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Working Papers | 1994

A Note on Cost Monotonic Group Decision Mechanisms

Lahiri Somdeb

In this paper we study the problem of project selection as a group decision making problem and obtain a characterization of cost monotonic group decision mechanism. We furnish two examples of cost monotonic group decision mechanisms – the egalitarian mechanism and the egalitarian equivalent mechanism. The latter is shown to belong to the core of the group decision making problem. In the process of defining an egalitarian equivalent mechanisms we invoke the concept of a composite public good.

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Working Papers | 1994

Financial Sector Reform: Institutional and Technological Imperatives

Samir K. Barua and Jayanth R. Varma

This paper takes the view that financial sector reform is not only a matter of jettisoning old regulations nor even merely a matter of prudential regulation accompanying structural deregulation; it is intimately bound up with institutional and technological issues. On the basis of a detailed analysis of the stock market, debt market and the banking system the paper demonstrates the need for major institutional and technological changes in the Indian financial sector in order to face the challenges posed by liberalization and rapid growth. In our view, the government and regulatory authorities have an important role in facilitating this modernization. Not only should regulatory hindrances be removed, but there should be a positive bias in favour of change. We do believe that changes would take place even without regulatory support, but we also believe that regulatory intervention could hasten the process and make it less painful. This is because the technology is characterized by large externalities and often requires action at the industry level.

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Working Papers | 1994

Determining Lags in Export Supply Function in India

Ravindra H. Dholakia and Peru Muthu

This paper considers a partial adjustment model of the export supply function in Indian economy at the aggregate level. A minimum of one month and a maximum of 12 months is considered as the plausible range of the length of lags in exports supply in India with respect to both the independent variables – domestic production and real effective exchange rate. Instead of the distributed lag model, a specific lag in the two independent variables is simultaneously considered in the paper. Different lags in the two variables would yield alternative models for export supply in India. Since the methodology based on nested model is not likely to work efficiently in such cases, an alternative procedure is suggested here to select the most appropriate model which amounts to determining the lengths of the lags in the two independent variables in the export supply function. The paper uses monthly data on Indian exports and other variables for the period January 1982 to July 1993. It appears from the selected model that in Indian economy export supply response lags by 12 months with respect to domestic production and 5 months with respect to real effective exchange rate changes. The extra-sample forecast accuracy of the elasticity of export supply with respect to exchange rate changes before 5 months are 0.52 in the short run and 1.11 in the long run. It is hoped that the suggested method in the present paper is likely to work more efficiently than the nested model method of selecting the most appropriate regression model whenever a choice has to be made from among a set of highly collinear alternative independent variables.

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Working Papers | 1994

Shifts in Choice Problems

Lahiri Somdeb

In this paper we consider choice problems which are bounded both above and below and provide a new axiomatic characterization of the equal loss choice function. We subsequently turn to a study of various properties implied by shifts in the choice problem, one of which was used in characterizing the equal loss solution. Then we characterize rational choice behavour when a decision maker is confronted with a choice problem. Finally we turn to an axiomatic characterization of a particular rationalizable choice function – the utilitarian choice function – using a shift invariance property.

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Working Papers | 1994

Technology Development in the Indian Foundry Industry: A Case of Choked Potential

Ramanarayan S

1174 The paper presents the results of a field study covering 25 foundries and 5 institutions involved in education, consultancy, and R&D in the foundry sector. The field study was supplemented by interviews with foundry experts in the country and a review of the literature on the Indian foundry industry. This report is an attempt to integrate the different ideas and view obtained from these sources on technology management in the Indian foundry industry. The paper begins with a brief history of the industry and its present form, size, and structure. It, then, presents a brief summary of a study of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research on the technology status in the Indian ferrous foundry industry. This is followed by a description of some of the key institutions concerned with technology development in the foundry sector and the problems faced by them. In the following two sections, the factors blocking technological learning and the factors contributing to technological upgradation are discussed. The report ends with a short summary and some concluding observations.

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Working Papers | 1994

Leaders in Action: Some Illustrations and Inferences

Ramanarayan S and Rao Ram Mohan

Cases of six outstanding organizational helmsmen who had successfully built up and nurtured enduring organizations form the leit-motif of this essay. These organizations are: the Oberoi chain of hotels built up to dizzying heights by Rai Bahadur Mohan Singh Oberio; the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad, nurtured by Ravi John Mathai to a pride of place in higher education; the Ahmedabad Textile Industry's Research Association founded by Vikram Sarabhai as a unique industry-sponsored technology institution; Ralegaon Siddhi transformed by ex-army man Anna Hazare; the eucalyptus plantation movement inspired by Vinayak Rao Patil; and the SBI monolith as the prime mover of development banking under the stewardship of R.K.Talwar. following the glimpses of the organizations and the work of six leaders, the paper attempts to understand their role in a theoretical perspective distilling from disparate leadership conceptions and abstractions of John Kotter (distinction between leadership and management), Ake Philips (the intensity of purpose animating the leaders to act as “souls of fire”). Sooklal (leaders as “brokers of dreams”) Roger Harrison (leadership as involving creation of not only passion but also harmony) and Richard de Charms (notion of “origins” and “pawns”). The paper highlights the centrality of institution building in perpetuating the continuity of the best and the brightest of approaches, practices and norms initiated by them. The lasting tribute to leaders is that the culture, institutions and practices set in motion by them persist long after their own departure from the organizational scene. Whereas these organizations move on the imprints of these leaders continue to animate them.

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Working Papers | 1994

Existence of a Pareto Optimal Equal Loss Allocation in Pure Distribution Problems

Lahiri Somdeb

In this paper we show, that for a large class of pure distribution problems, embedded in a very general framework, a Pareto optimal equal loss allocation exists.

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Working Papers | 1994

Institution Building: Intrepreneurship in Academe

Thomas P S

Somehow, manufacturing doesn't seem to grow naturally into a potential field of distinction for IIMA as other areas an uphill struggle. During the 1980s, the author found himself informally engaged in precisely such an effort. While much has been achieved there is still a long way to go before IIMA becomes synonymous with industrial management. The author's purpose is to look back and recount those incidents from his personal experience as a research associates at IIMA from the mid-70s onwards to which some present day situations vis-à-vis “industrial management” can be traced. Among these are the origins of manufacturing policy and Japanese management, including just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing at IIMA. The visit of Harvard University President Derek C.Bok at the time of IIM's Silver Jubilee celebrations is also touched upon. The author concludes by pointing to a need to change the concept of the Institute and to strike a balance between the teaching of placement friendly courses and those such as manufacturing where management innovations are rife. The challenge is to plant the seeds of a synthesis in PGP so as to reap benefits in MDPs, research and even consulting.

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Working Papers | 1994

A Note on Axiomatic Characterization of the Nash Bargaining Solutions

Lahiri Somdeb

In this paper, to begin with we present a generalization of the independence of irrelevant expansions assumption to the situation with an arbitrary yet finite number of players, and with the help of a comparatively simpler proof than the one suggested by Thomas (19981), we uniquely characterize the Nash bargaining solution. In a recent paper, Lahiri (1993) introduces the concept of a shift for bargaining problems. A shift for a bargaining problem amounts to a displacement of the origin to a point in the nonnegative orthant of a finite dimensional Euclidean space (in which the bargaining problem is defined) so as to reduce the original problem to a new one consisting only of those points that weakly Pareto dominate the new origin. A characterization of Nash bargaining solution is also obtained in this paper using a convexity assumption. A related version of this convexity assumption and a similar characterization theorem can be found in Chun and Thomson (1990) and Peters (1992). An intermediate property used in the latter characterization called localization, which can be found in Peters (1992) is similar in spirit to the independence of irrelevant alternatives assumption. We also obtain a characterization of the Nash solution, by relaxing this localization property and invoking Pareto continuity.

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Working Papers | 1994

Malaysias Privatisation Programme

Dholakia Bakul H and Ravindra H. Dholakia

Malaysia is among the first few developing countries that launched a large scale programme of privatisation of public enterprises. Malaysia's experience of formulating and implementing the privatisation programme is generally hailed as a success story. An attempt has been made in this paper to examine success story. An attempt has been made in this paper to examine various aspects of Malaysia's privatisation programme, such as the objectives of privatisation policy, methods of privatisation, issues in implementation of privatisation programme and the impact of privatisation programme on the Malaysian economy.

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