Entry Barriers Research Articles

Analysis of Service Quality Improvement Strategies for Internet Online Education Products

In today's booming Internet economy, the Internet online education content, because of its simple content composition and low market entry barriers, so that many companies have chosen this type of business model. In the process of profitability, most companies ignore customer satisfaction and use short-sighted management methods to strive for quick short-term profits, which makes it difficult for the company to carry out long-term operations and retain good teachers and customers. In this paper, the service quality of Internet online education products is discussed as the main content, starting from the content, community-based service quality and after-sales service, analyzing the status quo and making suggestions. In the end, through case study and argumentation, it is concluded that the company needs to improve the diversity of the company's products, improve the quality of community service, as well as build up the specific after-sales service standards of online education products and the division of responsibilities, so that the quality of the Internet online education product service can be effectively improved.

Face Recognition using Deep Learning and TensorFlow framework

Detecting human faces and recognizing faces and facial expressions have always been an area of interest for different applications such as games, utilities and even security. With the advancement of machine learning, the techniques of detection and recognition have become more accurate and precise than ever before. However, machine learning remains a relatively complex field that could feel intimidating or inaccessible to many of us. Luckily, in the last couple of years, several organizations and open-source communities have been developing tools and libraries that help abstract the complex mathematical algorithms in order to encourage developers to easily create learning models and train them using any programming languages.
 As part of this project, we will create a Face Detection framework in Python built on top of the work of several open-source projects and models with the hope to reduce the entry barrier for developers and to encourage them to focus more on developing innovative applications that make use of face detection and recognition.

Private art museums and their local creative communities: A case study of Mona

This case study is concerned with the arrival and impact of private art museum Mona in Tasmania, examining how the local creative community perceives its impact and how it influences the broader cultural landscape. The museum represents a larger trend where affluent individuals establish prestigious private museums with significant global reach. This study has found Mona to be a highly personal endeavour, providing influential networks in support of the owner's personal and business objectives. It highlights the perception that the museum has had a transformative impact on Tasmania, particularly in adding a sophisticated dimension to the state's cultural visage and a new vibrancy that is thought to resonate strongly with tourists. Previous scholarship has shown that private museums operate in a different context and play by different rules to their public counterparts and this study has shown this to be true in identifying problems with how to govern Mona and the local creative scene trying to negotiate a place within this changing context. Mona has brought credibility to the arts, but set high expectations for the local arts scene, creating entry barriers for young artists and challenging arts institutions with more limited resources.

Metaverse Virtual Workplace Market Penetration Possibility in Indonesia for IT Services Provider

Digitalization has revolutionized sociability, and enterprises have recognized the virtual universe as a solution for post-pandemic work-from-home. Metaverse virtual workplace, a novel networking technology, provides Indonesia a new economic potential. Indonesia, a booming market with rising financial growth, has experienced a huge change in technology usage, including Metaverse virtual workplace. Many big IT service providers see this as a chance to enter the Metaverse virtual workplace market. The analysis for the strategic decision is constructed using external analysis coming from secondary data along with discussions with SMEs and discussions with customers. The external analysis includes a macro environmental study utilizing PESTEL, Porter’s five forces, and customer analysis. Both SMEs and Customers’ discussions are qualitative assessments including subject matter expert interviews the decision maker from the IT service provider and present clientele. In the business-to-business market, the qualitative technique is utilized to understand sellers and customers. Using external studies, conversations, and sources, the author can determine if the market is viable. The first mover in the metaverse virtual workplace will gain the most benefit. Hence, the market penetrator must go to aim to be one, especially considering the low entry barrier of the market. These led the author to infer that Metaverse virtual workplace is a viable option and highly profitable market that can be entered as a new opportunity for IT Services Providers in Indonesia.

Entry barriers and tripartite evolutionary game analysis of seawater desalination under the government regulation in China

Seawater desalination is a new promising marine industry and an important way to supplement the shortage of land water resources and promote the efficient use of seawater resources. Currently, the global desalination industry is rapidly developing. In China’s new development plan, large-scale development of the seawater desalination industry is also an important strategic goal. However, compared to the technological development of the seawater desalination industry, its marketization is affected by various factors, and its development level is still relatively low. Therefore, based on real industry data, this paper constructs a tripartite evolutionary game model for seawater desalination enterprises, water supply enterprises, and the government, and identifies several entry barriers for seawater desalination in China. The results include: (1) For seawater desalination to enter the market in China, government supervision limit should be no greater than 400,000 tons per day, about 13.8% of total seawater desalination scale. (2) The entry cost should be no more than 10 million yuan per day for seawater desalination, which is equivalent to approximately 18.25 trillion yuan during a five-year period. Finally, (3) political relatedness should be at least 2.0 for seawater desalination to take place, and 3.0 for it to develop in full swing. The paper also discusses the division of state- and foreign-owned water companies and reveals that government subsidies are only effective if foreign-owned companies seek rents. Based on the findings of the study, we propose pertinent policy recommendations including top-level planning, desalinated water infrastructure development, subsidy policy implementation, and public engagement. These recommendations aim to aid the Chinese government in fostering the desalination sector.

Linking farmers to markets: Assessing small-scale farmers' preferences for an official phytosanitary regime in the Kyrgyz Republic

Small-scale farmers are integral to Kyrgyz agriculture, contending with challenges such as low productivity, market entry barriers, and financial constraints. Most of these farmers are hindered by phytosanitary restrictions preventing direct exports of their products. Granting smallholders direct access to regional markets could significantly enhance their economic prospects. However, the specific policy measures that can encourage smallholders to participate in the official phytosanitary regime remain unclear. This study employs a randomized conjoint experiment, creating a hypothetical policy to measure the preferences of Kyrgyz fruit farmers regarding an official phytosanitary regime. Presenting choice sets with two randomly generated policy alternatives and an opt-out option, we collect data from 378 farmers across five villages. Each policy alternative comprises six attributes: (1) type of service provision, (2) provision of production inputs, (3) provision of interest-free loans, (4) provision of market information, (5) provision of phytosanitary inspection frequency, and (6) annual fees. The results reveal that attributes such as market information, interest-free loans, and production inputs—particularly virus-free seedlings—significantly increase farmers’ participation probability in systematization. However, farmers prefer the private sector as service provider over the government. Additionally, higher annual fees negatively impact the favorability of systematization. Overall, farmers express a preference for the hypothetical policy and are willing to pay at least 14,000 Kyrgyz som to participate in systematization. This study addresses the practical challenges faced by Kyrgyz farmers in meeting stringent phytosanitary standards, indicating the potential of a systematization policy to enhance market access. It lays the groundwork for future research investigating the economic impacts of specific policy attributes for Kyrgyz farmers.

A test amplification bot for Pharo/Smalltalk

Test amplification exploits the knowledge embedded in an existing test suite to strengthen it. A typical test amplification technique transforms the initial tests into additional test methods that increase the mutation coverage. Although past research demonstrated the benefits, additional steps need to be taken to incorporate test amplifiers in the everyday workflow of developers. This paper describes a proof-of-concept bot integrating Small-Amp with GitHub-Actions. The bot decides for itself which tests to amplify and does so within a limited time budget. To integrate the bot into the GitHub-Actions workflow, we incorporate three special-purpose features: (i) prioritization (to fit the process within a given time budget), (ii) sharding (to split lengthy tests into smaller chunks), and (iii) sandboxing (to make the amplifier crash-resilient). We evaluate our approach by installing the proof-of-concept extension of Small-Amp on five open-source projects deployed on GitHub. Our results show that a test amplification bot is feasible at a project level by integrating it into the build system. Moreover, we quantify the impact of prioritization, sharding, and sandboxing so that other test amplifiers may benefit from these special-purpose features. Our proof-of-concept demonstrates that the entry barrier for adopting test amplification can be significantly lowered.

Banking regulation and bank credit delivery in selected Sub-Saharan African countries: Symmetric and asymmetric causal linkages

This study aimed to empirically determine the symmetric and asymmetric causal relationship between banking regulation and bank credit delivery using a context of 23 sub-Saharan African countries from 1995 to 2017. The estimated symmetric and asymmetric error correction-based multivariate panel Granger-causality models allowed for both long-run and short-run causal relationships. The results generally supported the existence of long-run symmetric and asymmetric causality between banking regulatory measures, bank credit delivery and two intermittent variables, namely, economic growth and inflation. In the short run, bidirectional symmetric causality existed between banking entry barriers and bank credit delivery, as well as a one-way symmetric causal flow running from bank credit delivery to banking capital regulations. Moreover, positive shocks to bank credit delivery Granger caused negative shocks to banking entry barriers, activity restrictions or capital regulations, while negative shocks to mixing of banking and commerce restrictions Granger caused positive or negative shocks to bank credit delivery. The findings highlight that policymakers should take into consideration not only the symmetric but also the asymmetric causal effects of reforms aimed at enhancing banking regulation and such reforms should be well-targeted and well-designed for them to stimulate bank credit delivery.

Women on Boards Scale: Cordons and Catalysts to Enter Boardroom

The underrepresentation of women on corporate boards and its influencers is an under-researched area in Asia, with the absence of standard scales measuring the catalysts and cordons for women’s career progression to boards. The research paper aims to develop and validate a multidimensional scale to measure the influences impacting women’s representation on boards in the Indian context. A pool of items was generated after a thorough review of existing literature and discussion with the experts. The Women on Boards Scale (WOBS) was constructed and validated based on a quantitative study of 509 female and male employees working in companies in Delhi and NCR. Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis techniques were applied for the study. The study confirms the structure of major barriers as individual, societal, and organisational barriers, along with the entry barriers that women face during entry or re-entry into the organization and enablers as well for women to reach boards. A comprehensive scale was constructed with significant psychometric properties to measure the barriers and enablers for women to reach boards. The scale provides a robust and useful tool for policymakers and corporations to improve gender diversity on corporate boards.

ONLINE CROWDFUNDING PROJECTS AFTER THE PANDEMIC: ENTREPRENEURIAL ABILITIES AND INSTITUTIONAL DYNAMICS

This study examines what institutional conditions, entrepreneurial abilities and industry-specific factors contributed to the survival of online crowdfunding projects after the Covid pandemic. Based on the dynamic capability theory, we argue that government financial support alone cannot close the gap between market supply and demand after an exogenous shock. An institutional environment that promotes a transparent and efficient information sharing and resources allocation system is equally important for the survival of startups. Using a sample of 924 Kickstarter projects between 2017 and 2018, we found that startups in countries with high market dynamics and low entry barriers had a higher probability to survive the exogenous shock after controlling for entrepreneurial experience, social capital, and industry-specific factors. The findings support a free market approach to promote early-stage entrepreneurship.

Governance of religious diversity in Central Europe: A religious nationalism inspired illiberal turn in Hungary and Slovakia?

Central European countries with a historically dominant Roman Catholic heritage belong to a particular cluster in respect to the governance of religion. This paper focuses on Hungary and Slovakia and addresses the effect of religious nationalism on the regimes of governance of religion in the two countries. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, there was a brief period of neutral stance towards religion, which was characterized by liberal values. With the introduction of the bilateral Concordat agreements with the Holy See, both countries started to treat traditional Christian Churches preferentially. By the 2010s legislation in both countries created restrictive entry barriers for “new” religions. This created two or multi-tiered systems for “old” and “new” religions, in which the former enjoyed closer relationship with the state. As a result, the separation of church and state has become blurred. Preferentially treated churches reappeared in the public space as providers of certain educational and social services. Preferentially treated churches and the state developed asymmetrically interdependent relationships, the state having the upper hand. Meanwhile, increasingly populist and nationalist parties instrumentalized religion by involving Christianity in their nationalistic political discourse. This helped create a normative space, in which the state is able to give further preferential treatment to certain religious groups over others. The emphasis on Christian national identity underpinned these governments’ narratives that conflates migration with security and Islam, which pushed those religious groups on the margins, which do not fit in the religious nationalist narrative of the increasingly right- and populism-leaning governing elite.

예술 스타트업 성공요인 분석

This study analyzed the success factors of art startups using the ERIS model to suggest operational strategies and future directions. As a case, we selected 'Art and Culture for You', a startup that is attracting attention for its successful operation in the domestic visual arts, and adopted in-depth interviews with stakeholders, experts, and consumers. As a result, we found that entrepreneurs need to have an understanding of arts and practical skills, endurance and a challenging spirit, and a Bricolage Strategy. In terms of resources, utilizing tangible and intangible resources, recruiting talented people, and strengthening content quality based on data were analyzed. As of industry environment, strategies to lower entry barriers and agile responses to changes in consumers' media consumption patterns were identified. Finally, in terms of strategy, the main factors were the application of storytelling techniques and the improvement of content quality through consumer criticism. However, it was analyzed that the art startups require a deep understanding of art and a business model that balances artistry and profitability.

A study of the economic growth effects of market integration: An examination of 27 cities in the Yangtze River Delta city cluster.

The city cluster of the Yangtze River Delta is a highly dynamic and competitive economic region in China. The integration of the market across the 27 cities is crucial in driving economic growth in the area. This paper aims to provide policymakers with recommendations on promoting regional integration, enhancing the structure, and improving overall performance. By utilizing the benefits and resources of each community more effectively, greater economic gains can be achieved. The findings of this study can also be applied to other Chinese towns or business areas. Market integration is a necessary foundation for regional integration, as it enables the seamless movement of goods and factors throughout the region while simultaneously reducing entry barriers and supporting the creation of a unified market. Unfortunately, the "vassal economy" model has impeded the region's economic growth. The integration of regional markets is crucial for economic growth. However, it is equally important to create industrial clusters with central towns as their hubs. The Yangtze River Delta urban agglomeration is a prime example of one of six world-class city clusters demonstrating how market integration can result in high-quality economic progress. The paper's primary discoveries are threefold: firstly, there has been a progressive elevation in the level of market integration among the 27 cities within the Yangtze River Delta city cluster, characterized by increasingly intimate connections concerning trade, investment, and population mobility. Secondly, this heightened market integration exerts a catalytic impact on the real economic growth of the Yangtze River Delta city cluster, particularly concerning regional industrial restructuring, transformation, and upgrading. Finally, market integration is poised to expedite the industrial division of labor and synergistic development between the cities, thus promoting a concentration of advanced manufacturing and new industries in the central cities and furthering the development of profitable industries in the central individual cities.

Investigating Small-scale Farmers and Barriers to Entry in Cannabis Cultivation in South Africa

The legalisation of the prodigal green crop has left the most vulnerable small-scale cannabis farmers high and dry. In 2018 the South African constitutional court legalised the use of cannabis for personal and medical use. The 2018 regulations on cannabis were welcomed and a new lifeline in the eradication of poverty. However, in the haste to join the global urgency in cultivating cannabis, small-scale farmers were left behind and prevented in the bid of the green-gold rush. The cannabis legislation and laws that were created to enable South Africans to participate in the lucrative cannabis market has done the opposite and has crafted barriers of entry. Using a desktop study, this article explores how the 2018 regulations on cannabis cultivation prevent small-scale farmers in participating in the l market in South Africa. The aim of this paper is to highlight the challenges that small-scale cannabis farmers face in South Africa and how their participation in the newly opened market would benefit the communities they live and operate in. The main findings of the research indicate the challenges for small-scale farmers of no support system and transformational issues persist even after the 24 years of democracy in South Africa.

Decentralised collaborative job reassignments in additive manufacturing

ABSTRACT Cloud Manufacturing (CMfg) is a promising approach that leverages the sharing economy to reduce costs and enhance supply chain flexibility. Particularly, when utilised alongside Additive Manufacturing (AM), CMfg is considered a key enabler for collaborative production (CP) systems. However, there is still a lack of planning models that reduce entry barriers for CP. Therefore, we propose a decentralised CP planning framework for AM. In our approach, machines autonomously select jobs from an existing production plan to forward them to other suppliers that can produce these parts more efficiently. A CMfg platform facilitates job forwarding and creates promising part bundles and manufacturing machines autonomously places bids on the packages via a combinatorial 2 nd price reverse auction. Costs of the reallocated bundles are shared throughout a Shapley value-based approach without the need to disclose critical information. We benchmark our proposed framework against a centralised planning approach and find that it achieves comparable effectiveness as the benchmark solution. We also show that this mechanism promotes individual rationality and that agents particularly benefit when participating in both offering and acquiring production jobs through the auction.

The bright side of outside market entry with manufacturer encroachment

This study discusses the possible benefits of inviting entrants for downstream retailers when facing the encroachment of their upstream manufacturers. We consider a model comprising one retailer, one manufacturer, and one potential entrant. The manufacturer decides whether to encroach or supply the retailer; The retailer decides whether to help a third-party firm overcome its entry barrier. We show that whether firms compete in quantity or price, the manufacturer, in the presence of an entrant, may choose to supply the retailer even if the retailer does not offer any advantages in terms of cost efficiency in retailing or channel differentiation. This is because, in such a scenario, the manufacturer treats the retailer as a strategic collaborator to either restrict the entrant’s market share or alleviate the downstream competition. In other words, triggering the intra-brand competition against the retailer may help the manufacturer perform better in the inter-brand competition against the entrant. On the other hand, the retailer may intentionally prompt entry to trigger inter-brand competition to avoid being foreclosed by the manufacturer and obtain a favorable procurement condition.

Enhancing adaptation to climate change by fostering collective action groups among smallholders in Punjab, Pakistan

Climate change adaptation is increasingly recognized by subsistence farmers in Pakistan. The problem of climate change is severe, and smallholders are often resource constrained when it comes to adapting to it. However, such constraints can be overcome through collective responses. Therefore, it is necessary to evaluate the impact of collective action among smallholder farmers to determine how it influences local adaptation processes. This study explores the impact of farmer’s collective action groups (CAGs) on adopting climate-smart agricultural (CSA) practices in poverty-stricken areas of rural Punjab, Pakistan. The data was collected through a cross-sectional survey, and for the analysis purpose, the Recursive bivariate probit regression (RBP) model was employed. The first stage estimates of RBP models suggest that the farmer’s decision to participate in CAGs is mainly influenced by factors such as education, credit access, climate change risk perception, and peer influence. The second stage estimates showed a positive and significant impact of farmers’ participation in collective action groups on adopting climate change adaptation strategies across all three models. The study concludes that the farmers participating in collective action groups have a higher climate change adaptation level. It is recommended that the pro-poor policies be designed to negate the entry barriers, facilitate the inclusion of the farmers in the collective action groups, and enhance climate change adaptation among smallholders.

The Treynor Ratio as a Risk-adjusted Return of Croatian Listed Firms

Motivated by the importance of determinants of firm performance, especially in terms of risk-adjusted performance that considers underlying risks, this paper explores the effects of firm-specific determinants on risk-adjusted returns such as the Treynor ratio. Specifically, the authors explore whether firm size, capital expenditures, capital intensity, equity ratio, leverage, profitability, listing age, and liquidity affect the performance of Croatian non-financial listed companies that form the CROBEXplus equity index in the period 2014 – 2021. Utilizing dynamic panel analysis, several key deterministic factors of risk-adjusted performance are identified including firm size, capital intensity, equity ratio, leverage, profitability, and listing age. In other words, larger firms tend to experience greater risk adjusted returns than their smaller counterparts as well as firms with higher equity ratios, i.e. those not overly indebted. Results also show that capital intensity, which is viewed as a source of entry barrier, is positively related to risk adjusted-performance which is also true for profitability. Furthermore, companies that have a longer presence in the market in terms of being listed on the stock exchange document enhanced risk-adjusted returns. These findings have significant policy and practical implications.

Comparison between the private healthcare system and the universal healthcare system in the U.S.

The United States is one of the most developed countries in the world, but unlike most other developed countries, it does not have a universal healthcare system that provides easy and equal access for all people and communities regardless of ethnic and socioeconomic status. The private healthcare system in the United States not only drives higher costs of illness but also provides a lower quality of services than those of the universal healthcare systems. This paper compares the private healthcare system in the United States to the universal healthcare system from three perspectives: hospitalization, health insurance, and administration cost. And it finds that since the healthcare industry has higher entry barriers than most other industries, industrial monopolization appears as new businesses could not enter the industry easily, which leads to a high cost of illness. Also, the quality of services in the private healthcare system may not be guaranteed due to the lack of government direct control of fund distribution, service quality, and horizontal integrations. Furthermore, the new healthcare technology may also benefit from the universal healthcare system as a result of better resource allocation. This study indicates that the universal healthcare system may benefit care access and population health.

Entry Barriers and SWOT Analysis of Hollywood Movies Entering the Chinese Market

The objective of this investigation is to examine Hollywood movies that are exported to the Chinese movie market and to evaluate the prevailing state of the international film industry. This paper focuses on both explicit and implicit entry barriers into the Chinese movie market while utilizing a SWOT analysis to provide a comprehensive assessment. The analysis of entry barriers can be broadly divided into two parts, namely explicit and implicit barrier analysis. Explicit barriers include the Chinese quota system for foreign films and various censorship regulations levied by SAPRFT. These barriers directly impact the entry of Hollywood movies into the Chinese market. Otherwise, after Hollywood movies are screened in China, various implicit barriers come into play. These include disparities in marketing strategies, differences in Chinese culture, and delays in movie releases, which impact a movies success in the Chinese market. Furthermore, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the entire film industry is discussed, along with other external factors that may impact international film import and export. These analyses provide valuable insights for stakeholders involved in international film distribution.