Pradip K. Bhaumik

Internationalization of technology development in India

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to study the internationalization of technology development in India. The internationalization of research and development (R&D) has not been a recent phenomenon. Large multinational companies increased their R&D investment in various host countries during the past years. While the US and the countries in Western Europe have been the traditional locus of R&D, China and India have emerged lately as the destinations for R&D. The changes in geopolitical systems of trade and intellectual property protection couples with the advances in information and communication technology have helped globalize the R&D activities.Design/methodology/approach – The study has used the US patents as a surrogate measure for the technical output from India. The data include all US patents granted between 1992 and 2007 in which at least one inventor was an Indian resident. Studies in the field of economics of technology and in science policy have used patents as a valid measure of R&D output...

Technology development in China and India: a comparative evaluation

Purpose – During past ten years China and India have emerged as the favorite destination for R&D investment. In this paper a comparative evaluation of the process of technology development in China and India is carried out. The objective is to identify the rate of growth of technology and the patterns of development in different technology sectors. Design/methodology/approach – The analysis is based on the tangible, measurable and recorded output of the technology development process – namely grant of patents. The authors have used US patents as the surrogate measure for the technological output between 1992 to 2007. The authors obtained data on inventor’s background, ownership pattern of the patents, as well as technology sectors and descriptive statistics are used to compare the trends between the two countries. Findings – The paper finds that both China and India have achieved very high growth rates in patents granted with some resident research between 1992 and 2007. Both have a high percentage of foreign-owned and low percentage of joint ownership of patents. Also, a clear polarization in the composition of research teams is detected in both China and India in that international researcher teams have largely been used only for foreign and jointly owned patents. The authors find that corporations have become much more active in recent years in patenting and multi national companies have led the local companies in patent development across many sectors. The authors also detect some significant differences in the Chinese and Indian pursuit of patent development. About 30 to 35 percent of all patents developed in China are design patents – the rest being utility patents. For India almost all such patents – more than 95 percent – are utility patents. The authors find a clear dominance along the mechanical trajectory among the patents developed in China, while for India a similar dominance is along the chemical trajectory that includes pharmaceuticals and biotechnology. Another interesting finding is the growing share of ICT patents in both China and India, particularly in the last few years China has emerged ahead of India in terms of its patent development as well as in the internationalization of its patent development as reflected in the ownership of patents developed. However, even for foreign patents developed in these countries, researcher collaboration is showing a downward trend. Originality/value – This paper carries out a comparative evaluation of the process of technology development in China and India. The analysis is based on the tangible, measurable and recorded output of the technology development process – namely grant of patents. The paper uses US patents as the surrogate measure for the technological output from China and India.

FDI, Skilled Labour and the Caribbean's Emerging Competitive Disadvantage

This article analyses why the Caribbean economies have not been able to take advantage of their physical proximity to the highly developed economies and the likely role of shortage of skilled labour in this. Our analysis reveals that the twin trends of growing need for FDI and lack of enough highly-skilled workers is giving rise to the emerging competitive disadvantage of the Caribbean countries. We show that in spite of having achieved high levels of human development, including high literacy levels, the higher education and skill development strategy of the region lacks vision especially in terms of the development of institutional aspects. The Caribbean economies may be able to partly neutralize the advantage typically enjoyed by large economies by making effective use of information technology, especially in the area of services. But the associated need for highly skilled and knowledge-intensive workers would require continuous upgrading of educational and training systems.

Student Engagement and Its Predictors: An Exploratory Study in an Indian Business School

The concept of student engagement is gaining widespread acceptance in the West as it is found to be positively related to academic outcomes as well as personal development of the students. Although it is generally agreed that student engagement is a multidimensional construct, there is no agreement over its dimensions. The study on which this article is based, seeks to identify the dimensions of student engagement through exploratory factor analysis, analyzing a pool of items drawn from various sources, including some of the authors’ own. Using the five dimensions identified through this process, the study attempts to assess the level of student engagement among the first-year students of a two-year full-time MBA programme of an Indian business school. Finally, it uses step-wise regression analysis to identify the predictors of student engagement.

Optimal shrinking of the distribution chain: the facilities delocation decision

Closure of facilities is quite common among both business firms and public sector institutions like hospitals and schools. Although the facilities location problem has been studied extensively in the literature, not much attention has been paid to the closure of facilities. Unlike the location problem, the existing facilities and the corresponding network impose additional constraints on the closure or elimination of facilities and to highlight the difference between the two, we have called this the facilities delocation problem. In this article, we study a firm with an existing distribution network with known retailer and distributor locations that needs to downsize or shrink its distribution chain due to other business reasons. However, it is not a reallocation of demand nodes among the retained distributors. An important condition stipulates that all demand nodes must continue to get their supplies from their respective current distributors except when the current source itself is delocated, and only such uprooted demand nodes will be supplied by a different but one of the retained suppliers. We first describe the delocation problem and discuss its characteristics. We formulate the delocation problem as an integer linear programming problem and demonstrate its formulation and solution on a small problem. Finally, we discuss the solution and its implications for the distribution network.

Regulating the domestic air travel in India: an umpire's game

This paper analyses the competitive strategies available to an Indian airline in a scenario where the entry of private domestic airlines has only recently been allowed. The Calcutta-Delhi route is initially analysed as an example--where there are three major players competing. The fare charged by each airline being the same, the number of departures is used as one of the major competitive weapons. Game theory is used here as a useful tool to analyse such situations. The equilibrium behaviour of the airlines is studied and the possibility of the game being played at the focal point is then analysed. All over the world, airlines have had a long history of economic regulation of both their national and international operations with governments often regarding regulation as necessary--both to achieve a comprehensive route network and to achieve stable markets. The game formulated is then analysed from the point of view of the regulating body and it is found that the game-theoretic framework is able to provide powerful insights regarding regulatory interventions. Two types of interventions, viz. fare regulation as well as the introduction of a licence fee per flight, are analysed and their ability to shift the Nash equilibrium to the focal point are studied. Finally, the problem is generalised and some results are obtained which are applicable to any route with any number of operators as long as the basic nature of the competitive situation remains the same. Use of the game-theoretic approach as a powerful tool to decide regulatory interventions is thus highlighted.

Project management and development of human capital in the Caribbean: three case studies

Purpose – The purpose of this research is to demonstrate the primacy of adequate human capital for successful completion of infrastructure projects in developing countries.Design/methodology/approach – A case study approach is used and three Caribbean infrastructure projects analyzed using a common framework to identify links between project success and availability of adequate human capital.Findings – Explains how the scarcity of human capital at executive and managerial levels may have disastrous consequences for successful project completion, particularly in developing countries.Research limitations/implications – Developing countries like those of the Caribbean that have done well in human development rankings can still suffer from scarcity of human capital.Practical implications – The funding agencies need to emphasize the estimation, provisioning and development of human capital for funded projects and ensure the continued availability of the same until project completion as much as they do for phys...

Aging population, emigration and growth in Barbados

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to highlight the dual effect of demographic changes and emigration of young people on the economic growth of small Caribbean economies and the serious economic challenges arising therefrom. Design/methodology/approach - The paper develops a theoretical model leading to a hypothesis that is later tested on Barbados. Findings - Rising incomes have had very significant demographic changes in Barbados and other small Caribbean economies while proximity to large developed economies have contributed to emigration. Together, these have caused capital outflows from the economies as well as simultaneous shortage of skilled workers and high rates of overall unemployment. Research limitations/implications - Economic vulnerability of small states needs further detailed study. Practical implications - One implication for the small Caribbean economies is to restructure their labour market through sustained skill development programmes so as to reduce the skill gap between the demand and supply of specific skills. Originality/value - Although demographic shifts and their effects are widely studied, this paper highlights the special vulnerability of the small Caribbean economies to lower fertility, ageing and emigration.

Assessing the Barriers to Trade in Services in South Asia

This study aims to assess barriers to service trade in the education, health, telecom, transport, travel and tourism, and banking and insurance sectors of selected South Asian economies such as India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Nepal and Bangladesh, including both trade and domestic restrictions. The analysis is focused on the computation of aggregate and modal service trade restrictiveness indices (STRIs) by sector, drawing on information gathered based on detailed questionnaires. The conclusions highlight that while significant regulatory reforms have taken place in certain (for example Telecom) service sectors over the last decade, a broad range of restrictions still remain. The most significant change in these service sectors has been the lifting or softening of the constraints imposed on foreign equity participation. Interestingly, the economies in terms of regulatory reforms are more open to non-South Asian economies and not so much open to each other. However, reforms have had varying degrees of impact on market structure depending on the country and the sector.

Internationalization of technology development in China: an evaluation using patent data

Purpose – Increased globalization of the worlds economies, along with accelerated technological changes are transforming research and development (R&D) activities around the world. The purpose of this paper is to study the technology development in China, particularly in the light of the globalization of R&D activities.Design/methodology/approach – The study is based on a detailed analysis of all US patents granted between 1979 and 2007 in which at least one inventor was a resident of China. US patents have been used as a surrogate measure of technology development and a patent developed with a resident Chinese inventor has been assumed to have been developed in China.Findings – The paper identifies four phases of technical development in China: growth rate of patenting, extent of inventor collaboration, ownership pattern, concentration on technology trajectory and changing role of MNCs characterize each phase. While along the relatively new electrical and ICT technology trajectories, Chinese entities ha...