US-India Cooperative Research: Organizational Architecture and Institutional Context - An Investigation Using Indian Business Groups

University Of Arkansas, Fayetteville AR

Investigators

Abstract

Description: This award supports a US-India cooperative research project entitled Organizational Architecture and Institutional Context- An Investigation Using Indian Business Groups. US PI Raja Kali, University of Arkansas and Professor Jayati Sarkar, Indira Gandhi Institute of Development Research (IGIDR), Mumbai will study Indian business organizations with particular emphasis on governance of the business group. While business groups dominate private-sector industrial activity in emerging/transition economies such as Brazil, Chile, Hong Kong, India, and Indonesia; they are typically hybred organizations that do not classify in standard ways as either firms or markets. The objective of this research is to study the evolution of Indian business groups and answer questions such as what determines the prevailing mode of contractual governance, how does contractual governance affect the size and scope of the organization, and what are the implications for economic growth. Scope: This research is driven by a need for greater understanding of the institutional foundations of a smoothly functioning market economy. During the past decade, emerging economies have exhibited persistent difficulties in moving toward market-oriented systems of economic organization; however, the research on the industrial organization of transition is sparse. Both US and Indian investigators are well qualified to carry out this research, the IGIDR is one of India's most advanced and well-equipped research institutes for the social sciences with access to many of the most important national and international databases for research on development. This research is mutually beneficial; it includes graduate students on both sides and will strengthen networks for further binational collaboration.