Shyama Ramani - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Shyama Ramani

Innovation and Development

Nature Biotechnology

ABSTRACT A look at the differences between French, British, and German patent application trends.

The Journal of Development Studies

Qualitative Market Research: An International Journal

Purpose This paper aims to study how multinational enterprises (MNEs) can best integrate legitima... more Purpose This paper aims to study how multinational enterprises (MNEs) can best integrate legitimacy concerns into their new product-launching strategy to successfully introduce high-value hi-tech innovations in emerging countries. Design/methodology/approach Theoretical constructs on the role and process of legitimacy construction for the introduction of a new product are built upon the existing literature. Then they are validated and refined through the formulation and analysis of case studies of the launch of genetically modified cotton seeds by Monsanto in India and a HIV/AIDS drug cocktail by Merck in Brazil. Findings Legitimacy construction can serve MNEs to face challenges successfully while launching high-value hi-tech products in emerging countries. Challenges to MNEs are likely to be founded on a combination of four types of uncertainties: technological, commercial, organizational and societal. Expected challengers are public agencies and actors representing civil society. ...

Research Policy, Mar 1, 2002

This paper addresses three main questions on Indian pharmaceutical firms that have integrated bio... more This paper addresses three main questions on Indian pharmaceutical firms that have integrated biotechnology in their marketing, production or research activities: (i) What kind of labour stocks of the knowledge base have an impact on market sales? (ii) Which components of the R&D strategy are strategic substitutes and which are strategic complements? (iii) What are the distinguishing features of firms that have already integrated biotechnology in their research activities? The paper shows that market sales are an increasing function of qualified labour stocks. Internal R&D and foreign collaborations are strategic substitutes, while patents and publications are strategic complements. Firms that are active in biotechnology research are likely to be younger and implementing more aggressive learning strategies.

J Biotechnol, 2012

In developing countries, including India, diarrhoea is a leading killer throughout the age pyrami... more In developing countries, including India, diarrhoea is a leading killer throughout the age pyramid. However, most of the medical literature on the determinants of diarrhoea focuses only on young children or the elderly, with health policy mainly targeting the former. Thus, the present article attempts to contribute to a better understanding of the determinants of diarrhoea in adolescents-the understudied population. The paper develops a model using the medical literature, refines it to fit an Indian village context and tests the hypotheses identified through administering a questionnaire to 114 adolescents in an Indian village school. Results confirm the well known importance of household sanitation. In addition, the contribution of the present study is to assert that access to school toilets and usage of school toilets are also crucial. Furthermore, usage of toilets at school varies as a function of gender and the existence of a toilet in the student's household. Finally, the installation of toilets in schools is not enough, sustainable financial models must be found to maintain toilets and induce students to use them.

The existing marketing, strategy and economics literature have little to offer by way of recommen... more The existing marketing, strategy and economics literature have little to offer by way of recommendations to promote entrepreneurship in the informal economy, except to advocate that multinationals, local firms, state and public agencies should work together to bring the informal economy into the fold of the formal economy. In contrast, this paper argues that the business sustainability of women entrepreneurs in the informal economy depends upon their engagements or business partnerships with other women (and men) and women- focussed intermediaries. More than formalization, women entrepreneurs need ‘spaces’ for dialogue with other women (and men) to learn and build business capabilities. Both the State and firms wanting to penetrate the informal economy can create such spaces through partnerships with NGOs and women-focussed organizations. While formalization of entrepreneurial activity is favourable under some circumstances, it can be detrimental under others – necessitating a case by case evaluation rather than a general rule. In order to ensure the business sustainability of women’s ventures in the informal economy, any sort of formalization must occur through a gradual process accompanied by intermediaries. These results are formulated through the compilation and analysis of the existing literature and the study of six detailed case studies of women entrepreneurs from developing countries validated by extensive interviews. The results are then used to propose a closed model of linkages between formal and informal economies which has novel organizational implications for firms competing to establish consumer base s and business partnerships in the Base of Pyramid (BoP) markets of developing countries.

Scientometrics, Jun 30, 2002

In order to formulate firm, national or regional technology policy, it is necessary to have indic... more In order to formulate firm, national or regional technology policy, it is necessary to have indicators that can measure technological competence. This paper develops a set of indicators using patent statistics to compare the "knowledge base" of individuals, laboratories, firms or nations. These indicators are then applied to the patent applications in France, Germany and the U.K. in the biotechnology sectors. The paper shows that France is lagging behind Germany and the U.K. in technology stocks (or its patent applications) in all biotechnology fields. However it is the leader in the technology network supporting the foods industry. It has a comparative advantage in terms of either technology stock counts or networks in Genetic Engineering, Pharmaceuticals, Foods, Chemicals, Cell Culture and Biocatalysis. Germany is leading in many sectors, but in all sectors in which it is a leader, it is a specialized leader, i.e. its technology networks need to be more extensive. It has a comparative advantage in terms of either technology stock counts or networks in all sectors except Genetic Engineering, Pharmaceuticals, Agriculture and Cell Culture. The U.K. is the leader in the important field of Genetic Engineering and in terms of the entire technology networks in the biotechnology sectors. It has a comparative advantage in terms of either technology stock counts or networks in Genetic Engineering, Pharmaceuticals, Agriculture and Purification.

There is an emerging body of literature that examines how pro-poor innovations should be created ... more There is an emerging body of literature that examines how pro-poor innovations should be created and what business models should accompany them. However, there is little on actual implementation practises and the present paper attempts to fill this void by analyzing the findings of the literature and confronting them with the actual field practises of sanitation activists in India. It

Theor Decis, 2004

The game theoretical approach to R&D cooperation does not investigate the role of trust in the in... more The game theoretical approach to R&D cooperation does not investigate the role of trust in the initiation and success of R&D cooperation: it either assumes that firms are non-opportunists or that the R&D cooperation is supported by an incentive mechanism that eliminates opportunism. In contrast, the present paper focuses on these issues by introducing incomplete information and two types of firms: opportunist and non-opportunist. Defining trust as the belief of each firm that its potential collaborator will respect the contract, it identifies the trust conditions under which firms initiate R&D alliances and contribute to their success. The higher the spillovers, the higher the level of trust required to initiate R&D cooperation for non-opportunists, while the inverse holds for opportunists.

A puzzle in the literature on the formation of coalitions supporting International Environmental ... more A puzzle in the literature on the formation of coalitions supporting International Environmental Agreements (IEAs) is that if an IEA leads to substantial gains, then it will not be supported by many countries. The non-cooperative game theoretic literature highlights the "small coalitions" puzzle by which only a small number of countries are willing to sign an environmental convention. In these models, a global coalition comprising all countries and generating significant benefits is not sustainable. Moreover they indicate that greater the number of countries in the coalition, higher the incentive of signatories to not respect their engagement. The present paper resolves this puzzle by introducing social externalities, in order to explain why some treaties can be sustained by nearly all countries, while others can be supported only by a handful.

Nous donnons une preuve d'existence et d'unicité d'un équilibre en prix dans un contexte où il ex... more Nous donnons une preuve d'existence et d'unicité d'un équilibre en prix dans un contexte où il existe un nombre quelconque de firmes, détenant chacune un nombre quelconque de magasins. Nous montrons comment les prix sont spatialement différenciés en fonction des localisations de ces magasins.

ABSTRACT Transfer of technology ,in the ,development ,context is regarded ,as a ,means ,to increa... more ABSTRACT Transfer of technology ,in the ,development ,context is regarded ,as a ,means ,to increase ,the supply and quality of essential goods of which the Green Revolution is an excellent example. Today as food security problems loom large and the Green Revolution yellows, rejuvenation ofthe,agriculture sector is being ,promised by ,transgenic plant varieties. Using the methodology of narrative history, the present paper identifies the factors that facilitated the introduction of the Green Revolution and Bt cotton in India and the controversies surrounding their adoption. It then examines,the management of tradeoffs between,short terms gains and medium to long term risk in the case of Bt cotton,the only transgenic product to be sold in the Indian market at present. It demonstrates that in India, more than the technological risk, the real danger in adopting transgenic varieties, lies in not being able to ensure institutional and actor cooperation to preserveenvironmental,security. Key words: Bt cotton, Green Revolution, India, Controversy.

Do firms need to sacrifice profit while innovating in order to further social objectives, as corp... more Do firms need to sacrifice profit while innovating in order to further social objectives, as corporate social responsibility (CSR) would seem to suggest? To answer this question, the paper compiles a classification of innovations according to market impact and CSR potential. Then it details case studies of two market changing (MC) innovations in India: genetically modified cotton of Monsanto and

Many countries of the world, including India, have achieved self-sufficiency in knowledge intensi... more Many countries of the world, including India, have achieved self-sufficiency in knowledge intensive sectors by allowing for a loosely defined intellectual property regime (IPR). The implementation of TRIPS worldwide essentially represents a big step in the opposite direction as it refers to a tightening of national IPR systems. Its impact on the production and innovative capacity of developing countries, in knowledge intensive sectors is not at all clear. Taking India as a representative of a technologically advanced developing country, and biopharmaceuticals as an example of an emerging knowledge intensive sector, we examine the possible impact of TRIPS on the incentives to innovate. We conclude that TRIPS is not likely to have a significant impact on the incentives for innovation creation. The analysis is based on field interviews carried out by the authors.

Since the mid-twentieth century, the national objective of India and Brazil has been to develop i... more Since the mid-twentieth century, the national objective of India and Brazil has been to develop industrial capabilities in essential sectors such as pharmaceuticals. At the outset, they shared some common features: a considerable period of lax intellectual property rights regimes, large internal market and a reasonably strong cadre of scientists and engineers. However, over fifty years, India has had much more success in building indigenous capabilities in pharmaceuticals than Brazil, at least to date. Why? In exploring the answer to this question, we show that in both countries the design of State policy played a crucial role and the endogenous responses in the national system of innovation consisted of two parts. On the one hand, most of the time, the predicted and desired outcome was partially realized and on the other hand, there were invariably, other unpredicted responses that emerged. The latter unexpected elements, which were specific to the two countries, pushed them along ...