In Search of Indian Management

India is the fifth largest economy in the world (third largest by Purchasing Power Parity or PPP criterion). Its GDP was $2.87 trillion in 2019. India’s GDP grew more than 4% from 2018 to 2019. However, India’s per capita GDP is US$2,100, which is the lowest of the top ten economies, and poverty is a major economic and social problem facing India. India exports technology services and is a hub for business outsourcing. Indian economy is characterized by a contrasting mixture of low end farming and handicraft and high end industry and mechanized agriculture. India’s service sector contributes a large portion of its economic output. Often India’s business regulation is criticized as being inflexible. India is also notorious for corruption.Footnote 1 The social and cultural setting of India is unique because of its diversity, large population and social and economic stratification. From world trade to climate change to democratization, India matters now. Therefore, an understanding of Indian management principles arising from its culture has the potential of enriching the extant management literature.

In spite of these facts the representation of Indian thoughts and reality are rarely mentioned in the globally recognized journals of management. Bruton and Lau (2008) reviewed a total of 306 articles that addressed Asian management during the ten years from 1996 to 2005 in the ten leading management journals. Most of the articles that focused on China and India’s representation were sparse on the list. We compared Indian focused research in the nine journalsFootnote 2 from the list of Bruton and Lau (2008) to better represent the different branches of management. A review of articles mentioning India (in the title or in the abstract) in this list of journals from the years 1996 to 2005 and 2010 to 2020 was carried out. A count of these articles showed that between 1996 and 2005 there were 654 articles that mentioned India in the body and 43 had India mentioned in the title or the abstract. A similar count on the same set of journals between 2010 and 2020 showed that 1,937 articles mentioned India in the body and 115 had India mentioned in the title or the abstract. An in-depth analysis would be required to uncover what aspect of Indian management these articles are capturing, but it is clear that representation of India is increasing in the globally recognized journals, though it is still marginal (see table in Appendix).

Scholarship and practice of management is context sensitive in nature and has to be informed by the social realities. There is a growing concern for producing useful and credible knowledge that addresses problems important to business and society. An initiative for ‘Responsible Research’ led by past ten presidents of Academy of Management (AOM) called for both basic and applied research contributions valuing plurality and multidisciplinary collaboration with stakeholder involvement for service to society and impact on stakeholders.

India matters not only for the economic and the political reasons of current times. It is a living culture of more than three thousand years. It matters for its wisdom traditions. The world views and ideals of human life expounded in its traditions enrich global pluralism, since its cultural diversity is second to the continent of Africa (Bhawuk, 2012). India also showcases its propensity to simultaneously embrace traditional and contemporary beliefs and practices as it offers unique solutions to numerous challenges it faces. However, the voice of indigenous Indian scholarship has been stifled by the dominant western ideas and theories, making it difficult for pluralism to flourish in management literature. This volume is an attempt to addresses that lacuna in the management literature. Many authors have argued that indigenous research is essential for understanding local phenomena as well as context-sensitive theoretical development (Gupta, 1994; Sinha, 2000; Tsui, 2004). This volume attempts to synthesize management scholarship in the Indian context.

Toward the Definition of Indigenous Indian Management

The debate about indigenous research is deepened with many questions. Does any research that cover indigenous phenomenon qualify as indigenous research? Does indigenous research require contextual factors where dominant theoretical framework can be borrowed from the West? Is indigenous research aimed at verification of the western theories and models or development of new theoretical insights? In agreement with Sinha (2000) we define Indian management as an approach to management based on the Indian worldview, ethos and the characteristics of the Indian society. We consider Indian management research as broad-based management research including etic and emic perspectives capturing Indian settings, whereas Indigenous Indian management research focuses on local phenomena from emic or culture specific perspective. In this way contextualization is necessary but not a sufficient condition to call any study to be indigenous. Therefore, context-sensitive research following the etic approach is also valuable for comparative studies. Recognizing the fact that almost any phenomenon can be studied from the outside (etic) as well as from the inside (emic) we hold that both the kind of studies are important and useful to understand the phenomenon from local, transnational and global perspectives.

We define Indigenous Indian management research as the study of local phenomenon, adopting indigenous constructs, concepts and approach which aim at creating locally relevant knowledge which may substitute or substantiate the knowledge developed in the western part of the world. Scientific studies of local phenomena employing Indian languages, subjects, and constructs to build or test management theories (see Van de Ven et al., 2018) can be called indigenous Indian management. Historical perspective is naturally another important aspect of indigenous research. Indian management is not necessarily about people living in the Indian sub-continent or of Indian origin. It can make valuable contributions to the management practices in general and global theories by modifying, enriching, or supplementing management concepts or theories predominantly developed in the Western world and also by offering novel concepts and theories.

Indigenous research is aimed at what, why and how questions on management in India. Emic research on Indian management answer these questions to different degrees. Some studies primarily build on ‘what’ questions and are aimed at presenting different constructs and concepts in the Indian context like the Rajshri approach of leadership (Chakraborty, 1995), or śraddhā (Bhawuk, 2020). Other studies move beyond what, and aim at ‘why’ questions about explaining managerial behaviors in Indian organizations like Indian mindset and Nurturant task leadership (Sinha, 1984, 2007; Sinha et al. 2010), or present holistic theories like spiritual theory of creativity in India (Bhawuk, 2003, 2019a). Yet another group of studies focus more on how questions like how mindfulness influences moral reasoning (Pandey et al., 2018), how societal culture influences Indian economic and business systems in India (Vijayabaskar & Kalaiyarasan, 2014), or how social entrepreneurship has evolved in India (Shukla, 2019).

Forms and Types of Indian Management Research

The search for a pluralistic framework to understand research on Indian management ideas and theories has led us to propose a novel typology. We posit that the distinction between an ‘emic’ and ‘etic’ perspective (Pike, 1954) and ‘atomistic’ and ‘holistic’ constructs (Savory & Butterfield, 1998; Waddock & Lozano, 2013) provides such a typology. Evered and Louis (1981) have termed inquiry from the inside as emic and that from the outside as etic. Atomistic concepts and constructs result from breaking a phenomenon into constituent subcomponents and studying them individually. Also, independent studies are carried out with each subcomponent or variable, or their interactions, keeping all else constant, with the hope and assumption that these studies can be aggregated into the understanding of the phenomenon as a whole. In contrast, the holistic approach examines the overall likelihood of the event in the context of multiple variables that influence the phenomenon. The holistic perspective does not typically examine the interactions of individual variables but, instead, views the event and circumstances as irreducible whole.

Four types of research studies can be found in the Indian context at the intersection of the emic-etic and atomistic-holistic continuums depicted in Fig. 1.1. Chapter numbers of this volume that discuss the specific types of research studies are also mentioned in the table. The first category of this typology is based on the individual or micro-level constructs and concepts drawn from the Indian culture from various Indian sources (e.g., texts) and languages. The importance of these constructs is that they capture the reality that is left unattended in the Western literature. This work is based on the argument that western value systems persuaded Indian employees to internalize western styles of working and interaction but they were also socialized to Indian values that contradicted many such values. Studies in this category help understand the worldview and behavior of Indians, which in turn has implications for management. Chapters 2–6 which are based on Indian Psychology (manas, buddhi, Atman and so forth), notion of Karma-Yoga, Ayurveda and personality studies of Indian system primarily represent the studies under this category. Many individual and group level ideas like adhyAtma, lajjA, zraddhA, tapas, prema, lokasaMgraha, Karm Yoga, spiritual climate, puruSArtha, and RNas, fit this category. Chapter 7 and 8 also report the studies in this category wherein the constructs of Indian mindset and nurturant task leadership are derived from the social reality grounded in the Indian context. Despite our collective sincere efforts some constructs and theories are not included in the volume, and we hope that this book will be a part of many future volumes that will help create a comprehensive knowledge base for Indian management.

Fig. 1.1
figure 1

Four types of research studies in the Indian management

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The second category of studies in this typology captures macro-level phenomena like the Indian economic system, social entrepreneurship, health care industry and so forth. Emic research in Indian management of this kind arises from the recognition that culture and economic factors affect the practices of management and organizational behaviors. Holistic constructs examined from emic perspective aim at capturing the social reality from the cultural and institutional perspectives. Cultural perspective refers to differences in the shared norms across societies that generate distinctive forms of successful business organizations and practices, which are specific to their context. Institutional perspective directs attention to the institutions in society such as state, market, religion, family, corporation and profession. Community is another factor that influences organizations and their members (Fang, 2010; Scott, 2007, Thornton et al., 2012). Institutional perspective offers theoretical lens through which holistic constructs or concepts are understood, developed and examined. Chapters 9–13 of this volume elaborate the macro aspects by covering Indian culture and economic system, organizations and business ecosystems in India using Business Systems Framework, social entrepreneurship, Indian business models for affordable healthcare, and societal culture and management practices.

The third category of research is at the macro level and captures the Indian socio-economic milieu using etic categories. The cross-cultural etic research like Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness Project (GLOBE) study may come under this category, which examines the Indian society and organizations based on the pre-existing categories about the culture. Chapter 15 of this volume fits this category wherein an etic categorization of the culture provided by Hofstede (1980) is used to explain the impact of Indian culture on advertising in India. Indian management according to Cappelli et al. (2010, p. 5), comprises a mix of organizational capabilities, managerial practices and distinctive aspects of company cultures that set Indian enterprises apart from firms in other countries. Research studies in this category examine these aspects within the larger socio-economic and cultural context of India using etic categories. One of the key findings of their work (Cappelli et al., 2015) is that the two guiding principles of the Indian business leaders are broad mission and purpose, i.e. servicing the needs of stockholders but also focusing on family prosperity, regional advancement, national growth, and devising new products and services to meet the needs of large numbers of low-income consumers with extreme efficiency. Some of these broad missions would fit the construct of lokasaMgraha (Bhawuk, 2019b), which is reviewed in this volume.

Related to the socio-economic and cultural features of India are unique practices of finding fixes, workarounds, and shortcuts that constitute a way of life in India, which is colloquially referred to as jugaad, loosely translated as ‘making do’ or ‘improvisation’. Kumar and Puranam, (2012). identified four types of innovations emerging from India from its socio-economic context. First, there are innovations led primarily by multinational corporations that have set up captive innovation and R&D centers in India. Second, R&D services are provided on contract to Indian businesses (outsourced to India by multinational corporations) to support new product development for consumers in the developed world. Third, type of innovation results in process innovation by Indian firms based on their own experience. And finally, management innovation that serves global delivery through scaling and cost efficiencies. Thus, the entire range of organizational innovation patterns can be found in India where many of the ideas are shaped by its cultural worldview.

The fourth category of research examines the etic constructs, also referred to as pseudo-etic or imposed etic, where the concepts originate in the west, and they are tested on Indian data at the individual or group level of analysis. This is useful for testing the validity of western theories in India. It is also useful for comparative studies in which data is collected in two or more countries. Most of the research studies in management in India fall into this category. Following the classification of “high-context” versus “low-context”Footnote 3 theorizing of Hall (1976), with the former stressing national differences and the latter emphasizing universal applicability in models and constructs, most of the studies in this category aim at low context theorizing. A large number of studies have aimed at creating knowledge that is context-free, which can be applicable across national boundaries. For example, Biswas et al. (2013) highlighted the antecedents of employee engagement with the social exchange perspective. They found that distributive and procedural justices are primary determinants of perceived organizational support, whereas procedural justice is a key antecedent of a psychological contract in organizations. However, in addition to procedural justice, Indian managers and executives place a strong emphasis on distributive justice perceptions when evaluating support from their employers, which finds support in other countries in Asia.

Another type of contextual research in this category is using national level attributes (e.g., individualism) as moderators rather than as main effects. This involves a higher level of contextualization by theorizing how the relationship between an independent and dependent variable may vary depending on the national level attribute being considered. For example, Ardichvili et al. (2012) compared ethical cultures in large business organizations in BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India and China) and USA. They found that individualism in the US and collectivism in India accounted for managers in India emphasizing corporate social responsibility, focusing on stake-holders rather than on shareholder, and placing more importance on environmental sustainability.

We submit that all four types of research studies can influence each other. Eventually, all these types of research can help in understanding Indian people and Indian organizations and their development. All four types of studies can also contribute to a global knowledge base of management. However, research in management seems to have a bias toward context-free knowledge (Tsui, 2004) and most of the studies on Indian data published in the leading journals fit this mold. This approach is not conducive to the development of Indian management theories, and the relevant parts of the literature are synthesized in the literature review sections of the chapters in this volume.

Objectives of the Volume

The objectives of this volume are twofold. The first objective is to identify and recognize insights in traditional wisdom and culture that can contribute to the field of management and organizational psychology in terms of theoretical models and practical applications, and also pave the way for future research. This objective arises from the recognition that theory and practice in social domains tend to be self-fulfilling (Gergen, 1973). For example, Ghoshal (2005) explained that a theory in natural sciences does not influence the natural processes. For example, the theory about subatomic particles does not influence the behaviors of those particles. If a theory holds wrong assumptions it does not change the phenomenon as such. On the contrary, if a management theory is subscribed to and adopted by the practitioners in the field, that changes their behaviors and they start behaving in accordance with the theory. The chapters aimed to address this objective in this edited volume are conceived based on the concepts and constructs and perspective of the Indian wisdom and traditions. The chapters in this part aim at understanding different aspects of management through the Indian way of seeing reality.

The second objective of the volume is to present research that is grounded in the Indian context, and examine its implications for management. This objective emanates from recognizing the uniqueness of local phenomena and to unravel their implications for local and global levels. The chapters addressing this objective focus on how Indians think, feel and behave. They examine societal culture of India and its implication for management including culture in Indian organizations, the nature and functioning of the institutions in India, Indian economic and financial systems, unique practices in Indian organizations or the Indian subsidiaries of MNCs, and novel features of certain institutions in India. Deliberation of this kind is important because it can provide practical insights for addressing pressing problems confronting the Indian society, organizations and employees.

Structure of the Book

This volume contains principles, concepts and ethos widely shared in Indian culture that is relevant for management. Chapters 2–6 of this volume present the ontological notions given in major philosophies and wisdom tradition of India like Vedanta, Sankhya and Ayurveda. Authors present the concepts about nature and ideals of human life, nature and human connections, role and approach of work, ways of attaining well-being individually and socially found in the major schools of thought of Indian culture and their potential implications on management theory and practices. Chapters 7–15 of the book present the findings of empirical studies, which have implications for management theory and practices. These chapters are arranged from micro to macro perspectives. Each chapter presents historical developments that are relevant to a given topic, the underlying theories, the current state of the topic, and the unique aspects that are valid in present day India. Each chapter also points out directions for future research. We hope that the insights are useful for stimulating future research in the field of Indian management. We also hope that managers will find the ideas useful for practice.

Chapter 2 by Pandey initiates the discussion on Indian management by unraveling the Indian worldview. It aims to decipher the Indian worldview by elaborating the nature of human self, goals of human life and the role of work in human life subscribed in the Indian traditional wisdom and their theoretical implications for management theories and practices at the individual, group and organizational levels. The author provides examples of how Indian view is incorporated in organizational practices in two case studies of organizations. The chapter also elaborates concepts and framework in Indian worldview for future research in management.

Chapter 3 by Bhawuk is based on the premise that the principles and practices of psychology are applied in almost every major branch of management, and a discussion on Indian management will be significantly inadequate without discussion about the core tenets of Indian psychology. The field of Indian psychology unravels many positive aspects of human nature and its manifestations in the workplace. In the wake of technological advancement and globalization of businesses, performance is coming at the cost of stress, environmental degradation and meaninglessness. The field of positive psychology is offering a wealth of solutions to our modern challenges related to organizations and their management. Indian psychology can offer a distinct and a fresh perspective and a wide range of interventions to positive psychology for the benefit of organizations and its members. The chapter reviews indigenous constructs like the Indian concept of self, adhyAtma or spirituality, zraddhA, tapas, prema or love, and lokasaMgraha that are unique to India, but contribute to global psychology and management by challenging some of the western constructs and theories. Then it reviews a theory of creativity that synthesizes spirituality and creativity. The chapter also presents some methodological innovations in developing constructs from texts, which can serve indigenous psychology in general and Indian management in particular.

In Chapter 4, Alok reviews the current state of triguṇa-based personality research. Study of personality has a long history in the field of management and influences the sub fields like motivation, leadership, conflict handling and so forth. Sāṁkhya-based model of personality has attracted the attention of psychology and management scholars since the early twentieth century. It is one of the oldest known system of Indian philosophy with a pervasive influence on Indian culture and thought and even recognized as the cultural code for the Indian intellectual milieu. Sāṁkhya holds that two fundamentally distinct real principles exist: ‘prakṛti’, the principle that generates the categories of known, and ‘puruṣa’, the knowing principle. The generic principle of prakṛti manifests in three specific manners or Gunas known as ‘sattva’, ‘rajas’ and ‘tamas’. Indian scholars have primarily leveraged the idea of ‘triguṇa’ (three gunas) to develop their accounts of personality. In this chapter, the author enumerates the challenges of imposed etic biases in the form of epistemological and ontological biases. He enumerates the common pitfalls in the conceptualization of triguna in contemporary literature due to inadequate understanding of the original text. He also offers future directions regarding leveraging the Sāṁkhya system of thought for personality research.

In Chapter 5, Krishnan and Mulla elaborate the concept of Karm Yoga, which offers a way to be in unison with the supreme self by engaging in the otherwise ordinary vocation of life. Authors describe the philosophy of karma-yoga, the beliefs which sustain and explain karma-yoga, detail the operationalization of karma-yoga; and locate this variable in relationship with other work-related correlates and outcomes. They also highlight the practical implication of karma-yoga for present day individuals and organizations.

Chapter 6 by Kapadia and Dagar explain how wellness, well-being and happiness, the three major concerns of contemporary management, can be attained with the help of Ayurveda. Pursuits of happiness and well-being are identified as a ‘self-evident truth’ in life as well as in the workplace. Further, there has been a focus on well-being in the workplace at the level of not only HR policy but also in general managerial perspective. Naturally, this leads to the inclination of scholars to attain a nuanced understanding of factors influencing well-being in the workplace. Ayurveda is an important component of Indian culture and heritage, which continues to be practiced by experts and used in day-to-day life by the vast population of India. It is not confined to being merely a system of medicine to prevent and treat diseases; it is a way of leading a healthy and fulfilling life.

Chapters 7–15 of the volume are focused on Indian economic, financial and business systems. They also focus on the cognitive, affective and behavioral systems shaped by the Indian culture and how they shape organizational and management practices. In Chapter 7 Agrawal and Pandey review the literature on Indian mindset and how it acts as enabling or disabling conditions in day-to-day life in general, and in work settings in particular. The mindset is conceptualized as a configuration of collectively held beliefs, preferences and action orientations that let Indians to respond to their environment in particular ways (Sinha, 2009, 2014; Sinha et al., 2010). Naturally the Indian mindset has a major impact on culture and behaviors of Indian organizations. The authors synthesize the research on Indian mindset, reflect on the changing values of Indians and delineate the implications for future managerial practices and research.

In Chapter 8, Panda first explains the three groups of leadership studies in India. Leadership studies make critical contribution to the management literature and leadership development is considered as an integral aspect of management development at individual and collective level. The first group of descriptive studies is about the evolutionary account of business families. The second group of studies focuses on examining the efficacy of participative/democratic leadership in the Indian context. The third group of studies includes indigenous leadership studies like nurturant task leadership (NTL), paternalistic leadership, consultative managerial leadership, Sannyasin and Karmayogin leaders, and lokasamgraha approach to leadership. This chapter presents a synthesis of these studies and their implications for the present day organizations in India. Reviewing the major studies Panda explains the challenges, useful norms and best practices for developing leaders in Indian organizations and sets a research agenda on leadership development in India.

Chapter 9 by Bapat and Ballal presents the core features of Indian economy and how culture and economic factors play complementary roles as it is increasingly recognized in the contemporary literature (e.g. Granato et al., 1996; Kapás, 2017). Economic, political and social institutions are known to significantly influence management practices of a given country. First the authors present about India’s contribution toward the world GDP in the last two millennia. This historical account is important to underscore the importance of economic activities embedded in the Indian culture and society since the ancient times. Second, they elaborate the unique features of Indian society like family and community orientation, prevalence of a large informal sector (and self-employment), and importance of spirituality. They also discuss the impact of these factors on economic activities. Finally, they briefly present the key ideas of thinkers like Kautilya, Gandhi, Ambedkar and Upadhyaya as the representative leaders of ancient and modern India who have influenced the economic and financial thinking in this country.

Chapter 10 by Panda and Gupta applies the institutional perspective to understand Indian business organizations. Organization theorists from various academic disciplines have attempted to explore and understand the form, characteristics and economic behavior of organizations from different perspectives (for details, see Scott, 2014). Presenting business system framework as a unit of organizational analysis, they argue for a holistic perspective to understand and analyze organizations from a cross-disciplinary and evolutionary perspective. They also present Indian business system (IBS) for understanding Indian business ecosystem and organizations. They point out that not many studies in India have examined the influence of institutions on organizational patterns and management systems. Even in international comparative studies which have included India, researchers have adopted a cultural frame of reference, ignoring institutional differences across societies and nations. This chapter has also attempted to bridge these knowledge gaps and present the IBS as a starting point for further research.

In Chapter 11 Pandey and Sahay examine Social Entrepreneurship (SE) as a field of knowledge. They discuss how social entrepreneurs work to address the unmet needs of society. They present the history of development of SE in India and a typology of social entrepreneurs in the Indian context. SE has emerged as a strong force to bridge the gap between the demand and supply for fulfillment of socio-economic and environmental needs of India, which are not met by the market system, especially for the Bottom of Pyramid (BoP). SE has been rapidly growing in all sectors: private, public and non-profit and focuses on social impact and innovative approach to achieve its purpose with the combination of social mission, entrepreneurship and creativity. It is of particular importance to India because the developmental needs of India cannot be solely addressed by government efforts or by the private sector.

Chapter 12 by Bhattacharya and Chandwani discusses innovations in healthcare management in India that provides affordable, accessible and quality healthcare to underprivileged section of the population. Indian civilization has had a long and rich history of giving and caring. The Hindu, Buddhist and Jain religious scriptures celebrated the notion of the wealthy and healthy taking care of the poor and the sick. In the current times, provision of healthcare has been a principal theme of social engagement by Indian firms. This has been pursued by firms as a part of both core business activities as well as a part of the Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiative. India has been the home to a substantial section of BoP customers. Healthcare for BoP customers has thus become a dominant theme in the conversations about Indian healthcare system. The vision for healthcare engagements for such customers has been to provide quality healthcare at affordable price points. This is carried out by many Indian organizations both through technological as well as business model innovation in healthcare. Authors present a historical overview of the healthcare industry in India, and discuss the current infrastructure, capabilities, innovation and business models. They also synthesize research findings about innovations in healthcare industry in India.

Chapter 13 by Awasthi deciphers the special features of the interface between business and socio-cultural system of India and how it has evolved in the last two millennia. India had for centuries been the center of trade and has had long history of intercultural exchanges starting from ancient period of silk route to the liberalization of the economy in early 1990s. After independence, many government owned organizations were started, and many multinational companies also set up operations in India. This chapter maps the socio-cultural changes during the different economic phases of India through the Vedic period, post Vedic period, Mughal period, British colonial period to the modern times. The chapter also reviews the research on organizational culture of MNCs operating in India. The chapter ends by providing guidance for management research at the interface of societal culture and management practices in India in the future.

Chapter 14 by Bharadhwaj and Harindranath deals with the effect of culture on advertising. We know that culture affects the way individuals behave with others, it affects their saving and spending habits; it affects the way they dress and so on. If the effect of culture is so pervasive, it ought to affect the way consumers are influenced by advertising. Evidence suggests that in India, the effect of culture is stronger than in many other countries. It is not a surprise, therefore, that advertising in India has extensively used tenets of Indian culture. This chapter describes extant research in this area, and presents examples from the world of marketing. Through a series of propositions, the authors delineate avenues for future research in the field of Indian culture and advertising.

Chapter 15 by Mishra, Mohapatra and Dagar provides an overview of management education in India and discusses how Indian management institutions employ innovative pedagogies. Management is an applied field of knowledge and management research findings need to be imparted to management students. There have been some interesting experiments conducted in several management schools in India for making the students familiar with peculiar features of Indian society, Indian business or financial system or to impart insights of Indian wisdom traditions relevant in management. For example, students of S. P. Jain Institute of Management Research, Mumbai, are required to work with non-profit organizations in the development sector as a part of the regular MBA program. Karma Yoga project in Great Lakes Institute engages management students in village service projects that sensitizes them to rural India and the needs of people in the BOP. In the School of Management at IIT Bombay, Yoga based practices are used effectively to enhance moral reasoning, engagement and psychological capital of the students.

In Chapter 16 the editors present the major themes, patterns and insights emerging from all the chapters of this volume. The key insights from each of the chapters are noted. They propose how to develop the field of Indian management. They also reflect on challenges and opportunities in the development of Indian management as a discipline of research. The indigenous research discussed in the volume highlight that most of the management theories developed in the West are inadequate to create context-sensitive management theories and practices. We propose that indigenous research in diverse socio-cultural contexts like India should be encouraged and the primary goal of the indigenous research should be to help develop local context relevant theories and management practices. Indigenous theories derived from the Indian context should be utilized to effectively understand and manage organizations. Global relevance of these ideas also needs to be tested. Conceptual, philosophical and grounded research and empirical research studies are equally relevant and useful for indigenous research. We hope this volume will initiate and strengthen the dialogue among management scholars and lead them to develop meaningful indigenous Indian management principles and theories. We also hope that this volume will persuade practitioners not to mindlessly borrow concepts from the West, and apply some of the models and practices presented in this volume in managing organizations and people in India.