Indian Supply Chain Sutra - a great way of thinking & paradoxes with the West

Supply Chains have evolved with the "West" as an anchor. It probably has its roots in Supply Chain as a term being coined in the West. Also over the years, Supply Chain leading practices have emerged out of the West as well as the Supply Chain thought leadership has rested with the West. A mix of all these & many more things has led the Indian thinking of Supply Chain be overshadowed by the West. And that has been a very contrasting story till NOW.

Indians by nature are heuristically driven & most of the Indian Supply Chain professionals that I have met over my career have exhibited that they can handle the "state of flux" much better. Rather Indian Supply Chain professionals have less liking towards deterministic way of working. Contrasting to that over the decades, all efforts have been to move towards "planning for enhanced flexibility, responsiveness & agility". This has been through practices of planning systems, adoption of technology & systems which inherently have taken away the Indian Supply Chain sutra. Over my long consulting career, I have seen Indian Supply Chain Professionals having to overcome the basic instincts to mould themselves into these Western way of thinking & operating called as "Benchmark" practices. 

Considering that it is pretty evident that the rate of change coupled with the variables impacting the change is so high that it is the eternal Indian Supply Chain Professional ethos than can be leveraged in formulating Supply Chain sutras.

Having met over 6,000 Supply Chain professionals I have got this feeling that "Indian Supply Chain Sutra" should be given much more serious thought & attention. This, if shaped up correctly, can be a long lasting best practice. Much more important, because it has a perspective which is indigenous. Western Supply Chain practices have kind of "mechanized" everything leaving less to "think" & more to "adhere". That is fine as long as the its applied to the transactional layer of Supply Chain. But when it comes to Tactical & Strategic layer, its the "thinking" processes which shape up Supply Chain decision making & outcomes. Indian Supply Chain Sutra is extremely powerful as its focused on "People inherent ability to think". 

Paradox in India is, we have fitted a square in a circle. Under the influence of Western Sutra of Supply Chain with an assumption that the West does & knows it better than Indian Sutra, the Supply Chain advantage which can arise from "Indian Supply Chain Sutra" has been subordinated to the Western way of Supply Chain. 

In 1970's the way Japanese (from the East) led the Manufacturing revolution (which West eventually adopted), India (from the East) has a great opportunity to lead the Supply Chain revolution (which West shall adopt) of the the 21st century.

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