Indian Institute of Management Calcutta

About: Indian Institute of Management Calcutta is a education organization based out in Kolkata, India. It is known for research contribution in the topics: Supply chain & Emerging markets. The organization has 415 authors who have published 1354 publications receiving 21725 citations. The organization is also known as: IIMC & IIM Calcutta.

Design of order-of-addition experiments

Abstract: In an order-of-addition experiment, each treatment is a permutation of m components. It is often unaffordable to test all the m! treatments, and the design problem arises. We consider a model that incorporates the order of each pair of components and can also account for the distance between the two components in every such pair. Under this model, the optimality of the uniform design measure is established, via the approximate theory, for a broad range of criteria. Coupled with an eigen-analysis, this result serves as a benchmark that paves the way for assessing the efficiency and robustness of any exact design. The closed-form construction of a class of robust optimal fractional designs is then explored and illustrated.

Does director interlock impact corporate R&D investment?

Abstract: This paper investigates the effect of director interlock on corporate research & development (R&D) investment from the perspective of inter-organizational imitation. We argue that managers will imitate the R&D investment intensity of their interlocked-firms when deciding how much to spend in R&D for their own firm. Following prior literature, we further argue that under different types of interlocking director and industry characteristics, the impact of director interlock on corporate R&D spending is different. Using a sample of public firms listed in Chinese Shanghai and Shenzhen Stock Exchanges, our empirical results show that managers imitate the prior R&D investment intensity of their interlock partners, and the impact of director interlock on corporate R&D intensity is stronger when the interlocking director is an inside director in the focal firm or when the focal firm and interlock firm belong to the same industry. Our results still hold when we account for the potential sample selection bias, firm similarity, and the confounding factors that can contribute through unobserved industry characteristics. We study the impact of director interlock on R&D investment for firms.Chinese public firms imitate R&D investment of their interlock partners.Imitation effect is stronger when interlocking director is an insider.Firms in the same industry show stronger impact of interlocking on R&D investment.

Improving Linkage of Web Pages

Abstract: Organizations maintain informational websites for wired devices. The information content of such websites tends to change slowly with time, so a steady pattern of usage is soon established. User preferences, both at the individual and at the aggregate level, can then be gauged from user access log files. We propose a heuristic scheme based on simulated annealing that makes use of the aggregate user preference data to re-link the pages to improve navigability. This scheme is also applicable to the initial design of websites for wireless devices. Using the aggregate user preference data obtained from a parallel wired website, and given an upper bound on the number of links per page, our methodology links the pages in the wireless website in a manner that is likely to enable the “typical” wireless user to navigate the site efficiently. Later, when a log file for the wireless website becomes available, the same approach can be used to refine the design further.

Earnings Inequality in India: Has the Rise of Caste and Religion Based Politics in India had an Impact?

Abstract: Since 1989, there has been a sharp increase in the role of caste and religion in determining political fortunes at both state and federal levels in India. As a consequence, significant intercaste and inter-religion differences in earnings have the potential to stall the process of economic reforms. Yet, the patterns and determinants of such differences remain unexplored. We address this lacuna in the literature, and explore the determinants of the differences in inter-caste and inter-religion earnings in India during the 1987-99 period, using the 43 rd and 55 th rounds of National Sample Survey (NSS). Our results suggest that (a) earnings differences between “upper” castes and SC/ST have declined between 1987 and 1999, (b) over the same period, earnings differences between Muslims and non-Muslims have increased, to the detriment of the former, and (c) inter-caste and inter-religion differences in earnings can be explained largely by corresponding differences in educational endowment and returns on age (and, hence, experience). However, differences in returns on education do not explain inter-caste and inter-religion earnings differences to a great extent.