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Efficacy Of R&D Work In Offshore Captive Centers: An Empirical Study Of Task Characteristics, Coordination Mechanisms, And Performance, Deepa Mani, Kannan Srikanth, Anandhi Bharadwaj
Efficacy Of R&D Work In Offshore Captive Centers: An Empirical Study Of Task Characteristics, Coordination Mechanisms, And Performance, Deepa Mani, Kannan Srikanth, Anandhi Bharadwaj
Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business
Seizing the latest technological advances in distributed work, an increasing number of firms have set up offshore captive centers (CCs) in emerging economies to carry out sophisticated R&D work. We analyse survey data from 132 R&D CCs established by foreign multinational companies in India to understand how firms execute distributed innovative work. Specifically, we examine the performance outcomes of projects using different technology-enabled coordination strategies to manage their interdependencies across multiple locations. We find that modularization of work across locations is largely ineffective when the underlying tasks are less routinized, less analyzable, and less familiar to the CC. Coordination based …
Coordinated Exploration: Organizing Joint Search By Multiple Specialists To Overcome Mutual Confusion And Joint Myopia, Thorbjørn Knudsen, Kannan Srikanth
Coordinated Exploration: Organizing Joint Search By Multiple Specialists To Overcome Mutual Confusion And Joint Myopia, Thorbjørn Knudsen, Kannan Srikanth
Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business
In this paper, we use an agent-based simulation model to investigate how coordinated exploration by multiple specialists, as in new product development, is different from individual search. We find that coordinated exploration is subject to two pathologies not present in unitary search: mutual confusion and joint myopia. In joint search, feedback to one agent’s actions is confounded by the actions of the other agent. Search therefore leads to increasing mutual confusion because agents are unable to learn from feedback to correct their faulty mental models of the search space. Incorrect beliefs held by one agent lead to mistakes, and because …
Borrower Targeting Under Microfinance: Competition With Motivated Microfinance Institutions And Strategic Complementarity, Brishti Guha, Prabal Roy Chowdhury
Borrower Targeting Under Microfinance: Competition With Motivated Microfinance Institutions And Strategic Complementarity, Brishti Guha, Prabal Roy Chowdhury
Research Collection School Of Economics
We examine how increased competition among motivated microfinance institutions (MFIs) impacts the poorest borrowers’ access to microfinance. We find that competition depends on inequality, technology, and the possibility of double-dipping (borrowing from several sources). Without competition, even a motivated MFI may lend to the not-so-poor in preference to poor borrowers. If double-dipping is feasible, competition may encourage lending to the poor. The presence of double-dipping is critical for MFI competition to have a positive effect. When double-dipping is feasible, MFI coordination may worsen borrower targeting whenever inequality is intermediate. We discuss policy implications dealing with double-dipping, MFI coordination, and competition.
Firm As A Coordination System: Evidence From Offshore Software Services, Kannan Srikanth, Phanish Puranam
Firm As A Coordination System: Evidence From Offshore Software Services, Kannan Srikanth, Phanish Puranam
Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business
To examine what, if any, are the differences in how activities are coordinated within versus between firms, we conducted interviews with 32 project managers regarding 60 projects in the offshore software services industry. Uniquely, our projects were sampled along two dimensions: (1) colocation versus spatial distribution and (2) delivery by groups of individuals from a single firm versus from multiple firms. Our evidence suggests that in colocated projects, the same broad categories of coordination mechanisms are used both within and between firms. However, there is a qualitative difference in how geographically (i.e., spatially) distributed projects are coordinated within versus between …
On Coordinating Pervasive Persuasive Agents, Budhitama Subagdja, Ah-Hwee Tan
On Coordinating Pervasive Persuasive Agents, Budhitama Subagdja, Ah-Hwee Tan
Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems
There is a growing interest in applying multiagent systems for smart-home environment supporting self-caring elderly. In this paper we investigate situations and conditions for coordination for such kind of system. We specify a high level architecture of it based on the notions of beliefs, desires, and intentions for both individual and group behavior of the agents including the human occupant's. The framework enables flexible coordinations among loosely-coupled heterogeneous agents that converse with the user. This work is conducted towards producing a coordination framework for agents and people in such a kind of smart-home environment as mentioned.