Assessing comparative efficiency of the state-owned mixed and private sectors in Indian industry

This paper evaluates performance differences between government owned, mixed sector and private sector enterprises in India for the period 1973–1974 to 1988–1989. The results establish that enterprises owned by the central government and state governments are less efficient than mixed or private sector enterprises, while mixed sector enterprises are less efficient than those in the private sector. The results contradict extant evidence finding no performance differences between government-owned and private firms in India. There have, however, been inter-temporal efficiency gains for the sector as a whole, perhaps resulting from reforms undertaken towards improving government-owned enterprises' performance.     

Arabs in the urban social landscapes of Malaysia: historical connections and belonging

The urban landscapes of Malaysia have witnessed a marked increase in the number of non-citizens with the influx of foreign workers to satisfy the needs of a rapidly expanding economy. This paper examines how notions of belonging might have changed through the subsequent interaction between citizens and non-citizens in the Klang Valley, the political and economic centre of the country. It focuses specifically on Arab migrants who find themselves in a region – the Malay world – with which they have had historical connections. Arabs, primarily from the Hadramaut in Yemen, have long formed creole communities in the region. Recent Arab migrants have arrived at a time of two noteworthy developments. First, there is a rediscovery of Arabness underway among creoles. Second, Malaysia's ethnically diverse citizenry has seen renewed and heightened challenges, based on historical arguments, to its sense of belonging. By focusing on novel migrants with historical connections, this paper relates the question of belonging to history and asks a number of questions. How are Arabs shaping the social landscape? How do the historical connections between Arabs and the Malay world matter? What are the implications of the new Arab presence for Malaysian society as a whole?     

Applicability of Greulich and Pyle skeletal age standards to Indian children

A total 375 Indian children of age 1 day to 19 years were studied (male 194 and female 181). For determining the bone age (skeletal age), wrist and hand radiographs were taken. The skeletal age was determined by blinded review of radiograph using Greulich and Pyle atlas (2nd edition, 1959). If we consider all age group (1-19 years), the Indian boys were retarded in skeletal age by 0.7 years and females by 0.33 years. Male and female children skeletally lag behind the American standard (GP Atlas) in all age groups except 12-13 years age group in which girls are accelerated by 0.22 years. Chronological age and skeletal age difference of more than 1 year is seen between age group 7 years and 12 years in males. Females after second year showed a retardation, which ranged from 0.2 to 0.8 years, up to the age of 19 years. The present study concludes that, Greulich and Pyle atlas is not applicable to the Indian children of both sexes especially in middle and late childhood.     

Foreign exchange legislation transformation and enterprise demography in India

This article evaluates the extent to which the legislative changes relating to foreign exchange that have taken place in India within the last few decades, and in particular after 1991, have made an impact on the presence of foreign firms in the economy. The data cover the period 1957–1958 to 2001–2002, and include the entire population of India’s corporate sector. In the period after reforms commenced in 1991, the number of foreign firms in India has increased very substantially. The transformation of the foreign exchange regulation act (FERA) to the foreign exchange management act (FEMA) in 1999 has had a positive effect in inducing foreign firms to India. The FEMA legislation simplifies the maze of controls, procedures and bureaucratic minutiae that have to be observed by all those undertaking to set up and operate a business in India. The changes in the legislative regimes make India attractive as an investment destination for foreign firms.

The 2001–2002 Indo-Pakistani Crisis: Exposing the Limits of Coercive Diplomacy

Coercive diplomacy has long been seen as a viable alternative to war by political decision-makers. There is, however, a long line of credible academic and policy critique—stretching back to the Cold War—that asserts the failures of coercion almost always overwhelm its benefits. Our examination of the 2001–2002 Indo-Pakistani crisis supports the overall analytical consensus that coercive methods, under certain circumstances, accomplish little. We discover that India's use of coercive diplomacy was severely hobbled because of Pakistan's possession of nuclear weapons, strong Pakistani conventional forces, and other geopolitical realities that strongly favored Pakistan. Despite careful attempts by Indian elites to apply the principles of “forceful persuasion” to end the crisis on terms favorable to India (the stronger power in the dispute), the Indian strategy failed to accomplish most of its objectives. Our analysis thereby exposes the limits of coercion and compellance for solving chronic territorial and ideological disputes between enduring rivals.     

Capital structure and performance: Evidence from a transition economy on an aspect of corporate governance

This paper examines the relationship between the levels of debt in the capital structure and performance for a sample of Indian firms. Existing theory posits a positive relationship; however, analysis of the data reveals the relationship for Indian firms to be significantly negative. The structure of capital markets in India, where both short-term and long-term lending institutions are government-owned, is hypothesized to account for the finding of this relationship, and it asserted that corporate governance mechanisms which work in the West will not work in the Indian context unless the supply of loan capital is privatized.     

Scalability versus flexibility: firm size and R&;D in Indian industry

This article has examined the impact of firm size on R&D spending for a panel of several thousand Indian firms, for a period of seven years from 1999–2000 to 2005–2006. The average levels of R&D spending are low but for firms that do undertake R&D the average levels of R&D spending are much higher. The results of the analysis for all the manufacturing sector firms have shown that larger firm size is associated with a higher probability of R&D spending. In non-linear estimation the squared term is negative denoting that after a particular threshold firm size has no effect on R&D spending. When only the R&D spending firms are evaluated then size has a mild impact on R&D spending and in a non-linear framework the effect of size disappears signifying that both the relatively smaller and larger firm alike seem to be motivated in building capabilities in the post-liberalization period of the Indian economy.