Servant leadership across cultures

Servant leadership is anchored in the human drive to bond with others and contribute to the betterment of the society. An emphasis on service motivation, as demonstrated by empowering and developing people with empathy and humility, differentiates servant leadership from other leadership frameworks. In this study, we analyzed the degree to which five aspects of servant leadership, Egalitarianism, Moral Integrity, Empowering, Empathy and Humility were endorsed as important for effective leadership across cultures. While each of these dimensions was found to be associated with effective leadership, there was considerable variation in degree of endorsement of components of servant leadership across different GLOBE culture clusters. The dimensions of Egalitarianism and Empowering were endorsed more strongly in Nordic/European cultures but less so in Asian and similar cultures. On the other hand, servant leadership dimensions of Empathy and Humility were more strongly endorsed in Asian cultures than European cultures. Further, significant relationships were found between several societal cultural values and aspects of servant leadership which help us understand why nations differ in endorsing this leadership construct.     

Preferences, Technology, and the Environment: Understanding the Environmental Kuznets Curve Hypothesis

We derive a simple expression for the income-pollution path using the standard static model of the environmental Kuznets curve (EKC). This expression makes it straightforward to identify the general characteristics of utility and pollution functions that lead to such a curve. We show that suitable preferences can always lead to an EKC while there is no technology that yields an EKC for all types of preferences, and we derive a sufficient condition for technology that leads to an EKC for almost all types of preferences. Our results hold for a model with multiple goods with different pollution intensities and for a production economy with nonconstant relative price of consumption and environmental effort. We derive our results without assuming specific functional forms and we encompass several other models as special cases.     

On continuous solutions of a functional equation

In this paper the generalizations of the functional equation due toChaundy andMcLeod have been considered and their continuous solutions have been found. These results are quite rewarding when we find that the solutions that so result can be connected to the additive entropy due toShannon and its non-additive generalization due toHavrda-Charvát andDaróczy.     

The effects of third party certification on voluntary self-regulation of accidents in the U.S. chemical industry

We explore whether the introduction of mandatory third party certification in 2005 under the Responsible Care program has reduced the probability and severity of accidents in participating facilities in the U.S. chemical industry. Using a sample of 10,315 observations from 1136 facilities owned by 566 RC and non-RC firms between 1996 and 2010, we estimate the average treatment effect of third party certification. We find that the difference-in-difference estimate of the average treatment effect is statistically insignificant. This result is robust to various model specifications including the potential endogeniety of third party certification due to a firm’s self-selection into RC.     

Adoption of weather‐index insurance: learning from willingness to pay among a panel of households in rural Ethiopia

In this article we examine which farmers would be early entrants into weather‐index insurance markets in Ethiopia, were such markets to develop on a large scale. We do this by examining the determinants of willingness to pay for weather insurance among 1,400 Ethiopian households that have been tracked for 15 years as part of the Ethiopian Rural household Survey. This provides both historical and current information with which to assess the determinants of demand. We find that educated, wealthier individuals are more likely to purchase insurance. Risk aversion is associated with low insurance take‐up suggesting that models of technology adoption can inform the purchase and spread of weather index insurance. We also assess how willingness to pay varied as two key characteristics of the contract were varied and found that basis risk reduces demand for insurance particularly when the price of the contract is high, and that provision of insurance through groups is preferred by female headed households and individuals with lower levels of education.     

Saathi Sanitary Pads: Eco‐friendly pads which will make you go bananas!

Undoubtedly, menstrual pads have made menstruation hygienic and comfortable. However, these commercial disposable sanitary pads have a devastating effect on the environment and are eco disaster. This case discusses about an initiative taken by an Ahmedabad‐based social enterprise and manufacturing company Saathi and founded by three Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduates ‐‐ Amrita Saigal, Grace Kane and Kristin Kagetsu. Their eco‐friendly, biodegradable sanitary pad is an alternative to non‐biodegradable commercial pads which when discarded ends up in sewage, landfills, fields and water bodies posing threat to environment. Moreover, this pad is also an alternative to commercial pads which are made of plastic, cellulose gel, laded with chemical, bleach and fragrance which leads to serious health issues including cervical cancer, urinary tract infection, infertility and birth defect. The present case of Saathi tries to surface out the relationship between sustainability and marketing by focusing on the concept of sustainability marketing. The case discusses the marketing mix strategy used by Saathi. In a country where menstruation is still a social taboo, the case also talks about the challenges faced by Saathi related to price, the environmental awareness and lack of knowledge about menstruation and ill effects of using commercial pads on women health and whether it should consider expansion of its business and enter into the B2C market in India.