ICSME 2015 Jaipur: Conference Goals | Poornima Group

The current global environment describes intense competition and dynamic changes in the business world. Understanding the nature of global trends with context to development of small and medium enterprises in the global economy has never been more important than now. As a driving force for innovation, employment and economic development, micro, small and medium–sized enterprises (MSMEs) play an important role in a country’s economy. Financing has been a problem for MSMEs for a long time, which restrains their growth and development. As the gap in access and use of financial services and products by MSMEs still remains a challenge, there is an urgent need to critically review the various existing parameters, efficacy of existing institutional arrangements and systems from different perspectives.

During the last decade or so, India has recognized the role and importance of what was earlier termed, cottage industries or ‘tiny’ or small scale industries, or ‘the informal sector’ enterprises. These were seen mainly as employment creating or capital saving sectors and, therefore, requiring special place in the planned program for industrialization. Today most observers have recognized that not only in India but also in the developed world the SMEs play an important part in creating output, employment and exports. In India itself the number of SMEs is estimated as about 20 million enterprises. They account for 45% of industrial output, 40% of exports and employ 60 million workers. The range of the products produced in the sector is vast. UNIDO has listed about 400 SME clusters in the country. The list excludes the SMEs in the service industries such as tourism, healthcare, education etc. The international institutions such as the Europe–India Business Council and the Indo–US Chamber of Commerce are also providing platforms for the SMEs.

In view of the growing importance of this sector, the Conference has been planned to provide a forum for sharing knowledge and information to form the basis for discussion and policy making. One of the important aspects is that management education so far has addressed issues relating mainly to the corporate world. The SME sector is dominated by non–corporate entities in which the organizational structures do not fit easily into familiar categories. They have enormous opportunities for growth, both internally and globally. The challenges being faced by them and their concerns, therefore, need to be looked at in different viewpoints. The sub–themes in the Conference have been identified taking into consideration the technology and institution related issues of finance, marketing, entrepreneurship, technology and upgrading skills of workers and managers. This has been done in the hope that management education and training would be able to provide fresh thinking to deal with SME related issues.

The conference is being organized jointly by the Poornima School of Management, Poornima Group of Colleges and the Poornima University, Jaipur in collaboration with Hanyang University Business School, Seoul, South Korea and JK Lakshmipat University, Jaipur.

Main objectives of this conference