An analysis of delayed formal and interlinked informal credit in agriculture

A model of interlinked credit-product contracts between small farmers and large farmers when the small farmer faces delay in getting formal credit and the large farmer does not, has been developed. The small farmer remains on the reservation income level, and his reservation income is inversely related to the length of the delay. However, this does not hamper the productivity of the small farmer. The large farmer extracts the surplus through the interlinked contract and this surplus is positively related to the length of the delay. Interlinkage and non-inter-linkage equilibria become identical if the small farmer gets the formal credit at the beginning of the crop cycle. Various subsidy policies worsen the distribution of formal credit.     

Sustainability as corporate culture of a brand for superior performance

Sustainability research highlights new challenges and opportunities for businesses. This paper reviews the literature to understand the ability of sustainable green initiatives when practiced as a corporate culture to individually create new opportunities for operations, management and marketing. According to current research, business opportunities exclusively available to different functions of a firm can drive its performance. The role of marketing in the achievement of superior performance by virtue of sustainability practices is also explained by the existing literature. Branding literature, however, fails to explain the influence of a brand on sustainability-driven opportunities available to a firm for superior performance. The objective of this study is to explore if a brand can strengthen the ability of sustainability-based green initiatives of managers to drive opportunities available to a firm for superior performance. A conceptual framework grounded in the triple bottom line theory is presented based on the assumption that brand as a stimulating factor can accelerate the conversion of opportunities available to a business into superior performance. Academic and managerial perspectives have been used to draw upon the implications of the model. Both practitioners and academic researchers will benefit from future research on this topic.     

Conceptualizing the Evolution and Future of Advertising

Technology has irreversibly changed the way that firms identify who is more likely to buy, what they are more likely to buy, when they are more likely to buy, why they are likely to buy, and how they are likely to buy, repurchase, and recommend. It is now easier than ever for firms to have a body of evidence in the form of actual insights, as opposed to having mere guestimates, on consumers' apparent intentions to buy. Power dynamics have changed in the marketing climate, and firms have to factor in not only aggressive competitors but also empowered customers with limited attention spans. In such a climate, what lies in the future for advertising? And how can marketing managers make the most of the changing climate and maximize their returns on advertising? How can academics advance research related to maximizing the effectiveness and efficiency of advertising? These are the questions that this article addresses via an integrated framework that expounds all the factors related to customers, firms, technological environment, and data resources, as well as the contextual factors, including product life cycle, customer life cycle, and so on, and their collective impact on advertising strategy, which includes advertising content, media selection, message, and targeting.     

Do Countries Matter More in Determining the Relationship Between Employee Welfare and Financial Performance?

Extant literature suggests that employee‐friendly practices influence corporate decision‐making. Using a bargaining framework, we examine the role of country‐level determinants in influencing employee‐friendly practices and their impact on value creation. Utilizing a comprehensive sample of 25,483 firm‐year observations from 56 countries, we find that firms domiciled in countries with weak employment protection and regulations can potentially benefit by voluntarily undertaking employee‐friendly practices. Also, in countries with flexible labor market conditions, firm value is enhanced by undertaking employee‐friendly practices. Furthermore, the importance of employee‐friendly practices in value creation is observed strongly in countries that provide better infrastructure, productivity, and incentives.     

Investigating Customer Resistance to Change in Transaction Relationship with an Internet Vendor

Many academics and practitioners have reiterated the importance of online customer retention to ensure long‐term profitability. Consequently, a number of studies have identified various means of customer retention. These studies lay significant emphasis on creating customer loyalty. However, retaining customers, especially in the context of Internet shopping, is very difficult because of the low costs in comparison and switching. Most of the loyalty programs have also shown disappointing results. This study suggests that by tapping on an individual customer's inclination to resist changes in a transaction relationship, an Internet vendor can achieve customer retention. Using status quo bias theory, this study examines customer resistance to change (CRC) as a means of retaining customers in a transaction relationship with the Internet vendor. The empirical study of an Internet bookstore reveals that trust, relative attractiveness, and switching costs together influence CRC. The empirical results also show that CRC and switching costs have positive effects on willingness to pay more. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.     

Inter-firm learning and knowledge-sharing in multinational networks: An outsourced organization's perspective

This research provides insights into how learning and knowledge are exchanged multinationally between customer firms and their outsourced suppliers who provide non-core, yet essential, services. The paper seeks to understand: (1) how information is exchanged in these networks; (2) how cumulative knowledge adds value in these networks; and (3) how boundary-spanners assist in the dissemination of knowledge and learning within the network. Based on a pharmaceutical industry case, the results suggest that: (a) multinational firms operate more effectively and interact by sharing knowledge with outsourced firms which reflect the customers' structure and fit; (b) networked firms benefit from interactions through economies of scope, but knowledge is not necessarily shared equally among partners; (c) learning and knowledge-sharing interactions are tightly coupled at the product development stage; and (d) outsourced firms interact with external boundary-spanners as needed. The research provides insights for managers of multinational organizations and managers of firms from where essential services are outsourced.     

Researches in Corporate Social Responsibility: A Review of Shifting Focus,Paradigms, and Methodologies

Owing to the growing academic and practitioner’s interest in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility, there is a need to do a comprehensive assessment and synthesis of research activities. This article addresses this need and examines the academic literature on Corporate Social Responsibility and Performance using a paradigmatic and methodological lens. The objective of this article is fourfold. First, it examines the status of CSR research from its beginning especially after 1970 to year 2008 in leading academic journals and reports to assess the focus areas of research on CSR so far. Second, it analyzes the research paradigms adopted in these research articles using the Operations Research Paradigm framework. Third, it compares and contrasts various kinds of research articles, methodologies, and research designs used in various researches in literature. Finally, it uncovers the implications of this study and directions for future research.     

Exchange rate returns and volatility: the role of time-varying rare disaster risks

This paper provides empirical evidence to the theoretical claim that rare disaster risks have predictability for exchange rate returns and volatility using a nonparametric quantile-based methodology. Using dollar-based exchange rates for Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa, the quantile-causality test shows that indeed rare disaster-risks affects both returns and volatility over the majority of their respective conditional distributions. In addition, these effects are much stronger when compared to those using the British pound, especially in terms of currency returns.     

On a Morgenstern-type bivariate gamma distribution

Summary In this paper a Morgenstern-type bivariate gamma distribution has been studied. Its moment generating function has been derived. The distribution of the product and quotient are derived in terms of the modified Bessel function. The results for the independent case follow as special cases. Further the regression function has been analysed, in terms of its deviation from linear regression function.This research was initiated while the first author was a U.N. Consultant under the Statistical Training Program for Africa, visiting the University of Ghana.