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 & Context (language use). The organization has 415 authors who have published 1354 publications receiving 21725 citations. The organization is also known as: IIMC & IIM Calcutta.

Offshore Outsourcing: A Dynamic Causal Model of Counteracting Forces

Abstract: Many argue that offshoring is an inexorable trend, since a variety of information technology (IT) skills have become global commodities and they are vastly cheaper in other parts of the world. According to this view, most IT work would be drained from the United States to overseas locations. However, the loss of jobs to offshoring has increased pressure to impose restrictions. On the supply side, as IT salaries in outsourcing vendor nations increase, they become less attractive for offshoring. The literature identifies multiple factors--some enhancing, others inhib-iting--that affect the growth of offshoring. In this paper, we attempt to add to that knowledge by asking, "What are the mechanics by which these factors interact to produce the observed growth in IT offshoring?" We use the system dynamics methodology to build a two-country simulation model of offshoring growth that captures individual cause-effect relationships generated by its supply and demand drivers. Examined as a whole, these individual relationships reveal larger feedback loops that constitute the mechanism underlying offshoring growth between the two countries. Simulation experiments show how the dynamic behavior of offshoring is likely to evolve beyond the current high-growth period. The model contributes to our understanding of offshoring by offering a causal foundation for its growth pattern. It can also be used to computationally study different scenarios of offshoring growth.

HR flexibility and firm performance: analysis of a multi-level causal model

Abstract: Human resource flexibility as a construct, how it develops, and its effect on firm performance have not received adequate attention in strategic HRM literature in spite of their obvious importance in today's dynamic competitive environment. Based on a study of 98 manufacturing and 103 service firms in India, this paper addresses these issues by developing and testing a multi-level model that attempts to explore the 'black box' of the interlinkages between the various components of HR flexibility and firm-level human, operational, and financial outcomes. The results suggest that a certain set of ambidextrous HR practices constitute a distinct dimension of HR flexibility, beyond the dimensions of flexibilities of skill, behaviour and HR practices as already identified in the existing literature. Evidences from both manufacturing and service sectors support the notion of HR value chain that suggests that HR system has a direct impact on firm-level HR outcomes which are most proximal, and its effects on increasingly more distal operational and financial outcomes are mediated by HR outcomes that it produces. Another important finding is that HR practices as a system have both direct and indirect (mediated by behavioural flexibility) effects on firm-level HR outcomes. Existence of significant direct effects highlights the important role that HR practices play as a structural mechanism in achieving superior firm performance.

Performance benchmarking and strategic homogeneity of Indian banks

Abstract: Explores the linkage between performance benchmarking and strategic homogeneity of Indian commercial banks. Devises a method of benchmarking performance of Indian commercial banks using their published financial information. Defines performance by how a bank is able to utilize its resources to generate business transactions and is measured by their ratio, which is then called the efficiency. The concept of efficiency is critical from a marketing perspective. Methodologically, in order to overcome some of the shortcomings of simple efficiencies obtained through self‐appraisal of individual banks, a more “democratic” concept of cross‐efficiency evaluated with the process of peer‐appraisal has been brought in to benchmark the banks. Clusters banks based on similarity in business policy which offers a framework for competitive positioning in the target market and serves as a basis for long‐term strategic focus. Finds that the public sector banks generally outperform the private and foreign banks in this rapidly evolving and liberalizing sector.