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Out of several problems faced by small and medium scale
entrepreneurs, the absence of adequate marketing and export facilities
is one of their main concerns. Almost all types of business enterprises
face marketing problems, but the small and medium scale enterprises face
greater difficulty in the marketing and distribution of their products.
Some of these are:-
- Small and medium entrepreneurs tend to face tough competition
from the products and sales/ marketing strategies of large scale firm's
entrepreneurs. They, at times, find it very difficult to cope with large
scale entrepreneurs in terms of cost, quality, standards, popularity,
meeting ever-changing demands/ preferences of consumers, etc.
- Most of them do not have their own marketing network.
So, they ultimately have to rely on outside sources for distributing
their products. This also tends to raise the cost of their products
and services.
- Most of them do not have good knowledge and/ or experience
of various marketing concepts and strategies. As a result, they are
unable to understand quickly and accurately the prevailing as well as
constantly changing market trends. Furthermore, inspite of having huge
potentialities of extensive market for their products, they are mainly
unwilling to opt for efficient marketing techniques.
- They also lack the resources and funds needed for effective
sales promotion. Many of such enterprises cannot afford to spend much
on advertising, sales promotion, market research, etc.
- They find it difficult to sell their output at remunerative
prices because of higher cost of production and non-standardised quality
of products.
- They also have to sell their products at throwaway prices
due to their weak bargaining power (especially in dealing with big buyers)
and urgent needs of funds.
Thus, it is right to say that most of small and medium entrepreneurs
do not correctly understand as to what kind of products are actually needed
by the market, how big/small is the market, when the products are needed
and how to deliver such products. All these problems keeps them mainly
isolated from the market trends and conditions and, thus, tend to restrict
their operations.
Besides, small and medium scale enterprises are the most
significant contributor in the field of India's exports. There has been
a prominent increase in the exports from this sector of both traditional
and non-traditional goods including jewellery, garments, leather, hand
tools, engineering goods, software, etc. Also, the enterprises with good
export performance have greater stability in the economy. But, there is
still lot of problems in exporting the products by small and medium entrepreneurs
to other regions/ countries/ areas. They are not very familiar with the
steps and formalities involved in exporting goods from India. They need
to be made aware of all the steps involved in the process, such as, registration
of exporters; selection of export market and buyers; receipt of enquiries,
letter of intent, letter of credit, bill of lading, etc; insurance coverage;
obtaining shipping order; certificate of origin; sending documents to
importers; etc.
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