Independent Business Research Articles

Leveraging Underdog Positioning and Consumer Trait Agreeableness for Sustained Marketing Strategy

Independent and small businesses often rely on underdog positioning strategies to gain market share against larger and more established companies. However, the effectiveness of these strategies remains unclear. The current study aims to investigate how different consumer personalities may influence their responses towards underdog positioning strategies. Two experimental studies with U.K. consumers (n = 349) show that the relationship between underdog status and positive attitudes is not as straightforward as previously believed. The research uses the lens of self-efficacy theory and found that underdog status positively correlates with perceived effort, consumer preference, and willingness to commit only among consumers with high trait agreeableness. In other words, although consumers generally acknowledge the efforts exerted by underdog providers, our study found that only agreeable consumers are more likely to reciprocate these efforts with increased positive attitudes. These findings contribute to the growing literature that examines the efficacy of the underdog effect. Subsequently, the findings have strong implications in ensuring the sustainability of small businesses by ensuring that marketing spending is optimized to target only the most effective consumer segments.

Economic Feasibility Study of Community Scale Reverse Osmosis Plants in Jaipur, Rajasthan

This study presents a performance analysis in terms of energy and other costs related to the unit cost of water produced in 16 identical community scale reverse osmosis units installed at Jaipur. The energy consumptions indicated that these plants suffer from accelerated fouling of membranes due to scaling by hardness causing substances, which results in a significant loss of useful life of the membranes. The study shows that the overall cost of water production has four major components. Energy cost varies between Rs. 0.025 and 0.079 per litre. Salary cost varies between Rs. 0.04 to 0.20 per litre. Spares and chemical cost varies between Rs. 0.01 to 0.04 per litre. In addition, repayment of capital invested has also been considered with and without solar integration to arrive at realistic cost estimates over a perceived life cycle of the system. The breakeven achieved by selling 4600–5200 litre water @ Rs. 0.2 per litre per day if repayment of capital investment is not considered, as these units were installed under CSR, while it varies between 8800 and 9600 litre if repayment of capital investment is also considered as an independent business venture. This analysis substantiates that potential exists for the long-term sustainability of these systems.

Preterm birth and foetal-neonatal death rates associated with the Affordable Care Act Medicaid expansion (2014-19).

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 represented a significant expansion of insurance coverage and regulatory reform.1 While initially mandatory, the June 2012 Supreme Court ruling in ‘National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius’ established this reform as elective and state-dependent.2 Since 2012, 39 states (and the District of Columbia) have adopted the ACA expanded reform. The ACA expansion increased eligibility for adults with income up to 138% the federal poverty level (FPL).3 In addition, coverage of children had previously varied by state and by age groups, and under the ACA expansion, children ≤18 were covered up to 138% FPL as well. Medicaid currently provides coverage for 40–50% of all pregnancies under a 200% FPL requirement, yet 65% of women subsequently lost postpartum coverage and preventative care.4 The ACA provisions allow for greater coverage of women prior to pregnancy and postpartum, which has resulted in a 28% reduction in insurance churning among low-income women.5 In addition, the rate of uninsured adults in states, which did not adopt the ACA expansion, is twice that of ACA-expanded states.6

Marketing Strategy of Oyster Mushroom (Pleurotus Ostreatus) in Maritengngae District, Sidenreng Rappang Regency (Case Study of Independent Mushroom Business)

The purpose of this study was to determine the internal (strengths and weaknesses) and external (opportunities and threats) factors in Mandiri Mushroom’s business and to determine the right strategy for marketing oyster mushrooms in Mandiri Mushroom business. The analysis method used is the SWOT analysis. The result showed that internal and external factors based on weighting and rating obtained scores for the main strength factor in this Mandiri Mushrooms business werw the good quality of oyster mushrooms and the weakness namely the lack of venture capital. Meanwhile, the most supportive opportunity factor for marketing in this business is that it can compete with other oyster mushroom businesses and the threat factor that will be faced is the presence of pests that cause oyster mushrooms to not develop properly. The strategy that should be applied to this Mandiri Mushroom business based on the SWOT matrix is the Strengths-Opportunities (S-O) strategy, which is to try to use its main strengths to maintain the quality of oyster mushrooms so that they get the main opportunity, which is to compete with other oyster mushrooms businesses.

PRIORITIZING THE ROLE OF BAITUL MAAL WAT TAMWIL IN EMPOWERING THE COMMUNITY'S ECONOMY

Baitul Mal Wat Tamwil (BMT) is a non-bank financial institution as an integrated independent business center which is a bayt al-mal wa at-tamwil, which is an institution that develops productive and investment businesses to improve the quality of small entrepreneurs' businesses and encourage business forms. -a form of investment with the aim of empowering worldly and ukhrawi businesses through donations, zakat and alms. In its development, BMTs face the same problems, for example problematic customers. Sometimes there is a customer who is not only having problems in one place, but also in other places. Therefore, each BMT needs efforts to coordinate in order to narrow down the movements of problematic customers. BMTs also tend to face other BMTs as competitors to be defeated, not as partners or partners in an effort to exclude people from the economic problems they face. So that it causes the level of competition that is not Islamic and will even affect the BMT management pattern. However, in its development, BMTs face the same problems, for example problematic customers. Sometimes there is a customer who is not only having problems in one place, but also in other places. Therefore, each BMT needs efforts to coordinate in order to narrow down the movements of problematic customers. BMTs also tend to face other BMTs as competitors to be defeated, not as partners or partners in an effort to exclude people from the economic problems they face. So that it causes the level of competition that is not Islamic and will even affect the BMT management pattern.
 Keywords: BMT, Sharia Financial Institutions, Micro Finance Institutions, Social Impact

POST-PANDEMIC ECONOMIC RECOVERY WITH BAITUL MAAL WAT TAMWIL

Baitul Mal Wat Tamwil (BMT) is a non-bank financial institution as an integrated independent business center which is a bayt al-mal wa at-tamwil, which is an institution that develops productive and investment businesses to improve the quality of small entrepreneurs' businesses and encourage business forms. -a form of investment with the aim of empowering worldly and ukhrawi businesses through donations, zakat and alms. In its development, BMTs face the same problems, for example problematic customers. Sometimes there is a customer who is not only having problems in one place, but also in other places. Therefore, each BMT needs efforts to coordinate in order to narrow down the movements of problematic customers. BMTs also tend to face other BMTs as competitors to be defeated, not as partners or partners in an effort to exclude people from the economic problems they face. So that it causes the level of competition that is not Islamic and will even affect the BMT management pattern. However, in its development, BMTs face the same problems, for example problematic customers. Sometimes there is a customer who is not only having problems in one place, but also in other places. Therefore, each BMT needs efforts to coordinate in order to narrow down the movements of problematic customers. BMTs also tend to face other BMTs as competitors to be defeated, not as partners or partners in an effort to exclude people from the economic problems they face. So that it causes the level of competition that is not Islamic and will even affect the BMT management pattern.

INCREASING SMEs SOCIAL IMPACT WITH BAITUL MAAL WAT TAMWIL

Baitul Mal Wa Tamwil (BMT) is a non-bank financial institution as an integrated independent business center which is a bayt al-mal wa at-tamwil, which is an institution that develops productive and investment businesses to improve the quality of small entrepreneurs' businesses and encourage business forms. -a form of investment with the aim of empowering worldly and ukhrawi businesses through donations, zakat and alms. In its development, BMTs face the same problems, for example problematic customers. Sometimes there is a customer who is not only having problems in one place, but also in other places. Therefore, each BMT needs efforts to coordinate in order to narrow down the movements of problematic customers. BMTs also tend to face other BMTs as competitors to be defeated, not as partners or partners in an effort to exclude people from the economic problems they face. So that it causes the level of competition that is not Islamic and will even affect the BMT management pattern. However, in its development, BMTs face the same problems, for example problematic customers. Sometimes there is a customer who is not only having problems in one place, but also in other places. Therefore, each BMT needs efforts to coordinate in order to narrow down the movements of problematic customers. BMTs also tend to face other BMTs as competitors to be defeated, not as partners or partners in an effort to exclude people from the economic problems they face. So that it causes the level of competition that is not Islamic and will even affect the BMT management pattern.
 Keywords: BMT, Sharia Financial Institutions, Micro Finance Institutions, Social Impact

Keep it Oakland: e-commerce meets social justice

This article examines the labor involved with the upkeep of social media accounts for Oakland-based brick-and-mortar boutiques and their digital storefronts, particularly as businesses move their wares online during shelter-in-place amid the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic. Focusing on independent shops in Oakland, California, particularly those which are part of Oakland’s Indie Alliance – a coalition of independent small business owners – this article explores the role of shop workers in producing the authentic aesthetics of themselves and store accounts as a replacement for brick-and-mortar shops. How do small-scale shop owners and clerks make platforms, which were not designed with their needs in mind, work for them? How does sellers’ performance of the local interface with a global digital marketplace and platform infrastructures? In what ways do existing racial hierarchies and structural inequalities affect shop personnel’s experiences of platforms and apps meant to facilitate business transactions? I focus on the Oakland Indie Alliance’s Covid Recovery and Repair funds, which employ social media and crowdfunding platforms or payment apps to provide assistance to local businesses, particularly those which are BIPOC and/or immigrant owned, connecting commercial and social justice oriented goals.

Creativity, Innovation and Promotion Variables as Determinants of Culinary Bussiness Success in OKU Regency

The objective of this research was to examine the effects of creativity, innovation, and promotion variables as determinants of culinary business success in the Ogan Komering Ulu (OKU) regency. The research design was survey research with a quantitative approach. The population of this research consisted of culinary businesses in the OKU regency. The analytical method used was multiple regression. The conclusion of this research showed that creativity, innovation, and promotion variables had significant effects on the success of the culinary business in the OKU regency. This research focused on creativity, innovation, and promotion as independent variables and business success as the dependent variable

Participation Ladder in Business Incubation Program

Purpose: The government's efforts in developing the economy of low-income communities in the city of Surabaya require high participation support. The low community participation in the incubation facilitation program for independent businesses is a problem that needs a solution
 Design/methodology/approach: The research method used is descriptive quantitative and case study methods. Data collection techniques using a questionnaire. The analysis technique uses inferential analysis and analysis of data characteristics.
 Findings: The results of this study indicate that the novelty at the level of community participation is arranged into three steps, namely: Stairs 1 (Basic Need Participation), 2 (Learning Encouragement), and 3 (Participation for growth).
 Paper type: Research paper

Regulating Income Tax: Case of Indonesian YouTubers

Along with the development of digital business platforms in Indonesia, the YouTube content creator profession (YouTuber) has become a hard-to-tax sector due to the unavailability of a clear definition in the laws and regulations regarding the business characteristics of the content creator profession. This study aims to analyze the income tax aspect of content creators on the YouTube digital platform in Indonesia. First, it focuses on the interpretation of independent work and business activities related to the business nature of content creators, constituting individual taxpayers with income below the threshold regulated in Government Regulation (PP) no. 23 of 2018. Second, it analyzes the tax authority’s efforts and strategic measures to optimize tax revenues from YouTubers. This study uses a qualitative descriptive approach using documentation and literature studies. The results show that determining the income tax aspect of YouTubers requires carefulness in identifying the types of activities that become sources of income since they could either perform business activities or independent work simultaneously. Therefore, it is vital to confirm the YouTubers business activity definition in the tax provisions. In addition, adequate education and socialization that promote a cooperative approach become necessary to improve tax compliance.

STUDENT BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT AND SUSTAINABILITY

The entrepreneurship development program aims to foster and assist students who already have a business or are just starting a business so that their business develops and is sustainable. Business development and business sustainability of students are highly expected because many businesses have been carried out by students with very interesting ideas and creativity, but the business carried out did not last long for various reasons of busy completing college, thesis and others. Their problems are limited manpower, lack of cooperation with partners and unsustainable marketing. The method of implementing entrepreneurship development program activities for students is to provide socialization of activities, provide training in Human Resource Management, Financial Management, online marketing, use of the UDB Market place, workshops on making web designs followed by mentoring, business visits, and business bazaars to introduce products. The result of this Entrepreneurship Development Program activity is to make 20 student tenants have independent and growing and sustainable businesses. Keywords: Development, sustainability, entrepreneurship, independent business

The Pandemic Economy

Since its emergence in 2019, the worldwide spread of the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) has created a vast economic crisis as government lockdowns place considerable strain on businesses of all kinds – particularly those that rely on face-to-face contact, such as retail restaurants, and personal services. Given the recent emergence of the virus and lags in data collection and publication, the highest-quality fine-grained spatial datasets on economic behavior will not reflect virus-related impacts for at least a year. At the same time, in order to make evidence-based decisions on policies regarding continuing lockdown and/or re-opening policies, local governments and researchers need to understand neighborhood-level economic effects much sooner than that. This paper makes use of the point-level Chicago Business License dataset, which is updated on a weekly basis, to examine the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on new business activity in the City of Chicago. The results indicate that on average, from March to September 2020, total monthly new business starts have declined by 33.4% compared to the monthly average of new starts in the City from January 2016 to December 2019. Food service and retail businesses have been hardest hit during this period, while chains of all types have seen larger average declines in new startup activity than independent businesses. These patterns demonstrate interesting intra-urban spatial heterogeneity; ZIP codes with the largest pandemic-related declines in new business activity tend to be have larger rates average rates of new business creation to begin with and also have less dense, diverse, and walkable built environments (defined in more detail below), while, interestingly, observed COVID-19 case rates do not appear to have an individually-significant impact on new business deficits.

Breaking Down the Barriers: Exploring the Role of Collaboration in the Forestry Sector of South East England

The forestry supply chain in the southeast of England is characterized by a diverse set of independent businesses and a sector strongly driven by personal connections and trust. Yet, the opportunity exists to increase the amount of wood product through bringing currently unmanaged woodlands to the market, a result that should have environmental as well as economic benefits. Previous research has indicated that agents play a key linking role between woodland owners and contractors, offering services ranging from consultancy support, grant aid access, and the writing of management plans to the scheduling and delivery of thinning and felling activity, with a unique and important position in the sector in terms of facilitating change. This study, through interviews with 18 woodland agents, was designed to explore collaboration across the sector. The results suggest that current levels of collaboration are low and use predominantly horizontal mechanisms, focusing on information sharing rather than joint operation. This is despite a positive market opportunity and a growth aspiration, as well as an enthusiasm for increased collaboration that is particularly prevalent in smaller businesses. Four main features of the sector are limiting the amount of collaboration: a traditional handshake culture strongly embedded within rural life; the construct, mechanisms, and frameworks of the sector; the value set of those operating at this critical juncture of supply and demand; and the lack of positive examples of collaboration. Higher levels of collaboration were seen by woodland agents to be positive for increasing the sustainable and productive management of woodlands but achieving this will be challenging to established practice.

Exploring social media usage as a communication channel among independent food retailer SMEs in South Africa

Social media has facilitated interaction between businesses and consumers, and consequently, has seen rapid growth as a communication channel by a number of smaller retailers in South Africa. Hence, the primary research objective of this study is to explore social media usage as a marketing communication strategy by independent food retailer small to medium enterprises (SMEs). The study used a qualitative data collection strategy and in-depth interviews were conducted among eleven independent food retailer SMEs in South Africa. The study revealed that the level of social media activity by the respondent retailers was influenced by enabling factors such as cost effectiveness, accessibility, reach and relationship building, whereas perceived risk and resources such as time, knowledge and human resources were inhibiting factors. The research contributes to the available literature exploring social media usage as customer contact points for promotional purposes, as well as provides insight for further studies on the use of social media conduits by independent food retailer SMEs or similar businesses in a developing country.

Co-ops 2.0: Alternative Retail Strategies to Support a Sustainable Transition in Food Retailing

While modern food retailing is characterized by high price pressure and low-quality differentiation resulting in a limited supply of sustainably produced alternative food products, cooperative retailing structures offer additional synergies in terms of logistics and operations that hold great potential to support the expansion of sustainable produce. Many retailers in Germany are organized in cooperatives of sufficient size to generate large-scale effects while still allowing individual retailers to pursue independent business structures. Cooperatives targeted to elaborate on collectivity operate a business. In economic terms this means that scale effects are used to elaborate and help single business. In the food sector cooperative structures in Germany provide a substantial impact in food delivery and provision, especially fresh foods are very sensitive and need fast circulation. Sourcing sustainable, local and regional foods are often produced (or rather crafted) in small scale entities. This paper asks the question of how and whether cooperative marketing structures help to deliver and use scale effects of larger entities, while still collaboratively encouraging food marketing. Accordingly, this paper reports on an investigation of the main challenges faced by members of a large-scale cooperative in retailing sustainably produced products and the motives of these retailers in choosing whether or not to sell such products. Taking the case of grass-fed beef sold by retailers within a large German cooperative, the study reveals that some of the obstacles to selling this sustainable product are comparable to challenges typically encountered in other retailing channels beyond cooperative structures. However, we also find that the flexibility of the cooperative structure enables individual retailers to bring their intrinsic motivation into (sustainable) action in the marketplace while taking advantage of the support offered by the cooperative in terms of marketing and consultation, etc. This analysis confirms that personal motivation within this cooperative structure is a strong determinant for individual retailers to pursue different pathways for the marketing and sale of sustainably produced food.

PELATIHAN PENGEMASAN SOUVENIR DAN PENJELASAN SIMULASI PENJUALAN ONLINE DEMI MENINGKATKAN KREATIVITAS, MEMUNCULKAN INOVASI, DAN MEMBERIKAN MOTIVASI UNTUK MEMULAI UMKM BARU

Residents of Banjarsari Village, Kec, have successfully produced several products. Kaduhejo, Pandeglang. However, it lacks innovation and creativity in its packaging. Based on the results of discussions with young women, it was found that there is a need for training so that residents become more creative and innovative in processing products that have been produced by many residents so far, one of which is emping melinjo. From the discussion results, information was also obtained that there were no villagers who had innovative and creative souvenir packaging activities. The opportunity to open a souvenir business is still huge to generate profits amid the current pandemic conditions. To help find solutions to these problems, Bina Bangsa University lecturers and students do community service through souvenir packaging training to explain online sales simulations through e-commerce applications. This service aims to improve the quality of human resources and generate motivation to start new MSMEs that are more innovative and creative while still providing a positive influence on independent business products that already exist in the community. The methods used are coordination, training, mentoring, follow-up plans, and reflection. The process of implementing this work program is gradual, continuous, and sustainable. The results of the souvenir packaging training activities have a positive impact. Not only can we produce creative and unique souvenir packaging, but the trainees can also have the experience of doing photo sessions for root products that look attractive when promoted online. In addition, the training participants were explained about sales simulations through e-commerce applications. The discussion results before the training started showed that the participants had never been and had not been able to package souvenirs at first. However, in the interview after the training was carried out, namely the reflection stage, it was concluded that 100% of the participants could do souvenir packaging creatively and innovatively. In addition, 40% of them can understand product sales simulations through e-commerce applications. So that this souvenir packaging training can be a recommendation as a medium to increase creativity, bring up innovation, and motivate to start new MSMEs.

Determinants of the Acceptance of Mobile Payment Systems by E-Merchants

To be effectively deployed, a mobile payment (m-payment) system must be provided by e-merchants and accepted by e-consumers. Although the problem of acceptance of m-payment systems by e-consumers has been widely researched, there are few studies about what actually motivates e-merchants to adopt and deploy these systems in their businesses in the first place. The goal of this research was to discover the behavioral intentions of e-merchants to adopt and deploy an m-payment system. The interviews approach was applied to 347 e-merchants randomly selected from among the whole population of 47,457 independent business units selling goods on-line in Poland. The PLS-SEM method was applied to determine the relationship between variables. Unexpectedly, perceived risk was not a significant factor influencing e-merchants' intention to adopt an m-payment system. The e-merchants’ behavioral intention was significantly impacted by the expected usefulness, perceived ease of deployment and use, perceived cost and price, and hedonic motivation.

A Probe into the Optimization Strategy of the Ethical Education Path of Contemporary College Students' Self-employment

"Mass entrepreneurship and innovation" is put forward to revitalize the economy so as to relieve the pressure in social employment, enhance the development of new driving force, promote national economic development, which is an important way to achieve national prosperity and people's prosperity. As members of the society, contemporary college students should be the participants and practitioners of "mass entrepreneurship and innovation". The ethical education in independent business should be conducted from the following aspects: honesty based education, responsibility based education, justice and benefit based education, professional ethics based education, competition and cooperation based education and education of will, which can be achieved with joint efforts of universities, families, government and society.

Multinational Enterprises and International Cartels: The Strategic Implications of De-globalization

AbstractA cartel is an association of independent businesses for the purpose of regulating trade in an industry. There are three important reasons for studying international cartels: they will become important in the future; they are of immense historical significance; and they are poorly understood. This paper reviews the economic, political, and historical literatures on international cartels and considers the lessons for international business theory and policy. If IB researchers are to retain their reputation for policy-relevance, they must engage with the issue of institutional responses to globalization, and this must include the analysis of cartels.