INTRODUCTION

Women in developing nations have poor self-esteem, social and cultural obstacles, and difficulty gaining access to financial resources. The data reveals that women are increasingly taking the helm of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Indonesia. With an increase of 1.6 million from 12.7 million in 2015, the number of women working as entrepreneurs or as business owners in 2019 is 14.3 million. According to research on women's perspectives on company development and how this influences their career choices, factors such as personal values, family dynamics, company culture, and external context might influence the relative importance of different skill sets.

In addition, women who are driven to be financially independent and stand on their own two feet are the driving forces behind their entrepreneurial endeavors. It seems to reason that a rise in very effective marketing will follow this upsurge in female businesses. Having said that, the performance is really quiet the opposite. Despite the high concentration of female entrepreneurs, data on the marketing effectiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) run by women is underutilized. Innovation, market orientation, entrepreneurial orientation, e-commerce, training, and the business environment are some of the characteristics that have been identified as impacting company success in previous studies.

Although there have been studies focusing on both for-profit businesses and SMEs in general, there is a dearth of research on women's entrepreneurship and entrepreneurship awareness in the context of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) run by women. And yet, marketing is a significant challenge for SMEs. Studies in the literature have shown that there are a number of elements that affect the success of SMEs. One of the most prominent traits of an entrepreneur is their enthusiasm for starting and growing their own businesses. Passion, according to the research, is an essential component of entrepreneurship and significantly affects both the process and the results of starting a firm.

Companies that lack the capacity to innovate will not be able to innovate. To better understand how to make innovation initiatives more fruitful, it is helpful to look at innovation's potential as a theoretical framework.

One of the most important aspects of dynamic marketing is product innovation, which helps businesses go beyond basic functioning. It entails coming up with new items or improving old ones to suit the changing wants and needs of buyers. We examine how research and development (R&D) facilitates the ideation and development of innovative goods that provide companies a competitive advantage as we explore the relationship between product innovation, R&D, and organizational success.

In today's digital age, technology is more than simply a tool; it's a strategic enabler, and this has caused a sea change in marketing. Automation, robots, and artificial intelligence are all examples of digital marketing technologies that are changing the way brands interact with their customers. Research and development (R&D) becomes the driving force in this digital world, leading companies to groundbreaking technical solutions that improve organizational performance by transforming marketing methods. Collaboration innovation is the spotlight in today's linked global economy. Businesses, influencers, and consumers all provide unique viewpoints and resources to organizations that value cooperation.

LITERATURE AND REVIEW

Rajan's (2020) Journal of Entrepreneurship and Public Policy article analyzes how policies in Kerala have affected female entrepreneurs. To determine how well current programs and policies assist women-led enterprises, this study examines a variety of sources. In order to promote gender equality and support women entrepreneurs, the findings highlight the need of government measures. Rajan offers suggestions based on research to improve support systems and make their success more likely. Creating an entrepreneurial environment in Kerala that is welcoming to women and men requires an understanding of the role of government policy. Policymakers may use the research's recommendations to encourage inclusive economic growth and development in the state and to tap into the entrepreneurial potential of women. The study adds to the growing body of literature on public policy and entrepreneurship.

Nair's (2021) examines the effects of online advertising on Keralan companies run by women. It was published in the Journal of Business and Management. This study takes a quantitative look at how many female business owners in the area are using digital marketing. Nair examines the efficacy of social media, online advertising, and other digital channels in promoting and expanding women-owned businesses by examining data from a sample of these companies. This study sheds light on the growing importance of digital marketing for Kerala's female entrepreneurs and the many ways in which these company owners may reap the rewards of going digital. If we want to build effective support systems and make women-led enterprises more competitive in today's fast-paced business world, we need to understand how digital marketing drives growth and increases their exposure in the market. Nair's research adds to our knowledge of how digital marketing is changing and what it means for female-owned businesses in Kerala.

Menon's (2021) Looks at the challenges that female entrepreneurs in Kerala encounter when trying to get venture funding. This qualitative research seeks to understand the barriers that women-led enterprises have when trying to get the capital they need to get off the ground. Findings from interviews and surveys with female entrepreneurs and VCs indicate that gender prejudice, a lack of knowledge about available financing sources, and a dearth of networking opportunities are major obstacles to obtaining VC. In order to foster a climate that is more welcoming to female entrepreneurs in Kerala and to increase gender parity in venture capital investment, it is essential to have a better understanding of these challenges. With the goal of empowering women entrepreneurs and improving their access to vital financial resources for company development and success, Menon's research offers useful insights to entrepreneurial finance.

Kumar's (2019) article for Research in Gender and Society, investigates how family factors influence the business decisions made by women in Kerala. Women business owners' decisions and engagement levels are impacted by family issues, such as financial concerns, societal standards, and expectations, according to this qualitative research that used case studies and interviews to reveal this. If stakeholders and legislators in Kerala want to foster an atmosphere that is welcoming to female entrepreneurs, they must have a firm grasp of these intricate webs of relationships. Kumar's research adds to our knowledge of the relationship between gender and entrepreneurship by highlighting the need of gender-inclusive economic development in the area and the necessity for specific support systems that enable women to make autonomous and well-informed choices.

Menon's (2019) article for the Journal of Development Economics, analyses how the Keralan government encourages and facilitates female entrepreneurs. Findings from this study evaluate policies and programs that have attempted to advance gender parity and women's economic independence. There has to be focused interventions to meet the unique needs and problems of women entrepreneurs in the area, and the results provide light on the influence of government assistance in this regard. Women's entrepreneurship is crucial to achieving gender-inclusive economic growth, and Menon's research adds to our knowledge of development economics by calling for a more welcoming and empowered entrepreneurial environment in Kerala.

METHODOLOGY

An empirical survey was carried out with women entrepreneurs, which forms the basis of the current research. The women business owners are the ones who will fill out the survey. The study area encompasses all eight of the Ernakulam Districts. Primarily, numerical data gathered from the field made up the data used for the research. For a more complete understanding of the research, we have taken into account both field data and a small selection of marketing and entrepreneurial literature.

Using quota sampling, thirty entrepreneurs from the Ernakulam District are chosen. We seek for female business owners in the official and informal sectors. In this research, 240 participants were surveyed. This research makes use of SPSS as its data analysis tool. The analysis and interpretation have been conducted using techniques for percentage, frequency, correlation, and regression analysis. The Cronbach alpha value has validated the data's dependability.

Women-Owned Textile Businesses in the Ernakulam District: How Marketing Innovations Affect Their Performance is the Main Topic of This Paper. Therefore, in order to comprehend the success of women-owned businesses in India, the research makes use of a few general features of marking. In order to determine the effect of marketing factors on performance, we used a five-point Likert scale to gather comments. Whereas Strongly Disagree, Disagree, Neutral, Agree, and Strongly Agree are coded using values from 1 to 5. Two subjective categories, "satisfactory" and "not satisfactory," were used to assess the company's performance.

DATA ANALYSIS

Table 1: Types of Women Owned Enterprises in India


Sources: Field Data

According to Table 1, the majority of women-owned businesses in India are involved in manufacturing, while the remaining percentage mostly provide services.

This research takes five key marketing metrics into account when calculating company performance. There are five factors to consider: price methods, selling location, advertising tactics, product quality, and competition level. You can see how those factors affected performance in the tables that follow.

Table 2: Influence of Marketing on Performance of Women Owned Enterprises


Sources: Field Data

In Table 2, we can see that 28.3% of female company owners think pricing methods somewhat affect company success. The majority of business owners rated the impact of marketing on company success as strong, ranking it behind product quality and sales location. The advertising strategies are believed by 30.4% of entrepreneurs to have little impact on company. Up to 29.6% of businesses have a significant impact on company success in current market conditions.

Table 3: Performance of Women Owned Enterprises


Sources: Field Data

The majority of female company owners are happy with how things are going, according to Table 3. The percentage of entrepreneurs who are unhappy with their company's current performance is rather low, at about 23.3%.

The significance of the independent variable for the investigation, as projected by the Mann-Whitney U Test, is shown in Table 4. There is a p-value greater than 0.05 for product quality, promotional tactics, sales location, and competition intensity. Therefore, the null hypothesis cannot be rejected based on those factors. Nevertheless, the pricing schemes' p-value of 0.028 is lower than the significance level of 0.05, therefore rejecting the null hypothesis. Consequently, pricing tactics have a significant effect on company success.

Table 4: Testing of Hypotheses


Table 5: Binary Logistic Regression


Sources: Field Data compiled on SPSS

The independent variable accounts for 32.2% of the model, as seen in Table 5, where the pseudo-R square value is 0.332. Additionally, the p-value is less than 0.05, as seen in the estimate table, indicating that the model is significant. The study's odds ratio is 0.755, which indicates that a one-unit increase in the degree of influence would have a 0.7-fold unfavorable impact on the company's performance. Therefore, the model predicts that Indian women business owners are dissatisfied regardless of how high their reaction to the effect of pricing strategy is.

Table 6: Showing the predictive impact of marketing innovation dimensions on SMEs' performance


Source: Researcher’s Field Survey, 2024.

Table 6 shows the regression findings, which clearly show that there is a positive association between how innovative people think a product is and how well they think it performs. To be more precise, there is a roughly 0.111-unit correlation between a one unit rise in perceived product innovation ratings and an increase in perceived performance scores. With a p-value of 0.000, this correlation is considered statistically significant at the 1% level. With that in mind, performance rises by 11.1% for every unit increase in perceived product innovation. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that boosting product innovation greatly aids in raising overall performance.

Table 7: The mediating effect of research & development in the marketing innovation and SME performance link


The findings indicated that there was a substantial standardized indirect impact of marketing innovation on the performance of SMEs via research and development (β =.15, SE =.04, 95% CI = [.05,.14]). It may be inferred that the association between perceived workload and life satisfaction was moderated by research and development. As a result, the hypothesis was upheld.

CONCLUSION

Creating, inventing, and making a difference for society is at the heart of entrepreneurship. The ultimate decision-maker for every product or service is the customer. As a result, knowing the industry and how to reach prospective clients is crucial for entrepreneurs. A flawless marketing strategy has never been simple to implement for a company. That is why, according to a number of studies, every company needs its own unique set of marketing tactics if it wants to succeed. Additionally, the current research demonstrated the marketing components and the extent to which they impact company success. According to the research, female business owners in India are not highly interested in marketing. The entrepreneurs' belief in the importance of pricing tactics, amount of competition, and product quality in determining the business's success persists, nevertheless.