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This study asks the following research question: does “city” context interact with gender and gender egalitarianism (GE) to impact the positive (WFPOS – work–family positive spillover) and negative (WFC - work-family conflict) aspects of the work–family (WF) interface of working men and women in India.

MANCOVA analysis is used to examine data gathered from 250+ working men and women from eight different Indian cities that were ranked based on the 2018 Ease of Living (EOL) Index.

There was no significant main effect of gender on WF interface variables. Low levels of GE and low EOL were significantly associated with high levels of WFC and WFPOS. There was a significant interaction between gender, GE and city. An examination of within-gender differences indicated that in low-EOL cities, men and women with low values of GE (traditionals) had significantly higher time-based WFC than men and women with high values of GE (egalitarians). Additionally, traditional women reported higher WFPOS than egalitarian women. In high-EOL cities, traditional men reported significantly higher time-based WFC than egalitarian men. There were no significant differences between women.

Gender, along with gender-related attitudinal and contextual variables, does a better job of explaining variance in the WF interface as compared to gender alone. Results support the notion that high WFPOS and high WFC can co-occur in contexts of change and transition such as rapidly growing urban centers.

The results have significance for work–family practitioners as well as urban city planners looking to improve the quality of work–life in India and other similar emerging market economies experiencing rapid urbanization.

The study extends work–family research by bringing aspects of urban planning and gender studies into an understanding of the work–family interface.

The authors observe the impact of certain aspects of globalization on the work-family interface in India. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of life in Tier 1 (more globalized) vs Tier 2 (less globalized) cities, family/work collectivism and gender on work-family conflict (WFC) – both work interfering with family (WIF) conflict as well as family interfering with work (FIW) conflict.

The study surveyed 628 young employees on cultural values of collectivism and WFC.

Results suggest a main effect of tier in which Tier 1 city individuals experience more of both forms of WFC than Tier 2 city individuals. However, two- and three-way interactions between family/work collectivism and tier greatly moderate the main effect. Interactions indicate that family collectivism decreased WIF more for Tier 1 as compared to Tier 2 cities and work collectivism decreased FIW more for Tier 2 as compared to Tier 1 cities. The results suggest that high family collectivism creates high conflict for those who are low on work collectivism and high family collectivism creates low conflict for those who are high on work collectivism.

The paper provides great insight into globalization and WFC within the context of cultural values. The paper calls for further studies on globalization, work life enrichment and cultural values.

The results build a case for more paid and organizationally supported interventions for work-life balance in India.

Large scale institutional changes, such as globalization, call for a reexamination of cultural dynamics. This study heeds the call and examines WFC in the context of rapid economic and social transformation occurring in India by bridging globalization, cultural change and WIF/FIW.

This case is in four parts, highlighting the crossroads at which the protagonist Savita finds herself in and the difficulties she faces in balancing her career aspirations with family responsibilities. A Fellow of Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Ahmedabad, Savita's dilemmas concern working in a prestigious management institute in Kolkata versus getting a job in Mumbai in order to psychologically and financially support her family and get married; joining her husband in China on his posting versus going to the US on a prestigious fellowship prioritizing her career, and finally, starting a family versus postponing the decision till the couple were together and reasonably settled in their respective careers.

Addressing potential markets in emerging countries is an important development in international marketing, and over the last decade research has been energized by the model of the Bottom of the Pyramid (BOP). More recently the focus has shifted away from defining the BOP potential in terms of identifying the market at the BOP, and toward creating a market at the BOP, concurrent with the rephrasing of the potential as the Base of the Pyramid. The Value Flame at the Base of the Pyramid (VFBOP) model discussed here stresses not only that a leap in mindset and analysis is necessary to operate in the BOP, but that principles of mutual value and co-venturing are necessary, that is, not only enter into the BOP but collaborate within the BOP. Twenty-one VFBOP characteristics are summarized into four categories: (1) change the mindset; (2) don’t compete; (3) align all organization activities in pursuit of differentiation; and (4) create and capture new market demand. These characteristics can be a template of considerations for a company when designing and marketing a product or service to profitably meet the demands of the BOP market. To illustrate the VFBOP model and characteristics a case study is presented. Through the VFBOP model it can be seen that enormous opportunities may be available in these emerging economies.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an in‐depth country perspective on work‐life balance issues in India.

A qualitative approach is used that includes case studies of work‐life interventions offered by a sample of Indian organizations. Primary and secondary data were gathered through interviews with HR managers and from company web sites.

Commonly offered work‐life interventions by Indian companies address issues of gender equality, flexibility, stress reduction, health awareness and childcare.

Sample of organizations in the study is purposive in nature and HR policies of smaller companies in the informal sector are not included. Future research needs to consider how India's unequal economic development across the organized and unorganized sectors may affect effectiveness of work‐life interventions.

Based on India's socio‐cultural realities additional work‐life interventions are suggested in the areas of elder care, employee training and commuting.

Organizational work‐life interventions in India are varied and disparate and have focused mainly on the formal sector. There is no overarching government policy addressing work and family issues across different sectors. Implicit gendering of governmental policies and work‐life initiatives covertly reifies patriarchal structures that make such interventions necessary in the first place.

The paper exclusively brings out connections between India's socio‐economic context and work‐family issues of employees, which no other study has achieved before.

Brent B. Allred is an Associate Professor of Strategic Management and International Business at The College of William & Mary, in Williamsburg, VA. He earned his Ph.D. in Strategic Management/International Business at The Pennsylvania State University. His current research interests are in technology sourcing and patent rights. He has published in various journals, including the Journal of International Business Studies, Management International Review, the Journal of International Management, Academy of Management Executive, and the Journal of Product Innovation Management.