Attributes and Components for the Strategic Development of Manufacturing Sector in the Region

Abstract

In today’s competitive business environment, global competition forces companies to perpetually seek ways of improving their products and services. The pressure on organizations to adapt to new technologies and external threats requires resourcefulness, creativity and innovation. The fierce competition situation arising out of globalization and liberalization is forcing the organization across the globe to realize that their survival is not feasible in the absence of R&D and innovation practices. Markets have become more open, competitive and the customers more demanding. To stay close to the customers is essential for sustained growth and continuity of business. Without continuous technology upgradation, no enterprise can ever remain competitive. The external acquisition of technology in the initial stages may be desirable or even necessary in the high technology areas, but no industry can prosper in the long run unless it builds up a self reliant base for carrying out indigenization of process and product technologies. In most developing countries like India, small scale enterprises are still relying heavily on external acquisition of technology. The over dependence of the Indian firms on external technology acquisition has rendered their available technologies and skills inefficient and outdated. They should start managing innovation in research and development activities to develop cutting edge technologies and products. The present work presents the various dimensions and determinants for strategic development of small scale enterprises. The literature on various aspects of technology development initiatives required to become competitive has been explored in detail. Empirical analysis of the survey data has been done to explores the status of development initiatives and resulting performance improvements in the industrial sector in the region. The main factors affecting the performance of small units have been evaluated. Classification of manufacturing units has been done based upon the status of their performance in each of the key input and output parameters. The analysis also establishes the relationship of key input factors with output performance parameters. Further, the associations between various input and output dimensions have been established using Pearson’s correlation and step-wise regression analysis. Principal component analysis has been performed to discover and reduce the dimensionality of the data set and to identify new meaningful underlying variables.The learning issues of survey have been synthesized to bring out a systematic implementation plan for effectively managing the different strategic measures in manufacturing organizations. For this, a qualitative modeling technique has been applied using options field methodology (OFM), options profile methodology (OPM), analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy set theory (FST). Various profiles for course of actions planned for strategic development have been developed and include; technology based approach, competence development based approach, innovative culture based approach, and mixed approach. The order of implementing various strategies for successfully achieving technology development at tactical and strategic level in regional context has been highlighted.