Role of quality management capabilities in developing market-based organisational learning capabilities: Case study evidence from four Indian business process outsourcing firms

Business-to-business marketing literature acknowledges the value firms, including business process outsourcing firms, realise through their supplier networks. Such value realisation is often possible through a dynamic exchange of complementary organisational capabilities between a firm and its network partners. However, little is known about how outsourcing firms develop these capabilities and thus realise value. This paper addresses an unexplored theoretical gap of developing market-based organisational learning capabilities in business process outsourcing firms. Using a capabilities lens, this study assesses the impact of quality management capabilities in developing market-based organisational learning capability. Findings from a case study of four business process outsourcing firms in India suggest that effective knowledge transfer, diffusion and the development of market-based organisational learning capabilities are contingent upon the strength of a firm's quality management capabilities. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Neo‐Fisherism and inflation control

According to conventional central banking wisdom, an inflation‐targeting central bank should increase (decrease) its nominal interest rate target when inflation is above (below) its target. According to neo‐Fisherites, conventional central bankers have the sign wrong. Essentially all mainstream macroeconomic models tell us that increases in nominal interest rates increase inflation—in the short run and in the long run. This paper reviews neo‐Fisherian theory and evidence and addresses issues relating to inflation control in low real interest rate environments.     

Performance pay and worker cooperation: Evidence from an artefactual field experiment

We report the results of an artefactual field experiment with bicycle messengers in Switzerland and the United States. Messenger work is individualized enough that firms can choose to condition pay on it, but significant externalities in messenger behavior nonetheless give their on-the-job interactions the character of a social dilemma. Second-mover behavior in our sequential prisoner's dilemma allows us to characterize the cooperativeness of our participants. Among messengers, we find that employees at firms that pay for performance are significantly less cooperative than those at firms that pay hourly wages or who are members of cooperatives. To examine whether the difference is the result of treatment or selection we exploit the fact that firm type is location-specific in Switzerland and that entering messengers must work in performance pay firms in the U.S.     

Is real per capita state personal income stationary? New nonlinear,asymmetric panel-data evidence

This paper re-examines the stochastic properties of U.S. state real per capita personal income, using new panel unit-root procedures. The new developments incorporate non-linearity, asymmetry, and cross-sectional correlation within panel-data estimation. Including nonlinearity and asymmetry finds that 43 states exhibit stationary real per capita personal income whereas including only nonlinearity produces 42 states that exhibit stationarity. Stated differently, we find that two states exhibit nonstationary real per capita personal income when considering nonlinearity, asymmetry, and cross-sectional dependence.     

Frailty models with applications to the study of infant deaths on birth timing in Ghana and Kenya

In hazard models, it is assumed that all heterogeneity is captured by a set of theoretically relevant covariates. In many applications however, there are ample reasons for unobserved heterogeneity due to omitted or unmeasured factors. If there is unmeasured frailty, the hazard will not only be a function of the covariates but also of the unmeasured frailty. This paper discusses the implications of unobserved heterogeneity on parameter estimates with application to the analysis of infant death on subsequent birth timing in Ghana and Kenya using DHS data. Using Lognormal Accelerated Failure Time models with and without frailty, we found that standard models that do not control for unobserved heterogeneity produced biased estimates by overstating the degree of positive dependence and underestimating the degree of negative dependence. The implications of the findings are discussed.     

Public–private partnerships: Task interdependence and contractibility

We examine the proper scope of public–private partnerships in the context of a project consisting of two tasks, building and operation of a facility. We investigate the optimal arrangement regarding bundling versus unbundling and private ownership versus public ownership. Like Bennett and Iossa (2006), we assume that the innovative activity in the building stage has impacts on, among other things, the subsequent operational cost. We relax the nature of task interdependence and study different contractual frameworks. The general insight is that given limitations in contractibility, contrary to common sense, complementarity between tasks favors unbundling over bundling.     

The evolving brand logic: a service-dominant logic perspective

The meanings of brand and branding have been evolving over the past several decades. This evolution is converging on a new conceptual logic, which views brand in terms of collaborative, value co-creation activities of firms and all of their stakeholders and brand value in terms of the stakeholders’ collectively perceived value-in-use. The authors argue that this new logic parallels and reflects the related, evolving service-dominant (S-D) logic in marketing. They provide an historical account of the branding literature, organize it into eras, and connect it to the evolution in marketing as captured by S-D logic. The analysis provides further support for the S-D logic of marketing and suggests a related research agenda for furthering the understanding of brand and branding. It also suggests that marketing managers might benefit from investing resources in building strong brand relationships with all of their stakeholders and a service-dominant firm philosophy built around brand value co-creation.     

Coping Strategies in Call Centres: Work Intensity and the Role of Co-workers and Supervisors

It has been observed that customer service workers often develop mutually supportive coping strategies to protect themselves from the emotional strain of overwork. These strategies can receive tacit support from supervisors, who may accept them as a means of getting the work done. The study explores the impact of a number of different forms of support on emotional exhaustion among a group of 480 call centre workers focusing, in particular, on the role of supportive behaviours relating to absence taking. The research shows that a supportive co-worker absence culture and team leader absence permissiveness can lessen the effects of job demands on emotional exhaustion and improve worker well-being. The implications of these findings are discussed.