Title: Two-wheeler authorised service centre: a system dynamics study of 'limits to growth' archetype

Authors: Virupaxi Bagodi; Biswajit Mahanty

Addresses: Government Engineering College, TALAKAL-583238, Karnataka, India ' Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur – 721302, India

Abstract: Two-wheelers have become a common mode of transportation India, 1/3rd households own them and more than 225 million two-wheeler move on the roads. The corresponding growth in two-wheeler services is not observed. The purpose of the paper is to investigate the reasons for stagnation in the growth of services despite better service quality and experienced service personnel in a two-wheeler service centre. It is also intended to demonstrate the short comings in decision-making, using the limits to growth archetype, that nothing grows unabated and in a complex system, compensating feedback loops slow down the growth. The data from the service centre of a premier manufacturer was gathered for three months during 2019. A system dynamics model is developed iteratively for the problem the entrepreneur is facing. Policy experimentations are carried out. The results corroborate that just pushing the growth engine is inadequate for sustainable growth and compensatory feedback loops inhibit the growth of performance measures. Results also indicate that starting the business with higher service capacity and adding capacity at appropriate time is vital in a service firm.

Keywords: limit to growth; service centre; two-wheelers; decision-making; India.

DOI: 10.1504/IJISE.2023.129751

International Journal of Industrial and Systems Engineering, 2023 Vol.43 No.4, pp.464 - 490

Received: 11 Mar 2021
Accepted: 22 May 2021
Published online: 24 Mar 2023 *

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