Towards Cleaner Technologies : A Process Story In Small-Scale Foundries

In India, small and micro enterprises or SMiEs comprise a wide variety of units, ranging from tiny artisan-based cottage industries and household enterprises to small-scale manufacturing firms. There is great diversity among them?in their patterns of ownership, organizational structures, technologies, financial status, and other characteristics. However, SMiEs have a few common features as well. In general, an SMiE is managed by its owner(s) in a personalized way; it has a relatively small share of the market in financial terms; and its small and independent nature makes it relatively free from outside control in decision-making. SMiE operators and workers usually acquire their skills by tradition; these skills are transmitted through the generations with minimal change or upgradation.