The Fall and Rise of Cotton Yarn ‘Manja’

Abstract

In the twenty-first century, managing organizational change has become one of the critical issues for the success of any organization. Dynamic changes in the business environment post liberalization, privatization and globalization in India have escalated organizational competition holistically. Moreover, changing government policies, recent technological advancements and increased management pressure to reduce costs have reshaped the entire organizational dynamics. Researchers suggest that creativity and innovation have an important role to play in the transition process of organizations to survive, it is in fact the ‘survival of fittest’ (Chatterjee, 2014). While technological innovation plays the key role in business growth, the success of management depends upon the effective utilization and allocation of resources which are necessary to bring out technological change (Dasgupta, Gupta, & Sahay, 2011). Hence, in order to survive in this competitive market, strategic implementation and management of organizational change have become pivotal for the organization’s survival. This case study explicitly explores and identifies the impact of environmental changes on the small-scale cotton yarn industry in India. Particularly, this study focuses on the changing demand of the cotton yarn ‘manja’ (a specific kind of processed, traditional cotton strings coated with glass to fly kites) in the Indian market against the high competition of the less expensive Chinese ‘manja’ (flying strings for kites made up of nylon and coated with iron, glass and metallic powder) and also as a result of recent favourable government policies to save the indigenous cotton yarn industry of India. Primary data has been collected from the strategic apex as well as from the middle management of the organization through interviews using open-ended and semi-structured questions. Secondary data such as government reports and news articles have also been used to understand the changing business trend in the cotton yarn industry in India. In a sense, the case focuses on two important factors stimulating organizational changes: (a) global competition affecting local business and (b) changes in government policies. Various organizational change models and theories have been used to understand the context of the case and critical strategies have been identified to effectively implement and manage the organizational change in light of the dynamic environmental upheaval.