HUMAN RESOURCE AND MARKETING CHALLENGES AS INTERCONNECTED CONSTRAINTS ON SMALL-SCALE ENTERPRISE PERFORMANCE: EVIDENCE FROM ANDHRA PRADESH, INDIA

Abstract

Purpose: This study examines human resource (HR) and marketing challenges faced by small-scale enterprises (SSEs) in Andhra Pradesh, India, and investigates their association with enterprise performance. Design/methodology/approach: The revised doctoral design specifies a survey of 450 entrepreneurs/owner managers across three analytical regions and five sector groupings. HR challenges cover talent acquisition, employee retention, training and skill development, compensation and benefits, and labour-law compliance. Marketing challenges cover market access and reach, branding and positioning, digital marketing adoption, distribution/channel management, and customer relationship management. The analytical framework combines descriptive analysis, reliability assessment, factor validation, correlation, regression, moderation, multi-group analysis and PLS-SEM. Findings: The verified HR chapter reports an overall HR challenge mean of 3.49 (SD=0.76), with talent acquisition ranking first (M=3.78) and employee retention second (M=3.65). HR challenges are negatively associated with perceived enterprise performance (r=-0.51), while hierarchical regression reports ΔR²=0.146 after adding HR challenges to controls. Earlier supplementary evidence based on 420 enterprises reports marketing challenges of M=3.75, a marketing–performance correlation of r=-0.527, and an HR–marketing correlation of r=0.582. These n=420 results must be replaced by final n=450 estimates before journal submission. Originality/value: The study develops an integrated HR–marketing capability perspective for SSEs in an Indian regional context.