Transformative Subsistence Entrepreneurship: A Study in India

he pursuit of sustainable development has emerged as a top priority for countries all over the world in a world with complex challenges. At the heart of this global endeavour are the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a visionary roadmap aimed at addressing critical issues such as poverty, inequality, climate change, and environmental degradation. As one of the world's most populous and diverse nations, India stands at the forefront of this transformative agenda. This book entitled "Structural and Institutional Dimensions of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in India: A Narrative" is a collective exploration of the structural and institutional aspects that underpin India's progress towards achieving the SDGs. It seeks to unravel the intricate tapestry of policies, governance structures, and socio-economic dynamics that shape India's sustainable development journey. Drawing on a rich tapestry of research, data, and narratives, this volume offers a comprehensive analysis of India's pursuit of the SDGs. It engages with the challenges, successes, and future prospects, shedding light on the intricate web of opportunities and constraints that define India's path towards a more equitable, prosperous, and sustainable future. The edited volume of the book is a collection of research papers from eminent scholars and academicians presented at the ICSSR Sponsored One

Journal of Consumer Marketing, 2008

This paper suggests that consumption and entrepreneurial productivity are inextricably linked in subsistence contexts with important implications for consumer marketing. The paper has value to BOP researchers and BOP business practitioners wishing to take a nuanced view to understand their markets and serve them better.

This paper critically evaluates the popular structuralist representation of informal workers as marginalized populations who work as dependent employees out of economic necessity and as a last resort. Reporting on an empirical survey of 1,518 informal workers in India, itreveals not only that a large proportion work on their own account as informal entrepreneurs, but also that not all do such work purely out of economic necessity and in the absence of alternative means of livelihood. The paper concludes by calling for a wider recognition of the opportunity-driven entrepreneurial endeavour of many working in the informal sector.

Small and micro-enterprises play a significant part in most economies. However, in developing countries these enterprises have tended to be looked at from a development, or poverty alleviation perspective, rather than as potentially growing businesses. This paper explores the possibility of micro-enterprises in developing economies moving from the informal to the formal sector -what this actually means and the process involved. Little is known about the process of growth from "survival" entrepreneurship to ongoing participation in the formal economy. A number of the entrepreneurs who participated in this research had made substantial gains in both a psychological and business sense in a period of two years. The methodology is qualitative and longitudinal over a two year period.

Journal of Entrepreneurship and Management , 2016

Among various self-employment options, microenter-prise has been recognised as an important tool for employment generation and poverty alleviation in developing countries by policy makers. This study is an attempt to look at some of the microenterprises as a livelihood source for the poor and constraints faced by them in establishing and running their microenterprise. The study involves a survey of 40 microentrepreneurs in the Maharashtra state of India. The study involves simple statistical analysis. This paper concludes that typically a microentrepreneur is a male, landless and young person between the ages of 21-40 years. These microenterprises are of diverse nature but largely these microenterprises are service oriented and been started with self-motivation with the objective of getting employment. Less than 50 percent of these microen-terprise got support for establishing microenterprise from other sources like friends and other organisation largely for finance and skill. These are own account enterprises started with very minimal investment, mostly less than Rs. 10000 and most of these microenterpris-es are able to generate a annual profit of less than Rs. 20000. Among constraints faced by these microentre-preneurs, finance was the most important constraint identified.

2009

The informal sector in India, as in other developing countries, is a source of employment and livelihoods to an overwhelmingly large proportion of workers, both in rural and urban areas.

European Journal of Economics and Business Studies

It is estimated that by 2030 nearly 50% of India's population will live in cities. Consequently 70% of the employment will be generated in the cities. In such a scenario it is important to look at how cities can help businesses. This paper focuses on understanding sustainability of livelihood entrepreneurs in Chennai, capital city of Tamil Nadu, and one of the largest Urban Agglomerations in India. The study is situated in one of the densely populated business districts in the city that is home to diverse businesses and accounting for revenues of nearly Rs.200,000 million annually. The specific objective is to look at the food-vendors with the objectives: (i) to understand the viability and sustainability of the business; (ii) to enumerate risk elements of the business and see how they are addressed; and (iii) to recommend the scope for improvement and opportunity from a policy perspective. The findings are based on field work done in the business district and gains importance in the context of the Sustainable Development Goal 8 which looks at promoting sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all; and Sustainable Development Goal 16 which works to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for all and build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels. The paper helps in gaining a perspective of how livelihood entrepreneurism can be promoted-helping in using an opportunity that is sustainable as also pursuing one's passion.

2011

Entrepreneurial development and management has come to be recognized as the key to rapid and sustainable economic development as well as the wel fare and progress of the mankind. Traditionally, the informal sector units including micro and smal l enterprises(MSEs) attract a very small portion o f the banks’ portfolio. Banks along with other insti tutions, by and large, responsible for providing fi nance are more accustomed to dealing with more confident , literate borrowers of urban areas. Given this scenario, micro finance(MF) as a means of alleviat ing poverty has gained momentum in the last couple of decades across India vis-a-vis Odisha, a provinc e fraught with the twin problems of poverty and unemployment. At the same time, MSEs contribute sig nificantly to economic growth, social stability and equity. Assuming lot of significance for a Mao-infe sted Province like Odisha, these informal sector un its operate under the conditions of extreme resource cr unch. Besides, their qual...

Development and Change, 1993

Small-scale industry development, particularly when targeting disadvantaged groups, has often been promoted as a possible alternative to fundamental change in property relations, and for women as a way of improving their position without direct forms of feminist organization. This article discusses a relatively successful case of small-scale entrepreneurship development in the silk reeling industry in five villages in South India. In this area, despite the substantial amounts of capital and risk involved, an unusually high number of Scheduled Caste ex-labourers have managed to become reasonably successful entrepreneurs. Based on the findings of survey and anthropological research conducted over a period of six months between 1989 and 1991 it considers the factors contributing to these cases' success: characteristics of the reeling industry, the nature of government intervention and the socioeconomic and historical context of this particular area. However, as argued in the second half of the article, the upward mobility for some has been dependent on the availability of cheap labour and the manipulation of caste and family loyalties within the disadvantaged groups. Significantly, gender inequalities have remained, despite the potentially powerful position of a skilled female labour force in a situation of increasing labour shortage. In India, as in many other countries, there has been a range of credit, training and other development programmes aimed at developing entrepreneurship in the small scale sector. A number of these policies have targeted disadvantaged groups, in particular the Scheduled Castes and Tribes, and more recently women. Underlying this strategy has been the belief that small-scale industry development has important potential in alleviating economic, and hence also social, inequalities. This type of development has been seen as a

European Journal of Development Research, 2012

Almost since the discovery of the 'informal sector' in the 1970s, some researchers have noticed the existence of a subcategory that faces particular barriers to growth, and has been termed 'sub-subsistence production', 'informal proletariat', or 'survival(ist) enterprises'. The paper adopts the latter concept and reconstructs the specific rationality of this type of operations. Survival entrepreneurs do not start their business by choice but because they cannot find wage employment; they attempt to increase security and smoothen consumption rather than maximizing profit; for this purpose, they diversify their activities instead of specializing; and even the relatively successful ones find it difficult to accumulate capital under the imperative of sharing prevalent in the moral economy of the poor. Therefore, one should not be surprised that graduation from survival business to small-scale is the exception, not the rule. This is confirmed by a review of the existing studies that try to empirically assess graduation rates. Moreover, in many cases international consultants and local NGO staff engaged in small business development are not sufficiently aware of the fundamental difference between the survival logic and the growth logic. Their projects and policies force entrepreneurs to 'put all their eggs in one basket' and push for graduation, thereby irresponsibly exposing them to very high and risks. We conclude by calling for a more realistic approach that starts from the notion that the various sources of income generation reduce risk and vulnerability, and that survival businesses primarily serve as a buffer against slipping deeper into poverty.