KMGT 672 Article Review: Indigenous HR Practices in Indian SMEs

This essay presents an article review focusing on the human resource systems within small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in India, particularly in the context of globalization and competition from multinational corporations. The review addresses the extent to which these SMEs utilize indigenous approaches to managing their workforce, considering factors such as employee support, motivation, recruitment processes, and adherence to labor laws. Based on two case studies, the original article highlights a lack of formalization in people management within Indian SMEs, driven by a focus on cost minimization and flexibility. The review concludes by suggesting that SMEs need to shift their focus beyond cost-cutting to brand building and growth strategies, signaling a transition towards more structured HR practices. Desklib provides access to similar solved assignments and past papers for students.

Running head: ARTICLE REVIEW
Article Review
Name of Student:
Name of the University:
Author note:

1ARTICLE REVIEW
With there being a sudden increase in the number of small and medium enterprises
(SME) in India, there has been a subsequent increase in pressure created due to globalization
and external forces such as the giant multinational companies. With these SMEs contributing
greatly to the country’s GDP and are providing employment to a large group of people, it is
of utmost concern for the government to encourage the survival of these companies by
helping in their growth. The main focus of this paper is to challenge the existing constraint
that is held by the human resource systems in the SMEs in their thinking that they are already
doing everything that they can in order to fight the indigenous realities that exist in the
present human resource management systems in India.
This paper addresses to what extent these SMEs are using indigenous ways for
managing people in Indian SMEs. The paper uses the factors of employee support and
involvement, their level of motivation, the recruiting processes, the discipline and skill held
by everyone at the company. The paper also addresses the question of how well the SMEs are
able to manage the relationships with their employees as related to the labour laws. The paper
also raises a question of how the two cases are able to discuss the key issues that are
emerging from the method of managing people in the indigenous perspective.
In the view of ensuring a detailed and contextual mapping of the indigenous realities
that exist about the process of people management in SMEs, the authors of this paper had
decided to build two case studies that will reflect details concerning the nature and the
working of the mentioned practices. Since there was an absence of supportive research about
the work culture in India, the authors had conducted almost 11 interviews, six of which were
from the first company and the rest five of them were from the second company – Flaxo and
Deakins. Two structure of interviews were created, one of which was for the CEO or
manager and the other for the workers and their supervisors.

2ARTICLE REVIEW
The paper concludes that there is a lack in the formalization of the management of
people issues in the Indian SMEs from the evidence found in the two case studies. This
research also finds that the reason behind the lack of structured processes is because the
Indian SMEs keep a focus on minimizing the cost and also being able to provide a certain
level of in-built flexibility. The paper finds that the managers of these SMEs perceive that if
they were to remain informal then they would be able to compete on the cost market in the
developing new Indian economy. In conclusion, the paper suggest that the if the SMEs want
to build on their brand and experience growth, then they will have to shift their main focus
away from only on minimizing costs and maximizing the profit.

3ARTICLE REVIEW
Bibliography:
Saini, D.S. & Budhwar, P.S. 2008. ‘Managing the human resource in Indian SMEs: The role
of indigenous realities’. Journal of World Business, 43(4), pp. 417-434.