Emerging Economy Studies

The study was carried out to examine the level of work engagement and whether socio-demographic and job-related characteristics influence work engagement level of Indian business executives. Study variables included gender, age, education, income, nature of organization, position in organizational hierarchy, and job tenure. A total of 404 business executives from select public and private sector organizations in India participated in the study. The study results suggest above-average level of work engagement among Indian business executives. Findings also suggest that there are significant differences in the work engagement level of employees with different demographic and job characteristics, such as age, nature of organization, position in the organizational hierarchy, income, etc. However, gender, education, and organizational tenure failed to contribute to our understanding of work engagement. By examining the level of work engagement among select Indian business executives and how it varies with respect to various socio-demographic and job-related variables, the study adds to the scarce literature on employee engagement, especially in Indian context, where little work has been undertaken in this direction.

Philosophical bases for the origin for minimum wage legislation are implicit in the concepts of subsistence and natural wages evolved by classical economists. ¹ 1

The earlier version of this article was presented in the annual conference organized by The Indian Society of Labour Economics, held at IIT Guwahati in November 2016. The comments given by the participants of the conference have been incorporated.

However, conceptualization of the working of market, evolved by microeconomic theory, propounded that minimum wage law distorts working of the labor market. These alternative formulations give impression that this law is politically correct but not based on sound economics. Since the beginning of the process of economic reforms in most of the emerging market economies, some of the scholars, following the strand of thought advocated by microeconomic theory, are arguing for the amendments in minimum wage legislations to make the labor market flexible. In the present article, an attempt has been made to evaluate the appropriateness of this strand of thought with the help of existing theoretical and empirical studies. The evaluation clearly shows that strand of thought based on microeconomic theory is not appropriate. This is because demand of the factor of production in an economy is not based on the price of the factor alone. It also depends on price of substitute factor and the growth rate of the economy. Moreover, minimum wage legislations act as determinant of efficiency wages for the workers employed at the bottom of the job ladders.

The connection between ownership structure and firm performance has attracted significant attention especially in emerging markets, yet empirical evidence remains inconsistent. This article presents an analysis of the association among eight categories of ownership, Hirschman–Herfindahl index (HHI) index, Gini index, and firm performance in the emerging market of Pakistan. Some researchers argue that ownership concentration can improve firm performance by making the owners more willing or able to monitor agents. In contrast, others argue that in the presence of efficient markets, market monitoring will discipline the managers. Our results show that there is a significant positive association between ownership structure and both market-based performance measures and also economic profit. The ownership proportion of the institutional shareholding and foreign shareholding is also positively associated with firm performance.

Firms’ capital structure dynamics and ownership structure are two extensively studied subjects of research in corporate finance in recent years. This study combines these two branches of research and examines the impact of firms’ ownership structure on capital structure dynamics. More specifically, it examines the asymmetry in adjustment speed between group and stand-alone firms. The study uses data of 1,415 listed Indian manufacturing firms over the period of 2005–2013 (9 years) from ‘Capitaline Plus’ database. It specifies a partial adjustment model and uses the generalized method of moments (GMM) technique to estimate the adjustment speed. The results show that Indian manufacturing firms close about 30 percent of their leverage gap every year. For group firms, the annual speed of adjustment is about 20–29 percent whereas for stand-alone firms, it is about 38–41 percent. Lesser potential benefits or higher costs of adjustments may be responsible for slower adjustment speed of group firms than their stand-alone counterparts.

The purpose of this research articles is to analyze the characteristics of big data as a service (BDaaS) markets which is currently in its initial stages from adoption driving and inhibiting perspectives. This study theoretically classifies the BDaaS market into drivers and inhibitors through the PEST analysis based on previous literature. Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) matrix was used to analyze the segmentation, drivers and inhibitors, to understand the nature of the early BDaaS market. This study has proposed a new theoretical methodology for analyzing the early market of BDaaS and it is expected that this methodology may be used in the market analysis of other fields beyond the BDaaS market. Customer factors in the consumerization phenomenon and social, political, and technological factors in the PEST analysis were the important drivers of BDaaS adoption. Suppliers from the consumerization phenomenon and political factors in the PEST analysis were the most important inhibitors of BDaaS adoption. The results have important implications for policymaking and fostering other newly established BDaaS markets in emerging economies.

The working population of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) in the private sector is characterized by a majority of expatriates and comparatively few UAE nationals. The UAE government encourages firms to hire Emirati nationals in the private sector through various incentives and policies. This article investigates UAE nationals’ preferences for material and non-material incentives in the workplace. The study is based on questionnaires distributed to Emirati nationals in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. The findings of the research are expected to provide policymakers with insights into Emiratis’ preferred work incentives. In addition, it will, it is hoped, aid in developing appropriate nationalization policies for the UAE in general and UAE private organizations in particular.

Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has received increased attention in the recent past as a means for sustainable development. CSR has largely been viewed as a voluntary exercise. However, the Companies Act, 2013 has made it mandatory for a certain category of companies to spend 2 percent of their average net profit in the past 3 years on CSR activities. If a company fails to spend the mandated amount on CSR activities, it is required to explain the reasons for the same in the Board’s report. India thereby became the first and the only country in the world to have mandatory CSR spending. The Act also prescribes the activities that would be eligible for this purpose.

The year 2014–2015 was the first year of operations for these provisions. The article aims to critically review the requirements of the Companies Act, 2013 in this regard and assess the implementation of CSR spending requirements in the maiden year of operations.