Technology Adoption Orientation Amongst the Traditional SMEs of North East India: A Case Study of Bell Metal Industry

In the present time, technology has been a "panacea" for all types of firms, especially for the SMEs.The present paper explores the different benefits that technology-adoption provides to the SMEs.It also examines the level of "technology adoption" orientation of the Bell Metal Industry which is one of the traditional MSME Cluster of North-East India as recognized by the Government of India.The study uses both primary and secondary data.Primary data were collected from the owners of Bell Metal Units situated in Sarthebari through the help of a structured interview schedule.An index is constructed to measure their level of "technology-adoption "orientation.The findings reveal that "technology adoption" provides multi-fold benefits to the SMEs in creating a niche for them.However, in the context of the Bell Metal industry, the majority of the artisans portray a low level of orientation in technology adoption.The suggestion is made for a holistic approach on the part of different stakeholders to ensure that proper training can be provided to the artisans to make them capable of adopting technology in their business operations.