Flexibility, Innovation, and Sustainable Business

This book contains practical experiences, knowledge, and insights in the evolution, formulation, and implementation of strategies and models for flexibility, innovation, and sustainable business. The book discussed the increasing significance of a flexible approach by businesses as much as possible in every area of their work--from employment policies to supply chain management (SCM). It further links this flexible approach to a sustainability strategy, which is necessary to be competitive today and in the future. This business approach is necessary to create long-term value by considering how a given organization operates in the ecological, social, and economic environment.

This is linked to the next theme of the book--innovation--which is fundamental for a business to improve its processes, develop new and improved products and services for the market, increase its efficiency, and, most importantly, get better profitability. The book also delves into another buzz word in business--analytics. Companies have widely embraced the use of analytics to streamline operations and improve processes.

The book explores all these critical emerging areas through the chapters in its five sections and is invaluable for management students and researchers, practicing business managers, consultants, professional institutions, and government and corporate organizations.

Ramesh Anbanandam is Associate Professor, Department of Management Studies, IIT Roorkee, India. He holds a PhD from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, after obtaining a bachelor’s degree in Production Engineering from Madras University and a Master’s degree in Industrial Engineering from National Institute of Technology Tiruchirappalli (NIT Trichy), Tamil Nadu, India. Before joining his doctoral programme at IIT Delhi, he worked for two years as Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at MNM Jain Engineering College which is affiliated to Anna University in Chennai. Before joining IIT Roorkee, he was working as Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at National Institute of Technology (NIT) Calicut. His areas of research interest are supply chain Management, humanitarian supply chain management, healthcare supply chain management, operations research, optimization techniques, analytics, advanced data analytics with Python programming, supply chain analytics, sustainable manufacturing, Lean Six Sigma manufacturing, smart mobility for sustainability, multi-modal sustainable transportation network, electric vehicle, emission & health issues and so on. He has to his credit more than 30 papers published in journals of international repute and is a regular reviewer of many peer-reviewed journals and actively participating in various seminars, talks, and conferences in India and abroad.

Santosh Rangnekar is Professor and former Head of Department, Department of Management Studies, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee, and is Visiting Professor at Hanyang University, South Korea. He has more than 30 years’ experience in reputed industries and academic institutions like Raymond Ltd. Bombay (J.K. Engineers Files, Pithampur), Shriram Group of Industries (SIEL, Delhi), The Hukamchand Mills Limited Indore, Prestige Institute of Management and Research, Indore, IIITM, Gwalior (Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management, Gwalior) and Department of Management Studies IIT Roorkee. He has directed several major research projects in different areas of management. He has designed and conducted several training programmers as a core faculty member and has held sessions in Bajaj Auto Aurangabad, Hindalco Renusagar, Grasim Gwalior, Syncom Indore, Grasim Nagda, ISTD programs Faridabad and Dehradun and in other various executive development and unit-based programs. He conducts research and publishes in the areas of HRM, knowledge management, and intellectual capital.