Overcoming Institutional Voids: A Reputation-Based View of Long Run Survival

Cheng  Gao; Tiona  Zuzul; Geoffrey  Jones; Tarun   Khanna

Article | Strategic Management Journal | November 2017

Overcoming Institutional Voids: A Reputation-Based View of Long Run Survival

by Cheng Gao, Tiona Zuzul, Geoffrey Jones and Tarun Khanna

Abstract

Emerging markets are characterized by underdeveloped institutions and frequent environmental shifts. Yet they also contain many firms that have survived over generations. How are firms in weak institutional environments able to persist over time? Motivated by 69 interviews with leaders of emerging market firms with histories spanning generations, we combine induction and deduction to propose reputation as a meta-resource that allows firms to activate their conventional resources. We conceptualize reputation as consisting of prominence, perceived quality, and resilience and develop a process model that illustrates the mechanisms that allow reputation to facilitate survival in ways that persist over time. Building on research in strategy and business history, we thus shed light on an underappreciated strategic construct (reputation) in an under-theorized setting (emerging markets) over an unusual period (the historical long run).

Keywords: emerging markets; Institutional voids; reputation; business history; Intangible Resources; Emerging Markets; Reputation; Business History;

Format: Print

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Gao, Cheng, Tiona Zuzul, Geoffrey Jones, and Tarun Khanna. "Overcoming Institutional Voids: A Reputation-Based View of Long Run Survival." Strategic Management Journal 38, no. 11 (November 2017): 2147–2167. (Video Abstract.)

While there is evidence about labor market discrimination based on race, religion, and gender, we know little about whether physical appearance leads to discrimination in labor market outcomes. We deploy a randomized experiment on 1,000 respondents in India between April and May 2020 to investigate how “looks” affect labor market outcomes. Using machine learning and computer face rendering techniques, we simulate North, South, and Northeastern Indian faces and randomize two waves of treatments where we attach faces with otherwise identical CVs. However, the second wave also contains a vignette where we provide respondents with information about the incidence of discrimination. We focus on Northeastern Indian faces that resemble those in China to focus on the potential for discrimination that has historically been present in anecdotal accounts. While we do not find evidence of discrimination against Northeastern faces in the first wave, we do so in the second among those who do not see the vignette. We provide suggestive evidence that these results are consistent with the presence of homophily under limited attention.

Pallak Seth, Group CEO of PDS Multinational Fashions, is contemplating options to bring better collaboration across his global apparel supply chain platform. PDS, a group of 50-plus subsidiary companies, each led by its own CEO and with different apparel industry specialties, has grown rapidly over the past decade, yet the industry is increasingly competitive and challenges remain constant. Looking for ways to reach the Group’s 2023 goals of $2 billion in revenue, Seth and his executive board are considering two ways to increase collaboration and reward performance: a joint P&L approach to drive partnerships across the subsidiaries and an employee stock option plan, to unlock value across the Group.

Article | Journal of Medical Internet Research | September 2020

Regulatory Sandboxes: A Cure for mHealth Pilotitis?

Abhishek Bhatia, Rahul Matthan LLM, Tarun Khanna and Satchit Balsari

Mobile health (mHealth) and related digital health interventions in the past decade have not always scaled globally as anticipated earlier despite large investments by governments and philanthropic foundations. The implementation of digital health tools has suffered from 2 limitations: (1) the interventions commonly ignore the “law of amplification” that states that technology is most likely to succeed when it seeks to augment and not alter human behavior; and (2) end-user needs and clinical gaps are often poorly understood while designing solutions, contributing to a substantial decrease in usage, referred to as the “law of attrition” in eHealth. The COVID-19 pandemic has addressed the first of the 2 problems—technology solutions, such as telemedicine, that were struggling to find traction are now closely aligned with health-seeking behavior. The second problem (poorly designed solutions) persists, as demonstrated by a plethora of poorly designed epidemic prediction tools and digital contact-tracing apps, which were deployed at scale, around the world, with little validation. The pandemic has accelerated the Indian state’s desire to build the nation’s digital health ecosystem. We call for the inclusion of regulatory sandboxes, as successfully done in the fintech sector, to provide a real-world testing environment for mHealth solutions before deploying them at scale.

Citation:

Bhatia, Abhishek, Rahul Matthan LLM, Tarun Khanna, and Satchit Balsari. "Regulatory Sandboxes: A Cure for mHealth Pilotitis?" Journal of Medical Internet Research 22, no. 9 (September 2020). View Details

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Overcoming Institutional Voids: A Reputation-Based View of Long Run Survival

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