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- 05 May 2014
- Research & Ideas
Reflecting on Work Improves Job Performance
New research by Francesca Gino, Gary Pisano, and colleagues shows that taking time to reflect on our work improves job performance in the long run. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 21 Apr 2014
- Research & Ideas
Bio-Piracy: When Western Firms Usurp Eastern Medicine
Raj Choudhury and Tarun Khanna examine the history of herbal patent applications, challenging a stereotype that characterizes Western firms as innovators and emerging markets as imitators. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Apr 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Poverty and Crime: Evidence from Rainfall and Trade Shocks in India
Concern about climate change has spurred a large body of scholarship examining how climate influences human behavior, particularly human conflict. While a link between climate and human conflict is well established, we still do not fully understand the mechanisms that underlie the observed relationship between rainfall and crime. In this paper the authors shed light on these mechanisms using four decades of district-level data from India. They first establish a robust effect of rainfall on different types of crime, with the strongest effects on violent crimes (including murder) and property crimes. They then go beyond previous studies, which simply document the link between weather variations and human conflict, and examine to what extent poverty is the main causal pathway between rainfall and crime. To do so they identify a source of income shocks for households in rural India that is completely independent of the amount of rainfall: trade reform that began in 1991. Findings show that violent crimes and property crimes, the types of criminal activities that are most sensitive to rainfall shocks, indeed respond to trade shocks. The larger the loss in trade protection a district experienced, the higher is the incidence of these crimes. Overall, the results provide evidence for income as a mechanism behind the observed rainfall-crime relationship, which had mostly been assumed in previous scholarship. Key concepts include: Violent crimes and property crimes rise during periods of low rainfall and/or higher exposure to foreign competition. Other crime categories such as crimes against women do not show a strong relationship with either periods of low rainfall and/or higher exposure to foreign competition. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Mar 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Return Migration and Geography of Innovation in MNEs: A Natural Experiment of On-the-Job Learning of Knowledge Production by Local Workers Reporting to Return Migrants
Since the mid-1990s, a large number of multinational enterprises (MNEs) have set up research and development centers in China, India, and other emerging markets. Such MNEs face constraints in expanding their "geography of innovation" —that of producing and transferring knowledge across borders—because for the MNE knowledge is likely to be localized within larger, more established centers of knowledge production. How do MNEs in emerging markets circumvent this constraint? In this paper, the author uses personnel data from a Fortune 50 technology firm and studies the role of return migrants in facilitating patenting at the emerging market R&D center. The author also studies on-the-job learning of knowledge production by local employees who report to return migrants at an emerging-market R&D setting. The findings generate insights into the functioning of 'internal labor markets' of multinationals. The results are also important for managers: Given the great many Fortune 500 MNE R&D centers in countries such as China and India, and the large fraction of these centers managed by return migrants, the findings may assist those who set up and manage current and future MNE R&D centers. Key concepts include: This paper, one of the first empirical studies of skilled migration within a multinational enterprise, contributes to understanding return migration and the geography of innovation of MNEs. Return migrants and their direct reports file more patents than other local employees. (The author leverages a natural experiment to test for the latter.) Patents that have return migrants (or their direct reports) as inventors exhibit high patent citation rates, indicating that return migration is related to cross-border knowledge transfer. Local workers who report to return-migrant managers tend to benefit from on-the-job learning that they might not receive otherwise. For example, return migrant managers connect their direct reports with ideas and resources in the US headquarters; they also help their direct reports understand the patenting process at US headquarters. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Jan 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Redrawing the Lines: Did Political Incumbents Influence Electoral Redistricting in the World’s Largest Democracy?
Most democratic countries undergo a process of redrawing their electoral boundaries every few years, usually with the goal of equalizing population sizes across constituencies. While this is important in maintaining the principle of one-person, one-vote, there is concern that the redistricting process can be influenced by political incumbents to create safe seats, where incumbents are unlikely to face strong electoral challenges ("gerrymandering"). In this paper the authors study this issue in the context of India, the world's largest democracy. India redrew the boundaries of national and state electoral constituencies in 2008 after a gap of three decades. Examining the influence of political incumbents on this redistricting process, the authors find that, by and large, the process achieved its primary goal of equalizing population sizes across constituencies. More importantly, the redistricting process does not appear to have been influenced by incumbent politicians to a great extent, although there is some evidence that the constituencies of specific politicians (advisory committee members) were less likely to undergo unfavorable changes. Overall, the redistricting process did not make a large difference to either the advantage enjoyed by the incumbent party or the electoral prospects of incumbent politicians. An important policy conclusion of the study is that it is possible to implement politically neutral redistricting plans in a developing country, provided that a non-political body is in charge of the process, and that the process is transparent and inclusive of all relevant stakeholders. Key concepts include: The recently completed electoral redistricting process in India substantially changed the boundaries of both state and national electoral constituencies. In this case the redistricting process did not make a large difference to either the advantage enjoyed by the incumbent party or the electoral prospects of incumbent politicians. The redistricting was conducted by a non-partisan commission, but several incumbent politicians were part of an advisory committee for the commission, suggesting that there might have been avenues for incumbents to influence the process. This methodology may be applicable to other countries and electoral systems. It offers an advance in proposing simple measures of the extent of redistricting of specific constituencies, which can be easily computed with the availability of GIS data to match up the boundaries of old and new constituencies. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Jan 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work
According to prior research, firm performance is weaker among companies with CEOs who have a family connection to the firm owners compared with nonfamily CEOs, that is professionals. Given the ubiquity of family firms and the implications for aggregate income and growth, what explains this variation? This paper provides evidence on the causes, features, and correlates of CEO attention allocation by looking at a simple yet critical difference between family and professional CEOs: the time they spend working for their firms. The Indian manufacturing sector makes an excellent case study because family ownership is widespread and the productivity dispersion across firms is substantial. Examining the time allocation of 356 CEOs of listed firms in this sector, the authors make several findings. First, there is substantial variation in the number of hours CEOs devote to work activities. Longer working hours are associated with higher firm productivity, growth, profitability, and CEO pay. Second, family CEOs record 8 percent fewer working hours relative to professional CEOs. The difference in hours worked is more pronounced in low-competition environments and does not seem to be explained by measurement error. Third, estimates with respect to the cost of effort, due to weather shocks and popular sport events, suggest that family CEOs place a higher relative weight on leisure, which could be due to either a wealth effect or job security. Overall, the evidence highlights the importance of how corporate leaders allocate their managerial attention. Key concepts include: Family CEOs work 8 percent fewer hours that nonfamily CEOs (i.e., professionals). The difference in hours worked translates in a 5.8 percent productivity gap between family and professional CEOs. Family CEOs are more responsive to events that increase the cost of providing effort, such as monsoon rains and cricket matches. Behavioral differences may help account for the performance differential between family and nonfamily firms. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 21 Nov 2013
- Working Paper Summaries
Path-Breakers: How Does Women’s Political Participation Respond to Electoral Success?
Many explanations have been put forward to explain the gender gap in executive positions in finance, business, and politics. However, scholars know surprisingly little about the effects of exposure to women who are competitively selected into leadership positions. Focusing on India, the world's largest democracy, the authors obtained data on elections to state legislative assemblies in 3,473 constituencies from the Election Commission of India over the period 1980-2007 in which most states had six elections. They used data for the 16 major states of India which account for over 95 percent of the total population. The authors identified a large and significant increase in the subsequent share of women candidates fielded by major parties in Indian state elections. The increase arises mainly from an increased propensity for previous candidates to run for re-election, rather than the entry of new women candidates. Given that a substantial fraction of incumbents in Indian state elections do not re-run and female incumbents overall are less likely to re-run than male incumbents, this is an important result. There is, however, no significant increase in the probability that a woman wins the next election. Consistent with this, the estimated impact on women's candidacy fades over time although a significant impact persists through two elections, which is a period of 10 years. Overall, this study makes clear that it is important to identify the extent to which a spontaneous dynamic operates in launching women into the political sphere when quotas are absent. Key concepts include: In India, parties appear willing to change their prior opinion of the viability of women candidates after observing a woman win an election. The electoral victory of a woman results in a large and significant increase of 9.2 percentage points in the fraction of female candidates fielded by major parties in subsequent elections in the same constituency. The increase in women's candidacy is driven primarily by the increased propensity of prior candidates to contest again. There is no significant increase in the entry of new female candidates. Further economic, institutional or policy incentives are needed to stimulate entry of new women into the political arena and more widespread participation of women as voters. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Oct 2013
- Research & Ideas
Reserve Bank Governor Discusses India’s Financial Opportunities
A month after becoming the new governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Raghuram Rajan came to HBS to deliver the 2013 Leatherbee Lecture, "India: The Opportunities and Challenges Ahead." Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 26 Sep 2013
- Research & Ideas
Behind India’s Economic and Political Woes
Declining value of the rupee and soaring prices for onions are just two of the problems plaguing India. Professor Tarun Khanna explains the political and economic causes. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 22 Jul 2013
- Sharpening Your Skills
Sharpening Your Skills: Meeting Management Challenges in India
We revisit four articles where India and its managers confronted problems and seized opportunities on the topics of big data, branding, intellectual property protection, and creating a new-product category. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Jul 2013
- Working Paper Summaries
Religion, Politician Identity, and Development Outcomes: Evidence from India
Minority social groups may be disadvantaged by policy choices made by democratically elected leaders. It is therefore pertinent to consider whether increasing the political representation of minority groups improves their outcomes. This paper investigates whether the religious identity of state legislators in India influences development outcomes, both for citizens of their religious group and for the population as a whole. Results show that raising the share of Muslim legislators in individual districts leads to a large and statistically significant decline in infant and neonatal mortality rates. Importantly, they find no significant difference in the impact of Muslim political representation on Muslim compared with non-Muslim households. Indeed, the estimated coefficients indicate smaller beneficial impacts for Muslim children. Overall, these findings contribute to a recent literature on the relationship between religion and development, and to the literature on politician identity. Key concepts include: In this study, health and education results show a consistent pattern whereby raising the share of Muslims in India's state assemblies improves developmental outcomes for children overall. There is no evidence of differential benefits flowing to Muslim children. Perhaps surprisingly, gains in child mortality are concentrated among non-Muslim households. Other literature has examined the relevance of the ethnicity and gender of politicians. This study provides the first evidence for religion. This study is timely given the increasing politicization of religion in India and the frequency of Hindu-Muslim violence. As of the 2001 census, India had the third largest Muslim population in the world. Muslims in India are, on average, poorer than Hindus. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Jun 2013
- Op-Ed
How to Do Away with the Dangers of Outsourcing
The collapse of the Rana Plaza garment factory in Bangladesh should be a warning to companies that embrace outsourcing, says Professor Ranjay Gulati. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 01 Apr 2013
- Research & Ideas
First Minutes are Critical in New-Employee Orientation
Employee orientation programs ought to be less about the company and more about the employee, according to new research by Daniel M. Cable, Francesca Gino, and Bradley R. Staats. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Mar 2013
- Research & Ideas
Video: Harvard Business School at the Kumbh Mela
In this video report, Senior Lecturer John Macomber visits the Kumbh Mela in India to discover what such an undertaking can teach us about real estate, urbanization, sustainability, and infrastructure. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Jan 2013
- Research & Ideas
Why a Harvard Finance Instructor Went to the Kumbh Mela
Every 12 years, millions of Hindu pilgrims travel to the Indian city of Allahabad for the Kumbh Mela, the largest public gathering in the world. In this first-person account, Senior Lecturer John Macomber shares his first impressions and explains what he's doing there. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Jan 2013
- Working Paper Summaries
Deregulation, Misallocation, and Size: Evidence from India
India carried out wide-ranging deregulation policies in 1991. Significant sectors of the economy were opened up for private participation through de-licensing and allowing entry to industries previously reserved exclusively for the state-owned sector. This paper analyzes the efficiency impact of the removal of a specific distortion: compulsory industrial licensing that regulated firm entry and imposed output capacity constraints on Indian firms prior to 1991. Did industrial delicensing in India, which relaxed entry barriers and capacity constraints on firm size, lead to a change in firm size distributions within industries? Key concepts include: Pro-market reforms in the 1990s rapidly deregulated significant sectors of the Indian economy previously kept off-limits to private participation. Deregulation of entry and the end of industrial licensing (also known as the "License Raj") in all but a small subset of industries had the capacity to transform the competitive environment in which firms operated. Deregulation in India may have created a winner-take-all environment where the largest firms drive out any competition. While deregulation leads to more small firms in the sample, the size distribution that the authors observe—namely, a large number of small firms and a small number of large firms—can be characterized as the "missing middle" in Indian manufacturing. Small firms may continue to face constraints in their attempts to grow. Distortions have decreased over time with higher gains for deregulated industries. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 03 Jan 2013
- Working Paper Summaries
The Value of Advice: Evidence from Mobile Phone-Based Agricultural Extension
This paper evaluates a new service that provides mobile-phone based agricultural consulting to poor farmers in India. For decades, the Government of India, like most governments in the developing world, has operated a system of agricultural extension, intended to spread information on new agricultural practices and technologies through a large work force of public extension agents. Evidence of the efficacy of these extension services, however, is limited. This paper describes a randomized field experiment examining the potential for an alternate route to improving agricultural management. Specifically, the authors evaluate Avaaj Otalo (AO), a mobile phone-based technology that allows farmers to call a hotline, ask questions, and receive responses from agricultural scientists and local extension workers. Findings show that AO had a range of important, positive effects on farmer behavior. This paper may be the first rigorous evaluation of mobile phone-based extension and, more generally, the first evaluation of a demand-driven extension service delivered by any means. Key concepts include: Farmers with access to the service were more likely to switch to a pesticide that is both more effective against pests, and dramatically less toxic to humans. Farmers receiving advice were also quicker to adopt high-value cash crops, planting more cumin and demonstrating more knowledge about it. The paper presents the first rigorous evidence that a low-cost agricultural extension service (costing as little as $.60 per farmer per month) can change behavior. There is a "digital divide" in India. There are systematic differences in adoption and use of the service, even among a relatively homogeneous group of farmers, and even for a technology that was specifically designed to be accessible to an illiterate population. Surveying by mobile phones can be conducted effectively and cheaply in a developing country context. There is considerable demand among farmers for high quality agricultural information. The information and communications technology (ICT) delivered timely, relevant, and actionable information and advice to farmers at dramatically lower cost than any traditional service. The ICT significantly changed farmers' sources of information for sowing and input-related decisions-in particular, farmers relied less on commissions-motivated agricultural input dealers for pesticide advice. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Sep 2012
- HBS Case
HBS Cases: Branding Yoga
As yoga's popularity has grown into a $6 billion business, a cast of successful entrepreneurs has emerged with their own styles of the ancient practice. Yet yoga's rise underscores a larger question for Professor Rohit Deshpandé: Is everything brandable? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 30 Apr 2012
- Research & Ideas
India’s Ambitious National Identification Program
The Unique Identification Authority of India has been charged with implementing a nationwide program to register and assign a unique 12-digit ID to every Indian resident—some 1.2 billion people—by 2020. In a new case, Professor Tarun Khanna and HBS India Research Center Executive Director Anjali Raina discuss the complexities of this massive data management project. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Building Histories of Emerging Economies One Interview at a Time
Much of modern business history has been written on experiences in the United States, Europe, and Japan. Now, the unheard stories of emerging markets in Africa, Asia, and Latin America are being told on a new website by the Business History Initiative. Open for comment; 0 Comments.