Understanding product flexibility using SAP-LAP ...

This article was downloaded by: [Kumar Shalender] On: 06 February 2014, At: 21:36 Publisher: Routledge Informa Ltd Registered in England and Wales Registered Number: 1072954 Registered office: Mortimer House, 37-41 Mortimer Street, London W1T 3JH, UK

Journal of Strategic Marketing Publication details, including instructions for authors and subscription information: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rjsm20

Understanding product flexibility using SAP–LAP approach a

a

Kumar Shalender & Nripendra Singh a

Department of Management, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida, India Published online: 05 Feb 2014.

To cite this article: Kumar Shalender & Nripendra Singh , Journal of Strategic Marketing (2014): Understanding product flexibility using SAP–LAP approach, Journal of Strategic Marketing, DOI: 10.1080/0965254X.2013.876065 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2013.876065

PLEASE SCROLL DOWN FOR ARTICLE Taylor & Francis makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of all the information (the “Content”) contained in the publications on our platform. However, Taylor & Francis, our agents, and our licensors make no representations or warranties whatsoever as to the accuracy, completeness, or suitability for any purpose of the Content. Any opinions and views expressed in this publication are the opinions and views of the authors, and are not the views of or endorsed by Taylor & Francis. The accuracy of the Content should not be relied upon and should be independently verified with primary sources of information. Taylor and Francis shall not be liable for any losses, actions, claims, proceedings, demands, costs, expenses, damages, and other liabilities whatsoever or howsoever caused arising directly or indirectly in connection with, in relation to or arising out of the use of the Content. This article may be used for research, teaching, and private study purposes. Any substantial or systematic reproduction, redistribution, reselling, loan, sub-licensing, systematic supply, or distribution in any form to anyone is expressly forbidden. Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/page/termsand-conditions

Journal of Strategic Marketing, 2014 http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0965254X.2013.876065

Understanding product flexibility using SAP – LAP approach Kumar Shalender* and Nripendra Singh Department of Management, Jaypee Institute of Information Technology, Noida, India

Downloaded by [Kumar Shalender] at 21:36 06 February 2014

(Received 4 February 2013; accepted 17 October 2013) The purpose of this study is to assess the overall role of product flexibility in providing sustainable growth to the organization. The Situation-Actor-Process–Learning ActionPerformance (SAP–LAP) model technique has been used on Tata’s Nano to show the importance of product flexibility in providing a competitive edge to organizations. Cases from the corporate world are cited and the SAP–LAP model is used to clear the ambiguity of the concept. It has been found that at strategic level product flexibility acts as a distinctive competence as the organization is able to react swiftly to the changing needs and preferences of customers through the improved versions of the product while at operational level, product flexibility proves its worth by hedging the firm against the uncertain demand trends. A conceptual framework of product flexibility is developed using other cases, and its link with organizational performance has been demonstrated. The study proposes a conceptual model of product flexibility, which needs to be tested empirically. Keywords: flexibility; product flexibility; sustainable growth; design; competitiveness; organization

Introduction It is observed that firms that are not adopting a certain level of flexibility in their marketing systems do not do well as compared to its competitors (Singh, 2010). Product, being one of the cornerstones of marketing efforts of an organization, therefore requires a requisite level of flexibility in order to ensure long-term growth prospects for the firm. Ever-decreasing product life cycle and enhanced rate of innovation have made it even more mandatory for companies to have product flexibility in order to respond effectively to the changing business dynamics. Product flexibility is the ability to change over to produce new products very economically and quickly (Chryssolouris & Lee, 1992). The goal of the study is to provide a holistic model that aids the organization to achieve the desired level of product flexibility. An in-depth literature survey of flexibility reveals three crucial variables: design (Fouque, 1999; Ulrich, 1995), process (Browne, Dubios, Rathmill, Sethi, & Stecke, 1984; Jordan & Graves, 1995; Parthasarthy & Sethi, 1992) and organization (Haddad, 1996; Saleh & Wang, 1993; Shi & Daniels, 2003) that can significantly affect the product flexibility of a firm. Therefore, these three variables are further investigated from the flexibility point of view to give the underpinnings of the conceptual model of product flexibility. Design, the first variable of the study, is capable of increasing the product flexibility through reduction of the cost associated with the redesigning of the product that is warranted from time to time due to customers’ changing needs and technology upgrade requirements. A good design not only helps the organization to achieve profits, but it also offers consumers product values associated with enterprise image (Olins, 1990).

*Corresponding author. Email: [email protected] q 2014 Taylor & Francis


2

K. Shalender and N. Singh

Second variable, process, has gained a lot of importance because of its ability to hedge the organization against the demand – supply mismatch that has now become a very inherent characteristic of this newly evolved business environment. Here, process connotes the idea of having speedy implementation of real-time decisions taken to negate the ill effects of the demand –supply mismatch. Thus, process variable includes both procedural and technological prowess that is helpful to sail the organization through the ever-changing equation of demand and supply. Process flexibility is beneficial at the operational level and equips the organization to deal with uncertain changes happening in the market on real-time basis. Third variable of the study, organization, is of paramount importance as without its flexibility it is almost impossible to attain the desired level of efficiencies in the flexibility aspects of the first two variables, i.e. design and process. As defined by Volberda (1996), it is the degree to which an organization has a variety of managerial capabilities and the speed at which they can be activated to increase the control capacity of organization. Organizational flexibility acts as a catalyst for effective attainment of results on the other two variables; there is a compelling need to have its flexibility in place in order to achieve the desired results. Only with the support of organizational flexibility, required level of design and process efficiencies will be achieved which will then ultimately culminate to provide higher product flexibility to the organization. Therefore in order to locate individual attributes of flexibility in these three variables extensive literature review has been done which is presented in next section. SAP – LAP methodology Along with extensive literature review, this study draws on the Situation-Actor-Process – Learning Action-Performance (SAP– LAP) model of analysis to demonstrate the significance of product flexibility in aiding competitive edge to organizations. SAP –LAP analysis is basically a holistic framework for analysing the case situations. In SAP –LAP analysis, situations represent all demographics while actors can be major stakeholders involved with the situation. Processes are the mechanism to convert input into output, and the adoption of an appropriate change management scheme helps the organization for survival and continuous improvement (Sushil, 2001b). In SAP, situation is generally referred in the context of external or internal environment. While external environment has variables like demographics, politico-legal framework, technological innovations, etc., internal environment consists of factors like employees, resource capabilities and organizational structure. Launch of a new, innovative product in market by a competitor can be taken as an example of a situation arising out from the external environment. Actor, on the other hand, represents the key people associated with the case in point. If the situation to be analysed pertains to research and development (R&D) capabilities of an organization, then actors involved will be the head of R&D department or team leader of the group assigned with the specific task within R&D. Process, the third pillar of SAP, represents the conversion of input into output and thus represents the transformation phase of the situation. The various activities involved in the marketing such as customer relationship, distribution, dealership management, promotional campaign, etc. can be regarded as separate processes that need to be further studied and optimized for enhancing the output of a given situation. The interplay and synthesis of SAP leads to outcome in terms of LAP (Sushil, 2001b). Learning in LAP represents the understanding of the crucial issues and situations pertaining to

Journal of Strategic Marketing

3


situation, actor and process. This actually signifies the insights that have been gained after carefully examining each component and its interplay in the SAP framework. Learning may include the results that can be generalized in terms of their application or the insights that are specifically related to some particular situation or objective. Based on learning, some concrete steps or guidelines can be formulated that signify the action part of LAP. This action part is aimed to either make up for the present deficiency in the system or to further enhance the effectiveness of the process under consideration. On the basis of the newly implemented Action, there will be enhancement in the overall performance and this can be gauged in terms of enhanced efficiency, increased effectiveness, better performance, gained market share, etc. Table 1 lists the elements of SAP–LAP framework along with their definitions and examples Concept of SAP–LAP model can be further illustrated with the help of Figure 1. With the help of SAP – LAP analysis, following section signifies the crucial role of product flexibility in aiding the overall competitiveness to an organization.

SAP – LAP application: Tata Nano case This case belongs to one of the most applauded cars in world automobile history, i.e. Tata Nano. Nano, initially offered with dealer price of Rs. 1 lakh, is the cheapest car in the world. SAP – LAP framework is used here to show that without product flexibility, Nano was performing much below its potential in terms of sales and after integration of product flexibility; it has got the much-needed boost and sales have started showing signs of revival. Rest of the case is discussed below. SAP analysis Context Tata Nano enjoyed a spectacular launch and got rave reviews from almost every manufacturer when it was unveiled at the ninth Auto Expo held in New Delhi in 2008. Table 1.

Elements of SAP –LAP framework. Element

Definition

Example

Any external or internal context needs to be investigated Key person who has to deal with the situation or group of people involved in the task Mechanism of converting input into output

Launching of a new product, deciding on the organization structure Sales manager or new product development team

Discovery of key insights about the problem or focus area Corrective measures taken on the basis of various insights and learning Improved results with enhanced outcomes as a result of corrective actions based on learning on various fronts

Undue prominence to hierarchy, less focus on teamwork Decentralized structure, team-oriented approach for new product development

SAP Situation Actor Process

Supply chain, new product development, promotion, etc.

LAP Learning Action Performance

Source: Sushil (2001a).

High market share, improved efficiency, successful and timely completion of product development, etc.

4


Learning

Performance

Action

Situation:

Process


Actors

Figure 1. SAP –LAP framework. Source: Sushil (2001a).

But when it was actually launched in the market after a year, Nano failed to keep up the initial enthusiasm of the customers in terms of its sales number and registered much less sales booking than initially speculated. In this context we have identified the following situations. Situation 1 Tata Nano was launched on 10 January 2008 at ninth Auto Expo held in New Delhi. Due to its innovative design and ultra-low cost, it caught the frenzy of all auto majors across the globe. The company announced that it would be available to customers by the end of the year 2008. Situation 2 Tata Motors had initially planned to roll-out Nano from its Singur plant situated in West Bengal, though the controversy started right from the initial stage when the state government facilitated the transfer of land to Nano’s production facility. There was continuous opposition to the project by the locals along with the opposition party of state, and finally Tata Motors decided to pull out from the state in October 2008. Situation 3 In the initial phase, Nano’s booking number was 2.03 lakh and most of the analyst felt that it was below the expectations. In November 2011, Nano sales dipped to an all-time low as the company was able to sell only 509 units of the car. Main actors . Chairman of Tata Group, Mr Ratan Tata, who is the motivating force behind the process right from conceptualizing Nano’s idea to its inception. . Tata Motors management personnel and strategy makers. . Sales and field personnel of the company.


5

Process Initially Nano came with almost no product flexibility. Though there were three trim levels to choose from, they were almost similar and failed to make any perceivable difference in the customers’ minds. Even after getting a low response, the company showed no inclination towards the product flexibility and continued with the same Nano without putting any sort of effort in bringing out the improved version to enhance the flexibility in Nano’s preposition. Over-relying on the Auto Expo response of Nano, Tata Motors did not give any proactive attention to the advertising of Nano.


LAP synthesis After the Nano sales hit its lowest mark in November 2011, following were the learning Tata Motors had got from the situations. Learning issues Product flexibility Product flexibility was absolutely missing in Nano since its inception and in fact the absence of the timely launch of the improved version of Nano had affected its sales quite negatively. Tata Motors realized the need to integrate the product flexibility in its Nano proposition and that paved the way for the improved version of Tata Nano. Dealership functioning There was a lack of courtesy and empathy in the behaviour of the company’s dealerships operating across India. This had been a major deadlock that has put off many perspective buyers even from purchasing other brands of Tata Motors. Action Enhancing product flexibility of Nano Nano 2012. After learning about the absence of product flexibility of Nano, Tata Motors made the necessary changes and integrated the flexibility in product proposition. The company brought out the new and improved version of Nano with Nano 2012 edition. The new and improved versions restored the lost confidence of the customers back into Nano and ever since the new edition came Nano is performing rather well. Nano CNG. In order to further enhance the Nano’s flexibility, Tata Motors have announced to launch the CNG version of Nano in 2013. This flexibility will surely boost the sales figure further by broadening the consumer base Nano can target in the coming year. Nano Diesel. Though yet to be confirmed officially, rumours are rife that diesel Nano will also makes its debut in the Indian market in 2013 and if enthusiasm towards the diesel in market is anything to go by, this diesel version of Nano will make up for all the deficiency of sales faced by the petrol variant of Nano. This point towards the efforts intended to further enhance the product flexibility of Nano. Stand-alone dealerships. Along with regular dealerships Tata Motors have also opened stand-alone dealerships for the Nano, and the number of these dealerships is expected to touch 350 by next year. Along with this, the company has started a comprehensive plan of promoting Nano to make up for the initial reluctance it had shown towards the promotional

6


events. Besides, there are very lucrative exchange schemes and low-interest rates that are also available to provide easy buying option for Nano buyers. Performance Sales growth Statistics shows 87% growth due to the enhanced product flexibility of Nano. Sales of Nano stood at 5491 units in September 2012, compared to 2936 units in the same month of previous year (Tata Motors, 2012). This point towards the growth of 87% in sales, and the addition of LPG and diesel version is sure to further add impetus to the growing sales number as shown in Figure 2.


Dimensions of product flexibility Design flexibility From design point of view, flexibility can be defined as the degree of responsiveness/ adaptability for any future change in a product design (Palani Rajan, Van Wie, Campbell, Otto, & Wood, 2003). The design of a product determines the flexibility of that product for future evolutions, which may arise from a variety of change modes such as new market needs or technological change (Tilstra, Seepersad, & Wood, 2009). Flexible design allows for quicker and swift updates in product by reducing the time, effort and money involved, thereby equipping the organization with the ability to launch new and improved versions of the product at regular intervals. Literature on design flexibility reveals various attributes that can aid the overall design evolution of product, though some of the important ones like modular structure, reduced coupling, functional partition and volatility isolation have found special emphasis in literature due to their critical role in affecting the overall success rate of design flexibility. The importance of modular product architecture in achieving the design flexibility has been asserted by various authors. Modular product architecture is a special form of product design that uses standardized interfaces between components to create flexible product architecture (Sanchez, 1996; Ulrich & Eppinger, 1995). Modular design architecture and commonality of parts in finished products help in reducing the overall cost of design changes in product system (Fouque, 1999; Ulrich, 1995). Modularity creates the high degree of independence between different interfaces that makes it easier to change one component or element without altering the overall structural design of the product. This high degree of independence thus directly translates into the loose coupling between the different design modules, hence making it easier to incorporate the changes within one module without affecting the functioning of the whole design. Thus, loose coupling helps

Figure 2. Sales trend of Nano before and after product flexibility. Source: Tata Motors (2012).



7

in the evolution of design by minimizing the inter-module changes by standardizing their output. This process of standardizing, along with aiding modularity, also encourages the innovative methods of achieving the end result as it focuses on the output rather than specifying the means to achieve it from the very outset of development process. Similarly, Thomke and Reinersten (1998), along with emphasizing the modularity and loose coupling, advocated having a functional partition within the design to separate the influence of perturbing variable to small portion of design. This means that the critical part of the product, which is more prone to changes, has been separated from the other lessvulnerable parts so that the compulsion of design changes in critical parts do not necessitate the change in the overall design. These important attributes of design flexibility have been represented in Figure 3. Also, Table 2 shows the relevance of the above-mentioned flexibility attributes in enhancing the product flexibility of the firm. Along with these attributes, some qualitative tools have also been developed to analyse the design flexibility of the product. Change modes and effect analysis table is one such technique that is used to evaluate the product flexibility based on future evolution (Keese, Tilstra, Seepersad, & Wood, 2007; Tilstra, Backlund, Seepersad, & Wood, 2008). The case of Apple’s iPhone cited below demonstrates how this design flexibility helps in sustaining competitiveness of an organization.

Case study of Apple’s iPhone Apple’s iPhone can be considered as one of the best examples of product flexibility as the company has successfully launched and then regularly upgraded its features (first to sixth generation) in sync with changing customer preferences. The first model of iPhone was released in 2007, while its sixth generation named iPhone5 was recently unveiled on 21 September 2012 (Wikipedia, 2012). In the short stint of around five years, iPhone has undergone a series of upgradation which became possible only due to its flexible design approach that has allowed the technicians to swiftly integrate various technological and feature advancements to iPhone at regular interval of time. As a result, new models have

Functional Partition

Modularity

Design Flexibility

Loose Coupling

Figure 3. Attributes of design flexibility. Source: Pictorial representation of the concept given by authors.

Standardized Interface

8



Table 2. Attributes aiding design flexibility. Attributes

Importance

Modularity Loose coupling Standardizing interface Differentiation between functions

Helps Helps Helps Helps

in reducing redesigning cost in decreasing interdependence in reducing the ambiguity in the design process reduce the vulnerability of the overall design changes

really gone down well with the changing consumers’ taste and preferences and proof is the sales figure of iPhone’s latest model 5S which has crossed the five-million mark within the first three days of its launch. Along with superior components and compatibility, coherently designed whole is the crucial factor behind the Apple’s success (Economic Times, 2012). Some of the features that are recently upgraded and have now become part of iPhone’s latest avatar only due to flexible design approach are shown in Table 3. Thus, by implementing flexible design philosophy in product development, Apple Inc. has been successful in quickly upgrading and improving its products’ features. Process flexibility The term process flexibility has its roots in manufacturing industry as it relates to the ability to produce a given set of part types each possible using different material in different ways (Browne et al., 1984). Process flexibility endows the organization to produce different products on the same production line, which ultimately converge to give greater product-mix flexibility to the organization. In manufacturing industry, process flexibility is important because firms need to respond quickly to changing market demands or risk losing market share due to fierce competition (Cusumano, 1991; Johnson, 1990; Jordan & Graves, 1995; Parthasarthy & Sethi, 1992). Another dimension of process flexibility relates to the speed of implementation of the decisions. As defined by Holweg and Pil (2001), process flexibility refers to the speed at which company can make decisions, alter schedules or amend existing orders to meet customer needs. Therefore, process flexibility helps in ironing out the uncertainties arising from the ever-changing demand pattern and has in fact special relevance for the automobile industry. All major automotive companies around the world are investing heavily to make their processes more flexible and responsive as the demand pattern has become more fluctuating than before. The case study of Ford cited below shows one such attempt from the American automobile major to make its Michigan assembly plant more flexible and responsive in order to deal effectively with demand uncertainties. Table 3. Features upgradation becomes possible due to flexible design philosophy. Features Display (pixel) Width (mm) Front camera (MP) Weight (g) Source: Apple Inc (2012).

iPhone 4S

iPhone 5S

960 £ 640 9.3 0.3 140

1136 £ 640 7.6 1.3 112


9

Case study of Ford One of the most renowned automobile majors in the world, Ford motor company has invested $550 million in its Michigan assembly plant in order to enhance its process flexibility. This flexibility is achieved on the basis of the following innovations that have made their way in Ford’s assembly line:


. Reprogrammable tooling in the body shop. . Standardized equipment in the paint shop. . Common build sequence in assembly line. This huge investment led Michigan assembly plant to become one of the most flexible plants of the company capable of producing gasoline-powered, battery-electric, hybrid and plug-in hybrid electric vehicle on the same production line (Ford, 2012). Now because of the enhanced product flexibility, company is in a better position to neutralize the devastating effects of the demand uncertainties as it can swiftly change over from one model production to another. As explained by Browne et al. (1984), Figure 4 shows the necessary requirements for attaining the desired level of process flexibility. Organizational flexibility The need for organizational flexibility to accommodate a changing world is well understood as today’s high velocity and competitive market apply added pressure to adapt rapidly and perform at high levels (Englehardt & Simmons, 2002). Traditional business structures favour the control from upward, i.e. top-down hierarchy with all the power vested at top position. As rigid top-down control spans across a number of levels, these structures fail to respond effectively to the changing environment situations and inefficiency of these hierarchical structures, especially in the context of globalization, as has been pointed out by Achrol and Kotler (1999). In sharp contrast to this rigid control system, there is ample literature relating the organizational flexibility with the firm’s positive performance. Authors such as Saleh and Wang (1993) found that flexibility in organization structure contributes positively towards product success. Similarly, Haddad (1996) emphasized that managerial flexibility in terms of decentralization, financial delegation and non-rigid HR practices facilitate smooth and quick flow of product and project information among team members and therefore enhance the efficiency of the development process leading to higher level of project success. Flexible organizations mandate that business processes are integrated end-to-end, enabling it to respond with flexibility and speed to any customer demand, market opportunity or external threat (Sethi & Sethi, 1990; Shi & Daniels, 2003). As flexible firm is open to new ideas (Atkinson, 1984, 1985; Ramnarayan & Bhatnagar, 1993) and has continuous exchange of inputs and outputs with the environment (Morgan, 1986), it is in a better position to make adjustments in its efforts on real-time basis. With attributes like

Machine Flexibility

Multipurpose CNC

Process Flexibility

Figure 4. Underlying philosophy behind process flexibility. Source: Pictorial representation of process flexibility concept given by Browne et al. (1984).

10


Table 4. Attributes of organizational flexibility. Attributes

Importance

Decentralization and delegation

Smooth and quick flow of information Accelerating innovations helps sharing information seamlessly Enhanced efficiency of the overall operation due to quick response

Openness and team-based approach


Efficient integration of processes

flatter hierarchy, team-based work and empowerment to take the decisions, flexible organizations help in accelerating the speed of the design innovations along with making quick implementation of changes warranted due to various factors. Table 4 represents some of the attributes of flexible organization along with their relevance. Also, Bahrami (1992) noted that many firms are turning to the dualistic perspectives towards organizational systems and this form is helpful in striking a dynamic balance between stability and flexibility. Author gave the example of ROLOM Corporation that has adopted a functional approach in the super-structure, while divisional approach has found its place in the sub-structure of organization. Table 5 illustrates the major transformation in the ROLOM Corporation, which ultimately resorted to dualistic perspective in its organizational structure approach to achieve a balance between flexibility and stability. Conceptual model of product flexibility Based on the insights from the literature review, a conceptual model of product flexibility has been proposed. Variables of design, process and organization have been used as underpinning for the proposed model. Product flexibility is achieved with the design and process flexibility, while organizational flexibility acts as a supporting system in order to attain the requisite results. Design flexibility helps in achieving the product flexibility by reducing the redesigning cost, money and efforts involved in the whole process. Flexible design makes it easy to launch the new versions of products at regular interval well before the competitors. Process flexibility enables the organization to actually incorporate the design changes proposed by swiftly adapting the processes involved in the manufacturing. It actually speedily implements the changes proposed at the conceptual stage and enables the transformation of design concept to real product. Organization flexibility acts as a backbone for achieving the desired level of product flexibility. It has its importance lying in the fact that it ensures the smooth and speedy implementation of design and process variables to get the desired result on product Table 5. Organizational evolution of ROLOM Corporation. Year

Organization

1973 1977 1981 1983

Functional Three stand-alone divisions Hybrid: partially functional/partially divisional Functional super-structure, divisional sub-structures

Source: Bahrami (1992).


11

Organizational Flexibility


Design Flexibility

Sustained Competitiveness

Process Flexibility

Product Flexibility

Hedge against uncertainty

Figure 5. Conceptual model of product flexibility. Source: Pictorial representation of concept by authors.

flexibility. As both design and process flexibility is actually implemented through organization, its flexibility ensures that the process of carrying out both the operations remain smooth without any obstruction. Although organizational flexibility is one of the key variables in achieving the product flexibility, its exercise must be done with utmost care. While at the operational level, it enhances the speedy implementation of decisions by means of open communication and flatter hierarchical structure, its free-hand application at the strategic level could lead the organization to dilemma and chaos. This is the reason for the emergence of bi-modal structure of organizations that have an optimum balance of centralized and decentralized combinations. While at operational and business level decentralized structures and teams are preferred, strategic level follows a comparatively tighter control in order to maintain the focus and coherence. With the help of these three variables, a conceptual model of product flexibility has been developed as shown in Figure 5.

Conclusion Product flexibility is an important source of competitive edge that also helps the organization to respond efficiently in the case of uncertain conditions of demand and supply. It has relevance at both strategic and operational levels of the organization. At the strategic level, it can be used as a competitive weapon as firm is able to launch the new and improved product versions before its competitors and this first-mover advantage can be capitalized or leveraged through the premium pricing policy. On the other hand,


12


at operational level product flexibility helps the organization by hedging it against the demand uncertainty by quickly changing the schedules and implementing the new ones as and when situations warrant. This competence of swiftly responding to changing demand schedules has special significance especially considering the state of flux present business environment is passing through. The study provides useful insights about the crucial variables on which organization needs to focus on in order to achieve the required level of product flexibility. Rather than wandering around plethora of techniques aimed to bring in the product flexibility, the study focused on the most important dimensions that help make the product flexibility a reality for organization. This study has special significance for automobile industry that can use product flexibility not only to get competitive advantage but also to quickly change over the production schedules according to the real-time demand of their different models. Future scope of this study is to investigate the role of Information System of organization to aid the product flexibility competence of the firm. The area of technology and its important attributes need to be studied for their product flexibility relevance and hence be incorporated in the proposed model.

References Achrol, R. S., & Kotler, P. (1999). Marketing in the network economy. Journal of Marketing, 63, 146– 163. Apple Inc. (2012, September 12). iPhone 5 [Apple press release]. Retrieved from http://www.apple. com/in/pr/library/2012/09/12Apple-Introduces-iPhone-5.html Atkinson, J. (1984). Manpower strategies for flexible organization. Personnel Management, 16, 28 – 31. Atkinson, J. (1985). Flexibility: Planning for an uncertain future. Manpower Policy and Practice, 1, 25 – 30. Bahrami, H. (1992). The emerging flexible organization: Perspectives from Silicon Valley. California Management Review, 34, 33 – 52. Browne, J., Dubios, D., Rathmill, K., Sethi, S. P., & Stecke, K. E. (1984). Classification of flexible manufacturing system. The FMS Magazine, April, 114– 117. Chryssolouris, G., & Lee, M. (1992). An assessment of flexibility in manufacturing systems. Manufacturing Review, 5, 105– 116. Cusumano, M. A. (1991). Japan software factories: A challenge to U.S. management. New York, NY: Oxford University Press. Economic Times. (2012, September 26). Large screen on new iPhone. Retrieved from http://articles. economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-09-11/news/33762971_1_ipod-touch-retina-display-ipadscreen Englehardt, C. S., & Simmons, P. R. (2002). Organizational flexibility for a changing world. Leadership and Organization Development Journal, 23, 113– 121. Ford. (2012, September 09). Michigan Plant. News Centre. Retrieved from http://corporate.ford.com Fouque, T. (1999). In search of flexible products. Revue franc aise de gestion, 123, 80 – 87. Haddad, C. J. (1996). Operationalizing the concept of concurrent engineering: A case study from the U.S. auto industry. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 43, 124– 132. Holweg, M., & Pil, K. F. (2001). Successful build-to-order strategies start with the customer. Sloan Management Review, 43(1), 73 – 82. Johnson, H. J. (1990). Performance measures for competitive excellence. In R. S. Kaplan (Ed.), Measures for excellence (pp. 83 – 84). Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Jordan, W. C., & Graves, S. C. (1995). Principles on the benefits of manufacturing process flexibility. Management Science, 41, 577– 594. Keese, D., Tilstra, A. H., Seepersad, C. C., & Wood, K. L. (2007). Empirically-derived principles for designing products with flexibility for future evolution. ASME Design Theory and Methodology Conference, Las Vegas, NV. Morgan, G. (1986). Images of organization. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage.



13

Olins, W. (1990). Corporate identity: Making business strategy visible through design. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press. Palani Rajan, P. K., Van Wie, M., Campbell, M., Otto, K., & Wood, K. (2003). Design for flexibility: Measures and guidelines. International Conference on Engineering Design, Stockholm. Parthasarthy, R., & Sethi, S. P. (1992). The impact of flexible automation on business strategy and organisational structure. Academy of Management Review, 17, 86 – 111. Ramnarayan, S., & Bhatnagar, J. (1993). How do Indian organizations meet learning challenges. Vikalpa, 18, 39 – 48. Saleh, S. D., & Wang, C. K. (1993). The management of innovation: Strategy, structure and organizational climate. IEEE Transactions on Engineering Management, 40, 14– 20. Sanchez, R. (1996). Quick-connect technologies for product creation: Implications for competencebased competition. In R. Sanchez, A. Heene, & H. Thomas (Eds.), Dynamics of competencebased competition: Theory and practice in the new strategic management (pp. 299– 322). Oxford: Elsevier. Sethi, A. K., & Sethi, S. P. (1990). Flexibility in manufacturing: A survey. International Journal of Flexible Manufacturing Systems, 2, 289– 328. Shi, D., & Daniels, R. L. (2003). A survey of manufacturing flexibility: Implications for e-business flexibility. IBM Systems Journal, 42, 414–426. Singh, N. (2010). A conceptual framework for flexible marketing system. Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 11, 11 – 16. Sushil (2001a). SAP-LAP framework. Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 2, 51 – 55. Sushil (2001b). SAP-LAP models. Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management, 2, 56 –61. Tata Motors. (2012, November 3). September sales [Media press release]. Retrieved from http:// www.tatamotors.com Thomke, S., & Reinertsen, D. (1998). Agile product development. California Management Review, 41, 8 – 31. Tilstra, A. H., Backlund, P. B., Seepersad, C. C., & Wood, K. L. (2008). Industrial case studies in product flexibility for future evolution: An application and evaluation of design guidelines. ASME Design Theory and Methodology Conference, New York. Tilstra, A. H., Seepersad, C. C., & Wood, K. L. (2009). Analysis of product flexibility for future evolution based on design guidelines and a high-definition design structure matrix. Proceedings of the ASME 2009 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference, CA. Ulrich, K. (1995). The role of product architecture in the manufacturing firm. Research Policy, 24, 419– 440. Ulrich, K. T., & Eppinger, S. (1995). Product design and development. New York, NY: McGrawHill. Volberda, H. W. (1996). Towards the flexible firm: How to remain vital in hypercompetitive environment. Organization Science, 7, 359– 374. Wikipedia. (2012, September 25). iPhone. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPhone