DIBRUGARH UNIVERSITY QUESTION PAPERS
2013 (November)
COMMERCE (General/Speciality)
Course: 502 (Entrepreneurship Development)
Time: 3 hours
The figures in the margin indicate full marks for the questions
(NEW COURSE)
Full Marks: 80
Pass Marks: 32
1. (a) What do you understand by entrepreneurship? Explain the functions of an entrepreneur in brief.
Ans: Entrepreneur: The word “entrepreneur” is derived from the French word entreprendre which means to initiate or undertake. In the early sixteenth century, the Frenchmen who organised and led military expeditions were referred to as “entrepreneurs”. The term entrepreneur was applied to business in the early eighteenth century by French Economist Richard Cantillon. According to him, the entrepreneur buys factor services at certain prices with a view to sell their products at uncertain prices in the future. Richard Cantillon conceived of an entrepreneur as a bearer of non-insurable risk.
Functions of an Entrepreneur:
An entrepreneur frequently has to wear many hats. He has to perceive opportunity, plan, organize resources, and oversee production, marketing, and liaison with officials. Most importantly he has to innovate and bear risk. The main functions of an entrepreneur are as follows:
1. Innovation: Innovation is one of the most important functions of an entrepreneur according to Schumpeter. An entrepreneur uses information, knowledge and intuition to come up with new products, new methods of reducing costs of a product, improvement in design or function of a product, discovering new markets or new ways of organization of industry. Through innovation, an entrepreneur converts a material into a resource or combines existing resources into new and more productive configurations. It is the creativity of an entrepreneur that results in invention [creation of new knowledge] and innovation [application of knowledge to create new products, services or processes.] Systematic innovation means monitoring the following for innovative opportunity:
Ø The unexpected success or failure or any unexpected outside event, (e.g. when the IT bubble burst the ITES sector started growing.)
Ø Innovation based on process need [e.g. plate based cameras, film based cameras, digital cameras]
Ø Changes in industry and market structure [e.g. video cassette VCD, DVD, Blue ray disc]
Ø Demographics changes (e.g. increasing number of working women and nuclear families in most metropolitan cities)
Ø New knowledge (e.g. Pentium chip)
2. Risk and uncertainty bearing: According to Hozelist an entrepreneur performs the function of risk and uncertainty bearing. Every decision pertaining to development of new products, adapting new technologies, opening up new markets involves risk. Decision-making in an environment of uncertainty requires anticipation of risk. Profit is said to be the reward for anticipating and taking such risks. However it is pertinent to mention that the entrepreneur is not a gambler, he only takes calculated risks. An entrepreneur develops the art of decision making under conditions of uncertainty as a matter of survival.
3. Organization building: An entrepreneur has to organize men, material and other resources. He has to perform the functions of planning, co-ordination and control. He has to use his leadership qualities to build a team, generate resources and solve problems. With his organizational skills an entrepreneur builds an enterprise from scratch, nurtures it and makes it grow. His vision sows the seeds for a sound and vibrant organization and synergies are built in the enterprise.
According to Kilby in a developing country even the imitator entrepreneurs are very important and the entrepreneurial role encompasses the following:
a) Perception of market opportunities
b) Gaining command over scarce resources
c) Purchasing inputs
d) Marketing the products
e) Dealing with bureaucrats
f) Managing human relations within the firm
g) Managing customer and supplier relations
h) Managing finance
i) Managing production
j) Acquiring and overseeing assembly of the factory
k) Industrial engineering
l) Upgrading process and product
m) Introducing new production techniques and products
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(b) Define woman entrepreneur. Discuss the problems of woman entrepreneurs in Assam.
Ans: Introduction to Women Entrepreneurship
Women Entrepreneurs may be defined as the women or a group of women who initiate, organize and operate a business enterprise. Government of India has defined women entrepreneurs as an enterprise owned and controlled by a women having a minimum financial interest of 51% of the capital and giving at least 51% of employment generated in the enterprise to women. Like a male entrepreneurs a women entrepreneur has many functions. They should explore the prospects of starting new enterprise; undertake risks, introduction of new innovations, coordination administration and control of business and providing effective leadership in all aspects of business.
Problems and Challenges of woman entrepreneurship in Assam
The entrepreneurs in Assam in particular and those of Indian’s North Eastern Region in general, irrespective of their gender, have some specific problems in setting up and running their business ventures. Similarly the Indian women in general have some problems specific to them. The nature and magnitude of the problems faced by our women depends on various factors to which a woman is subjected. Women in general have high degree of patience, profound sincerity in work, diligence, sense of duty and efficient managerial skill (with initial guidance). But unfortunately, the society either fails to identify their quality or under-estimate them and /or suppress them as second class citizen. The problems in general the women entrepreneurs in developing countries like India face, which are equally applicable to the women entrepreneurs in Assam relate to the following:
1) Social attitude and support: Being in a male dominated society, the Indian women are treated as dependent on men and have no liberty to take decisions of their own. The attitude of non-co-operative from her husband or close family members stands heavily in the way of developing women entrepreneurship. Moreover, the conservative attitude of the society does not allow our women in most cases, to take up entrepreneurial ventures. The gender related discrimination is felt more severely when a woman entrepreneur approaches promotional agencies or banks.
2) Mobility constraint: The women in Assam more particularly those of rural areas have restrictions in their mobility so far as their social status is concerned. Although now-a-days they have relatively more freedom of mobility, but most often become soft target of suspicion by husband. As a prospective entrepreneur, a woman has to visit various financial institutions and Govt. agencies repeatedly to get her works done. But the humiliating attitude of the officials frustrates her and most often abandons the idea of venturing the project.
3) Dual Responsibility: A woman entrepreneur has to perform dual responsibility of her profession at enterprise as also at family as wife and mother. The unmarried girls also, in many cases, are expected to take care of their younger’s and help mother in her work, besides working at their enterprises. As responsibility of family care largely remains in the hands of women, the women entrepreneurs in Assam in particular and India in general suffer from work-family conflicts.
4) Scanty Financial Resources: Financial constraint is a problem for business in general. But when it comes to the case of a woman entrepreneur, the problem becomes more severe. As both family members and the officials of financial institutions have less confidence on women as entrepreneurs, they are mostly reluctant to spare finance for a woman business venture.
5) Low risk bearing capacity: Women in general have less confidence as compared to their male counterparts. As such, they have less risk taking ability; which is an essential pre-requisite for entrepreneurial success. Women in our country live a protected life. She is taught to depend on male members from birth. She is not allowed to take any risk even if she is willing to take and has ability to bear it.
6) Low educational background: Our women, more particularly those who live in rural areas, bear a very low educational profile. Many of them are either illiterate or have very low level of education. As a result, they face a lot of problems in doing with their business.
7) Absence of Skill and Motivation: Our rural women in general lack entrepreneurial skill and they do not posses adequate motivation towards entrepreneurial career. However, the Indian Institute of Entrepreneurship (IIE) experience indicates that effective training is a vibrant tool in developing and motivating women entrepreneurship.
8) Absence of Group Efforts: The tendency of our women to work in group is very less. More particularly, when it comes to the case of doing business, they hardly understand the benefit of working in group. Therefore, our women should be encouraged to setup and operate enterprises with their group efforts.
9) Absence of Rural Connectivity and Development: Our rural areas are highly potential markets for consumer goods. But absence of proper connectivity and development efforts are the major challenges in developing sustained entrepreneurial practices among our rural women.
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2. (a) Discuss the role of entrepreneurship in economic development. Explain the theory of social change forwarded by E.E Hagen.
Ans: ROLE OF ENTREPRENEURSHIP IN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
The entrepreneur is the key to the creation of new enterprises that energise the economy and rejuvenate the established enterprises that make up the economic structure. Entrepreneurs initiate and sustain the process of economic development in the following ways:
1. Capital formation: Entrepreneurs mobilise the idle savings of the public through the issues of industrial securities. Investment of public savings in industry results in productive utilisation of national resources. Rate of capital formation increases which is essential for rapid economic growth. Thus, an entrepreneur is the creator of wealth.
2. Improvement in per capita income: Entrepreneurs locate and exploit opportunities. They convert the talent and idle resources like land, labour and capital into national income and wealth in the form of goods and services. They help to increase net national product and per capita income in the country, which are important yardsticks for measuring economic growth.
3. Improvement in living standards: Entrepreneurs set up industries which remove scarcity of essential commodities and introduce new products. Production of goods on mass scale and manufacture of handicrafts, etc., in the small scale sector help to improve the standard of life of a common man. These offer goods at lower costs and increase variety in consumption.
4. Economic independence: Entrepreneurship is essential for national self-reliance. Industrialists help to manufacture indigenous substitutes of hitherto imported products thereby reducing dependence on foreign countries. Businessmen also export goods and services on a large scale and thereby earn the scarce foreign exchange for the country. Such import substitution and export promotion help to ensure the economic independence of the country without which political independence has little meaning.
5. Backward and forward linkages: An entrepreneur initiates change which has a chain reaction. Setting up of an enterprise has several backward and forward linkages. For example, the establishment of a steel plant generates several ancillary units and expands the demand for iron ore, coal, etc. These are backward linkages. By increasing the supply of steel, the plant facilitates the growth of machine building, tube making, utensil manufacturing and such other units.
6. Generation of Employment: Entrepreneurship development training which helps in strengthening informal and unorganised sector is expected to motivate enterprising people to opt for self employment and entrepreneurial career. It will therefore, help in solving the problem of increasing unemployment to some extent.
7. Harnessing Locally Available Resources and Entrepreneurship: India is considered to be very rich in natural resources. In spite of about five decades of planned development a large number of states have remained economically backward. A few large scale industries started by entrepreneurs from outside the state in an economically backward area may help as model of pioneering efforts, but ultimately the real strength of industrialisation in backward areas depends upon the involvement of local entrepreneurship in such activities: Increased activities of local entrepreneurs will also result in making use of abundantly available local resources.
8. Balanced Regional Growth: Medium and large scale industries can only be started with huge investment which is either available with well established industrial houses or need to be drawn from public exchequer. Also, promotion of such industries does not help in reducing disparities of income and wealth. On the other hand, an important advantage of small scale enterprises is that they can be started with meager financial ‘resources and little or no previous experience or entrepreneurial background.
9. Reducing Unrest and Social Tension amongst Youth: Many problems associated with youth unrest and social tensions are rightly considered to be due to youth not being engaged in productive work. In the changing environment where we are faced with the problem of recession in wage employment opportunities, alternative to wage career is the only viable option. The country is required to divert the youth with latent entrepreneurial traits from wage career to self employment career. Such alternate path through entrepreneurship could help the country in defusing social tension and unrest amongst youth.
10. Innovations in Enterprises: Business enterprises need to be innovative for their survival and better performance. It is believed that smaller firms have relatively higher necessity and capability to innovate. The smaller firms do not face the constraints imposed by large investment in existing technology. Thus they are both free and compelled to innovate: The National Science Foundation, an organisation in USA found that small companies produce four times more innovations per research dollar than do bigger companies. Entrepreneurship development programmes are aimed at accelerating the pace of small firms growth in India. Increased number of small firms is expected to result in more innovations and make the Indian industry compete in international market.
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(b) Define rural entrepreneurship. Elucidate the advantages and major challenges of rural entrepreneurship.
Ans: Meaning: Rural entrepreneurs are those who carry out entrepreneurial activities by establishing industrial and business units in the rural sector of the economy. In other words, establishing industrial and business units in the rural areas refers to rural entrepreneurship. In simple words, rural entrepreneurship implies entrepreneurship emerging in rural areas. Or, say, rural entrepreneurship implies rural industrialisation. Thus, we can say, entrepreneurship precedes industrialization.
According to KVIC (Khadi and Village Industry Commission), "village industries or Rural industry means any industry located in rural areas, population of which does not exceed 10,000 or such other figure which produces any goods or renders any services with or without use of power and in which the fixed capital investment per head of an artisan or a worker does not exceed a thousand rupees".
The modified definition of rural industries has been given by Government of India in order to enlarge its scope. According to Government of India, "Any industry located in rural area, village or town with a population of 20,000 and below and an investment of Rs. 3 crores in plant and machinery is classified as a village industry."
Types of Rural Industries: All the village industries come under the following broad categories:
Ø Agro Based Industries: like sugar industries, jaggery, oil processing from oil seeds, pickles, fruit juice, spices, diary products etc.
Ø Forest Based Industries: like wood products, bamboo products, honey, coir industry, making eating plates from leaves.
Ø Mineral based industry: like stone crushing, cement industries, red oxide making, wall coating powders etc.
Ø Textile Industry: like spinning, weaving, colouring, bleaching.
Ø Engineering and Services: like agriculture equipments, tractors and pump sets repairs etc.
Problems Faced By Rural Entrepreneurs
Most of the rural entrepreneurs face peculiar problems like illiteracy, fear of risk, lack of training and experience, limited purchasing power and competition from urban entrepreneurs. Some of the major problems faced by rural entrepreneurs are as under.
1. Paucity of funds: Most of the rural entrepreneurs fail to get external funds due to absence of tangible security and credit in the market. The procedure to avail the loan facility is too time-consuming that its delay often disappoints the rural entrepreneurs.
2. Competition: Rural entrepreneurs face severe completion from large sized organizations and urban entrepreneurs. They incur high cost of production due to high input cost.
3. Middlemen: Middlemen exploit rural entrepreneurs. The rural entrepreneurs are heavily dependent on middlemen for marketing of their products who pocket large amount of profit.
4. Legal formalities: Rural entrepreneurs find it extremely difficult in complying with various legal formalities in obtaining licenses due to illiteracy and ignorance.
5. Procurement of raw materials: Procurement of raw materials is really a tough task for rural entrepreneur. They may end up with poor quality raw materials, may also face the problem of storage and warehousing.
6. Risk element: Rural entrepreneurs have less risk bearing capacity due to lack of financial resources and external support.
7. Lack of technical knowledge: Rural entrepreneurs suffer a severe problem of lack of technical knowledge. Lack of training facilities and extension services crate a hurdle for the development of rural entrepreneurship.
8. Lack of infrastructural facilities: The growth of rural entrepreneurs is not very healthy in spite of efforts made by government due to lack of proper and adequate infrastructural facilities.
9. Poor quality of products: Another important problem is growth of rural entrepreneurship is the inferior quality of products produced due to lack of availability of standard tools and equipment and poor quality of raw materials.
10. Negative attitude: The environment in the family, society and support system is not conducive to encourage rural people to take up entrepreneurship as a career. It may be due to lack of awareness and knowledge of entrepreneurial opportunities.
3. (a) Discuss in detail the scope and opportunities of entrepreneurship development in North-East.
Ans: Entrepreneurship is a buzz word today which has endless opportunities to offer. The current global scenario reflects the impact of entrepreneurship on the world economy. India as a country has seen a huge boost in the society towards entrepreneurship development in the last decade. Even the current government’s push towards entrepreneurship development has given rise to a sea of entrepreneurial opportunities that only needs to be identified and grabbed. According to a recent World Bank report, India has significantly improved its global ranking in ease of doing business in 2016. This is indicative of the entrepreneurial mindset that is being stirred in the society and the assistance towards it from the government.
However, if we look at the supportive business environment in the various states of India, the state of Assam or the NER for that matter ranks very low. Compared to the forerunning business states like Gujrat, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand etc, Assam has a lot to catch up on in the field of entrepreneurship. As per the India Entrepreneurship Report 2015 by Amway, only 22% of respondents in Assam felt that the business environment in the state has improved significantly. Today India is witnessing the emergence of the new age entrepreneurs in segments like Start Ups and Social Enterprises. Major cities and many tier II cities are flourishing with new business ideas and business models with the youths taking centre stage. Start ups in various sectors like food, health, tourism, education etc have been flooding the markets. But in Assam, the impact of such new breed of businesses is yet to be felt. Except for a few handful of young entrepreneurs who are trying to build a foothold in the start up segment, there is hardly any entrepreneurial activities in start ups and social entrepreneurship. Reasons behind this are many:
1) Access to finance – Arranging finance is a key issue here. Number of projects financed by banks is very few compared to developed states. Financial institutions do not play an aggressive role which is evident from the fact that most of these institutions do not fund new projects/new ideas. Schemes like Angel Fund promoted by the Government are not reaching the right target group and hence no convincing results are observed.
2) Delays – Be it registration, bank loan application or any other government formalities, processes are extremely slow. Planning becomes very difficult under such circumstances.
3) Easier registration process for setting up of business is a very important component for entrepreneurship development. Now with the single window act in place, simplified registration process is expected to augment entrepreneurial activities in the state.
4) Power Failure – This is a factor known to all which makes our produces costlier and lowers production rate, but there are hardly any step being implemented to overcome this challenge.
5) Lack of Skilled Resources – This is a serious problem, especially for IT companies in the state. Since the brain drain is excessively high, lack of well qualified resources is very much felt. This proves to be a stumbling block for tech & IT start ups to come up.
6) Lack of Big Industries – The recent surge in start-ups in India is dominated by the service sector. Most of the start-ups (especially the tech start ups) formed in the last few years cater to the big organizations. Lack of such organization in the region makes it difficult for new service companies to sustain.
For a state like Assam with slower economic growth in comparison to the rest of the country, entrepreneurship development is the key to help alleviate the unemployment problem and to increase the competitiveness and growth of business and industries in the state. But for entrepreneurship development, an enabling ecosystem needs to be in place and this is found to be lacking in Assam. The Assamese society is not known to be very risk taking which is very essential for entrepreneurship. The fear of failure is very high and the lack of family support for any sort of entrepreneurial initiative adds to the woes of an aspiring entrepreneur.
Hence, for entrepreneurship development, the state of Assam needs to gear up to address the challenges head on. There are enough resources for entrepreneurial ventures to come up in Assam. Be it food, tourism, healthcare, education, IT start ups, agriculture – each of these sectors can be the focus area for sustainable start up entrepreneurial ventures.
The first and foremost key to entrepreneurship development in Assam is to create awareness on entrepreneurship and bring about a change in mindset of the people. Entrepreneurship is not just about building or starting a business but also about imbibing some characteristic traits like innovative thinking, risk taking, leadership qualities, determination, focus etc. Therefore, it is very essential to develop a mindset towards entrepreneurship from a very tender age at primary and secondary education level for both students and teachers alike. Hence, the government needs to ensure that entrepreneurship forms an intrinsic part of the curriculum at school and college level. This can go a long way in sowing the seeds of entrepreneurship in the minds of the young boys and girls of Assam. Having entrepreneurship awareness camps from time to time at different educational institutes of the state is also important.
To have an enabling ecosystem in place, it is essential that the various stake holders such as government departments, academic institutes of the state, financial institutes, research organisations, industry experts from the region etc. come together and build a support system for the aspiring/existing entrepreneurs ensuring low-cost internet connectivity, favorable policies, ease of doing business, affordable education and skilling services, low-cost debt for priority sectors. Such collaborations can help in research and innovations since innovation is again a very critical and essential component of entrepreneurship development. Such collaborations can lead to the setting up of incubation centres for entrepreneurs and mentorship programmes can be worked out. Mentoring is a very important factor for motivating/guiding entrepreneurs and Assam hardly has any mentoring programmes. Upgradation of technology in the state can also boost entrepreneurship.
There is a lot of demand and scope for the traditional handloom and handicraft items of Assam and therefore the traditional artisans should be nurtured. Sadly, these incredibly skilled people are often amongst the poorest of the poor because they are trapped in inefficient markets and exploitative supply chains without access to capital, no design inputs and markets. As a result, they lose out to cheap, mass-produced goods and their children abandon millennia-old traditions and migrate to over-burdened cities. There is a growing demand for sustainably produced goods which are handcrafted with unique and contemporary designs and that which comes with an emotional story. However, the state has not been able to tap the market up to its potential. This sector can be addressed by focusing on promotion of clusters or reviving the cooperative movement and strategic marketing of traditional handicraft and handloom products of Assam can benefit the rural artisans and help setting up of SMEs and improve the existing SMEs. These in turn will improve the industrial scenario in the state and enhance the lives of the artisans. Thus, addressing opportunities in rural Assam can promote rural entrepreneurship.
Promoting entrepreneurship needs to be addressed by targeting three segments—the start-ups, micro and small entrepreneurs and rural cooperatives/clusters. The future holds a lot of challenges and we have to improve in many directions. The digital revolution is an opportunity for anyone who comes up with indigenous innovative solutions that are capable of scaling up, capable of collaborating within the eco-system and enriching it.
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(b) Discuss the salient features of Industrial Policy, 1991. Give a short description of the Industrial Policy of Assam Government.
Ans: New Industrial Policy, 1991
In order to solve economic problems of our country, the government took several steps including control by the State of certain industries, central planning and reduced importance of the private sector. The main objectives of India’s development plans were:
a) Initiate rapid economic growth to raise the standard of living, reduce unemployment and poverty;
b) Become self-reliant and set up a strong industrial base with emphasis on heavy and basic industries;
c) Reduce inequalities of income and wealth;
d) Adopt a socialist pattern of development based on equality and prevent exploitation of man by man.
As a part of economic reforms, the Government of India announced a new industrial policy in July 1991. The broad features of this policy were as follows:
a) The Government reduced the number of industries under compulsory licensing to six.
b) Policy towards foreign capital was liberalized. The share of foreign equity participation was increased to 51% and in many activities 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) was permitted.
c) Government will encourage foreign trading companies to assist Indian exporters in export activities.
d) Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB) was set up to promote and channelise foreign investment in India.
e) Automatic permission was now granted for technology agreements with foreign companies.
f) Relaxation of MRTP Act (Monopolies and Restrictive Practices Act) which has almost been rendered non-functional.
g) Dilution of foreign exchange regulation act (FERA) making rupee fully convertible on trade account.
h) Disinvestment was carried out in case of many public sector industrial enterprises incurring heavy losses.
i) Abolition of wealth tax on shares.
j) General reduction in customs duties.
k) Provide strength to those public sector enterprises which fall in reserved areas of operation or in high priority areas.
l) Constitution of special boards to negotiate with foreign firms for large investments in the development of industries and import of technology.
Industrial Policy of Assam
Assam is the largest state of the North Eastern region. It has the best developed physical infrastructure among the north-eastern states. The work culture is good and as is the management-worker relations. Unfortunately, the persistent law and order problems in the state have resulted in inadequate protection of industry. The level of urbanization is low. The state also has a power deficit of 19.38%.
Incentives:
1) 90% subsidy (up to Rs. 200,000) on the cost of feasibility studies for medium-scale units
2) 100% subsidy (up to Rs. 50,000) on the cost of feasibility studies for small-scale units
3) Investment subsidy of 30% (up to Rs. 1,000,000) of capital investment
4) Power subsidy of 50% for units with connected loads up to 1 MW and 30% for 5 MW for 5 years
5) 90% transport subsidy for procurement of raw materials up to the Siliguri rail-head
6) Sales tax exemption (up to 7 years) of 150% of fixed capital investment for small-scale units
7) Sales tax exemption (up to 7 years) of 100% of fixed capital investment for medium-scale units
8) 5-year income tax holiday for new industrial units set up in the Northeast
The Industrial Policy of Assam, 2003 has been formulated in the light of the experience of implementation of the Industrial Policies of 1982, 1986, 1991 and 1997. While formulating the present policy, views and suggestions of a cross section of people including industrialists, and Trade Associations, were invited and meaningful interactions were made with them. In the Industrial Policy of Assam, 2003, emphasis has been given in making the operational guidelines effective and simplifying the procedures so that the prospective entrepreneurs and Investors find the investment climate in the state attractive and preferable.
Aims and Objectives
1) The Industrial Policy of Assam, 2003 is formulated to achieve the following aims and objectives:
2) To increase the share of the industrial sector to the State Domestic product (SDP) from the present level of 13.29% to a level of atleast 18%at the end of the terminal year of the policy.
3) To generate more employment opportunities in the state.
4) To ensure of development of adequate and appropriate infrastructures for industrial growth.
5) To make Assam one of the preferred destinations for investment for outside investors.
6) To encourage private investment in industrial infrastructure projects.
7) To ensure industrial development in hitherto industrially backward regions of the state.
8) To create avenues for sustained growth and development of the Small Scale and tiny sectors.
9) To catalyse administrative and legal reforms with a view to simplify the procedure and to ensure time bound disposal of matters.
10) To take steps to promote rural handicrafts so as to conserve and enrich cultural heritage, traditions and customs of the state.
11) To promote establishment of medium and large-scale mother industries to create an industrial base, offering large scale employment opportunities through backward and forward linkages.
12) To promote Information Technology, high-tech knowledge based and biotech industries.
13) To promote export oriented industrial units.
14) To take steps to revive the potentially viable sick Public Sector Undertakings and to make the Public Sector Undertakings economically viable.
3. (a) Discuss the functions of District Industries and Commerce Centre.
Ans: Functions of DI&CC: The DI&CC words at the grass-root for promotion and development of indigenous entrepreneurship in the state through policy supports initiated by the central and the state Governments. The major functions include the following:
1) To facilitate the voluntary filling of Memorandum by the Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) as per the Government of India’s MSME Development Act 2006.
2) To facilitate the compulsory filling of Memorandum by the Manufacturing Sector Medium Enterprises as per the Govt. of India’s MSME Development Act 2006.
3) To facilitate pre registration of the enterprises to avail benefits under the different schemes of assistance and supports under the central and the state Governments.
4) To guide the prospective entrepreneurs through appropriate counseling and suggestions in staring their new enterprises.
5) To guide the entrepreneurs through documentation and counseling in availing the Govt. incentive and support facilities.
6) To facilitate organization of Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (EDPs) by the NGOs through liaison.
7) To organize screening committee (Task Force) meeting for selection of beneficiaries for grant of Govt. incentives and supports.
8) To forward and recommend the entrepreneurs’ applications for availing of Govt. incentive and supports to the Commissioner of Industries and Commerce, Guwahati for onward recommendations.
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(b) Discuss the functions of Khadi and Village Industries Commission.
Ans: KHADI AND VILLAGE INDUSTRIES COMMISSION (KVIC)
It is a statutory body created by an Act of Parliament in 1956 and became operative from April 1957 by taking over the work of the erstwhile “All India Khadi and Village Industries Board” set up in 1950. The Commission is engaged in the task of promoting and developing Khadi and Village Industries (KVI) with a view to creating employment avenues in the rural areas thereby strengthening the rural economy of India. It functions under the administrative control of the Ministry of Micro Small and Medium Enterprises, Govt. of India.
KVIC has its central office at Mumbai. It has 36 State and Divisional offices, 6 Zonal offices, 15 Departmental and 23 Non-Departmental Training Centers and a number of accreted Training Centers in addition to 13 Departmental Sales Outlets. The KVIC operates through 33 Boards spread over in different states and union territories of the country, in addition to thousands of institutions and co-operatives including DIC/DICCs.
Objectives: The broad objectives of the KVIC are of three-fold as under:
· The social objective of providing employment;
· The economic objective of producing saleable articles, and
· The wider objective of creating self-reliance amongst the people and building up a strong rural community spirit.
Functions: The crucial functions which the KVIC performs towards attainment of its avowed objectives are as follows:
1) Works towards planning, promotion, organization and implementation of programmes for the development of Khadi and other village industries in the rural areas of the country in coordination with the other agencies engaged in rural development.
2) Works towards building up of a reserve of raw materials and implements for supply to producers, creation of common service facilities for processing of raw materials as semi-finished goods and provision of facilities for marketing of KVI products.
3) Organizes training of artisans engaged in Khadi and Village Industries.
4) Encourages and promotes research in the production techniques and equipments employed in the KVI sector and provides facilities for study of the problems relating to the same.
5) It also encourages the use of non-conventional energy, bio-fertilizer and other organic products.
6) Provides financial assistance to institutions and persons who are engaged in the development and operation of Khadi and Village Industries and guides them through the supply of designs, prototypes and other technical information.
5. (a) What is meant by opportunity analysis? Explain the relationship of social environment with entrepreneurship.
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(b) What is venture capital? Discuss its sources.
6. Write briefly: 4x4=16
a) Imitating entrepreneur
Ans: Imitative Entrepreneurs: Imitative entrepreneurship is characterized by readiness to adopt successful innovations by innovating entrepreneurs. They first imitate techniques and technology innovated by others. Such entrepreneurs imitate the existing entrepreneur and set their enterprise in the same manner. Instead of innovation, may just adopt the technology and methods innovated by others. Such types of entrepreneur are particularly suitable for under-developed countries for imitating the new combination of production already available in developed countries.
b) Innovation in entrepreneurship
Ans: The economy is composed of enterprises and businesses. Our economy has survived because the industry leaders had been able to adapt to the changing times and supplied mostly the communities’ needs. Any small business is integral to the economy. Without it, our economy would not survive. But a business must also sustain itself, be able to constantly evolve to fulfill the demands of the community and the people. In every business, it is imperative to be industrious, innovative and resourceful. Entrepreneurship produces financial gain and keeps the economy afloat, which gives rise to the importance of innovation in entrepreneurship. Entrepreneurs are innovators of the economy. It is not just the scientist who invents and come up with the solutions.
The importance of innovation in entrepreneurship is shown by coming up with new way to produce a product or a solution. A service industry can expand with another type of service to fulfill the ever changing needs of their clients. Producers can come up with another product from the raw materials and by-products.
The importance of innovation in entrepreneurship is another key value for the longevity of a business. Entrepreneurs and businesses began with a need. They saw the need within the community and among themselves that they have come up with a solution. They seize the opportunity to innovate to make the lives more comfortable. And these solutions kept evolving to make it better, easier and more useful. Entrepreneurs must keep themselves abreast with the current trends and demands. Manufacturers are constantly innovating to produce more without sacrificing the quality.
c) Self-help group
Ans: A self help group is defined as a group consisting of people who have personal experience of a similar issue or life situation, either directly or through their family and friends. Sharing experiences enables them to give each other a unique quality of mutual support and to pool practical information and ways of coping.
Self help groups are small informal association of the poor created at the grass root level for the purpose of enabling members to reap economic benefits out of mutual help solidarity and joint responsibility. Self help groups are formed voluntarily by the rural and urban poor to save and contribute to a common fund to be lent to its members as per group decision and for working together for social and economic uplift of their families and community.
A self help group is defined as a "self governed, peer controlled information group of people with similar socio-economic background and having a desire to collectively perform common purpose."
d) Objectives of entrepreneurship development programme
Ans: Objectives of EDP: The major objectives of the Entrepreneurship Development Programmes (EDPs) are to:
1) Develop and strengthen the entrepreneurial quality, i.e. motivation or need for achievement.
2) Analyse environmental set up relating to small industry and small business.
3) Select the product.
4) Formulate proposal for the product.
5) Understand the process and procedure involved in setting up a small enterprise.
6) Know the sources of help and support available for starting a small scale industry.
7) Acquire the necessary managerial skills required to run a small-scale industry.
8) Know the pros and cons in becoming an entrepreneur.
9) Appreciate the needed entrepreneurial discipline.
10) Besides, some of the other important objectives of the EDPs are to:
11) Let the entrepreneur himself / herself set or reset objectives for his / her enterprise and strive for their realization.
12) Prepare him / her to accept the uncertainty in running a business.
13) Enable him / her to take decisions.
14) Enable to communicate clearly and effectively.
15) Develop a broad vision about the business.
16) Make him subscribe to the industrial democracy.
17) Develop passion for integrity and honesty.
18) Make him learn compliance with law.
7. (a) Fill in the blanks: 1x4=4
a) Jean-Baptiste Say introduced the term entrepreneurship.
b) Fabian entrepreneurs are shy and lazy.
c) ______ is a scientifically evolved worked out plan.
d) The concept of venture capital was originated in ____.
(b) Choose the correct Answer: 1x4=4
a) Risk taking is one of the important functions of entrepreneurs /Intrapreneurs.
b) Woman entrepreneurs have/ have not same amenities like male entrepreneurs.
c) SHGs are/ are not helpful in solving unemployment problems of the State.
d) The concept of DICC was introduced in the 1977/ 1978 Industrial Policy of the Union Government.