Environmental Shifts, Functional Level Emphasis, and Performance: A Study in the Early Phase of Liberalization

A shift is taking place in the Indian economy and the environment is becoming more competitive. To survive and grow in such an environment, Indian firms need to change their strategic posture. This paper aims at investigating as to how Indian firms have responded to such changes. The result of the study shows that the firms have realized that the Indian environment is becoming more competitive and turbulent. Firms have also been changing their strategies to be competitive. Among the various strategies identified, a holistic strategy followed by the firms has been found to perform better in all environmental settings. The paper outlines the implications of results for the firms.