G. Venkat Raman

Bio: G. Venkat Raman is an academic researcher from Indian Institute of Management Indore. The author has contributed to research in topics: China & Socialist market economy. The author has an hindex of 4, co-authored 8 publications receiving 48 citations. Previous affiliations of G. Venkat Raman include Peking University & Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode.

Environmental Governance in China

Abstract: The question of environmental governance has been of significant interest to the scholarly community in general and sinologists in particular. The current literature on environmental governance is researched and studied broadly under four domains, namely, globalization, decentralization, market and individual based governance, and cross-scale governance. In this paper one has tried to look into the question of environmental governance in a socialist market economy like China from the point of view of “decentralization”. The word “decentralization” here is to be understood in terms of a) central-local relations and b) state-society relations. The paper discusses some of the critical aspects related to these two facts of environmental governance by referring to existing literature in the field of domestic governance and politics in China. Further, the paper discusses some of the measures undertaken in China to tackle the question of environmental governance. The question of environmental governance is currently undergoing a phase of transition with new forms of “collaborative governance” and new forms of “public private partnerships”. However, what one gets to see that an apparently authoritarian China has demonstrated remarkable “political capacity” to constantly reinvent itself and been open to the idea of engaging the other stakeholders in tackling the problem of environmental governance.

Integrative Live Case: A Contemporary Business Ethics Pedagogy

Abstract: Disparate attempts exist to identify the key components that make an ethics pedagogy more effective and efficient. To integrate these attempts, a review of 408 articles published in leading journals is conducted. The key foci of extant literature are categorized into three domains labeled as approach (A), content (C), and delivery (D), and a comprehensive framework (ACD) for ethics pedagogy developed. Within each of these domains, binaries that reflect two alternatives are identified. Approach, the philosophical standpoint, can be theory-laden or real-world connected. Content, the constituencies addressed, can have a focus on breadth or depth. Delivery, the execution of the adopted pedagogy, can be traditional or innovative. The review of articles also identifies the lack of pedagogies that comprehensively focus on all the binaries across domains. The other substantive contribution of this article addresses this gap by developing a generic pedagogy—Integrative Live Case—based on the ACD framework. Based on an incident that is currently unfolding, this pedagogy allows integration of binaries across the three domains. It also allows for a modular course plan that can accommodate varied pedagogical preferences. Volkswagen Dieselgate is presented as a stylized example to showcase the significant advantages of using this pedagogy.

Individual resources, property rights and entrepreneurship in China

Abstract: In the last decade, the Chinese Government enacted two rule-based policy changes related to property rights, namely, a constitutional amendment to protect the lawful rights of the private sector in 2004 and a property rights law in 2007. Using property rights theory, the purpose of this paper is to hypothesize the contingent effect that these property rights changes have on the investment of individual human and financial capital toward entrepreneurship. In addition, this study also explores whether property rights changes have a differential effect on the two forms of entrepreneurship, namely, opportunity and necessity entrepreneurship.,This research uses logit regression analysis on a two-period model using the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) database to test these effects.,Contrary to existing evidence from western contexts, this study finds that property rights changes have a significant influence on the investment of both forms of capital toward necessity entrepreneurship in China.,The use of a secondary database like GEM has certain limitations, such as the non-availability of data on a longitudinal basis, and the need to operationalize certain constructs like social and financial capital as non-continuous variables.,There has been limited research on the phenomena of necessity entrepreneurship in economies such as that of China. The findings of this study highlight that property rights protection is equally important for necessity entrepreneurship in institutional contexts like China.

Decentralisation as a Developmental Strategy in China A Development Model for Developing Countries

Abstract: The premise of this article is that although the central role of the State in developing economies is indispensable, decentralisation of decision-making authority is inevitable in the governance of territorially large societies such as the People's Republic of China (PRC). A key component in the developmental experience of the PRC, as regards the two distinct models of development—Maoist and Dengist—has been a marked decentralisation of power and authority, an inevitable requirement in a territorially large and diverse country like China. The crucial point, however, is that during the Maoist and the Dengist eras, the strategies of development were distinguished by, among other features, two very distinct types of decentralisation.Whereas the Maoist developmental strategy was predominantly administrative, the Dengist strategy of decentralisation is predominantly market-driven. Besides, it is highly imperative to note that there are a great many points of departure between the Maoist and the Dengist develop...

India in China's Foreign Policy

Abstract: At a press conference during the BRICS summit held in Sanya, China in April 2011, convening leaders from Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa, the Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson had the following to say about China's foreign policy towards India: "In recent years, China-India relations have achieved sound development with frequent high-level exchanges and practical cooperation across the board. We have maintained close contact and communication on major international and regional issues'. To one's surprise, the words "bilateral issues" were conspicuously absent. The leaders of the two countries have met each other more than 20 times in the last five years, (1) with the latest occasion being the meeting of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh with President Hu Jintao on the sidelines of the April 2011 BRICS summit in Sanya. (2) Despite the various changes that had taken place in the international system in the last decade, bilateral relations between the two countries have not graduated beyond "atmospherics". (3) This article argues how China redefines its relationship with India is an important factor which will shape China's foreign policy in the years ahead. Adopting a refreshing approach to India and working out a measured foreign policy towards its south-western neighbour calls for a long-term vision (yuanjing) on the part of Chinese foreign policymakers. Policymakers should try to maximise the payoffs from the bilateral relations between the two countries by keeping in view the "shadow of the future". That is, payoffs are bound to increase over time and therefore one can make a case for heightened bilateral cooperation for a better future. In many ways, China is at a crossroads in its foreign relations. In fact, there is a growing feeling that as China looks around, it realises that it just does not have many friends. (4) Most of China's diplomatic efforts are invested in convincing ever suspicious neighbours and other major stakeholders in the international system that its growing power in the international arena is based on "peaceful development" and it has no intention of becoming another superpower in the making. Unfortunately for the Chinese, many countries in the world are very uncertain of what a rising China will do. (5) Therefore, the neighbouring countries are preoccupied with questions such as: what will China be like as it becomes militarily and economically stronger? Is it going to be an "innocent giant" or is it a "patient hegemon" biding time to assert itself? Is it going to be a "weak power", a "normal power" or a "regional power"? (6) The post-financial crisis international system has only exacerbated such concerns, and the Chinese leadership faces the challenge of having a relook at its foreign policy. Should it continue to adhere to the famous 28-Chinese character guidelines established by Deng Xiaoping in the wake of the developments that took place after the Tiananmen incident? (7) Or should it finally abandon its discretion and announce its arrival on the world stage and pursue an aggressive, revisionist agenda? In facing such challenges in its foreign policymaking, China must re-examine its stance on many issues. One such crucial issue is how China deals with India, another emerging power which nurses ambitions of playing an instrumental role in shaping the world in the 21st century. This article is divided into three sections. The first deals with the question of why India should be taken seriously by the Chinese foreign policymakers in order to promote China's own national interests. Four possible reasons are addressed, namely: (i) the growing economic prowess of India; (ii) India's increasingly confident and assertive conduct in its foreign policy; (iii) questioning the premise that economic and commercial ties are sufficient and sound indicators for boosting bilateral ties; and very briefly on (iv) coping with the "divide and rule" policy of the West. …

A study of environmental policies and regulations, governance structures, and environmental performance: The role of female directors

Abstract: This paper seeks to contribute to the existing business strategy and the environment literature by examining the effect of governance structures on environmental performance within a unique context of improving environmental governance, policies, regulations and management. Specifically, we investigate the extent to which corporate board gender diversity, including the proportion, age and level of education of female directors, affect environmental performance of Chinese publicly listed corporations. Using one of the largest Chinese data sets to date, consisting of a sample of 383 listed A-shares from 2011 to 2015 (i.e., observations of 1,674), our findings are three-fold. First, we find that the proportion and age of female directors have a positive effect on the overall corporate environmental performance. Second, our findings indicate that the proportion and age of female directors also have a positive effect on the three individual environmental performance components, namely environmental (a) strategy, (b) implementation and (c) disclosure, respectively. Finally, and by contrast, we do not find any evidence that suggests that the level of education of female directors has any impact on environmental performance, neither the overall environmental performance measure nor its individual components. Our findings have important implication for regulators and policy-makers. Our evidence is robust to controlling for alternative measures, other governance and firm-level control variables, and possible endogeneities. We interpret our findings within a multi-theoretical framework that draws insights from agency, legitimacy, neo-institutional, resource dependence, stakeholder, and tokenism theoretical perspectives.

Does Business Ethics Make Economic Sense

Abstract: I begin not with the need for business ethics, but at the other end—the idea many people have that there is no need for such ethics. That conviction is quite widespread among practitioners of economics, though it is more often taken for granted implicitly rather than asserted explicitly. We must understand better what the conviction rests on and why it may be mistaken.