Competitive Perception of Small Indian Manufacturers: A study of Punjab Units

Abstract

The paper aims at identifying the main competitors and competitive advantages of small scale manufacturers. The manufacturers were selected from four manufacturing industries producing textiles, bicycle and bicycle parts, food products and beverages and leather and leather products in the state of Punjab, India. The data were collected from 200 units out of which 173 units were considered for data analysis purposes. In this study, a number of statements indicating the relevant quality certification, competition and cluster association were developed and the respondents were asked to respond to the statement on a five-point likert scale. The Kruskal-Wallis test was applied to know the significant differences among the respondents with regards to different industries, age, and turnover groups with respect to the impact of cluster association. The test was applied at an assumed p-value =0.05. The statements with less than 0.05 p-value are considered significant and those with p-value more than the assumed p-value are considered to be insignificant. The weighted rankings were also calculated for the purpose of data analysis in respect to competitive advantages by assigning the weights 4, 3, 2 and 1 to ranks 1, 2, 3 and 4 respectively.