Integrating distributed work: comparing task design,communication, and tacit coordination mechanisms

We investigate coordination strategies in integrating distributed work. In the context of Business Process Offshoring (BPO), we analyze survey data from 126 offshored processes to understand both the sources of difficulty in integrating distributed work as well as how organizations overcome these difficulties. We find that interdependence between offshored and onshore processes can lower offshored process performance, and investing in coordination mechanisms can ameliorate the performance impact of interdependence. In particular, we outline a distinctive set of coordination mechanisms that rely on tacit coordination—and theoretically articulate and empirically show that tacit coordination mechanisms are distinct from the well‐known duo of coordination strategies: building communication channels or modularizing processes to minimize the need for communication. We discuss implications for the study of coordination in organizations. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Customer perception and response to ethical norms in legal services marketing

The study here examines the relationship between ethical marketing norms, relationship quality (RQ), and commitment in the context of legal services. Through a survey of customers of legal services providers in Malaysia, data were collected. Results from a standard analysis of data show that the four dimensions of ethical marketing norms contribute significantly and explain a significant amount of variance in RQ and commitment. The results further show that three dimensions of ethical norms namely price and distribution norm, information and contract norm, and general honesty and integrity norm are significantly associated with relationship quality and commitment. Product and promotion norm has no significant relationship with relationship quality and commitment. RQ plays a mediating role in the relationship between marketing norms and commitment. The study reveals that the same three dimensions of marketing norms predict both RQ and commitment, and are useful for effective legal services marketing. These findings lead to research, managerial, contextual and policy implications that conclude the paper.     

An Empirical Comparison of Two Stochastic Volatility Models using Indian Market Data

We conduct an empirical comparison of hedging strategies for two different stochastic volatility models proposed in the literature. One is an asymptotic expansion approach and the other is the risk-minimizing approach applied to a Markov-switched geometric Brownian motion. We also compare these with the Black–Scholes delta hedging strategies using historical and implied volatilities. The derivatives we consider are European call options on the NIFTY index of the Indian National Stock Exchange. We compare a few cases with profit and loss data from a trading desk. We find that for the cases that we analyzed, by far the better results are obtained for the Markov-switched geometric Brownian motion.     

Emerging Economies: Operational Issues in China and India

This article addresses the current state of the infrastructure and other factors within China and India to consider in making operation expansion decisions. We compare the logistics, telecommunication, and energy infrastructure of these two nations followed by a discussion of their labor productivity, economic growth, and political and cultural stability. We find that China is ahead of India in terms of transportation and telecommunications infrastructure, but India leads in terms of skilled labor for supporting information technology (IT) and complex manufacturing-based operations. While it will be difficult for India to catch up with China's manufacturing base, there is a strong opportunity for India to become the back office of the world. We then outline the opportunities and challenges that MNCs may face by investing in these countries and close with advice for managers in making expansion decisions.     

Making Capitalism Work for Everyone

Capitalism–or, more precisely, the free enterprise system–is the most effective system for allocating resources and rewards. For this reason, most economists tend to believe that capitalism is bound to spread from the U.S. to all parts of the world. But the authors argue that the triumph of capitalism is far from certain. Part of the problem is that the forms of capitalism that are experienced in most countries are very far from the ideal. They are a corrupt version in which vested interests prevent competition from playing its socially bene. cial role. What's more, as many economists fail to recognize, and as has become clear from the experience of many countries in recent years, a market system cannot. ourish without the very visible hand of the government, which is needed to set up and maintain the infrastructure that enables participants to trade freely and with con. dence. But this in turn gives rise to a political, or collective action, problem: Even though we all bene. t from the better goods and services and the equality of access that competitive markets make possible, no one in particular makes huge pro. ts from keeping the system competitive and the playing. eld level; everyone has an incentive to take a free ride and let someone else defend the system. In this sense, a competitive market is a form of public good, one in need of collective action to maintain it. In all nations, the main political threat to free markets comes from two very different groups: (1) “incumbents,” who want to retain their positions and thus have a strong incentive to suppress any potential source of competition; and (2) those who have lost out and would be happy if the rules of the game that caused their troubles were changed. The longterm feasibility of free markets depends on reducing the incentives and limiting the ability of both of these groups to work against the market. This can be accomplished not by expanding the power of the state, but through policies –including a strengthening of the “safety net” as well as removal of barriers to the. ow of trade and capital–that end up limiting the state's ability to take inef. cient economic actions that favor the few at the expense of the majority.     

Impact of Economic Reforms on Economic Issues: A Study of Ethiopia

Abstract: This paper is an attempt to investigate the impact of economic reforms on the economic issues in Ethiopia. Different economic issues — parameters determining the effectiveness of economic reforms — are separately discussed to measure how far Ethiopia has benefited from the reform policy. A simple and comparative analysis of various economic indicators between the pre‐reform and post‐reform, that is, between 1985/86–1991/92 and 1992/93–2001/02, reveals that those economic reforms have revamped the economy by moving its GDP from its long‐standing poor record to a respectful growing state. Nevertheless, the reforms have failed in attaining other direct economic objectives, such as standard of living, external debt, trade balance deficit and current account deficit. Economic reforms have, no doubt, attracted a significant amount of private investment, but its volume started declining within the reform period and so were privatization proceeds. This study suggests that a full‐fledged and committed reform is indispensable at the earliest to attaining the full benefits of reform policy.     

The Debt Trap: Wealth Transfers and Debt‐Equity Choices of Junk‐Grade Firms

If outstanding debt is risky, issuing equity transfers wealth from equity holders to debt holders. If existing leverage is high and bankruptcy costs are small, this wealth transfer effect outweighs the gains to stockholders from optimizing firm value. Empirically, we find that for investment‐grade firms, higher leverage implies a greater likelihood of issuing equity, as expected in a standard tradeoff model. However, consistent with the impact of wealth transfer effects, for junk‐grade firms, higher leverage implies a greater likelihood of issuing debt. The analysis implies an additional route through which historical shocks determine firms’ financing choices.     

New Technology and Career Progression in Financial Institutions

A recent study by the Institute of Manpower Studies has found that technology has had an influence on career progression within financial institutions resulting in an expansion of the ‘professional’ tier. The clerical tier has changed to become a non-career sector characterised by predominantly a female and often part-time work-force. This has resulted in a diamondshaped employment structure rather than the traditional pyramid.     

Exchange rate pass-through in Korea and Thailand: Trends and determinants

An important but age-old transmission channel of global factors into domestic prices is via exchange rate movements. This paper examines the extent and evolution of exchange rate pass-through (ERPT) into Korea's and Thailand's consumer and import prices at the aggregate level for the period over the last two decades. We find that ERPT appears to be consistently higher for Thailand compared to Korea; while for both nations ERPT of their respective bilateral rates with respect to the US dollar is higher than with respect to the Japanese yen. The paper also investigates if and how ERPT has changed over time, especially during and after the currency crisis period of 1997–1998, as well as its macroeconomic determinants.