Vigneswara Ilavarasan

Small firms are important to all economies. This is especially true with the rise of the information and communication technologies (ICTs), as the technical characteristics of information goods lower entry barriers for small firms seeking to take advantage of the growing global demand for ICTs. However, for accessing global markets, or for technological learning, the literature points to the potentially important role of intermediary institutions. This paper examines inter-firm linkages in India, the world's largest exporter of software services, to explore the extent to which large software firms, both foreign multinational corporations (MNCs) and domestic firms, play an intermediary role for the growing number of small firms. Drawing on 172 in-depth, semi-structured interviews, the paper finds that linkages between the large and small firms are few and weak. MNCs prefer working with large domestic firms as they seek the scale to cut costs for labor-intensive services. Large domestic firms too tend not to outsource work to small firms. They prefer independent execution, viewing small firms as potential competition. Any inter-firm links are typically limited to labor contracting and rarely provide access to markets or opportunities for technological learning. Thus, lacking the operational scale, technological or domain diversity, small firms end up dependent on personal networks to access global market opportunities, i.e., despite the growth in opportunities provided by ICTs, the growth opportunities for small software firms in India remain circumscribed.

This article is presented as a response to the increasing need for rigorous impact assessment in ICT4D. The research reported here empirically examines whether ICTs enable microenterprise growth, to what degree, and under what conditions. We created two theoretical models that predict relationships between selected antecedents of ICT access, ICT use, and business growth. Using data collected through a multistage probability survey of women micro-entrepreneurs in Mumbai, India, we tested the models by structural equation modeling (SEM). Both models predicted a statistically signiªcant, but limited causal relationship between access to ICTs (as the independent variable) and business growth (as the dependent variable). The theoretical model and the analytical techniques suggest that future research should pay greater attention to the speciªc factors that mediate the impact of ICTs on the growth of very small businesses.

User generated content in the social media platforms are being considered as an important source for information about consumers and other emerging trends by the businesses. Using Twitter analytics, the paper presents insights on trends and discussions about the Internet of Things (IoT). Using relevant hashtags, 40,387 tweets were collected in early 2016. The analysis had followed three major approaches: descriptive analysis, content analysis and network analysis. The tools R and NodeXL were used for the analysis. The findings showed major themes like business concerns, scope of applications, security, emerging smart technologies and manufacturing. The sentiments of emotions and polarity differed across these themes. The top individual and industrial influencers were identified. The analysis also detected the highly-associated words and hashtags, and different user communities and how they are connected. Business implications of the findings and limitations are also elaborated.

Present paper attempts to examine the social impact of adoption of Office Open Extensible Markup Language (OOXML), a proposed open standard format for documents, in India. It suspects that adoption will increase the cost to access information. It highlights the need for adopting open standard in the ICT developmental efforts and tackling technological lock-in.

This paper tries to find out whether software work is routinized. Six major hypotheses about routinization of software work were derived from the available literature and verified empirically. Data was collected from two software firms in Bangalore (India) using a semi-structured interview schedule and the participatory observation method. Findings of the study are discussed under six broad categories: chameleonic division of work, team work, symmetric information, level playing field, barrierless career and distributed control. The study did not find support for any of the hypotheses and thus the study rejects the routinization thesis. Some possible reasons for why software work is hard to routinize are also given.

This paper shares findings from a pilot study conducted as the first stage of a large-scale investigation of the links between ICT use in urban micro-enterprises and economic development. The full study was conducted during April, May, and June, 2009, in Mumbai city, India; and, unlike nearly all previous research on this topic, it employed a multi-stage probability sample in order to gather more rigorous benchmark data about the use of ICTs by urban micro-enterprises. The paper explains the process by which the sample was designed and finalized by a field visit in Mumbai by the researchers. It also describes how the survey questionnaire was developed through a pilot study conducted with micro-entrepreneurs in New Delhi, India, and presents observations recorded. Findings from the pilot study show high levels of mobile telephone use by urban micro-entrepreneurs, with significant lower use of computers, the Internet, or Internet cafés. Ownership of mobile phones is a function of both personal and business variables. ICT use is strongly linked to differences in the businesses with regard to customers, suppliers and services/products offered. Irrespective of the nature of business and ownership, use of ICTs is perceived to be strongly

On the basis of the empirical study, this paper contradicts the postulate given by the proponents of capability maturity model (CMM) that CMM would bring significant changes in peopleware side of software organizations. Firms certified in CMM Level 5 are conceptualized as mature organizations and firms without any such levels as immature ones. In a matured organization, the process by which software is developed is at the optimized level. Under this level, the organization wide software process is well defined and managed. Clear roles and responsibilities exist for all the members in the projects as well as the organization. Contrary to this, in immature organizations, roles and responsibilities are diffused. The projects are executed in a chaotic process and the process is individual based. We hypothesized that the peopleware dimensions differ between these two organizations. Five peopleware variables were deducted from various levels of CMM: Group processes, work autonomy, feedback from agents, role ambiguity and role conflict. Data were collected through questionnaire from two software firms: I Tech and M Tech. I Tech has CMM Level 5 certification and M Tech has none. Both the firms are software export houses, located in Bangalore city in India. Findings show that there is no significant difference between the two firms with respect to the selected variables. The possible reasons for the insignificant difference are discussed.

This paper presents patterns of citizen participation and assesses their readiness for the participation. By channelizing the political disseminations of individuals via information and communication technology, especially Internet, towards governmental decision making, e-democracy expands the possibilities of citizen empowerment. As participation is centre of citizen empowerment and e-democracy, assessing the readiness for participation becomes a prerequisite to ensure development and empowerment. Individuals' socio-cultural and educational characteristics influence onesìntention to participate. Observations from an activity-repository building by a group of PhD students in an university in India-is discussed to explain the patterns of participation. We have identified five major forms of participation patterns exists in e-democracy they are welfare, information, identification, value and vulnerability patterns.

Present paper examines whether citizens' empowered status influences their online democratic participation. The paper put forward two stages of citizen empowerment in the virtual space. In the first stage, citizens are enabled for e-democracy participation and in the second stage citizens are part of the decision making process. On the basis of review of literature, a research model was delineated and tested with quantitative data collected through a survey. Regression results indicate that empowerment elements do influence the participation in e-democracy. The study also reveals that participation in partisan networks influences by cohesive empowerment. Citizen participation through electronic voting machines is influenced by the network actor's empowerment status. And citizens' technical empowerment is found to influence participation through mobile phones.

Growth of Indian information technology (IT) industry is commendable from US $ 1.1 billion in 1993–1994 to US$ 37.3 in 2005–2006 billion.The status of the industry is summarized by a recent trade press as below: … (IT sector) started emerging as a role model for the country. IT professionals in India were one of the highest paid, on average, IT was the most sought after area at campus recruitments. … IT had the highest number of people to be nominated for civilian honours by the nation. IT leaders and news hogged the limelight in the media for the right and sometimes wrong reasons. IT was the biggest employment generator in the country. It was IT professionals who were travelling the most into and out of the country. IT captains were bagging global awards in business excellence. And as marriage bureau said, 'IT grooms and brides command the highest premium today, after doctors and IAS (Indian Administrative Services) officers' (Dataquest 2006, p.16). (Brackets mine)

Despite extensive investigation of the Indian software industry, knowledge about small software firms is inadequate. This knowledge is important as many developing countries are contemplating the software industry as a means of national growth along the lines that India has taken. This paper provides a descriptive analysis of small software firms in India. It shows that small software firms that are located in software clusters; quality certified; low product oriented; and slightly larger tend to be more productive than others. Small software firms are defined as firms that have fewer software employees than the national median size. The paper used firm level data available in the Indian IT Software and Services Directory 2003, whose members contribute 95% of the industry revenue.

Present paper explores the opportunities and challenges present in use of social media by government institutions in developing countries. It uses the cases of Facebook accounts of Municipal Corporation of Delhi, Delhi Traffic Police and Planning Commission in India and offers suggestions in policymaking and planning to facilitate a wider and more effective reach of social media in the developing countries.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the existing theoretical argument that the Indian software industry is a case of uneven and combined development by examining the workforce. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a survey conducted in two software organizations located in Bangalore. Data were collected through a combination of quantitative (114 questionnaires) and qualitative methods (62 semi-structured interviews). Respondents were selected randomly from the work floor. Findings – The paper observes that the workforce is uneven in nature and directly integrated with the global market. The workforce appears homogeneous. A typical software worker in India is a young male; hails from an urban and a semi-urban locality; follows Hinduism, and belongs to the upper socioeconomic stratum of Indian society. He holds an undergraduate engineering degree, not necessarily in computer science, from a second-grade educational institution. He is trained by the employers as per the needs of the Western market, and works for longer hours than required. He earns more than his counterparts in the other industries, and is promoted periodically based on work experience. Research limitations/implications – The paper suggests that Indian future policy initiatives should recognize the need for inclusion of the disadvantaged in this growing sector. Also, conclusions drawn from the study are useful for the developing countries that imitate Indian software industry to develop inclusive development policies. Originality/value – From the existing literature, it is not known whether the employment-related benefits are reaching all the social groups, or uneven and combined development is reflected at the workforce as well. The paper fills the gap using triangulation of methods.

Despite the larger amount of literature on Indian software industry, existing knowledge about small software firms is minimal. Based on 173 semi-structured interviews with software entrepreneurs and other players in the information technology industry in India, the paper examined how small software firms are surviving in India. We observed that presence of smaller players in Indian IT industry appears as a 'hygiene factor' (absence may be recognized greatly than presence) in the total eco system. Small firms are 'poor imitators' of larger service companies and operate on export-services mode. They serve as a 'training ground' for larger firms and help in deepening the labour pool of the industry. Small firms access the global market opportunities through personal networks of the founders initially, and use other lower cost mechanisms in the later stages. Present paper examines how small software firms are surviving in India. This examination is relevant, as Indian software industry works on different mode when compared to the information technology (IT) industry in the developed world. We do not know what Indian small software firms are doing, whether they resemble the small product firms in the developed countries or compete with domestic larger firms with similar services. Existing research is inadequate to answer these questions, and the present paper fills the gap. Small software firms Role played by the small firms in the emerging IT industry is quite different from the supportive subcontractor role observed during the earlier mass manufacturing era. Small software firms are able to compete with the large firms by innovatively adapting to rapid technological changes and by meeting the demands of niche markets (Ba, et al., 2000; Lerner, 2000). This was possible due to distinct characteristics of the software, whose mass production of software is not subject to decreasing returns to scale. After development, the cost of reproducing software is near zero and the cost declines with every additional user, thus resulting in increasing returns to scale (Baetjer, 1998) Also, the electronic distribution of software products via satellite links is less expensive than shipping physical goods. With relatively low capital requirements to establish firms and rapid technological obsolescence, the IT industry, especially software, offers market opportunities to both new and small, and well established, larger firms by lowering entry barriers (Shapiro and Varian, 1999). Small software firms in the developed countries exploited the above mentioned economics of the software. For instance, in the case of packaged software, evidence from US (Egan, 1997), the world's largest software producer and consumer, show that the demand is met by new and small entrepreneurial firms. To meet the growing demand, the number of product firms grew from 2992 to 6001 between 1987 and 1992. Although the number of firms more than doubled, the mean number of employees per firm went up from only 16.4 to 18.4, indicating that small firms take advantage of market opportunities for mass-produced packaged software. This is in marked contrast to the industrial era, when small firms either undertook custom manufacture or played a supportive subcontracting role to large firms. Although these product firms accounted for 35% output in the software industry, they accounted for barely 23% of the industry's employment, indicating higher productivity per employee. While the characteristics of software and the global demand were exploited by the small entrepreneurial firms on the supply (production) side globally, prior research in developed countries highlights the significant role played by intermediary institutions in creating linkages between new small firms and global opportunities. The institutions take various forms in different contexts and include the state, venture capitalists, transnational networks, inter-firm relationships and trade associations. For instance, the role of venture capitalists and inter-firm networks is highlighted in the success of small firms in Silicon Valley (Saxenian, 1994). Venture capitalists not only provide financial support, but also critical information about technology and market trends, and help in establishing ties with other entrepreneurs. A crucial factor cited for the development of small IT firms in Taiwan and China is expatriate communities (Saxenian, 2002). These people who have migrated, studied and worked overseas, in places such as Silicon Valley, return home to establish new firms. They use the knowledge and contacts they have gained to fill the technological and *

If a health care delivery system can be compared to e-governance system, computing personnel can be equated with the medical practitioners. Extant literature on professional status of computing workforce is inadequate, especially in the context of e-governance. Present paper fills the gap by examining the Indian computing workforce. Four questions were delineated from the literature and examined using primary and secondary empirical data from India. The study indicates that the computing practice is an occupation not a profession, and discusses the policy implications.

This article explores how youth in India understand, get involved in and actively use information and communication technologies (ICTs) in civic engagement. Despite a variety of opportunities for civic engagement, young people in India today show little interest in politics. Many cite a perceived inability to effect changes in India's corrupt political system as the reason for their apathy. Indian youth do, however, engage in other forms of civic engagement. Helping the needy outside of work and college is a common form of community work for young Indians. Others engage with their communities through paid work at non-governmental organizations (NGOs). ICTs are used in the everyday lives of Indian youth for personal purposes like entertainment and social networking , but relatively little for activism. Of all ICTs in India, mobile phones are arguably the most important, with laptops a key ICT at NGOs.

Purpose
– The purpose of this paper is to conceptualise and discuss the possible insights that can be generated for product development by analysing the user-generated content available from various social media platforms.

Design/methodology/approach
– The paper reviews the role of user generated content in developing products and its features (e.g. appearance and shape). It delineates the directions in which the relationship between social media content and customer oriented concepts evolve while developing successful new products.

Findings
– The review and arguments presented in this paper suggest that the social media approach adds more value than the traditional approaches for obtaining insights about the products. Availability of users’ opinions and information about existing products provide insights for the improvement in the product design process. Co-creation and self-construal are important components that are based on customer engagement and customer behaviour, respectively, in the product design and development.

Practical implications
– As social media creates new ways of communication with users, businesses can include users into the product development process to improve and refine their products or for making the next generation of products.

Originality/value
– This paper suggests a new approach in getting useful insights about the products from user-generated contents. This way of using social media helps businesses to move forward from the traditional product development paradigms.

This paper investigates the impact of information and communication technologies,
especially landline and mobile phones, computers, and Internet cafés in facilitating economic
growth in the developing world. Data on access to ICTs, as well as business-relevant
behaviors and attitudes, was collected by a multi-stage probability sample of women
microentrepreneurs in Mumbai, India. Main findings include evidence that in urban
microenterprises owned by women, business growth is a function of ICT access and is related
to motivation to use ICTs for business purposes; and that the more positive a woman
microentrepreneur feels about her status and power because of her business, the more she will
be motivated to use ICTs in support of her business. Implications for the study of digital
divides and strategies for studies of communication and technology more generally are
considered.

The research reported here was guided by three questions: (1) What are the current and
potential patterns of mobile phone, landline, PC, and Internet café use among urban
microentrepreneurs? (2) Are mobile phones, PCs, and Internet cafés related to the
stability or growth of urban microenterprises? (3) Can we identify those urban
microentrepreneurs and/or microenterprises for which ICT use is associated with
economic growth?
We conducted in-depth interviews in Mumbai City, India, with 329 male owners or
managers of microenterprises and 231 female owners of microenterprises from April
through June 2009. In addition, data from a convenience sample of 102 men and women
was carried out in September and November 2009. We defined microenterprises as
businesses that had more than one but fewer than twenty hired workers. We found that:
? Nearly everyone who owned or managed a microenterprise—regardless of sex—had
a mobile phone.
? Many female and male microentrepreneurs who owned or managed microenterprises
and who used a mobile for business communication reported that the year-over-year
income of their business had risen.
? Urban microentrepreneurs experience different levels of economic growth depending
on how they use their mobiles for business communication.
? The positive impact of mobile phones on microenterprises might emerge only after
two years of use. Microentrepreneurs who owned a mobile for two years or less saw
some growth in business income; those who had begun to use their mobile more than
two years earlier experienced even greater income growth.
? Levels of PC ownership and usage at home and work were low.
? Few microentrepreneurs frequented Internet cafés for business purposes.
? Only small numbers used their mobiles for the full range of business-enhancing
activities.
? Consideration of a microentrepreneur’s full repertoire of ICT use showed a positive
relationship with microenterprise growth, especially when other factors such as
gender and motivation were also taken into account.
? Compared to women-owned microenterprises, microenterprises owned or managed
by men had much greater increases in business income, although female owned
microenterprises also experience some growth
? The more positive a female microentrepreneur felt about her status and power
because of her business, the more she was motivated to use ICTs in support of her
business.
? The more that a woman entrepreneur used mobile phones, workplace computers, etc.,
the more her microenterprise grew, especially businesses in the trade sector of the
informal economy

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to test the existing theoretical argument that the Indian software industry is a case of uneven and combined development by examining the workforce. Design/methodology/approach – The paper is based on a survey conducted in two software organizations located in Bangalore. Data were collected through a combination of quantitative (114 questionnaires) and qualitative