A system dynamics-based approach towards sustainability of a rural milk dairy venture

Abstract

India, being one of the largest producers of milk in the world, is witnessing unprecedented shutdowns amongst small-scale dairies due to business sustainability challenges. This could be attributed to adoption of event-based focus on systems and ignoring the time delays between the cause and the effects by the entrepreneurs. These shutdowns can be critical as the small-scale dairies heavily contribute to the country's overall milk production capacity. Through this article, we attempt to present a real-life case of a rural dairy highlighting an entrepreneurial dilemma and demonstrate the usage of group model building (GMB) techniques for conducting system dynamics (SD) simulation using Vensim®. The study is relevant as it enables the entrepreneur to foresee the impact of the different options regarding the business sustainability of his dairy. Also, it demonstrates the usage of GMB techniques and unlocks the potential to apply SD modelling using group techniques for policy analysis in diverse domains for the academicians.