 "ISB to lift small units out of low-income trap")
The Indian School of Business' Mohali campus has launched an initiative aimed at preparing small and medium enterprises (SMEs) to face global manufacturing competition and helping them ramp up capacity cost-effectively.
Known as the 'Big Leap Club', the initiative is an outcome of brainstorming with domestic and global companies on the untapped potential of Indian SMEs, which can be exploited to increase production and create more jobs in manufacturing and services.
The initiative was launched last week at ISB's Mohali campus, when SMEs in the region (Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh) were given a glimpse of the areas where an interface between large companies and them can be fruitfully created.
Members of the club will be exposed to global business thinkers and faculty to break down their mental barriers to experimenting with innovative ideas and technologies. The activities of the club will take the form of round tables and courses.
ISB usually charges a premium fee for its programmes, but realising the importance of the cost factor for SMEs, it has decided to offer concessional fees to clusters of units. There are certain schemes of the Union ministry of MSME that can be explored for the purpose of payment for membership of the club, Singh said.
He added that ISB's discussions with corporate leaders had revealed that the mother units benefit the most through upgradation of ancillary units. The growth of large players depends upon the progress of small vendors. Owing to lack of financial resources and technical know-how, SMEs in the north have stagnated.
So ISB has approached some large auto players that have an ancillary base in northern India to collaborate with the club in cost-cutting. The big players have responded positively, he added.
Since MSME executives need to multi-task, as their scale of operation is small, this restricts their movement from their factories. "We therefore plan to take optimum advantage of technology, prepare hybrid programmes and communicate with them through online conferencing," Singh said.
Visits of students and faculty from ISB to SMEs to see their problems and the preparation of reports for clusters and firms would be a highlight of this programme, he added.
ISB's initiative is expected to help persuade more entrepreneurs to seek the benefits of government programmes, adopt global best practices and achieve state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities, while the interface with global faculty and business leaders is expected to motivate small players to aim for higher results.
Known as the 'Big Leap Club', the initiative is an outcome of brainstorming with domestic and global companies on the untapped potential of Indian SMEs, which can be exploited to increase production and create more jobs in manufacturing and services.
The initiative was launched last week at ISB's Mohali campus, when SMEs in the region (Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh) were given a glimpse of the areas where an interface between large companies and them can be fruitfully created.
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The aim behind creating the Big Leap Club is to help SMEs break out of the low- and middle-income trap, Pradeep Singh, the Deputy Dean of ISB, explained. Many of them have the potential to grow but cannot scale up owing to financial and technical constraints and a lack of understanding of how to mobilise equity.
Members of the club will be exposed to global business thinkers and faculty to break down their mental barriers to experimenting with innovative ideas and technologies. The activities of the club will take the form of round tables and courses.
ISB usually charges a premium fee for its programmes, but realising the importance of the cost factor for SMEs, it has decided to offer concessional fees to clusters of units. There are certain schemes of the Union ministry of MSME that can be explored for the purpose of payment for membership of the club, Singh said.
He added that ISB's discussions with corporate leaders had revealed that the mother units benefit the most through upgradation of ancillary units. The growth of large players depends upon the progress of small vendors. Owing to lack of financial resources and technical know-how, SMEs in the north have stagnated.
So ISB has approached some large auto players that have an ancillary base in northern India to collaborate with the club in cost-cutting. The big players have responded positively, he added.
Since MSME executives need to multi-task, as their scale of operation is small, this restricts their movement from their factories. "We therefore plan to take optimum advantage of technology, prepare hybrid programmes and communicate with them through online conferencing," Singh said.
Visits of students and faculty from ISB to SMEs to see their problems and the preparation of reports for clusters and firms would be a highlight of this programme, he added.
ISB's initiative is expected to help persuade more entrepreneurs to seek the benefits of government programmes, adopt global best practices and achieve state-of-the-art manufacturing capabilities, while the interface with global faculty and business leaders is expected to motivate small players to aim for higher results.