Search results

The purpose of this paper is to empirically investigate the applicability and implementation of Lean Six Sigma (LSS) in Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). LSS is considered as the most recent service quality practice which has proved its success in manufacturing and service sectors. Though there is plenty of literature available with regard to the application and benefits of LSS in services sectors (like Banking, healthcare, information technology sectors, etc.), there is apparently no evidence in the literature about the implementation of LSS in HEIs.

A five-phased approach is followed. A multiple case-study method is used in this paper to explore this implementation of LSS in two select international University colleges. LSS toolkit comprising of define-measure-analyze-improve-control phases is used for the execution of the projects. Featuring student teams in LSS project management adds novelty to the approach.

The paper empirically validates the application of LSS in HEIs. Further, it highlights the practical challenges and benefits of LSS in the HEI setup. An in-depth empirical analysis of LSS toolkit application, LSS change management and using student teams in LSS project management are the highlights of this paper. The paper concludes that LSS is applicable and could provide positive benefits to HEIs.

LSS application in HEIs is perhaps a new research area, which is at its nascence and upcoming in the researchers’ community. Hence, this paper would serve as a platform and provide directions for future scholars to ponder on the subject.

Since the cases are executed in the real-time setup of HEIs, the paper has several practical implications. First, the academia and practitioners’ collaboration in executing projects adds novelty. Second, the involvement of student teams from project selection to execution brings in practical perspectives alongside the academic education. Several other key lessons learned and benefits of LSS in HEI setup are presented as part of the paper.

LSS has been successful in the past few decades in the manufacturing and service sectors. However, its application in HEIs was very nascent, and few researchers even doubted its relevancy of application in HEIs. This study illustrates its importance and application to the higher education sector which is a highly responsible area of the service sector, for imbibing quality excellence, serving as an excellent resource for researchers and higher education professionals.

The construction industry worldwide is looking for overall efficiency in the entire project life cycle. Lean construction and Building Information Modeling (BIM) are together, key constituents in this quest. This study looks to reinforce the contribution of BIM to deliver applied lean principles to enhance productivity and performance.

The study adopts mixed methodologies of Ethnographic Action Research (EAR) and crisp set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (csQCA). The mosaic of case studies provides a descriptive and instrumental approach. While a descriptive approach investigates the interventions and phenomenon relating BIM to Lean, an instrumental approach constitutes exemplars of the interrelated phenomenon of BIM and Lean.

The themes of Elimination of Waste, Kaizen, Respecting the Human Elements, Poke-a-Yoke and Jidoka are contributed to the maximum by BIM. All the case studies discussed evidence of the contribution to Lean, as they enhance end-customer value.

The contribution of BIM towards Lean could encourage collaborations amongst stakeholders for mutual benefits. BIM could enhance decision making, predictive simulation, risk analysis, etc. with many other exciting possibilities of delivering productivity and performance. The study is limited by the insights offered by the individual cases.

The study provides insights into potential developments and research. It is expected to encourage reflective professional practice triggered by innovative thinking for the gainful utilization of BIM to deliver Lean.

The learning outcomes of this study are as follows:

1. the benefits of differential pricing over uniform pricing;

2. the differences between second- and third-degree price discrimination;

3. the rationale for charging different prices for segments having different willingness to pay; and

4. how different prices for the same product can lead to perceptions of unfairness and how companies might manage such an issue.

This case outlines the decisions that Adar Poonawalla, the CEO of Serum Institute of India (Serum), had to make in late April 2021 concerning its pricing for the COVID-19 (Covid) vaccine. Serum was the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines, and its Covishield vaccine had received regulatory approval, but faced an unusual challenge and opportunity. In most countries, governments had procured Covid vaccines from manufacturers and then delivered the vaccines to consumers free of cost. But in India, there was a three-tier pricing system. While the Government of India had committed to free vaccines in government-run public hospitals, it also allowed vaccine makers to directly sell vaccines to state governments, as well as private hospitals, who were at liberty to charge consumers for the vaccines. This created an interesting pricing dilemma for Serum: as different customers had different willingness to pay, should Serum use differential pricing? Would such a tiered pricing system be considered fair? How many different price points should Serum maintain? By exploring these and related decisions that Poonawalla had to make, the case is intended to teach price discrimination.

The case is intended for graduate-level courses in marketing, pricing and economics. This case illustrates the principles of differential pricing/price discrimination. More specifically, it highlights pricing strategies motivated by second- and third-degree price discrimination in an emerging market’s health-care context. From the information in the case, the student can learn to apply the concepts of second- and third-degree price discrimination in marketing. After working through the case and assignment questions, instructors will be able to help students understand the following concepts:

Teaching objective 1: the benefits of differential pricing over uniform pricing.

Teaching objective 2: the differences between second- and third-degree price discrimination.

Teaching objective 3: the rationale for charging different prices for segments having different willingness to pay.

Teaching objective 4: how different prices for the same product can lead to perceptions of unfairness and how companies might manage such an issue.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 8: Marketing

In part-I of this review series, research from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka was reviewed. The purpose of this paper which is part-II of the series, is to review management research from India and Pakistan over a 25-year period from 1990 to 2014.

A systematic review approach was adopted for this research. As a quality standard for inclusion, articles were restricted to journals rated A*, A, or B by the Australian Business Deans Council in 2013 and either Q1 or Q2 in the Scopus/Imago classification system. The divisions and interest groups of the Academy of Management were used as framework to organize the search results.

A total of 1,039 articles related to India (n = 930) and Pakistan (n = 112) emerged from the search process, with three articles being related to both countries. The research was published in 163 different journals that met the quality criteria. The period under review coincides with the advent of economic liberalization in India and this emerged as a major theme in the India-related research. Other context-specific insights for these two countries are also derived from an ecological and institutional theory perspective.

This research represents the first comprehensive and systematic review of management research in India and Pakistan. As in part-I, the unique review approach allows for strict adherence to a predetermined quality standard while including a wide variety of journals and research traditions.

The purpose of this study is to recognise the role of information and communication technology (ICT) tools in different sectors like Education, Health Care, Business, FMCG and Entertainment in the phase of social distancing. This study also attempts to provide a quantitative review of the scholarly literature on this topic.

A comprehensive literature evaluation was undertaken using a database encompassing 150 English-language papers with publication dates ranging from 2019 to 2021. The research profile and thematic analysis are presented through a comprehensive content analysis, resulting in four themes. The study reviews various research articles and reports related to social distancing and opens a discussion on the growing importance of ICT tools during this COVID-19 era.

ICT acts as a surviving tool for the economy by creating a virtual environment and helping people to stay socially connected during this pandemic. There is a lack of empirical evidence to support the facts so further research is required.

There are two drawbacks to the current study. Firstly, this study established a rigorous review methodology in which the researchers opted to exclude any grey literature, non-peer-reviewed articles, books, notes and book chapters from consideration. These sources could have had pertinent literature. Secondly, even after protocol’s rigour and numerous rounds of checks by a team of academicians and researchers, an anomaly may have sneaked into the evaluation.

The current study contributes to the growing literature on ICT tools particularly in this phase of social distancing. This paper highlights the need for future research in this area supported by different statistics.

Successful handling and delivery of projects requires commensurate growth in the business capabilities of construction companies. The current scenario of exponential infrastructure boom in India necessitates scaling up to meet the challenges of competitiveness. The objectives of this study are to (1) identify the enablers of sustainable business growth among Indian construction companies, (2) identify gaps in the deployment of the enablers in comparison to competitive successful international construction companies and (3) suggest strategic initiatives to top management of companies and policymakers for promoting business growth and industry competitiveness.

A detailed literature review first identifies an adapted framework for enablers of growth and growth performance of successful international construction companies on basis of industry trends. Thereafter, a questionnaire survey was administered on the leading construction companies in India to assess the deployment of enablers and gaps thereof. A total of 108 valid responses were obtained from top management executives of the companies and analysed through descriptive statistics and hypothesis testing.

Studies indicate that anticipation of new demands and capabilities; business opportunity scanning and human resource skills and capabilities are among the most important enablers of growth. The role of leadership vision and focus on development of human resources is critical to competitiveness and growth. The successful international construction companies have delivered growth utilising their ability to deploy multiple strategies, diversification and new business opportunities. These are sparingly deployed by Indian companies.

The study is limited to the opinion and perceptions of the top management personnel of the construction companies.

High economic growth context offers a unique opportunity for domestic Indian construction companies to leverage. The valuable insights gained from this study provide hints to the top management of these companies to draw managerial implications for facing the challenges ahead and delivering projects in the dynamic and hyper-competitive construction industry. The policymakers on their part are responsible to support and promote initiatives for sustainable growth.

The study suggests business growth enablers to construction companies in India to improve their international competitiveness.

The learning outcomes are as follows: to understand the cultural and ethical dimensions revolving around the issue of female feticide; to apply the lens of institutional theory with respective change management measures; and to analyze and evaluate the impact of such intervention programs such as Beti Bachao Beti Padhao in the context of emerging economies such as India.

This case attempts to highlight the innovative and effective governance approach by the Government of Rajasthan (India) and, in particular, the State Health Assurance Agency to curb the menace of female feticide and the rising cases of abortion and sex determination in an attempt to favor a male child. The case concentrates on mainly three dimensions of Indian societal ecosystem, namely, the grave concern of preference of male child over female child leading to widespread cases of female feticide in different states in India with specific focus on the state of Rajasthan; the role of cultural dimension which primarily drives such preferential treatment in rural and urban areas in India; and the importance of using effective policy measures in monitoring various activities, introduction of incentive schemes to patients for preventing sex determination and promoting the birth of female child.

This case can be used as a teaching material in the Public Policy course – Social Welfare and Health Policy, Policy interventions, organization theory and change management at the Graduate/MBA level.

Teaching notes are available for educators only.

CSS 10: Public Sector Management.

The purpose of this paper is to present a road map to implement Lean-Kaizen concept using value stream mapping (VSM) to identify hidden continuous improvement opportunities in a small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) located at the non-capital region of India.

From the collected data, a current state map was prepared that indicated the current operating situation of selected SME. The takt time was calculated and those processes which attained higher cycle time (C/T) than takt time were identified. The continuous flow processing was achieved by adjusting C/T of each process and supermarket pull system was developed to control the production at the workstations. Finally, a future state map was developed that served as a guide for future lean activities. Few problems were identified to realize the future state. The “5-why” analysis was used for identifying root causes of these problems and Kaizen events were proposed as solutions. In this case study, one Kaizen event was identified in which brainstorming technique was used to control the variation caused by unorthodox fixture design for clamping and de-clamping of case product and thus eliminated non-value-added activities performed by the operator on a milling machine.

Before and after implementation of value stream map, the data obtained were analyzed and eliminated rework time, reduced inventory level, reduced lead time and C/T, improved productivity and product quality are presented as finding. Lean-Kaizen provides a better chance for every individual of the industry to have a hand in achieving organization’s goals to attain continuous progress in productivity and quality of the product. Even good understanding of the concept of lean tools and techniques by SMEs, the employee willingness and motivation to identify and eliminate wastes are found feeble.

This study is among best practices to identify hidden improvement opportunities in the regular production of the product to increase productivity and improve quality using value stream map. The research paper gives useful understandings to the lean implementers, Kaizen identifiers, consultants and researchers.

This study aims to offer a bibliometric analysis of the already substantial and growing literature on global virtual teams (GVTs).

Using a systematic literature review approach, it identifies all articles in the Web of Science from 1999 to 2021 that include the term GVTs (in the title, the abstract or keywords) and finds 175 articles. The VOSviewer software was applied to analyze the bibliometric data.

The analysis revealed three dialogizing research clusters in the GVTs literature: a pioneering management information systems and organizational cluster, a general management cluster and a growing international management and behavioural studies cluster. Furthermore, it highlights the most cited articles, authors, journals and nations, and the network of strong and weak links regarding co-authorships and co-citations. Additionally, this study shows a change in research patterns regarding topics, journals and disciplinary approaches from 1999 to 2021. Finally, the analysis illustrates the position and centrality in the network of the most relevant actors.

The findings can guide management practitioners, educators and researchers to the most meaningful clusters of publications on GVTs, and help navigate and make sense of the vast body of the available literature. The importance of GVTs has been growing in the past two decades, and Covid-19 has accelerated the trend.

This study provides an updated and comprehensive systematic literature review on GVTs. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, it is also the first systematic literature review and bibliometry on GVTs. It concludes by suggesting future research paths.