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A large number of small-scale industries have shown their existence in India, tough competition among them made the survival of small industries difficult. All facing problems like reduced production and poor quality. The case study presented in the paper deals with Kaizen implementation in a machine vice manufacturer company. Kaizen has tremendous impacts on the production techniques and lead times. Case study represented is to motivate practitioners for implementing Kaizen in small-scale industries of India. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

The methodology applied to implement the Kaizen in Indian small-scale industry. Fishbone diagrams have been used to represent cause and effects. The result has been shown as savings in terms of money and time.

Processing time has been reduced by 44.4 percent and an amount of Rs. 64,000 has been saved by recovering a total of 80 square feet working area. Improvements in the form of work flow have been achieved.

Value stream mapping can be integrated with Kaizen for more reduction in the product lead time.

The paper will be worthily for practitioners and consultants for understanding Kaizen implementation in small-scale industry of India.

The paper yields lots of values for practitioners to understand the impacts and significance of the Kaizen in small-scale industries of India. Also it bridges the gap between theory and practical of Kaizen implementation in small-scale industry of India.

This paper, a case study, aims to illustrate the application of Six Sigma in a small-scale ceramic manufacturing industry. The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate the empirical application of DMAIC methodology to reduce failure rate at high voltage (HV) testing of one of the most critical products, insulator.

The case study is based on primary data collected from a real-life situation prevailing in the industry. The case study methodology adopted here is at one small-scale unit wherein the authors have applied DMAIC methodology and observed and recorded the improvement results, especially, reduction in failure rate at HV testing of insulator and, thus, increase in Sigma level.

The results found after implementation of the solutions are very significant. The rejection percentage has been reduced from 0.5 to 0.1 percent and consequently the Sigma level has been improved from 4.4 to 5.0.

This success story can be a guiding roadmap for other such industries to successfully implement Six Sigma to improve quality, productivity and profitability.

This case study will serve as one of the resource bases for the industries which have till not implemented Six Sigma and benefited from the same.

Improved quality and productivity leads to better economy. This case will help industries to serve the society with better economy with improved quality and productivity.

Though ceramic industries in India are having enormous potential for growth, majority of them, especially, small and medium industries are either not aware of or not implementing Six Sigma to reap its multidimensional benefits of improving quality, productivity and profitability. This study highlights the benefits reaped by small-scale ceramic manufacturing industry opening up the avenues for its application at other such organizations.

The Indian garment industry has witnessed a significant change since the inception of the New Textile Policy 2000 that suggests removing the industry from the list of small‐scale industries with a view to improving its competitiveness in the global market. As productivity is the driving factor in enhancing the competitiveness of any decision‐making entity (firm), a study of total factor productivity (TFP) and its sources can provide vital inputs to a firm for improving its competitiveness. Keeping this as a backdrop, the paper attempts to measure the TFP in the Indian garment‐manufacturing firms; identify sources of the TFP; and suggest measures for the firms to enhance their productivity.

The study is based on the firm‐level panel data collected from the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy for the years 2002‐2007. One output variable, namely, gross sale and four input variables, namely, net fixed assets, wages & salaries, raw material, and energy & fuel, have been selected. The DEA‐based Malmquist Productivity Index (MPI) approach has been applied to measure the TFP.

The Indian garment industry has achieved a moderate average TFP growth rate of 1.7 per cent per annum during the study period. The small‐scale firms are found to be more productive than the medium‐ and large‐scale firms. The decomposition of TFP growth into technical efficiency change (catch‐up effect) and technological change (frontier shift) reveals that the productivity growth is contributed largely by technical efficiency change rather than by technological change.

Earlier studies on the Indian garment industry have applied the partial factor productivity approach, which has several limitations. This paper measures the TFP and identifies its sources through applying a non‐parametric DEA‐based MPI approach. Through this approach, the productivity growth is decomposed into technical efficiency change and technological change. Further, an attempt has also been made to study the variation in the productivity growth rates across location, scale‐size and type of garments.

The purpose of this paper is to study the problems faced by small‐scale entrepreneurs in Nellore District of Andhra Pradesh, India and also to study the opinions of entrepreneurs regarding what are the different factors which are helpful for success of entrepreneurship.

The present paper is conducted by choosing a sample size of 30 per cent (196 units) randomly from the total population of 653 units. The data are collected through a structured questionnaire, informal interview and analyzed by using mean, ANOVA and Z‐test.

It is found that high price of raw materials, lack of marketing information and marketing of products are major problems faced by the entrepreneurs, followed by competition from small industries and absenteeism of labour. The majority (about 90.3 per cent) of the respondents did not want to make any complaint to government agencies.

The findings help to know the problems faced by small‐scale entrepreneurs in a developing country such as India and also help the policy makers to solve these problems.

Technology and knowledge have become the buzzwords of the new millennium. Technological changes and demanding customers are creating a more knowledge intensive, turbulent, complex and uncertain environment. Organizations, which are able to continually build faster and cheaper new strategic assets than their competitors, create long-term competitive advantages. Thus, the growth of companies is directly associated with innovativeness and technological development, especially for small organizations that are more vulnerable to dynamic changes in market place. Organizations need a strategic framework that can help them to achieve the goal of technology development and competitiveness. The purpose of this paper is to develop such strategic framework for small organizations for their technology development and, hence, survival in marketplace.

Options field methodology, options profile methodology, analytic hierarchy process (AHP) and fuzzy set theory are utilized to generate various options and profiles to propose a conceptual framework for technology development.

The results from the study showed that “mixed approach,” “strategic simulation approach” and the “regulatory environment approach,” in this order, emerged as the top three important options for the strategic technological development of small manufacturing enterprises.

This result can provide an original and more accurate implementation pathway toward technological innovative development in emerging economies. The proposed framework can provide valuable guidelines and recommendations to practicing managers and analysts for policy development to promote innovative and technological developments.

Purpose – The chapter explores how gendered division of labor shapes gender hierarchal relationships, inequality, social mobility, and labor solidarity of women and men workers in the small-scale restaurant industry in China.

Methodological approach – Thirty-four interviews with restaurant workers were conducted and a survey was taken.

Findings – Small-scale restaurants in China are patriarchal in structure that symbolizes a familial hegemonic regime. Labor is divided by gender, age and, to some extent, class with women concentrated in the lower positions. Most restaurant workers are young migrant women who come to the city to work before marrying and having children. Restaurant work is arduous: the hours are long and the wages are low. Women workers do not advance beyond the position of server, while men make use of social contacts and advance in status and wages. Because of kinship and village ties as well as divisions by age and gender, class solidarity cannot be achieved.

Value of the study – The chapter focuses on a topic that has been little studied. It furthers an understanding of intersectionality and inequality among food service workers in the context of China.

Productivity gain in the manufacturing sector draws immense significance for all developing countries, particularly due to its contribution in enhancing competitiveness and promoting economic growth in the long run. The purpose of this paper is to study the sources of productivity gain for large and small-scale manufacturing firms.

This paper studies productivity performance of Indian textile manufacturing industry using firm-level panel data of 160 companies for the period 2007-2008 to 2012-2013. The output-oriented Malmquist productivity index has been computed through data envelopment analysis. Further, the sources of productivity gain are identified for the entire textile industry as well as for the small and large-scale sector companies separately.

Regarding the sources of productivity gain, technology change and scale efficiency seem to be the major drivers. Pure efficiency change is a concern for all firms irrespective of scale. The results suggest that moderately large companies are exhibiting better productivity performance during the study period.

The research is limited to a single industry, reference database and methodology. There is scope for further research at the micro-level to analyse the drivers of productivity for enterprises operating at different scales.

The paper contributes to existing literature by identifying the core action area for improving productivity performance in Indian textile manufacturing as the pure efficiency component. It also adds to research on the most productive scale of operation in manufacturing.

The paper contributes to the debate about local food and conceptualization of rural entrepreneurship by analysing the performance of small-scale dairies departing from their relation to innovations, innovative activities and risk.

The authors use phenomenography to identify representative categories, and to draw conclusions about how these are consistent or different from dominant definitions of rural entrepreneurship and self-employment. The authors conducted semi-structured interviews, participatory workshops and compiled a database of all small-scale dairies established between 1968 and 2020.

A focus on innovations contributes to differentiate between rural entrepreneurship and self-employment and how these interact in the process of economic growth. Innovations are seldom disruptive. Instead, innovative behaviour is strongly related to business models and to imitation. Social capital and collective action play a key role for the innovative capacity of small businesses, especially to realize disruptive innovations, such as the establishment of a new market.

The innovative capacity of rural businesses can be understood through their ability to break patterns, alter institutions and turn embededdness into assets. Rural entrepreneurship and self-employment are intertwined in the economic growth process.

Innovative behaviour is a significant aspect for firm survival over time, and it is also strongly related to new business models. Most rural firms can be characterized as self-employment, the latter are essential because they provide rural livelihoods and help bring maturity to newly established markets.

The right type of support, e.g. adopting enabling industrial regulations and granting access to constructive experiences of others, contributes to the innovative behaviour of small-scale rural firms.

This study differentiates rural entrepreneurship from rural self-employment by analysing the role of innovation. The authors show how innovations and innovative behaviour work their way through the process of economic growth and how innovation can break patterns by turning rural embeddedness into assets; and how innovative behaviour related to self-employments contributes to the creation of value and interacts with entrepreneurship in the process of economic growth.

The Indian leather industry contributes to economic growth at a significant environmental cost. Due to the rising global demand for sustainable leather products, promoting efficient input utilisation has become vital. This study measures input efficiency and its determinants for leather industry in order for it to improve its future performance.

In the first stage, bootstrap data envelopment analysis (DEA) approach is used for measuring efficiency and analysing firms' differences based on their geographical location, organisational structures, urban-rural location and sub-industrial groups. A second stage regression examines efficiency determinants using size, age, skill and capital-labour intensity as the explanatory variables.

Efficiency result shows a significant potential of minimising inputs by 47% provided the firms adopt best practices. West Bengal firms, urban located firms, individual and proprietorship owned firms and leather consumer goods firms are found to be relatively efficient to their counterparts. Size, skilled managerial staff and labour-intensive firms positively affect efficiency.

Construction of well-connected roads for accessing urban retail markets and provision of reliable electricity would improve efficiency of rural firms. Small-scale enterprises have a larger share in Indian leather industry; therefore, policy should focus on enhancing the firms' scale and investing in training facilities to skill employed labour for ensuring optimal use of inputs.

Previous studies on the leather industry have used the conventional DEA efficiency measurement approach. This study uses DEA bootstrapping model for robust efficiency estimates and provides consistent inferences about the determinants.

Green supply chain management (GSCM) has received growing attention in the last few years. Almost all industries including mining industries are hit by green fever. In this context, this study aims to identify various challenges faced by the Indian mining industries during GSCM implementation and practices and to represent in a hierarchical manner.

Various barriers and contextual relationships among them have been identified. Classification of barriers has been carried out based upon dependence and driving power (DP) with the help of MICMAC analysis. In addition to this, a structural model of the barriers to GSCM practices in Indian mining industries has been put forward using interpretive structural modelling (ISM) technique.

In the present work, 11 numbers of relevant barriers have been identified from literature and subsequent discussions with experts from academia and industry. Lack of environmental awareness, poor legislation and inadequate pressure from societies positioned at the bottom of the hierarchy are found to be the key barriers. These barriers have high DP and less dependence.

A model of these barriers has been developed based upon expert's opinions and literature survey. This model is not statistically validated. This model also does not quantify the adverse effect of each of the variables on GSCM practices in Indian mining industries.

The development of a hierarchy helps in the classification and categorization of the barriers, and thereby formulates their respective strategies and policies while providing clarity of thought. Also this hierarchy facilitates the allocation of resources in a rational manner at the time of scarcity of resources and to achieve the maximum benefits of the available resources.

The structured model developed will help to understand interdependence of the barriers. Using ISM, this paper has developed a hierarchy of these barriers which is useful to identify the hierarchy of actions to be taken for handling different barriers.