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Public disclosure programs that collect and disseminate information about firms' environmental performance are increasingly popular in both developed and developing countries. Yet little is known about whether they actually improve environmental performance, particularly in the latter setting. We use detailed plant-level survey data to evaluate the impact of India's Green Rating Project (GRP) on the environmental performance of the country's largest pulp and paper plants. We find that the GRP drove significant reductions in pollution loadings among dirty plants but not among cleaner ones. This result comports with statistical and anecdotal evaluations of similar disclosure programs. We also find that plants located in wealthier communities were more responsive to GRP ratings, as were single-plant firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper is an attempt to document the impact of fractionalization on the demand of informal finance in India. Using the data provided by the World Bank's Enterprise Survey, we show that firms headquartered in states/provinces with higher degree of fractionalization are more likely to use informal finance (such as the financing from trade creditors, moneylenders, and friends) than firms headquartered in states/provinces with lower degree of fractionalization. Our results are robust across various proxies of informal finance and various sub-samples. We also report that the effect of fractionalization on the use of informal finance is weaker where state-level or firm-level governance environment is strong. We also show that (when it comes to the use of formal finance) fractionalization is associated with higher use of retained earnings and lower use of funds provided by the banks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essential characteristic of firm size distribution patterns in developing countries including India, is a bimodal distribution with a "missing middle", which is widely accepted in development economics. We analyse data from the Annual Survey of Industries (ASI), National Sample Survey (NSS) and Economic Census to assess the firm size structure of the whole non-farm sector. The contribution of the paper is that for the first time a comprehensive database is constructed to enable analysis of the size structure of India's non-farm enterprises. The second contribution is that we find a deep distortion in India, with even a "small"-scale sector being very small, relatively. We examine briefly the policy-related causes that make India an outlier even among Asian economies in respect of size structure of enterprises. Finally, we argue that the historically policy-induced informality of enterprises is being entrenched by the current hiatus in state policy in even recognising the true nature of the problem of micro, small & medium enterprises (MSMEs), which holds back both their growth and employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides large scale evidence on the determinants of international competitiveness of Indian manufacturing firms, focusing in particular on the role of technology, costs and imported intermediate inputs. Our evidence suggests that innovation, in particular R&D investment, is positively related to both firms' probability to export and firms' export volumes. We also find that imported intermediate inputs, incorporating foreign technology is strongly associated with expanding export activities of firms. Finally, and in contrast to much of previous evidence on developed economies, we find that higher productivity or lower unit labour costs are not systematically associated with the probability to enter export markets, but they are positively related to higher export volumes. Overall our results point to the existence of a pattern of involvement in international trade for firms in developing countries that is not relying as a main driver on cost competitiveness. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between external financing constraints and the intensive margin of exports for manufacturing firms in India. We use a sample of nearly 3200 firms over the period: 2000–2015 and construct a multivariate index proposed by Musso and Schiavo (J Evol Econ 18(2):135–149, 2008) to estimate the degree of external financing constraints. We find that an increase in the degree of external financing constraints faced is associated with lower firm-level exports and this result holds even after accounting for endogeneity issues. We next examine whether business group-affiliated firms are less dependent on external finance to support their overseas sales. We find that financing constraints are a significant binding factor even for firms with access to internal capital markets. Moreover, we find that firm size matters, as a decline in the financial health of small- and medium-sized firms is associated with a significantly larger decline in their export levels. Finally, we find some evidence of industry-level heterogeneity, as financing constraints lead to a more pronounced decline in the exports of firms in industries with greater dependence on external finance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The literature on the role of information technology outsourcing (ITO) and on knowledge intensive business services only rarely considers purchasers in developing countries and includes few wide-scale studies. This paper reduces that gap in that it quantifies the effect of ITO on total factor productivity using a sample of 10,100 firms in India. The results show that ITO purchasing brings strong returns and outperforms in-house IT. A comparison with studies from elsewhere reveals that Indian ITO also outperforms IT in a range of circumstances in developed countries. Taken together, these findings support the idea that ITO firms, just like other knowledge intensive business services, can act as a conduit for best practices and tacit knowledge, and that this role is very useful in a developing country context. The implication is that more ITO projects would be good for catching up in developing countries. In India, policy support for the ITO sector should be re-designed to incentivise domestic work. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In view of the challenges faced by the present day's volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous environment, high level of flexibility is required for the organizations to sustain and stay competitive. Given the dynamic nature of the pharmaceutical industry in India, the need to be flexible is more pronounced. The Indian pharma sector has witnessed tremendous change in the last several years and hence, it is imperative to explore as to how these firms are addressing the critical issue of flexibility and its consequent linkage with their competitiveness by undertaking a qualitative study to structurally model their inter-relationship. In this paper, a detailed conceptual review of flexibility and competitiveness is presented, after which Total Interpretive Structural Modeling (TISM)—a qualitative method is used for the analysis. TISM is an improvised form of Warfield's structural modeling tool which is used to develop a model using different types of enterprise flexibility and competitiveness for better understanding of the relationship between these factors. The findings of this study will highlight the possible implications for practitioners and researchers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the motives behind equity holding by banks in non-financial firms. It has been argued that banks hold equity in firms primarily for two reasons: to support their debt holding or for returns as capital investments. This paper tries to examine which among these two motives drive equity holdings by Development Financial Institutions in India (DFIs). Results indicate that equity holding by DFIs in India is primarily driven by their interest as creditors. In poorly performing firms, equity holding by DFIs is also driven by debt restructuring in firms in the form of conversion of debt to equity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper clearly demarcates the boundaries of international joint venture (IJV) activity and identifies avenues for profitable deployment of corporate resources. Its objective is to analyse partner identification strategies in international joint venturing between Indian auto firms and their non-Indian partners. The results provide complementary partner objectives as critical decision factors sought by firms in the formation of IJVs. The paper reveals four distinct factors. The foreign partner looks for local resources, business strategy, financial resource and country business environment related issues from the Indian partner. The Indian partner looks for Iong-term competency-competitiveness generation, international market entry strategy, MNC techno-managerial advantage and financial resource related advantages. This leads to a conceptual model, which is used to integrate the results. The paper suggests that IJVs are a new type of organizational form where inter-partner objective alignment and the complementary nature of objectives are pertinent. It also suggests that IJVs are a good means of entry in medium and Iong-term commitments. Continuous re-venturing of IJVs with dynamic objective re-alignments is always needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A large literature provides empirical evidence that financial development enhances welfare by stimulating economic efficiency and offering more profitable growth opportunities, although the issues of identifying the exact mechanisms through which finance enhances welfare and dealing with the simultaneity between financial development and growth still remain contentious. This paper takes a firm-level approach to study the link between financing sources and firm growth in India. We start by observing that (domestic) financial underdevelopment should not necessarily constrain all firms' growth opportunities equally, given they can also access other non-bank finance sources such as retained earnings, foreign finance and government borrowings. Similarly, it is unrealistic to assume that similar financial structure will generate homogenous effects across firms. These considerations motivate our research questions of whether financing sources matter for firms' productivity growth and whether this depends on firm characteristics such as ownership and size. We answer these questions using a rich micro panel data set and employing econometric techniques that deal with the potential reverse causality from financial structure to productivity growth. We find that relative to retained earnings, bank and nonbank finances positively affect firm level productivity growth with bank loans having the largest and government borrowings the least effect on growth. Size is found to play a mediating role in the finance-growth nexus: access to bank loans (nonbank finance) disproportionately benefits smaller (bigger) firms. Further analysis around ownership structure suggests that all else equal, it would appear that financial structure matters only for the growth of domestic private firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Family firms and business groups play an important role in many emerging economies. In this paper we study how different aspects of family involvement influence technological innovation in a firm. Arguments drawn from agency theory and particularly the principal-principal agency hypothesize a negative influence of family involvement with respect to technological innovation. In contrast, stewardship theory predicts a positive influence of family involvement on technological innovation. Drawing on these theoretical lenses with contrasting directionalities with regard to the impact of family involvement on technological innovation, we study how family involvement in ownership, management and board of directors, and business group affiliation influence R&D investments and patents obtained by the firm. The hypotheses are empirically tested on a seven-year panel of 172 firms from the pharmaceutical industry in India. Our results indicate that family shareholding and family control over both CEO and chairperson positions have a positive and significant influence on the firm's R&D investments, broadly lending support to stewardship theory. We also find a positive influence of business group affiliation on R&D investments and patents applied by the firm. Our conjecture is that the high technology opportunity environment in the Indian pharmaceutical industry facilitates stewardship behavior which in turn promotes innovation in these firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports one of the first investigations to analyze inter-partner perceptions of psychic distance between two countries. Its empirical focus is British and Indian SMEs engaged in business with each other. It examines different dimensions of psychic distance, their impact and modes of coping with them. Potential firm-level and individual influences are also taken into account. The paper aims to transcend some of the conceptual and methodological limitations of previous research on the subject and to identify the theoretical and practical implications that arise. A 'mirror' approach is applied, accessing both partners' perceptions. These are assessed through a 'mixed' method combining quantitative measurement with qualitative interpretations. Psychic distance dimensions are found to vary in their impact on doing business with the other country, and there is also variation according to the firm's sector. There is considerable asymmetry in British and Indian partners' perceptions of psychic distance but the degree of difference between their psychic distance evaluations lacks predictive power. Culturally embedded psychic distance dimensions tend to have less impact and to be easier to cope with than institutionally embedded dimensions. Four categories of coping are identified. The principal theoretical implication of this study is that a contingency perspective needs to be adopted in the field of 'distance' research, taking account of factors such as a firm's sector, and that this will require a more complex analytical framework that hitherto. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Current regulatory mechanism is costly and ineffective due to weak enforcement of environmental standards in India. Harnessing the capabilities of capital markets could be a better strategy for environment friendly economic growth. Therefore, the paper aims to examine a relationship between a firm’s environmental performance and its market valuation. The study uses market value as an indicator of the financial performance using the Ohlson (Contemp Account Res 11:661-687, 1995) model, which is a better indicator in an emerging economy compared to Tobin-q and is free from the biases that Tobin-q suffers from. The study finds a positive relationship between the number of voluntary environment program implemented by a firm and its market value and significant negative relationship between a firm’s market value and pollution index. However, the relationship between resource use index and market value is not found to be statistically significant. The study indicates that India could harness the power of capital markets for improving industrial environmental performance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper attempts to evaluate the effects of industrial de-licensing of 1991 and WTO-induced tariff-reforms of 1995 on domestic competitiveness and export performances of the Indian manufacturing during the post-1991. Unlike existing empirical studies not backed by theoretical underpinnings, the paper has been founded on an open-economy-oligopoly-model framework. The paper develops an econometric method of estimating the output from data on sales of the firms, thereby estimating the firms' marginal cost, which is conducive for the entire empirical analysis with a unified set of firm data. Using firm level data for 14 sectors for the period 1990-2008, it is observed that there has been an increase in the number of firms resulting in a fall in the concentration ratio and elasticity of demand at the point of equilibrium is generally less than unity and is declining over-time. The panel regression results of increasing exports by bigger firms also conforms the theoretical predictions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper examines the association between corporate leverage and their investment in R&D. Towards this end, it develops certain testable propositions. These propositions are tested using a dataset of manufacturing firms in India covering the period 1995-2010. Three main results are gleaned from the analysis. First, the optimal leverage ratio typically declines with R&D intensity. Second, the financial crisis has exerted a negative effect on leverage for firms. And finally, the dampening effect of R&D intensity on leverage is the highest for foreign private firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper we use new venture creation in Indian family firms to explore the family firm as an inter-institutional system. We argue that in societies where the traditional family dominates social and economic life, the relationship between the two institutions, the firm and the family, is managed via inter-institutional logics. These inter-institutional logics help reconcile the tensions that often arise in the family firms during strategic decision making. We use archival and interview data on 36 new ventures in eight Indian family firms to identify these logics. Our analysis shows that the interaction between firm and family institutional logics in Indian family firms generates four sub-logics: economic, expertise, reputation and attachment. These four logics are used to frame and screen new venture opportunities and justify resource allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to investigate if an accounting-based fundamental analysis strategy can help investors earn excess returns on a portfolio of high book-to-market companies in India. The strategy we adopt is based on Piotroski (2000) who identified 9 fundamental signals to form a composite score (F̱SCORE) capable of separating out ex-post winners from losers among high book-to-market companies in the US stock market. However, it is not clear whether the results of such a strategy could be directly applied to Indian stock markets,since there is evidence that market efficiency in India is at the most weak form. Also, during the 1990s when trading and investments were mostly domestic, the markets experienced scams like the Harshad Mehta scam. However, of late, India has been among the most favoured investment destinations in the world. Using the F̱SCORE framework from Piotroski (2000) but a different approach to portfolio formation (for practical purposes) we find convincing evidence that a fundamental analysis based investment strategy for high book-to-market companies can separate winners from eventual losers. We show that portfolios with high F̱SCORE (7 to 9) provide excellent returns far superior to market returns and risk-adjusted returns. Portfolios with low F̱SCORE (0 to 3) offer very poor returns and often underperform the markets or required risk-adjusted returns. A value investor could shift distribution of returns rightwards by investing only in high F̱SCORE companies. Shorting low F̱SCORE could further enhance returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Increased globalisation has also seen increased scrutiny of corporate behaviour by the communities. Clearly managers are under increased pressure from stakeholders not only to outperform their competitors, but also are expected to do so in an ethical manner. In order to act ethically an individual is expected to have a well-developed moral imagination and moral reasoning. Literature on ethical reasoning research indicates a positive relationship between higher levels of moral reasoning and ethical behaviour. This paper presents the findings of a study of the moral reasoning/moral development of managers working in large manufacturing enterprises situated in the state of Punjab in India. Kohlberg’s theory of Cognitive Moral Development forms the basis of the study. Moral Judgement Interview (MIG) developed by Weber, on the basis of Kohlberg’s theory was used for the study. Moral Reasoning Scores were calculated using Abbreviated Scoring Guide. More than half of the managers scored at post-conventional level of reasoning while assessing the moral dilemmas. The reasoning scores varied for the three dilemmas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the importance of public affairs management in multinational corporations in India will be examined. After briefly discussing the state of the art in international business and society literature, a conceptual framework for public affairs management in multinational corporations will be developed. This framework serves as the theoretical basis for an empirical study among German multinational corporations in India. In the main part of this paper the results of this study will be presented and discussed. The paper ends with a critical assessment and some major implications for future studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study investigates public sector enterprises' corporate social responsibility expenditure (spent & unspent), firm age and debt financing using signalling theory. The study employed feasible generalized least square (FGLS) and linear regression with panel-correlated standard errors (PCSE) to analyze data from 107 public sector firms with 1060 firm-year observations from 2011 to 2020. The first findings show that corporate social responsibility expenditure (spent) causes access to debt financing. The second findings show firm age causes access to debt financing (natural logarithm of total debt and total leverage ratio). The third findings show that unspent corporate social responsibility expenditure causes negative access to debt finance. The stakeholder frown on firms that do not utilize their allotted corporate social responsibility funds for the year. Lastly, firm age and not unspent corporate social responsibility expenditure positively moderate the association between corporate social responsibility expenditure and debt financing. The study is limited to firms that are central public sector undertakings and have a majority stake by the central government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Distressed companies create panic among the investors, and the overall effect comes on the economy and leads to a degraded image and value of the companies. Transparency and disclosure involve disclosing the operational as well as the financial performance and corporate governance practices employed by the firms. A corporation or person is said to be in a financial distress (FD) if they are unable to keep their pledge to make payments on time. The current study seeks to shed light on the effects of Financial Distress (FD) and Transparency and Disclosure (T&D) on the value of non-financial firms operating in India. The study makes use of panel data analysis (PDA). The authors of the study used secondary data of non-financial companies included in the S&P BSE 100 index for five fiscal years, from 2015–2016 to 2019–2020. Altman Zscore for FD measure and Tobin's Q, MCAP, and MTB for the firm's valuation is considered. Our study established that Financial Distress (FD) negatively impacts a firm's valuation because a positive association between Zscore (financial soundness) and a firm's value is found. However, Transparency and Disclosure (T&D) have no significant impact on the firm's valuation. We also find evidence that financial distress significantly impacts the value of firms under the influence of T&D. With the help of information about financial distress provided in our study, companies can analyze and take required steps to minimize the probability of being in a state of insolvency or being bankrupt. Investors can also gain knowledge of the business factors and their effect on a company's valuation so that they can cautiously choose and include healthy companies in their targeted list of companies to invest in. No such study has been conducted till now in any of the developing countries that include finding the impact that (FD) as well as (T&D) have on the value of the firms in the non-financial sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the nature of the influence that business groups exert in shaping performance outcomes in emerging economies. Set in India, this study used a longitudinal research design to assess the independent and collective performance impact of group affiliation and diversification both before and after economic reforms were introduced in the country. Consistent with the institutional theory perspective, results show that in the pre-reform period the group structure exerted an important positive moderating effect on the diversification-performance relationship. However, these group benefits appear to persist even after many of the sources of market failure had started to decline rapidly. This persistence of group effect may be indicative of the continued relevance of non-diversification benefits of the group structure in emerging economies. It may also be indicative of the fairly slow process of building institutional infrastructure in emerging economies where reforms are seldom introduced en masse but more a series of continuing measures as was the case in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

developed countries and is becoming increasingly relevant for corporate firms in India. This paper examines the practices and policies of foreign exchange risk and interest rate risk management followed by the corporate firms in India. The study reveals that Indian firms are aware of the risk management techniques and many of them are using the same to manage various risks. However, all the risks are not managed and the type of ownership control significantly influences the usage of the techniques to manage exchange rate risk and interest rate risk. 'Exposures are not large enough' is the most widespread and prominent reason for not managing risks. Risks inherent in derivatives are a significant reason in making the firms desist from using risk management techniques. The prominent barriers hindering the routine use of derivatives are monitoring and evaluating the risk of derivatives, pricing, valuing and accounting in conjunction with credit and liquidity risk. About two-fifths of the firms are risk averse but do not hedge their full exposure. A majority of the firms follow cost-center approach towards risk management. Ownership has been observed to be a significant determinant of firms' strategy towards risk management. While a majority of foreign controlled firms and private sector business group firms can be characterized as partial hedgers, the majority of the public sector firms belong to the category of negligible hedgers. In sum, the adoption of risk management techniques is still in infancy. It is desirable that decision makers and managers review their risk management practices afresh and devise anticipatory and proactive policies in order to have competitive advantages internationally. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the perceptions of the Malays, Chinese and Indian managers and executives on business ethics in Malaysia. Based on twenty-four hypothetical business situations, 161 respondents participated in the study. Discriminant analysis was used to determine the differences in the perceived business ethics among the Malays, Chinese and Indian respondents. The overall results of the classification matrix showed that 65.2% of the twenty-four business ethics were correctly classified according to Malays, Chinese, and Indian groups. However, the classification matrix for their perceptions on issues relating to consumers showed that 55.3% of the six issues on ethics were correctly classified, while the results for the issues relating to employees were 67.7% of the twelve issues were correctly classified. The results for the issues relating to suppliers showed that 59.6% of the six issues were correctly classified. These findings suggest that ethnic groups have some influence on the perceived business ethics. The implications of the findings are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years India has been moving further in the direction of adopting an Anglo-American model of corporate governance. This decision, the result more of international economic and political pressures than public debate, in effect represents a new development strategy for the world's most populous democracy. In light of this situation, it is important to ask two basic questions: 1) why has the Anglo-American model of corporate governance been adopted? and; 2) can it be justified? This paper addresses the first of these questions by distinguish and examining three historical models of governance in India: 1) the managing agency model in the colonial period; 2) the business house model that emerged after independence, and; 3) the Anglo-American model which has recently been adopted (and is still emerging). The second question is approached through an examination of the "development impact" of the new model, as indicated by such measures as growth, employment and respect for shareholder rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the findings of a study of purchasing and supply management professionals in India conducted to identify the key ethical issues they face in carrying out their work related responsibilities as well as to determine the extent to which various factors appear to be helpful or to present challenges to their efforts to act ethically in the course of their work. The Indian findings are then compared to those for studies conducted among purchasing and supply management professionals in the United States, United Kingdom and Canada. Key findings for the four studies are summarized and implications for business and the professions are presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses whether a credit ecosystem that enhances the recovery rate of default debt by providing a time-bound method to address insolvency impacts collateralized borrowing. To explore this, we utilize the adoption of the Insolvency and Bankruptcy Act 2016 as a quasi-natural experiment in India. Using a propensity score-matched difference-in-differences approach, our findings demonstrate an increase in secured debt for financially-distressed firms more than non-distressed firms in the post-regulation period. In addition, we show that smaller and less profitable distressed firms experience the most aggressive response to secured debt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper estimates the determinants of cost inefficiency of several publicly operated passenger-bus transportation companies in India in terms of their ownership structure as well as other firm specific characteristics, A panel data on publicly operated passenger-bus transportation companies is used to estimate a translog cost system with inefficiency. Inefficiency is specified in such a way that both its mean and variance are firm- and time-specific. For the estimation of production technology and cost inefficiency we have used a multi step estimation procedure instead of the single-step maximum likelihood (ML) method. In the first step we estimate the translog cost system with hetemskedastic cost function without using any distributional assumptions on the error terms. The second stage uses the ML method to estimate the parameters associated with inefficiency, conditional on the parameter estimates obtained from the first stage. Finally, the residual of the cost function is decomposed to obtain firm-and time-specific measures of cost inefficiency, with ownership type and other firm-specific characteristics as explanatory variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses latecomer firms from countries like Brazil, India and China are internationalizing multinational enterprises. It mentions firms develop linkage, leverage and learning capabilities to accelerate their internationalization. It also mentions conceptual innovation strategies motivates firms to provide a framework for making sense of the highly distinctive policies.

Using the 2004-2005 India Human Development Survey data, we estimate and decompose the earnings of household businesses owned by historically marginalized social groups known as Scheduled Castes and Tribes (SCSTs) and non-SCSTs across the earnings distribution. We find clear differences in characteristics between the two types of businesses with the former faring significantly worse. The mean decomposition reveals that as much as 55 % of the caste earnings gap could be attributed to the unexplained component. Quantile regressions suggest that gaps are higher at lower deciles, providing some evidence of a sticky floor. Finally, quantile decompositions reveal that the unexplained component is greater at the lower and middle deciles than higher, suggesting that SCST-owned businesses at the lower and middle end of the conditional earnings distribution face greater discrimination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rapid economic growth that India enjoyed following the start of its economic reforms in 1991 has led to a growing scholarly interest in Indian organizations and management practices. In this paper, we bring together extant yet dispersed research on one important and salient element of Indian economic growth: innovation. We organize and review the substantive innovation research in India based on its scope and focus, and find that it has yielded unique insights about India's innovation systems and processes at both the institutional and firm levels. Three interesting trends emerge from this review of the literature. First, a growing body of research has started identifying innovation phenomena unique to India, such as 'frugal innovation' and the related notion of ' jugaad.' Second, a discernible arc in Indian innovation research can be observed, that is, a shift from a focus on the role of the state to the role of MNEs and Indian businesses in innovation. Finally, unlike much innovation research elsewhere, there appears to be significant interest in innovation that serves the need of the poor. We conclude with directions for future research on innovation within the Indian context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Are smaller firms more productive? Intuitively, while small firms have the advantage of more flexible management and lower response time to market changes, larger firms have the advantages of economies of scale, political clout and better access to government credits, contracts and licenses, particularly in developing countries. Using a panel dataset from a commercially available database of financial statements of manufacturing firms in India, we find that firms in the lowest quintile of the asset distribution that invest in research and have better liquidity are most productive. The Indian manufacturing sector, characterized by both large scale public and private firms as well as numerous smaller firms, provides an ideal setting. Our findings are robust to alternative definitions of size, alternative estimation methods and alternative estimates of total factor productivity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Empirical work on micro and small firms focuses on developed countries, while existing work on developing countries is all too often based on small samples taken from ad hoc questionnaires. The census data we analyze here are fairly representative of small business structure in India. Consistent with findings from prior research on developed countries, size and age have a negative impact on firm growth in the majority of specifications. Enterprises managed by women have lower expected growth rates. Proprietary firms face lower growth on the whole, especially if they are young firms. Exporting has a positive effect on firm growth, especially for young firms and for female-owned firms. Although some small firms are able to convert know-how into commercial success, we find that many others are unable to translate it into superior growth. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Diversification decisions in banks can be atypical owing to the nature of banking business. Banks diversify across business segments such as retail, wholesale or treasury, and spread their sources of liabilities, asset exposures and income types across customer groups, industry sectors and geographies. While the more granular decisions of diversification have regulatory and policy norms to follow, less guidance is available for making segment diversification. Using data of business segments from annual reports of five private sector banks in India for the period 2008–2009 to 2015–2016, the study attempts to find out the decision factors behind their diversification. It is found that though being highly diversified universal banks now, these banks were initially oriented toward certain segments from where they have shifted their portfolios over time. Bank diversification decision involves pursuing segment growth and executed by making capital expenditure and risk capital allocation to the segments. Banks make higher capital expenditure on segments that contribute more to generation of deposits and liabilities. On the other hand, risk capital allocation is determined by segment's share of assets as well as their risk adjusted returns. Segment growth may be targeted with the intent of achieving higher profitability and capital efficiency, but the outcome appears to be uncertain. Business segment diversification of private banks, therefore, seem to be intended toward enhancing resources generation and targeting higher profitability while economizing on risk capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study provides fresh empirical evidence on the influence of various financing sources on firms' technology investments and exporting decisions using a panel of firms from the service sector in India during the period 1999–2010. Allowing both activities to be jointly determined, our results show that the source of finance matters for exporting and investing in technology. Moreover, the importance of different types of finance varies across industries in the service sector. Overall, we find that internal funds and non-conventional sources of finance play an important role for exporting and investing in technology in both modern and traditional services. However, funding from conventional financial markets exerts divergent effects across service industries: while traditional service firms use resources from the banking sector to fund their technological investments, firms in the modern service sector rely more on funds raised through equity markets to support their exporting and technological efforts. These results contribute to the academic literature and policy debate on the importance of financial mechanisms to promote firms' strategic investment decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a developing country, trade liberalization affects firms' production choices through different channels: intensification of foreign competition, reductions of production factor costs, and enhanced access to foreign consumers and technology. Using firm-level data from India, we investigate how firms with different characteristics adjust their domestic sales and capital accumulation to output and input tariff changes. Our findings suggest that India's trade liberalization has heterogeneous effects depending on firms' export, import, ownership status and financial constraints. Firms serving only the domestic market have experienced a contraction of domestic sales and capital accumulation due to import competition. They were not able to benefit from the access to lower costs imported inputs and capital goods. Exporting and importing firms and foreign affiliates have expanded their sales and capital investments thanks to the reduction of imported inputs and capital goods costs and thereby, they have been able to face foreign competition. Our findings also suggest that credit constraints affect the relationship between trade liberalization and firms' capital accumulation. These findings are in line with recent models of trade with heterogeneous firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the role of market structure and entry barrier factors on firm-level R&D activity of firms operating in the electronics sector in India. R&D efforts of a firm are distinguished in terms of (a) decision to undertake R&D activities, and (b) firm-level R&D intensity. To analyse (a) we use a Probit model, while the Tobit model is used to explain the inter-firm differences in (b). Using the data from the Prowess database provided by the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE), the analysis was carried out for the time period of 16 years, from 2000 to 2015. The trends point out a large inter-industry variation within this sector in R&D intensity and concentration ratio. For a pooled cross-sectional data of 353 electronic firms, the study finds that lower levels of industry concentration and high set-up cost induce firm-level R&D activity. Further, the study highlights the role of industry size in which the firm operates in decisions related to R&D activities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The empirical evidence from the extant literature has been equivocal regarding the influence exerted by different ownership types on corporate social responsibility (CSR), especially in developing countries such as India characterized by institutional voids. We use a longitudinal panel dataset of 500 large Indian companies to test a model of corporate ownership forms as key determinants of CSR engagement in India. Based on neo-institutional theory, our model of CSR determinants investigates the roles of three salient aspects of ownership namely multinational ownership/affiliation, state ownership and family ownership and control, after controlling for the influence of firm size, firm age, leverage, the availability of slack resources, profitability and various governance attributes. Our ordered logit regressions indicate strong support for the role of multinational ownership and family control and management in promoting higher levels of CSR engagement. Contrary to expectations, public sector ownership appeared to negatively impact CSR engagement. We offer our conjectures on this anomalous finding and the research possibilities it opens up. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The decision to undertake investment in innovative activities is an important strategic choice made by firms. This study investigates the relationship between business group (BG) affiliation and research & development (R&D) activities of Indian firms. Using an empirical approach that accounts for endogeneity and selection bias, we observe that BG affiliation has significant positive influence on the sample firms’ R&D activities. Employing various proxies for institutional development, we show that the effect of BG affiliation on R&D declines with the improvements in institutional and regulatory mechanisms. Further, this study explores the linkages between diversification strategies at the group level and R&D investments by firms affiliated with BGs. Results show that degree of related diversification is positively associated with the affiliates’ innovation efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Merger waves are periods of intense and concentrated merger activity which exhibit a wave-like pattern. Drawing upon the resource-based view, we examine the timing of entry and early-mover advantage within merger waves. Following a robust simulation-based methodology of wave analysis, we identify merger waves in eight industries during the time period 2000-2014. Firms affiliated to business groups were found to be early movers. A higher degree of internationalization is also associated with early movement of a firm. Within business groups, their multi-entity character is positively associated with early entry whereas their board interlock was negatively related with entry-timing. Further, early moving acquirers reap superior post-acquisition performance, thereby suggesting that early-mover advantages exist within merger waves. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regular payments or contributions to states’ exchequer funds are mandated for state level public sector enterprises (SLPEs) in most states in India. However, in the absence of a regular mechanism to ensure timely payments, the contributions are abysmally poor. In most SLPEs, the situation is driven by the presence of soft budget constraints and strong financial support from the state governments. The current study analyses the effect of political factors on the contribution that SLPEs make to the state governments’ exchequer funds. Using different econometric methods, the study finds that SLPEs located in assembly constituencies that are politically aligned with the state government, make frequent and larger contributions to the exchequer funds. Surprisingly, the subsidies provided to the SLPEs by state governments are not driven by political alignment between the state government and the constituency where the enterprise is located. In fact, subsidies compensate for the contributions to the extent that there is no effect of political alignment on net contributions (contributions–subsidies) by SLPEs to state governments. Finally, political alignment has a strong influence on the relative share of contributions made by SLPEs to state governments vis-à-vis the centre. These results are robust across different model specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the extent and the quality of environmental disclosure made by Indian companies using legitimacy theory. Content analysis of 137 companies' annual reports for the years 2011-2012 and 2014-2015 finds that (a) the extent of disclosure and the quality of disclosure have increased over the two-year period (though the increase is not statistically significant), (b) quality is largely descriptive and (c) disclosures vary between industries and within industries. The results of the econometric model suggest that firm-specific characteristics like industry, size, age and foreign customers have significant positive influence on environmental disclosures (extent and quality), while leverage has negative impact on disclosures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Poor working conditions remain a serious problem in supplier facilities in developing countries. While previous research has explored this from the developed buyers' side, we examine this phenomenon from the perspective of developing countries' suppliers and subcontractors. Utilizing qualitative data from a major knitwear exporting cluster in India and a stakeholder management lens, we develop a framework that shows how the assumptions of conventional, buyer-driven voluntary governance break down in the dilution of buyer power and in the web of factors rooted in suppliers' traditions, beliefs, local demands and resource dependency. We reveal out how success in governing collaborative global supply chains often falls short within the subcontracting stage, where a stakeholder management mindset is elusive to most participants. We suggest that success in governing collaborative global supply chains is dependent on concepts of stakeholder utility and the presence of shared value that is often at odds with the realities of power, information asymmetry and compliance/reward systems inherent in the non-market coordination of global supply chains. Our findings offer important insights for delineating the concepts of value creation from CSR concepts and practices, and for modifying the basic assumptions of conventional supply chain governance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Building on the resource-based view of the firm, this study explores how firms entering into early internationalisation combine different resources to discover the international market opportunities. Based on an in-depth analysis of case studies of five knowledge-intensive firms from India, this study suggests that the differences in the extent of resources available and their combinations influence the early stage of the internationalisation process and pace of learning in the foreign markets. This study contributes to the existing research on international entrepreneurship by explaining how new international ventures overcome the challenges of internationalisation by wisely utilising a broad set of available and potential resources during their early internationalisation efforts and gradually shift the focus on the internalisation of resources. Moreover, this study suggests that the effects of the combination of resources vary across different ventures. A strong combination can increase internationalisation and minimise the risks of failure in new international ventures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China and India are touted as new entrepreneurship powerhouses. The two countries' different institutional history and characteristics have led to differences in environments related to entrepreneurship. There are some well-founded rationales as well as a number of misinformed and ill-guided viewpoints about the friendliness of the environment to support entrepreneurship in each country as well as the China-India differences concerning entrepreneurial environment. This article contributes to this debate by offering theoretical and empirical evidence regarding the differences in regulative institutions in the two economies. Specifically, we compare the state's regulative, participative, and supportive roles from the standpoint of entrepreneurship in the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines whether corporate social responsibility (CSR) towards primary stakeholders influences the financial and the non-financial performance (NFP) of Indian firms. Perceptual data on CSR and NFP were collected from 150 senior-level Indian managers including CEOs through questionnaire survey. Hard data on financial performance (FP) of the companies were obtained from secondary sources. A questionnaire for assessing CSR was developed with respect to six stakeholder groups – employees, customers, investors, community, natural environment, and suppliers. A composite measure of CSR was obtained by aggregating the six dimensions. Findings indicate that stock-listed firms show responsible business practices and better FP than the non-stock-listed firms. Controlling confounding effects of stock-listing, ownership, and firm size, a favorable perception of managers towards CSR is found to be associated with increase in FP and NFP of firms. Such findings hold good when CSR is assessed for the six stakeholder groups in aggregate and for each stakeholder group in segregate. Findings suggest that responsible business practices towards primary stakeholders can be profitable and beneficial to Indian firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The multifaceted engagement between India and the European Union (EU) has grown exponentially in recent years, leading to a strategic partnership, which is one of the three that the EU has in Asia. Based on a content analysis of three prominent Indian newspapers, which were monitored on a daily basis for a period of 6 months (1 July-31 December 2009), and interviews conducted with political, business, media, and civil society 'elites,' this article seeks to analyze and assess the perceptions of the EU in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article evaluates whether the changing presence of foreign firms in India has had an impact on the performance of India’s industrial sector by impacting on the utilization of intangible capabilities within firms. Foreign firms bring in technological skills and capabilities and these are transferred by a spillover process to all of Indian industry. The results show a strong relationship between the growing presence of foreign firms in India and measures capturing the utilization of varieties of competencies in Indian industry. Thus, the notion that foreign firms’ capabilities can spillover to other sectors of industry finds support in the data. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article evaluates the extent to which the legislative changes relating to foreign exchange that have taken place in India within the last few decades, and in particular after 1991, have made an impact on the presence of foreign firms in the economy. The data cover the period 1957–1958 to 2001–2002, and include the entire population of India’s corporate sector. In the period after reforms commenced in 1991, the number of foreign firms in India has increased very substantially. The transformation of the foreign exchange regulation act (FERA) to the foreign exchange management act (FEMA) in 1999 has had a positive effect in inducing foreign firms to India. The FEMA legislation simplifies the maze of controls, procedures and bureaucratic minutiae that have to be observed by all those undertaking to set up and operate a business in India. The changes in the legislative regimes make India attractive as an investment destination for foreign firms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Examines the relationship between the levels of debt in the capital structure and performance for a sample of firms in India. Determination on the negative relationship of Indian firms; Effect of the level of debt on the behavior and performance of firms; Suggestion to privatize the state-owned financial institutions.