Annex 1
Checklist of questions for interviewing individual artisans
Leather sub-sector – BDS assessment
A
•
•
•
•
•
Basic information about the enterprise and its functions
Name of the artisan/enterprise
Location
Age of the artisan
Years in operation
Details of different activities and operations/functions related to the enterprise
Kind of products you make – jootis (type of jootis – traditional or mojaris; or
leather goods or both)
Kind of leather and accessories that you buy for making products; method of
procuring raw materials. Do you go on your own? Frequency of buying raw
materials? (Ask for samples of products they make, see the raw materials used and
ask these questions based on the raw materials used. An estimate of requirement
in peak and lean seasons).
Markets where you sell your products – sale price; methods of marketing. Do you
go to the market on your own or send your products with some fellow artisans;
how frequently you go to market for the sale of products? (Try to understand all
the market channels the artisan use for the sale of products and which one he uses
regularly and why).
Kind of tools and equipment you use for the production? If you do not have
equipment for stitching leather how do you get this work done? (Observe various
tools they are using in the production process and ask related questions about
them.) Also ask about other equipment related to the production processes they
may have in the house and work on them.
From where do you obtain tools and equipment? Do these tools and equipment
require servicing of any type? Where do you get the servicing done?
•
Scale of operation
Monthly sales turnover (if the respondents do not give this information then don’t
insist; it could be known indirectly.)
Monthly production capacity or number of jootis produced in a week
No. of workers/artisans employed, if any (how many family members?)
Investment in fixed and working capital
•
Seasonality in sales, if any. How does it affect employment and sales turnover?
80
Obtain more information on the following aspects (with initial few respondents in a
village)
•
•
Alternative source1available for the procurement of raw materials/accessories/tools
Comparison of regular and alternative sources on following parameters
Regular source
Alternative source (1)
Alternative source (2)
Cost
Quality
Availability
•
Any other qualitative benefit/s offered by the alternative source(s) (credit sale,
relationship with artisans, payments as per artisans’ convenience, etc.)
•
An estimate of the number of suppliers working as regular and alternate sources.
•
Is the artisan satisfied with the quality/type of raw materials/accessories supplied to them?
If no, then why?
•
Is the artisan satisfied with the existing modes of raw material supply? If yes, why? If no,
then reason for dissatisfaction. Suggestions if any about the alternative mode of supply.
•
Understanding the reasons behind their inability to access quality raw material/
accessories/tools as per their requirement. (Inability could be due to lack of awareness of
the sources, high cost, etc.)
B Identification of relationships the artisan has with all the persons he interacts with
for business purpose
Based on the above previous discussions, ask the artisan about all the persons/stakeholders in
the sub-sector and institutions he interacts with for different business activities. The
interviewers should help the respondents in identifying all the business relationships.
It would be helpful to the artisans if the interviewers start by saying that “You have business
relationships with a number of people such as raw material suppliers, buyers, and tool
suppliers. Now we would like you to identify other such relationships.” This would help
artisans to focus and explore relationship with other people.
Wherever needed, help the artisan explore relationships with them including institutions with
whom he interacts occasionally or on a limited level. These may be institutions such as
RUDA (a government agency involved in promotion of the leather sub-sector in the state of
Rajasthan), fellow artisans, institutional buyers in exhibitions and fairs, banks, District
Industries Centre (DIC), Khadi & Village Industries Commission (KVIC) – both are
government agencies working of the small and micro-enterprises. Also give examples – “if
you face a particular problem in your business whom do you approach for solutions?” “If you
want some inputs and suggestion on improving designs of your jootis whom do you approach
for this?” These examples will probably help identifying relationships that may not be so
obvious. And the artisan might come out with some more such relationships.
1
Refers to the source from where most of the artisans of village meet only a small portion of their requirement
81
C
After identifying all the business relationships, explore each relationship in detail
The objective should be to explore all kinds of BDS that the artisan obtains from these
business relationships either in an embedded form with core products or in a stand-alone
form. Also try and understand if he makes a payment to receive these BDS.
The interviewers should discuss each relationship identified by the artisan and try to
understand all the possible BDS that are being offered and could possibly be offered. If
needed, give a few examples to enable the artisan to focus on this aspect of discussions. For
example, are your buyers of final products providing some inputs on improving designs of
jootis and making some changes in earlier designs? Buyers may also be providing some
information on possible sources for obtaining accessories and specific leather that could
possibly improve the design or reduce the cost of production of jootis. Then ask the artisan to
identify all such services in the form of guidance, information, business development inputs
or help that the artisan obtains from all the business relationships.
In order to understand the factors that have contributed to their business and income growth
over a period of time, the following questions should be asked.
•
•
How did your business grow over a period of 5 years? (If a respondent has been in the
business for say 5 years).
What inputs (in the form of guidance, information and assistance) have you received and
in what manner have you received them? (for example an artisan might be receiving
some inputs on improving designs of jootis while supplying jootis to a retailer and
interacting with him.)
Responses to these questions will provide an in-depth understanding of services that have
made most significant impact on his business.
Developing a list of BDS based on artisans’ perception in terms of importance to their
enterprises
The above discussion will help develop a list of BDS that the artisan receives. Also ask the
artisan about services other than the ones listed that he would like to obtain in order to
develop his business or increase the income level from the enterprise. Then, ask the artisan to
prioritise these BDS based on the their importance to the business. Make an attempt to
understand the reasons behind the prioritisation.
Then ask the artisan whether he would like to obtain these services. There could be two
possibilities – one when he already is receiving some services and the other when he is not
receiving some particular services but would like to obtain them. (What services demanded
by the artisan are available/not available to the artisan?). Ask his responses on both kinds of
services so that demand for these services could be estimated.
D
Obtain responses on various aspects of BDS identified and categorise
The discussion should also cover important aspects for each of the services discussed. They
are as follows
82
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Modes of BDS delivery and BDS transaction: For example, are they delivered at the
villages or other places, individually or on a group basis (understand whether in
embedded or stand-alone form; fees paid by the artisan [if applicable])
Payments for these BDS: Do the artisans make a payment for the service?
Information on how respondents feel about the quality of services: Is the artisan satisfied
with the services currently available to him? (Perception of artisans should be sought on
aspects like frequency, appropriateness, adequacy and delivery of the services.)
What improvements could be made in terms of quality and delivery mechanisms of a
BDS?
Willingness to pay fees for BDS: How much if he can tell?
Awareness about other alternate sources for a BDS
Expected benefits from each service identified
Suitable questions should be asked to obtain responses on the above aspects. In a number of
occasions, suitable examples could be developed based on other activities in their daily life
and asked so that they can easily relate our questions and respond to our questions relating to
their business contexts.
If the response on any questions are not clear, request the artisan to give some practical
examples or ask to explain again. However, this should not be done if the response is clear.
The interviewer should decide, based on the appropriateness and timing and the interest of
the respondent, about the sequence of the above aspect for asking related questions. If
needed, the interviewers should also crack some jokes without hearting anyone’s feelings to
keep the interview process interesting.
83
Annex 2
Checklist of questions for the focus group discussions with artisans
Leather sub-sector – BDS assessment
A
Procurement of raw material/accessories/tools/machinery
Discuss in brief on the following
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
B
Which are your preferred sources of procuring raw materials/accessories and tools and
machinery?
Do you know any alternative sources for procuring these things? From where do you
obtain this knowledge?
How is your relation with the suppliers? Do they provide necessary suggestions about the
quality/source of the things they supply to you? Do they seek your feedback on the goods
they wish to sell? How often do you find them coming up with new and innovative
products and providing you suggestions about using it in your production process?
Are there any suppliers who provide you the facility of credit purchase? Do you have any
marked preference for credit purchase? Why? What are their terms and conditions? Any
disadvantage/advantage in making credit purchase? How many artisans are availing the
facility of regular credit purchase? Why do they prefer credit purchase?
What are your major expectations from these suppliers in terms of product you need?
Any attempt by village artisans to increase their bargaining power by making bulk
purchase? If yes, then give details about the outcome? If no, why?
What is the existing level of demand of raw material/accessories/tools/machinery in the
village? If artisans show their willingness to get different kinds of raw material/
accessories then an attempt would be made to understand the demand potential of those
things.
Business Development services (BDS)
Discuss in detail the following aspects
Before discussing the following, set the context by saying “we have discussed individually
with you a number of business relationships you have with a number of people for your
business enterprise and we also discussed with you different kinds of services (in different
forms such as guidance, inputs, advice and information) that help you in your business in
some way or the other. Now we are going to discuss some of those aspects with you in a
group.”
•
•
What are the support services that you need to develop your business? Just indicate all the
BDS identified and various sources/relationships from where they are obtained – based on
the individual interview with artisans.
Are these services available to you? If yes, then what are the sources?
84
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Whether the available services are reaching to all the artisans of the village or is it
restricted to only a few? If restricted to only a few, then what are the reasons?
If there are more than one sources of the service, then what are the relative advantages
and disadvantages of various sources? (Understand the quality, availability of the service
and features of those services). Of these sources for different services which do you
prefer most? And why?
What changes in terms of raw material, accessories and design, pattern have you observed
in your jooti? In your opinion what facilitated these changes and why did you bring out
those changes?
What problem do you see with the existing modes of delivery of these BDS?
What improvements do you suggest to make the services more effective? (Try and
understand what features do they like to have in these services.)
How many artisans of the village have procured services provided by government/nongovernment organisations. What is their experience? (Attempt to understand the impact
that has been created through these interventions)
Do services, which are not available to you, affect your business prospects? In what way
will your business grow if those services are provided to you?
If you feel that the services are important to your business then why did you not make
attempts to obtain them?
If these services were made available to you as per your requirements then would you be
willing to pay a fee for these services? If no, then why? If yes, how much are you ready to
pay? (Where ever possible the respondent’s willingness to pay in absolute amount would
be understood – for example an artisan may say that he is willing to pay Rs500 to learn
the skills for making leather goods.)
Wherever required, facilitate the discussions to ensure that responses and answers to
questions are obtained. Quote suitable examples to enable artisans to respond to your
questions by relating those examples to their business enterprises and situations.
85
Annex 3
Checklist of questions for BDS suppliers
Institutions (government/non-government)
providing services in stand-alone or embedded forms
A
•
•
•
•
B
•
•
•
Basic information about the supplier
Name
Type of enterprise: private, government, NGO and technical institute
Working for profit or non-profit
Main sources of income – fees, grants from governments and other sources
Types of services offered in general and to the leather artisans in particular
What services does your organisation offer?
What specific services/products do you offer to the leather sector in general and to the
rural leather artisans in particular?
Are services to the leather sub-sector your main activity or supplementary/complementary
activities. If supplementary, then what are your main activities?
C Transaction-related information (focus on BDS related to the leather sub-sector and
leather artisans in particular)
•
•
•
•
How do you offer these services – try to understand delivery mechanisms for different
services/BDS? (Try and obtain information on involvement of other persons/organisation
in the process of delivering services.)
What has been the outreach of various services provided by you? Are you satisfied with
the outreach? If yes or no, why? What do you feel about the impact created by the
provision of various services by your organisation for artisans? How can the services be
offered to create the desired impact?
How many artisans visit you (ask by giving a time-frame such as daily, weekly, monthly
or yearly depending upon the type of BDS)?
Do you charge fees for these services? What are the fees for different services? What are
the payment options available for these services?
Perception on services
•
•
•
•
According to you, which service is more in demand? Why?
Is subsidisation of services important or could these services be offered on a commercial
basis. If yes, why? If no, why?
Why do a majority of artisans fail to use the services provided by you?
Do you see the role of commercial service provider for leather artisans? If yes, what are
the services that have potential to be commercialised? What suggestions would you make
to commercialise these services?
86
•
•
•
In your opinion, what are the constraints in the BDS market for micro-enterprises in
general and leather artisans in particular?
In your view what are the problems/factors that might hamper the development of a
vibrant BDS market for micro-enterprises in general and rural leather artisans in
particular? What needs to done to remove those problems?
What changes in terms of features and delivery is needed to make the services more
effective?
In-house capacity
•
•
•
•
•
•
What kind of technical support do you obtain from other sources to serve microenterprises in general and leather artisans in particular? (Understand the links providers
have with others to improve the quality of services)
Are there any systems in your organisation by which you obtain feedback from artisan
about the services you offer? If yes, how do you use these information and for what
purposes?
Do you undertake some market surveys and market research to improve the quality of
service and to develop new products? If yes, how frequently?
Do you have any future plans to provide other services to the leather artisans? What are
they?
Number of staff members involved with respective services
Qualification of staff members for respective services
87
Annex 4
Checklist of questions for BDS suppliers offering services in embedded form
A
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Basic information about the supplier
Name
Type of enterprise: private, government, NGO, technical institute, trader, raw material
supplier, professional, artisan, others
Years in business/operation
Number of staff members
Level of qualification of staff members and the promoter
Working for profit or non-profit
Scale of operation – level of investment in fixed and working capital
Main sources of income – fees, grants from governments and other sources
B
Types of services offered in general and to the leather artisans in particular
•
You main activity and products (list down all the main services/products offered by the
supplier)
Are these products meant exclusively for leather sub sector?
What is the delivery mechanism of your main products/service?
•
•
Try to understand BDS offered in an embedded form with the core products
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Can you recall any incidents when you have provided artisans any services (such as
information about market, knowledge about quality raw materials, information about
source to procure better quality leather) other than your main core services/products you
regularly offered by you? If yes, why did you provide such services? (information,
advance money, etc.) Try to understand the reasons.
Now can you recall any other such services (BDS) that you provide? (Explore what
related services he could provide to artisans.) Do you attach any importance to
maintaining good business relationships with artisans? If yes, how do you ensure this?
(There is a possibility that in order to ensure continuous business relationship, service
provider might be providing useful BDS either in stand-alone or embedded forms)
How do you offer these services – try to understand delivery mechanisms for different
services/BDS? (Try to obtain information on involvement of other persons in the process
of delivering services.)
Do you feel that artisans are capable in their personal capacity to utilise the services
provided by you? Do they need any additional support to properly avail the services
offered by you? What are they?
Are you observing any change in pattern of demand for your products/services by
artisans? If yes, what are those changes? In your opinion, what facilitated those changes?
Do you feel that change was necessary? If yes, then why? How do you address changing
demand pattern of artisans?
Do you feel that your role as service provider is important for artisans? Mention a few
roles that artisans feel important for themselves?
Do you think that your business prospects depend on the business prospect of artisans? If
yes, then what steps do you take to ensure the better prospect for their business?
88
•
•
•
•
How often do you make attempts to familiarise artisans with new types of raw
material/accessories? How artisans react to new materials/ accessories shown to them?
Do you charge artisans in any way for the additional services provided by you in an
informal manner?
What kind of capacity building support would you need to act as BDS supplier?
How many artisans visit you (ask by giving a timeframe of daily, weekly, monthly or
yearly depending upon the type of BDS)
Perception on the services
•
•
Do you see the role commercial service provider for leather artisans? If yes, then what are
those services that have the potential to be commercialised? What suggestions would you
make to commercialise these services?
In your opinion, what are the constraints in the BDS market for micro-enterprises in
general and leather artisans in particular?
In-house capacity
•
In case an artisan asks you for some information and guidance and if you do not know, do
you try to obtain them from others? Who are they? (Try and understand the linkages the
providers have with others related to BDS he offers)
89
Annex 5
Checklist of questions for BDS suppliers offering services in stand-alone form by
charging fees
A
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
B
•
•
•
Basic information about the supplier
Name
Type of enterprise: private, government, NGO, technical institute, trader, raw material
supplier, professional, artisan, others
Years in business/operation
Number of staff members
Level of qualification of staff members and the promoter
Scale of operation – level of investment in fixed and working capital
Main sources of income – fees, grants from governments and other sources
Types of services/products offered by the supplier
List down all main services/products offered by the supplier.
Are these services meant exclusively for the leather sub-sector?
Who are your customers? A brief profile of the customers using different services and
also information on the
locations (name of the villages from where artisans come). If possible, distribution of
the customer base across different villages.
Transaction-related questions
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Delivery modes of service – in a village or some other places; on individual or group
basis. Are you satisfied with your delivery mechanisms? If no, how do you wish to make
improvements to make the delivery mechanisms of your services more effective?
Any problems faced while delivering services?
What are the cost for various services you offer? Gather information for all the services
Frequency of purchase of services by artisans; cash or credit purchase.
Do you attempt to have a sustained relationship with customers? If yes, how? If no, why?
Do regular buyers get any preferential treatment? In what way? (It could be in the form of
credit sale, special rate or some additional/complementary services being provided to
them)
Do you undertake any promotional activities to promote your service among artisans? If
no, then why? If yes, then how? (Sometimes the services/products are promoted in subtle
way by encouraging credit purchase or secretly offering discounts to few customers. The
interviewers should attempt to explore such practices.)
In house capacity
• Do you undertake some market surveys, market research and obtain feedback from your
clients to improve the quality of service and to develop new products? If yes, how
frequently?
• Do you have linkages with other people to improve the quality of services? Who are
they?
90
•
•
Do you have any future plans to provide other services to the leather artisans? What are
they?
What are your strengths and weakness in the BDS provision? Try to obtain his views on
this.
Try to understand the capacity of suppliers with regard to a market research to understand the
need of artisans/service users, new product development, costing and pricing of services. Try
to understand methodologies and tools suppliers adopt for the purpose.
It may be possible that suppliers do not have the required capacity to undertake these
exercises; however if that is the case then through this project we can develop the capacity of
such suppliers during the intervention phase.
Perception on the services
•
•
•
•
Do you have knowledge about the similar players in the market offering same services?
How your strategy and operations different from them? Do they have any additional
advantages/disadvantages? Discuss in details.
Do you feel that the service that you are offering is available by any government agencies
at subsidized cost? (How does it affect your business and how do you cope with this?
What kind of capacity building support do you need to increase your business related to
BDS?
What opportunities do you see for yourself in the leather sub-sector?
91
Annex 6
Weekly demand for inputs and sources of supply
Village
Udaipuria
Demand for leather
(Rs in lakhs)
• Country tanned sole
leather (~1.5–2)
• Country tanned leather
for upper (~1.87)
• Chrome leather for
upper (~0.5)
Demand for accessories
(Rs)
• Rexine (~25,000)
• Rubber sheet (~35,000)
• Foam (~10,000)
• Thick thread (~12,000)
• Thin thread (~8,000)
• Rubber milk (~10,000)
• Wooden beads and discs
(~10,000)
• Rexine (~6,000)
• Rubber sheet (~9,000)
• Foam (~2,500)
• Rubbermilk (~2,500)
• Thick thread (~9,000)
• Thin thread (~5,000)
• Wooden beads and disc
(~2,500)
• Wool (~500)
• Thick thread (~1,000)
• Thin thread (~300)
• Wool (~100)
Maanpura
Macheri
• Country tanned sole
leather (~1.75)
• Country tanned leather
for the upper (~1.5)
• Chrome leather for the
upper (~0.5)
Kharkhara
• Country-tanned sole
leather (~0.07)
• Country-tanned leather
for upper (~0.05)
• Chrome leather for
upper (~0.02)
Booj
• Country tanned sole
leather (~0.07)
• Country tanned leather
for upper (~0.03)
• Chrome leather for
upper (~0.02)
• Country tanned sole
leather (~0.6)
• Country tanned leather
for upper (~0.3)
• Chrome leather for
upper (~0.6)
•
•
•
Rubber in sole (~400)
Plastic thread (~250)
Nails (~250)
•
•
•
Thick thread (~8,000)
Thin thread (~5,000)
Flower, paste (~2,000)
• Country tanned sole
leather (~1.5)
• Country tanned leather
for upper (~0.5)
• Chrome leather for
•
•
•
Rubber tyre (~8000)
Thick thread (~10,000)
Thin thread (~5000)
Chavandiya
Savardha
92
Source of supply (%)
Country leather
• Jaipur (~100)
Chrome leather
• Jaipur (~100)
Accessories
• Jaipur (85)
• Chomu (5)
• Village (10)
Country leather
• Jaipur (~20)
• Village (~80)
Chrome leather
• Jaipur (~100)
Accessory
• Jaipur (~95)
• Chomu (~5)
Country leather
• Jaipur (~80)
• Village (~20)
Chrome leather
• Jaipur (~100)
Accessory
• Jaipur (~100)
Country leather
• Jaipur (~100)
Chrome leather
• Jaipur (~100)
Accessory
• Jaipur (~100)
Country leather
• Jaipur (~100)
Chrome leather
• Jaipur (~95)
• Agra (~5)
Accessory
• Jaipur (~100)
Country leather
• Jaipur (~95)
• Village (~5)
Chrome leather
• Jaipur (~95)
Village
Ramjipurakalan
Kishengarh
Rainwal
Demand for leather
(Rs in lakhs)
upper (~1.25)
• Country tanned sole
leather (~0.60)
• Country tanned leather
for upper (~0.10)
• Chrome leather for
upper (~0.60)
•
•
•
Country tanned sole
leather (~0.38)
Country tanned leather
for upper (~0.60)
Chrome leather for
upper (~0.30)
Demand for accessories
(Rs)
•
•
•
•
Thick thread (~6,000)
Thin thread (~3,000)
Foam (~3,500)
Rubber milk (~2,500)
•
•
•
Thick thread (~3,000)
Thin thread (~2,000)
Rubber milk (~2,000)
Chaksu
• Country tanned sole
leather (~1.25)
• Chrome leather for
upper (~0.25)
•
•
•
Thick thread (~2,500)
Thin thread (~1,500)
Rubber milk (~3,000)
Kundal
• Country tanned sole
leather (~0.30)
• Chrome leather for
upper (~0.03)
Pipalkheda
• Country tanned sole
leather (~0.12)
• Country tanned leather
for upper (~0.08)
• Upper leather (Nagori
buff) (~0.15)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Thick thread (~1,000)
Thin thread (~1,000)
Rubber milk (~1,500)
Canvas (~1,000)
Nails (~250)
Rubber tyre (~1,000)
Colour, polish (~300)
Thick thread (~1,000)
Thin thread (~500)
Bamboo nails ~ No
significant cost
Gudeliya
• Country tanned sole
leather (~0.40)
• Chrome leather for
upper (~0.20)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Thick thread (~2,000)
Thin thread (~2,000)
Rubber milk (~1,500)
Nails (~ 400)
Rubber tyre (~3,000)
Colour, polish (~1,000)
93
Source of supply (%)
Accessory
• Jaipur (~100)
Country leather
• Jaipur (~100)
Chrome leather
• Jaipur (~100)
Accessory
• Jaipur (~100)
Country leather
• Jaipur (~100)
Chrome leather
• Jaipur (~90)
• Village (~10)
Accessory
• Jaipur (~100)
Country leather
• Jaipur (~100)
Chrome leather
• Jaipur (~100)
Accessory
• Jaipur (~100)
Country leather
• Agra (~50)
• Dausa (~50)
Chrome leather
• Agra (~100)
Accessory
• Dausa (~100)
Country tanned leather
• Dausa (~100)
Nagori buff leather
• Agra (~100)
Accessory
• Dausa (~100)
Country tanned leather
• Jaipur (~100)
Chrome leather
• Agra (~40)
• Jaipur (~60)
Accessory
• Jaipur (~100)
Annex 7
Demand for servicing of tools and equipment
Village
Udaipuria
Savardha
Maanpura Macheri
Kharkhara
Booj
Chavandia
Ramjipurakalan
Kishengarh Rainwal
Chaksu
Gudliya
Pipalkheda
Kundal
Servicing of machines
No of
Annual value
machines
of demand
(Rs)
200
100,000
50
25,000
50
25,000
10
5,000
0
0
50
25,000
50
25,000
70
35,000a
70
35,000
30
15,000
0
0
10
5,000
Servicing of tools
No of tools Monthly value
of demand
(Rs)
1,000
15,000
450
6,750
500
7,500
200
3,000
100
1,500
250
3,750
375
5,625a
400
6,000a
250
3,750a
400
6,000
125
1,875
250
3,750
a indicate the availability of the service at the village level
Note: A machine normally requires at least one servicing in one month and the average service charge is about
Rs250. The edges of tools are sharpened once or twice a month and the average charge is about Rs15.
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