DISCRIMINANT FUNCTION ANALYSIS OF SMALL FARMERS AND LANDLESS IN INDIA*

The small farmers and landless in India are faced with the vicious cycle of low incomes, low savings, low investment and uneconomic size of operational holdings and often are nonviable. Using data for the Haryana State of Northern India for 1977/78, the linear discriminant function was used to identify those factors which will make the majority of small farmers and landless in India a viable entity. Analysis of these data indicated that per hectare fertiliser use, area under high yielding crop varieties, operational size of holding and working capital are the factors which affect the viability of the small farmers and landless. As compared to the simple regression analysis discriminant function approach has been found an effective tool for discriminating the two social groups and for predicting the sponsored social change. However, the use of the discriminant function may be limited if the qualitative independent variable has more than two classes and its orderings are not in sequence.     

Business self-regulation and consumer protection in India: A critique

In India, as a result of the enactment and implementation of the Consumer Protection Act, 1986 there has been an increased amount of self-regulation by the public as well as by the private corporate sector. The mounting pressure by consumer organisations and the growing number of cases filed by consumers before the three-tier quasi-judicial Consumer Disputes Redressal Agencies established under the 1986 Act have propelled the corporate sector in India to become more socially accountable then ever before. Though it may be too early to comment on the success or failure of this Act, it has nevertheless initiated a process of change at least in the behaviour of the urban business community and has coerced it to regulate itself.The paper purports to highlight and evaluate the present state of business self-regulation in India. The author has critically examined the Codes of Ethics recently announced by some sections of the business community in India. He has also endeavoured to cite a few recent cases argued before the Consumer Forums, more particularly by the consumers' associations, where instead of resorting to protracted legal battles, industry has reconciled itself to consumers' demands. Thus the central theme of the paper is to show how the 1986 Act has propelled the corporate sector to resort to self-regulation and to critically examine this new development. The author concludingly argues that in order to achieve the much-cherished goal of social change in India, much still remains to be accomplished and that there is a need for a co-ordinated approach to solve the problem of consumer protection as law alone may not be effective.

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Zusammenfassung Anbieter-Selbstregulierung und Verbraucherschutz in Indien: Eine Kritik. In Indien hat es als Folge der Einführung des Verbraucherschutzgesetzes 1986 ein starkes Anwachsen der Selbstregulierung gegeben, und zwar sowohl bei den öffentlichen Anbietern wie auch bei den privaten Anbietern. Es gab einen wachsenden Druck auf die anbietende Wirtschaft durch die Verbraucherorganisationen und durch die Tatsache, da\ die Konsumenten eine wachsende Zahl von Verfahren bei den dreistufigen quasigerichtlichen Verbraucherschiedsstellen eröffnet haben, die aufgrund des Gesetzes von 1986 eingerichtet worden sind. Jedenfalls hat dieser Druck ein deutliches Anwachsen der sozialen Verantwortlichkeit bei der indischen Wirtschaft bewirkt. Obwohl ein abschlie\endes Urteil über den Erfolg oder Mi\erfolg dieses Gesetzes noch nicht möglich ist, lä\t sich aber jetzt schon feststellen, da\ es einen Wandel zumindest im Verhalten der städtischen Anbieter bewirkt hat und zu mehr Selbstegulierung geführt hat.Der Autor setzt sich kritisch mit den ethischen Verhaltensrichtlinien auseinander, die einzelne Branchen angekündight haben. Er führt au\erdem einige neuere Fälle an, die vor den Verbraucherforen verhandelt wurden, wo die beklagten Unternehmen den Verbraucheransprüchen entgegenkamen statt in langwierige gerichtliche Verfahren zu flüchten. Für das wichtige Ziel eines sozialen Wandels in Indien bleibt nach Meinung des Autors allerdings noch mehr zu tun; auf jeden Fall ist das Problem des Konsumentenschutzes allein auf gesetzgeberischem Wege nicht zu lösen.

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Presently he is on Nehru-Centenary British Commonwealth Fellowship Award (1990–93) and is doing research at the Department of Law, School of Oriental and African Studies, Thornhaugh Street, Russell Square, London WC1H 0XG.

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The author is thankful to the Post-Graduate Tutor and his learned supervisor Dr. Werner F. Menski for his valuable comments on the earlier draft of his paper.     

Collaboration risk management in IT-enabled asymmetric partnerships: Evidence from telestroke networks

Information technology (IT)-enabled partnerships can unlock previously unattainable value propositions between organizations that have resource, capability, and other asymmetries by allowing larger organizations access to niche and local resources while providing smaller organizations access to enhanced resources and capabilities. However, recent studies have shown that many IT-enabled asymmetric partnerships often fail because the organizations do not effectively manage the involved collaboration risks. Most organizations focus on the strategic aspect of whether partners behave cooperatively or competitively, while paying scant attention to the operational aspect of bringing together partner contributions through coordination. To examine this problem, we report on a case study of two hub-spoke networks that used telemedicine to facilitate expertise sharing and decision making about stroke treatment at emergency departments in rural hospitals (spokes) based on information exchanges with remote neurologists at academic medical centers (hubs). As a result, we contribute to the inter-organizational information systems literature by explaining how organizations in IT-enabled asymmetric partnerships manage collaboration risks. We demonstrate how partners in such relationships perceive and approach strategic cooperation and operational coordination risks differently. We also explain how collaboration interactions change over time as the partners manage risks based on needs and resource endowments. Drawing on these findings, we provide guidance to organizations on how to manage sustainable IT-enabled asymmetric partnerships in general, and telestroke networks in particular.     

How pervasive is the effect of culture on stock market linkages? Evidence across regions and economic cycles

We conduct a comprehensive study on the effect of culture on stock market linkages. With data on 25 national stock markets, a quantile regression model is used to estimate the determinants of market linkages using culture variable/s such as language, religion and Hofstede’s cultural dimensions while controlling for distance, economic and legal variables. Further, we test whether these effects hold across regions and if changes are detected during periods of market crisis. We also test if market liquidity, an indicator of market efficiency, diminishes the impact of culture on market linkages. The main conclusion is that culture preferences shape investor choices, which affects integration between stock markets. The equity markets with similar cultural traits tend to increase market linkages; however, we observe differences across regions. Furthermore, liquidity and economic uncertainty fail to have an impact on the significance of culture variable/s as determinants of market linkages.     

Testing nonlinearities in economic growth in the OECD countries: an evidence from SETAR and STAR models

This study estimates the Self Exciting Threshold Autoregressive (SETAR) and Smooth Transition Autoregressive (STAR) models and examines the nonlinear and regime switching dynamics of economic growth for a set of 10 OECD countries. The null of linearity in SETAR model is tested using the recursive polynomial F test of Tsay and the bootstrap based supremum, average and exponential average Lagrange Multiplier (LM) tests of Hansen. The F test of Tsay rejects the null of linearity for all the countries, except Spain and Switzerland. The SETAR model of Hansen reinforces the evidence and suggests the rejection of linear model. The STAR model rejects the null of linearity against STAR nonlinearity for all the countries, except Denmark and Switzerland. The sequential F tests for the conditional nulls suggest the LSTAR nonlinearity for Australia, Belgium, France, Sweden and UK, and the ESTAR nonlinearity for Canada, Spain and the USA.     

An empirical study of the dimensionality of organizational justice and its relationship with organizational citizenship behaviour in the Indian context

Cross-cultural research shows that while the concerns about organizational justice may be universal, operationalization of justice standards is highly particularistic (Greenberg 2001). The present study explores the dimensionality of organizational justice in the Indian context. Apart from procedural justice, interpersonal justice and informational justice, another justice dimension, labelled as empowerment justice, emerged during the study. Next, the study tests the relationships between justice dimensions and Organ's (1988) 5-factor conceptualization of organizational citizenship behaviour (OCB), namely helping, compliance, sportsmanship, courtesy and civic virtue behaviours. The perception of empowerment justice influences helping, compliance, sportsmanship, and civic virtue dimensions of OCB. Interpersonal justice significantly predicts courtesy behaviour. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Perceived superiority of female condoms among female sex workers in India

• This study emphasizes the importance of benefit orientation and the competitive advantage of benefits accrued from an improved social product vis‐à‐vis a current social product as components of a social marketing strategy in order to improve the effectiveness of behaviour change attempts. The views towards female and male condoms of 1939 female sex workers (FSWs) from nine cities in five states of India were investigated. FSWs perceived better peer and male client support, and a more attractive marketing strategy for female condoms over male condoms and thus were likely to use female condoms.

Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A comparison of buy‐side and sell‐side analysts

There is very little research on the topic of buy-side analyst performance, and that which does exist yields mixed results. We use a large sample from both the buy-side and the sell-side and report several new results. First, while the contemporaneous returns to portfolios based on sell-side recommendations are positive, the returns for buy-side analysts, proxied by changes in institutional holdings, are negative. Second, the buy-side analysts' underperformance is accentuated when they trade against sell-side analysts' recommendations. Third, abnormal returns positively relate to both the portfolio size and the portfolio turnover of buy-side analysts' institutions, suggesting that large institutions employ superior analysts and that superior analysts frequently change their recommendations. Abnormal returns are also positively related to buy-side portfolios with stocks that have higher analyst coverage, greater institutional holding, and lower earnings forecast dispersion. Fourth, there is substantial persistence in buy-side performance, but even the top decile performs poorly. These findings suggest that sell-side analysts still outperform buy-side analysts despite the severe conflicts of interest documented in the literature.     

Efficiency Characterization of Liability Rules When Liability Payments Differ from the Actual Harm

Journal of Quantitative Economics - By now, it is well known that damage awards under a liability rule affect the efficiency of the rule. Due to variety of reasons, damage awards fixed by courts...     

Does salesperson's customer orientation create value in B2B relationships? Empirical evidence from India

Although value creation in business relationships has taken an important position in the literature, yet scant attention has been paid to the precise nature of creation or destruction of value in b2b customer-oriented selling. Moreover, very few empirical studies in the b2b customer value research have focused on emerging markets, especially the BRIC countries. This study carried out in the context of small and medium sized firms in India, empirically examines from the SOCO perspective (Saxe and Weitz, 1982), value creation in customer-oriented selling, and value destruction in sales-oriented strategies. We model value creation, relationship development, and customer satisfaction as direct and indirect consequences of salesperson's customer orientation. Based on a sample of 249 small and medium sized Indian firms, we show that salesperson's customer orientation directly leads to value creation and relationship development with customers. On the other hand, a sales orientation destroys value, although it may lead to relationship development in the short-term. We also found that customer satisfaction was unrelated to both types of salesperson's orientations. Our study has considerable impact for small and medium sized businesses in emerging BRIC markets such as India, as it throws light on how supplier firms can leverage their salesforce to create value creation with their customers.