bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Ethics in Organizations: The Case of Tata Steel
Authors: Maheshwari Sunil Kumar , Ganesh M P 
Published: June 2019

The concern for ethical decision-making among the regulators, social groups, and managers has substantially increased in recent years following the failure of some of the prominent business organizations owing to strong social condemnation of some of their business practices. This paper reviews the literature to address this concern by examining and discussing significant issues of ethical decision-making in organizations. Literature shows that the research to examine the linkage of ethical decision-making with other organizational construct is inadequate. This paper tries to fill this gap by developing a comprehensive framework of organizational ethical decision-making and behaviour of individuals in organizations. The framework identifies three groups of variables: a) moral intensity, b) intrinsic factors, c) extrinsic factors. Further, it is used to analyse the implementation of code of conduct at Tata Steel. Ethical problems are problems of choice owing to the conflicting nature of values. They occur when the individual values and the social norms conflict with each other. Often, due to conflicting interests of different stakeholders, managers in organizations face the dilemma of identifying the righteous decision as perceived by these stakeholders. Hence, it is important to guide managers � by articulating and communicating unambiguously — regarding what is right and what is not. Intense socialization will be required at different levels to imbibe organizational values and ethical practices. The socialization that leads to willing adoption of practices is likely to lead to better implementation of ethical practices. The scope of socialization could be extended to include the family members of employees to develop a sense of pride among them for being ethical. Organizations would need to undertake the following initiatives which would be useful for implementation of ethical practices: Enhance perceived self-efficacy among the employees. This study shows that people with high self-efficacy are more open to ethical choices in their decision-making. Initiate reward and incentive mechanisms, suitable monitoring system, and accountability mechanisms. Internal competition-driven performance management practices induce violation of ethical norms in organizations. Hence, organizations with such practices would need extra effort in socialization, training, and monitoring to ensure ethical decision-making. Develop different mechanisms for avoidance of violation of code of ethics. For adequate monitoring, ethic supervisors should ideally report to an independent unit in the organization, preferably at a higher level. Hence, the reporting relationships may need alteration for implementation of ethical practices. The study also suggests that leadership at different levels of the organization will have to display strong commitment to ethics through communication and adoption of role model stature.
Management of Rising Power by China and India in the 21st Century: Scope for Strategic Partnership
Authors: Wadhva Charan D 
Published: June 2019

China and India are being widely recognized as rising powers in the 21st century. With its track record of fast economic growth in the last two decades, China is already a global economic power. Based on India's more recent growth performance, India is steadily catching up with China as an economic power. Despite fundamental differences in their political systems, both countries have acquired rising economic power due to open market economy-oriented reforms. China has the advantage of an earlier start than India in this respect. China started its economic reforms in 1978 and India in 1991. These economic reforms have miraculously transformed China into a global economic power. Although politically constrained, economic reforms have helped India to improve its growth trajectory and to further integrate with the global economy. China and India have been following different paths for managing their rising power: China has been credited with carefully evolving a grand vision and a grand strategy for transforming it into a ‘global power’ by the year 2020 (or so). Pragmatism and effective political will have been the hallmarks of the ‘calculated strategy’ adopted by China to achieve this objective. India's economic power has been rising more due to the impulses generated by its entrepreneurs especially in the knowledge-intensive services and industries than due to its government's pursuit of a well-thoughtout grand vision and grand strategy for becoming a global power. Currently, China is nearly two decades ahead of India in moving towards acquiring significant global power. The author's analysis of the existing and projected strengths and weaknesses of both countries in this paper leads him to the conclusion that both the countries have the potential to become global powers — China most probably by the year 2020 and India by the year 2050. Further analysis of the existing and potential complementarities and competition in the economies of China and India indicates that there is a tremendous scope for forging mutually beneficial strategic partnership between them. A very useful beginning can be made in this direction by establishing mutually rewarding strategic alliances in these two countries at the business-to-business level. Progress in this direction can be expedited by supportive government policies and procedures. Despite the existing deficit of political trust between India and China, the two countries have recently agreed to become strategic partners. Concrete moves towards operationalizing this strategic partnership can be initiated in two areas identified in this paper. These are: strengthening cooperation at the international level for enhancing national energy security further cooperation in negotiations at the World Trade Organization and other multilateral forums for collectively promoting the interests of all developing countries in the emerging new international trade and investment order.
The Big Pictures: Sources of National Competitiveness in the Global Movie Industry
Authors: Howse Joseph , McLarney Carolan 
Published: June 2019

This paper examines the global film industry through a detailed discussion of four national players (US, Canada, China, and Hong Kong). According to Porter, the international competitiveness of any industry cluster is shaped by four characteristics of the domestic market: demand conditions, factor endowments, firm rivalry, and supporting industries. The authors assess the film industry in these countries in terms of the four factors of national competitiveness and conclude that only the US possesses all of them at this juncture. Moreover, they propose that the exclusivity of US interests in the global distribution system creates competitive dynamics that neither Porter nor critics such as Rugman have fully explored. It is in this context that this paper discusses co-production as an alternative means for nations to develop⁄improve competitiveness through exploitation of overseas markets. Based on their analysis of the film industry of the US, Canada, China, and Hong Kong, the authors make the following observations: There is a need to increase the presence of Canada⁄Canadian film co-productions with other countries as there may be greater opportunities for large Canadian producers to leverage both their US connections and their home country's treaties to create a unique pool of film-making resources. The potential size of the Chinese film audience makes it attractive to other nations. However, the Chinese government's monopoly over film imports, pirated home versions, and denial of access to the official film distribution channels are major barriers to entry. Despite the massive historical price gap between domestic and foreign movies, box office figures would suggest that Chinese audiences prefer the latter. Another popular option is cheap, pirated home versions. Hong Kong's box office size, domestic box office share, and number of domestic productions have been decimated over the past decade and, hence, Hong Kong producers' main option is to find stronger opportunities in mainland China. Being the only external co-production partner nation of China and Hong Kong, Canada has in place the foundations for a powerful competitive position in these regions relative to other foreign entrants. According to the authors, further research in this field could include an analysis of coproductions within Europe or of emerging co-production blocs across other regions. For instance, Canada is currently in the process of concluding a co-production treaty with India which has the potential to clear barriers between the two powerful yet traditionally quite segregated film industries of the subcontinent and North America. This is indicative of the fact that the governments and the movie industries are gaining power to change the global competitive scenario in films.
Characteristics of Merging Firms in India: An Empirical Examination
Authors: Kumar B Rajesh , Rajib Prabina 
Published: June 2019

The process of corporate restructuring through mergers and acquisitions has occupied much relevance in post-liberalization period. The financial characteristics of a firm play a critical role in the merger decision process. This study analyses the distinctive financial characteristics of the acquirer and the target firms in the period of merger. In addition, the empirical challenge is to determine the measurable factors that make a firm attractive as a takeover target. The fundamental research focus is on the characteristics that make a firm an acquirer and on identifying those characteristics of a firm, which will have a significant impact on the probability that firms will be acquired. The ratios involved in the study were reflective of the financial and product market characteristics. The sample firms consisting of 227 acquirer and 215 target firms represented the mergers during the period 1993—2004. The distinctive characteristics of the acquirer and the target firms were analysed with Mann Whitney U test and Kolgomorov Smirnov test on the assumption of non-normality of the sample distribution. The final step involved using the logit regression to examine the likelihood that a given firm will be the target of an acquisition attempt. The same sample of target firms merged between 1993-2004 period and a random sample of 490 non-acquired firms based on a matched industry sector and similar size (sales) are obtained for the logit model estimation. The comparative study of the acquirer and the target firms in the year of merger and the logit analysis reveals the following: The size of the target firms was much smaller compared to the acquirer firms. The acquirer firms have higher cash flow, higher PE ratios, higher book value, higher liquid assets, and lower debt to total assets ratio, which are statistically significant when compared to the target firms. Some evidence points out higher leverage for the target firms especially for measures of market leverage. The lesser the liquidity position, greater the probability of a firm becoming a target. The larger firms are less likely to become acquisition targets. Logit coefficients are consistent with the size hypothesis and inefficient management hypothesis. The advertising intensity ratio and the cash flow to market value of assets show statistical significance based on logit results. The results of the study indicate that firms generating free cash flows and having low debt levels have a tendency to incur agency costs. Capital structure characteristics provide the acquirers and the target firms a motive for mergers. The acquirer firms with unused debt capacity can use mergers as a strategic business tool for gaining financial synergy.
Understanding New Venture Failure due to Entrepreneur-Organization Goal Dissonance
Authors: Seshadri D V R 
Published: June 2019

New ventures tend to have an alarmingly high casualty rate. Those who take the most severe brunt in such failures are key managers, who unwittingly take on roles much beyond their formal job descriptions, in an effort to keep the venture alive, often ending up as ‘employee entrepreneurs.’ Employees taking ownership of their jobs far in excess of that specified by their formal roles, thereby manifesting entrepreneurial behaviour, are also referred to as intrapreneurs. This paper presents the real life case study (with names, identities, and situations disguised) of the chief executive of a start-up venture who tried to repeatedly salvage the start-up company from one crisis after another, over a span of seven years, when two successive promoters failed to deliver their part of the commitment through timely infusion of the required promoter�s equity. In addition, he also had to reckon with facing undue pressure from the promoters to cater to their short-term goals. Based on the case study of Global Optical Disc Company Ld., the author presents a model to better understand new venture failure arising out of goal dissonance between the promoter and the organization and proposes the following hypotheses: A low degree of psychological ownership by the professional top management and a low goal congruence of the promoter and the new venture can be lethal for a new venture. A high degree of psychological ownership by the professional top management and a high goal congruence of the promoter and the new venture could result in a likely success, provided the industry structure, strategy, financial structuring, etc., do not result in the creation of conditions to cause failure. The situation of a low degree of psychological ownership by the professional top management team and a high goal congruence of the promoter and the new venture may result in a weak beginning for the new venture despite heroic efforts of the professional top management team. A high degree of psychological ownership by the professional top management and a low degree of goal congruence of the promoter and the new venture would most likely result in an eventual failure of the new venture. The transition from an employee mindset on the part of the intrapreneurial chief executive in a new venture to that of an entrepreneurial mindset in the situation of distress in the new venture, due to failure on the part of the promoter, is not automatic. The paper concludes with lessons for those managers who may be put into similar �testing by the fire� situations. While there could be any number of reasons for the failure of entrepreneurial start-ups, this paper focuses in particular on the failure attributable to dissonance between promoter�s personal goals and the start-up organization�s stated goals. Such lack of goal convergence is a phenomenon that occurs with alarmingly regular frequency. The paper describes some of the options that an employee-chief executive has under such adverse circumstances.
Indian Model of Executive Burnout
Authors: Sharma Radha R 
Published: June 2019

Burnout is described as a state of depletion of a person's resources and energy resulting in apathetic and impassive behaviour towards others, having dysfunctional repercussions on the individual and adverse effects on organizations. Though an enormous amount of research is available on “stress” in both Western and Indian contexts, there is very little research on “burnout” in the Indian workplaces. For this study, important considerations included evolving an exclusive construct of “executive burnout” in the industrial context which does not exist and also developing the construct of burnout in the Indian context. The Western construct of burnout using Maslach Burnout Inventory (MBI) developed in 1982 has largely been based on people occupations (like nurses and teachers) and later extended to non-service occupations. When tested by the author on the Indian sample of executives, it revealed the following: There is a difference in the dimension of diminished personal accomplishment which was not valid on the Indian sample. Those suffering from burnout did not have low personal accomplishment; on the contrary, high achieving executives were mostly found to suffer from burnout. Some dimensions, viz., ambiguity; dissatisfaction and powerlessness; inadequacy; and physical exhaustion, which were empirically found vital for executives in the Indian context, were not covered by MBI. With technological advancements, workplaces have undergone drastic changes and many executives work in situations which require very little people contact, implying that the construct of executive burnout is qualitatively different and needs to be evolved for better understanding of this pivotal problem. The author's professional interactions with executives from a variety of industry and a study of mental health professionals in India revealed that the problem of burnout has been acute and on the increase. This study identifies the determinants of burnout among Indian executives and thus evolves an Indian model of executive burnout to help the executives/organizations in taking preventive measures to mitigate this problem. Reliable tools are used on a representative sample of middle level executives from manufacturing and service industry representing both public and private sectors. Basic statistics, Pearson's correlation, factor analysis, t-test, and hierarchical regression test the hypotheses. The analysis of data reveal the following: Emotional intelligence mediates and leads to personal effectiveness which moderates the onset of burnout. Stress personality and personal inadequacy are personality-related predictors. Role expectation conflict, role stagnation, self-role distance, role overload, role erosion, resource inadequacy, inter-role distance, and role ambiguity are role- related predictors of burnout among executives in India. The author (2005) has found that burnout can be prevented with early detection, timely intervention, and enhancement of emotional intelligence.
Public Private Partnership in Transportation: The Case of the Washington State
Authors: Murray Edward 
Published: June 2019

While the world has changed dramatically in the last five decades or so, transportation has not been able to keep pace with the overall development. However, in order to ensure prosperity of a country or a state, it is imperative that the ability to move people and products must improve. This paper examines the status of transportation infrastructure and its funding in the State of Washington, USA and suggests some new approaches towards public-private partnership (PPP) in the area. In the process, the success and some of the challenges of PPP are also discussed. In the US, traditionally, people were not charged direct tax such as a toll for using the roads, the primary mode of financing transportation being gas tax. The new sources of revenue collection being developed include: Specific roadway pricing Mileage-based user fees Real-time variable rate roadway pricing. Traditionally, in the US, the public sector shouldered the main responsibility for managing transportation�acquire right-of-way (ROW), design, finance, operate, own, and maintain while the private sector was only allowed to build roads following all the regulation and permits introduced by the government. The reformed PPP model awards ‘design-build’ contracts on a competitive ‘best-value’ basis instead of the conventional ‘low-bid’ basis and thus turn over the design build responsibility to the private sector leaving with the government the financing and maintenance of the roads. The idea is to give road to everybody while allowing the private sector to earn some profit and the public sector to save some money. However, PPP could face a problem if: the traffic and revenue estimates are wrong traffic and revenue risks are taken by private sector but at a huge price construction costs are underestimated the people do not accept the proposition the PPP legislation is not favourable. For any infrastructure project such as transportation to succeed, what is most critical is a set of factors including feasibility, essentiality, reliable revenue forecasts, collateral, credibility, political stability, and transparency. Above all, the government has the responsibility to all its citizens while the private sector is accountable to its stockholders and business partners. What is therefore important is to see how the two parties meet their obligations while building a suitable transportation infrastructure.
Non-linearities and GARCH Effects in the Emerging Stock Markets of South Asia
Authors: Dhankar Raj S , Chakraborty Madhumita 
Published: June 2019

Up to the beginning of the last decade, financial economics was dominated by linear paradigm, which assumed that economic time series conformed to linear models or could be wellapproximated by a linear model. However, there is increasing evidence that asset returns may be better characterized by a model which allows for non-linear behaviour. Though more efforts are now being directed towards the Asian stock markets in the light of their increasing importance to the investment world and the world economy, there is an extremely sparse literature, which utilizes recent advances in non-linear dynamics to examine the data generating process of the South-Asian stock markets. This study investigates the presence of non-linear dependence in three major markets of South Asia: India, Sri Lanka, and Pakistan. It was, however, realized that merely identifying non-linear dependence was not enough. Previous research has shown that the presence of nonlinear characteristics usually takes the form of ARCH/GARCH (Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity or Generalized Autoregressive Conditional Heteroscedasticity) type conditional heteroscedasticity. Keeping this in view, this study investigates whether the non-linear dependence is caused by predictable conditional volatility. It has been found that the simple GARCH (1, 1) model has fitted all the market return series adequately and accounted for the non-linearity found in the series. The findings reveal the following: The application of the BDS test developed by Brock, et al., (1996) strongly rejects the null hypothesis of independent and identical distribution of the return series as well as the linearly filtered return series for all the markets under study. With the possibility of linear dependence causing the rejection of independent and identical distribution (IID) being eliminated by linear filtering, the study also shows that non-stationarity of return series is also not a cause for non-IID behaviour by applying Augmented Dickey Fuller test and Phillips-Perron test. This implies the presence of non-linear dependence in the return series. For researchers in the developing countries, it is time to embrace the shift to non-linearity as it would provide a better understanding of the underlying dynamics of financial time series. However, the results are not necessarily inconsistent with efficient market hypothesis, simply because non-linearity does not essentially imply predictability as the future price changes can be predictable but only with a time horizon too short to allow for excess profits. The implications of non-linear dependence and presence of GARCH effects go beyond the issue of market efficiency. The common assumption of constant variance underlying the theory and practice of option pricing, portfolio optimization, and value-at-risk (VaR) calculations needs to be revised. If the assumed stochastic processes do not adequately depict the full complexity of the true generating processes, then any derivatives in question may be mis-priced.