Socio-economic transformation and market positioning strategies of women collectives in Bihar and Jharkhand: A PLS-SEM approach

Abstract

This study examines how market positioning capability relates to enterprise sustainability and household socioeconomic transformation among women's food processing collectives in Bihar and Jharkhand, India. Drawing on the resource based view, positioning theory, and the capability approach, a structural model links five enterprise support dimensions (technical capacity building, financial inclusion, market linkage and positioning, digital transformation, and social capital and collective action) to enterprise sustainability, which in turn is linked to socioeconomic transformation. Data were collected through a cross sectional survey of 300 women entrepreneurs across six districts, supplemented by 24 key informant interviews and 18 focus group discussions, and 297 responses were retained for analysis. Exploratory factor analysis produced a five factor structure explaining 75.7% of total variance (KMO = .814), and the hypotheses were tested using partial least squares structural equation modeling. The model explained 36% of the variance in enterprise sustainability (R² = .36). Market linkage and positioning capability had the strongest effect (β = .41, p < .001), followed by technical capacity building (β = .24), social capital and collective action (β = .22), and financial inclusion (β = .19), while digital transformation was only marginally significant (β = .15, p = .052). Enterprise sustainability strongly predicted socioeconomic transformation (β = .52, p < .001), and respondents reported an average income gain of 53.6% after joining their collectives. The findings suggest that positioning should be treated as a core, trainable capability rather than a residual outcome of production support. By integrating rural marketing theory with self help group livelihood research in a single empirical model, the study offers practical guidance for program design in eastern India.