Abstract

In recent years, natural disasters have become more common all over the world. People have suffered a lot due to earthquakes, floods, cyclones, droughts, and heavy snowfall, among other calamities. These natural disasters have claimed thousands of human lives and affected various industries. One such natural calamity was faced by Chennai, one of the largest hubs of the Indian automobile industry, in December 2015 when heavy rainfall, which broke a 114-year record, killed hundreds of people and displaced about two million. The automobile industry was devastated by the Chennai flood and suffered a loss of about Rs. 150 billion. The crisis served as an eye opener to the automobile industry. Industry players have to now re-plan their strategies and think of how to de-risk themselves from such natural disasters.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• Analyze the effects of the Chennai flood on the automobile industry
• Explore some viable solutions to handle natural disasters

Keywords

Chennai, Flood, 2015, automobile industry, natural disaster, de-risk, crisis management, supply chain issue, production standstill, delay in delivery, plant submerge