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Journal Articles | 2018

When the big one came: A natural experiment on demand shock and market structure in India's Influenza Vaccine markets

Arzi Adbi, Chirantan Chatterjee, Matej Drev, and Anant Mishra

Production and Operations Management

This study examines the relationship between exogenous demand shock and market structure in India's influenza vaccine markets. Using a novel dataset of detailed purchasing information for vaccines in India, and exploiting the 2009–10 global H1N1 pandemic as an exogenous demand shock, we provide evidence of heterogeneous responses to the shock by domestic and multinational vaccine manufacturers in the influenza vaccine market relative to our control group of all other vaccine markets. We find that such a shock results in a reversal of the market structure for influenza vaccines in India, with a decline in the market share of multinational vaccine manufacturers and significant gains in the market share of domestic vaccine manufacturers. This reversal of the market structure is driven by increased efforts at new product introduction among domestic vaccine manufacturers, the effects of which persist even after the pandemic has ended. Our results remain robust to the use of alternative controls, synthetic control method, coarsened exact matching method, and other relevant estimation methodologies. These results provide new evidence on the role of a pandemic-induced demand shock in the context of an emerging economy by creating differential incentives for domestic and multinational vaccine manufacturers to bring new products to market. We also conduct additional analysis to explore the impact of targeted policy instruments on the new product introduction efforts of domestic vaccine manufacturers. Finally, we discuss the implications of our findings and offer insights into the role of policy on pandemic preparedness in emerging markets facing adverse welfare effects from pandemics.

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Journal Articles | 2018

All aboard the Metro rail? LTMRHL's campaign for stakeholder support

Asha Kaul and Vidhi Chaudhri

Asian Case Research Journal

On March 6, 2015 the Brand Ambassador campaign by L&T Metro Rail Hyderabad Ltd. (LTMRHL) had taken place for a little over two years. Launched in 2013 to bring about awareness and dispel negativity about the Metro Rail project, this campaign had succeeded in securing visibility and garnering support. The corporate communication team was now debating the feasibility of the ongoing campaign and exploring various options. Based on the current review, a decision had to be taken to continue or abandon the campaign post commercial operations scheduled in July 2017.

The campaign was launched in Hyderabad on January 8, 2013 through a press conference. Designed with the purpose of selecting brand ambassadors for the Hyderabad Metro Rail (HMR) project, it targeted the ‘common man’ rather than a celebrity. The choice of a common man was deliberate as the project required support from stakeholders who had become hostile due to varied political and economic reasons. Reaching out to and engaging with these stakeholders in an effort to garner support were the focal points of the campaign. The launch generated excitement and in the first week itself, there was a surge to register for the campaign. However, the intensity staggered post the felicitation ceremony on November 23, 2013. Queries related to the success and sustainability of the campaign were raised by multiple stakeholders.

A two-year review in 2015 revealed that although many of the initial problems had been overcome, and negativity considerably reduced, the campaign had only achieved partial success. Will the current strategy be the gateway to success once commercial operations began, mulled Mr. Sanjay Kapoor, General Manager & Head of Corporate Communications, PR & Advertising Business, LTMRHL.

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Journal Articles | 2018

How can mindfulness enhance moral reasoning? An examination using business school students

Ashish Pandey, Rajesh Chandwani, and Ajinkya Navare

Business Ethics: A European Review

Given the comprehensive influence of mindfulness on human thought and behavior, and the importance of moral reasoning in business decisions, we examine the role of mindfulness as an antecedent to moral reasoning through two studies. In Study 1, we propose and test a theoretically derived model that links mindfulness and moral reasoning, mediated by compassion and egocentric bias using a survey design. In Study 2, we examine whether mindfulness training enhances moral reasoning using an experimental design with graduate students of business management. The findings of Study 1 substantiate the positive association of mindfulness with moral reasoning. We found that this relationship is fully mediated by compassion and egocentric bias. The results of Study 2 suggest that mindfulness meditation training has a positive impact on individuals' states of mindfulness, compassion, and moral reasoning, and decreases egocentric bias. We relate the findings of the study with contemporary neurological research and discuss the theoretical, pedagogical, and managerial implications.

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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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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

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

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

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

Convex preference cone-based approach for many objective optimization problems

Ankur Sarin, Pekka Malo, and Markku Kallio

Computers and operations Research

Many objective optimization problems have turned out to be a considerable challenge for evolutionary algorithms due to the difficulty of finding and visualizing high-dimensional Pareto frontiers. Fortunately, however, the task can be simplified whenever an interaction with a human decision maker is possible. Instead of finding the entire Pareto frontier, the evolutionary search can be guided to the parts of the space that are most relevant for the decision maker. In this paper, we propose an interactive method for solving many objective optimization problems. Drawing on the recent developments in multiple criteria decision making, we introduce an effective strategy for leveraging polyhedral preference cones within an evolutionary algorithm. The approach is mathematically motivated and is applicable to situations, where the user’s preferences can be assumed to follow an unknown quasi-concave and increasing utility function. In addition to considering the preference cones as a tool for eliminating non-preferred solution candidates, we also present how the the cones can be leveraged in approximating the directions of steepest ascent to guide the subsequent search done by the evolutionary algorithm through a proposed merit function. To evaluate the performance of the algorithm, we consider well known test problems as well as a practical facility location problem.

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Journal Articles | 2018

The Aadhaar Debate: Where are the sociologists?

Reetika Khera

Contribution to Indian Sociology

The Aadhaar project which aims to provide all residents in India with a unique identity number requires much more attention from sociologists of India. There are several areas of research where sociologists can help: one, the implications of new technologies of surveillance for (a) privacy and (b) society; two, the repercussions of the desire for social ordering and control and technocratic solutionism for people in their interactions with the state demands fuller sociological study. This brief note attempts to outline some of the issues that call out for enquiry.

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