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Journal Articles | 2024

Engaging customers and suppliers for environmental sustainability: Investigating the drivers and the effects on firm performance

Amalesh Sharma, Sourav Bikash Borah, Tanjum Haque, Anirban Adhikary

While firms engage stakeholders in their sustainability practices to contribute to a better world resiliently and responsibly, little is known about what drives their ability to generate customer engagement (CE) and supplier engagement (SE) for sustainability purposes. This paper identifies, theorizes, and empirically validates the differential roles of board oversight and incentivization, along with contingencies (a chief marketing officer’s (CMO) presence and governance disclosure), in driving CE and SE. Using data from 308 firms, the paper finds that while board oversight and incentivization positively affect CE, only incentivization positively affects SE. The paper also finds significant moderation effects of CMO presence and governance disclosure. Through multiple post hoc analyses, the paper explores how CE and SE influence firm performance. The paper provides a nuanced understanding of incentive types’ effects and contributes to the literature on grand challenges connecting firms’ strategies and sustainability objectives to customer and supplier engagement.

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Working Papers | 2024

Re-evaluating Corporate Purpose: A Critical Assessment of the Indian Stakeholder Governance Framework through a Historical and Comparative Analysis

M P Ram Mohan and Astha Pandey

In the last century, the meaning and interpretation of the purpose of the corporation has undergone a succession of ideological shifts. Corporate purpose has become the prime focus of wide-ranging debates over the shareholder primacy versus the stakeholder primacy conceptualization of the corporation. While this debate is not new, in recent times, stakeholderism and its enduring viability as a theory of the corporation has gained considerable traction. At the same time, shareholder primacy and its explanatory power as a valid theory of contemporary organizations is being increasingly questioned. The current Indian legal and regulatory framework governing corporate purpose embodies stakeholderism. In sharp contrast to this, the Anglo-American corporate law framework can be characterized as predominantly shareholder-centric. This article seeks to contribute to contemporary discourse on the theorization of corporations by evaluating the stakeholder-oriented corporate purpose framework adopted by India. In doing this, it examines the historical trajectory of the doctrine of corporate purpose in the U.S., the U.K. and India. This comparative analysis provides an opportunity for enhancing discussions on corporate purpose in comparative corporate governance scholarship given the common law heritage of these jurisdictions and the differences between them in terms of ownership patterns, governance structures and philosophies that have guided their experience with corporate purpose. Broadly, this article makes the following arguments: (i) tracing the evolution of corporate purpose demonstrates that there is a need for its re-evaluation; and (ii) despite adopting the pluralistic form of stakeholder governance, the Indian framework governing corporate purpose is lacking in certain fundamental aspects. The article also proposes certain areas for further scholarly investigation to inform the re-evaluation of corporate purpose and the direction of comparative corporate governance scholarship.

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Working Papers | 2024

The Supreme Court of India's Use of Inherent Power under Article 142 of the Constitution: An Empirical Study

M P Ram Mohan, Sriram Prasad, Vijay V Venkitesh, Sai Muralidhar & Jacob P Alex

The Constitution of India under Article 142 grants the Supreme Court of India with broad inherent powers to do complete justice. The contours of this inherent power and what it means to achieve complete justice were left to the Supreme Court to determine itself. In this paper, we empirically examine all the Supreme Court cases from its inception in 1950 till 2023 which use the term "Article 142" or "Complete Justice" We found 1579 cases, which were then hand-coding for many variables such as the nature of the case, where the case was appealed from, the temporal distribution, the laws involved, the nature of the issue, the judges involved, among others. The paper examines when and how the Supreme Court wields its inherent powers, generating various insights and exploring trends.

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Working Papers | 2024

Multi-Duty Structures in India’s Gold Import Policies: Evidence of blatant flaws using Trade data of 2023-24

Sundarvalli Narayanaswami and Anumeha Saxena

Policy initiatives to manage gold imports in India have historically relied on the use of customs duty. However, the presence of a multi-duty structure essentially offers gold traders a legal channel to re-route imports with little risk of punitive action. In this paper, we present multiple instances from FY 2023-24 where importers have significantly exploited these loopholes to import at lower rates. We also observe that exhaustive identification of alternative routes that traders can potentially exploit is infeasible. Reactive interventions to curb the traders taking advantage of the loopholes or gaps in policies are also not helpful in the long run. Traders are quick enough to snoop out the best possible channels to maximize their outcomes, which systemically leads to uneven playing fields for different types of traders. Subsequently, we show that the use of multiple taxation structures as a tool to contain Current Account Deficit (CAD) and to facilitate a level-playing market for importers of various sizes, in-fact is counter-effective. Traders are able to quickly discover more loopholes and are able to legally increase their import volumes at lesser imports duty. The current multi-duty structures to manage gold imports and in turn, India’s current account deficit, continue to be weak. To curb such unintended discounts and imports arbitrage in the domestic gold market, it is recommended that a single import duty is levied on all variants of the precious metal.

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Working Papers | 2024

An Empirical Analysis of ‘Scandalous’ and ‘Obscene’ Trade Marks in India

M P Ram Mohan, Aditya Gupta and Vijay V Venkitesh

Morality-based restrictions on trademarks have gained widespread acceptance since their statutory recognition in 1875, appearing in the domestic statutory language of 163 out of 164 WTO member states. Building upon earlier conceptual work, this study empirically examines the administration of India's iteration of moral-based trademark limitations, which prohibit the registration of scandalous or obscene marks. Expanding on a prior anecdotal and purposive study, the authors create a novel dataset to analyze the implementation of the provision. The dataset examines 1.6 million trademark examination reports filed between 2018-2022. Through auto-coding, the authors identify 140 applications objected for containing scandalous or obscene matter. A systematic analysis classifies the objections into three categories - those concurrently raising relative and absolute grounds of refusal, successful circumvention of morality objections through ambiguity, and an alarming lack of objections for potentially offensive marks. The findings provide empirical evidence in the administration of morality-based proscriptions in India.

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Working Papers | 2024

The price of honesty: Indian firms’ response to stringent disclosure regulations

Shubhankar Mishra

Using a regulation implemented by SEBI in November 2016 as an exogeneous shock, I test whether firms with bad quality of information disclosures attempt to conceal firm-specific information when faced with a business environment marked with heightened disclosure quality requirement mandated by law for the CRAs. Specifically, the study empirically attempts to analyze whether regulation is sufficient to create a separating equilibrium, in terms of the quality of disclosures to CRAs by firms. I find a statistically significant decrease in number of security issuances and number of CRAs bad type firms engage with, as well as an increase in the number of security downgrades that they suffer in the post-regulation environment. However, the decrease in number of issues is weakened if the firm is listed, has high proportion of independent directors in its board or gets its statements audited by a Big 4 auditor, all of which signal that the firm is of a good type. These findings indicate that bad type firms strategically chose to reduce their issuances and initiate new firm-CRA relationships after the regulation to conceal their firm type, but they weren’t successful in escaping from the suffering for long.

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Working Papers | 2024

Health Shocks, Risk Aversion, and Consumption Choices: Evidence from Household Intoxicant Spending in India During COVID-19

Bharat Barik

This study delves into the nuanced relationship between heightened health awareness amid the COVID-19 pandemic with household intoxicant consumption patterns in India. The central hypothesis posits the pandemic as a transformative shock, shaping both health awareness and intoxicant consumption, guided by risk aversion. Analysis using a difference-in-differences approach underscores a substantial reduction in intoxicant expenditures for households without health insurance compared to households with health insurance during the pandemic, with specific categories like cigarettes, tobacco and liquor expenditure experiencing a drop for uninsured households. In rural areas households lacking health insurance exhibit a notable reduction in intoxicant expenditures than the rural areas. This study contributes to the understanding of economic and behavioural responses to health crises, offering valuable insights into the complex interplay between risk perception, health awareness, and consumption choices in challenging times.

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Working Papers | 2024

Global Supply Chain Vulnerabilities: Assessing Firm Risk, Environmental Commitments, and Information Channels in the wake of COVID-19

Huzaifa Shamsi

This study investigates the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on firm risk, focusing on supply chain disruptions and their spillover effects on environmental commitments. The research highlights the crucial role of information channels in mitigating these challenges. Employing a Difference-in-Differences (DiD) regression design, the findings reveal a significant increase in default probability among US-incorporated firms with heightened foreign relationships post-COVID-19, particularly those connected to Chinese supply chains. Additionally, firms with foreign relationships show a decline in environmental commitments, suggesting prioritization of survival during adversity. Notably, companies with robust information channels with industry peers exhibit resilience against supply chain disruptions.

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Journal Articles | 2023

Assessment of marketing channel choice and its impacts: The case of paddy smallholders in India

Sonalee Chauhan, Poornima Varma, Sukhpal Singh

Market access for smallholders is a key policy issue in developing economies. However, smallholders often face barriers in accessing remunerative marketing channels. Combining the theoretical framework drawn from resource-based view, social exchange, and transaction cost theory, we jointly estimate the determinants of marketing channel choice and the impact of channel choice in a joint framework. Results show that households’ resource endowments and social capital influence channel selection decision. Paddy sales through government agencies help farmers realize higher prices because of the higher government support prices and proximity to farms, whereas sales through licensed traders operating in the regulated markets (APMC) results in reduced paddy prices due to high transportation costs. Furthermore, smallholders preferring government agencies, processors, and licensed traders over village traders realize greater farm income. Reasons for such findings can be deduced to be the result of low marketable surplus for smallholders selling to village traders.

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Journal Articles | 2023

Can biofuels help achieve sustainable development goals in India? A systematic review

Prantika Das, Chandan Kumar Jha, Satyam Saxena, Ranjan Kumar Ghosh

Biofuels are expected to play a pivotal role in developing economies' transition towards net-zero emissions. However, their promotion can cause multifaceted sustainability concerns. National biofuel policies often align with the optimistic discourse surrounding biofuels but may lack comprehensive measures to simultaneously address all sustainability risks. This study conducts a systematic review to evaluate the sustainability performance of biofuels and examines their implications for advancing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A total of 12 sustainability indicators were identified as economic, social, and environmental priorities. Biofuel linkages with 8 SDGs, 21 targets, and 22 indicators were mapped. The analysis revealed a wider coverage of sustainability impacts associated with biodiesel compared to ethanol feedstocks for India. Notably, the sustainability effects of biofuels exhibited considerable variability across different spatial scales. Irrespective of the biofuel types, negative sustainability outcomes were found to be associated with socio-economic indicators related to food security, livelihood, and income, and environmental indicators like land use. Positive sustainability effects were observed for environmental indicators like water and soil quality, biodiversity, and ecosystem services. The study identifies policy gaps in addressing localized adverse effects of biofuels, emphasizing the need to align biofuel strategies with SDGs for more comprehensive and sustainable biofuel development in developing countries.

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IIMA