Three Essays On Interfirm Interdependence And Firm Performance

This dissertation explicitly examines the structure of interdependencies that firms are subjected to within a platform-based ecosystem and its implications for firm performance. Two theoretical themes emerge from this dissertation: (1) a firm’s interdependence with other actors in the ecosystem matters both for its performance and the sustainability of its superior performance; and (2) a manager’s understanding of these interdependencies can have significant implications on firm performance and the choice of governance structures. The first essay explores how a firm’s innovation differs with respect to its interdependence with various elements of the ecosystem and examines its implications on the innovation’s commercialization success. The core set of data is based on all the apps that were launched in the Apple iPhone ecosystem from 2008 to 2013. The results suggest that firms can enhance the value of their innovation by drawing on the broader set of complementary technologies that are available in the ecosystem. But, these complementarities also subject firms to an array of bottlenecks limiting their innovation’s value creation. The second essay examines how ecosystem-level interdependencies affect the extent to which firms can sustain their value creation in a platform-based ecosystem. The analysis is based on a panel dataset of top-performing app developers in the iOS and Android ecosystems from January 2012 to January 2014. The results suggest that a firm’s ability to sustain its superior performance is facilitated by the technological interdependence faced by its innovation within an ecosystem and the experience gained within the ecosystem, but hampered by technological transitions initiated by the central firm. The third essay addresses the performance consequences of misrepresentation of interdependence structures in the alliance context using an agent-based simulation. The results suggest that the misrepresentation of interdependence structures plays an important role in determining performance consequences of various governance modes to manage the alliance relationship. Specifically, overrepresentation of interdependence structures requires fully integrated or more hierarchical governance modes, whereas underrepresentation of interdependence structures requires more decentralized governance modes. Collectively, these essays contribute to the literature on ecosystems and alliances, shedding new light on the role of structure of interdependence ins shaping firm’s performance

Sustaining Superior Performance in Business Ecosystems: Evidence From Application Software Developers in the iOS and Android Smartphone Ecosystems

We study the phenomenon of business ecosystems in which platform firms orchestrate the functioning of ecosystems by providing platforms and setting the rules for participation by complementor firms. We develop a theoretical framework to explain how the structural and evolutionary features of the ecosystem may shape the extent to which participating complementor firms can sustain their superior performance. The structural feature, which we refer to as ecosystem complexity, is a function of the number of unique components or subsystems that interact with the complementor’s product. We incorporate the evolutionary features by considering the role of generational transitions initiated by platform firms over time as well as the role of complementors’ ecosystem-specific experience. Evidence from Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android smartphone ecosystems supports our arguments that higher ecosystem complexity helps app developers sustain their superior performance, and that this effect is stronger for more experienced firms. In contrast, platform transitions initiated by Apple and Google make it more difficult for app developers to sustain their performance superiority, and that this effect is exacerbated by the extent of ecosystem complexity. The study offers a novel account of how the performance of complementor firms in platform-based business ecosystems may be shaped by their ecosystem-level interdependencies

Partnering in a Haze: Interdependence Misspecification and Firm Performance in Strategic Alliances

We examine the implications for firm performance of managers having only a partial understanding of the true nature of their inter-firm interdependence. While operating with such ex-ante uncertainty regarding inter-firm interdependency is common when selecting an approach to governing an alliance relationship, the literature offers limited guidance as to the performance implications of such “misspecifications.” We employ an agent-based simulation to model inter-firm decision making in a context where firms have either under- or over-specified views of their inter-firm interdependencies. Consistent with intuition, firm performance declines with interdependence misspecifications. We find, however, interesting variation in this effect across alternate governance modes and across levels of actual interdependency. We also find that interdependence misspecifications have differing effects on exploration and coordination, leading to tradeoffs between performance and other alliance objectives

Impact of sintering temperature on room temperature magneto-resistive and magneto-caloric properties of Pr2/3Sr1/3MnO3

Magneto-resistive and magneto-caloric properties of polycrystalline Pr2/3Sr1/3MnO3 have been studied as a function of sintering temperature (Ts) between 1260-1450{\deg}C. Reitveld refinement of their X-ray diffraction (XRD) patterns confirms their single phase crystalline structure with orthorhombic Pbnm space group. The point of maximum value of temperature coefficient of resistance (TCRmax) and Curie temperature (Tc) decreased slightly with Ts. Magneto-resistance (MR) and magnetic entropy ({\Delta}SM) increased markedly with sintering temperature. This could be attributed to the observed sharpness of both the magnetic and resistive transitions due to better grain connectivity. Optimum results are obtained for the sample with Ts = 1400{\deg}C. MR at Tc of the same is found to be as large as 32% at 1T and 58% at 5T magnetic fields. The maximum entropy change ({\Delta}SMmax) near its Tc is 2.3Jkg-1K-1 and 7.8 Jkg-1K-1 upon 1T and 5T fields change respectively. These characteristics [MR (32% 1T, 58% 5T) and reasonable change in magnetic entropy (7.8Jkg-1K-1, 5T)] generate possibility that the optimized compound can be used as a potential magnetic refrigerant close to room temperature.Comment: 19 pages text + fig

GENDER, ENVIRONMENT AND LIVELIHOOD SECURITY: AN ALTERNATIVE VIEWPOINT FROM INDIA

Summary Using a case study from India, this article examines the limitations of populist ecofeminist thought. The case study shows that both men and women assume interchangeable roles as destroyers and conservers of the environment, depending on both the material relationship they have with their natural resources and the social context within which they operate. Secure livelihood opportunities and usufruct rights, and the existence of enabling institutional mechanisms are of considerable importance for people to have a stake in conserving their natural resources. The article further shows that if environment?focused development programmes are to be sustainable, it is necessary to develop a consultative process with both men and women, so that the concerns and needs of all social groups within a community are addressed. In the case of common property resources, the role of inter?village dialogues, which take into account the complex gender and social relations within and among the village communities, are of critical importance. RESUME Le genre, l'environnement, et la sécurité des moyens de vie: un point de vue alternatif en lnde Par le biais d'une étude de cas en Inde, l'article examine les limites de la pensée populiste de l'éco?féminisme. L'étude de cas démontre que les hommes comme les femmes assument des rôles interchangeables de destructeurs et de conservateurs de l'environnement, en fonction à la fois des rapports matériels qu'ils entretiennent avec les ressources naturelles et aussi, du contexte social au sein duquel ils opèrent. Les opportunités d'assurer les moyens de vie et les droits d'usufruit, et l'existence de mécanismes institutionnels qui facilitent ces opportunités sont d'une importance considérable si l'on veut que les membres de telles populations puissent participer activement à la préservation de leurs ressources naturelles. L'article démontre en outre que si les programmes de développement axés sur l'environnement veulent être permanents, il est nécessaire de développer un processus de consultation auprès des hommes et des femmes, de sorte que l'on puisse s'adresser aux inquiétudes et aux besoins de tous les groupes sociaux dans telle ou telle communauté. Dans le cas des ressources en copropriété, le rôle des dialogues inter?villageois sont d'une importante cruciale, dans la mesure où ces dialogues tiennent compte des relations complexes qui existent au niveau social et au niveau du genre au sein de ces communautés villageoises, et entre elles. RESUMEN Género, medio ambiente y seguridad de subsistencia: un punto de vista alternativo de la India Basándose en un caso de la India, este artículo examina las limitaciones del pensamiento populista ecofemenino. El estudio de este caso demuestra que tanto hombres como mujeres asumen roles intercambiables como destructores y conservadores del medio ambiente, dependiendo de su relación material con los recursos naturales, y del contexto social en el que operan. Las oportunidades de subsistencia y los derechos de usufructo, así como la existencia de mecanismos internacionales tienen una importancia considerable para asegurar la participación del pueblo a la hora de conservar recursos naturales. El artículo demuestra, además, que para alcanzar programas de desarrollo sostenibles ? enfocados hacia el medio ambiente ? es necesario poner en marcha un proceso de consulta con hombres y mujeres de tal forma que se discutan las preocupaciones y necesidades de todos los grupos sociales dentro de una comunidad. En el caso de propiedad común, el rol del diálogo entre comunidades cobra una importancia crucial, porque toma en consideración las complejas relaciones sociales y de género dentro de éstas, y en su contacto con otras similares

Redefining Water Security through Social Reproduction: Lessons Learned from Rajasthan's ‘Ocean of Sand’

One of the most urgent challenges facing the world today is ensuring local water security under rapid climate variability and change. This is of particular importance in a country like India, where over half of the people are involved in farming, and agricultural losses due to climate change are estimated to be as high as 30 per cent by 2080. This ethnography in the arid village of Bhiwadi, West Rajasthan empirically links the reintroduction of local water harvesting technologies with the building of sustainable social reproduction in subsistent communities. By emphasising both the role of gender and the informal economy – and institutions – this ethnography provides a more thorough picture of the individuals and collective actors involved in localised and resilient technologies within global economic and climatic processes

‘It Takes Two Hands to Clap’: How Gaddi Shepherds in the Indian Himalayas Negotiate Access to Grazing

This article examines the effects of state intervention on the workings of informal institutions that coordinate the communal use and management of natural resources. Specifically it focuses on the case of the nomadic Gaddi shepherds and official attempts to regulate their access to grazing pastures in the Indian Himalayas. It is often predicted that the increased presence of the modern state critically undermines locally appropriate and community-based resource management arrangements. Drawing on the work of Pauline Peters and Francis Cleaver, I identify key instances of socially embedded ‘common’ management institutions and explain the evolution of these arrangements through dynamic interactions between individuals, communities and the agents of the state. Through describing the ‘living space’ of Gaddi shepherds across the annual cycle of nomadic migration with their flocks I explore the ways in which they have been able to creatively reinterpret external interventions, and suggest how contemporary arrangements for accessing pasture at different moments of the annual cycle involve complex combinations of the formal and the informal, the ‘traditional’ and the ‘modern’

Withaferin a-induced apoptosis in human breast cancer cells is mediated by reactive oxygen species

Withaferin A (WA), a promising anticancer constituent of Ayurvedic medicinal plant Withania somnifera, inhibits growth of MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 human breast cancer cells in culture and MDA-MB-231 xenografts in vivo in association with apoptosis induction, but the mechanism of cell death is not fully understood. We now demonstrate, for the first time, that WA-induced apoptosis is mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS) production due to inhibition of mitochondrial respiration. WA treatment caused ROS production in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells, but not in a normal human mammary epithelial cell line (HMEC). The HMEC was also resistant to WA-induced apoptosis. WA-mediated ROS production as well as apoptotic histone-associated DNA fragment release into the cytosol was significantly attenuated by ectopic expression of Cu,Zn-superoxide dismutase in both MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells. ROS production resulting from WA exposure was accompanied by inhibition of oxidative phosphorylation and inhibition of complex III activity. Mitochondrial DNA-deficient Rho-0 variants of MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells were resistant to WA-induced ROS production, collapse of mitochondrial membrane potential, and apoptosis compared with respective wild-type cells. WA treatment resulted in activation of Bax and Bak in MDA-MB-231 and MCF-7 cells, and SV40 immortalized embryonic fibroblasts derived from Bax and Bak double knockout mouse were significantly more resistant to WA-induced apoptosis compared with fibroblasts derived from wild-type mouse. In conclusion, the present study provides novel insight into the molecular circuitry of WA-induced apoptosis involving ROS production and activation of Bax/Bak. © 2011 Hahm et al

Relational approaches to poverty in rural India: social, ecological and technical dynamics

Poverty is now widely recognised as multidimensional, with indicators including healthcare, housing and sanitation. Yet, relational approaches that foreground political-cultural processes remain marginalised in policy discourses. Focusing on India, we review a wide range of relational approaches to rural poverty. Beginning with early approaches that focus on structural reproduction of class, caste and to a lesser extent gender inequality, we examine new relational approaches developed in the last two decades. The new approaches examine diverse ways in which poverty is experienced and shapes mobilisations against deprivation. They draw attention to poor people’s own articulations of deprivation and alternate conceptions of well-being. They also show how intersecting inequalities of class, caste and gender shape governance practices and political movements. Despite these important contributions, the new relational approaches pay limited attention to technologies and ecologies in shaping the experience of poverty. Reviewing studies on the Green Revolution and wider agrarian transformations in India, we then sketch the outlines of a hybrid relational approach to poverty that combines socio-technical and -ecological dynamics. We argue that such an approach is crucial to challenge narrow economising discourses on poverty and to bridge the policy silos of poverty alleviation and (environmentally) sustainable development