L.2 - Role of Enterprise in Indian Society

Nations that to glory aspire, 
Their common men should prosper, 
By nurturing in every household, 
An enterprising culture.

UDYAM SHASTRA - Chapter 02, Verse 01
Key Objectives:

This module and its associated exercises should enable the students to recognize the role of business in Indian market system. The students would learn to work in groups.The students will:

  • Discuss goods and services that are purchased by them in their daily lives.
  • Realize through this module that in the Indian market system, businesses and enterprises provide most of the goods and services that consumers want.
  • The students will then relate themselves to the numerous goods and services identified by them and realize that each of them could be a potential enterprise. Hence, while there are limited Organised Sector jobs in the economy, there are unlimited unorganised sector enterprises that they can think of.

Enterprise   Concepts

Enterprise.: Some questions suggested for the concept of Enterprise are given below. The trainer may formulate his own lead questions for this and the other concepts:-

-Does an Enterprise use some resources ? What could be some examples of resources for say a confectionery (sweets) business.

- Does an enterprise usually do some processing on these resources i.e. add value?

- Why do you think an enterprise produces something? Is it to store it away , or is it to meet some market need?

- Would an enterprise want to make profit or not?

The answers and discussions to such a series of questions may lead to the following explanation for the concept of enterprise :

An organisation which:

  • uses resources and

  • adds value to resources through

  • further processing to produce

  • goods or services , and

  • has the intention of meeting

  • market demands for some goods

  • or service and making a profit - or

  • at least covering costs,

  • is typically an Enterprise.

Sometimes enterprises are also referred to as businesses.

Similar questions and discussions could be initiated by the trainer to elicit some of the following E.Concepts.

Consumer.: Is a person who purchases/uses a product or service.

Demand.: Is the quantity of goods and services that consumers are willing and are also able to purchase at any given price, over a specified time.

Goods.: Goods are tangible products of value, produced by an enterprise, that can be touched, seen, tasted or felt.

Services.: Service is work provided by an enterprise / business which is valuable to people i.e. services are works of value done by utilising resources. Services bring benefits to the buyer largely in non-tangible forms, for example newspapers, a movie, laundry, TV repair etc

Market (marketplace).: Market is a place or mechanism where buyers and sellers can communicate and complete an exchange for goods or services at a mutually agreed price and on mutually agreed terms and conditions.

Needs: Needs are products or services deemed to be necessary for survival; example food, shelter, clothing .

Wants: Wants are products or services we desire. Usually our wants exceed our income and therefore we make choices about how our limited income will be spent. Examples of wants could be car, TV etc. Top  

Enterprise Skills: The student 'Activities' in each lesson are designed to clarify the ENTERPRISE CONCEPTS of the lesson and develop some ENTERPRISE SKILLS (E.SKILLS). The E.SKILLS included in a lesson may not be exhaustive, but are indicative.

E.SKILLS stated in a lesson elsewhere may also get addressed through the activities of a particular lesson.

Some useful E.SKILLS are dealt with below:

Brainstorming.: When a group of people get together to think on a particular subject, and make a list of ideas taken from each member of the group, in quick succession in a limited time, without initially criticizing or evaluating any idea, this process of gathering ideas is referred to as brainstorming. Thus, brainstorming is a process of gathering ideas. Careful analysis of these ideas sometimes yields significant solutions.

Classifying.: It is the skill of an entrepreneur/business person to record, list, catalogue, tabulate, or codify materials, information etc. required in the enterprise or business.

Decision making.: The skill of decision-making is the act of selecting one from amongst a set of feasible courses of action. The skill of decision-making, is the act of selecting an action, from amongst a set of feasible courses of action.

Giving reports: This refers to the skill of an entrepreneur to inform, educate, brief or in some way influence the people in his net-work of activities for a fruitful result.

Taking notes.: An entrepreneur has to be attentive, observant and capable of absorbing information suited to his successful functioning. He should be able to convert such useful material into written notes for future use.

Teamwork.:  An enterprise needs to combine the efforts and skills of several different people to produce its goods or services. Such people then need to work as a team. Their output is viewed by outsiders as a single achievement. The E.Skill of working in teams is known as team work.


Instruction to Students:

  • Identify and label various enterprises in the diagram

  • Student should discuss the following questions:

1. Why different enterprises are required in a community?

2. Is it because people living in communities have several needs?

3. Do people in a community have same vocational skills or do they have various vocational skills?

4. How do vocational skills lead to different enterprises and businesses?

Activity 1   - Enterprise and community diagram.

Activity 2 - Role of enterprise in society part 1.

Instruction to Students

• Answer the questions in the Activity 2 through discussion in your groups. • After completing the activity, each group should present and share its main discussion points with the rest of the class.


1. Have you visited some public place in last six months? What goods or services did you buy there ? Examples of some public places could be:
(i) a place of worship (ii) sports stadium (iii) cinema theater (iv ) tourist place (v) school or college (vi) weekly market etc. List at least five goods or services. ______________________________________________________________________________________________

2. If your group had only Rs.50/- , what five items would you choose to buy on priority? ______________________________________________________________________________________________

3. If your group had only Rs.1000/- , what five items would you choose to buy on priority? ______________________________________________________________________________________________ 4. List five goods or services that you or your family bought last month. ______________________________________________________________________________________________

5. If your group had Rs.10,000/- , what five goods or services would you choose to buy for your vocational enterprise. ______________________________________________________________________________________________


Instruction To Students • Students should pick one of the businesses/ enterprises they listed in earlier exercise. They should then identify how many different enterprises are linked to it.

For example, ready-made garments are initiated where farmers grow their cotton .The cotton is picked and goes to a thread making mill. This thread is woven into cloth in a textile mill. The cloth is trans-ported to wholesalers and retailers. Tailors stitch the cloth into ready-made garments. Tailors use thread, buttons, etc. They also use machines. Each enterprise in this way is in some way linked to nature for its starting point. But then there are various intermediate stages or linked enterprises through which it passes.

• Identify at least 5-10 enterprises linked to your enterprise of choice. If every enterprise is on average linked to 10 enterprises, then for the list of enterprises you drew up in previous Activity, what could be the number of linked enterprises for the list drawn up by your class ? • After completing the activity, each group should present and share its' main discussion points with the rest of the class.