Delayed Differentiation and Indian Industry

Abstract

This operations management strategy which has widely been used by industries in the western world has still not been fully deployed by Indian industry. As the customer is becoming more and more demanding and wants the products to be customized to suit their specific requirements, a shift is taking place from Mass production to Mass customization. On the face of it this appears contradictory. This requires companies to rethink their operations and logistics strategies to maintain their mass market environment and create economies of scope for catering to wide variety while not losing economies of scale which with the presently used strategies seems impossible. With the deployment of delayed differentiation strategy it becomes viable in many situations. This paper discusses the readiness of Indian industry for taking advantage of this