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Flexibility in Social Sustainability: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Industries

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Flexible Work Organizations

Part of the book series: Flexible Systems Management ((FLEXSYS))

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Abstract

Sustainability has been the buzzword in the business environment for quite some time, because of the increasing awareness of the environmental and social aspects where the business strategies and practices may be unsustainable. Sustainability encompasses three dimensions—economic, environmental and social—though the social dimension has largely remained ignored till date. However, due to the emergence of social issues increasingly flagged by social organizations in the developing countries, the social dimension too has started gaining momentum in the recent past. The aim of this chapter is to study the socially sustainable business practices of two Indian manufacturing companies in two different sectors: one, a cement company, and the other, a pharmaceutical firm. The authors have explored the flexibility nature of the practices in these two companies. Particular attention has been paid to the drivers of such practices and the lessons that can be learned from them. The research uses a comparative case study method, whereby, the authors first identify various social sustainability dimensions through the literature review, and then compare the business practices of the two companies for social sustainability. A comparison of the socially sustainable business practices of the two companies opens up the avenues to examine the similarities and divergences in their paths to social sustainability. The findings of the research reveal that certain similarities and differences (flexibilities) do exist in the social practices of the cement and pharmaceutical companies examined for this study and help them to reach sustainability in different ways in the particular context of their sectors. The findings will be useful for the supply chain managers and sustainability operations managers who wish to understand the diverse patterns of social sustainability, as also how social sustainability can behave as a leading instrument for decision making.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, Roorkee, Uttarakhand, India

    V. Mani, Rajat Agrawal & Vinay Sharma

Authors
  1. V. Mani
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  2. Rajat Agrawal
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  3. Vinay Sharma
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Correspondence to V. Mani .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, New Delhi, India

    Sushil

  2. University of Technology Sydney, Ultimo, New South Wales, Australia

    Julia Connell

  3. Curtin Business School (CBS), Curtin University, Perth, West Australia, Australia

    John Burgess

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Mani, V., Agrawal, R., Sharma, V. (2016). Flexibility in Social Sustainability: Evidence from Indian Manufacturing Industries. In: Sushil, Connell, J., Burgess, J. (eds) Flexible Work Organizations. Flexible Systems Management. Springer, New Delhi. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-81-322-2834-9_5

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