Marketing and Sickness in Micro and Small Enterprises in India: An Inter-State Analysis with Special Reference to the Engineering Enterprises in the District of Howrah, West Bengal

Micro and Small Enterprises (MSEs) [formerly Tiny and Small Scale Industries (SSIs)] are recognized as the main contributors in socio-economic advancement of any country especially the developing one like India. But due to some controllable and/or uncontrollable factors, MSEs cannot get themselves free from sickness. Sickness in MSEs expands its steps in all states in India amongst which West Bengal (WB) is specially notable mainly due to the continuous degradation of Micro and Small Engineering Enterprises of the then Birmingham/Sheffield of the East, Howrah. In WB, Howrah is considered to be the most incipient sickness-prone district for MSEs. Government effort to locate the probable causes of sickness of MSEs has exposed that in India, lack of demand of the product of MSEs in market is the most sever one, while in WB, marketing problem holds the maximum severity, followed by lack of demand which is also partially due to the marketing problem. The present paper aims at identifying how far the major responsible causes in marketing related area are liable in bringing about sickness in Micro and Small Engineering Enterprises.