Why don’t Small and Medium Enterprises Innovate More: Creating a Cooperative Learning Environment at Individual, Firm and Regional Level

Abstract

One would expect, that a large number of innovations linked to cycle, a common person’s means of transport, would be of great interest to the cycle industry. But, if the leaders of cycle industry do not evince much interest, there must be some serious reasons. It seems that if a company can manage growth with existing product range, why should it try to provide additional features or conveniences to the client. Indian small and medium scale industry appears to suffer from this limitation.

I propose that cooperative model of learning is evolved to make each enterprise more competitive. Thus, cooperation in learning space and sometimes in market space may make Indian industry more competitive globally. There is a brief reference to the potential of intellectual property rights database as a source of learning. Why even in crops like psyllium, Indians have hardly five out of 878 patents is an issue that needs careful attention. Incidentally, psyllium is grown only in India.