Articles and Papers by Balaji Parthasarathy
Technological Forecasting & Social Change, 2021
This paper argues that, while universities have a crucial role to play in social innovation by de... more This paper argues that, while universities have a crucial role to play in social innovation by democratizing knowledge, fulfilling that role in the Global South requires them to partner with civil society actors such as NGOs. With their history of working with the socially disadvantaged, NGOs have a unique role in clarifying the nature of demand since social innovation must often address ill-formulated “wicked problems”. Similarly, NGOs can fill the “institutional voids” which limit socioeconomic transactions in the Global South. The paper discusses the wicked nature of visual-impairment, which is both widely prevalent and has biopsychosocial attributes i.e., the functional limitations are reinforced by the psychological perceptions of the blind and visually impaired (BVI), and the sociological stigma of impairment. The empirical setting is India where policies for the BVI population are being formulated within a broader framework of social inclusion. The paper investigates how the International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB) has taken advantage of state policies to embrace an academic mandate which includes social innovation. Specifically, it explores IIITB’s incubation of the NGO Vision Empower, and the partnership that has followed, to overcome the neglect of the BVI in science and mathematics education.
Industry and Innovation, 2020
Economic geographers have recently made important contributions to understanding of the relations... more Economic geographers have recently made important contributions to understanding of the relationship between regional transformation , industrial specialisation and innovation networks in the emergence of new industries. However, most contemporary research has focused on the influence of networks on regional trajectories, paying lip service to how regional trajectories also influence network configurations. Furthermore, international comparative research on how specific regional innovation system (RIS) trajectories may shape innovation networks in new industrial sectors is underdeveloped. The paper investigates how the trajectories of Bangalore and Beijing RISs influence the objectives and geographical configuration of innovation networks in the new media industry. The co-evolution of different elements of the RIS trajectory points to the unfolding of a politically and institutionally driven trajectory in Beijing, and a cognitively driven trajectory in Bangalore. These trajectories lead to specific barriers and opportunities for the development of innovation networks in new industries. ARTICLE HISTORY
Area Development and Policy, 2018
In this paper, inclusive development is conceptualized as an outcome of a ‘double failure’: the f... more In this paper, inclusive development is conceptualized as an outcome of a ‘double failure’: the failure of both the state and the market to deliver basic provisions to the population. Taking the case of India as one of the early adopters of the concept, its previously enacted development policies, associated ideological underpinnings, and inclusive development policies and programmes are examined. Today, inclusive development is producing a hybrid domain, an experimental ground of collaborations between for-profit and non-profit organizations, with the state recalibrating its engagement with development. These cross-domain collaborations are crucial for catalyzing social innovation, which, in turn, adds a new feature to inclusive development.
Information Technologies & International Development, 2017
As contemporary ICTs (information and communication technologies) become increasingly powerful an... more As contemporary ICTs (information and communication technologies) become increasingly powerful and affordable, deploying them to improve the lives of the underprivileged is alluring. While the literature has mostly focused on investigating the efficacy and outcomes of ICT deployments in diverse domains, this article situates such deployments as a socially, spatially, and temporally specific outcome within shifting conceptions of development, from capitalist economic expansion to poverty eradication and inclusive growth. By so doing, the article explains why ICT deployments possess the characteristics that they do. The article highlights not only the novelty of ICTs, but also why deployments seek new forms of innovation (frugal innovation) and partnerships (which bring together historically antagonistic players such as multinational enterprises and nongovernmental organizations) in a quest to include hitherto-excluded populations (at the bottom of the pyramid).
Government Information Quarterly, 2016
Responses to wicked problems of development are increasingly rooted in ‘e-governance for good gov... more Responses to wicked problems of development are increasingly rooted in ‘e-governance for good governance’ rhetoric that emphasises partnerships between state and non-state actors. Empirically, this rhetoric finds expression in ‘new’ and ‘positive’ modes of governance, with the ‘heterarchy’ being one such mode. As a central node in the heterarchy, the state is responsible for ‘meta-governance’. Yet, how the state's centrality manifests empirically to meta-govern and, the implications of these manifestations for the efficacy of this mode of governance are not known. Drawing on the Municipal Reforms Programme in Karnataka, India, this paper highlights the varied manifestations of the state's centrality to argue that not all manifestations facilitate meta-governance. The paper points to the conditions that can potentially lead the state to meta-govern, for the heterarchy to emerge as an effective mode of governance.
Eurasian Geography and Economics, Dec 2012
A noted American economic geographer collaborates with an India-based colleaguen to discuss the r... more A noted American economic geographer collaborates with an India-based colleaguen to discuss the research and development (R&D) facilities of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in India, which has emerged as a preferred location for corporate R&D and strategic marketing facilities in the 21st century (previously situated in the developed world). Drawing on in-depth interviews in the field with MNEs located in Bangalore during 2007 and in 2012, the authors demonstrate how the perception of India as a location of innovation has begun to change, and discuss how the country began to serve as an ideal location for market knowledge gathering activities. Pointing to implications for other developing economies, the paper concludes that India’s unique combination of market assets has played an important role in enabling MNEs to upgrade their functions.
Journal of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, 2012
Small firms are important to all economies. This is especially true with the rise of the informat... more 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.
Journal of Asia-Pacific Economy, Aug 2010
Scholars have emphasized the role of the state, acting in partnership with private industry, for ... more Scholars have emphasized the role of the state, acting in partnership with private industry, for late industrialization in the twentieth century (late-late industrialization). While the state provides subsidies to build comparative advantage, industry must learn to deploy borrowed technology efficiently in production and compete internationally. The state must also curtail consumption to build physical and educational infrastructure. However, current theories of late-late industrialization, which mostly draw from the East Asian manufacturing experience, demand reexamination thanks to the characteristics of information and communication technologies, especially software. These characteristics include rapid technological change, which can preclude learning from borrowed technology, and the need to encourage consumption, since information and communication technologies are general purpose technologies that can potentially enhance aggregate productivity. Further, as the marginal cost of production of software is negligible, efficient manufacturing is not an issue. This paper shows how our understanding of late-late industrialization may be broadened by drawing on the experience of the Indian software industry.
Science Technology and Society, Jul 2008
Historically, capitalism has been characterized by socio-spatial unevenness and information capit... more Historically, capitalism has been characterized by socio-spatial unevenness and information capitalism is no exception. To that extent, it is relevant to ask who is served by ‘development’ projects in the ‘information age’? In the context of information and communication (ICT) deployments in development projects, in particular, it is critical to ask: ICTs for whom? This essay argues that the development of standards is an important factor in influencing who benefits from ICTs. While standards can deliver long-run aggregate benefits, the extent of benefits will depend on the trade-offs that standardization entails. Since standards draw boundaries between those who conform and those who do not, there is a trade-off between aggregate benefits and the creation of individual winners and losers. There is another trade-off, between a narrow focus required for rationalizing processes, and the need to retain wider context and diversity. In other words, the outcomes of the deployment of ICTs for development are shaped by these trade-offs and reflect the social contestation over the choice of standards.
Environment and Planning A, 2006
In this paper we analyze the emergence of R&D services in Bangalore, India, by focusing on the p... more In this paper we analyze the emergence of R&D services in Bangalore, India, by focusing on the process of technological upgrading in the Indian software industry. The development trajectory of the Indian software industry and the upgrading it has experienced, from providing low-skill software services to providing high-skill R&D services, are examined using evidence from interviews with Indian firms in Bangalore. Whereas most research on the Indian software industry thus far has emphasized the role of the state and multinational corporations, in this paper we argue that active local entrepreneurship is playing an increasingly important role in technological upgrading and in the shift from low-skill to high-skill services in Bangalore. These shifts are being facilitated by growing institutional thickness, as evidenced by the accumulation of local expertise, increasing local entrepreneurship addressing specific market niches, and the development of a local technical community.
International Journal of Urban and Regional Resarch, Sep 2004
Since the 1980s, the changing character of the Indian state has allowed it to move away from a hi... more Since the 1980s, the changing character of the Indian state has allowed it to move away from a highly regulated, autarkic development model to pursue lighter regulation and closer integration with the global economy. This move created the incentives for India’s emergence as a leading software exporter. Within India, Bangalore emerged as the leading software-producing region and the large number of domestic and foreign firms there has led to popular references to it as India’s Silicon Valley. This essay, however, will argue that referring to Bangalore as Silicon Valley’s India is more appropriate, as it struggles to transform itself from a region that develops software for global markets to one that defines new products and technologies. Driving the growth of the Indian software industry is the export of labour-intensive services, while the relatively small and slow-growing domestic market has limited the nurturing of original ideas. The essay explains the limitations in terms of social constraints on the state despite its changed character. The analysis, of how changing state-society relations have shaped the software industry in Bangalore, provides a means of addressing debates on the importance of social embeddedness in agglomeration and late industrialization in newly industrializing countries.
International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Sep 2004
Iterations: An Interdisciplinary Journal of Software History, May 3, 2004
This essay explains how the domestic policy context enabled
the Indian software industry to beco... more This essay explains how the domestic policy context enabled
the Indian software industry to become the largest non-OECD
(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) exporter by 2000. The policy context is examined in three phases. Prior to 1984, rigid policy restrictions ensured that there was virtually no software industry. In the second phase (1984 to 1990), the restrictions were eased and Indian firms entered the global market by providing low-cost programming services. In the third phase (1990 to 2000), pro-active promotion of the industry, along with economy-wide policy liberalization, led to rapid growth in exports. The nature of exports also changed from providing
programming services at client sites, to providing offshore services from India for turnkey projects demanding a wider range of capabilities. The policy changes themselves are explained in terms of the changing character of state institutions. The essay also discusses the relevance of the Indian case for policy initiatives in other countries.
While the first part of this two-part essay portrayed the bleakness of the suburban public realm ... more While the first part of this two-part essay portrayed the bleakness of the suburban public realm in the USA, the debate over how physical planning can contribute to making it more vibrant is the subject of this second part. Eurourbanism, or the practice of looking to European cities for a design paradigm, has been criticized on the grounds that the USA has its own distinct public realm which is either non-spatial in character or is located in 'non-traditional' public spaces, such as shopping malls, in contrast with the more 'traditional' European sites such as streets and squares. But there are questions about whether the distinctive 'American public realm' is as democratic, or can offer the diversity of experience of the 'traditional' public realm. A more recent addition to the debate has been 'new urbanism' or 'neotraditionalism', whose proponents have put forth a set of planning guidelines for suburbia by drawing on design principles embodied in the traditional American small town. The essay critically evaluates these guidelines by examining their application in two neotraditional developments and proposes a research agenda to move the debate ahead.
This two‐part essay analyses the changing nature of the public realm in the evolving edge of the ... more This two‐part essay analyses the changing nature of the public realm in the evolving edge of the American metropolis and the implications for urban design and planning. Many forces are changing the form and use of public space in cities—concerns for safety and liveability, increasing dependence on telecommunications, decline in public revenues, the privatization of many amenities, and an increasingly pluralist society. The essay specifically focuses on the historical influence of planning and design practices on suburban form: density levels, land use and zoning patterns, suburban layouts and streetscapes. Field surveys and morphological analyses of urban edge patterns from the San Francisco Bay area document the current state of the suburban public realm. The second part of the essay will examine how physical planning can contribute to restoring a more vibrant public realm amidst raging debates over its changing nature and relevance.
Berkeley Planning Journal, 1994
What are the implications for development in the Third World in light of the widespread intellect... more What are the implications for development in the Third World in light of the widespread intellectual retreat from Marxist theory and practice in recent years? This essay offers an answer to this question by focusing on the current debate concerning the rise of a new inter national division of labor (NIDL). The debate over the NIDL has much significance given the growing interpenetration of various re gional and national economies in an increasingly integrated global economy. But while one can safely argue that integration with the global economy is now essential to economic growth, the terms of the debate over that process appear to have shifted to the mechanism and conditions of integration for hitherto isolated economies. This essay will delineate the trajectory taken by the NIDL debate to date and will suggest how an historical-structural approach in the Marxist tradition, provides opportunities for furthering the discussion. The essay first provides a brief overview of Marxist theories of Third World development, including the ideas of Marx, Lenin and key post-World War II dependency theorists. Next, it highlights key points of continuity and discontinuity between these older theories and the current debate on the NIDL. The essay then concludes with a discus sion of both the structural and historically determined economic and political constraints on the incorporation of the Third World into the NIDL before setting out some questions for future research.
Book Chapters by Balaji Parthasarathy
Les Mondes de l’ingénieur en Inde (xixe-xxie siècle), 2022
On parle souvent « d’ingénieur en TI », même si les « ingénieurs en informatique » ou software in... more On parle souvent « d’ingénieur en TI », même si les « ingénieurs en informatique » ou software ingénieurs comptent en fait peu de titulaires d’une licence en technologies de l’information (IT). Il s’est en effet creusé, au cours décennies 1985-2015, un fossé entre le système d’éducation formel et les pratiques hétérogènes de l’industrie,
à tel point qu’on peut parler à leur sujet de « technologues imaginés » pour souligner combien le groupe manque d’homogénéité et de cohésion professionnelle.
ASEAN-India: Strengthening Partnership and Post-Pandemic Future., 2022
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Articles and Papers by Balaji Parthasarathy
the Indian software industry to become the largest non-OECD
(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) exporter by 2000. The policy context is examined in three phases. Prior to 1984, rigid policy restrictions ensured that there was virtually no software industry. In the second phase (1984 to 1990), the restrictions were eased and Indian firms entered the global market by providing low-cost programming services. In the third phase (1990 to 2000), pro-active promotion of the industry, along with economy-wide policy liberalization, led to rapid growth in exports. The nature of exports also changed from providing
programming services at client sites, to providing offshore services from India for turnkey projects demanding a wider range of capabilities. The policy changes themselves are explained in terms of the changing character of state institutions. The essay also discusses the relevance of the Indian case for policy initiatives in other countries.
Book Chapters by Balaji Parthasarathy
à tel point qu’on peut parler à leur sujet de « technologues imaginés » pour souligner combien le groupe manque d’homogénéité et de cohésion professionnelle.
the Indian software industry to become the largest non-OECD
(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) exporter by 2000. The policy context is examined in three phases. Prior to 1984, rigid policy restrictions ensured that there was virtually no software industry. In the second phase (1984 to 1990), the restrictions were eased and Indian firms entered the global market by providing low-cost programming services. In the third phase (1990 to 2000), pro-active promotion of the industry, along with economy-wide policy liberalization, led to rapid growth in exports. The nature of exports also changed from providing
programming services at client sites, to providing offshore services from India for turnkey projects demanding a wider range of capabilities. The policy changes themselves are explained in terms of the changing character of state institutions. The essay also discusses the relevance of the Indian case for policy initiatives in other countries.
à tel point qu’on peut parler à leur sujet de « technologues imaginés » pour souligner combien le groupe manque d’homogénéité et de cohésion professionnelle.
and organizational approaches. To substantiate its argument, the paper presents case studies of four firms and their innovations in the health care domain. All
the cases are from India, which has emerged an ideal location for developing products and services for the BoP market. India not only has the skills to propose new technological solutions, but also a market characterized by socioeconomic diversity to demand various organizational approaches. Two cases focus on diagnostic devices and products: one is a portable ophthalmic imaging device to reduce preventable blindness, while the other is a baby warmer to lower infant mortality by preventing hypothermia. The other two cases focus on health care delivery: one relies on telemedicine while the other relies on mobile telephony to provide access for hard-to-reach populations. All four cases describe the circumstances surrounding the design, development, and deployment of the products and services. The paper will point to the challenges the firms faced, even as they successfully designed for the BoP context. For diagnostic devices, the challenge of positioning a new offering in the diagnostic devices ecosystem, especially in terms of quality and cost, figures prominently. For service delivery, the challenge is to negotiate and manage the balance between the technological and human elements in servicing those needing care. Each case provides insight into the factors responsible for the sustainable deployment of these innovations, thus enabling a degree of extrapolation of lessons.
By looking at the experiences of workers and users of beauty and wellness platforms in India, this report, the product of a collaboration between Spain’s Digital Future Society and India’s International Institute of Information Technology Bangalore (IIITB), aims to be a starting point for addressing some of the challenges outlined above. India, the country at the heart of this report, is estimated to have 8% of the world’s platforms and provides about 20% of the digital platform global labour force.
As in other parts of the world, the beauty and wellness industry in India is growing and seeing a rise in e-commerce and digital labour platforms that connect freelance beauty professionals with clients. India is home to one of the world’s fastest growing markets and is also home to one of the largest digital labour platforms in the region, Urban Company, which offers beauty services as well as a variety of domestic services. In this context, this report poses the question: What are the experiences of workers and their customers using digital platforms in the beauty sector in India?
To answer the question, 45 beauty workers and 30 users of two platforms, Urban Company and Yes Madam, operating in the beauty and wellness sector in India were interviewed. These interviews took place in Bangalore and in the National Capital Region (Delhi, Gurugram, Noida and surrounding areas) between March and November 2020. The research explored workers’ motivations for working through an app, and their experiences with the platform and their customers, and the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on their working practices and daily experiences.
Regarding customers, the research aimed to understand their motivations for switching from an offline salon to online home-based services booked through an app, as well as their experiences with the platform and workers, and the impact the Covid-19 pandemic has had on their user experience.
To this end, the Fairwork project evaluates working conditions on digital platforms and scores them according to five principles of ‘fair work’: Fair Pay, Fair Conditions, Fair Contracts, Fair Management, and Fair Representation. Evidence for compliance with these five principles is collected through desk research, worker interviews, and interviews with platform management. This evidence is used to assign a “fairwork” score to individual platforms. With a basic and an advanced point awarded for each of the five principles, a platform can earn a maximum score of ten.
The Fairwork project aims to study work conditions on platforms on an annual basis, with its scores offering an independent perspective on work conditions for policy makers, platform companies, workers, and ethically-minded consumers. In particular, it offers existing platform workers a cross-sectoral view of working conditions, and provides new entrants with a glimpse of what to expect from platform work.
This is the second year of scoring platforms using the Fairwork principles in India. Twelve platforms were scored in 2019, in sectors including ride-hailing, e-commerce, food-delivery, and home services. This year, eleven platforms, with an estimated three million workers in February 2020, were scored, with nine platform being repeated from the first year.
But questions about labor conditions, or the impact of globalization and technological change are not new. In the 20th century, they were addressed by states in the global South taking an active developmental role to improve standards of living. It is against this backdrop that this paper will use India as a case to examine the continued relevance of the developmental state in the platform economy.
The paper will argue that the state continues to have a role in encouraging the demand for, and the building of, platforms within its jurisdiction. This will ensure that the employment opportunities offered by digital gig work are available, while making it possible to regulate the employment conditions of workers and the algorithms governing platforms. Alongside, creating a workforce with better and distinct skills will not only help workers gain a comparative advantage but also equip them to improve their position in the international division of labor.
While India’s insignificant share of world IT production reflect the limited capabilities of the state, its developmental character has changed since the 1980s. The state has reached out to private capital, especially in the IT industry. But as the software industry has grown, Bangalore’s older public-sector telecommunications equipment industry has declined, although the characteristics of telecommunications equipment are now determined by software.
The divergent fortunes of the two sectors is used to show that even as the state has embedded itself in private capital, it has suffered erosion of autonomy, constraining its ability to rejuvenate the telecommunications equipment industry and other economic sectors. As the rejuvenation of any economic sector in the information age requires the use of software, it has also affected the position of the software industry in the international division of labor. Firms that began to export in the 1980s, offering low-wage, low value-added services, have since moved to more rewarding work as Indian skills have come to be prized globally. But in the 1990s, a majority of firms have struggled: rising wages have blunted the low-wage strategy, while social constraints on the state have limited the institutional support for valorizing skills either through innovation or local markets. This has hindered the transformation of Bangalore into a Silicon Valley style region that defines technologies.
The dissertation shows that the path to an effective developmental state is not well defined and that multiple trajectories are possible. It also shows how a specific development trajectory influences the ability of firms and regions to exploit the opportunities provided by new technologies and industries.
acknowledge and facilitate an international division of labor in the e-waste recycling industry. By doing so, they will not only address the need for employment in the informal sector; but also promote a cleaner environment."
Yuko Aoyama and Balaji Parthasarathy position social innovation at the intersection of changing state-market relations, institutional design, and technological innovation. By demonstrating how corporations, social entrepreneurs, and social finance increasingly cross borders to devise local solutions with global technologies, this book illustrates how collaborative governance can serve as a useful alternative to blend economic and social objectives by overriding organizational boundaries which were previously considered ideologically incompatible and, therefore, unbridgeable.
Engaging with the question of collective capacity building, this book will be of interest to a broad and multi-disciplinary audience, from those studying innovation, science and technology policy, and entrepreneurship, to those working in international governance and development.