05-11-2012, 02:23 PM
SMALL SCALE INDUSTRIES KUTUMB SAKHI
SCALE INDUSTRIES.doc (Size: 331 KB / Downloads: 62)
Why was it named as Kutumb-Sakhi?
It was named as Kutumb-Sakhi because those people employed were feeling ashamed of doing maidservant jobs but they were comfortable doing any kind of work because when they do the work in this environment they have a sense of belonging to a family which in other terms is known as Kutumb-Sakhi.
Introduction
It is seen that at all levels of development womens access to the labour market is consistently more difficult than men’s. Employment opportunities as wage workers are often denied to women because of their family responsibilities, lack of skills, social and cultural barriers etc. It is now widely recognized that the main vehicles for economic growth are the micro and small enterprises, particularly in a country like India.
Kutumb-Sakhi is one such organization, which has operating for the last two decades, strengthening the economic base of over hundred deprived family. It has a setup of chain of snack meal centre in and around Mumbai.
Kutumb-Sakhi has created a niche for itself in this field. It needs to become more market driven and aggressive to come out of its stagnation in recent years. Its capacity to deliver services has to be reorganized to derive maximum benefits. It needs to design a good business plan.
Historical perspective
Kutumb-Sakhi came into existence as a corporative industrial production centre limited in 1977, with the sole aim of providing dignified income generating avenue to the women belonging to the lower middle class families.
Dr Chandrakala hate pioneered this project. Finding from a survey of 5 hundred lower middle class family revealed that most of the families lead a life of poverty. Women were either subjected to an alcoholic spouse or were a widow or were abandoned by the family. Majority of the household had single source of income. Due to illiteracy women were unable to locate jobs. Their poor economic condition was showing a direct impact on their health. Dr Hate strongly felt the need to improve the financial status of these families by involving them in some income generating activities. In the long run cookery proved to be a more profitable activity as it did not require any special training.
Present status of Kutumb-Sakhi
Kutumb-Sakhi made its humble beginning with just handful of ladies, and today it has a total of 125 members working as cooks, sales girls, clerks and as supervisory staffs. Initially Kutumb-Sakhi started with one centre which employed 12 women. To become a member one has to be 18yrs old, know respect philosophy of the organization. After one year of service any worker has the right to become a member. There are more than 1000 shares each Rs.25.
Trust
The charitable activities for the organization are undertaken through the cooperative trust of the same name Kutumb-Sakhi Trust. The organization receives donations in money or kind through this trust. The committee for the trust comprises of five members, who are elected by the committee members of the cooperative
Organizational Culture
Flexibility is seen as strength. The other strengths seen in the organization are ability to generate sense of belonging, loyalty, and team work and have a great faith in present leadership. In terms of weakness large staff lacks good training in cleanliness, hygiene, discipline and safety. The staff does not accept professionals on the pay role because of the differences in the salary structure of the professionals and the old employees. It was also reported that members lack exposure to commercial market because of their traditional mind set and hence there is underutilization of their growth potential
Human resource practices & Value system/Ethics
It was surprising to note that though the organization is 27 yrs old there is no written documentation in the areas of staff roles and responsibilities. Due to the level of ambiguity in the areas of performance appraisal, training, decision making and other related areas. Centralized functioning is fostered. Annual trips, haldi kumkum ceremonies are seen as a team building exercises. Time management, quantity and quality consciousness are yet to find adequate attention and acceptance in the organization
Administrative Practices
There is no well- defined written document available for running day to day general administration. By laws of the organization provide the guidelines to formulate rules and regulations of the organization. All the committee members are well versed with the by- laws of the organization. It was also reported that under the strong influence of Mrs. Vandana Navalker, the organization is able to manage its routine affairs smoothly.
Market performance
Kutumb-Sakhi is marketing food products, which are a part of unorganized market sector there is no separate department for handling the marketing aspect. Need was not felt because of the demand, it is always overcoming supply, especially during the festive seasons. Quantity to be produced is accessed from the past demand. There is tremendous growth potential for Kutumb-Sakhi, as corporate sector has not at all been tapped it. Homemade, tasty meals cooked in hygiene conditions, packed properly and delivered to the door step is the need of the corporates. This need can be exploited by Kutumb-Sakhi because it has an advantage of having its outlets in strategic locations. Kutumb-Sakhi has already established creditability in taste and pricing of its products it needs improvement in the area of display, packaging and distribution. Market oriented approach has to be developed through training.
Organizational communication
Most of the committee members in the study reported that in Kutumb-Sakhi oral communication is preferred as compared to written communication. This is basically because of low level of literacy among cooks and other staff. The management seems open about sharing major decisions and prefers to take consent of all members. Since most employees are promoted from the level of cooks and sales girls, who do not have adequate formal business training, the level of professionalism is low. There is a lot of informality at AGM as well as at other meetings, which the researchers believe is strength. Every evening the shifts supervisor/sales managing the center report the sales performance and other major developments to the head office and deposit the cash receipts. Any specific problem/ difficulties faced by the centers are orally communicated to the head office.
Financial performance
To assess the financial performance every month, the Auditors of the organization conduct a formal meeting. The issues discussed in this meeting are basically related to market performance of each product and the extent of profit/ loss generated by the centers.
Kutumb-Sakhi has the potential to become a major player in the ready to eat food market and should keep its sights high. The challenge is for Kutumb-Sakhi to think big and adopt a consumer oriented approach. It has the core strengths and a sound financial base required for enlarge its operations and needs to adopt some of the modern management practices to realize its vision like Amul & Lijjat can serve as appropriate Role models for Kutumb-Sakhi.
Market expansion and brand building
Kutumb-Sakhi should promote itself as women empowerment micro-finance enterprise initiative in the field of quality food service. Its unique selling proposition (USP) is usage of high quality ingredients to produce good quality home-made products made under hygienic condition. Kutumb- Sakhi’s product range is already wide and customers have given satisfactory remark about the existing product range. Kutumb-Sakhi should target health conscious middle and higher middle class clientele residing around their centers.