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887 items in total found

Journal Articles | 2018

Robot-storage zone assignment strategies in mobile fulfillment systems

Debjit Roy, Shobhit Nigam, Rene de Koster, I.J.B.F. Adan, and J.A.C. Resing

Transportation Research Part E: Logistics and Transportation Review

The robotic mobile fulfillment system (MFS) is widely used for automating storage pick and pack activities in e-commerce distribution centers. In this system, the items are stored on movable storage shelves, also known as inventory pods, and brought to the order pick stations by robotic drive units. We develop stylized performance evaluation models to analyze both order picking and replenishment processes in a mobile fulfillment system storage zone, based on multi-class closed queueing network models. To analyze robot assignment strategies for multiple storage zones, we develop a two-stage stochastic model. For a single storage zone, we compare dedicated and pooled robot systems for pod retrieval and replenishment. For multiple storage zones, we also analyze the effect of assigning robots to least congested zones on system throughput in comparison to random zone assignment. The models are validated using detailed simulations. For single zones, the expected throughput time for order picking reduces to one-third of its initial value by using pooled robots instead of dedicated robots; however, the expected replenishment time estimate increases up to three times. For multiple zones, we find that robots that are assigned to storage zones with dedicated and shortest queues provide a greater throughput than robots assigned at random to the zones.

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Journal Articles | 2018

From bazaar to Big Bazaar: Environmental influences and service innovation in the evolution of retailing in India, c. 1850-2015

Chinmay Tumbe and Shashank Krishnakumar

Journal of Historical Research in Marketing

Purpose

This paper aims to understand the factors affecting the evolution of retailing in India since the mid-nineteenth century.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper compares the trajectories of four distinct retail stores in India – Spencer’s pan-Indian retailing empire since 1863, Akbarallys’ department store chain in Mumbai since 1897, Apna Bazar’s consumer cooperative chain in Mumbai since 1948 and the Future Group’s pan-Indian retailing chain since the 1980s. Historical sources include firm biographies and newspaper archives.

Findings

This paper proposes a systems theory linking environmental influences and service innovation, to explain the evolution of retailing in India since the mid-nineteenth century. The key environmental influence on retailing has been state patronage – colonialism and high-end department stores until the 1940s, socialism and cooperative stores until the 1980s and liberalisation with restricted foreign direct investment in retailing until 2015 associated with indigenous corporate large retail format stores. Service innovation in terms of home delivery and recreation of the bazaar atmosphere due to norms on gender and community have also interacted to shape individual success in modern retailing and the dominance of small shop retailing over the long run.

Research limitations/implications

This paper questions standard accounts of retailing history in India that began with the late-twentieth century by showing the scale of a pan-Indian retailing chain in the early-twentieth century. It also provides an account of retailers that is missing in the current literature on the history of consumption in India.

Practical implications

Findings of this study will be useful to marketing professionals and teachers who wish to learn more about the history of retailing in India. It also shows how retailers navigated changes in the regulatory and business environment.

Originality/value

Through a comparative study, this paper outlines the environmental influences on retail formats and service innovation strategies that are required to serve the Indian market. It also brings to fore the significance of retailing chains in colonial India.

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Journal Articles | 2018

The four eras of "marketing" in twentieth century India

Chinmay Tumbe and Isha Ralli

Journal of Historical Research in Marketing

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to understand the evolution of “marketing” in the public and corporate discourse of twentieth-century India.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper draws its inferences from an analysis of the digital Times of India and Financial Times historical newspaper databases, the corporate archives of two leading Mumbai-based firms – Godrej in consumer goods and Cipla in pharmaceuticals and oral histories of marketing managers.

Findings

The paper identifies four eras of “marketing” in twentieth-century India. Era I (1910-1940) saw the emergence of agricultural “marketing boards” and “marketing officers” in the public sector and the growth of Indian and multinational advertising agencies. Era II (1940-1970) witnessed the formation of management and advertising associations and business schools with close involvement of American players. In Era III (1970-1990), there was a paradigm shift as “marketing” grew in corporate discourse and firms began to employ “marketing managers” in “marketing departments”. Era IV (1990-till date) witnessed the explosion of “marketing” in public and corporate discourse alongside the consumption boom in India. The paper shows how “marketing” evolved separately in the public and private sectors and in different phases as compared to that in the West.

Research limitations/implications

This paper overturns conventional wisdom on marketing history in India, which has so far discounted its significance before 1960 or accorded primary significance to the 1990s’ economic liberalisation programme.

Practical implications

Findings of this study will be useful to marketing professionals and teachers who wish to learn more about the history of marketing in India.

Originality/value

The paper uses unexplored archival material and provides the first account on the evolution of “marketing” in public and corporate discourse in twentieth-century India.

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Journal Articles | 2018

Changes in the executive bonus payment patterns in India between 2008-16: Some evidences

Biju Varkkey, Rupa Korde, and Sunny Wadhwaniya

Compensation and Benefits Review

This article provides a brief overview of the trends in bonus payment to executives in India. Using data from the voluntary web based survey of Paycheck India, which is a part of WageIndicator Foundation, this article analyzes the trends in five types of bonuses, viz., performance, end-of-year, festival, profit-share and others, from 2008 to 2016, across public and private sectors and four types of industries, viz., manufacturing and construction; trade, transport and hospitality; commercial services; and public sector, health care and education. The results suggest that performance bonus is the most popular type of bonus, while profit-share is the least popular. However, from 2008 to 2016, the shares of all types of bonuses in both sectors (Public and Private) and all industries have been declining, and in most of the large industries and firms, bonuses in terms of cash payments are now restricted to fewer executives.

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Journal Articles | 2018

Minimum wages in India: Current status and future prospects

Biju Varkkey and Rupa Korde

Policy in Focus

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Journal Articles | 2018

Turning over a golden leaf? Global liquidity and emerging market central bank's demand for gold after the financial crisis

Balagopal Gopalakrishnan and Sanket Mohapatra

Journal of International Financial Markets, Institutions and Money

The quantity of gold reserves held by central banks in emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs) has risen sharply in the years following the global financial crisis of 2008. EMDE central banks’ gold holdings rose in both absolute terms and as a share of GDP across the developing regions and in most of the EMDE countries, suggesting a pervasive phenomenon. Using a dynamic panel data model, we find that expansion of central bank balance sheets in the advanced economies and increase in global liquidity are robustly related to the post-crisis increase in EMDE gold reserves, after controlling for domestic factors and changes in the global risk environment. This finding is robust to different model specifications, inclusion of additional covariates, and alternative estimation methods. We argue that quantitative easing undertaken by central banks in the advanced economies resulted in a search for alternative safe assets such as gold, which may explain the continued accumulation of EMDE gold reserves even after the peak of the financial crisis.

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Journal Articles | 2018

Disparity in the wages of agricultural labourers in India: An interval-valued data analysis

B.S.Yashavanth and Arnab Kumar Laha

Indian Journal of Agricultural Sciences

This study explores the interval-valued data analysis techniques to witness the spatial disparity in the wage rates of farm labourers in India. Farm labourers constitute more than half of the total workforce engaged in Indian agriculture. Also, farmers' expenses towards labour charges account for more than 50 per cent of the total variable cost of production for most crops.Using the time series data on the nominal farm wage rates paid at different agriculturally important states, the interval-valued series are built. The inflation-adjusted real wage rates are found and both nominal and real wage rate data are used to find the average range of the farm wage rates over the agricultural years for a decade. Using the time series analysis techniques, viz. autoregressive integrated moving average-artificial neural network (ARIMA-ANN) hybrid model and vector autoregressive moving average (VARMA) model, the interval-valued data on nominal wage rates are modelled and the best model for forecasting is identified using forecast evaluation methods. The results established the presence of spatial disparity and the forecasts indicated that this disparity is not going to narrow down in future unless some policy intervention takes place. © 2018 Indian Council of Agricultural Research. All rights reserved.

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Journal Articles | 2018

Stewardship value of income statement classification: An empirical examination

Avinash Arya and Neerav Nagar

Journal of Accounting, Auditing & Finance

This study investigates the use of earnings components in setting CEO compensation and explores how persistence and controllability affect it. The results indicate that compensation committees do accord differential treatment to earnings components based on their persistence and controllability. Among above the line items, income from continuing items, the most persistent item, also receives the most weight, followed by special items, which have smaller persistence. Furthermore, these weights vary across firms in different stages of life cycle in a manner that mirrors variations in their informativeness and persistence. Weights on special items also exhibit contextual sensitivity based on their type and frequency. Among below the line items, discontinued items, which are at least under partial control of the CEO, receive a positive weight. Except extraordinary items, which are largely uncontrollable, we find no evidence that CEOs are shielded from the income-decreasing effects of any of the earnings components.

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Journal Articles | 2018

Fairness in franchisor-franchisee relationship: An integrative perspective

Ateeque Shaikh, Dheeraj Sharma, Akshaya Vijayalakshmi, and Rama Shankar Yadav

Journal of Business & Industrial Marketing

Purpose

This paper aims to elucidate and extend the concept of power and fairness in the context of franchisor–franchisee relationship.

Design/methodology/approach

On the basis of Dul and Hak’s (2007) recommendations, the conceptual model is developed from closely related domains (e.g. channel relationship) using pertinent theories. On the basis of this comprehensive analysis, new propositions about fairness in a franchisee–franchisor context are drawn. The primary purpose of this research is to conceptually and theoretically further the understanding of antecedents and consequences of fairness in a franchisor–franchisee relationship context by proffering a framework. Finally, this study examines the concept of fairness of its antecedents and moderators that have received scant attention in the context of franchising research.

Findings

This study contends that non-coercive power is perceived fairly. Also, coercive power that is legitimate is perceived fairly. However, coercive power that is illegitimate can be detrimental to relationships between franchisee and franchisor. Furthermore, a franchisee who perceives the relationship to be fair is likely to place more trust in relationship, is more satisfied with relationship and is less likely to be opportunistic. Finally, the study contends that these relationship outcomes are dependent on the franchisee’s personality traits.

Research limitations/implications

One major limitation of this study is that the propositions have not been empirically tested. However, this paper cites several business cases that have been used to support the propositions proffered in the study. Our conceptual model supported by previous theoretical findings and industry cases suggests that it is important to focus on social dimensions along with economic costs of a franchisor–franchisee relationship. Future researchers may empirically examine the relationships posited in this study by using the primary industry data.

Originality/value

This paper takes a comprehensive view of various social constructs affecting a franchisor–franchisee relationship. It also highlights the role of individual personality factors in a franchisor–franchisee relationship, extends prior work on relational dimensions from channels to the franchising context and provides managerial conclusions.

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Journal Articles | 2018

Foot-march: Large-scale mobilization for a public cause or a tool for fanning political ambition.

Astha Agarwalla, Ishu Gupta, and Ankur Sarin

Journal of Public Affairs

We present the case of an awareness campaign, strategically crafted by a local student political leader, based on a national level policy for urban poor and marginalized, in the city of Ahmedabad in India. The campaign, designed in the form of a foot-march, was aimed at mobilizing the urban poor, but with a clear ambition of gaining visibility for political mileage. This study reinforces that the mediation role taken up by local leaders transcends the traditional policymaking, in democracies with blurred boundaries between the state and citizens. Further, in local governance structures, with weak participatory spaces for the poor, foot-marches have the potential to become an extended invited participatory space.

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