An Empirical Study of Efficacy of International Executive Development Programmes of NI-MSME

National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (NI-MSME) is an organization of the Ministry of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Government of India. NI-MSME operates with the objective of value addition to micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) through training, research, consultancy, extension and solution providing services. Its role encompasses every facet of organization building from the formulation, implementation of policies and strategies needed to provide consultancy assistance in key areas of MSMEs, integrating the development of all sectors of the economy. NI-MSME promotes entrepreneurship and has extended beyond the Indian shores touching almost all the developing economies around the world. It has been widely acclaimed as the pivotal organization to bring together participants from abroad for training in various facades of enterprise development. The Institutes programs are refined from time to time taking into account the progress and potential of the developing world, which is keen to achieve faster rates of economic growth. The paper orients at ascertaining the efficacy of the International executive development programs organized in the year 2014, structured for various professionals in the developing countries and sponsored by the Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India. The respondents include public sector employees, IAS officers, IES officers, young engineers and industrialists from the state of Kerala. The aspirations of the trainees were recorded through a questionnaire distributed to the trainees. The paper orients at making major recommendations for the future programs of NI-SME to improve the efficacy of the programmes by identifying the preferred industry for small and medium entrepreneurial ventures with the help of a structured questionnaire and envisages the creation of support systems required for skill development of those aspiring to set up a SME. An independent Sample T Test is done to identify whether there is a significant difference in the Trainers opinion and the traineesopinion about the required domain knowledge. A significant difference in the opinion suggests a pertinent need for an awareness campaign on the importance of International executive development programmes organized by National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises. The sample was selected on the basis of Purposive sampling. The efficacy of the current executive development programs with reference to time span for which the executive development programs is provided and other significant factors like fellowship structure would be analyzed with the help of chi-square test. The need for proactively catalyzing the efforts of NI-SME in promoting consultancy, research, extension, education and information services for SME development is extensively addressed in the paper. A matrix was constructed at the end of the study taking into consideration the aspiration of trainees for future programs and the weights specified by NI-MSE for the International Executive programs in various arenas. The trainers and trainees have responded positively about executive development programs organized in the year 2014. The study revealed that the Communication Skills in English and Promotion of Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises (EPMSMEs) in Phase I and Capacity Building for providing Alternative Livelihood Opportunities for Poor (CBALO) in Phase II was widely applauded and highly rated by the participants. Thus the paper reflects on the pertinent role played by National Institute for Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises in providing consultancy and training in the key areas of MSMEs, thereby integrating the development of all sectors of economy. International executive development programmes, Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises, Preferred industry, Time span, Trainee aspirations.