Abstract
The construction industry in India, despite being second largest industry, next only to agriculture, in terms of its contributions to infrastructure and employment has received inadequate attention from the policy makers. As the economy grew fast, many companies found themselves unable to meet the market demand. The expected outlay for infrastructure development in the next 5 years (2012–2017) is projected to be over one trillion US dollar. The current production and handling capacities of construction companies are too meager to handle such huge demand. Due to gaps in internal capabilities as well as growth strategizing vision, most companies in India are unable to convert these huge opportunities that the infrastructure expansion projects offer. The purpose of this case is to learn about enablers contributing to strategic changes for growth from Case Company, the leading construction company in India. It is much ahead of the rest and the only one among the engineering news-record top 50 companies. The paper adopts a case based approach in which an attempt is made to identify key enablers contributing to strategic changes for growth from interviews of the top management, secondary published literature and analysis based on Strategy Diamond Framework. These enablers provide the flexibility to the Case Company to ring in changes, so as to differentiate with respect to domestic companies and aspire to be a major global player by ascending the ladder of competitiveness. The study is an attempt to record what makes the Case Company a pioneer in terms of change in business arenas and capabilities in the wake of the infrastructure boom in the domestic market. It would attempt to discover the traits necessary in the path of strategic change for growth. This paper offers fresh growth perspectives to strategy literature related to construction companies.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Brown, S., & Eisenhardt, K. M. (1997). The art of continuous change: Linking complexity theory and time paced evolution in relentlessly shifting environments. Administrative Science Quarterly, 42(1), 1–34.
CIDC. (2005). Gearing construction for growth. CIDC report (submitted to Mr. Montek S. Ahluwalia Dy. Chairman).
D’Aveni, R. A. (1994). Hyper-competition. New York: The Free Press.
Eisenhardt, K. M. (1989). Building theories from case study research. The Academy of Management Review, 14(4), 532–550.
Elfring, T., & Volberda, H. (2001). Schools of thought in strategic management: Fragmentation, integration or synthesis. In H. Volberda & T. Elfring (Eds.), Rethinking strategy (pp. 1–25). London: Sage.
Grant, R. M. (2008). Contemporary strategy analysis (6th ed.). Maden, MA: Blackwell Publishing.
Hambrick, D. C., & Fredrickson, J. W. (2005). Are you sure you have a strategy? Academy of Management Executive, 19(4), 51–62.
Hamel, G., & Prahalad, C. K. (1994). Competing for the future. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Press.
Jarzabkowski, P., & Wilson, D. C. (2006). Actionable strategy knowledge: A practice perspective. European Management Journal, 24(5), 348–367.
Karki, R. (2007). Strategic management of Indian companies in a globalising arena. Retrieved June, 1–16, 2008 from www.karkiassociates.com.
Kotter, J. P. (1995). Leading change: Why transformation efforts fail. Harvard Business Review, 73, 59–67.
Mahoney, J., & McGahan, A. (2007). The field of strategic management within the evolving science of strategic organization. Strategic Organization, 5(1), 79–99.
Mintzberg, H., Ahlstrand, B., & Lampel, J. (1998). Strategy safari. New York, NY: The Free Press.
Momaya, K. (2001). International competitiveness: Evaluation and enhancement. New Delhi: Hindustan Publishing Corporation.
Pascale, R. T. (1999). Surfing the edge of chaos. Sloan Management Review, 40(3), 83–94.
Sadler, P. (1996). Managing change. London: Kogan Page.
Stacey, R. D. (2007). Strategic management and organizational dynamics (5th ed.). Harlow, Essex: Prentice Hall.
Sushil, (2000). Cornerstones of enterprise flexibility, global institute of flexible systems management. New Delhi: Vikas Publishing House.
Sushil, (2005). A flexible strategy framework for managing continuity and change. International Journal of Global Business and Competitiveness, 1(1), 22–32.
Swarup, P. R. (2007). Time for integrated policy (pp. 191–193). Delhi: Survey of Indian Industry, The Hindu.
Umamaheswari, R., & Momaya, K. (2008). Role of creative marketing in 10X journey: Case of IT firms from India. IIMB Management Review, 20(1), 113–130.
Volberda, H. (1998). Building the flexible firm: How to remain competitive. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Von Krogh, G., Ichijo, K., & Nonaka, I. (2000). Enabling knowledge creation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Whittington, R. (2006). Completing the practice turn in strategy research. Organization Studies, 27(5), 613–634.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Bhattacharya, S., Momaya, K.S. & Iyer, K.C. Strategic Change for Growth: A Case of Construction Company in India. Glob J Flex Syst Manag 13, 195–205 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40171-013-0020-2
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s40171-013-0020-2