt than we do. Clearly, we need a consensus on what India's debt position today is. Nevertheless, our analysis does suggest that assessments of the sustainability of India's debt have not adequately factored in the changed outlook for growth and interest rates.

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Working Papers | 2004

On the representation of the One Machine Sequencing Problem in the Shifting Bottleneck Heuristic

Saral Mukherjee and Chalterjee A K

The Shilling Bottleneck heuristic decomposes the Job Shop problem into a series of One Machine Sequencing Problems (OMSPs) with release and due dates, precedence constraints and the minimization of maximum lateness objective. It is well known that delayed precedence constraints may exist between two operations to be performed on the same machine. We identify a new type of precedence constraint that may exist in an OMSP between the predecessor of an operation and the successor of another. The premise that an OMSP captures the sequencing relationships on other machines in the release and due date information is not valid when such precedence constraints exist. A modification of the OMSP representation is proposed based on a generalized lateness objective defined on a due window. The implications of such a representation for the OMSP solution procedure have been explored.

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Working Papers | 2004

Community at the Core: A Study of Sarvodaya Nano Finance Limited

Akhileshwar Pathak and Sriram M S

The paper traces the evolution of Sarvodaya Nano Finance Limited (SNFL). At the outset we explore the background of SNFL, the motivation for the promoters to set up the organisation and how it has grown from the time it was taken over by the community trusts promoted by ASSEFA. As a part of the study, we examine the unique legal structure set up for federating the small SHGs that were widely spread out in the areas of its operation. The idea of federating the SHGs was to leverage the dispersed savings and interest earned on the initial donor resources that were made available to the SHGs at their early stages. The aggregation of these dispersed resources into SNFL enables the women SHGs to mobilise funds from commercial banks and specialised MFI lenders, for an accelerated growth of the movement. The paper examines the rationale for having this structure, its vulnerabilities and the possibilities for growth within the given structure. We argue that this is not a structure that can be replicated easily. We also argue that it cannot grow aggressively in the long run, unless some basic design changes are made. The paper also discusses the basic question on how to structure resources that are given by the donor community for the larger benefit of the poor; and when to bring in the individual stakes of the beneficiaries if one were to promote long lasting institutions. The paper also raises critical questions on governance and management. While appreciating the impressive result achieved by ASSEFA and BASIX in getting a community owned professionally managed institution into being, it also raises questions on whether there are inbuilt mechanisms of carrying forward this effectively in future-given the structuring of capital and rights of each of the constituents.

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Working Papers | 2004

Disputes and dispute resolution: the effect of union density on employee intention to quit-the Indian scenario

Rai Himanshu

A review of the existing literature suggests that employees in unionized workplaces have significantly more voice mechanisms present than in non-unionized workplaces. In India, historically, the trade unions have played the role of an agent of social and economic changes, protecting and enhancing the interest of its members and trying to squeeze more and more out of managements through bargaining or conflict. Unions protect workers directly from arbitrary discipline while providing management with a means of managing the work force that does not call on the use of overt sanctions since industrial action performed an additional voice function. It is observed that meaningful and lasting employee participation occurs only when the union has sufficient power to induce the management to forgo some of its traditional prerogatives; the union and management share a vision of how participation could serve the interests of both the parties; and when the union has substantial institutional security. Presence of a powerful collective bargaining machinery and proactive communication between the management and the unions not only minimises the grievances but also promotes healthy industrial relations. Workers have a reduced capacity to initiate issues and articulate grievances in the non-unionized workplaces and they enjoy comparatively less benefits than their unionized counterparts. While workers joined unions because they thought unions could protect them against victimization, secure the wage increases, and ensure job security and improved conditions of work, on the other hand, in the absence of unions, employees may not raise disputes because of fear of victimization, fear of being branded disloyal to the organization, and fear of reprisals by the management. Based on the literature review and analysis, a framework linking union density, employee prolificacy to raise disputes, management propensity to make decisions unilaterally, and workers intention to quit has been suggested.

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