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

The artisanal textile industry plays a vital role in sustaining livelihoods and preserving traditional craftsmanship, but faces declining competitiveness due to industrialisation, fast-fashion expansion and systemic constraints. This study examines critical barriers affecting the sector using an integrated Fuzzy Analytical Hierarchy Process–decision-making trial and evaluation laboratory framework grounded in Systems Theory and Institutional Theory. Using the framework, the study classifies 25 barriers into 8 barrier domains identified based on Porter’s Value Chain and political, economic, social and technological analysis. The study then captures relative importance and causal relationships among barriers based on expert inputs. The findings reveal that financial constraints, regulatory barriers and limited market access act as primary systemic drivers, exerting a strong influence on multiple downstream challenges. Addressing these core financial and institutional bottlenecks can generate broader system-wide improvements. In contrast, operational barriers such as logistics, workforce, technological and social constraints are largely dependent, indicating that they arise from upstream structural inefficiencies and can be better addressed through long-term, integrated interventions rather than isolated actions. The study contributes by offering an integrated analytical framework that simultaneously evaluates priority and causality of barriers, providing a structured basis for targeted interventions in artisanal textile systems. The findings emphasise the importance of addressing root drivers to support sustainable sectoral development and structured policy design.

MSMEs are of particular significance to the Indian economy. This labour-intensive sector helps to maintain the socio-economic equilibrium. If the regulatory framework facilitates, they can reduce economic disparities at the regional level by employment generation, promoting economic independence, and helping in the sustainable development of the society. Despite a significant contribution to nation-building, MSMEs are not getting the necessary support from government agencies and financial institutions. Inadequate financing, deficient social infrastructure, managerial skills, and sudden shocks caused by economic and tax reforms are the issues that majorly affect the performance of small enterprises at different levels of their operations. Thus, this study has transacted to highlight the problems MSMEs facing in India. Through the quantitative approach, six different families of problems—namely marketing, finance, technology, raw material, labour, and management—have been identified. Each of the problem areas was categorised into internal and external issues. A detailed discussion has been made considering the impact of demonetisation, GST, and skill development programs on MSMEs. Subsequently, some suggestions have been made for improving the performance of MSMEs.

Entrepreneurship and innovation are considered as key drivers for economic development. In this study, we made an attempt to answer the question as to what should be the policy framework to encourage entrepreneurship and foster innovative culture in India to achieve the desired level of economic development. Entrepreneurship is built upon pillars such as institutional and policy support, availability of capital and entrepreneurial culture. In an emerging economy like India, the government should institutionalise innovation and entrepreneurship and promote commercialisation of brilliant ideas by emulating the startup ecosystems in the developed nations. Besides the government, large and well-established companies in private sector and research institutes should nurture startups by extending hand-holding support and generous funding. If India wishes to be a leader in innovation, it needs to scale up its gross expenditure on R&D, that is, on par with the advanced economies by engaging more researchers, especially in the private sector. Our article has important implications for policymakers and all key stakeholders, as it can help in identifying and implementing the appropriate measures to eliminate the obstacles that entrepreneurs face and channels to support innovative entrepreneurial activities in India.

The study’s main aim is to figure out what function financial goods and services play in mediating the link between financial access and micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs)’ growth in developing markets. Consequently, this article aims to see whether the usage of monetary goods and services in a developing nation like India mediates the connection between financial access and MSMEs’ growth. The data were collected from 392 MSMEs in the Jammu region using a cross-sectional research method. The partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) technique was used to see whether the use of financial goods and services in developing nations had a mediating consequence on the link between financial access and MSMEs’ growth. The study exclusively collected data from MSMEs in India’s Jammu region. There is still the possibility of confirming this result in other emerging economies. MSMEs may participate in financial access initiatives provided by organisations to use financial services better.

The process of research and development (R&D) is characterised by improvisation, improvement and innovation based on information, knowledge and experimentation. It is the key to modern industrial development. Theoretically, firms are supposed to invest in R&D in order to enhance their existing offering and stay in business, given the competitive globalised market. The Indian economy is characterised as one of the growing global economies. Industrialisation process in India is dominated by the micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs). A low level of operation keeps these firms on a small budget, thus making the sector non-conducive in conducting firm-specific R&D. The current article is an empirical elucidation of the MSMEs’ industrialisation process in light of industry-specific R&D. The study is based on the Annual Survey of Industries data, analysing the national-level industrialisation process for 3 years from 2016 through 2018. The article finds that the overall MSME sector-specific R&D atmosphere in the country is not satisfactory. There is no correlation and symmetry between the level of industrialisation across states, average output and the R&D process. The findings of the article recommend a change in the industrial policy with a focus on the growth and development of industry-specific R&D.