i-manager's Journal on Management (JMGT)


Volume 14 Issue 3 December - February 2020

Research Paper

Benchmarking Innovation: USA and China

Jorge Vilaplana Ituarte*
Anaheim University, Global Strategy and Innovation Management, USA.
Ituarte, J. V. (2020). Benchmarking Innovation: USA and China. i-manager's Journal on Management, 14(3), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.26634/jmgt.14.3.16255

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to compare the two biggest economies in the world, USA and China, regarding innovation. It starts defining what innovation is, where the value of it resides, and sharing expert's opinions about who is leading. The innovation systems of both countries have been analyzed, including the finance, intellectual property, and education. Furthermore, some results from different sectors have been also compared, such as artificial intelligence, wind power, or smart grid technologies; as well as differences in human resources approach. The conclusion is that USA is clearly ahead of China, but China is cutting distances quickly, although the development in China is impulse by the state and this generates some doubts about the real productivity of it.

Research Paper

Contribution of Microinsurance Towards Sustainable Development Goals in Sri Lanka

Vithiyalani Muthusamy* , Belgin**
*-** Department of Accountancy and Finance, Faculty of Management Studies, Sabaragamuwa University of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka.
Muthusamy, V., and Fernando, K. D. U. D. (2020). Contribution of Microinsurance Towards Sustainable Development Goals in Sri Lanka. i-manager's Journal on Management, 14(3), 13-19. https://doi.org/10.26634/jmgt.14.3.14581

Abstract

Microinsurance (MI) is supposed to reduce not only the risk of poverty from negative consequences, but also to improve the overall quality of life. Seven types of Millennium Development Goals (MDG) have been extended to seventeen goals of SDGs rd by United Nations covering wellbeing of the people and prosperity. Sri Lanka has been ranked on 73 position in the progress of Human Development Index (HDI) in 2015 while 53% achievement according to the MDG tracks analysis. To come to these positions, Sri Lanka has been allocating a substantial amount of funds on free education, free health and social welfare, and subsidies to improve the wellbeing of the people and consequently, the budget deficit has increased to 7.4% while government debt ratio was 74% continuously. Sri Lankan government would have used a tool like MI with the private sector partnership to reduce the debt burden of the government. A mixed research method has been carried out in this study using exploratory sequential design, where qualitative results can help and inform the second quantitative method. Primary data was gathered conducting in-depth interviews with 20 market specialist from MI providers as well as finance. The results indicated that proper MI mechanism could contribute to the improvement of SDG towards prosperity of the country. Further, quantitative results supported mainly the direct relationship of MI with poverty reduction and life wellbeing while other indicators show an indirect relationship. If a public-private partnership focuses on long term sustainability with suitable policy amendments, the country would be able to achieve the SDG. Further, these results would immensely help to find out vital information for the development strategies of the MI as well as SDG.

Research Paper

Risk Assessment using Shapley Value and Comparing Results with Optimum Portfolio Weights

Aastha Gupta*
S & P Global Market Intelligence, Gurgaon, Haryana, India.
Gupta, A. (2020). Risk Assessment using Shapley Value and Comparing Results with Optimum Portfolio Weights. i-manager's Journal on Management, 14(3), 20-24. https://doi.org/10.26634/jmgt.14.3.16639

Abstract

Every investor wants to know the risk of the assets they hold in a portfolio. Variance is commonly used for measuring risk and there are other tools as well. Yet, the modern analytical tools provide partial risk measure only. This paper includes a method for evaluating risk of an asset in a portfolio using cooperative game theory. In this approach, a portfolio of securities is viewed as a cooperative game played by securities, for which the risk they individually contribute to the portfolio can be determined. This value is known as the Shapley Value. It is calculated by computing the marginal utility of a player to the portfolio risk by looking at all the possible combination of coalitions in which the player would participate. The Shapley values of the assets so obtained are then compared with the weights of those assets in Global Minimum Variance Portfolio (GMPV). The historical data for assets have been taken for three sectoral indices of Indian Stock Exchange.

Research Paper

Activity Overlapping Mechanism for Construction Management using Game Theory

Manish Bharadwaj* , M. K. Trivedi**, Vikas Shinde***
*-** Department of Civil Engineering, Madhav Institute of Technology and Science, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India.
*** Department of Applied Science, Madhav Institute of Technology and Science, Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh, India.
Bharadwaj, M., Trivedi, M. K., and Shinde, V. (2020). Activity Overlapping Mechanism for Construction Management using Game Theory. i-manager's Journal on Management, 14(3), 25-31. https://doi.org/10.26634/jmgt.14.3.16294

Abstract

Currently, the project duration reduction is a key demand of project managers and all the construction team. There are many advantages and cost savings for projects. Various techniques are adopted for reducing project duration, but the methodology of overlapping of critical activity is a modern technique, which leads to reduction in schedule and cost. The overlapping in construction projects is to be done effectively as every pair of activities cannot be overlapped since some prior activity may not allow overlapping because of maximum rework. The objective of the paper is to emphasize the technique of overlapping pairs of critical activities by forming decision matrices between criteria and variants and solving the matrix using Game Theory. It also normalizes all pay-off functions by transforming them into dimension less numbers with vector normalization and obtaining the optimal variant, i.e. the pair of activities with maximum overlapped duration leading to maximum benefit for corresponding duration.

Research Paper

Determinants of CEO Pay - Evidence from Indian Pharmaceutical Sector

Sridhar Sambatur* , Dhananjaya Kadanda**, Swapna Rose***
* Department of Business Administration, St. Aloysius Institute of Management and Information Technology (AIMIT), Mangalore, India.
** Department of Management, St. Aloysius College (Autonomous), Mangalore, India.
*** Department of Management, St Aloysius Institute of Management and Information Technology (AIMIT), Mangalore, India.
Sambatur, S., Kadanda, D., and Rose, S. (2020). Determinants of CEO Pay - Evidence from Indian Pharmaceutical Sector. i-manager's Journal on Management, 14(3), 32-46. https://doi.org/10.26634/jmgt.14.3.16595

Abstract

Our study investigates the key determinants of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) gross pay in Indian pharmaceutical companies listed under BSE-S&P Healthcare index (Bombay Stock Exchange- Standard & Poor) using a longitudinal sample of 33 firms over 10-year period from 2008-09 to 2017-18. This amounts to 330 firm-years data. We probe the effect of firm performance, corporate governance, human capital, and tournament characteristics on the gross pay of CEOs. Profit after tax, Return on Assets, and Market Capitalization are found to be significant determinants of CEOs' total pay. Larger boards and companies having remuneration committees are found to be rewarding their CEOs with higher pay. Insidereffect on total pay is observed to be significant. CEO's lifetime experience has significant positive impact on the total pay. Gini's coefficient is below the alarming level of 0.5 for 93.8 per cent of firm-years indicating non-criticality of pay disparity between CEO and Key Managerial Personnel (KMP), in spite of large number of firms being led by promoter-directors.

Research Paper

The Effect of Product Packaging and use of Brand Mascots in Promoting Unhealthy Food: Product Preferences of Children and Buyer'S Behavior

Neelam Sadruddin Hirani* , Mohsina Hussain Gujrati **
*-** Aga Khan University Hospital, Karachi, Pakistan.
Hirani, N. S., and Gujrati, M. H. (2020). The Effect of Product Packaging and use of Brand Mascots in Promoting Unhealthy Food: Product Preferences of Children and Buyer'S Behavior. i-manager's Journal on Management, 14(3), 47-56. https://doi.org/10.26634/jmgt.14.3.16678

Abstract

Emphasis on the importance of healthy eating is ongoing for many reasons, including the growing concern about childhood obesity resulting in the ban on advertising of unhealthy foods to children. The attractiveness of children as consumers and influencers of consumption resulted in children being increasingly attractive targets for marketers. The study used views of parents in examining the effect of packaging on children's product preferences and its ability to influence parents' buyer decision in-store. A quantitative approach is used in collecting data from 150 parents using a 28 item Likert scale questionnaire. The data was analyzed by SPSS v.17, which illustrates that bright color packaging and cartoons in the advertisement does affect the product preferences of children. The study also claims that children tend to buy confectionary (r=0.538), snack foods (r=0.532), and cereals (r=0.381), which showed a relationship between the child request and the purchases parents make in-store. However, parents within the study claimed that they do not listen to their children's requests and the purchase of food, which is low in nutritional value is also low. Results from the study can be used in designing effective marketing strategies within the retail and service marketing sector that would help in the buyer's decision and tackle the issue of a child's obesity and awareness of wrong marketing strategies that would appeal children in buying unhealthy food. The paper validates that there is a relationship between packaging and children's product preferences and children's impact on parents' buyer decision in-store.

Research Paper

Trending Reward and Recognition Programs in Organizations

Neeraj Kumari*
Department of Humanities and Management, Manav Rachna International Institute of Research and Studies, Research institution in Faridabad, Haryana, India.
Kumari, N. (2020). Trending Reward and Recognition Programs in Organizations. i-manager's Journal on Management, 14(3), 57-65. https://doi.org/10.26634/jmgt.14.3.15357

Abstract

Reward and recognition policies is designed to reward employees who have excelled in their work and convey sincere “thank you” for a specific job done well. The study aims to study different reward and recognition policies adopted by the different organizations. To gain a wider perspective of the reward and retention programs, an industry level benchmarking was done. For the purpose, a structured questionnaire was drafted comprising of both open and closed ended questions. It had 25 items in total. The questionnaire was filled by the employees of different organizations who were selected on the basis of random sampling. The sample size is 50. To conclude, reward and recognition is an integral part of most of the organizations. Organizations reward the employees for performing well which helps in increasing the productivity and motivating the employees. Organizations budget their reward scheme on the basis of the previous year income and investment. But many of the organizations follow the same policy for the certain period of time as mentioned in their HR policy. Organizations provide financial and non-financial rewards both which satisfy the employees to a great extent. Sometimes reward is incurred as a cost. Reward and recognition are the best way of motivating and retaining the talent.