How to Set-Up an Enterprise - Modenisation and Protection from Sickness
Modernisation
Once you have started the production
most important aim for long run should be to remain
at the forefront of business and avoid being obsolete
in terms of products, services or management aspect.
Listen and gauge the market, anticipate the future demands.
There are many market survey document or market reports
published by individual agencies and government departments
on this aspect. An entrepreneur can use these as indicative
guide to project the future conditions.
In face of competitive environment
entrepreneur should keep abreast of process and technological
changes that are taking place and wherever possible
incorporate the changes which could increase the productivity,
efficiency and /or reduce the cost of production.
Modernisation
and Technology Upgradation Schemes of DCSSI
A Technology Management Division has
been set up in Small Industries Development Organisation
(SIDO) to bring all the promotional schemes/activities
of the Ministry of SSI & ARI relating to technology
upgradation and modernization of the small scale sector
under one umbrella.
The areas covered under this division
are :
i) Integrated Technology Upgradation
and Management Programme (UPTECH)
ii) Incentive Scheme for Acquiring ISO- 9000 Certification
iii) Awareness & Motivational Programme on ISO -
9000
iv) Energy Conservation
v) Technology Trust Fund.
Integrated Technology
Upgradation and Management Programme (UPTECH)
UPTECH has been devised to cater
to the technological needs of small scale industries
on cluster basis. The first steering committee meeting
was held in the month of Sept., 1998. 12 clusters in
small scale sector have been identified for taking up
modernisation and technology upgradation programme during
the 9th Five Year Plan.
Incentive Scheme
for Acquiring ISO-9000 Certification
ISO-9000 has become synonymous with
quality for export of goods to other countries. The
incentive scheme provides reimbursement of the charge
for acquiring ISO-9000 certification to the extent of
75% of the cost subject to a maximum of Rs.75,000 in
each case. The number of units assisted during 1997-98
was 88. An amount of Rs. 21 lakhs has already been approved
out of the budget provision of Rs. 65 lakhs made during
1997-98 for reimbursement to 40 cases decided in the
first meeting. It is estimated that 80 more cases will
be reimbursed during the remaining part of the year.
Awareness and
Motivational Programme on ISO-9000
During 1998-99, 10 number of 5 days Awareness cum Educational
Programme on ISO-9000 and 25 number of one day Awareness
cum motivational programme have been allocated to different
organisations under SIDO. FICCI Quality Forum, New Delhi
has been entrusted to prepare video cassette on ISO-9000
Quality System, for SSI Sector.
Energy Conservation
The specific consumption of energy in small scale sector
is generally high in sectors like foundry, forging,
re-rolling mills, glass and ceramics industries etc.
The purpose of taking up the energy conservation is
to create awareness about the advantages of new techniques
of energy conservation. An amount of Rs. 20 lakhs has
been made for B.E. 1998-99 for conducting programme
viz. awareness programme/ preparation of video films/
energy audit etc. Energy conservation amount of Rs.
1.5 lakhs has been allocated to organise 25 workshops
on quality conservation during 1998-99 by various Small
Industries Service Institutes (SISI's) and Regional
Testing Centres (RTCs). Tata Energy Research Institute
(TERI) has been assigned preparation of an energy conservation
plan for small scale industries located in NOIDA, UP.
Technology Trust
Fund
A Technology Trust Fund to meet the technological needs
of small scale industries has been created with a corpus
fund of Rs. 150 lakhs contributed by the Government
of India, Karnataka State Government and Karnataka Association.
Some of NG0s have also been involved in this project.
Government of India has already released a sum of Rs.
50 lakhs out of its share of contribution of Rs. 75
lakhs.
Avoiding Sickness
Here are some tips to to avoid sickness.
Have Company
Policies
Some entrepreneur view company policies as a sign of
encroaching bureaucracy and avoid issuing or observing
them like the plague. However, having some sort of company
policies helps in taking decision over various issues
and small problems that are part of running a business.
Policies makes it clear to employees what kind of behaviour
is expected in the workplace. They can set clear guidelines
on what is and isn't appropriate. Policies ensure that
decisions will be uniform across the organisation thereby
avoiding variance in decision for same type of problem.
And policies can help you avoid many troubles.
Learn from Mistakes
No matter how talented you are in business, you're going
to make mistakes, so learn from mistakes. Don't take
it to heart, analyse the mistakes, think of possible
solution so that should a similar situation arises in
the future you are able to deal with it effectively.
Never Look at
an Expense in Isolation
It's so easy to make blunders handling money in a business.
Every day in business you are bombarded with what seems
like great reasons to spend money on something you didn't
budget. Taken in isolation, so many unplanned expenses
seem like a great idea, but question should be how much
it is going to contribute actually in developing the
business.
Think Before
You Spend on Marketing
You never know what is going to work in marketing, so
don't be afraid of making mistakes-as long as they are
small mistakes and does not hurt you financially in
a big way.
Never, ever, spend lots of money
on any marketing program until you see that it is
bringing in money.
Never assume that someone else's
marketing program will work for you.
Never assume that an ad agency
or marketing expert can guarantee you results-no one
can.
Make small test promotions and
put in that extra effort to carefully measure results.
Ask every customer how they heard
about your business, and track the response to every
promotional effort.
There are some marketing avenues
out there that will work for your business-but it
could take you a long time to find the right mix of
the right media, the right offer, the right ad copy,
and the right ad design.
Appreciate the Work
You can't just drive people to
work 100 percent flat out all day long and well into the
night-well, at least not every day! So even if people
are doing a reasonably good job-loosen up and show them
how much you appreciate their work!
Nurture relationships
with Customers
Even if you're a relatively small vendor, meet executives
of a large company you're doing business with they will
be happy to know you are not just meeting with them
to simply get more orders, but to try to serve their
needs better.
You are so much better off if you
have developed a close relationship with key decision-makers,
and not just the buyers at businesses with which you
are dealing. Sooner or later if there are some kind
of problem-such as over discount, payment terms, faulty
products, or whatever-then you will not going to end
up dealing with the key decision makers for the first
time under negative circumstances.
