Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad

About: Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad is a education organization based out in Ahmedabad, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Context (language use) & Emerging markets. The organization has 1828 authors who have published 4011 publications receiving 59269 citations. The organization is also known as: IIMA & IIM Ahmedabad.

HMiner: Efficiently mining high utility itemsets

Abstract: High utility itemset mining problem uses the notion of utilities to discover interesting and actionable patterns. Several data structures and heuristic methods have been proposed in the literature to efficiently mine high utility itemsets. This paper advances the state-of-the-art and presents HMiner, a high utility itemset mining method. HMiner utilizes a few novel ideas and presents a compact utility list and virtual hyperlink data structure for storing itemset information. It also makes use of several pruning strategies for efficiently mining high utility itemsets. The proposed ideas were evaluated on a set of benchmark sparse and dense datasets. The execution time improvements ranged from a modest thirty percent to three orders of magnitude across several benchmark datasets. The memory consumption requirements also showed up to an order of magnitude improvement over the state-of-the-art methods. In general, HMiner was found to work well in the dense regions of both sparse and dense benchmark datasets.

Livestock services and the poor.

Abstract: This paper reviews the economic framework for the delivery of livestock services to the poor. It is argued that the demand for livestock products is likely to increase rapidly and the ability of the poor to participate in the opportunities presented by this growth is linked critically to the availability of good service support, both on the input and output side. Governments therefore have a responsibility to supply the necessary public goods (including the institutions and legal frameworks), and the market infrastructure for facilitating the emergence of efficient markets for livestock services. The paper further argues that the dynamics of public policy in developing countries are much more complex than the simple application of economic logic. It is the larger political economy that often dictates policy choices. It is therefore important to integrate political economy and governance issues into the economic debate on livestock service delivery. The paper also reviews the context in which the markets for livestock services will need to function. Different countries are facing very different sets of issues, and the identification of possible interventions in livestock service markets would require careful field research and analysis. In this context, the paper suggests the elements of a research agenda for the next few years.

Moving towards “mobile warehouse”: Last-mile logistics during COVID-19 and beyond

Abstract: Supply chains in general and last-mile logistics in particular, have been disrupted due to COVID-19. Though several innovative last-mile logistics solutions have been proposed in the past, they possess certain limitations, especially during COVID-19 motivating the need for an alternative last-mile logistics solution. We present a review of literature related to last-mile logistics and supply chain disruptions to identify the limitations of existing last-mile delivery practices during COVID-19. Using a stylized analytical model, we then propose that “mobile warehouse” can be an effective solution to last-mile logistics issues faced during COVID-19 and beyond under certain conditions. A mobile warehouse is a truck dedicated to a particular geographical location and carries the inventory of various products based on the estimated demand requirements for these products in that geographical location. We provide the condition under which the B2C e-commerce providers find it profitable to adopt a truck as a mobile warehouse to sell high demand items quickly.

Regulating the private health care sector: the case of the Indian Consumer Protection Act

Abstract: Private medical provision is an important constituent of health care delivery services in India. The quality of care provided by this sector is a critical issue. Professional organizations such as the Medical Council of India and local medical associations have remained ineffective in influencing the behaviour of private providers. The recent decision to bring private medical practice under the Consumer Protection Act (COPRA) 1986 is considered an important step towards regulating the private medical sector. This study surveyed the views of private providers on this legislation. They believe the COPRA will be effective in minimizing malpractice and negligent behaviour, but it does have adverse consequences such as an increase in fees charged by doctors, an increase in the prescription of medicines and diagnostics, an adverse impact on emergency care, etc. The medical associations have also argued that the introduction of COPRA is a step towards expensive, daunting and needless litigation. A number of other concerns have been raised by consumer forums which focus on the lack of standards for private practice, the uncertainty and risks of medicines, the effectiveness of the judiciary system, and the responsibility of proving negligence. How relevant are these concerns? Is the enactment of COPRA really appropriate to the medical sector? The paper argues that while this development is a welcome step, we need to comprehensively look into the various quality concerns. The effective implementation of COPRA presumes certain conditions, the most important being the availability of standards. Besides this, greater involvement of professional organizations is needed to ensure appropriate quality in private practice, since health and medical cases are very different from other goods and services. The paper discusses the results of a mailed survey and interview responses of 130 providers from the city of Ahmedabad, India. The questionnaire study was designed to assess the opinion of providers on various implications of the COPRA. We also analyze the data on cases filed with the Consumer Disputes and Redressal Commission in Gujarat since 1991. Four selected cases filed with the National Commission on Consumers Redressal are discussed in detail to illustrate various issues affecting the implementation of this Act.

Straussian Grounded Theory Method: An Illustration

Abstract: This paper demonstrates the applicationis an appreciation of Straussian Grounded Theory Grounded Theory method in conducting research in complex settings where parameters are poorly defined. It provides a detailed illustration on how this method can be used to build an internationalization theory. To be specific, this paper exposes readers to the behind-the-scene work to develop a theory on the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises based in transition economies. It describes each step from sampling to coding and then to theory formation, explaining the rationale each step of the way. The readers can therefore see how a theory took shape and develop from raw data to refined theoretical propositions/hypotheses.