Whether Firms Are Leap-frogging In the Bengal Zari and Embroidery Industry

The present paper aims to focus on: whether firms of the Zari and Embroidery industry, an important informal localized industry in West Bengal, are leap-frogging. To access the issue, the analysis is based on how small firms of the industry get access to new economic knowledge production, i.e. innovation. The issue is crucial since this particular industry is characterized by the dominance of production units of small firms of the industry who are agglomerated in specific spatial clusters in particular geographical horizon throughout the state. Several factors account for specific location of these informal industrial production units. The present study is specifically confined to a particular factor, namely innovation. The small informal firms of the industry cannot execute their innovation due to lack of fund. The present study is, therefore, confined to explore: how small firms of the Zari and Embroidery industry access to new economic knowledge production thereby ensure their survival in the competitive market and contribute to industrial growth. To reveal this, the present study selects two specific sites of the industry in West Bengal, Panchla (Howrah) and Arambagh (Hooghly). The selection of the sites has been based upon existence of small informal clustered production units in specific spaces and incorporation of their high growth potential and large employment opportunities. The micro-level field studies, sampling design and data analysis procedure of the study are based upon standard model approach to accept spatial heterogeneity within the frame of the study.