Deepak Chawla

Knowledge management initiatives in Indian public and private sector organizations

Purpose – There is no single way of achieving business success. The concept of knowledge management (KM) builds on the existing management practices, integrating them into a philosophy for improving performance. This paper aims to understand the various dimensions of KM and how they differ in public and private sector organizations in India. It also attempts to identify the dimensions where one sector is better than the other and areas needing improvement.Design/methodology/approach – The paper uses a sample comprising 16 private and public sector organizations. A convenient sampling scheme was used. The extent of KM practices was evaluated with respect to dimensions, namely process, leadership, technology, culture and measurement.Findings – The paper empirically shows that private sector organizations fare better statistically on all dimensions compared to public sector organizations. Although the private sector is ahead of the public sector on the raw mean scores of various dimensions, it has still a lo...

An Empirical Test of CAPM—The Case of Indian Stock Market

A deluge of tests have been conducted on asset pricing models in literature, more so on the Capital Asset Pricing Model (CAPM), to ascertain their validity, efficiency and efficacy in different markets in explaining asset prices. Such tests have been either individual in nature wherein any one model has been studied or comparative in nature where one model has been compared with another. Many studies have also resulted in the development of new models or extensions to the existing theory. However, majority of the aforementioned tests have been undertaken in developed markets, resulting in a dearth of such tests in emerging markets like India where the risk–return relationship gains more significance. A growing, emerging market is always less analyzed but more volatile and thus, more interesting. The article, thus, applies the fundamental CAPM theory to India. This study examines 10 portfolios, covering 50 stocks, over a 5-year period—from 1 January 2003 to 1 February 2008—to verify the efficiency and efficacy of the model and finds that CAPM fails completely in the Indian context. The intercept term, which is expected to be zero, is found to be significant for all 10 portfolios. The study also finds a negative relationship between beta and excess returns indicating an inefficient capital market. Moreover, residual variance, representing unsystematic risk, is also found significant in certain cases. Moreover, the regressions show poor explanatory power. Thus, it can be concluded that CAPM is not a suitable descriptor of asset prices in India over the chosen sample period.

Impact of knowledge management on learning organization practices in India: An exploratory analysis

Purpose – This paper aims to report the preliminary findings of the difference in learning organization (LO) practices across industries. It also reports the impact of knowledge management (KM) dimensions on LO and whether this impact is different across manufacturing, IT and IT‐enabled services (ITES) and power generation and distribution in India.Design/methodology/approach – In this exploratory study, a convenience sample of 51 respondents from Indian manufacturing, IT/ITES and power generation and distribution industries are taken. Based on the literature, a number of hypotheses are formulated and tested to illustrate whether KM and LO practices vary across industry groups.Findings – An inference to the research questions suggests that IT and ITES industry score highest on most of the LO dimensions. Testing of hypothesis reveals that most of the KM dimensions have a positive impact on LO. Type of industry did not have any statistical differential impact on the dimensions of LO in most cases.Research l...

Online Shopper Segmentation Based on Lifestyles: An Exploratory Study in India

This study explores online shopper segments in India based on their lifestyles. A survey of 432 online shoppers revealed three key shopper segments, namely, mature traditionalists, offer enthusiasts, and technology mavericks. They were influenced by five key factors, namely, Internet enjoyment and convenience, Internet distrust, Internet offers, Internet logistical concerns, and Internet self-inefficacy. Mature traditionalists are the relatively older, married customers who prefer offers given by the brick-and-mortar stores but are attracted to the convenience and enjoyment of buying online. Internet-based offers, in terms of selection and quality, are the key attraction for the offer enthusiasts. Technology mavericks are the younger generation, avid users of the Internet having no logistical or self-inefficacy issues. However, they do not trust the security and privacy offered by Internet vendors. The research concludes with marketing implications as well as suggested future research directions.

Corporate Mergers and Acquisitions in India Discriminating between Bidders and Targets

This article estimates two models for the takeover selection process in India by identifying discriminating variables that help delineate bidder and target firms. Both discriminant analysis and logit regression have been used for the purpose of developing the appropriate frameworks based on sample data of companies involved in a merger, acquisition or takeover during the period 2002 to 2005. Variables tested were measures of leverage, size, liquidity, profitability, growth, operating efficiency, retention, return on equity and risk. Both the techniques identified liquidity, profitability, size, risk and growth as the most significant discriminating variables. Results indicated that targets have higher liquidity, growth and size on one hand and lower risk, leverage, profitability and operating efficiency on the other. These results appear rational and support the theory that takeovers are a market share enhancing mechanism. Synergy gains through economies of scale or scope, reducing cost of capital or increasing debt capacity could be other driving factors. The discriminant model correctly classifies bidder and target firms to the tune of 64.8 per cent and has been applied to holdout sample for the year 2006 for verifying its predictive power. The logit model appears to be a better fit for bidders with a prediction accuracy of 99.1 per cent, which increases to 100 per cent for the holdout set. In case of targets, prediction accuracy increases from 8.9 per cent to more than 23 per cent over the two data sets. Both models yield similar results as both formulations display the same relationships for the independent variables with the dependent and also find current ratio as being the most important variable. Owing to the moderate degree of success of the model, it is recommended that any of the models could be used for screening companies for takeovers while other tools and methodologies could be developed to facilitate further research and enable decision-making.

Perception Study of Cyber Café Users

The main objective of this article is to study the perception of the users of cyber cafés and to understand the important factors required to manage the cafés better in a competing environment. This was pursued by interviewing 414 users, in cyber cafés spread over different parts of Delhi. The respondents were chosen in so as to represent both the working and non-working class; those using the cyber cafés in the morning, after-noon, evening and night and belonging to different age groups, sex and education level. The information needed for designing the questionnaire was identified through exploratory research by conducting informal interviews and two focus group discussions of the users. The data was analyzed through the examination of frequency distributions, by conducting a factor analysis and using the chi-square test. Ten factors of perceptions were identified. The study indicated that value added services, state of art technology, effective utilization of time during waiting hours and data production facilities were the most important factors. The article concludes by providing recommendations to cyber café owners.

An Empirical Analysis of Factors Influencing Investment in Mutual Funds in India

The study is based on a sample of 431 respondents chosen using convenience sampling to understand the mutual fund buying behaviour of the individual investors. The article identifies the various attributes that investors consider important while investing in mutual fund. There are two underlying factors of importance that are extracted namely Credibility of the fund and Miscellaneous features of the fund. The relationship of these factors with demographic variables is ascertained. The article suggests recommendations for the mutual fund companies and suggestions for future research.

An Empirical Test of the Arbitrage Pricing Theory—The Case of Indian Stock Market

With increasing doubt about the validity of the one-factor Capital Asset Pricing Model in pricing financial assets, development of newer models or extensions has become the order of the day. This paper applies one of these developments—the multi-factor Arbitrage Pricing Theory (APT) to explore the relationship between portfolio returns and selected macroeconomic variables. While the chosen model has been extensively tested in developed markets, few such attempts have been made in emerging capital markets. Thus, the purpose of this study is to test the validity of the APT model in India, which has, over the years, gained immense importance in the investors’ minds, the world over. Moreover, the surge in volatility and growth in the Indian capital markets over the past five years makes it an interesting market to study given the rising significance of the risk-return trade-off in such a market. The paper examines ten portfolios, covering 50 stocks, over a five-year period from 1 January 2003 to 1 February 2008 to verify the efficiency and efficacy of the model and finds that APT is a suitable descriptor of asset prices in the Indian context. To overcome the problem of multicollinearity among the macroeconomic explanatory variables, a factor analysis was carried out that resulted in two factors namely the inflation factor and the market index. The excess portfolio returns were regressed on these factors. The regression results display accurate relationships that are significant for each of the 10 portfolios and moderate to high explanatory power. Thus, it concludes that APT is a good fit in India over the chosen sample period.

Segmenting knowledge management (KM) practitioners and its relationship to performance variation – some empirical evidence

– This paper aims at identifying segments among knowledge management (KM) practitioners and analyzes whether performance varies across these segments. The field of KM aims at enhancing performance through knowledge practitioners. However, not all KM implementations have similar outcomes. , – A literature review is conducted through secondary sources. Based on the themes identified for research, qualitative research through a focus group discussion (FGD) and personal interviews is used to explore the themes. This is used to develop a conceptual KM framework. An instrument is developed which is tested for validity and reliability. The instrument is administered to respondents and 313 responses are obtained. Convenience sampling is used to select the respondents. Further, k-means cluster is used to identify segments among KM practitioners. A one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) test is conducted to determine if the average scores of KM constructs varied between the three clusters. Further, ANOVA test is also used to analyze whether organizational and financial performance scores vary between the three clusters. Post hoc test is used to determine the extent of variation between cluster pairs. , – The results show that the sample comprises three segments which were subsequently labeled as active, partly and passive KM practitioners. It was found that active KM practitioners scored highest on various KM constructs, passive KM practitioners scored the least and partly KM practitioners had scores in between the two. One-way ANOVA results showed that the average scores of KM constructs varied significantly between the three clusters. The results show that a significant difference is found in organizational as well as financial performance between any two cluster pairs. , – The sample comprises 313 respondents, of which around 65 per cent are from services industry and 67 per cent from private sector. A higher representation from public sector and manufacturing industry would have made the comparison more meaningful. The findings are based on data collected from India, and therefore, the results may not be generalizable to all economies. , – The three clusters identified from the sample data may help organizations who have initiated the KM process to benchmark themselves with the obtained clusters and identify the trust areas important to their KM initiative. , – The study builds upon both qualitative methodology through FGD and personal interviews and quantitative methodology through questionnaire and surveys. This comprehensive coverage of KM constructs and identification of respondent clusters is insightful. It also provides researchers useful means to enhance performance through KM within clusters.

Impact of Knowledge Management Dimensions on Learning Organization: Comparison Across Business Excellence Awarded and Non-Awarded Indian Organizations

Knowledge and knowledge driven learning determines the organizational ability to achieve sustainable competitive advantage. To excel in business, organizations need to develop processes that facilitate streamline information flow resulting in enhanced learning. This paper investigates the learning capabilities demonstrated by Indian organizations and for the differences between business excellence awarded and non-awarded organizations. This paper examines the impact of Knowledge Management KM dimensions on Learning Organization LO and tests if the impact is significantly different for these groups. A convenience sample of 57 executives from 16 Indian organizations participated in the study. The results show that organizations awarded for business excellence fare better on all items of LO as compared to non-awarded ones. However, statistical difference is found only in Vision and Strategy and Performance Improvement Process. The results show that most of the KM dimensions have a positive impact on LO dimensions.