Transferability of JIT/TQM to the Indian Textile Industry: Issues and Suggestions Based on Cultural Analysis

One of the important elements that have been playing a significant role in today’s global business operations is culture. An important dimension of cultural analysis has been added to its discussion of transferability of JIT/TQM to other countries ever since the Japanese management techniques, JIT and TQM, became popular throughout the world. This paper reviews the transferability of these popular management techniques to the Indian Textile industry. This industry has been one of the major revenue generators for India contributing to nearly 16% of its exports. Cultural models of Geert Hofstede, Kluckhohn and Strodtbeck, Trompenaar and Hall’s has been discussed and interpreted by comparing the western industrial firms to the smaller indigenous firms. The resulting inferences are compared to the Japanese management techniques, such as JIT/TQM, and then a suitable cultural model that fit into the Indian textile industry is suggested based on the cultural analysis.