Reviving a cherished Institute tradition, the Students’ Academic Committee at IIMB will host Pragya 2026, a special lecture series for the graduating cohorts of the Post Graduate Programme (PGP) and Post Graduate Programme in Business Analytics (PGPBA) Class of 2026, on 3 March 2026 at 6.00 pm at the campus Open-Air Theatre (OAT).

IIM Bangalore hosted Unmaad 2026, its annual cultural festival, bringing together students and performers from across institutions for competitions, performances, and creative showcases under the theme ‘Beats of the Streets.’ The festival, held from 27 February to 1 March, transformed the campus into a platform for artistic expression across dance, theatre, music, literature, and visual arts.

The Supply Chain Management Centre (SCMC) at IIM Bangalore has signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with South Central Railways (SCR) to undertake a comprehensive research study on its freight services. The collaboration is intended to generate analytical insights to strengthen freight operations and support efforts aligned with the national objective of achieving 3,000 million tonnes of cargo loading by 2030.

Indian Institute of Management Bangalore will host its 51^st Convocation on 27^th March 2026. Ms Vibha Padalkar, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of HDFC Life, will be the Chief Guest on the occasion and deliver the Convocation address.

Journal: Production and Operations Management

Abstract: Crowdshipping, a rapidly growing approach in Last-Mile Delivery (LMD), relies on independent crowdworkers to fulfill delivery orders. Building a sustainable network of crowdshippers is crucial for the long-term success of such systems, as participation is primarily driven by fair compensation. This is especially important for workers who rely on crowdwork as their main source of income, making equitable pay not just a matter of fairness but of financial well-being. In this study, we address several key questions that gig-economy platforms concerned with fair pay may ask: How can equity be measured? What are the associated cost implications? And how can potential drawbacks be managed? Our main contribution is the development of a practical, equity-oriented framework tailored to crowdshipping within an LMD environment. Inspired by the real-world operations of several crowdshipping platforms, the framework operates in real time and is built around a bi-objective optimization model that balances equity and cost. This allows us to systematically explore trade-offs and identify the equity measures that most effectively capture this balance. We demonstrate that even a modest reduction in cost efficiency (e.g., 2.5%) can lead to substantial improvements in equity; potentially up to 65%. Our results provide actionable insights for practitioners, including guidance on selecting appropriate equity measures. We also find that the best equity outcomes occur when the crowdshipper pool is kept relatively small. Furthermore, we quantify the performance loss of high- and low-performing crowdshippers as the pool size increases, offering valuable insights for workforce planning and management. Along similar lines, we demonstrate that our framework remains effective in managing vehicle shortages in dynamic environments while achieving comparable levels of equity improvement.

Journal: IISE Transactions

Abstract: We study a firm’s reusability decisions under supply risk with outsourced refurbishment. Consumers are incentivized through a trade-in program that offers a fee to exchange used units for new ones when available. We model the infinite-horizon setting using a discrete-time Markov chain and derive the firm’s optimal product reusability, the price premium on refurbished units during supply disruptions, and the trade-in fee, when refurbishment is conducted in an external facility by transferring trade-in inventory. Increasing product reusability through improved design is beneficial as disruption risk rises, but beyond a risk threshold, a further increase in reusability reduces profit due to higher design costs and lower expected revenues. As supply risk grows and when sufficient trade-ins are available, the firm adopts either a proactive strategy, mitigating risk by raising reusability, or a reactive strategy, transferring risk to customers by increasing prices. The choice is determined by the magnitude of supply risk. Additionally, we characterize the firm’s optimal policies, analyze their dependence on key parameters, and establish the optimal trade-in fee. Encouraging additional trade-ins through higher fees is beneficial as disruption risk increases. A calibration to the Apple iPhone case demonstrates the framework’s applicability and managerial relevance.

Journal: Journal of Economic Behaviour and Organisation

Abstract: We show that shared identity with elected leaders helps entrepreneurs form new and productive businesses. Following close Indian elections during 2006 − 16, local firm entry by entrepreneurs belonging to the same cultural groups as winning candidates in-creases. Despite benefitting from preferential behavior, and in contrast to earlier work, such politically connected entrants are more productive than incumbent in-group firms. Simultaneously, business formation by out-group entrepreneurs does not decline. The high TFP of in-group entrants suggests barriers that previously precluded the entry of potentially high-performing firms. Administrative entry costs seem to be a key barrier that in-group politicians help ease.

Journal: Journal of Emerging Market Finance

Abstract: This paper studies the impact of Economic Policy Uncertainty (EPU) on investment inefficiency among Indian manufacturing firms. Higher EPU is found to reduce investment inefficiency among Indian firms, but the impact is stronger for firms facing greater product market competition especially when the quality of financial reporting is poor. Greater product market competition and better quality of financial reporting are both mechanisms that reduce investment inefficiency in the face of higher EPU with some degree of substitutability. Policies aimed at improving financial reporting quality in industries with lower product market competition can significantly improve investment efficiency with resulting benefits.

Journal: Production and Operations Management

Abstract: Under what conditions should traditional firms transform into digital platforms? While adding developers can enhance value through externalizing value creation, it also entails investment risk. We show that when transformation entails high risk and the value of network effects is low, firms should avoid transforming into a platform and retain their traditional form. By contrast, low transformation risk or high value of network effects make digital transformation profitable. Interestingly, when firms choose to transform, we show that inviting rivals onto the platform can raise profits. Indeed, the platform can even pay rivals to join its platform in certain cases. We find that the benefit of enhancing network effects through demand aggregation can be more profitable than competing as separate platforms. Further, inviting rivals onto a proprietary platform lowers the rival’s competitive aggressiveness. This is a novel strategic rationale for inviting rivals onto the platform elicited in this article. Yet, when the value of network effects is very high and investments are nearly certain, the platform chooses to foreclose rivals’ participation. We offer guidelines for managers seeking to transform and for regulators seeking to intervene to boost market efficiency. We use real-world examples to illustrate our theory.