Firm Performance during Global Economic Slowdown: A View from India

This study has analyzed the relative growth performance of Indian firms under the current economic slowdown and explored factors helping certain Indian companies to do relatively better even in this crisis period. It has been observed that the overall growth and stability of the global economy has become extremely important for the growth performance of Indian firms. In fact, sales and profitability growth of some 450 Indian manufacturing and IT firms were significantly reversed with the condition of global market turning adverse since late 2008. It is interesting that those Indian firms were relatively young in age and more focused on global market have been better off in terms of sales and profit growth than other firms. Also large firms and those having higher advertising intensities have enjoyed higher profit growth in this period. The concern for policy markers is that Indian companies have significantly reduced their technological activities due to falling sales and profit growth under the slowdown, besides their slashing of resource allocation for advertising and labour.Economic Slowdown; Firm Growth; India.

Exporting, R&D Investment and Firm Survival

This paper examines the effect of exporting on firm survival for a panel of Indian IT firms. We show that exporting has competing effects on firm survival. On the one hand, exporting and investing in productivity are complementary activities, while on the other exporting activity is an additional source of uncertainty for the firm. We show that both effects influence survival, but operate at different points in time. Specifically, the hazard facing exporters is higher than non-exporters in the initial phase following entry into the export market, reflecting the fact that exporters are particularly vulnerable to shocks in the start-up phase. However, over time, exporters benefit more from productivity gains than non-exporters and the hazard facing exporters falls below that confronting non-exporters.India, Firm survival, Information Technology, R&D, Exports

Feasibility Study of Setting up Information Technology-Enabled Services (ITES) and Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) Hubs in the North Eastern States of India: A Report

This report aims at identifying the various state administrative/commercial capital cities in the North East Region where IT-enabled service industry could be set up, and whether the necessary conditions conducive to the industry exist. It is also an attempt to rank the various cities in terms of their investment friendliness when it comes to the ITES industry. This report involves a macro environmental analysis where the focus is mainly on the STEEP sector of the business environment – social, technological, economic, environmental and political aspects that impact competitiveness.

India's Development Strategy: Accidents, Design and Replicability

This paper examines India.s development strategy, and to what extent it may be considered a success. It provides a brief history of why and how the strategy was adopted, as well as of its implementation, including the role of initial conditions, such as human capital, geographical location, and infrastructure. It analyses the extent and reasons for success of the strategy, including policy, political economy, timing, and linkage of the strategy to economy-wide development. Particular attention is given to the relative roles of domestic and international actors, including the part played by foreign investment, trade, and other dimensions of openness. The paper considers the extent to which the strategy remains viable for the future, the challenges still faced, and what other strategies might be required. It concludes with possible lessons forDevelopment strategy, industrial policy, political economy, economic development

India’s Development Strategy: Accidents, Design and Replicability

This paper examines India’s development strategy, and to what extent it may be considered a success. It provides a brief history of why and how the strategy was adopted, as well as of its implementation, including the role of initial conditions, such as human capital, geographical location, and infrastructure. It analyzes the extent and reasons for success of the strategy, including policy, political economy, timing, and linkage of the strategy to economy-wide development. Particular attention is given to the relative roles of domestic and international actors, including the part played by foreign investment, trade, and other dimensions of openness. The paper considers the extent to which the strategy remain viable for the future, the challenges still faced, and what other strategies might be required. It concludes with possible lessons for other countries and their future development strategies.development strategy, industrial policy, political economy, economic development

Determinants of Cloud Computing Intentions to Use: Role of Firm’s Size, Managerial Structure and Industrial Sector

Currently many companies are adopting cloud computing to accomplish their diverse purposes and to create an elastic and responsive environment that can rapidly respond to new business requirements. This paper attempts to investigate the factors influencing cloud computing adoption from the managerial perspective with inclusion of size of firm, organizational structure and type of industry as control variables. The model is developed with various technological, economic and cognitive factors that affect the behavioral intention to use cloud computing using technology acceptance model (TAM).Questionnaires were randomly distributed to around 1000 senior managers of various firms in India. Hierarchical multiple regression (HMR) was performed to test the impact of control variables on the factors that influence managerial intention to adopt cloud computing. The result showed that all the independent variables (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, perceived risks, perceived benefits, perceived ubiquity, perceived costs and job relevance) explain additional 32.3% of variance in intention to use cloud computing. Based on standardized beta coefficients (β) values, the result showed that the impact of firm size is found highest among other control variables in explaining the amount of variability in behavioral intention to use cloud computing. The result of this study will enable the firms to focus on managerial perspectives of cloud-based applications and their attitude towards adoption

Determinants of Inter-Firm Contractual Relations: A Case of Indian Software Industry

We analyze the impediments to inter-firm contractual relations, existing formal and informal ways of getting around them, especially the role of reputation and trust in mitigating the conflict of interest between the firms. We study it in the context of Indian IT industry. Contract design is specified as a function of reputation (age, repeated contracts and quality certification), asset specificity, complexity and uncertainty. We test the likelihood of observing Time & Material contract, a better propertied contract in the face of uncertainty. Empirical evidence conforms the propositions posited. Reputed firms tend to get highly complicated and uncertain projects. Asset specific investments do not seem to have any implication on contract type and complexity. The results broadly hint that the firms reckon more on creating an understanding through formal quality certifications to solve pre-contractual adverse selection problems and repeated contracting to solve the problems of behavioral uncertainties rather than relying on the court.Transaction Cost; Inter-firm Contractual Relations; Reputation and Outsourcing

Technological Entrepreneurship And Dynamic Entrepreneurial Capabilities In Indian It Industry

Entrepreneurship acts as a pillar for the economic prosperity of a nation as it leads to generation of employment contribution in national income, rural development, industrialization, technological development, export promotion etc. Technological Entrepreneurship (TE) is an important way to commercialize technological innovations and offers unique development opportunities for societies to educate and grow. Technology development and entrepreneurial capabilities spirit fuels growth of the nation. Dynamicentrepreneurialcapabilityis to examine how a small entrepreneurial firm can achieve successful product innovation and technology change by substituting the traditional drivers for innovation, such as patenting capabilities, in-house research and development and expert human capital with a new type of higher order capabilities, peculiar to entrepreneurial and small and medium-sized enterprises settings, which we state as dynamic entrepreneurial capabilities. The dynamic entrepreneurial capabilities of Indian IT industry has built valuable brand equity for itself in the global markets. The IT industry achieved a major breakthrough in the 1990s and is now one of the important industries of India. Its vast reservoir of dynamic technological entrepreneurial capabilities transformed India into a super power. The main purpose of this paper is to study about Technological Entrepreneurship in India and dynamic entrepreneurial capabilities in Indian IT industry

The Effect of Expected Benefit and Perceived Cost on Employees’ Knowledge Sharing Behavior: a Study of It Employees in India

In the increasingly turbulent business environment knowledge is considered to be the most important source of sustainable competitive advantage and to sustain it, an organization must create, share, and utilize the knowledge it possesses.  The critical knowledge is only available to the organization as long as employees are willing to cooperate. It can easily be lost if the employees decide to explore other opportunities outside the organization or employees fear to share knowledge with co-workers.  To achieve continuous growth, organizations need to understand the factors which motivate and de-motivate the employees to share knowledge. The present study examines the impact of employees’ perception of perceived benefits and cost of knowledge sharing on their knowledge sharing behavior. Data were collected from 228 employees of two major Information Technology organizations in India. The results of regression analysis showed that benefits mainly perceived increase in expected association with others and expected contribution to organization positively influences employees’ knowledge sharing behaviour. Perceived cost was found to influence negatively on knowledge sharing behaviour. The findings of the study are expected to provide significant inputs to organizations to design the practices which make knowledge sharing an integral part of the day-to-day conversation.  &nbsp