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TELCO is the leading manufacturer of commercial vehicles (trucks) in India. In 1998, TELCO succeeded in manufacturing a small car of international standards without financial or technological collaboration with any leading foreign car manufacturer. This case deals with TELCO's success in its small car project and the challenges that lie ahead. It highlights the role played by creative resource leverage in the success of firms from developing countries in a global environment.

This case deals with a medium-sized engineering company's experiences with initiating CSR. It covers aspects like the rationale for CSR, its relationship with strategy, participation in CSR and speed breakers on the path to building a CSR culture in the company. After sustained growth over a few years, the top management has decided to look beyond profits and embarked on CSR. They allocated 2% of their PBT to their Trust to oversee CSR activities. They began the activities about one and a half years ago. The engagement began with much enthusiasm but with time, it started losing steam. The senior management has also been having a rethink about CSR strategy. Mr. Khonde, the HR head now has to suggest ways of mainstreaming CSR within the company.

India is a land of diversity, where diverse cultures, religions, languages and ethnicities have increasingly driven innovation and creativity, giving a boost to the development of small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the country. Given that 70% of India’s rural population still primarily depends on agriculture for their livelihood and most of the population lives in villages and Tier 1 and Tier 2 cities, SMEs in these areas have been playing a pivotal role in the inclusive growth of the Indian economy since independence. From cottage industries to the Internet of Things (IoT) and smart technologies or large manufacturing industries, SMEs account for the majority of enterprises worldwide, contributing two-thirds of employment opportunities. Studies conducted in the past show that SMEs have constantly been confronted with various challenges, such as lack of timely access to credit facilities, shortage of manpower and skills, and adoption of new technologies. The outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis in the past few years has crippled their regular activities. However, the crisis has fundamentally changed not only the mindsets, perceptions, and the way businesses, SMEs, organizations, institutions, and individuals operate but also given an opportunity amid the crisis to be more resilient and embrace the digital platforms to survive and eventually achieve success. The aim of this chapter is to identify the future prospects of SMEs through thriving digitization while proposing a framework with a new managerial mindset as a strong force of SME specificities. It also focuses on policy intervention to optimize businesses in order to achieve sustainable economic growth.

This chapter is divided into three main parts. The first part focuses on defining and explaining the purpose of SMEs in India, wherein the significant benefits of digitization as a strategy for driving improved performance and productivity of SMEs are explained. The second part deals with describing the challenges and struggles of Indian SMEs from a managerial perspective while focusing on the new mindset of SME managers and owners toward the organic development of their businesses. The third and most crucial part examines policy interventions and support for SMEs and a new entrepreneurial mindset, and it suggests a model for inclusive growth in an economy.

The dynamic capabilities framework analyzes the sources and methods of wealth creation and capture by private enterprise firms operating in environments of rapid technological change. The competitive advantage of firms is seen as resting on distinctive processes (ways of coordinating and combining), shaped by the firm's (specific) asset positions (such as the firm's portfolio of difficult-to-trade knowledge assets and complementary assets), and the evolution path(s) it has adopted or inherited. The importance of path dependencies is amplified where conditions of increasing returns exist. Whether and how a firm's competitive advantage is eroded depends on the stability of market demand, and the ease of replicability (expanding internally) and imitatability (replication by competitors). If correct, the framework suggests that private wealth creation in regimes of rapid technological change depends in large measure on honing internal technological, organizational, and managerial processes inside the firm. In short, identifying new opportunities and organizing effectively and efficiently to embrace them are generally more fundamental to private wealth creation than is strategizing, if by strategizing one means engaging in business conduct that keeps competitors off balance, raises rival's costs, and excludes new entrants.