LMIC Managerial Practice Adoption Friction
Export-oriented manufacturing firms operating on thin profit margins in low- and middle-income countries resist investing in formal management training and screening, perpetuating inefficient supervisor selection and high worker turnover.
Picture this
When a business operates on paper-thin profit margins, owners treat manager training as an unaffordable immediate expense rather than a long-term investment. Consequently, supervisors rely on improvised, harsh management styles that lower morale and drive away workers, ultimately hurting long-term profitability.
What the evidence says
Indian garment sector employs over 45 million people facing high turnover; study measures whether scalable digital tools overcome adoption barriers to improve firm productivity and worker satisfaction.
- Who
- 53 garment manufacturing factories, 1,200 supervisors, and over 90,000 workers (predominantly low-income women) across Karnataka, Delhi, and Haryana, India.
- How
- Randomized controlled trial evaluating cost-effective digital screening and soft skills tools across 53 factories partnered with Shahi Exports.
What to do
Deploy digital, low-cost screening and training platforms to reduce financial barriers to management training in thin-margin manufacturing settings.
From the source
"These challenges are particularly strong in export-oriented, labor-intensive manufacturing sectors, where firms operate on thin margins and may not be willing to invest heavily in identifying and training effective managers."
Soft_Skills_Training_for_Supervisors_to_Boost_Productivity_and_Worker.pdf