Flexible Strategies in VUCA Markets (Flexible Systems Management)

This book discusses the concepts of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity (VUCA) that are the core of various paradigms used in strategic management to understand competitive advantage as well as flexibility in organizational boundaries. It serves as a valuable reference resource in the area of VUCA markets. 

An increase in the levels and types of uncertainty has important implications potentially for the durability of a company’s advantages, the way firms learn and adapt, approaches for managing innovation and knowledge, and the attractiveness of different strategies and organizational models. In today’s world, strategic flexibility in VUCA is essential for business leaders to sustain market advantage and attain a clear vision amid the chaos. Business leaders who stay focused and are aware of external volatility as the prevalent characteristic are successful, while those who are not flexible in this VUCA world and lock themselves into fixed positions lose out.

The book includes empirical and conceptual research papers along with case studies and models discussing strategies for emerging markets in volatile and uncertain environments. It also covers a variety of issues, including innovation, people and processes, financial management, and leadership and strategies in VUCA markets. Apart from research fraternity and academia, the contents of the book will be useful for practitioners as well as industry watchers.

Sanjay Dhir is an assistant professor in the area of strategic management at the Department of Management Studies (DMS), Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IIT Delhi), where he is also the faculty coordinator for placements, and the director of GIFT School of Strategic Alliances Management. He is a fellow (PhD) of the Indian Institute of Management (IIM) Lucknow, and worked at Mahindra and Mahindra Ltd (Automotive), R&D Department, Nasik, India, for three years. He has published several research papers in leading international journals, including case studies at Richard Ivey School of Business, Western Ontario, jointly distributed by Ivey and Harvard Business School. His research papers have been presented at and published as proceedings of several prestigious academic conferences, such as those of the Academy of Management (AoM), Academy of International Business (AIB), Strategic Management Society (SMS), Southern Management Association (SMA), International Simulation Conferenceof India (ISCI, IIT, Mumbai) and Strategic Management Forum (SMF, IIM Lucknow). His major areas of interest are strategic management, joint ventures, innovation management, management of change and transformation, implementation strategy and international strategy. He is a coordinator of the stakeholders’ engagement cell at IIT Delhi, associate editor of the Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management (Springer), and editor of the e-journal Global Journal of Business Excellence, which aims to create and enhance business excellence practices in Asia and the Pacific.

Sushil is Abdulaziz Alsagar Chair Professor (professor of Strategic, Flexible Systems and Technology Management), and Chair of Strategic Management Group at the Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. He has served as a visiting professor and has delivered seminars in several leading universities, including Kyoto University, University of Minnesota, Stevens Institute of Technology, University of Lethbridge, Alberta, and Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. He has published about 20 books in the areas of flexibility, strategy, systems thinking, and technology management, and over 300 papers in various refereed journals and conferences. He has pioneered the area of “flexible systems management” and made original contributions to the field in the form of interpretive approaches in management. He is the founder editor-in-chief of the Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management and serves on the editorial boards of leading international journals. In addition, he is the founder president of the professional body “Global Institute of Flexible Systems Management.” He has acted as consultant to both governmental and industrial organizations and has served as an independent director on the boards of RINL (Rashtriya Ispat Nigam Ltd, a Government of India public sector enterprise under the Ministry of Steel) and HSCC (Hospital Services Consultancy Corporation Limited,a Government of India Enterprise under the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare).