School of Management, Doon University, in collaboration with NIESBUD  (National Institute of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Development (NIESBUD), is organising MSME Conclave cum-Conference (MSMEC2) on “Sustainable Supply Chain Capabilities of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises: Influences, practices, training needs and employment opportunities” on May 10.

NIESBUD is an autonomous institute under ministry of MSME, Government of India. India is among the fastest transition economies and it is emerging to its next stage of growth. India leads the world ranking in shared service domain while rapidly emerging as a preferred location for manufacturing and supplier partnership for many foreign corporations.

Due to change in the  business landscape, Indian firms have started recognizing and strategically addressing the use of potential of suppliers (allied industrial firms, ancillary units -specially small and micro firms).

However, they are not able to effectively map the supply chain learning particularly, in cost, quality, customer responsiveness, delivery lead-time, flexibility and overall Skill set development and training needs of the workforce through better supply chain planning, coordination and information

sharing.

Recently, both small and micro firms have received significant attention from researchers, practitioners and Government agencies. In India, despite  the dual importance of  the Integrated Supply Chain as a strategic tool and as enablers for better control and communication, there is dearth of quality research initiatives that elaborate the importance of small and micro supplier firms, their skills enhancement andtraining needs.

This conference is aimed at bringing  together academicians, voluntary agencies, corporate executives, research scholars and students. The subthemes of the conference are Training Needs and Skills level in MSME sector, Supply Chain Network of Small and Micro Enterprises: Advantages and Issues, Core Competence and Competitiveness of MSMEs, SCM Practices on Sustainable Performance of SMEs, Small and Micro Enterprises as a laboratory Sandbox for Developing Strategies, Role of Financial Institutions and Banks, Intellectual Property Rights and Patent Rights,  Women Participation, Gender and Empowerment Issues in MSMEs and Micro Finance issues.

Uttarakhand has emerged as one of the most attractive industrial destinations in India. The state has focused on the development of the Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSME) sector to achieve  economic growth. It has witnessed remarkable growth of MSMEs over the years which have contributed significantly in employment generation.

Uttarakhand offers a wide range of benefits in terms of tax exemptions, interest incentives, financial assistance, subsidies and concessions. The State has also taken pro-industry initiatives to attract industrial investment and encourage entrepreneurship among people of Uttarakhand.

Recently, a report “Emerging Contours in the MSME Sector of Uttarakhand: A Survey Based Emperical Study” has been prepared and released by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The role of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) in the economic and social development of the country is well established. The MSME sector is a nursery of entrepreneurship, often driven by individual creativity and innovation. This sector contributes 8 per cent of the country’s GDP, 45 per cent of the manufactured output and 40 per cent of its exports.

The MSMEs provide employment to about 60 million persons through over 26 million enterprises producing over six thousand products. The labour to capital ratio in MSMEs and the overall growth in the MSME sector is much higher than in the large industries. The MSME sector is often driven by individual creativity.

A major strength of the sector is its potential for greater innovation both in terms of products and processes. An inherent strength of the sector is that these enterprises can be set up with very small amounts of investments and have the locational flexibility to be located anywhere in the country.

Their employment potential is higher compared to large enterprises and are presently estimated to employ six crore persons. They are amenable to ancilliarisation and thus have natural linkages with large enterprises.