Modern manufacturing concepts are new to the developing countries like India where massive industrialisation has taken place only in the last two to three decades. Beset with problems of productivity and quality, Western and Japanese management concepts are being tried vigorously with little success. It is almost becoming apparent that such concepts as the Japanese JIT can succeed best only when practised by Japanese people in Japanese environment. Does this mean that the culture of a country and indigenous perceptions need to be integrated to evolve a model that will succeed in a particular region?

A recent pilot study done in South India revealed the presence of such a link. It proposes that the conflicts between modern and indigenous concepts at the workplace should be the object of an in-depth study and that if approached from an anthropological point of view could provide a successful model of such dynamics.

Indian indigenous economic concepts are supplemented by comparative fundamental concepts both present in Japan and Europe.