Shanthi Gopalakrishnan, Melodi Guilbault and Abhoy K. Ojha
With the growth in outsourcing it is imperative to understand the vendor’s satisfaction with IT outsourcing relationships since contractual and relationship factors affect the…
Abstract
Purpose
With the growth in outsourcing it is imperative to understand the vendor’s satisfaction with IT outsourcing relationships since contractual and relationship factors affect the ability of vendors and clients to work together over time. A recent study demonstrated that relational factors such as trust and information exchange dominated in their ability to explain client satisfaction when compared to contractual factors. The purpose of this paper is to further examine how the relational factors work together to lead to vendor satisfaction in an outsourcing relationship.
Design/methodology/approach
A survey was developed and pre-tested with vendors in India and client firms in the USA that used international IT vendors. Using data collected from 214 vendor firms in the Indian subcontinent the paper examines the main effect of two client focused variables, namely, competence-based trust and client dependence on vendor satisfaction; it also explores whether social control moderate the main effect relationships.
Findings
The findings indicate that client dependence and competence-based trust were significant direct predictors of vendor satisfaction. Social control or the ability to resolve conflicts positively moderated the effect client dependence on vendor satisfaction. But it did not impact the effect of competence-based trust on vendor satisfaction.
Research limitations/implications
The authors identify three limitations: a dyadic analysis using both the client and the vendor perspective would have provided a richer understanding of the relationship; since the data were collected on a cross-sectional basis, it is hard to make predictive assessments; and a limited response rate.
Practical implications
These findings help us understand the factors that impact vendor satisfaction in an outsourcing relationship and this is one of the keys to maintaining a long-term relationship between transacting parties.
Originality/value
Previous studies have explored the relational aspects of a vendor-client interaction from the client’s point of view and, here, the authors take the vendor’s perspective, which is increasingly important due to the increasing complexity of work outsourced. Besides exploring the direct effect competence-based trust and client dependence on vendor satisfaction, the authors also analyze the role of social control as a moderator.
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Ramya Tarakad Venkateswaran and Abhoy K. Ojha
Universalizing approaches to knowledge when combined with a dominating cultural discourse is problematic for management research paradigms as “West meets East”. This study aims to…
Abstract
Purpose
Universalizing approaches to knowledge when combined with a dominating cultural discourse is problematic for management research paradigms as “West meets East”. This study aims to examine the case of the rapidly expanding, mainstream strategic management research in and on emerging economies through a critical perspective.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors analyze the strategic management society’s special conferences and workshops on “Emerging India” that aimed to write a fresh chapter of research on India as an emerging economy, using the methodology of critical discourse analysis (CDA). The authors treat this conference as representative of several such conferences and workshops being organized in emerging economies.
Findings
The results detect some troubling undercurrents of privilege and marginalization. The authors find support for a dominating cultural discourse embedded in the rapidly expanding, universalizing strategic management research perspectives in and on emerging economies.
Research limitations/implications
The implications for indigenous knowledge creation is discussed with a concluding call for academic reflexivity through revisiting different philosophies of science in management research and studying the social mechanisms of international knowledge exchange.
Originality/value
The theoretical framework combining the process of universalizing knowledge (Bourdieu and Wacquant, 1999) with a dominating cultural discourse sustained through a system of pressures and constraints (Said, 1978, 1993) is an original contribution. The choice of an emerging economy site is not very common, and the use of CDA on an event like a conference is valuable to research methodology.
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Frugal innovation is a term that has been used to describe the low-cost products and services, as well as the systems and processes adopted by organizations to develop them. The…
Abstract
Purpose
Frugal innovation is a term that has been used to describe the low-cost products and services, as well as the systems and processes adopted by organizations to develop them. The purpose of this paper is to examine the experience of multi-national companies (MNCs) in India as they adopt the philosophy of frugal innovation to develop products that are high in technology but low in terms of cost to meet the requirements of the market conditions in India, and similar low-income economies.
Design/methodology/approach
The case study methodology was adopted to understand the experiences of the Indian subsidiaries of two MNCs, Bosch India and 3M India. Data were acquired through interviews with key decision makers, documents, and publicly available information.
Findings
The two MNCs have increased research and development (R&D) in India and adopted the philosophy of frugal innovation which combines high technology with low costs. Based on the analysis, some propositions are presented indicating that MNCs will shift R&D to India if there are market opportunities; they will adopt the philosophy of frugal innovation to produce high technology products that are lost cost and low cost over product lifetime and will also expand to new-to-the-world innovation and finally contribute to global innovation.
Research limitations/implications
The study is based on only two case studies and a large sample study may be required before the findings can be generalized.
Practical implications
Other MNCs can learn from Bosch India and 3M India in terms of adopting frugal innovation practices to be successful in low-income economies.
Originality/value
The field of frugal innovation is quite new and largely based on anecdotal accounts of successful low-cost innovation. This paper provides a more detailed account of the experiences of two well-known organizations to present propositions that may be used to conduct a large sample study.
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Samy Garas and Suzanna ElMassah
The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of corporate governance (CG) on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures. This is done in the context of firms…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of corporate governance (CG) on the corporate social responsibility (CSR) disclosures. This is done in the context of firms operating in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries and is largely based on the legitimacy theory, although other theories such as principal–agent theory and stakeholder theory are disucssed.
Design/methodology/approach
This study used the annual reports of 147 firms in the GCC countries, drawing on a legitimacy theory framework to determine the impact of CG characteristics, such as management ownership, ownership concentration, independence of board members, duality of CEO and chairman positions and the existence of an audit committee, on firms’ CSR disclosures to various stakeholders. Accordingly, the authors developed five hypotheses to examine the above variables and used a data set from Hawkamah – the Institute of Corporate Governance. This study covers a period of six years (2007-2012). The data set had been regressed in a multi-variate regression analysis.
Findings
The authors reported that greater managerial ownership and concentration of ownership have positive impact on CSR disclosures. The findings of this study also show that internal CG mechanisms, such as the independence of board members, the separation of powers, between the CEO and chairman positions and the existence of an independent audit committee, also have a positive influence on CSR disclosures. In addition, the leverage ratio, return on assets, company’s size and age emerge as important determinants of CSR disclosures; nevertheless, the company’s size and age are statistically not significant. These significant findings corroborate the recent concern with CG in developing countries that brings greater attention to CSR disclousures, as both internal and external CG mechanisms are effective in influencing the CSR practices.
Practical implications
This study fills the gap in literature by providing empirical evidence on the impact of CG on CSR disclosures in a significant region in the emerging economies. Furthermore, it alerts regulators, policy-makers, practitioners and firms’ executives in the GCC region and other developing countries to pay more attention to CG reforms and enforcement as well as to increase institutional pressures regarding CSR adaptation.
Originality/value
The study on how CG and CSR disclosures are connected has been limited. This study addresses this research gap and focuses on a region that has often been overlooked by accounting research.
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S. Sreekumar and S.S. Mahapatra
The main purpose of the present study is to develop an integrated approach combining data envelopment analysis (DEA) and neural network (NN) for assessment and prediction of…
Abstract
Purpose
The main purpose of the present study is to develop an integrated approach combining data envelopment analysis (DEA) and neural network (NN) for assessment and prediction of performance of Indian B‐schools for effective decision making as error and biasness due to human intervention in decision making is appreciably reduced.
Design/methodology/approach
DEA, being a robust mathematical tool, has been employed to evaluate the efficiency of B‐schools. DEA, basically, takes into account the input and output components of a decision‐making unit (DMU) to calculate technical efficiency (TE). TE is treated as an indicator for performance of DMUs and comparison has been made among them. A sensitivity analysis has been carried out to study robustness of the ranking of schools obtained through DEA. Finally, NN is used to predict the efficiency when changes in inputs are caused due to market dynamism so that effective strategies can be evolved by the managers with limited available data.
Findings
A total of 49 Indian B‐schools are chosen for benchmarking purpose. The average score of efficiency is 0.625 with a standard deviation of 0.175 when Charnes, Cooper and Rhodes (CCR) model is used. Similarly, when the Banker, Charnes and Cooper (BCC) model is used the average score is 0.888 with a standard deviation of 0.063. The rank order correlation coefficient between the efficiency ranking obtained through CCR and BCC model is 0.736 (p=0.000) which is significant. The peer group and peer weights for the inefficient B‐schools have been identified. This is useful for benchmarking for the inefficient DMUs. They can identify the parameters in which they lack and take necessary steps for improvement. The peer group for the inefficient B‐schools indicates the efficient B‐schools to which the inefficient B‐schools are closer in its combination of inputs and outputs. The TE obtained through DEA is used as output variable along with input variables considered in DEA as input and output parameters in a generalized regression NN during training phase. It can be observed that root mean square error is 0.009344 and 0.02323 for CCR‐ and BCC‐efficiency prediction, respectively, during training. Similarly, root mean square error is 0.08585 and 0.03279 for CCR‐ and BCC‐efficiency prediction, respectively, during testing. Now, individual schools can generate scenario with the data within their control and test their own performance through NN model.
Originality/value
This work proposes integration of DEA and NN to assist the managers to predict the performance of an individual DMU based on input consumed and generate various “what‐if” scenarios. The study provides a simple but comprehensive methodology for improving performance of B‐schools in India.