Flexible Strategic Framework for Managing Forces of Continuity and Change: A Status Study of Outbound Supply Chain Management of Automotive Industry in India

Continuity and Change are the main parameters of any Strategy paradigm. Traditionally these have been treated on 'either' or 'basis'. A lot of work has been done on managing continuity with incremental improvements. In recent past significant changes have taken place in the automotive sector in the world and India is no exception. Most of the literature has focused on strategic change and gradual transformation. However, dealing with flexibility, continuity and change has been an area of growing interest as a large number of organizations in the auto sector are faced with turbulence. This research work focuses on study of Outbound Supply Chain Management of a leading Auto Company in India and brings out how they are coping up with the forces of continuity and change. A study using secondary research and primary research with a structured questionnaire survey of a number of leading automotive dealers in India was carried out to find out the exact state of outbound supply chain management of the Auto MNC operating in India. Based on this research, the aim was to develop a flexible framework for effectively managing continuity and change in managing automotive supply chains.