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Article History

Received: 4 October 2024

Accepted: 28 October 2025

First Online: 12 December 2025

Competing interests

: The authors declare no competing interests.

: Until 29 April 2025, ethical approval from the Institutional Ethics Committee (IEC) at Symbiosis International (Deemed University), Pune, India, was not mandatory for studies based entirely on written sources. Ethical approval for this research was granted by the Academic Integrity Committee (AIC) of the university (Ref. No.: SCIT/2023/01/01, dated 10 January 2023) for a duration of 2 years. On 30 April 2025, the university regulations changed, and IEC approval became mandatory for such studies. The present research was completed prior to this regulatory change. The study complied with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Informed written consent was obtained from all participants, who participated voluntarily and retained the right to withdraw at any time. All data were anonymized and processed in accordance with university and applicable data protection regulations.

: In accordance with national regulations and institutional ethical standards, the first author obtained written informed consent from 210 participants representing micro, small, and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs) affiliated with the SME Chamber of India. The process was conducted between October 5th and December 5th, 2022. Participants, and where applicable, their companies’ representatives, received clear information on the study’s purpose, procedures, voluntary nature, and their right to withdraw. Confidentiality and anonymity were assured, with no personally identifiable information collected. Data were collected through anonymous paper-based questionnaires and used solely for academic research, with no commercial application. The study involved MSME companies from both manufacturing (auto parts, plastics, heating equipment, food processing) and service sectors.