Abstract: The objective of
this sabbatical is to develop, deliver, and disseminate a training package for
developing world small business entrepreneurs, who operate what are commonly
knows as micro-enterprises, to help them adapt to the complexity, inevitable
modernization, and rapid changes in the global business environment. Initially this package will be developed for
Sari designers and weavers in India, and a group of these entrepreneurs will
undergo training in their hometown. The
program will then be evaluated, improved, and delivered to a second group of
entrepreneurs. The results and implications will be published.
Time Period: Spring 2008
Supplemental Support: desired
General Objective: To develop, deliver, and disseminate a
training package for developing world small business entrepreneurs to help them
adapt to the complexity, inevitable modernization, and rapid changes in the
global business environment.
1. To develop a practical and
understandable training program consisting of units on business-environment
dynamics, business level strategies, core competency identification, core
competency promotion and adaptation, teamwork, planning, supply chain management,
and networking.
2. Arrange through
identifiable Non Government Organizations to deliver the program to
micro-enterprise operators who are members of micro-credit associations in
India.
3. Present the training
program to members of micro-credit associations, in one country, namely India.
4. Obtain assessment information on program quality and suitability
for further use and for the suitability of a wider distribution.
5. Revise the program for
re-delivery, for publication, and to make it available to developing world
trainers and to Micro-credit organizations world-wide.
6. Publish program plans and supporting conceptual material,
workshop assessment results, and total project results
Procedure.
Objective 1. Develop the program. The appropriate
materials are available. There is a
body of literature on micro-enterprise businesses. There is an extensive
literature on global environmental conditions facing small businesses in the
developing world and the appropriate strategies given such environments. This literature covers appropriate
strategies, core competency transfer, and networking strategies given that
environment. There is ample literature on small businesses in general and
potential strategies appropriate for them.
Finally, there is literature available on training for small business
entrepreneurs and for training in the developing world,
Objective 2. Arrange
sponsorship and sight arrangements. Two
organizations that promote sponsor Micro-Credit Associations (networks of entrepreneurs)
have been contacted. These are the Working Women’s Forum based in Mylapore,
Chennia in India (http://workingwomansforum.org)and the India
Development Service (http://www.idsusa.org)
with offices in Chicago. These organizations have been contacted. They are agreeable to the goals of the
program, as well as the plan for implementation. They will help me adapt to
cross-cultural issues.
They also believe their
members will be very interested in attending. Implementation will include
finding a suitable facility, providing materials and media for presentation,
recruiting participants and employing an interpreter because the majority of
trainees speak only Hindi.
Objective 3. Program presentation. The details of the
program are necessarily tentative at this time. However the plan is for the
program to be delivered three hours a day for four to six days over a two week
period probably during slow or non business hours. Modern delivery
methodologies will be used such as videos and power point. Power point slides
will be in Hindi.
Participants will be
encouraged to take concrete steps to apply program principles to their own
situation. They will be taught to use
program concepts to identify problems and opportunities in their own
environments and to use planning, teamwork and networking to take the initial
steps to take advantage of identified opportunities.
Objective 4. Program assessment. An assessment
questionnaire will be developed as the workshop details are finalized. The instrument will cover the
appropriateness and applicability of the workshop materials and
methodologies. Assuming that computers
and printers are available, the questionnaire will be modified to reflect
workshop events. Workshop participants will answer the questionnaire near the
end of the workshop. Follow up information will also be attained. Workshop participants and the sponsoring
micro-credit organization will be contacted regarding whether participants have
been able to take steps to take advantage of identified opportunities
Objective 5. Revision, re-delivery, and dissemination. A
revised program needs to take into account participant response to the initial
workshop. However my intension is to revise for a wider population than those
associated with one industry from one country. Therefore, revisions should take
into account diverse perspectives,
including potential trainees, professional trainers, sponsoring agency experts,
NGO workers and business professionals in multiple countries from the
developing world.
Objective 6. Publishing. I am in the process of writing an article
describing the goals and rationale for this project. The article deals with using strategic management concepts and
adapting them to small businesses in the developing world. This article is targeted to a hi level strategic
management journal such as the Strategic
Management Journal. A second article will report the implementation and the
immediate results of the program, and third article will report and discuss the
project as a whole, its intentions, near term and long term results and
implications for micro-enterprise organizations to adapt to a changing global
environment.
Objective 1. Develop the
program. The developed program must be
comprehensive, relevant and understandable for the target population of
developing world small business entrepreneurs.
. Expert members of Non
Governmental Organizations, Sponsor Agencies, and a representative population
of resident entrepreneurs should approve the program before it is implemented.
Objective 2. Arrange
sponsorship and sight arrangements. If such arrangements are successful, the
result will be the actual occurrence of the training program
Objective 3. Program presentation. Trainees will assess the effectiveness of
training by answering assessment
questionnaires. The more important
criteria consist of trainees applying what they learn to take advantage of the
opportunities inherent in the inevitable modernization of the business
environment that surrounds them. I will contact workshop participants and the
governing micro-credit organizations as to whether steps have been taken to
take advantage of identified opportunities.
Objective 4. Program assessment. Assessment will be successful if results
from assessment efforts are clear and interpretable. Scholars, expert members of Non Governmental Organizations and
Sponsor Agencies, and a representative population of resident entrepreneurs
should be able to understand the assessment information and whether training
was successful or not.
Objective 5. Program revision. Revision should be clear
and perceived appropriate to important publics, including potential trainees,
professional trainers, sponsoring agency experts, NGO workers, potential
trainees, and business professionals in the developing world.
Objective 6. Publishing. This
objective will be met if articles are accepted for publication.
Tangible Outcomes:
1. An explanation of the problem that micro-enterprise owner/operators face, their potential options and opportunities, and a plan to train them to take advantage of these opportunities, in short an expanded and theoretical justification of this Sabbatical
2. A description of the program and the results of its implementation.
3. An analysis of results of training in terms of the degree to which such training can help solve the problems it was designed to solve. This article will also discuss implications for micro-enterprise organizations as they attempt to adapt to a changing global environment
3. University Lecture
A
lecture on the results and implications of this project will be presented to
the entire university in the Fall of 2008
Allison,
M. and Browning, S., 2006. Competing in the cauldron of the global economy:
tools, processes, case studies, and the theory supporting economic
development. International Journal
of Economic Developmen,t vol.33, nos 2,3, p. 130
Arinaitwe,
S. K., 2006. Factors constraining the grown and survival of small scale
businesses. A developing country analysis. Journal of the American Academy
of Business, vol. 8, No. 2. p. 167-178
Bornstein,
D., 2005. The Price of a Dream, The
Story of the Grameen Bank, Oxford University Press, New York
Cook,
R. G., Belliview, P., and VonSeggem, K. L. 2001, The case of microenterprise
training: Beta test findings and suggestions for improvement. Journal of
Development Enterprise, vol. 6, no. 3, 256-268
Easterly,
W., 2006. TheWhite Man’s Burden. The Penguin Press, New York.
Heimstra,
A., van der Kooy, M. F., and Frese,
M.,2006 Entrepreneurship in the street
food sector of Vietnam – Assessment of psychological success and failure
factors. Journal of Small; Business
Management, vol. 44, no.3, p. 474-481.
Kerr,
I. R., 2006, Leadership strategies for sustainable SME operation. Business
Strategy and the Environment, vol. 15, no. 1, pg. 30.
Luke,
R. and Stares, R., 2005. Small business
responsibility in developing countries: A threat or an opportunity? Business Strategy and the Environment,
vol. 14, no. 1, Jan./Feb., pg. 38.
Maes ,J. and Basu, M., 2005. Building
economic self-reliance: Trickle up's microenterprise seed capital for the
extreme poor in rural India. Journal of
Microfinance, vol. 17, no. 2 , p.
71-99
Singh,R.
K., Garg, S. K., and Deshmukh S. G.,
2006. Strategy Development by Inidan
SMEs in the Plastic Sector: An empirical Study. Singapore Management Review, vol. 28,
no. 2, p. 65-83.
Schaper, M. T., Campo, M., and Imukuka, J. K.,
2005. The training and management needs of micro-firms. Training and Management Development Methods, vol.
19, no.2, p. 13-22
Tidd,
J., (1997). Complexity networks and
nearning: Integrative schemes of learning innovative management. International Journal of Innovative
Management, vol. 1, no. 1, p. 1-21
Conferences
to attend:
Computer Society of India-Special
Interest Group on E-governance,
Hyberadad, India
Arthur B. Schultz foundation inquiry letter
Coca Cola Foundation
Prior to February 2008.
Submit grant proposals
Arrange program location for
first workshop
Reserve audio visual
equipment
Arrange for interpreter and
language translation
Recruit and register
participants
Develop program
Submit rationale for the program for publication
Refine program
Execute first Workshop
Evaluate program
Arrange program location for
second workshop
Reserve audio visual
equipment
Recruit and register
participants
Revise program for a different
and perhaps more diverse set of participants
Execute second Workshop
Evaluate program
Distribute program
A. How the activity will make the faculty member a more effective
teacher.
This
project which will improve my understanding of strategy effectiveness in other
countries. It will help me teach International Management which I teach every
two or three years, because a major portion of that course focuses on strategy.
The project will also help me teach the three strategy courses that I teach,
two of them regularly. Because in
today’s world, Strategy courses must have a unit in international strategies,
and undertaking this project will help teach that portion..
In addition, this project requires me to network with
professionals in other countries and communicate with learners from at least
one other culture. As UWW classes
become more diverse, my sabbatical experience will help me gain a more complex
understanding of students with backgrounds different than mine.
B. How the activity fits with
the faculty members long term plans.
In the past ten years or so, I’ve become more
‘international’ in my professional activities.
I use cross-cultural exercises in all my behavior classes and frequently
invite speakers from other countries to address my students. There are international units in all my
strategy classes, and when there are international students in my classes, I
purposely try to get their perspective on course materials. In the past five or
so years, an increasing proportion of my scholarly activities have been devoted
to international issues. So this project simply advances a trend already in
progress.
In
addition as suggested in my justification section above I believe that
micro-enterprise development is a major engine that drives economically poor
economies to develop. The process I
intend to study is at present ubiquitous, the problems that I will encounter
are well-documented and serious, and the programs I intend to develop as a
solution could be very beneficial. Even
if the programs are not successful, what can be learned from the effort should
be of benefit to scholars and professionals interested in helping micro-enterprise
owner/operators adapt to a changing market place. The project will contribute
to an important field. On of my goals
is to contribute to an important developing field.
Finally,
I like teaching and feel fulfilled when I am using my abilities to help people
learn and apply knowledge to better manage their endeavors. What better way to
use my talents than to help small business enterprises survive and grow in a
threatening environment.
2C Explain how the activity is related to departmental plans college
priority areas, University values mission, objectives or goals and/or the Board
of Regents Educational Committee Emphasis.
Both the University objectives and the Board
of Regent Emphases refer to international issues. This project is explicitly international in focus. The Board of
Regents Emphases lists collaborative program activities. This project requires collaboration with
NGO’s and Micro-credit organizations in India.
MORE
Faculty Status
and Expertise:
I am a Full Professor of Management.
I have taught
virtually every graduate course offered by the general management group of the
Management department including three courses very relevant to this project:
International Management, Strategic Decision Making and Strategic Management.
Until, recently
my professional focus has been on experiential learning. The majority of my presentations and
publications have been about learning.
I consider myself a teacher and am comfortable with a variety of
teaching methods including experiential exercises, business simulations, cases
lectures using power point. In many of
my courses I do not use text books. As
a result I feel equipped to develop a training program
My ratings
My Perdue ratings
for international Management were 4.45 in F 03
My ratings for
Strategic decision making were 4.14 in F 04 and 4.43 in Sp 06
My ratings for
Strategic Management were 4.13 in Su 04, 4.23 and 4.59 in 2 sections in Su 05, and 4.47 in F 05
My graduate ratings
average about 4.3, which is about average in our department.
My undergraduate
ratings average about 3.8. This is
below average. Ninety percent of the undergraduate
sections that I teach are core courses.
I am among the five lowest graders in the college of Business and
Economics.
My peer ratings are
consistently in the mid to high 90’s.
Recent
Publications: those dealing with international management and learning outcomes
Quality and developing countries: the role of international and organizational factors.
International Journal of Quality and Reliability Management, 2005, 22 (5) , 452,-464 with Sanil Babbar and Sameer Prasad
A review of scholarship on assessing experiential learning effectiveness. Simulation and Gaming, (2004)Vol 35, 2, 270-293
An exploration of game-derived learning in total enterprise
simulation. SIMULATION AND GAMING,
September 2001, P. 32 (3), 281-296 with J. Washbush
A direct approach to teaching Business Ethics: Annual conference of ABSEL, the Association of Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, San Francisco, March 22-24, 2006 with Jon Werner
Active Learning: What Is It and Why Should I Use It? A panel. Annual conference of ABSEL, the Association of Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Orlando, March 22-24, 2005 with Sandra Morgan, Linda Martin, Barbara Howard, Paul H. Mihalek, Jerry Gosen
Analyzing and thinking while playing a simulation. Annual conference of ABSEL, the Association of Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Orlando, March 22-24, 2005
Research on assessing the effectiveness of experiential and simulation learning approaches, as part of a panel on the effectiveness of experiential and simulation learning approaches. Annual conference of ABSEL, the Association of Business Simulation and Experiential Learning, Baltimore March 20-22, 2003
Web Course Instruction: Two Instructors’ Perspectives with William Drago. 3rd annual conference on innovative teaching in human recourses and industrial relations, Columbus OH Nov 2-4, 2002
The effectiveness of the
internet for MBA course delivery: The instructor’s perspective. The first
international conference on electronic
business. Hong Kong, Dec. 20-22,
2002
Articles in process: all
dealing with international management
1. International and
Organizational Factors Affecting Location
and
Supply Chains in Developing Countries with Helena Addae, Sanil Babbar and Sameer
Prasad
Under editorial review
2. Training to help
developing world micro-enterprise owner/operators survive and thrive in a
rapidly modernizing global environment. This paper furnishes the background and
rationale for my sabbatical. In
progress; draft available
3. National
culture: To what degree and in what respects does it matter in international
business relations? with Praveen Parboteeeah
In progress; draft available
Recent Grants Received 9. A BEHAVIORALLY-BASED EVALUATION OF LEARNING IN A TOP-MANAGEMENT BUSINESS GAME, $1000, March 2004
rfd
Rationale:
Sketchy
outline of what I think I should write:
The problem.. the solution : what
MCE need to do. The justification of
need for traning . The evidence that
trainingg will work. What to train for.
Justification and context, in terms of problem addressed and justification for
intended solution.
While developing countries
are industrializing at a rapid pace, large proportions of people in these
countries are still mired in grinding poverty, and while foundations and
charitable organizations are contributing extensive amounts of money in these
underdeveloped areas, the poverty remains, particularly in the rural
areas. Development occurs in rural
areas too, but it is often slow. Research (Easterly, 2006) suggests that the
development that does take place occurs primarily as a result of the economic
activity and industriousness of tiny entrepreneurs plus the financial support
for associations of such entrepreneurs, commonly called micro-credit
associations (Bornstein, 2005).
According to the United Nations (2005) such financial support has helped
20 million people in the world’s poorest countries.
Even though they operate in
rural environments lacking in modern facilities and infrastructure, these are
small businesses, which need to do most of the same things that other
businesses do. They need to attain supplies,
attract customers, sell, and keep tract of operations. Many of these organizations do some sort of
manufacturing, provide customer service, plan for the future and pay for
services and employees. Therefore it is
reasonable to expect that management principles apply to these small businesses
just as they do to small businesses in more developed environments and business
in general. Applied appropriately,
these management principles improve the effectiveness and profitability of businesses
everywhere and if applied successfully to these small, poor enterprises, they
could help improve operator incomes and help local economies grow and local
standards of living improve.
A relatively recent problem
has arisen that confronts micro-enterprises. The business environment is changing
in a way threatening to these people.
Markets are modernizing more choices are available to consumers. In
addition as infrastructures modernize and more and faster modes of
transportation become accessible, more products become available to buyers from
a more diverse set of outlets. Improved
economies raise the standard of living of communities, which means that more
people have disposable income which they can spend in a greater variety of
stores. This puts micro- enterprises at
a disadvantage. Their customers who
used to buy exclusively from them can now go to more outlets and choose from a
greater selection of items. For example
a buyer may have bought locally grown fruit from a micro-enterprise, but now
can buy fruit, vegetables, and grains grown all over the world from a newly
established grocery store. A woman may
have bought all of her dresses from a micro-enterprise that sold traditionally
styled clothes worn by all the women in the local area. However now there is a
dress shop not far away that sells western styled clothes, and because the
neighborhood has an internet café, some can order clothes on the internet.
For
example, Pasad and Tata (under
editorial review) observe that demand has been falling for silk Saris weavers
in India because of changing tastes and competition from synthetics and cotton
blend fabrics. From a general
management point of view, this is a strategic problem. The market in rural India is no longer
supporting a certain strategy to the
degree that it used to, namely the production of made to order Saris, made of
silk, hand woven and sold in very small stores. The outlook is dim for many of these Saris weaver-store owners. Their customers will become wealthier
and buy a greater variety of garments from a greater variety of outlets. Strategic theory suggests that options are
available for these owner-operators.
The
changing environment also presents opportunities to these businesses. Many of the
same trends towards modernization are available for these entrepreneurs
to take advantage of. They only need
knowledge and understanding of the trends and the skills to benefit from
them. The understanding and skills can
be gained with training. Kantor (2005) states that training and better access
to markets and capital equipment leads to economic outcomes for
micro-enterprises. Marconi and Mosley (2006) found that micro-enterprises that
received training from their micro-credit organizations were much less likely
to default than enterprises that received only loans from the micro-credit
associations. Maes and Basu (2005) reported that training was an integral part
of the Trickle Up Program which helped micro-enterprises in 14 countries move
from extreme vulnerability to economic self-reliance
The
purpose of this project is to apply the afore mentioned management principles
to train micro-credit enterprise owner-operators adapt and succeed in the face
of the changing business environment.
The program’s content. The content’s program should cover the situation that these entrepreneurs face and the choices and opportunities available for coping with a potentially threatening environment. It should emerge from local expert assessments of the training needs of the entrepreneurs as well as recommendations (both explicit and implicit) from the literature. Pertinent sources of literature include articles explicitly focused on micro-enterprises, afore mentioned literature should help to determine what the training program should cover. First and foremost the program
There is a body of literature that explicitly designed to apply to small
business in less developed economies (here to refereed to as
micro-enterprises). This literature is presently in its infancy. Most of this literature is of the advocate
variety in that articles advocate principles that should help micro-credit
businesses improve. However some articles are case studies, and there a finite
number of articles that report empirical research. This literature is
There
is also a small body of literature that pertains to the supply chain concerns
of these micro-enterprises. DeTomas
(1978) and Prasad, Tata, and Madan (2005) discuss the need for market certainty
in order to guide inventory and production. When demand is unpredictable, then
inventory costs rise, supplies are unavailable and capacity may be
underutilized. One article (Maldonado, 1993) discusses legal issues for
micro-enterprises and reports that for the most part, micro-enterprises do not
operate in an orderly legal environment, .
These enterprises because they are small operate almost independently of
regulations and pay no taxes.
Studies
have also found that networking has a positive impact on results for small
businesses, but Lu and Beamish (2006) found that longevity decreased for
international joint ventures created by Japanese small businesses.
One
article () assesses the relative effectiveness of various approaches to
strategic planning.
The workshop is likely to focus on core competencies. According to Singh, Garg and Deshmukh (2006), small businesses in turbulent environments need dynamic strategies. The key task for these businesses is to identify core competencies and add those that lead to competitive advantage. The recommend that the identification of market changes and the introduction of new technologies become priorities. In their sample of small plastics firms in India, they found that that a majority of businesses used information to optimize decisions and that a focus on changing competencies correlated positively and significantly with organizational performance.
It will likely also focus on knowledge and skill acquisition. Singh, Garg and Deshmukh (2006) cite Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995) in arguing that knowledge and skills have become a company’s means competitive advantage because it will help in developing various competencies by organizations for sustaining market position.
Kantor, P. (2005) Determining
women’s micro-enterprise success in Ahmedabad, India: empowerment and
economics. Feminist Economics,
11, 3, 63
Lu, J. W and Beamish, PW
(2006). Partnering strategies and
performance of SME’s international joint ventures. Journal of Business Ventures, 21,
(4), 61
Maes ,J. and Basu, M. (2005 )
Building
Economic Self-Reliance: Trickle Up's Microenterprise Seed Capital for the
Extreme Poor in Rural India Journal of
Microfinance, 17, 2 ,71-99
Nonaka, I. and Takeuchi,
H.(1995) The Knowledge Creating Company. Oxford University Press: New
York
Singh,R. K., Garg, S. K.,
and Deshmukh S. G. (2006) . Strategy
Development by Inidan SMEs in the Plastic Sector: An empirical Study. Singapore
Management Review, 28, 2, 65-83
Tidd, J. (1997). Complexity Networks and Learning:
Integrative Schemes of Learning Innovative Management. International Journal of Innovative
Management, 1, 1, 1-21