Information and Communication Technology Diffusion in Indian Small and Medium scale Enterprises

AMIT SINGH(Under the Guidance of )Prof. M. Jenamani & Prof. J. J. ThakkarIndian Institute of Technology, KharagpurInformation and Communication Technology Diffusion in Indian Small and Medium scale Enterprises: An overview

MSME Sector in India: An OverviewIndia has 36 million SMEs that provides employment over 80 million persons. They produce more than 6000 products, but contribute only 8% to National GDP. 83% of SMEs are involved in manufacturing activities and 17% of them are providing service. MSMEs in India contribute 40% of industrial output and 35% direct export.Indian MSMEs lack in terms of their reach to national as well as international market.

http://msme.gov.in/WriteReadData/eBook/MSME_at_a_GLANCE_EN.pdf

MSME Sector in India: An OverviewDeveloping global Competitiveness of the Indian MSMEs: National Manufacturing Competitiveness Council (NMCC) initiatives-Lean Manufacturing Competitiveness SchemeDesign Clinic SchemeMarketing Assistance and Technology Up gradationTechnology and Quality Up gradationPromotion of Information and Communication Tools (ICT)Tolling and Training CentresImproving Quality in ProductsAwareness on Intellectual Property Rights (IPR)Barcode CertificationNurturing Innovative Business Ideas

ICT Adoption in SMEs: World ViewSub Saharan Africa and South Asia, two poorest regions of the world, are also those with the lowest access to information and communication technologies. The gap in access to and use of ICTs, the so-called digital divide often follows and reinforces existing inequality and poverty patterns. For example, in March 2000 out of the 304 million people with Internet access, only 2.6 million were in Africa while 137 million were located in the U.S. and Canada. A huge difference in ICT adoption is noticed between developing and developed countries. Developing Sub Saharan countries and countries in south Asia are specifically backward in terms of ICT deployment in their enterprises, specifically in MSMEs. The ICT sector is socially and economically relevant to developing countries as it has been the major economic driver in Sub-Saharan Africa over the past decade.

ICTs in Developing countries: World bank recommendationsReduce the cost of access for mobile and broadbandSupport government/private-sector collaborationImprove the e-commerce environmentImprove ICT worker skill levelsEncourage innovative business models that drive employment, such as micro workCreate ICT parks in countries that meet infrastructure requirementsSupport ICT entrepreneurs.

Level of ICT adoption in MSMEs: Indian ScenarioICT adoption level in Indian MSMEs is sector specific. Sectors such as auto components, chemical products and electrical machinery are relatively ahead to other sectors. This is promoted by the extended support from large scale enterprises. They have provided technological as well as financial support to their Tier I suppliers to ensure high ICT adoption levels among the suppliers. This has had a cascade effect with the Tier I suppliers providing a similar pull effect to the Tier II suppliers and beyond. http://nmcc.nic.in/pdf/NMCC_Report_2010.pdf

ICT Adoption in SMEs: Research Directions (countrywide)

http://www.scopus.com/term/analyzer.uri?sid=8D2D466F97B43B86E0302147F0906AF5.aXczxbyuHHiXgaIW6Ho7g%3a80&origin=resultslist&src=s&s=TITLE-ABS-KEY%28ICT+in+SMEs%29&sort=plf-f&sdt=sisr&sot=b&sl=26&count=64&analyzeResults=Analyze+results&ref=%28ICT+in+SMEs+research+directions%29&txGid=0#zip

Literature Review: ICT in SMEs (Worldwide)Author TitleDescriptionBloom, et al. (2014)The distinct effects of information technology and communication technology on firm organization.This study has reported the impact of the information and communication technology on management and workers autonomy and span of control. They have presented these technologies as two different technologies. Information technology is presented as the decentralizing force while communication technology as a decentralizing force for decision making process. Bala, H., & Venkatesh, V. (2013)Changes in Employees' Job Characteristics During an Enterprise System Implementation: A Latent Growth Modeling PerspectiveThis paper has examined the change in employees job characteristics while the implementation more specifically in the shakedown phase of the Enterprise System.Sin Tan, et al. (2009)Internet-based ICT adoption: evidence from Malaysian SMEs.The investigated, what was innovative uniqueness of internet based ICT adoption in SMEs, how it helped SMEs, what were associated barriers.Antlov, K. (2009)Motivation and barriers of ICT adoption in small and medium-sized enterprises.They performed an study on the effect of the owner's approach on performance of SMEs, The research had also investigated how the complex relationships among the owner group family members negatively affects the performance of the organizations. In this research ICT adoption was analysed in thirty SMEs. In second part of the study they have studied the barriers in ICT adoption. this paper concluded that, to make ICT the tool of competitive advantage, organizations should have the clear future vision and they should know the approach or strategy of ICT adoption. Forman, et al. (2014)Special Section Introduction-Information, Technology, and the Changing Nature of Work.This paper reports that despite of higher interdependencies, of information and technology on work, detailed studies to understand relationship among these are lacking. This special issue has felt the need for longitudinal analysis to clearly understand the work related changes as till only surveys and case studies were only available.

Author TitleDescriptionIsmail, et al. (2011). Using ICT as a value adding tool in South African SMEs.This paper has empirically investigated, how ICTs were the value addition in case of SMEs in South Africa, specifically in field of retail, production and service sector. They performed this study keeping three things in mind. First, the type of then used ICTs in South African SMEs, Second, the value added by the ICT the operations, third, study about various barriers during ICT implementation. They concluded that ICT added values in terms of higher customer satisfaction and increased service level, and their use was differently used for different sectorsMpofu, K. C., et al. (2013)ICT adoption and development of e-business among SMEs in South Africa.They have studied the influence of key ICT adoption factors in small hotel establishment in South Africa supported by case studies. results reflects that internet, websites and other formal and informal networks are important factors for ICT adoption. This research identified that skills, knowledge and background experience were most critical among them.Touray, A., et al. (2013)ICT barriers and critical success factors in developing countries.They focused on barriers of ICT adoption in SMEs and identified that micromanaging and lack of internet exchange points was a most critical one. These empirical findings were compared with the existing literature to categories the barriers into success factors.Antlova, K. (2014)Main factors for ICT adoption in the Czech SMEs.They mentioned that with the increased use of e-mail packages, mobile computing and electronic devices, smart phones and personal networking and storage, SMEs were enriching their business in current environment. This research noticed that cloud computing, specifically, software as a service (SaaS), supported SMEs a lot in ICT adoption by decreasing the dependency on trained ICT experts.Adeniran, T. V., et al. (2014)ICT Utilization within Experienced South African Small and Medium Enterprises.They identified the purpose and the level of ICT utilization in South African SMEs. This study presented that ICT utilization in South Africa was sector specific and it also depends on the firm size and age an maturity level of organization. they mentioned that Internet/Intranet was used to improve the information collaboration and extending the trade over the globe.

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Literature Review: ICTs in SMEs (In India)Author TitleDescriptionMitra, et al. (2016) The distinct effects of information technology and communication technology on firm organization.They have analysed the impact of ICT in Indian manufacturing firms and identified that it has a significant impact on manufacturing productivity in the context of total factor productivity (TFP) and technical efficiency (TE). They have noticed that the impact is sector specific.Todd, P. R., & Javalgi, R. R. G. (2007).Internationalization of SMEs in India: Fostering entrepreneurship by leveraging information technology.They have focused on determinants influencing the internationalization of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in India. They have investigated and evaluated the business environment and, then, examined the importance of developing and promoting entrepreneurship to allow SMEs in India to develop a competitive position in the international marketplace. This paper has proposed that the primary method for fostering or promoting the growth of entrepreneurship is through the utilization of technologyThakkar et al. (2008). Internet-based ICT adoption: evidence from Malaysian SMEs.They, using interpretive structural modelling (ISM), have identified the interrelationship among the drivers of IT in Indian SMEs. They have further classified these factors into four categories; autonomous, drivers, dependent and linkage to dray higher managerial insights. Kannabiran, G., & Dharmalingam, P. (2012). Enablers and inhibitors of advanced information technologies adoption by SMEs: An empirical study of auto ancillaries in India.They have done a survey-based study to identify enablers and inhibitors of advanced IT (Information technology) adoption in SMEs. They have identified several technological, economical and organizational factors that enable or inhibit the adoption of advanced IT. They have took the case of auto ancillaries in India and identified five specific barriers in IT adoption.

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