Joint Surrey-Sussex Seminar: Dr Mona Bahl, Illinois State University

Title: Efficiencies as Drivers of Renewable Energy Projects in Emerging Economies: Does Foreign Participation Help?

Abstract:

We study the drivers of cost efficiencies of renewable energy projects in emerging economies. Using Resource Based View, we argue that state ownership will reduce project cost but private ownership, both domestic and foreign, will increase project cost in emerging economies. State ownership accords access to strategic resources and budgetary support that enable higher economies of scale and results in cost efficiencies in completing renewable energy projects. Privately owned firms experience greater costs due to high levels of competition in factor and product markets as also lower economies of scale and thus incur greater costs of completing renewable energy projects. Using the corporate governance perspective, we further argue that foreign institutional investments (FII) enable monitoring and oversight that weaken the cost efficiencies of state-owned projects and cost inefficiencies privately owned projects. We use data from 1864 completed renewable energy projects from 1200 firms in India to test our hypotheses. The results support our hypotheses.

Bio:

Mona Bahl is Associate Professor of Management in the College of Business at Illinois State University in USA. Her research interests converge the fields of strategy and international management. More specifically, she focuses on the following areas: a) innovation and internationalization behaviour of firms, b) knowledge sharing and corporate governance practices and c) impact of global value chain dynamics and supply chain management on firm strategies.

Dr. Bahl’s research has been published in top ranking Journals including the Journal of World Business, Strategic Management Journal and Global Strategy Journal. She currently serves as an Associate Editor (for Strategy) for Journal of Business Research.