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Challenges and perspectives of supply chain collaborations in the Indian

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Article in International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management · January 2010

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2010.030751
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138 Int. J. Indian Culture and Business Management, Vol. 3, No. 2, 2010
Challenges and perspectives of supply chain

collaborations in the Indian automobile sector
Arpita Khare*
LDC Institute of Management,
9, J.L. Nehru Road,
George Town, Allahabad, India
E-mail: khare.arpita@gmail.com
*Corresponding author
Anshuman Khare
Athabasca University,
301-22 Sir Winston Churchill Avenue,
St. Albert, AB, Canada T8N 1B4
Fax: +1 780 4592093
E-mail: anshuman@athabascau.Ca
Abstract: The emphasis given on improving supply chains in organisations

both by companies and academia in the past two decades shows the growing
importance of integrating manufacturing and marketing processes of
organisations. In recent years, supply networks are being recognised as
strategic tools that enable companies to fight global competitive battles. The
article studies the nature of supplier collaborations and technology’s role in
improving coordination across the supplier networks. The article provides an
insight into supplier networks of Indian automobile companies and presents
some cases to demonstrate this.
Keywords: collaborations; Indian automotive sector; partnerships; supplier

networks; technology.
Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Khare, A. and Khare, A.

(2010) ‘Challenges and perspectives of supply chain collaborations in the
Indian automobile sector’, Int. J. Indian Culture and Business Management,
Vol. 3, No. 2, pp.138–161.
Biographical notes: Arpita Khare is an Associate Professor in LDC Institute of

Management, Allahabad, India. She in an MBA graduate and DPhil Research
Scholar from the University of Allahabad and she has been teaching for about
11 years. Her areas of interest are supply chain management, consumer
behaviour, services and retail management.
Anshuman Khare is a Professor in Operations Management at Athabasca

University. He teaches operations management, sustainable development and
quantitative analysis. His research interests are Japanese business philosophy
and responsible manufacturing. He joined Athabasca University after finishing
his term as a Research Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Stiftung at the
Johannes-Gutenberg Universität Mainz, Mainz, Germany, where his research
focused on environment related techno-managerial issues in automobile
manufacturing. He has published five books and over 125 research articles.
Copyright © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

Challenges and perspectives of supply chain collaborations 139
He is listed as an Academic Expert in the areas of environmental strategy and

sustainable development, environmental manufacturing and responsible
manufacturing on Environment Canada’s Academic Expertise Database
(Government of Canada).
1 Introduction
In the business world fostered by competition, the growing concern of companies is to

formulate strategies that would entail greater satisfaction at the customer’s end. To
provide greater satisfaction entails managing supplier relationship as a competitive tool,
as shown by companies such as Dell, Wal-Mart, Nokia, P&G, Toyota, Ford, Nissan and
Honda. Linking the customer expectations and needs requires a greater understanding
about the market and using the information to develop products that meet customer
expectation. This requires a coordinated effort throughout the various functions of
organisation. Increased awareness towards understanding supply chain management as a
strategic tool and endeavour is gaining acceptance among industry circles. It is being
understood as a strategy and technology that links the various participants of the value
chain and enables better coordination. The article focuses on understanding the inherent
need amongst businesses to build close relationships with the partners and suppliers,
retailers and customers. We discuss the trend towards collaborations across supply
chains, its strategic necessity and then analyse the capability of technology in facilitating
easy flow of information, products and resources across supply chain systems. To explain
the advantages of information sharing in building competitive supply chains, we have
analysed the role of collaborations and information accessibility amongst all the partners
of the supply chain. In this perspective, the article explores two aspects of the current
supply chain networks prevalent in India. Firstly, it looks into the strategic importance of
collaborations across supply chains in making companies more globally competitive.
Secondly, it explores the dimensions of information technology as a facilitator in
cementing these collaborations across Indian automobile dealer networks.
The earlier view of logistics and supply chain as a business function is being replaced
by greater commitment towards supplier–dealer networks. Companies are focusing on
replacing their supply chain models with newer models facilitated by technology in
creating lasting relationships with their suppliers.
Earlier definitions of supply chains focused on value delivery across the company
distribution networks. According to Mentzer et al. (2001)
“Supply chain management is the systematic, strategic coordination of the
traditional business functions within a particular company and across
businesses within the supply chain, for the purposes of improving the long-term
performance of the individual companies and the supply chain as a whole.”
Companies earlier had more of adversarial relationships with their suppliers. These were
sought after for personal goal fulfilment and profits but now organisations are working
for greater coordination and mutual risk sharing. Ellram and Cooper (1990) emphasise
that supply chain management extends the concept of organisational effectiveness in
terms of integrating activities and functions between firms as well as inter-functional
coordination within a particular firm. Coordination is being perceived as beneficial to
140 A. Khare and A. Khare
both the parties, whether it is the organisation or the supplier firms. The exercise of
developing the product, designing it and then manufacturing it in close cooperation with
the suppliers and technology providers is not only in line with the idea of flexible
manufacturing but also reduces operating costs substantially. The definition of
‘Cooperation’ (Day and Klein, 1987; Stern, 1971) ‘as the joint striving towards a
common objective and goal’ can be extended to the domain of supplier networks.
Companies across the globe have realised the need to move from intra-organisational
cooperation towards more of inter-firm commitment. So supply chains in its objective
have capability to integrate with ‘others for a good, goal, or value of mutual benefit’
(Stern and Reve, 1980). The concept of intra-firm coordination has extended beyond the
peripheries of the organisation and grown to encompass the diverse business operations
and objectives of varied business firms. There have been research findings that have
emphasised upon a need for a higher level of collaboration and integration with suppliers
and customers for improved productivity and benefits (Anderson and Katz, 1998;
Lummus et al., 2001). The concept is that the companies collaborating on supply chains
act as one company, where they work together for better management of resources and
greater risk sharing. The research done by Tan et al. (1998) has highlighted that when
organisations integrate and cooperate they act as a ‘single entity’ and the performance is
improved across all functions.
The need for building closer relationships with suppliers has its roots in providing
greater satisfaction to customers. For using information available at the retailer’s end
regarding the customer, the companies need to have a collaborative relationship that
fosters trust. Narasimhan and Kim (2002) have spoken of collaborations as a major
component that enables working closely with vendors, suppliers and retailers. The use of
technology as a tool in building collaborations with suppliers is being increasingly
acknowledged. It essentially requires easy accessibility to information that would help in
better forecasting, resource planning and promotional planning. The partners would be
able to lower their inventory levels and the risks in business would be substantially
reduced for the suppliers and retailers. The advent of internet has made it possible to
lower the cost of employing techniques that enable information sharing. Spiegel (2001)
has spoken of internet as a tool that can lower the cost in the supply chain especially in
the case of small- and mid-sized companies. Internet also provides a direct connection
with all the partners and suppliers of the supply chain, if they are all online (McCormick,
2001). The use of internet widely for supply chain management is getting wide
acceptance and companies are able to reduce their technology implementation costs by
transferring information regarding products and demand through internet. In country like
India, where adopting technology at all levels of supply chain is difficult, internet has
provided an alternative means of sharing data and information amongst all the
participants. Coyle et al. (2003) have pointed towards the ease of access and cost benefits
as a major driver to adoption of internet.
The aspirations of the customers across the globe have led to multitude of innovations
and to delivery time compressions. In this era of technological breakthroughs, the focus
has shifted from manufacturing towards more customer-centric management solutions.
“Concurrent engineering involves faster product development, flexible
manufacturing, tailored logistics, and time based strategies to respond to
changing markets” (Cespedes, 1996).
Some strategies in supply chains like ‘build-to-stock-based strategy’ (Chandra et al.,

2001; Gunasekaran and Ngai, 2005; Lyon et al., 2006; Sen et al., 2004) were proposed
for providing better service efficiencies in supply chains. Over the years many supply
chain initiatives have been propagated that have discussed the efficiency perspective such
as Just-in-time supply chains (JIT) (Aigbedo, 2006), agile Supply Chains (Yusuf et al.,
2004) and lean supply chains (Kainuma and Tawara, 2006). The efficient handling of the
production process requires managing inventories and quality. The external market forces
compel companies to be agile in responding to the customer needs and this essentially
requires managing both the upstream and downstream suppliers and vendors.
“Just as concurrent engineering improves manufacturing responsiveness,
companies wrestling with rapid change in today’s markets adopt concurrent
marketing” (Cespedes, 1996).
This may have been the strategic marketing thinking a decade earlier, but innovations are
no longer restricted to marketing or operations. They extend across the whole network of
suppliers, service providers and dealers. Coordination across business functions like
manufacturing, marketing and global procurement is becoming very essential. The article
looks into the role of technology in creating faster access to information across the
companies in India and how it intends to lead to greater efficiency and customer
satisfaction.
2 Supply chain collaborations
In industry collaboration occurs when companies work together for mutual profitability.
As competition is being fought more on the fast availability of information and products,
supply chain has emerged from being back end function to being a front-end strategy.
The very nature of working with the suppliers is undergoing a change in perception.
Supply chains’ partners leverage each other’s operational capabilities for strategic
benefit. Thus collaborations can occur at all points along the value chain-from design the
product to distribution. It enables the companies to effectively handle information flows
leading to cutting processing time, eliminating non-value-added activities. This leads to
improving ‘quality, accuracy, and asset productivity- all of which are fundamental to long
term success’ (Bowersox et al., 2005). Lambe and Spekman (1997) define an alliance as
a collaborative relationship among firms to achieve a common goal that each firm could
not accomplish alone. The challenge lies in converting the different business ideologies
of the collaborating companies/suppliers into mutual risk and profit sharing partnerships.
It requires focusing on transformation of business processes and integrating them to meet
the requirements of the market. The technical and behavioural perceptions of the
collaborating supplier companies have to be worked upon for building trust across supply
chains. This essentially requires time, effort and managerial skills. It entails recognising
the potential of the various suppliers, vendors, distributors, logistic providers and other
intermediaries and their role in building an efficient supply chain network.
The partnerships in the supply chain are configured as business relationships. They
are based on trust, ‘shared risk and shared rewards that yield a competitive advantage,
resulting in business performance greater than would be achieved by firms individually’
(Lambert et al., 1996). With companies operating in different parts of the globe, there is
an increased pressure to build relationships with different kinds of firms for
manufacturing and assembling the product. The close integration with the suppliers helps
companies in expanding across national boundaries and catering to a whole gamut of
customer needs across the globe. It involves joint planning in product development,
organising the procurement and distribution processes, controlling the manufacturing,
quality and inventory levels and then finally identifying the channels or networks for
making the product available to the customer. Lassar and Zinn (1995) suggested that
successful relationships aim to integrate supply chain policy to avoid redundancy and
overlap, while seeking a level of cooperation that allows participants to be more effective
at lower costs levels.
The organisations that earlier focused on keeping information regarding product
development and engineering technicalities safely guarded from the suppliers are now
looking at the suppliers as partners. The difficulty lies in integrating with the operational
part of the business. Many suppliers of the companies may not be possessing state of the
art technologies or quality compatibility requirements. Also, as suppliers are separated
from the company physically, their commitment towards the efficiency perspective gets
diluted. Global companies that have been successfully managing their supplier networks
are essentially using production and technological standards for coordination.
2.1 Coordinating across supply chains for competitive advantage

The coordination in supply chain requires integration of all the processes from sourcing,
manufacturing and distribution – keeping this into consideration a study was conducted to
look into the collaborations undertaken by Indian companies with their downstream
suppliers. Many companies have understood that managing relationships across supply
chain requires monitoring closely the technological and managerial expertise of the
various suppliers. It requires involving suppliers with the cost control and quality
initiatives of the company and ascertaining their level of commitment towards the
partnership. They are constantly endeavouring to reduce the supplier base to a
manageable number making it possible to build close relationships that can be developed
and nurtured with time. For example, Nortel Networks moved from vertical integration to
‘virtual integration’. It sold 15 of its manufacturing plants across the globe and
concentrated on building its core competency of manufacturing high-performance
internet networks. The various suppliers of the company have expertise in the particular
components that they supply to the company. This gives the company the flexibility to
spend more time in planning for technological innovations rather than coordinating its
manufacturing plants. With the help of internet, the company can post its component
requirements to its various suppliers and it enables suppliers also to respond faster to the
company’s needs.
The benefits that any company can get from coordinating within the supply chain are
immense. ‘Participating firms work together to resolve disputes through mechanisms that
support joint problem solving’ (Monczka et al., 1998; Salmond and Spekman, 1986).
Toyota with its world-class manufacturing works in close coordination with its suppliers
and involves them in devising techniques that would lead to cost savings and better
returns. The greatest challenge for companies working together relates to organising the
operations where the parties get benefit from the relationships. Today supply chain is
developing into a customer-focused endeavour that not only focuses on pursuing
efficiency but recognises a need to capture market trends, subtleties of demand. The
greater coordination across supply chain members can lead the organisation to pursue
differentiation (Christopher, 2005; Godsell and Harrison, 2002; Womack and Jones,
2005). Supply chains have to be designed to meet the customer requirements. There is a
lack of awareness amongst companies to design and build their supply chains according
to customer needs. Zokaei and Simons (2006) have discussed this lack of focus towards
customer needs in their research, and have cited it as being one of the causes of
inefficiency and ineffectiveness. Another aspect of managing supplier relationships is the
role played by information technology. Increasingly information technology is being
recognised as an important factor in fostering relationships. In India, companies are
integrating their supply chains by using technology as an enabler in capturing real time
data regarding sales and inventories. The article explores the usage level of IT in
automobile sector in India and its impact in revolutionarising supply chains.
3 Information technology’s role in fostering partnerships
3.1 Importance of information across supply chains

The test of competency of the supply chain is based upon the capability to take strategic
decisions fast and be quick to react to the changes of the demand and supply. In the
dynamic business environment, information is becoming an essential component that is
making supply chains efficient. The pressure on the supply chains is in enabling
companies being better equipped to manage their customer needs. This means that there
is an inevitable emphasis on the ability of supply chains to adapt product manufacturing
according to market needs. Information ideally should bring suppliers, distributors and
logistics providers into the purview of organisational supplier network configurations.
‘Every supply chain has an information chain that parallels the flow of product’
(Andel, 1997).
“Without information relayed at the right time to the right place, there are no
purchase orders, no shipment messages, no payments, no coordinated
marketing and sales efforts and supply chain shuts down” (Zuckerman, 1998).
The very existence of supply chain is based upon timely exchange of accurate
information. Supply chain management functions on information. The purpose is ‘the
exchange of substantial amount of information among buyers, suppliers, and carriers to
increase the efficiency and effectiveness of the supply chain’ (Carter et al., 1995).
The rules of business that focused earlier on marketing or creating innovative
products earlier no longer promise any kind of profitability. The growing
internationalisation of operations, outsourcing of functions, customer driven market
philosophies are fast mobilising businesses to use newer strategies for corporate success.
Integrating business organisations across global networks is the call of the day.
Information technology is being understood as a force that might give superior
competencies in operations worldwide. As the product life cycles becoming shorter and
technologies becoming obsolete faster, companies strive to deliver better quality products
to their customers quickly. In the pursuit of being the most efficient in catering to the
needs of diverse customers, managers are striving to build agile supply networks.
Information is recognised as a competitive tool for profitability. ‘Managers have
identified information substitution- the intensive use of information to achieve better
control and visibility’ (Perry, 1991). ‘Accurate, timely information facilitates better
decision making. Substituting information for inventory assets influences strategic

decisions and enables significant cost reductions’ (Rogers et al., 1992). Earlier research
highlights the importance of collaborations and partnerships in harnessing capabilities in
fighting competition and reducing costs substantially.
“A survey conducted by Gustin et al. (1995) found that the successful
implementation of integrated logistics concept was related to high levels of
information availability. More information provides greater decision-making
capabilities at the strategic, tactical, and operational level. Gustin et al. (1995)
also found that companies with integrated logistics functions exhibited
enhanced information system performance compared with nonintegrated
companies” (Mentzer, 2004).
Partnerships amongst suppliers and the company can only be developed on the platform
of information sharing. As manufacturing technologies become complex, involving
suppliers in production becomes beneficial. Companies developing close relationships
with suppliers have benefited from technology sharing collaborations.
3.2 Information technology in supply chains

Information systems need of the supply chains depend upon the information needs of the
companies and the markets they are catering to. In a research conducted by Larson and
Kulchitsky (2008) technology was identified as major force that enables information
sharing amongst the buyers and the suppliers in the supply chain ‘across the following
type of information: inventory status, sales data, shipment schedules, demand forecasts,
order status and production schedules’. The current research is similar in its objective; it
explores the benefits of information sharing between the manufacturers and the suppliers
across the supply networks. No doubt different product categories have different
information sharing needs based upon their supply chain strategies. Fashion industry
needs vary from the automobile manufacturers; food chain’s needs vary from that of
computer chip’s manufacturers. Information has to be available for the participants to
take timely action. ERP systems have enabled companies to exchange information within
the different functions of the organisations, leading to reduction in the time to process
orders, shorter cycle times and better managed inventories. It was important to create ‘a
single, integrated system, thereby streamlining data flows throughout an organisation and
promising dramatic gains in a company’s efficiency and bottom line’ (Davenport, 1998).
Electronic data interchange is being used in linking the vendors, suppliers to the
organisation. The inter-company relationships are now being developed on technology to
enable greater flexibility. ‘In many supply chains long term strategic relationships are
replacing the short term transactional relationships of the past, and EDI is often the glue
that ties long-term relationships together’ (Bowersox, 1988; Williams, 1994). The new
systems such as ERP and web-based technology are being accepted as mechanisms of
business change. These systems include future planning data also apply decision-support
tools that can use different kinds of databases for decision-making. Information sharing
through technology is supporting decision-making in a complex environment (Handfield
and Nicholas, 2002). The impact and use e-business initiatives in supply chain lead to
greater coordination across the functions enabling towards better collaboration and
integrated supply chain models (Cagliano et al., 2003; Chandreshekar and Schary, 1999;
Johnson and Whang, 2002; Lancioni et al., 2003; Marchewka and Towell, 2000; McIvor
and Humphreys, 2004). Researchers like Frohlich and Westbrook (2001) have
emphasised that supply chain integration through e-business has led to establishment of
stronger relational ties amongst the various supply chain partners. E-business can be
viewed as having a major role in changing not only supply chain structures but also
supply chain coordination relationships (Giannakis and Croom, 2004).
Companies are switching over to newer virtual electronic medium and the traditional
sectors are also focusing on newer interactive technologies in developing better control
over their operations. Cisco’s e-hub enables the multiple tiers of its suppliers to be linked
to the company helping it to identify demand and supply problems and permitting
resolution of these problems (Lee and Whang, 2001). This kind of virtual activity entails
greater participation of the suppliers in product development, as customers are
demanding more visibility in the service performance perspective. Mahindra and
Mahindra in India like Ford and GM has web-enabled forum where the customers
actively participate in designing their own automobiles and tracking their orders from the
manufacturing plant to the dealer.
“The extension is obvious—all items of stable or relatively standard
consumption can be ordered via the internet, with past patterns of use driving
automated replenishment and home delivery. This combination suits the hectic
lifestyle of many modern consumers who look to fulfil their everyday needs as
conveniently as possible” (Bovet and Sheffi, 1998).
Ford has, by using technology, improved several key areas of its operations like ‘supplier
lead time, packager and throughput time, warehouse receipt and item availability time,
and transportation’ (Bowman, 2004). These kinds of endeavours are essentially enabling
companies in having a closer integration across supply chains.
The Wal-Mart and P& G collaboration stands testimony to the initiatives
materialising into cost and inventory reductions. Many companies in retail are designing
their supply chains tailored according to Wal-Mart supply networks.
“Campbell establishes electronic data exchange (EDI) links with retailers.
Every morning retailers electronically inform the company of their demand for
all Campbell products and the level of inventories in their distribution centres.
Campbell uses that information to forecast future demand and to determine
which products require replenishment based on upper and lower inventory
limits previously established with each retailer” (Fisher, 1997).
Technologies such as point-of-sales data, efficient consumer-response, automated
warehousing, continuous replenishment, collaborative forecasting are being increasingly
used to make the supply chains more flexible and responsive to customer needs. And
these are being used to enhance the capabilities of the suppliers and distributors in
delivering their best for competitive advantage of the companies. Better information
regarding the demand fluctuations in the markets enables companies to adapt their
manufacturing accordingly. To track the uncertainties of demand and market requires
having systems that provide access to information. This information can be easily
available, if partnerships are built with distributors, dealers and retailers who have exact
information about customers’ preferences.
4 Technology leverage in the Indian supply chains
“In developing a high-performing value system, organisations are continually

faced with the challenge of managing the ‘people’ part of the equation.
Relationship management affects all areas of supply chain and has a dramatic
impact on performance” (Handfield and Nicholas, 2002).
Even though the importance of information sharing cannot be underestimated, technology
usage in Indian firms is still limited. The dealer/suppliers are connected to the company’s
portal only in big cities. The other aspect is that technology is not being used for
decision-making; rather its use is restricted to sharing information regarding the
company’s policies. While working on this research, there was a realisation that
implementation of technology has to be substantially increased. To get the advantage of
technology in reducing operating costs, it requires working on building business systems
supported by the e-business infrastructure that helps in reducing inventory levels and
providing greater control over the supply chain. E-business allows companies to not only
benefit from reduced inventory levels, but also facilitates greater customer service
benefits (Muffatto and Payaro, 2004; Papazoglou et al., 2000; Vakharia, 2002).
The Indian companies are in the nascent stage of adopting technological imperatives
in managing their supply chains. The relationship with the vendors, suppliers and
distributors is not based on actual ‘collaborations’ as its more prevalent in the Western
companies. To be truly global in nature requires working with the multitude of supplier
networks and re-configuring the supply chain according to the changing market
conditions. The Indian supply chains are still traditional in their approach and as the case
maybe the performance is difficult to measure. ‘In complex relationship in which
performance is difficult to measure, profit or income sharing based on incentive schemes
is an important cooperation mechanism’ (Grandori and Soda, 1995).
In the automobile sector, competition in India has increased with the entry of global
companies. The global automobile manufacturers have the advantage of global
economies of scale as well established supplier networks across countries. These
automobile majors have already re-engineered their supply chains according to the
customer’s just-in-time requirements. In the initiative to reconfigure and focus on the key
performance parameters, companies have revamped their traditional distribution
channels. When drawing comparison with Indian manufactures, the back-end
coordination is still not in a position to translate into major cost savings. During this
research, it was understood that global companies are quicker to use information
technology across distribution networks even in India.
Information sharing can benefit both the parties, and can make them improve their
relationships with the end customers. Many companies have the ‘win-win approach’
towards reward sharing. Information regarding new product launches, promotional
campaigns initiated by the company, production schedules, forecasts for future purchases,
and suppliers’ cost data if shared with all the concerned parties can benefit the partners.
‘Wal-Mart is very open and willing to work with its vendors, shares point of sales data
with suppliers, and has employees communicate with suppliers’ employees on regular
basis’ (Gill and Abend, 1996). IBM and Caterpillar have information systems that
anticipate equipment failures and send alerts to the technicians in the field about the
nature of the problem with the tools and parts required to fix it. Such kind centralised
databases enable companies to manage the integral part of their marketing and production
function. Linking data about customer’s past behaviour and purchase patterns can make
targeting decisions more focused and effectively planned. Technology’s role in changing
the whole perspective of efficiency and supplier coordination cannot be underestimated.
Many research works have cited evidence of growing advantages that e-business and
collaboration can provide to companies such as better planning, execution and
involvement of the supplier in product development and marketing activities (Fliedner,
2003; McIvor et al., 2003). However, technology can only provide the backbone for
relationships, the strategic part has to be explored and accordingly planned by
organisations. Over time, there has been a growing need and emphasis on developing
information systems that facilitate electronic collaborations facilitated by web-based
models or internet. These systems have enhanced cooperation over various decision areas
such as easy sharing of information and improved partners’ profitability (Cheng et al.,
2006).
Some of Indian companies that have been able to transform their business by using
backward and forward integration through technology are moving ahead in achieving
cost benefits. With technology promising the advantage of integration throughout the
supply chain, Oil & Natural Gas Corporation (ONGC), has implemented technology in its
operations. The procurement process has become more efficient across the supplier
network, ONGC has implemented the software from SAP and the supplier relationship
software enables the company to improve visibility across the supply chain. This has also
gone a long way in improving its relationship with its suppliers. The e-tendering process
of ONGC has improved the company’s reach and also helped it to get better prices
(SAP, 2006). Tata Steel has done a major restructuring of its supply chain. The IT
initiative is helping the company in monitoring replenishment time from the upstream
manufacturing operations to the plant warehouses, regional warehouse and finally to
customer. Technology is facilitating daily reporting about consumption of steel at various
levels of supply chain. The use of technology has improved production and logistics
planning; thus reducing waste and inventory carrying costs.
Supply and distribution planning at Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited
(HPCL) was a challenge. The company has a large logistics network spread across the
country. The plans that were created using Microsoft Excel, could not handle the
complex data of planning distribution across 500 storage points, 17 cross-country
pipelines, 170 local pipelines, 700 rail linkages and two refineries. By implementing ERP
solution from Honeywell, the company not only significantly cut down on cost but also
was able to better coordinate across its supply chain network. Technology adoption
enabled the company in building closer relationships with its suppliers and distribution
points.
Godrej Industries was faced with the challenge of improving internal business and to
align its processes to build greater coordination across its supply chain. The company
came up with an initiative called ‘Sampark’ that had brought all its distributors under one
forum. Then it went to widen the scope to connect its retailers through an IT initiative
called ‘Sampurna’. Sampurna is designed with the motive to improve Godrej’s
relationship with its retailers while reducing retailer’s inventory levels to a minimum.
With the deployment of Sampurna, all supply chain areas would be integrated. Godrej
has also implemented a customised ERP suite for its distributors for daily accounting,
material receipts, billing and inventory.
‘Over the last half century, supply chains have moved from the domain of a single
company (such as the vertically integrated Ford River Rouge plant) to a web of suppliers
and their suppliers’ (Sheffi, 2005). There has been a major change in the kind of product
required by companies from commodity materials and parts to highly engineered

sophisticated products. Outsourcing has become a strategic imperative as a result it puts
additional pressure on supply networks. Companies are looking towards partners who
would be able to provide them technically superior quality components to match with
their sophisticated production systems and needs. In the automobile sector, there is a
huge pressure on the OEMs in catering to the ever-changing technologies of the
automobile sector. While drawing comparisons on the global parameters, it can be said
that OEMs in India are also awakening to the competitive requirements of global
companies operating in the country. Depending for technology and semi-finished
products on suppliers requires companies to rely on the expertise of their suppliers.
Collaborations enable companies to work strongly on their core competencies while
taking advantage of low labour costs and expertise of their suppliers. To have greater
access to suppliers’ innovations in technology enables companies to upgrade their own
production and processes. In this section, certain cases of Indian organisations are cited to
emphasise the adoption of technology to improve supply chain efficiency.
4.1 Supply chain integration in Indian automobile sector

4.1.1 Mahindra & Mahindra
Mahindra & Mahindra has been one of the first Indian companies to implement the new
business model to cut down its operating cost and provide better visibility to all its
partners and customers. The reengineering promises to bring the stakeholders, supply
chain partners and customers under the purview of information accessibility. The
technological initiatives in the area of SCM and CRM would not only enable the
company to provide increased connectivity but also create greater loyalty amongst
company’s stakeholders. The company’s IT initiative called Performance at Customer
Elation (PACE) is designed to create greater satisfaction for the customer through
improved service levels and electronic payment and clearance facilities (SAP, 2002). The
Company’s tie-up with different banks would enable it extend the online payment facility
to its vast network of dealers and customers across the country. The dealers are now
considered company’s partners and are equipped with more information regarding the
products of the company. ‘The Quality Leadership’ programs at the dealer level are
designed to cater to the growing need of the company to create value in their
relationships.
“Sometimes the relationship with supplier goes beyond products to reach at the
human level that surpass all commercial considerations. To illustrate, a supplier
of castings located at Kolhapur suddenly expired. M&M instead of terminating
the contract and finding some other supplier, supported his wife and helped her
to run the unit till she became confident of doing it on her own” (Kulkarni and
Sharma, 2004).
4.1.2 Maruti Suzuki

Since competition increased after liberalisation in the Indian car market, Maruti Udyog
Ltd (MUL), India’s largest passenger car manufacturer, was forced to not only improve
its quality of products that it offered to the customer but also reorganise its supply chain.
Foreign car manufacturers’ entry into the Indian market had meant not only bringing
down the price of the vehicle but also pressurised company to look at ways to improve its
performance. Supply chain was understood as a key area that would enable the company
to streamline its operations strategically to attain substantial cost reduction from
production to distribution. The company is dependent on over 300 suppliers for some
7,000 components to be used in manufacturing its different models of cars (Varadarajan,
2002). Reengineering efforts thus were focused towards bringing about a close
coordination with the company’s varied vendors. This enabled the company to achieve
not only cost rationalisation but also helped it keeping a check on quality of the
components. The benefits could be passed on to the vendors. The company implemented
innovative techniques for materials handling and thus reduced wastages; localising the
manufacture of certain components also reduced problems in materials handling and cut
down logistics cost. The company created manufacturing schedules that were issued
every fortnight and it was aligned with the online inventory replenishment system. The
company could reduce inventory levels and the vendors had to only produce what was
indented. MUL is slowly extending its inventory management system of electronic card
system across its entire network of suppliers. Their cost control effort has benefited
MUL’s major suppliers like JK Industries, Lucas TVS and Kalyani Brakes.
4.1.3 Bajaj Auto

With the entry of Japanese manufacturers in the Indian two-wheeler market in the 1990s,
Bajaj Auto, which was the market leader, awoke to the realisation that its well-entrenched
position was under threat. The Indian customer was looking for sleeker and smarter
vehicles to suit his changing lifestyle and aspirations. Even though the company’s
vehicles gave the customer a cost advantage, he was no longer interested in the old
outdated designs when there were other manufacturers providing more variety. The
market share of the company dropped to 39.8% in 1998 from 49.3% in 1994 and its share
in the scooter market fell to 64.8 from 74.8%. To counter react to the challenge Bajaj
Auto went for technological tie-ups with Austria’s AVL for technology to improve
vehicle emissions and fuel economy; Australia’s Orbital engine company for combustion
systems; and Tokyo R& D for engine design. In the Auto Fair held in New Delhi in 1998,
the company launched 17 new models of vehicles (Ghoshal et al., 2000). The marketing
strategy was revised by doubling the advertising budget; the company launched dealer
development programs, standardisation and modernisation of the dealer network,
organising regular dealer conferences. Bajaj mySap Enterprise portal was created to
cover the sales force and the dealers of the company. It provided access to all kinds of
information about the company like latest news, new product launches and internal
marketplace developments. This has enabled the company in reducing inventory
levels, developing better coordination across its supply chain partners by cutting the
non-value-adding activities.
4.1.4 Ford India

“Ford Motor Company India was established with an investment of US$ 351.1
million under single window policy at Maraimalai Nagar, near Chennai in
1995. With a total workforce of 900, the company is currently manufacturing
three models with a number of variants and is one of the key players in the
Indian automotive industry. Ford Endeavour captured over 40 per cent of the
emerging SUV market within six months of its launch. The company plans to
export vehicles from the Chennai plant to various destinations, owing to the
incentives offered by the State Government. The Ford Ikon is India's largest
exported car in the mid-size car segment” (GOI, 2006).
Ford announced its e-business strategy in 1999, Ford was set to revolutionarise the auto
industry, by using the internet. Ford announced ‘Build to order’ model for manufacturing
so as to provide customised benefit to the customers.
4.1.5 Hyundai Motor India Ltd

“Hyundai Motor India Ltd is a subsidiary of Hyundai Motor Company, South
Korea and was established at Irrunattukottia, near Chennai, in 1997 with an
initial investment of US$ 614 million. The plant presently is the largest
manufacturing facility of Hyundai Motor Company outside Korea. Hyundai is
the second largest and the fastest growing car manufacturer in the country.
Hyundai presently markets over 18 variants of passenger cars across four
models. The company emerged as the second largest exporter of passenger cars
from the country” (GOI, 2006).
Indian companies, especially in the automobile sector are combating competition from
global companies by integrating their dealer networks. The importance of collaborations
is being increasingly recognised in the Indian companies. Collaborations and partnership
are giving the benefit of expanding into global markets for the Indian entrepreneurs. As
more technological dependency grows on the supplier networks, the engineering and
technical prowess of companies is being developed. Some companies like Tata Motors,
Maruti Suzuki India, and Mahindra & Mahindra have developed interactive websites
were procurement of components with the suppliers is possible. Supply chain integration
has been done with the changing trends of the industry, but still technology adaptability is
in the rudimentary stage.
The other aspect of the supply chain is the customer perspective. For meeting the
demands of the dealers on timely basis, ordering and inventory cost has to be reduced.
For the company, it is of prime importance that dealers should have a satisfactory
relationship with the company and also may be able to meet the pressing demands of the
customers. As in the recent years there has been an overwhelming growth of the Indian
automobile sector, with increase in sales of small- and mid-sized car segments, it has
become important for car manufacturers to make products available across all the dealers
in the country. With changes in design, features and quality specifications constantly
adding pressure to the companies, supply chain integration leads to optimising the
operations.
5 The dealer/distributor collaborations in automobile sector
5.1 Research methodology

To understand the changing market trends and how dealers are being integrated with the
company’s supply chain network, a study was undertaken at a primary level to identify
the causes of customer dissatisfaction with the automobile manufacturers. A pilot test
was conducted through unstructured open-ended questionnaire, whereby the dealers’

expectations were recorded. The outcome of that initial survey provided the details about
the customers’ expectations and the problems that are still a part of the dealer–supplier
networks in Indian automobile sector.
In this research, a structured questionnaire was administered on the dealers across the
northern part of the country. The objective of the research was to understand the
supplier–dealer network of the automobile sector. Also the objective was to comprehend
the level of technology integration amongst the manufacturers and the dealers, to reduce
cycle times. Similar to the research conducted by Larson and Kulchitsky (2008) the
purpose was to comprehend how technology facilitated sharing information regarding
inventory status, order status, sales data and shipment schedules. The hypothesis drawn
was that in a country like India, technology is still unable to provide operational cost
advantage, as it should be. The primary idea was to explore the reasons behind the
inability of the companies to integrate the downstream supply chains.
x H0 = Information Technology is able to integrate the supply chain networks in the
Indian sub-continent for competitive advantage and operational efficiencies.
x H1 = Adaptation of Information Technology for operational efficiencies in the
supply chain networks is not to the fullest.
The study was undertaken of dealers of Mahindra & Mahindra, General Motors, Ford,
Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai catering to the Indian customers. The objective was to
decipher the ramifications of technology and its usage in cutting down inventory levels at
the dealer outlets. The research attempted to understand the cost savings and improved
accessibility of information due to integration in the supply chain through information
technology. The industrial sector selected was automobiles in order to make comparisons
across the different car manufacturers.
Total dealers surveyed were 50 in different cities of the automobile companies like
Ford India, Hyundai India, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra & Mahindra and General Motors.
The selection criteria used for identifying the dealers was their scale of operations in a
city. In the big cities the number of dealers was more than one whereas in smaller cities
the number of dealers per company was only one. In some cases a dealer was stocking
automobile models of more than one manufacturer. This was to give cost advantage to
dealer as the demand of automobiles varied from city to city. In the big cities, the models
of foreign car manufacturers were more popular and consequently the dealers were
having more collaboration with the manufacturer.
The research focused upon understanding the exact usage pattern of technology at
dealer levels and how it is instrumental in cutting down inventory levels. The survey was
conducted at various outlets of six cities in Northern India and results were consistent
regarding the technology usage at various automobile dealers and manufacturers.
6 Results and analysis
6.1 Findings
A summary of findings is presented in Table 1 below.
The study highlighted three important aspects:
1 Technology has found wide acceptance in the manufacturing companies’ supply

chains. More and more collaborations are being built on platforms to facilitate
information sharing. The technology primarily being used is ERP. In some cases as
Maruti Udyog, Hyundai Motors and Mahindra & Mahindra implementation of ERP
is being given top priority. However the ERP implementation is being done in phases
where the bigger dealers of the company are being identified and ERP is being rolled
out to provide better integration with the company.
2 Using software is helping dealers/retailers/distributors in cutting down inventory
levels and stocking only those vehicles, which are required by the customers. As the
lead-time has also been substantially reduced, the orders placed by customers can be
efficiently met with minimum delay. The software being used is mentioned in
Table 1.
3 Most of the supply chain partners surveyed told that deployment of technology is at
the rudimentary stage. More benefits would be achieved once technology totally
takes up all the partners in the company fold. They were happy with the cost
advantages these partnerships have given them. The ‘rudimentary stage’ is identified
the very basic stage of technology integration. It essentially meant migrating from
telephone and e-mail kind of systems to a more visible platform that linked the
dealer with the company on a daily basis. This was enabling the dealers to send sales
reports more quickly to the company. The focus of this integration was primarily for
sales forecasting, ordering and maintaining sales reports. This is least advanced stage
as many dealers do not have knowledge of technology and in many cases cannot
operate a computer. This is an inhibiting force in the supply chain integration.
From Table 2, the total number of dealers surveyed can be visualised. Also it is important
to add that the basic level of technology integration is ERP where only some information
is being shared. In case of small dealers (who stock only 2–3 models of the manufacturer)
there is no ERP implementation. The ordering is done on telephone based upon the
orders. The dealers are not interested in stocking excess number of models even for
display. The cities were classified according to their size and population (GOI, 2006) and
dealers were selected accordingly. One important aspect was that dealers who were
stocking more than one manufacturer’s models were not considered for the research, as
there was little scope of collaboration and supplier relationship management.
Table 1 Use of technology to build supplier relationships
Total number Lead time

dealers (from factory Forecasting IT tool used
Company across India to dealer) techniques in SRM
Ford India Ltd 49 7 days Intuitive/Past Sales AUTODEAL
Hyundai India 183 12–14 days Intuitive/Past Sales GDMS (Global
Dealers Management
Systems)
Maruti Suzuki 200 4–5 days Intuitive/Past Sales DMS (Dealer
India Management system)
Mahindra & 400 5–7 days Intuitive/Past Sales MySAP SRM
Mahindra
General Motors 45 7 days Intuitive/Past Sales SUPPLY POWER
Table 2 Survey details
Number of Technology used

Company dealers surveyed for integration Types of information shared
Ford India Ltd. 05 EDI & ERP Inventory status; sales data;
demand and supply information,
order status.
Hyundai India 10 ERP Inventory status; sales data;
demand and supply information,
order status.
Maruti Suzuki India 15 ERP Inventory status; sales data;
order status
Mahindra & Mahindra 15 ERP Inventory status; sales data;
order status; production
schedules.
General Motors 05 EDI & ERP Inventory status; sales data;
order status; demand status.
6.2 Analysis – building collaborations in Indian automobile supply chains

As stated earlier, the research was targeted towards identifying the extent of technology
in building supplier/dealer relationships in Indian automobile sector. The purpose of this
research was to find the extent of supplier collaborations taking place in the Indian
automobile sector.
1 The results showed that there is an increased concern towards cementing
collaborations with the downstream suppliers by companies. Automobile companies,
those that were surveyed, demonstrated technological adaptation for better control
over their markets and production processes. All the companies were working on
EDI systems and some of them were in the process of installing ERP systems to
improve the order and sales data sharing information. Companies like Maruti Suzuki
and Mahindra and Mahindra were having a huge network of dealers across the
country but they had prioritised the supplier relationship module implementation
with those dealers that gave them maximum sales. In case of Hyundai, it was still a
bit slow in integrating with the dealers. The forecasting was primarily intuitive and
based on earlier sales patterns. The dealers were also not aware about the company’s
policies and new schemes for customers. Ford and GM dealers were having a close
integration with the company, where the manufacturers were constantly maintaining
contacts with the dealers and helping them in case of any problems.
2 Working in close coordination has proved be beneficial for companies. Sharing
information regarding company policies, new product launches and technological
changes leads to better understanding amongst the company and its suppliers. All the
dealers surveyed agreed that technology has helped them in reducing the inaccuracy
in the sales and has also reduced lead times. They were able to offer greater variety
of the models to the customers and it had led to increased satisfaction amongst
customers. Also interaction with the company was helping in launching new
promotional schemes for the customers, like providing loan facilities, providing
better after sales-service and as in case of Maruti launching the ‘driving school
concept’ where customers were being taught to drive cars through the dealers.
3 The information sharing ‘system supports the use of common database and the
sharing of information across functions and divisions. It supports more effective
(cross-functional) team performance and is likely to lead to the elimination of gaps’
(Cohen et al., 1997). Similar kind of trend was visible in the supply chain
collaborations in India. The companies were focusing towards strengthening their
relationship with the dealers by sharing closely the information about the products
and their availability. For enhancing the quality of relationship with the dealers,
companies were providing training and also assistance to the dealers in form of
financial support to install the ERP and they were also sending consultants to train
the salespeople run the software. In the survey it was found that nearly eighty percent
(41 dealers) of the dealers did not have the financial resources to implement
technology totally by themselves. They were being supported by the company
financially and also through professional help. The company personnel regularly
visited the dealers and helped them to create sales reports, inventory status reports,
shipment details and news about new product launches.
4 The level of cross-functional coordination prevalent in the international automobile
sector is not yet apparent in the Indian sector. However, big auto majors in the
country are closely working towards integration in the domain of design and product
development with their component providers within the country and also in the
international arena. The collaborations and coordination apparent through the
research merely focused on sales report sharing, reports on inventory status and
placing orders online. The level collaborations cannot be said to be strategic.
However, in case of Maruti Suzuki and Mahindra & Mahindra, there was
collaboration regarding sharing of information about customer preferences. The level
of information sharing was to only facilitate the maintenance of appropriate records
for the manufacturer.
5 Many researchers in supply chain collaborations have spoken of coordinating the
manufacturing, marketing and distribution functionalities. It was seen in the findings
of the research that companies are trying to use technology to centralise the
procurement, billing, ordering, and promotional endeavours. Dwyer and Tanner
(1999) propose internal partnering among functions as marketing, purchasing,
manufacturing, engineering (R&D) and finance. This would essentially require the
downstream and upstream suppliers of the company to have compatible IT
architecture that would enable them to seek cost optimisation. There was no evidence
of ‘partnering’. Only 6 out of 50 dealers were having ‘good relationships’ with the
company. Here good maybe defined in the form of concessions they got from the
company, the advantage they got to stock new models of the vehicle as soon as it
was launched and the new promotional schemes were launched with them.
6 The implications of these research work is immense, companies are focusing on
developing long term relationships within their processes to maximise profits. As is
apparent from the study undertaken in the automobile sector, the Indian supply chain
networks are undergoing a major upheaval. The importance of forging supplier/
distributor relationships is being widely acknowledged and adapted in organisations.
The Indian companies are changing their organisational structures to build
cross-functional teams for integrating their supply chains to make the most of
technological changes. Lambert et al. (1998) have proposed that the key processes of
the supply chain should be integrated: selling, customer order fulfilment,

manufacturing flow, procurement, and product management. The advantage clearly
stated by the majority of dealers was regarding reduction in lead-time in order
fulfilment. ‘It has enabled us in developing better relationship with the customers’
said some of the dealers. They all were of the opinion that the competition in
automobile sector was intensive and customers had become demanding, if service
was appropriate customers came back.
7 As proposed through the research of Galbraith (1977), Jaworski and Kohli (1993)
and Van de Ven and Ferry (1980) interaction activities with suppliers include
committee meeting, teleconferencing, conference calls, hall talk, memoranda, and
the exchange of standard documents. However, these traditional interaction media
have been replaced by e-mails, company websites, interactive websites- that help the
dealers and the customers to get information on time. The Indian automobile dealers
are sharing information about the sales on a daily basis with the company. This has
led to revolution in the ordering process and has been able to drastically cut down
inventory holding costs.
8 Information technology has added another dimension towards information sharing
and building teams across supply chains. The basic function of supply chains is to
focus on customer satisfaction and retention. And collaborating with suppliers is an
effort towards achieving these goals of supply chains. Kohli and Jaworski (1990)
posit that the marketing concept consists of three pillars: customer focus, coordinated
marketing, and profitability. The idea behind coordination is to instil in the supply
chain partners a philosophy towards goal-oriented marketing which solely focuses on
greater customer satisfaction. The culture of cooperation enables companies to not
only attain competitive advantage but also to achieve inter-organisational
cooperation. As virtual organisations are becoming more popular and technology is
being extensively used to create platforms of coordination, supply chains face greater
challenge.
“Virtual organisations are collaborative network of employees, linked by
integrated computer and information technologies that allow organisations to
create more flexible structures designed to maximise the experience and
expertise of their employees and make it available wherever needed”
(Anderson and Vincze, 2000).
For analysing the supplier relationships in India; ‘The Cox Model’ (1996) has been used
which looks into the nature of supplier relationships and how it promises competitive
advantage to Indian companies. The model shows the different stages of evolution of
partnerships with the suppliers (Figure 1). As companies realise the inevitability of
supplier collaborations, their objective shifts towards more focused approach. The
companies work with their suppliers in developing better understanding. This enables
even the suppliers to improve upon their core competencies.
x Adversarial leverage: supplier relationships entered by companies’ before 1980s
focused on short-term contracts. Companies treated their suppliers not as their
partners but with mistrust as a result there was secrecy regarding their sharing
information on product development and manufacturing.
x Preferred suppliers: the earlier concept of adversarial leverage was replaced by

developing relationships with specific suppliers who matched their product quality
and service requirements. This was based on vendor rating and quality specifications.
x Single sourcing: companies started focusing on reducing large supplier base to
purchasing and building collaborations with single suppliers. This enabled them to
nurture and develop strategic relationship which gave them cost advantage. ‘Dell
buys its processor chips and mother boards only from Intel and its operating system
only from Microsoft, both of whom are very resilient’ (Sheffi, 2005).
x Network sourcing: according to Cox (1996), network sourcing ‘is the idea that it is
possible to create a virtual company at all levels of the supply chain by engineering
multiple tiered partnerships at each stage, but without moving to vertical integration’.
x Strategic supplier alliances: these kinds of collaborations were built where
companies merged their identities to create a new distinct alliance that was an
outcome of trust and mutual equivalence. The future of supply chain collaboration
lies in these kinds of supplier/company alliances. The benefit of information
technology can be best understood when companies work together for customer need
fulfilment.
Information technology usage in the automobile sector in India has reduced inventory-
carrying costs amongst the dealers and has made them more informed regarding company
policies and product modifications. Full integration at all levels and tiers should
eventually lead to cross-functional teams as suggested by Cohen et al. (1997). The nature
of collaborations is in the single sourcing and network sourcing bracket. The competitive
advantage would be only attained when relationships move towards strategic alliances.
As proposed by Lysons and Farrington (2006) ‘the most successful relationships are
those where customers and suppliers develop trust and an understanding of their
respective requirements and interests, accompanied by a concern for both learning from
and providing assistance to each other’.
Figure 1 A Step-ladder of External and Internal Contractual Relationship
Technology is enabling organisations to dissolve functional silos, making decision

making and information accessibility easier and cheaper. Partnerships with distributors
and dealers require support from top management in bring all the participants in the fold
of company’s supply network.
“Slow decision making by overloaded management, however, is not
appropriate for successful supply chain that requires coordination of
expertise of different functions and time-and-quality-based competition.
Instead, integrating mangers—essentially liaison personnel with formal
authority—provide stronger coordination” (Mintzberg, 1996).
By involving the members of supply chain much can be learnt and improved upon. This
knowledge can be used in creating better quality product and customer focused
marketing.
“The creation of superior customer value entails an organisation-wide
commitment to continuous information gathering and coordination of
customers’ needs, competitors’ capabilities, and the provisions of other
significant market agents and authorities as well as different functional areas
within the firm” (Kohli and Jaworski, 1990; Slater and Narver, 1994).
7 Conclusion
The article has used both the secondary and primary data to demonstrate the effect of
technological tools in creating more visibility across supplier networks in India. The
survey highlights the fact that Indian corporate sector is adapting innovative imperatives
that promise it improved productivity. The increased usage of IT at different tiers of the
supply chain is on the increase in all the companies in India. An important finding that
emerged from the findings was that the integration of supply chain is being done at all the
cities in the country irrespective of the market share.
The impact of collaborations is immense and it promises to eliminate excessive cost
across the supply chain networks. It also promises to create organisational structures that
use and process information for attaining their marketing goals and delivering best
services to their customers. As in global companies, technology plays a vital role in
reducing the delays in decision making and sharing information; the same kind of
phenomena is visible in Indian supply chains. The opportunities promise benefits to
collaborating partners. The future promises cost advantage to customers and reduced
operating costs to companies. With supply chains becoming more dependent on
technology, supplier-company partnerships would use more technology to strengthen
relationships.
Acknowledgements
The authors wish to thank the reviewers of the article for their kind comments which
helped the authors improve the quality of this article and meet the standards of the
Journal.
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Challenges and perspectives of supply chain collaborations in the Indian

Article in International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management · January 2010

Consumer Behaviour View project

Consumer buying behaviour View project

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Challenges and perspectives of supply chain

Abstract: The emphasis given on improving supply chains in organisations

Keywords: collaborations; Indian automotive sector; partnerships; supplier

Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Khare, A. and Khare, A.

Biographical notes: Arpita Khare is an Associate Professor in LDC Institute of

Anshuman Khare is a Professor in Operations Management at Athabasca

Copyright © 2010 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.

He is listed as an Academic Expert in the areas of environmental strategy and

In the business world fostered by competition, the growing concern of companies is to

Some strategies in supply chains like ‘build-to-stock-based strategy’ (Chandra et al.,

2 Supply chain collaborations

2.1 Coordinating across supply chains for competitive advantage

3 Information technology’s role in fostering partnerships

3.1 Importance of information across supply chains

decision making. Substituting information for inventory assets influences strategic

3.2 Information technology in supply chains

4 Technology leverage in the Indian supply chains

“In developing a high-performing value system, organisations are continually

required by companies from commodity materials and parts to highly engineered

4.1 Supply chain integration in Indian automobile sector

4.1.2 Maruti Suzuki

4.1.3 Bajaj Auto

4.1.4 Ford India

4.1.5 Hyundai Motor India Ltd

5 The dealer/distributor collaborations in automobile sector

5.1 Research methodology

was conducted through unstructured open-ended questionnaire, whereby the dealers’

6 Results and analysis

1 Technology has found wide acceptance in the manufacturing companies’ supply

Total number Lead time

Table 2 Survey details

Number of Technology used

6.2 Analysis – building collaborations in Indian automobile supply chains

the supply chain should be integrated: selling, customer order fulfilment,

x Preferred suppliers: the earlier concept of adversarial leverage was replaced by

Technology is enabling organisations to dissolve functional silos, making decision

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