Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Assessment in the Surgical Cotton Gauze and Bandage Cloth Cluster

Abstract

Creating a sustainable entrepreneurial environment is vital for the success of cluster development. Surgical cotton and Bandage Cloth manufacturing is the traditional business for the people at Chatrapatti, Tamil Nadu, India. This cluster has more than 100 micro enterprises providing employment and contributing significantly to export. This research aims to assess the entrepreneurial ecosystem at Chatrapatti. A structured questionnaire is framed and collected from the 55 entrepreneurs at Chatrapatti and the result reveals that 92 percent of the entrepreneurs started sole proprietorship type of business without any business family background. 70 percent of them are degree or diploma holders, the majority of them are in the age category of 25 and above without prior industry experience from the same industry. The result reveals that capital, labor and raw material availability are the most influential factor to venture into the bandage cloth manufacturing business. Desire to make money, fear of unemployment and passion for self-employment are the highly motivating factors for starting the business. The entrepreneurs’ skill assessment reveals that the entrepreneurs have good ability in fundraising and estimating the cash flows for the business. They have good negotiating and communication skill but lack the strategy for promoting the product using the social media and website for reaching the global market. Research result highlighted that the entrepreneurs are having good networking with supplier, and good ability in inventory management. Factor analysis revealed that the friends and family support, network, the success of friends in business are the highly motivating factors for starting the business. The entrepreneurs felt that the municipality compliance regarding the pollution control highly affects their business and need support from government to implement recycling technologies and supportive funding for implementing