Volume 18, Number 1 Article by B Mahadevan March, 2006
Tapping the Emerging Opportunities in Manufacturing :
If one follows the discussions in the business press and political-economic forums and does a quick analysis of the views expressed, it becomes abundantly clear that India is within striking distance of becoming the global manufacturing hub. At no point in the recent history of our country did we anticipate such an opportunity. A few statistics are worthy of mention here. The CII-Mc Kinsey study last year projected dramatic growth rates in several sectors of the industry in the next ten years. For instance, the exports of auto components will go up from US$ 1 billion to US$ 25 billion by 2015. Similarly the electrical and electronics sector will grow from US$ 1.3 billion to nearly US$ 18 billion. The 2004 Global Competitiveness Ratings by the World Economic Forum ranked India 30th out of 104 countries with respect to Company Operations and Strategy, in a ranking system signifying firm level competitiveness. India has moved several places up in these rankings in the last five years.
These are merely projections of India’s potential to play a leading role in manufacturing. The moot question is, what should Indian business enterprises do to translate these opportunities into reality? Business leaders must focus their attention on several aspects of doing business in order to exploit the emerging opportunities. Investing in skill and knowledge building is an important component of the transformation agenda. While shop floor workers require good technical skills and a broad understanding of the emerging business environment, middle level managers and supervisors require good interpersonal skills and a fundamental understanding of the various dimensions of business. Top management needs to develop sound business knowledge and good innovation skills. Investment in capacity, technological upgradation, improvement of supply infrastructure, better methods of financial and cost management and reengineered business processes are other issues that merit attention.
However, there is one issue that seems to have missed the attention of the business leaders. If we analyse the dramatic comeback of US manufacturing enterprises in response to the Japanese challenge during the 1970s and 80s, we conclude that accelerated growth and higher order improvements in manufacturing performance require industry level benchmarking exercises and studies. These studies analyse various players in a sector of industry and bring to sharp focus fundamental issues that require urgent attention. The International Motor Vehicles Programme of MIT is one such example.
It is time that our industry leaders joined hands with leaders of the academic community to engage in similar benchmarking exercises. There should be more openness amongst the industry to share data and more willingness and purposive analysis of data among academic leaders. Such an approach will provide the much-needed impetus to translate the emerging opportunities to reality and make India a leading manufacturing hub. It is time we recognised the opportunity and the compelling need to replicate the success that we achieved in the software industry in the manufacturing sector as well.
The current issue brings to the readers a set of interesting research papers and an Interview with Mr. Rajesh Hukku of i-flex solutions. The Round Table feature addresses the important aspect of Marketing and Sustainability. I hope readers will find these interesting and useful.
It is my pleasant duty to report to you some of the developments at IMR. I have pleasure in inviting five more members to the Editorial Advisory Board. These professionals have a credible research track record and bring to IMR rich expertise in improving the publication standard. It is also my pleasure to announce that henceforth IMR will have student representation. One research scholar will be part of the Editorial Board to liaise with the student community.
IMRC 2006 is unfolding into an interesting event. We are planning several features that will interest both practitioners and the research community. More details are available in this issue. I look forward to meeting many of you during the event.
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