Tag Archives: Parthasarathy

Addressing Construct Intensity in Entrepreneurship: Log-Transformed Guttman Scaling with Need for Achievement as Exemplar

Francisco J. Conejo, Clifford E. Young, Ben Wooliscroft, Madhavan Parthasarathy
Entrepreneurship Research Journal,
Unlike physical science, entrepreneurship lacks measurement units through which to quantify constructs properly. This study explores the viability of logarithmically transformed Guttman scaling (GS). Need for Achievement (nAch), a quintessential entrepreneurial feature, illustrates the technique’s application. A valid and reliable 10-item Guttman nAch scale is developed, its unidimensionality psychometrically confirmed. Compliant with measurement theory, the scale offers concatenatable units that quantify nAch intensity. GS is a viable complement to psychometric methods, a useful addition to entrepreneurship’s methodological repertoire. Researchers are encouraged to expand their view of entrepreneurial constructs. Also approaching them from an intensity perspective offers fertile ground for future inquiry.

A Comparison of Excess Stock Market Return to Standard Marketing Metrics

Vicki Lane, Madhavan Parthasarathy
Research, Practices, and Innovations in Global Risk and Contingency Management (Book),Pages: 20-37.
Marketing metrics provide measures of the impact of various marketing strategies. This paper examines excess stock market return as a potential measure to include in the metric arsenal. Excess stock return reflects investors’ views of the likely impact of a particular strategy. Investors form expectations about how the strategy will affect future cash flows. Consequently, a stock’s price changes to reflect investor “votes” about the strategy’s impact on firm value. By tapping into event study techniques for measuring the impact of an announcement, firms can better understand the value of a particular marketing strategy. An assessment of various marketing measures indicates that excess stock market return compares favorably to other metrics. Excess return yields unbiased estimates, allows direct causal inference, is future oriented, includes all cash flows, accounts for opportunity costs, factors in risk, and takes into account

Factors affecting the long-term survival of eBay ventures: a longitudinal study

Dawn Gregg and Madhavan Parthasarathy
Small Business Economics, Vol. 49, Issue 2, August 2017 pp. 405–419

With 40% of the world able to access the internet, online marketplaces provide the small entrepreneur with a hitherto incomprehensible opportunity to reach a global audience with very low barriers to entry and low risk. Yet, academic research has not studied the factors unique to online businesses that affect their long-term survival. This study is the first of its kind that does so using data gathered from eBay’s feedback system in 2004, 2009, and 2013. The results present data on the rate of discontinuance of eBay ventures. Further, a logistic regression analysis suggests that unique factors such as venture size, age, and feedback reputation positively influence the likelihood of long-term survival of an eBay venture. Based on these results and the ensuing discussion, implications for researchers and practitioners are provided.

The Impact of the Internet on Values in India: Shifts in Self-Enhancement and Self-Transcendence Amongst Indian Youth

Vicki R Lane, Jiban Khuntia, Madhavan Parthasarathy, Bidyut B Hazarika
Journal of Global Information Management (JGIM),Vol. 25, Issue 3, Pages: 98-120.

In this study, the authors examine how the internet is changing two critical personal value dimensions of India’s youth. Based on values theory, and using data that spans a decade from 2004-2014, they contend that time spent on the internet is an influential factor in changing self-enhancement and self-transcendence values. Given the tremendous increase in exposure to western products, ideals, and people-to-people interaction via internet connectivity (India has over 275 million internet users who communicate in the …
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Revisiting the causes of organizational discontinuance: A diffusion theory approach offers new insights

Madhavan Parthasarathy, David Forlani
Journal of Business Market Management,Vol. 9, Issue 2, Pages: 650-676.

The purpose of this research was to develop a framework capable of classifying the reasons behind the discontinuance of supplier-distributor relationships. Using a sample of CEO’s who manage intra-national and multi-national firms, a study was run to test a typology of discontinuance built around diffusion theory’s source of influence construct (eg, the origin and valence of the information that initiates a discontinuance decision). The three types are called New Day, Strike 3 and Greener Grass. Results support the proposed typology and …
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Unraveling religious advertisements’ effectiveness in a multi-religious society

Rajeev Kumra, Madhavan Parthasarathy, Shafiullah Anis
Journal of Indian Business Research,Vol. 8, Issue 2, Pages: 122-142.

The key research issue addressed in this paper is whether individuals perceive advertisements featuring themes from their own religion more positively, and advertisements featuring religious themes from other religions less positively, than neutral ads. In the process, this paper aims to test whether the in-group bias theory (IGBT) and the polarized appraisal theory (PAT) apply in a religious context. Design/methodology/approach Respondents in a large Indian University were shown advertisements featuring Hindu and …
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Time-based Analysis of Changing Consumer Values in India

Madhavan Parthasarathy, Vicki Lane, Mary Lee Stansifer
Journal of Indian Business Research, Volume 7, Issue 3, Pp. 271-291

Purpose – This paper aims to document changes in values of young Indian consumers over a 10-year period from 2004 to 2014. Given increases in per-capita income and living standards and, particularly, the tremendous increase in exposure to global products and ideals via media advertising, and greater one-to-one interaction with Americans and other English-speaking people from individualistic cultures (India has over 250 million Internet users who communicate in the English language), it was proposed that young Indian consumers would adopt values associated with self-enhancement and individualism, forsaking self-transcendence-related ideals such as benevolence and universalism.

Design/methodology/approach – Data pertaining to the Rokeach value scale (RVS) were collected in New Delhi in 2004 and 2014 and tested using MANOVA.

Findings – The results strongly support the contentions, save a couple of surprises. Implications of this dramatic change in values in a relatively short period are discussed from a marketing perspective.

Originality/value – This is the first paper that empirically measures changing consumer values in India.

A time-based analysis of changing consumer values in India

Madhavan Parthasarathy, Vicki Lane, Mary Lee Stansifer
Journal of Indian Business Research,Vol. 7, Issue 3, Pages: 271-291.

Purpose-This paper aims to document changes in values of young Indian consumers over a 10-year period from 2004 to 2014. Given increases in per-capita income and living standards and, particularly, the tremendous increase in exposure to global products and ideals via media advertising, and greater one-to-one interaction with Americans and other English-speaking people from individualistic cultures (India has over 250 million Internet users who communicate in the English language), it was proposed that young Indian …
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The University of Colorado Certificate Program in Bioinnovation and Entrepreneurship: An Update and Current Status

Madhavan Parthasarathy, David Forlani, Arlen Meyers
Journal of Commercial Biotechnology, Vol. 21 Issue 2, April 2015

The purpose of this paper is to provide an update and report the current status of the cross-campus University of Colorado Denver program in bioinnovation and entrepreneurship, details of which were first reported in the Journal of Commercial Biotechnology in 2012 5. The paper outlines the joys and challenges of implementing an inter-campus program that attempts to marry cutting-edge biotechnology innovation with a solid business foundation. The tremendous value offered by such a program, particularly …

The University of Colorado certificate program in bioinnovation and entrepreneurship: an interdisciplinary, cross-campus model

Madhavan Parthasarathy, David Forlani, Arlen Meyers
Journal of Commercial Biotechnology, Vol. 18 Issue 1, January 2012, pp. 70-78.

In keeping with an emerging literature on the role of business education in the
development of entrepreneurially-intentioned biotechnologists, this paper describes the actions and experiences of an entrepreneurship program that began in the late 1990’s. Along the way it illustrates how a business-centric approach can shift the budding entrepreneur’s perspective from a product to a market orientation when considering an innovation’s commercialization. While the developmental timeline and specific stages of …

Patient perceptions of electronic medical records: physician satisfaction, portability, security and quality of care

Christopher Sibona, Steven Walczak, Jon Brickey, and Madhavan Parthasarathy
International Journal of Healthcare Technology and Management, Vol. 12, Number 1, Pages 62-84

Physicians are adopting electronic medical records in much greater numbers today and are escalating the rate of adoption. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides incentives for physicians to adopt this technology. The objectives of this paper are to determine whether patient satisfaction is affected by computer use in the exam room and whether patients who have experienced computers in the exam room perceive differences in the utility of electronic medical records. Physicians received higher overall satisfaction scores when a computer was used to retrieve patient information. Physicians received similar satisfaction scores when a computer was used to enter patient information. Patients who have experienced electronic medical records perceive benefits such as increased portability of the record but do not believe that physicians who use electronic medical records produce better health outcomes. Patients who have experienced electronic medical records do not desire more control over their record than those who have traditional medical records.

Do satisfied customers bad-mouth innovative products?

Parthasarathy, Madhavan and Forlani, David
Psychology & Marketing; Dec. 2010, Vol. 27 Issue 12, pp. 1134-1153

For many years marketing academics have recommended, and practitioners have implemented, organization-wide programs that measure customers’ levels of satisfaction with a firm’s offerings because it is believed that satisfied customers are both more likely to continue using a previously adopted product and less likely to engage in negative word-of-mouth communication. Given the ubiquity of product-review forums resulting from today’s increasing levels of e-commerce, this paper pairs cause constructs from the diffusion literature with effect constructs from the satisfaction and services literatures to reconsider that perspective. Specifically, it examines the relationships bet-ween six perceived innovation attributes known to influence a new product’s diffusion process and two post-adoption behaviors, satisfaction and negative word-of-mouth communication. The results quash previous assumptions that satisfaction mediates negative word-of-mouth communication and reveal that satisfied customers do speak ill of previously adopted products. Implications for both theory and practice are also presented.

Do satisfied customers badmouth innovative products?

Madhavan Parthasarathy, David Forlani
Psychology & Marketing,Vol. 27, Issue 12, Pages: 1134-1153.

For many years marketing academics have recommended, and practitioners have implemented, organization-wide programs that measure customers’ levels of satisfaction with a firm’s offerings because it is believed that satisfied customers are both more likely to continue using a previously adopted product and less likely to engage in negative word-of-mouth communication. Given the ubiquity of product-review forums resulting from today’s increasing levels of e-commerce, this paper pairs cause constructs from the diffusion …
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A longitudinal exploratory study of changing perceptions toward an iconic brand in a developing country

Madhavan Parthasarathy, MaryLee Stansifer, and Rajeev Kumra
Journal of Indian Business Research, Vol. 2 Iss: 3, pp.138 – 152

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the changing perceptions of an iconic American product, namely Levi Jeans, in a rapidly developing country, namely Costa Rica, over a 20-year period from 1988 to 2008.

Design/methodology/approach – Changing perceptions were measured with regard to product attributes (e.g. relative advantage, compatibility, trialability, observability, and risk), and experience-related attributes (e.g. product durability, fit, comfort, and price). Further, the changing influence of these variables on repurchase intentions was measured. Data collected in 1988 and again in 2008 at a large Costa Rican university were compared.

Findings – The results suggest that globalization, increased competition, and cultural individualization have reduced Levis’ attribute advantages and thus brand equity. Implications for branding in other developing countries, especially India, are provided.

Practical implications – Modern Indian consumers are more picky, and are more concerned with lifestyle fit and observability issues. This combined with the growing affluent youth market in India leads to specific suggestions on how Levi can approach marketing strategy in the Indian market.

Originality/value – The paper is unique in that it is a longitudinal study of changing perceptions with data collected over a 20-year time period. Further, it provides specific recommendations for apparel manufacturers aiming to enter the Indian and other rapidly developing markets.

Managerial risk perceptions of international entry-mode strategies: The interaction effect of control and capability

David Forlani, Madhavan Parthasarathy, Susan M. Keaveney
International Marketing Review Vol. 25 Issue 3, p. 292-311

Purpose – The primary purpose of this paper is to investigate how opportunity for control and firm capability interact to moderate the amount of risk that managers associate with various international entry-mode strategies. A secondary goal is to investigate how managers perceive the need to retain control over three core functional areas (marketing, production, and R&D) when making entry-mode decisions.
Design/methodology/approach – A field experiment design was implemented in a sample of US business owner/executives. Using an online data collection method, the study asked a sample of small-business owners and managers to assess the amount of risk they associated with three modes of entering the Japanese market: non-ownership (export), equal partnership (50/50 joint-venture), and sole-ownership. They were also asked how much control they needed to retain over R&D, production, and marketing for the venture to be successful.
Findings – Ownership-provided control interacts with capability to influence managerial risk perceptions. Managers in lower-capability firms see the least risk in the non-ownership entry mode while those in higher-capability firms see the least risk in the equal-partnership entry mode. Managers believe that for a new venture in a foreign market to be successful, control should be retained over the R&D function, regardless of entry mode.
Research limitations/implications – The findings appear to reconcile some of the conflicting predictions of the transaction cost and resource-based theoretical perspectives, because it appears that international managers consider both control (internationalization theory) and capability (resource-based theory) when judging the perceived risk of an entry strategy.
Practical implications – For firms that are incapable of managing in an international context, a low-control no-ownership entry mode is perceived as the least risky approach; for firms that have some capability for international management, then a partial-ownership mode such as a 50/50 joint-venture is perceived as having lower risk than no-ownership. In non-ownership and joint-venture type entry modes, managers are more apt to outsource the marketing function to an agent/partner, but not R&D. In contrast, managers believe that marketing needs to be maintained in-house when utilizing a sole-ownership entry mode.
Originality/value – By illustrating the role of perceived risk in foreign-market entry-mode decisions and demonstrating how capabilities interact with ownership-provided control to moderate these perceptions, the paper’s findings suggest that managers’ risk perceptions may mediate the effects of firm-specific factors, and thus contributes significantly to both theory and practice.

Modeling online service discontinuation with nonparametric agents

Walczak, Steven & Parthasarathy, Madhavan
Information Systems and E-Business Management Vol. 4, Issue 1, p. 49 – 70

The internet and world wide web are an increasingly important resource, both as a market and as an information source, to both individual users and business entities. An estimated 120 million active web users exist in the United States alone. Access to these electronic marketplaces and information sources is accomplished through either a direct internet connection or through a service provider. Internet service providers (ISPs) enable internet and web access for most of these users either via dial-up modems (62.2 percent), or DSL connections (17 percent). Customers of ISPs frequently switch or discontinue service. The model selection perspective is used to extend previous work in this area through the development of a multi-agent system with neural network wrappers. The nonparametric (neural network) agents identify over 92 percent of those users that either stop or change service, which is a 15 percent increase over previous models.