Learning across policy regimes: The impact of protection vis-à-vis competition in the Indian automotive industry

Learning has been recognized as an important factor in explaining the growth of firms in both industrial organization theory and literature. However, few models have attempted to relate the learning and growth literature with the industrial policy regime, especially in economies heavily regulated by government policies. The present study attempts to apply one such model of growth and learning of firms across three different industrial policy regimes in the Indian automotive industry. It tries to analyze whether learning is promoted by a competitive or a protective policy regime. It also tries to decompose learning into several types to understand the mechanism underlying the growth process. In doing so, it relies on the growth-size distribution literature.Learning; growth; policy regime; automobile Industry; India; Asia

Export Competitiveness in the Indian auto-component industry : Does Low Wage Cost matter?

This paper analyzes the differences in the export behavior of domestic and multinational firms in the Indian auto component industry. Three types of firms are identified according to ownership : purely domestic and licensees, domestic joint ventures and joint ventures with majority stakes by the multinationals. Although all the types of firms face the same labor costs, any difference in export performances could arise because of higher productivity of labor. The paper tests whether this is true for the domestic firms and the multinational firms in the Industry. It finds that only in the case of the multinational firms, it is not just cheap labor in terms of low wage rate per worker, but low wage in relation to productivity of that labor which leads to comparative cost advantage in exports. The domestic firms are competing based on low wage cost more than the productivity of the labor. Among other factors discussed, of the reasons is the low value added nature of the components that are being exported. The role of other factors like, size, import- intensity and distribution expenses is also examined, followed by an analysis of the scope for domestic firms to become a part of the global supply chain.Export intensity, labor costs, productivity, competitiveness, import intensity, auto component industry, India

The Economic Impact of Continuing Operations of the University of Connecticut Health Center (Second Report)

University of Connecticut, Health Center, economic impact

Learning across policy regimes: The impact of protection vis-à-vis competition in the Indian automotive industry

Learning has been recognized as an important factor in explaining the growth of firms in both industrial organization theory and literature. However, few models have attempted to relate the learning and growth literature with the industrial policy regime, especially in economies heavily regulated by government policies. The present study attempts to apply one such model of growth and learning of firms across three different industrial policy regimes in the Indian automotive industry. It tries to analyze whether learning is promoted by a competitive or a protective policy regime. It also tries to decompose learning into several types to understand the mechanism underlying the growth process. In doing so, it relies on the growth-size distribution literature

Tamil Nadu’s Electronics Industry Lessons for ‘Make in India'

India’s information technology hardware segment is heavily dependent on imports of components and finished goods. After surveying Tamil Nadu’s hardware electronics sector, this article argues that the stagnation of the electronics hardware sectors stems from a failure to create backward linkages, a liberal import regime and a foreign direct investment policy that has focused on employment generation instead of capability building. The study highlights the import-intensive nature of the industry, identifies skill gaps and infrastructural constraints faced especially by medium- and small-scale manufacturers

Determinants of profitability in the Indian logistics industry

The Indian economy has one of the highest transportation and logistics cost as a percentage of gross domestic product (13%) globally. This paper analyses trends in profitability and discusses some key macro and micro level factors influencing the Indian logistics industry comprising road transport logistics, storage and distribution. It discusses the role of macroeconomic factors such as tax policy in influencing the logistics network complexity, which in turn increase logistics costs. At a micro level, the paper uses firm-level data of 201 companies from Prowess database and estimates an econometric model to analyse major determinants of profitability in the logistics sector. The study finds that liquidity, market share, debt-equity, and age are significant determinants of profitability in the logistics sector

Learning across policy regimes: The impact of protection vis-à-vis competition in the Indian automotive industry

Learning has been recognized as an important factor in explaining the growth of firms in both industrial organization theory and literature. However, few models have attempted to relate the learning and growth literature with the industrial policy regime, especially in economies heavily regulated by government policies. The present study attempts to apply one such model of growth and learning of firms across three different industrial policy regimes in the Indian automotive industry. It tries to analyze whether learning is promoted by a competitive or a protective policy regime. It also tries to decompose learning into several types to understand the mechanism underlying the growth process. In doing so, it relies on the growth-size distribution literature

Market awareness and profitability: case study of Mango production in Karnataka, India

This article presents a case study of mango farmers in the Kolar district of Karnataka to understand the determinants of profitability and constraints faced by the horticulture industry in India in general. The mango value chain is analysed in-depth to understand the market choices of farmers and the role of market intermediaries and is based on data collected from a primary survey of 131 farmers. The study uses an instrumental variable approach to model the profitability of farmers as a function of market awareness, distance from markets, farming practices, and control variables. It finds that in addition to age and education, distance to markets and farming practices are significant factors influencing the profitability of mango cultivators

Tamil Nadu’s Electronics Industry Lessons for ‘Make in India'

India’s information technology hardware segment is heavily dependent on imports of components and finished goods. After surveying Tamil Nadu’s hardware electronics sector, this article argues that the stagnation of the electronics hardware sectors stems from a failure to create backward linkages, a liberal import regime and a foreign direct investment policy that has focused on employment generation instead of capability building. The study highlights the import-intensive nature of the industry, identifies skill gaps and infrastructural constraints faced especially by medium- and small-scale manufacturers

Learning across policy regimes: A case study of the Indian Automobile Industry

Learning is an important factor that explains inter-firm differences in performances over time. This paper analyses the impact of government policy regime on the learning abilities of firms and markets over time. Through a case study analysis of the Indian automotive industry, this paper develops three hypotheses relating policy regimes with learning strategies of firms. This paper tests these hypotheses through a model of learning using a panel data for the Indian automotive industry. The study finds that speed of knowledge assimilation is more important in the liberalised policy regime vis-à-vis protection when knowledge assimilation per se was a more important economic goal. Article published in Int. J. Automotive Technology and Management, Vol. 12, No. 2, pp.197–217. http://www.inderscience.com/info/inarticletoc.php?jcode=ijatm&year=2012&vol=12&issue=