Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers

This study examines how research has analysed human capital in distressed firms, which face unique challenges and complex choices impacting survival. This paper highlights that while literature has grappled with several sub-streams of interrelated research, their integration into a specialised subject from a distress perspective remains. Drawing perspectives from multiple research streams, we highlight the distinct issues distressed firms face in the human capital context. We present a conceptual framework outlining the ex-ante interactions of bankruptcy and human capital across the distress lifecycle (pre-distress, distress, and bankruptcy). This paper recommend a greater ex-ante focus (managerial, academic, and research) on the distinct dimensions of human capital across the distress lifecycle to avoid firm collapse/liquidation events.

Security of premises, assets and personnel form an essential requirement for commercial organisations. Lack of security impacts beyond the bottom-line, signalling a joint failure of organisation’s leadership and public governance, attracting more crime. The overloaded government’s police force can hardly dedicate resources to specific businesses. Private security firms, while offering a way out, create legal and socio-political challenges when, in line of duty, they resort to the use of firearms. In this article we research a manufacturing firm whose different security paradigm offers a rare insight into the hitherto relatively unexplored world of industrial security in an Indian context.

Premises security is essential for organizations to function efficiently and effectively. The sanctity of space and its associated perimeter not only signals a boundary for outsiders but also serves as a second home for organizational members. These members cannot meet organizational requirements if they are constantly on guard, protecting themselves and the organization’s property. However, the gradual encroachment of industrial space by squatters, while reflecting uneven economic development, presents significant security challenges, as some inhabitants of informal settlements find pilfering and other petty crimes financially rewarding. The dominant security strategy typically involves armed guards, whose presence may act as a deterrent. However, the death of an intruder or trespasser due to a guard using his firearm has far-reaching implications due to prevailing legal doctrines and stakeholder dynamics. In India, the legal system treats death as a serious matter, out of proportion to the crime of theft, and the socio-political environment echoes this perspective. Such deaths often lead to collective protests from citizens, often in the form of a dharna or a gherao, which not only disrupts the firm’s operations but also poses a challenge to legal and administrative authorities and management. Dispersing the dharna and preventing it from escalating into a violent mob typically requires the management to negotiate compensation with the aggrieved family, alongside a commitment to legal authorities to impose strict restrictions on the use of firearms. The erosion of deterrence following such negotiations renders security guards ineffective. Their response to trespassing and pilfering is reduced to physical confrontation, attempting to evict individuals, which places guards at risk when faced with armed intruders. Our case study illustrates how an organization restored deterrence, and thus the sanctity of its perimeter, by incorporating attack dogs into its security strategy.

The article attempts to measure financial inclusion at the household level with the Wroclaw taxonomic approach as an appropriate method of construction of composite indices and study the effects of various socio-economic development indicators on financial inclusion at the disaggregated level. Data analysis exemplified that the level of financial inclusion was directly related to per-capita income, household amenities, literacy and awareness of Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and inversely to the distance from the bank (beyond 3 km). The results also suggested that the intended outcome of creating awareness about PMJDY to promote financial inclusion was not achieved in rural areas.

Organizations are universally under pressure to retain their workforce and keep them engaged. The transition from pure economic motives to spiritual development makes spirituality an inseparable and indispensable element of the holistic development of the organizational workforce. In this context, this research endeavours to examine the influence of workplace spirituality (WPS) on work engagement and organizational commitment in an Indian setting. The study also aims to bridge existing gaps in literature by establishing the association of WPS with occupational attitudes connected with the job, that is, work engagement and organizational commitment, based on the social exchange theory. A survey was conducted with a sample of 387 employees from diverse industries using a structured questionnaire to collect quantitative data. Factor, correlation, regression, and mediation analyses were performed using SPSS and AMOS software. The results showed that WPS influences work engagement and organizational commitment. Additionally, trust mediates the association of WPS with work engagement, and organizational commitment. The results suggest that WPS is an important factor in organizational theory. This research contributes extensively by projecting spirituality in the workplace as a remedy for a high degree of trust in the workforce. The study makes a contribution by filling a gap in the management and organization literature where research on WPS is inadequate. Our findings serve as stepping stones toward integrating WPS in the stream research concerning trust, work engagement, and organizational commitment. This study contends that incorporating spirituality at work enables employees to find a deeper sense of meaning and purpose, and has an impact on trust, work engagement, and organizational commitment. This study provides insights and inspiration on the application and incorporation of spirituality in work settings. Practically, the findings provide insights into the WPS practices to meet employees’ spiritual needs and promote work engagement and organizational commitment. HRM managers and practitioners should direct attention to strategies and programmes fostering employees’ WPS and trust.

The digital revolution has significantly contributed towards the growth of online retail, and logistics play a pivotal role in the online retail loop. This study utilizes the dynamic capability view theory to understand the role of anticipating and seizing opportunities, innovative practices, environmental pressures and logistics 4.0 on the performance of an organization. The study utilizes a mixed-method research approach wherein focus group discussions were conducted prior to the quantitative study. A mediation was observed on the two attributes of the dynamic capability view theory, whereas no mediation was observed for the third attribute. The study adds to the knowledge on logistics capabilities and has important managerial implications.

The digital revolution has significantly contributed towards the growth of online retail, and logistics play a pivotal role in the online retail loop. This study utilizes the dynamic capability view theory framework to understand the role of anticipating and seizing opportunities, innovative practices, environmental pressures and logistics capabilities on the performance of an online retail organization. The study utilizes a mixed-method research approach wherein a series of focus group discussions were conducted with the experts from prominent online retail organizations. These focus groups generated insights into the changes in logistics practices in the retail sector and their impact on performance of the organization. Additionally, these discussions provided factors which influence the performance of a retail organization. The themes generated from these focus groups were then used as a base for theoretical concepts. In the second phase, a quantitative study was carried out on the concepts critical for a retail logistics organization. The results indicated that anticipation of opportunities and seizing of opportunities are directly linked with the performance of an online retail organization. The logistics capabilities demonstrated a mediation between anticipating opportunities and firm’s performance and between seizing opportunities and firm’s performance. The environmental factors do not impact the performance of an organization in the retail sector. The study adds to the importance of logistics capabilities as an additional element of dynamic capability theory in the online retail sector. The study has some important managerial implications for online retailers to focus on anticipation of opportunities, seizing the opportunities and enhancing logistics capabilities for improvement of performance.

This study aims to identify the factors that influence the decision of companies to go public in Sri Lanka, where many qualified companies remain private despite meeting the listing requirements. The data are collected through a survey, and the analysis is conducted using exploratory factor analysis, binary logistic regression and structural equation modelling. The findings reveal that financing for future growth at a lower cost of capital, corporate image and liquidity, ownership and control rights, market establishments, company size, age and sector impact the decisions, while information and compliance costs and market efficiency do not.

Listing companies on the stock exchange offers numerous benefits for the companies, investors and the economy. However, few companies have been listed on the Colombo Stock Exchange (CSE), a frontier market—specifically, only 285 of 109,810 registered firms, constituting a 0.26% listing rate that relegates Sri Lanka to frontier-market classification despite regulatory accommodations comparable to regional benchmarks. This study aims to identify the factors that influence the decision of companies to go public in Sri Lanka, where many qualified companies remain private despite meeting the listing requirements. The data are collected through a survey of higher authorities who influence the decision of relevant companies, and the analysis is conducted using exploratory factor analysis, binary logistic regression and structural equation modelling. The findings reveal that financing for future growth at a lower cost of capital, corporate image and liquidity, ownership and control rights, market establishments, company size, age and sector impact the decisions, while information and compliance costs and market efficiency do not. These results establish boundary conditions for canonical initial public offering theories developed in mature markets, demonstrating that frontier-market dynamics systematically diverge from developed-economy patterns. Policymakers should attract more local and foreign investors, enhance trading platforms, increase international recognition and liquidity and educate potential companies about the benefits of listing. These efforts may help dispel misunderstandings and fears surrounding the loss of ownership and control rights. This study builds upon the limitations of previous research, which relied solely on descriptive statistics or binary logistic regression, and moves beyond them. Instead, it utilizes method triangulation, employing both binary logistic regression and partial least squares structural equation modelling, to analyse the complex causal relationships among variables and provide a deeper assessment of the decision to go public.