eChapters

Market information

As defined by Philip Kotler, Marketing information system is continuing & interacting structure of people, equipment & procedure designed to gather, sort, analyze, evaluate, distribute pertinent, timely and accurate information for use by marketing decision makers, to improve their marketing planning, execution and control.

It is the job of collecting, interpreting and disseminating large variety of data which are needed for the smooth operation of marketing processes. In many countries Government agencies undertake this function and sometimes organisations such as chambers of commerce, board of traders etc. perform this function. The Directorate of Economics and Statistics and concerned state marketing departments collect data regarding a) quantity of various products produced in different areas, b) quantities of products held in storage, c) arrivals in various markets, d) prices prevailing in local, regional, national and international markets. The informative data so collected is disseminated through radio, television, news papers, weekly and monthly bulletins. Daily prices are published in most of the news papers. The informative marketing data is also collected through sales executives and from those personnel who are specially appointed as specialists by various trading firms.

Marketing functions

The process of marketing involve a number of marketing functions. They may be grouped under:

Functions of exchange which include

1) Buying and assembling and

2) Selling.

B. Functions of physical supply which include

1) Transportation and

2) Storage or warehousing.

Price determination under perfect competition - It can be called as a market structure characterized by a complete absence of competition or rivalry among the individual firms. The sellers and buyers cannot determine the price, only the Industry decides the price of the goods. It means the forces of supply and demand determine the price of the goods

Perfect competition is defined as a market situation where there are a large number of sellers of a homogeneous product. An individual firm supplies a very small portion of the total output and is not powerful enough to exert an influence on the market price. A single buyer, however large, is not in a position to influence the market price.

Demand under perfect competition

Demand refers to the quantity of a product that consumers are willing to purchase at a particular price, while other factors remain constant. A consumer demands more quantity at lower price and less quantity at higher price. Therefore, the demand varies at different prices. Market demand means the sum of the quantity demanded by individual buyers at different prices.

According to traditional marketing concept, marketing is a mere physical process or set of activities connected with the exchange of goods or selling. According to traditional concept marketing is sales oriented. According to this concept marketing is more concerned with all those activities or operations which help the flow of goods from the producers or manufacturers to the ultimate consumers or users. From the point of production to consumption, the following steps are involved.

1. Goods have to be gathered and transported there by creating place utility.

2. Goods have to be made available to the consumers or users at the time when they are needed by consumers. This is done by storing the commodities in warehouses and cold stores etc. This creates time utility.

3. Goods are sold to consumers thereby transferring the ownership or title from the seller to the consumer. This creates “ownership utility” or “possession utility”. The various activities that help in the creation of place, time and possession utilities and help the flow of goods from the centers of production to the centers of consumption or use constitute the subject matter of marketing.

Classification of market

There are several bases on which markets are classified.

a. On the basis of location

On the basis of the place of location or operation, markets are of the following types:

Village market

A market which is located in a small village, where major transactions take place among the buyers and sellers of a village, is called a village market.

Primary markets

• These markets are located in big towns near the centres of production of commodities. In these markets, a major part of the produce is brought for sale by the producer-farmers themselves. Transactions in these markets usually take place between the producers/farmers and traders.

Goods and services are created through process of production. After production they have to be transferred or moved from the original producers to the final consumers. This involves the creation of market and the undertaking of number of activities such as buying, assembling, transportation warehousing, risk bearing, financing, selling etc. This constitutes the subject matter of marketing. Hence there is the need for the study of market.

What is market?

Market is derived from the Latin word “Marcatus” meaning trade, merchandise, ware, traffic or place of business. In the ordinary language, market is a place where buyers and sellers meet personally and make their purchases or sales. But in the language of economics, market need not be a place but it may be an area or region meant for potential exchange between a group of buyers and sellers interested in negotiating the terms of purchase and sale of goods and services and such negotiations may be done face to face at a certain place or may be done through other means of communication such as mail, phone, cable, television or through business middle men. Whatever may be the means of communication there will be free exchange or perfect communication between buyers and sellers so that a fairly uniform price prevails for a particular commodity over the whole area at any given time.

Entrepreneurship involves seeking and exploiting opportunities available for the benefit of the society. The changing agro-economic conditions in our country have offered a prospective context for developing entrepreneurship in agri-business in the country. Agri-entrepreneurship has the prospect of social and economic development, for example, employment generation, poverty reduction, improvements in nutrition, health and overall food security in the national economy especially in rural areas. The task of promoting entrepreneurship was earlier given to different departments and government agencies. In 2014, the Prime Minister decided to dedicate an entire ministry to build this sector as he felt that skill development required greater push from the government’s side. The idea is to reach maximum people and startups through funding and skill development initiatives.

Entrepreneurship opportunities in veterinary sciences have expanded significantly with the integration of technology. The convergence of veterinary expertise and innovative technological solutions has opened up new avenues for entrepreneurs to create impactful businesses in the field. This field offers a wide range of opportunities for persons passionate about animal health and welfare. In the recent years, the demand for high-quality veterinary services and products has increased tremendously, creating an enriching environment for aspiring entrepreneurs. There are various avenues available in the veterinary industry for individuals thinking about establishing their own businesses.

India is the fastest-growing pet care market in the world and the pet population is of an estimate of 28-29 million, with dogs making up the bulk of pet ownership. The rising pet ownership has led to the growth of the pet care ecosystem comprising retail chains, pet nutrition pharmaceuticals, grooming, toys, clothing, diagnostics, and clinical practice. The pandemic of Covid-19 has a significant impact on the Indian economy; and the pet industry has seen a steep growth during the pandemic period. Isolation and anxiety during the lockdown led to many restorations to adopt furry companions. The veterinary graduate has a lot of opportunities, and it depends upon the individual as to what sector the student wants to pursue. Employment opportunities include diverse areas such as clinical practice, teaching, and research, regulatory medicines, public health, wildlife specialist, or lab animals. Depending upon the interest, one can start exploring options to work for the pet industry and join the Veterinary pet practice clinical.

Artificial intelligence is a computational science concerned with smart computer machines capable of performing tasks similar to the human intelligence. The term AI is widely used for the projects involved in the developing the intellectual processes of human intelligence such as reasoning ability, meaning discovery, generalization, learning from the past. AI technology mainly analyses the huge amount of data based on the set of instructions or commands known as algorithms to do a specific function or task. The mathematician Alan Turing with a simple question “Can machines think?” revolutionised the history. His paper “Computing Machinery and Intelligence” in 1950 and Turing test has favour the development of goal and the vision of AI.

The research in AI are mainly focussed on the following intelligence components namely:

1. Learning
2. Reasoning
3. Problem solving
4. Perception
5. Language use

India is an agrarian country and the agriculture and allied sector is the largest employer of workforce as it accounted for a sizeable 18.8 per cent in 2021-22 in Gross Value Added (GVA) of the country (Economic Survey 2021-22).Agriculture is the primary source of livelihood for about 58% of India’s population and only the food processing industry employs about 1.77 million people (Indian Agriculture and Allied Industries Industry Report, November 2021). In the year 2019-20, gross value added by agriculture, forestry, and fishing was estimated at Rs. 19.48 lakh crore (US$ 276.37 billion). But still farming community has to face lot of hardships. The farmers are still applying chemical fertilizers on the basis of their own experiences as they don’t possess the soil heath cards. Although central government has initiated Soil Health Management (SHM) scheme to assist State Governments to set up new static Soil Testing Laboratories (STLs) and Mini Soil testing Labs (MSTLs). But it is time consuming and cumbersome process. There is great opportunity for Agri-business entrepreneurs with a commercially viable solution to farmers by development of simplified, sensor based and quick soil testing methods to test the nutrients and micronutrients.

Unemployment is a big challenge in every sector. In Jammu and Kashmir unemployment rate is 22.2 percent as per the Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy (CMIE) figures, and the rate is even higher than the National level unemployment rate of 7.1 percent recorded across India. Livestock sector plays an important role in rural livelihood, employment and income generation. There is a huge opportunity in this sector for developing start-up at their own and generation of employment. This is all possible if the skilled graduate of animal husbandry can be motivated for fostering new idea of startup which is market driven. Major livestock products like milk and milk products, meat and eggs contribute around one-sixth of the calories and one-third of the proteins in the per capita food supplies of the world. Animal husbandry is the second largest economic activity of rural India. Animal husbandry is a growth engine and annual growth rate in dairying is 5 % and in poultry it is 10% and will alleviate rural poverty and uplift the rural farmer. The availability of per capita animal protein is 10.8g whereas the requirement as per world average is 25g. National sample survey reports that 70-75% of their food budget is for milk and milk products. The need of the hour is increase in production, productivity and improvement through value addition in the marketing channel. Commercialization of cow dung and urine will also encourage people to not discard cows which have stopped milk production. By-products like urine and dung can be used for medicinal and agriculture purposes. It has been reported that startups would receive upto 60 per cent initial investment from Government for by-products like cow dung and urine. Eco friendly products can be prepared from dung and urine like Bio CNG, vermicompost, incense sticks, flowerpots, dung log etc.

Current scenario of Startups in India

India, currently is being evolved as a hub for Revolution, innovation and Startups as it holds 3^rd rank in global startup ecosystem worldwide after US and China. The flagship initiative of Government, Startup India, is intended to construct arobust eco-system for fostering innovations and startups in the country. Through this initiative, the Government aims to empower the growth of startups through new innovations and strategies. As per the reports of Startup India, the startup sector is expected to mark steady annual growth of 12-15% (startupindia.gov.in). By the year 2018, India already had a list of about 50,000 startups. As per the data, more than 800 technology startups are being established every year (NASSCOM, 2015). The annual growth has increased to 15% and the number of female entrepreneurs has also increased to 14% (startupindia.gov.in). As of December 2021, the country is home to 81 unicorns which has a total estimate of $ 274.17 Bn. Out of these unicorns, 44 unicorns came into existence in 2021 itself, which was a record year for the country. These Figures show that startups have exploded in the country in recent years.

An entrepreneur is an individual who creates a new business, bearing most of the risks and enjoying most of the rewards. The process of setting up a business is known as entrepreneurship. The entrepreneur is commonly seen as an innovator, a source of new ideas, goods, services, and business/or procedures.

Entrepreneurship is an act of being an entrepreneur, or “the owner or manager of a business enterprise who, by risk and initiative, attempts to make profits”. Entrepreneurs act as managers and oversee the launch and growth of an enterprise. Entrepreneurship is the process by which either an individual or a team identifies a business opportunity and acquires and deploys the necessary resources required for its exploitation.

An entrepreneur uses their time, energy, and resources into creating value for others. They are rewarded for this effort monetarily and therefore both the consumer of the value created and the entrepreneur are benefitted.

Introduction

Everyone is familiar with the term start-up or entrepreneurship which refers to a process by which individuals start and manage their businesses and industrial enterprises. Entrepreneurs are people who take risks and invest their capital in businesses and industrial enterprises. Entrepreneurial in terms of personal development in terms of self-determination create take risks Therefore, anyone who exhibits the characteristics of self-development, creativity, personal decision-making, and risk-taking can be called a person with entrepreneurial characteristics. When these characteristics are exhibited by someone who is running a business, they can be called an entrepreneur. Entrepreneurship is the ability and willingness to develop, organize and manage a business enterprise, with all its uncertainties, in order to make a profit. The most prominent example of entrepreneurship is starting a new business. In economics, business activities involving land, labor, natural resources, and capital can generate profits.

Agribusiness is a term used to describe the sector that encompasses all economic activities that are related to farming, i.e., breeding, crop production/farming, farm machinery, distribution, marketing etc. It relates to industries that are engaged in farming or that produce farm inputs. Examples of agribusiness include farm machinery manufacturing, seed supply, and agrichemicals. It also is used to describe businesses that are involved in the marketing and distribution of farm products. These businesses include warehouses, wholesalers, processors, retailers, and more. Any company that participates in the production, marketing, safety, and distribution of food is involved in agribusiness. More precisely it is defined as a sector that supports the growth of the agricultural industry, which is pivotal to economic growth. It also continues to play a crucial role in the growth of developing countries. Agribusinesses can potentially improve agricultural productivity, which is why governments often offer subsidies to agricultural businesses. Agricultural activities also contribute to an improved system of food security and sustainable food production, as well as income for a majority of the poor in developing countries. However, the activities increase the emission of greenhouse gases and contribute to global warming – which is why innovation is important in the sector to address such problems.

Objective: To identify agriculturally important insect orders and understand their key morphological characteristics relevant to their impact on agriculture.

Objective: To study and document the taxonomic characteristics of Siphonaptera and Trichoptera, emphasizing their unique morphological features and ecological adaptations.

Objective: To explore and document the taxonomic characteristics of Strepsiptera and Mecoptera, highlighting their unique morphological features and biological adaptations.

Objective: To identify and understand the taxonomic status and relationships of orders within Endopterygota, focusing on their distinct larval and adult stages and current sister group hypotheses.