Publications

February 2014 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Go Mobile: Aligning District Managers and Store Teams

By: Tatiana Sandino

Indian cell phone retailer Go Mobile had implemented high-powered incentives to motivate its store employees to behave as owners and provide exceptional service. As the company scaled up, it faced multiple challenges in building a layer of district managers that were... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth Management; Organizational Design; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives; Management Practices and Processes; Telecommunications Industry; India

February 2016 (Revised June 2016)
Case

Janalakshmi Financial Services' HR Dilemma

By: Doug J. Chung and Radhika Kak

Janalakshmi Financial Services (JFS), an Indian microfinance institution, had grown rapidly by providing financial products to its main customer base, the urban poor. However, the company was facing several challenges. JFS’s productivity was declining, and it was... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Sales; Strategy; Financial Services Industry

11 Mar 2009
News

Asian footsteps in Africa

February 2019
Article

The Ethnic Migrant Inventor Effect: Codification and Recombination of Knowledge Across Borders

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Do Yoon Kim

Ethnic migrant inventors may differ from locals in terms of the knowledge they bring to host firms. We study the role of first-generation ethnic migrant inventors in cross-border transfer of knowledge previously locked within the cultural context of their home regions.... View Details

Keywords: Skilled Migration; Ethnic Migration; First-generation Migrant; Cultural Context; Knowledge Flows; Knowledge Reuse; Knowledge Recombination; Recombinant Creation; H1B Visas; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Knowledge Dissemination; Immigration; Ethnicity; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

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March 2018
Article

Polluted Morality: Air Pollution Predicts Criminal Activity and Unethical Behavior

By: Jackson G. Lu, Julia J. Lee, F. Gino and Adam D. Galinsky

Air pollution is a serious problem that influences billions of people globally. Although the health and environmental costs of air pollution are well known, the present research investigates its ethical costs. We propose that air pollution can increase criminal and... View Details

Keywords: Pollutants; Behavior; Moral Sensibility; Crime and Corruption

Research Summary

Overview

Dr. Sheth's research focuses on Indian political economy and social history from the sixteenth century to the contemporary, concentrating on the relationship between business households, financial capital, landed rights, and the dissolution and formation of states.... View Details

23 Dec 2008
First Look

First Look: December 23, 2008

high-skilled immigrants on U.S. technology formation. Specifically, we use reduced-form specifications that exploit large changes in the H-1B visa program. Fluctuations in H-1B admissions levels significantly influence the rate of Indian... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2017
Working Paper

Elite Ideas and Incremental Policy Change: The Expansion of Primary Education in India

By: Akshay Mangla

This paper analyzes India’s recent enactment of universal primary education. Given the clientelistic features of Indian democracy, this programmatic policy change presents a puzzle. Drawing on interviews and official documents, I find that committed state elites... View Details

Keywords: India; Political Economy; Ideas; Institutional Change; Education; Change Management; India

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September 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Sona Comstar and Blackstone: Unlocking Value Through Business Transformation

By: Ranjay Gulati and Kanika Jain

Private equity firm Blackstone’s majority investment in automotive systems manufacturer Sona Comstar had culminated in the largest IPO in the Indian auto components industry in 2021, with stellar returns for all involved. This EV supplier was the result of a 2019... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Decision Making; Engineering; Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Private Equity; Mergers and Acquisitions; Initial Public Offering; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; Asia; Southeast Asia

June 2012
Article

A Reexamination of Tunneling and Business Groups: New Data and New Methods

By: Jordan I. Siegel and Prithwiraj Choudhury

One of the most rigorous methodologies in the corporate governance literature uses firms' reactions to industry shocks to characterize the quality of governance. This methodology can produce the wrong answer unless one considers the ways firms compete. Because... View Details

Keywords: Governance; System Shocks; India

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October 2005
Case

Wipro Technologies: The Factory Model

Based in Bangalore, Wipro Technologies is a rapidly growing software services company. Wipro is experimenting with a new software service delivery model that draws on the principles of the Toyota production system and "lean" manufacturing. Addresses the advantages and... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Service Operations; Applications and Software; Standards; Information Technology Industry; Bangalore

29 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 29, 2008

unique data set on the career histories of Indian bureaucrats supports the key predictions of our framework. We find that politicians use frequent reassignments (transfers) across posts of varying importance as a means of control.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2016 (Revised May 2016)
Case

UFO Moviez—Gentle Disruption

By: Hong Luo, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Saloni Chaturvedi

UFO Moviez is an Indian technology services provider that enables low-cost, digital delivery of films to cinemas. UFO’s satellite-based technology enables a significantly wider release of films compared to traditional analog prints and standard, higher-resolution... View Details

Keywords: Film Entertainment; Information Technology; Distribution; Disruption; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; India

October 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

ITC eChoupal Initiative, The

Soybean farmers in India have traditionally sold their product through ineffective and frequently dishonest physical marketplaces (mandi). Farmers are generally poor and often illiterate and are forced to be "price-takers" after an arduous journey to the mandi. They... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Fairness; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain Management; Emerging Markets; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; India

10 Jul 2023
In Practice

The Harvard Business School Faculty Summer Reader 2023

and the possibility of change. My current research examines solutions for cities and regions, including their surrounding vulnerable treasures—for example, an almost-finished case on the efforts of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians to save... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

11 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 11, 2007

Working PapersStrategic Interactions in Two-Sided Market Oligopolies Authors:Emmanuel Farhi and Andrei Hagiu Abstract Strategic interactions between two-sided platforms depend not only on whether their decision variables are strategic complements or substitutes as... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

upGrad: Delivering Career Outcomes Online: Degree by Degree

By: John J-H Kim, Anjali Raina and Rachna Chawla

In August 2021, the founders of upGrad, the latest unicorn in the Indian higher education online space, were deciding how to best use the funds to execute on their ambitious growth plans. Ronnie Screwvala, Mayank Kumar and Phalgun Kompalli had envisioned upGrad as an... View Details

Keywords: Unicorns; COVID-19 Pandemic; Higher Education; Internet and the Web; Spending; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; India

August 6, 2020
Article

Companies Must Go Beyond Random Acts of Humanitarianism

By: Frank Cooper and Ranjay Gulati

Any organization can write a check or mobilize resources when confronted with a crisis such as the Covid-19 pandemic or a social movement such as Black Lives Matter. But corporate crisis response becomes much more meaningful when stakeholders know that the organization... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

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April 2018
Article

Elite Strategies and Incremental Policy Change: The Expansion of Primary Education in India

By: Akshay Mangla

This article analyzes India’s recent enactment of universal primary education. This programmatic policy change is puzzling given the clientelistic features of Indian democracy. Drawing on interviews and official documents, I demonstrate the catalytic role of committed... View Details

Keywords: Education; Policy Change; Policy Elites; Institutions; India; Early Childhood Education; Policy; Education Industry; India