Critical Success Factors and Effective Strategies in the New Environment

The reduction in protectionist barriers in India has made the Indian business environment more competitive. For surviving and growing in the new scenario, Indian companies need to improve their competitiveness and choose effective strategies. This paper attempts to identify critical success factors and key strategies to be pursued by companies. Based on questionnaire data collected from 125 CEOs, the study spells out 11 critical success factors/areas for companies operating in the Indian market. While improvement in all these critical areas is necessary for strengthening the competitiveness of organizations, a relatively greater emphasis on one or the other depends upon the strategies pursued by an organization at a particular period of time. This paper identifies five key strategies for competing successfully in the Indian market. The strategy 'good quality and low price' was ranked first in importance, followed by 'product innovation,' 'cost leadership and differentiation,' 'niche-marketing,' and 'superior quality and premium price.'