With the onset of liberalization, the Indian economy has undergone profound changes. The lines separating businesses have blurred as technologies and markets have converged and most notably, ideas and knowledge have increasingly replaced capital as the scarce resource and the key source of competitive advantage. The old management philosophies and practices which were so successful for long are being slowly discarded and a more robust management model is emerging. The corporate sector is already experiencing the rise of an entirely new concept, in which the basic focus has shifted from the Strategy, Structure and Systems (3Ss) to the Purpose, Process and People (3Ps) approach. This shift involves a fundamental change an organization needs to make in its strategic orientation, organizational culture and individual employee behavior.

The onset of liberalization has brought in several transnational companies to India, and amidst tough competition coupled with factors of deregulation and concept of free markets, Indian companies have been caught in the cross-fire—about how to build that elusive competitive advantage that they once possessed in the protectionist economy. Do the strengths, competencies and management philosophies that they once believed in still hold good in the new economy? Or to fight in the new economy, do companies need something else to have an edge? The answer lies in the basics.

Companies inherently act on any one of the individual proposals within their existing strategic and organizational frameworks. But actions on individual items will not get them where they need to get into. To respond to the multidimensional changes in their environment, they will need a much more broadly based and more closely integrated systematic change in the way they are organized and run. The corporate sector is experiencing the rise of an entirely new model of management and individual companies will not find satisfactory answers to their questions unless they discard not only their tried and tested solutions but also the old perspectives they bring to define and understand the problems.

HRM Review Magazine, Indian Economy, Strategic Models, Organizational Culture, Business Environment, Operating Management, Operating Environment, Strategic Management, Corporate Budgeting Systems, Strategic planning Systems, Employee Behavior.