From Craft to Sustainable Enterprise: How Entrepreneurial Capabilities and Design–Execution Integration Drive Product Quality and Sustainable Performance in Indian Furniture Handicraft Ventures
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.66635/cwfv4r11Keywords:
entrepreneurship, sustainable entrepreneurship, entrepreneurial orientation, dynamic capabilities, quality management, design–execution integration, handicraft MSMEs, India, JEL/Subject classification, L26, L67, M13, Q56, O14Abstract
Purpose: Handicraft furniture ventures in India are typically owner-managed micro and small enterprises that must modernise their quality systems while remaining economically, socially and environmentally viable. This study examines how entrepreneurial and strategic capabilities shape design–execution integration, product quality and sustainable entrepreneurial performance.
Design/methodology/approach: An integrated resource-based view, dynamic capability, socio-technical systems and total quality management framework was tested using survey data from 384 entrepreneurs in five Indian furniture-handicraft clusters. Data were analysed with PLS-SEM, bootstrapped serial mediation and a neural network (ANN) sensitivity analysis.
Findings: Entrepreneurial orientation, digital design enablement, human capital design competence, supplier ecosystem alignment, client requirement integration and sustainability-oriented quality governance all significantly predicted design–execution integration excellence (R² = 0.316). Integration improved product quality (β = 0.509), and both integration and quality improved sustainable performance (R² = 0.293). Integration and quality served as sequential mediators. Client requirement integration was the most influential predictor.
Originality: The study reframes quality management in craft enterprises as an entrepreneurial capability and links it to triple-bottom-line outcomes, combining explanatory (PLS-SEM) and predictive (ANN) evidence in an under-studied Asian context.
Implications: Entrepreneurs, cluster agencies and policymakers should invest in client-integration routines, digital design tools and supplier partnerships to build sustainable craft enterprises.
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