SEDME (Small Enterprises Development,Management & Extension Journal): A worldwide window on MSME Studies

Micro and small enterprises (MSEs) play an important role in the development of Indian economy. Finance is the lifeblood of MSEs. They get finance from both long-term sources and short-term sources. There are various factors affecting procurement of finance from long-term sources and short-term sources by the enterprises. The present study has assessed the relative importance of factors affecting procurement of finance from short-term sources by MSEs in the Barak Valley of Assam. The enterprises which are registered with District Industries and Commerce Centres of the three districts of the valley, namely Cachar, Karimganj and Hailakandi as on 31 March 2012 and which are still functioning have been studied. Sample size of the study is 246 of which 81.71 per cent are micro enterprises and 18.29 per cent are small enterprises. The study is based on primary data. The sampling technique of the study is ‘convenience sampling’. Arithmetic mean, rank and standard deviation have been used for data analysis. The hypotheses are tested with the help of the statistical technique ‘Mann–Whitney U test’.

Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) play a predominant role in the socio-economic development of the country. They are considered to be the growth engine that triggers developmental process. Besides solving the problems of unemployment and poverty, this help generates additional family income. Mizoram is one of the most industrially backward states in India. Though some progress in industrial development was experienced and the MSME sector gradually gained momentum especially service industries, the growth of industry and industrial development in the state is relatively slow owing to its topographical and geographical disadvantages. Mizoram is predominantly an agricultural economy and lags far behind than the rest of the country as far as industrial development is concerned. The entire state has been notified as backward and is categorised as ‘no industry state’ due to non-existence of large and medium enterprises. Mostly MSMEs exist while big enterprises are almost absent. Development of industries in the state is an uphill task as the investors remain fearful to invest due to its topography, small size market, entry restrictions, low-end infrastructure and such other related factors. In this context, MSMEs play an important role in the industrial scenario of the state. This article, based on a study of 406 MSMEs in Aizawl district, Mizoram, attempts to trace out the factors which induced the entrepreneurs to start business activities.

Entrepreneurship Education, Information Technology (IT) education, training, mentoring and post-training support is necessary to empower the rural youths for the establishment of their start-ups. Use of ‘IT’ in the business activity is now needed to cross geographical boundaries for its potential market. In this research, investigator studied effectiveness of various online tools and its impact upon the sustainability in terms of revenue generation of the business started by the youth in Satara. It is specifically related to rise in the rate of sale with the use of online tools. In this study, it is observed that well-organized training is found useful for capacity building of rural youth entrepreneurs and revenue generation in their start-ups through interventions of IT tools. During the training of participants of experimental group, market place simulations, IT product development, digital marketing and online platforms are found to be effective with social media platforms. It is for the interactive tele-collaboration and to develop latest skills with responsive webs, mobile and web apps. It is found useful to attract potential customers to the start-ups of the experimental group participants as compared to the start-ups of the participants of the control group.

This article provides an analysis of an aerospace business case on additive layer manufacturing (ALM) process. Using activity-based costing (ABC), we can breakdown the cost drivers and understand the cost levers associated with ALM process. This can help us in finding the innovative ways to enhance the ALM process operation’s efficiency. We have considered an aircraft bracket manufacturing using the direct metal laser sintering process as a business case for our ABC analysis on additive layer manufacturing technologies in aerospace and defence supply chain. The additive layer manufactured components associated cost can be divided into design cost, production cost, post-processing cost and qualification cost. Each step in the additive manufacturing process performs at one organisation or across a supply chain based on the various internal and external suppliers. Also, there are overhead costs associated with each step of this additive manufacturing process. This article explains the cost involved in the component design and its relevance to supply chain. It explains the cost involved in the component production such as materials cost, machine set-up cost, machine runtime cost and final build plate removal cost. It also explains the cost involved in the post-processing such as heat-treating cost, machining cost and surface finish cost. The component process cost is required to qualify based on its end use. The component qualification cost is required to add significantly to the component overall cost including the labour cost and computer tomography scan cost. The overhead cost is depending on the individual operation and it assigns these costs appropriately. It computes the ABC for an aerospace bracket and concludes with analysis to make a convinceable business case for the use of innovative technology and to enable to identify the cost of drivers and levers, so it can drive business with more efficiently.

The fledgling farmer producer organisations (FPO) have a statutory status but need better appreciation. They have a crucial role in doubling the farmer’s income. Seventy-five National Bank for Agriculture and Rural Development (NABARD) funded FPOs in Telangana (out of 129 FPOs among the thousands of enterprises in the state formed/funded up to the year 2018) were studied—starting with a numerical perspective before moving onto an entrepreneurial study in this desk-based analysis. The coverage has been found to be skewed in 59 (out of 584 ) mandals (blocks) in 23 (out of 31) districts in Telangana. The top as well as poorly performing three districts each have been identified for further action besides proposing the use of a metric of FPO density/1000 cultivators. It is also to be noted that eight districts (accounting for about a third of the cultivator population) have been left uncovered by the FPO activity (especially Hyderabad district which can be a crucible for unique and novel enterprises). The interactions of FPO-promoters and FPO-age have been studied. Their entrepreneurial activities have been examined and it was found to be diverse with little value addition in these and little service activity taken up. It seeks to further the argument that FPOs can be equated with micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)/village industries so that benefits to industries also flow here. The author agrees with the results of the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor study regarding entrepreneurial behaviour. It is proposed to examine in a serial manner the growth, membership, financial stakes, etc. in the future studies for their greater understanding.