Firm-Specific Determinants of Mechanisation: The Case of Coir Industry in Kerala

Abstract

This article is an attempt to measure the degree of mechanisation in the coir industry of Kerala for eliciting the firm-specific determinants of mechanisation. The study uses primary data collected from 115 coir manufacturers of Alappuzha district by using simple random sampling. It starts with measuring the degree of mechanisation of the selected coir firms in Kerala using two indices: extent of mechanisation (EM) and mechanisation index (MI). After that, the coir industry of Kerala is categorised into four levels of mechanisation, namely, traditional firms, low mechanised firms, medium mechanised firms and high mechanised firms using MI. The study found that, majority of the coir producing firms of Kerala belongs to traditional and low mechanised levels. The firm-specific determinants of the mechanisation are identified using a Tobit regression analysis and the results reveal that, firm size, participation in promotional programmes and the average education of the labour positively influences the MI whereas, the presence of labour union inversely affects it.