Action Research in the Small Enterprise Sector

Collaboration: GLS (Gujarat, India): NISTADS (Delhi, India); Aachen (Germany); IpL Bologna (Italy)

Gujerat Model of Entrepreneurial Innovation

Gujarat has been identified as an entrepreneurial hub of India primarily due to innovative behaviour of Gujarati entrepreneurs. This has led Gujarat to be known as a model of entrepreneurial innovations. This model of entrepreneurial innovations has been developed from the study of entrepreneurs in a variety of industries from the region and several industrial clusters of enterprises in Gujarat. The study points to the transformation of many communities, particularly the Patel community which was traditionally an agriculture community into manufacturing class is a new emergent in Gujarat’s industrial scenario. Gujarat, better known as entrepreneurial hub of India can be considered as a major centre for innovations happening at the grass root level with strong cultural influence. The enterprising behaviour is largely attributed to typical culture comprising of traditions, values beliefs and attitudes of the region and can be of great interest in light of cross cultural innovation model.

The model shows that Gujarati entrepreneur has such values as self-employment, openness to learn, radical economic sense, family orientation, community orientation, congeniality, venturesome and quest for the unknown which coupled with environmental stimuli such as family background, and easy availability of cheap resources result in typical entrepreneurial orientations giving rise to Pioneering-Innovative behaviour.

In this study, Heuristics or rules of thumb for decisions of the entrepreneurs are identified and are grouped to arrive at certain entrepreneurial orientations of Gujarati entrepreneur. Key entrepreneurial orientations observed are explained below with the influence of internal stimuli viz. beliefs, values, attitudes, learning (psychological make-up) and external stimuli, mainly environmental factors. Since 1960s, Gujarat has shown new patterns of entrepreneurial innovations. These innovations are made within different forms of organisations — from proprietorship, public limited companies to cooperative form of organisation. Again industries such as Brass Parts manufacturing, shipbreaking and gems and jewellery which were non- existent before 1960 have been started by thousands of small entrepreneurs. What is more important to observe is the fact that people from all walks of life and from traditionally non business classes have taken to starting and nurturing small businesses in all parts of Gujarat. This may be the beginning of a new type of non-cast based entrepreneurial culture in Gujarat

Industrial Clusters: India, Germany, Italy and UK

Collaboration: NISTADS (Delhi, India); GLS (Gujarat, India); Aachen (Germany)

Under the EU-India Cross Cultural Innovation Network Project, the case study work is conducted at Ahmedabad, (Gujarat, India); Aachen region of Germany, and Emilio Romagna region of Italy, including some experiences of incubators in Sussex area in the UK. The report is divided into six parts. The case studies focus on the achievements and challenges faced by Indian SMEs and adoption of a cluster approach, for example the clusters approach of the Oil engines in Rajkot, Gems and Jewellery in Surat, and Ceramic Clusters in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, India. The German Model for innovative SMEs emphasises continuous learning with strong academia — enterprise linkages. The Italian Model shows how small enterprises in the Emilio Romagna region cooperate and compete internationally.

The nature of European and Indian Clusters

The characteristic feature of the European Innovation model (German, Italian or UK) is the establishment of proactive entrepreneurial culture by establishing strong linkages between the enterprise and the universities/R&D institutions, through the establishment of Consortia, and science and technology parks e.g. in Cesena and Ravena regions in Italy; Incubators and industrial parks and clusters e.g. in Aachen region in Germany; and incubators e.g. Sussex Innovation Centre, Brighton, UK. All these approaches have been highly successful in consolidating the SMEs with infusion of high technologies and constant learning process with the academia. Vocational training has been one of the characteristic features of this region. Co-operation and competition among the SMEs has been the crux of success in all three cases, although it is also evident in the Gujarat Model of Innovation in India. Exploitation of all knowledge resources including international, national and local (the tacit dimension), through networking with the help of information technologies and learning by doing to capture the tacit dimension has been recognised as the prime factor for competition in this globalised world. In India, although academia-industry linkages have begun to emerge in various clusters, but this needs further large-scale commitment and action.

Small in India is more than beautiful - it is efficient, adaptable and adds value in economic and social spheres. As the country integrates into the global village, the small and medium sector will have to respond accordingly. It deserves special attention as it plays a pivotal role in a country's socio-economic development. The problems faced by the SMEs particularly in accessing technology and maintaining competitiveness have been formidable. The Indian experience shows that the local and national clusters sharing are mostly informal. Information regarding the latest development and competency understanding is much less. Work sharing is not seen in the local and national clusters, as it is a fight for the same customer and in the same market. Even though the product and technology used by the entrepreneurs are similar; the tendency to share is less among the cluster participants. And as most clusters are made for production related issues such as, procurement of raw material, maintenance and corrective actions. The marketing related issues are never dealt with. The marketing related issues are the real differentiators between a multinational company and the SMEs entrepreneurs. With the creation of local and national clusters the SMEs entrepreneurs can compete with the multinational company on the issues of quality and other production aspects. But when it comes to market, the multinational companies (MNCs) are much ahead of the small-scale entrepreneurs. With the marketing muscle the multinational companies take away the market share from the small-scale entrepreneurs. Further, Local and National clusters are mostly formed for production purposes, i.e. for the issues related to production, like procurement, assembling, and maintenance. The clusters are not formed for marketing the products. As such, in local and national clusters, the entrepreneurs are less aware or even unaware of the competitors' strengths and weaknesses. Thus, the local and national clusters do not really serve the purpose of clusters for which they are created. The local and national clusters nearly miss the vital factor of knowledge sharing between elements of cluster and united marketing to face the competition from the MNCs. On the other hand, it is very well noticed in case of Italy. The creation and use of specific data basis from production to marketing (as in case of Italy and UK) is wanting. Non-sharing of information between the elements of local and national clusters creates a situation wherein the cluster’s real impact is lost.

PAU Plant Clinic: One Roof Integrated Service

Agriculture is the bedrock of the India national economy. It is the largest sector of economic activity in the country. Majority of the Indian population lives in the rural areas and is directly or indirectly dependent on agriculture for their survival. Therefore progress of the nation is linked to the advancement in agriculture. Keeping in view the growth rate of India's population, there is need for increasing agricultural production per unit area and per unit time. So intensive agricultural techniques using high yielding varieties of crops and optimum and efficient use of improved inputs can meet the target production. At the same time, the intensive cultivation has many inherent risks involving indiscriminate use of agricultural inputs. Considering the different problems related with cultivation, the Punjab Agricultural University, Ludhiana took the initiative of setting up Plant Disease Clinic that provided solution to the problems of farmers related with plant diseases only. A need was felt to reorganise and expand the area of working of the clinic due to occurrence of more complex disorders. As a result of continuous efforts of the university, a full-fledged plant clinic was established at PAU in January 1993.

The main work of the Plant Clinic involves the diagnosis and remedial measures for the plant samples brought by the farmers suffering from disorders such as those of entomological, pathological, nutritional, physiological and agronomic. The focus is on plant production and protection packages for different crops. The work also involves field visits to identify and examine complex of problems of the farmers, and then provide feed back to the university regarding new plant disorders to reorient research programmes accordingly. The Plant Clinic provides practical training to undergraduate students through plant clinic courses. The dissemination of the Plant Clinic activities includes press releases pertaining to the important plant disorders, remedial measures, new inputs etc.

The plant clinic is an excellent exemplar of integrated model of university-enterprise collaboration for sustainable development. Different scientists are deputed in the plant clinic to provide services to the farmers about plant disorders. They are from the fields of Agronomy, Entomology, Plant Pathology and Soil Science. Farmers are frequently seen visiting the plant clinic near gate no. 1 of the university campus. They visit the clinic to get information about plant diseases, to show the disordered plant sample to the scientists for its diagnosis, to show their plants under insect pests attack and also to get soil/water sample tested or to buy different varieties of seeds and books. After understanding the problems of the farmers, scientists use various methods to diagnose the disorder of the plant sample. These methods include - keen observation, laboratory analysis and the necessary discussion among the team of scientists in some cases. This is a systematic, accurate and quick process.

The Plant Clinic is a one-roof service where the problems are solved within 15 to 30 minutes. It is quite rare that the farmers have to wait for a week to get the solution. Different surveys and research works are also undertaken from time to time to bring improvement and increase efficiency of the plant clinic. Farmers after seeking the remedial measures either apply them on the total area under the crops or on the partial area to test and see the results and most of the times they are contended and give an overwhelming response.

Further development of the Plant Clinic included the creation of the Farmers Service Centre. Technical guidance is provided to the farmers for cultivation of vegetable cereal crops etc. The Farmers Centre has the facility for sale of seeds, sale of agricultural publications at the book centre of plant clinic. About 50 to 60 farmers visit the service centre daily. Besides there are queries done through telephone by farmers of distant areas. The website and the E-mail ID for availing the clinic services are under plan of operations. The surveillance and the monetary committee actively keep on visiting fields and giving suggestive measures that can installed to improve the production. Certain referred cases from the university itself are also undertaken in this one roof service. Overall, the plant clinic has been successful in increasing knowledge and solving problems of the farmers in time. This has helped farmers in better farm management and using the inputs effectively.