Popular Sectors Research Articles

Organization of The Popular and Solidarity Economy for the Development of Entrepreneurships in Ecuador

Objective: Analyze the current organization of the popular and solidarity economy for the development of entrepreneurship, since through this financial income will be generated to improve poverty due to unsatisfied basic needs. Theoretical Framework: The research is based on the Organic Law of the popular and solidarity economy and the popular and solidarity financial sector. Method: To carry out the research, the rural parish of San José, Santa Clara canton, Pastaza province, Ecuador was selected. Three participatory workshops were held with 250 individuals (leaders-entrepreneurs and entrepreneurs), as a result of these a survey was developed, for its validation a pilot test was carried out with 15 leaders-entrepreneurs and 15 entrepreneurs from neighboring parishes, after this activity was designed the definitive survey that was applied to 75 leaders-entrepreneurs. Results and Discussion: The results revealed that poverty due to unmet basic needs in the rural area was 52.0% and, in the parish under study, 96.7%. Therefore, it is considered that the current organization of the popular and solidarity economy must be reformulated. Research Implications: The limited development of businesses for the inhabitants of the San José parish has not allowed them to obtain income to purchase the products of the basic family basket, which currently amounts to $799.73 dollars. Originality/Value: This study contributes to the country's public policy managers reviewing the current organization of the popular and solidarity economy, since it is not contributing to the development of entrepreneurship.

Framing the allopathic approach to health and disease labels through patient narratives during the COVID‐19 pandemic first wave in Ecuador: An understudied and underutilized tool in health care practice and delivery

AbstractPresented in this article is a search for folk, popular, and professional health care labels through patient narratives. Fieldwork was done in the Ecuadorian communities of Santa Rosa and Pano during the first wave of COVID‐19. The results emphasize the utility of studying labels to better understand what communities experience in health crises, the opportunities to improve allopathic health care delivery and engagement with the folk and popular sectors. Both communities had adapted labels that were familiar to them from prior health experiences and served to inform their personal medical care during the pandemic. Meanwhile, in Pano, an Indigenous predominant community, people had inherited labels for plants and pandemics in both the Kichwa and Spanish language, and those provided a vocabulary of hope to the people. In Santa Rosa the labels demonstrated the grief and difficult times the community had experienced with the limited health resources available.

Role of Artificial Intelligence in Pharmaceutical Drug Development

: One of the most popular sectors in the tech and healthcare industries right now is artificial intelligence. In the search and development of new drugs, artificial intelligence is essential. Drug design using computer-assisted design (CADD) has supplanted the traditional approach. Artificial intelligence is assisting businesses in the development of new drugs in a faster, more affordable, and more efficient manner, saving money and manpower in the process of creating new drug molecules to treat any disease. Quantitative structure-activity relationship (QSAR) analysis, activity scoring, in silico testing, biomarker development, and mode of action identification are all aided by artificial intelligence. It is revolutionizing these sectors by swiftly identifying potential drug candidates, efficiently conducting clinical trials, and customizing patient care. AI optimizes drug manufacturing processes, augments safety monitoring, and streamlines market analysis. In clinical trials, AI streamlines patient recruitment and ensures more precise trial designs, leading to faster and more efficient research. AI empowers personalized medicine by tailoring treatment plans and drug dosages to individual patient characteristics. AI also optimizes pharmaceutical manufacturing processes, amplifies safety monitoring by analyzing real-time data for adverse events, and supports market analysis and sales strategies. AI in the pharmaceutical industry is a multifaceted tool. Artificial Intelligence (AI) has the potential to streamline complex pharmaceutical regulatory matters. Regulatory processes like audits and dossier completion can be automated with AI tools.

Residential transformations and real estate market trends associated with tourism activity in urban popular sectors: Ciudad Bolívar in Bogotá

Purpose This study aims to identify the transformations of the residential landscape and trends in the popular real estate market associated with tourist activity in a low-income neighborhood in Bogotá. Design/methodology/approach The methodology was mainly qualitative, although the author analyzed some quantitative data. The author conducted three guided tourist tours in the area and systematically compared photographs taken in 2022 with satellite images in 2019 before starting the tourist activity. To analyze the real estate market, the author uses data on housing offers for sale and rent. Finally, the author conducted semi-structured interviews with tour guides, residents and other key actors in the sector. Findings This study identified some dynamics of change in the real estate market, particularly associated with an increase in housing sales and rental prices, as well as a possible effect on the increase of new informal growth processes. The author found a growing transformation of the urban and residential landscape associated with the painting of facades by the local administration and mural painting processes by community organizations. There are evident housing investment processes, some associated with verticalization and other use changes for tourism activities. It is necessary to reflect on these processes’ effects on the city’s sociospatial dynamics. Originality/value This study makes an empirical contribution to the relationship between residential real estate markets in low-income sectors and tourism activity. Although analyses of community-based tourism in popular areas have been conducted, less is known about the effects on the real estate market and the associated sociospatial transformations.

Carrying the Cross: Popular Christian Communities and Religious Protest during Pinochet's Dictatorship, 1973–90

Abstract This article examines the activities of Comunidades Cristianas Populares (Popular Christian Communities, CCPs) in marginalised neighbourhoods of Chile's capital, Santiago, during the Augusto Pinochet dictatorship. It traces how the CCPs emerged, thrived and then stopped, to showcase the uneasy co-existence between liberationist practices espoused by popular sectors and traditional ecclesiastical paradigms until their breaking point in 1990. In doing so, I argue that religious ritual is an important form of social protest against authoritarianism. Public processions exposed tensions between the Church and state, within the Church's diverse constituents, as well as between Christian community members and left-wing party militants. In the late 1980s, as the Church increasingly retreated from liberation theology, the dictatorship successfully co-opted social organisations and rendered religious rituals largely ineffective as a form of social protest.

대중문화예술인의 스트레스와 제도적 요인의 관계 연구

This study aims to analyze the stress experienced by popular culture artists in the changing work environment. This study used the data from the '2021 Survey on Artists & Activities' in Korea. We analyzed the impact of institutional factors on artists' stress by popular culture field through Ordered logistic regression analysis between film, broadcast, and popular music artists and their stress levels. Career Interruption, Activities period, education, On-the-job injury, residence area and full-time status of broadcast artist significantly affected artist's stress. Also, Public Pension Salaried Workers of broadcast artist, and Group membership of popular music artist significantly affected artists' stress. On the other hand, Experience with Artist Unemployment Insurance were not found to be significant variables. This study suggests that the impact of institutional factors may differ depending on the nature of the popular culture sector, and shows the social limitations of the Artist Unemployment Insurance. The findings suggest that institutional improvements are needed, such as including artists in the scope of existing welfare schemes.

Broadening the Climate Movement: The Marcha das Margaridas’ Agenda for the Climate (and Other) Crises

AbstractClimate movements led by students and the youth worldwide (and in particular, those in richer economies) have been recognized as having a formidable voice and making important contributions towards a more radical societal transformation to face the climate crisis. However, little is said about the contribution of popular sectors, who have been mobilizing for decades and demanding broader structural transformations—with proposals that tackle environmental issues more broadly and the climate crisis in particular—but who are not directly involved in climate politics arenas, such as the United Nations Climate Change conferences. Usually portrayed as vulnerable, as those most affected by climate events, as victims and receivers of adaptation strategies, or, as resilient, rarely do popular sectors appear as agents of transformation. Critical scholars have advocated for understanding the climate crisis as part of multiple crises, including the biodiversity crisis, a crisis of care, and a crisis of democracy. Situating our article within this scholarship, we argue that the scholarly and societal debate on climate change will further benefit from broadening the scope of which social subjects are considered as part of the climate movement. Based on our research with rural popular feminist movements in Brazil, and in particular, the coalition Marcha das Margaridas, we address the following questions: how are their diagnostics of, and proposals to, overcome the climate crisis embedded in their broader project of transformation? Additionally, how does their political identity within class, gender, and rural categories of inequality inform their positions?

Long Short-Term Memory and Gated Recurrent Unit for Stock Price Prediction

Stocks are a popular investment with high risk due to rapid price fluctuations that are difficult to predict. Many investors do not understand the analysis of buying and selling stocks, making them hesitant to invest. For this reason, an analytical technique is needed that can determine the movement of stock prices in order to carry out planning, risk management, and decision-making. Banking stocks are among the important and popular stock sectors. One of the go public banking stocks is Bank Rakyat Indonesia stock. This research applies Long Short-Term Memory and Gated Recurrent Unit to produce a model that can accurately predict the stock price of Bank Rakyat Indonesia. Based on the implementation, GRU is the best model with MSE value of 4958.9168, RMSE 70.4195, and MAPE 1.1699%. The GRU model predict that there will be a decrease in stock prices in the next month.

La sociedad contra las élites: aproximación a las bases sociales del apoyo electoral a Petro en Colombia

Objective/Context: One of the effects of the internal war in Colombia was to hinder the expression of the social conflict and of the organizations that mobilize the popular sectors. The plebiscite to ratify the Peace Accord aimed at putting an end to the war was a politically polarized juncture channeled through the electoral process. The shift in the centrality of the issue of the internal war after the signing of the Accord opened the possibility of expression of the social conflict. However, in a country with weak social and political organizations to shape this conflict, it is expressed: 1) without politically aligned framings; 2) as a generalized discontent with the elites and a feeling of “tilted playing field”. Therefore, political polarization after the plebiscite is low. We develop this argument based on the analysis of voters’ positions in relation to the most important issues of the political agenda: Peace Agreement, redistributive agenda (taxes and welfare) and governmental management of the COVID pandemic, and gender agenda. Methodology: The article is based on 16 focus groups conducted between September and November 2021 in three regions of Colombia —Bogotá, Antioquia and the Caribbean— in which voters from the two main 2018 electoral options participated, with gender balance and variation in occupation and between middle and lower classes. Conclusion: The data show that there is no political polarization at the citizen level. Instead, a high level of discontent towards political and economic elites is observed, which may be at the basis of electoral support for Petro in 2022. Originality: The article offers an alternative look at the perception that many Colombians have that they live in a polarized society and contributes to the understanding of electoral support for an “anti-system” force in the 2022 election.

An Application of Data Envelopment Analysis and Game Theory for Appraisal of Balanced Scorecard Indexes in Media Industry

Todays, the media industry encompasses all businesses that allow information to be shared (traditional and digital media). Media is vast, large, and ever-growing, and is an incredibly popular sector at the minute, and an extremely interesting area to research work in. This paper considered a news agency of media organization as a Decision-Making Unit (DMU). The aim of the study was to evaluate the role of Balanced Scorecard (BSC) indexes on measuring the efficiency of DMU. This was done by a new hybrid model of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA), cooperative game theory and Shapley value index. The initial values of the DEA model were selected from among the BSC indexes in four perspectives (i.e., financial, customer, internal processes, and growth and learning). Finally, the proposed model was experimented on a case study and the computational results were obtained. The results showed that the profitability ratio with a Shapley value of 2.903 and the percentage of satisfied audiences with a Shapley value of 0.404 had the highest and lowest reflection in performance assessment, respectively. The rest of the results were presented and discussed in detail. This study can reveal scientific orientation to increase organizational performance to media managers and policymakers.

SACRED SEDUCTION: UNVEILING THE ALLURE OF RELIGIOUS ACTIVITIES AS A TOURIST MAGNET

Religious tourism has become a popular and dynamic sector in the global travel industry, driven by individuals seeking cultural immersion and spiritual experiences. This article explores the allure of religious activities as tourist attractions, analysing the factors contributing to their appeal. It investigates the cultural and historical value of religious sites, the transformative nature of spiritual encounters, the impact on well-being, and the significance of religious festivals and pilgrimages. Understanding this appeal is essential for destinations and stakeholders to harness religious tourism's economic, social, and cultural benefits while preserving the sanctity of these revered locations. The attractiveness of religious activities is influenced by factors such as architectural aesthetics, sacred rituals and traditions, emotional and psychological dimensions, and interactions with local communities and religious leaders. The article emphasises the importance of cultural sensitivity, responsible tourism practices, and collaboration among religious institutions, tourism stakeholders, and local communities for sustainable development. The research provides valuable recommendations for the responsible management of religious tourism.

Antecedents of Competitive Advantage and Its Consequences on Business Performance

Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs) are one of the popular economy sectors that play an important role in advancing Indonesia's economy. The high number of MSMEs in Indonesia certainly increases the competition among MSMEs. Thus, to survive, MSMEs need continuous improvement in their Business Performance. This study aims to analyze the antecedents of competitive advantage and their consequences for business performance moderated by live streaming commerce. The method of writing scientific articles is by using qualitative methods and literature studies or library research. Reviewing theories and reviewing literature books that are in accordance with the theories discussed. The results of this study indicate that Entrepreneurial marketing has a positive and significant effect on business performance. E-commerce adoption has a positive and significant effect on business performance. Entrepreneurial marketing has a positive and significant impact on competitive advantage. E-commerce adoption has a positive and significant effect on competitive advantage. Competitive advantage has a positive and significant effect on business performance. Live streaming commerce moderates the influence of entrepreneurial marketing on business performance. Live streaming commerce moderates the effect of e-commerce adoption on business performance. Competitive advantage mediates the effect of entrepreneurial marketing on business performance. Competitive advantage mediates the effect of e-commerce adoption on business performance.

‘Getting in’ or ‘moving on’? On internship experiences and representation in the popular music festival sector

ABSTRACT The cultural workforce has previously been described as pre-dominantly white, male and middle-class. Internships are often seen as a solution as they would function as a ‘democratising path to launch careers’. Nevertheless, previous research has also suggested that there is no smooth path from an internship to paid work for anyone, and even less so for some than for others. Moving beyond previous research, which often neglects the production perspective on music festival organisation altogether or exclusively focuses on individuals ‘getting into’ the cultural and creative industries (CCI), we also include those who are ‘moving on’. We question the (non)diverse composition of the popular music festival sector in Rotterdam, focusing on why and how people are excluded from working in it. Semi-structured interviews were collected in two phases: 1) workers who did an internship and moved into the sector (n = 11) and 2) former interns who left the music festival sector after their internship (n = 13). Findings indicate the force of the somatic norm of maleness and how related experiential differences affect sectoral demographic inequality. Moreover, internships are not an ‘easy fix’ for a non-diverse workforce because of how work is, experienced, organised and rewarded.

The effect of auditor switching, audit opinions, and financial distress on audit delay

<p>Mining companies are among the Indonesian capital market's most popular or sought-after sectors. As companies listed on the Indonesia Stock Exchange <em>(Bursa Efek Indonesia-BEI</em>), they are also obliged to provide regular financial reports. An independent auditor will review this financial report. The process of auditing financial statements until the final report by an independent auditor is called audit delay. Audit delay is the time required to carry out an audit from the end of the financial year until an independent auditor completes the audit report. Researchers in this study looked at the possibility that audit delays were caused by factors such as auditor switching, audit opinion, and financial distress. Mining business actors on the Indonesia Stock Exchange (<em>Bursa Efek Indonesia-BEI</em>) are the subjects of this research. This research used non-probability sampling and purposive sampling to obtain 140 research samples. Non-participant observation is used to get this data. To analyze the data using multiple linear regression with the help of the Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) software. The research results show that auditor switching has no impact on audit delay. In the case of audit delay, it does not matter whether the auditor changes or not. On the other hand, audit delay can occur due to the audit opinion given by the auditor, especially if the argument is unreasonable. Last, audit delays are exacerbated if the company experiences financial distress, whether caused by internal or external factors. The reason is that when auditors carry out audits on companies experiencing financial distress, they will be more careful, and of course, it will take a long time.</p>

Portfolio Optimization under the Background of Continued Interest Rate Hikes

In the process of investment, the primary investment objectives for investors are undoubtedly risk minimization and return maximization. This paper fo-cuses on the US investment market and, in the context of the Federal Re-serve's continuous interest rate hikes, avoids the currently popular artificial intelligence sectors, and focuses on the analysis of representative stocks in the manufacturing, pharmaceutical, technology, and financial industries. This paper selects 10 stocks from the above-mentioned industries for analy-sis. This paper collects stock prices, financial data (including P/E ratio, BPS, etc.), risk-free rates, market indices, and other data, and uses multiple linear regression models to predict the return data from January 1st, 2023, to March 10th, 2023. Next, the mean-variance framework is employed for the purpose of selecting both the portfolio with the highest Sharpe ratio and the one with the lowest volatility. Once the weights for both groups are ob-tained, this study tests the portfolio's performance using actual stock price data spanning from January 1st, 2023, to March 10th, 2023. After obtaining the performance data of the two groups, this paper further compares the per-formance of the portfolio with the 1/N portfolio and the market performance. The results show that the market performance is the best, followed by the 1/N portfolio and the minimum volatility portfolio, and the maximum Sharpe ratio model is the worst. This result may provide some guidance for portfolio management for some investors in this special period.

Exploring literary festivals in Ireland

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to explore the origins and management of literary festivals in Ireland from the perspective of their founders or those involved in managing these festivals.Design/methodology/approachThis qualitative research study explores six literary festivals across the island of Ireland. The research and data collection instruments include bibliographic research and a series of in-depth interviews with festival founders, directors and managers.FindingsThe festivals in this study have evolved from a range of origins and are strongly influenced by the artistic vision and strategic approach of their founders and/or directors. Generating adequate revenue remains a constant challenge for these festivals as they rely on three primary sources of funding, i.e. ticket sales, sponsorship and grant support. Volunteering at literary festivals provides an opportunity for increased community involvement, participation and a sense of co-creation. Building strong partnerships and positive stakeholder engagement is fundamental to successful festival support and funding, ensuring that festivals can deliver well-structured programmes that will attract a loyal and engaging audience.Research limitations/implicationsThis exploratory research is limited to six literary festivals in Ireland and there is potential to extend this into a more comprehensive study.Practical implicationsThis study provides insights into this increasingly popular festival sector and identifies practical strategies for developing and managing literary festivals and related events.Originality/valueEven though literary festivals have proliferated in Ireland over the past twenty years, there is a dearth of academic research in this area. The research study focuses on literary festivals, primarily from a “supply” rather than “demand” perspective.

Quimantú: When a Political Emergency and Rapid Social Transformation Shape an Editorial Project

The diverse histories of national and transnational design have included research on institutions, collectives, and entities that developed projects concerned with the practice or teaching of design, with longer or shorter permanence, towards a historiographic construction built on their legacy. In this context, we examine the transience and exceptional nature of Empresa Editora Nacional Quimantú, a state publishing project carried out in Chile between 1971 and 1973 by a socialist and democratically elected government that ended abruptly due to a military coup. From a qualitative and quantitative methodological perspective, as well as archival work, we analyse the intersections between design and the editorial guidelines of its catalogue (books and magazines), in addition to the trajectory of the largest publishing enterprise formed in the country, during a brief operating period of two and half years. This instance opened a space for collaboration and experimentation between directors, designers, and workers within management structures. The presence of a large-scale social publishing model is studied for its unprecedented print runs in the national readership market, where the ‘design’ factor—in terms of form, content, and strategy—had a fundamental role, and the volume of printed books exceeded the country’s total population. Interrogating the archives, collections, and titles designed under Quimantú—a project that has acquired a ‘publishing mythology’ character for its fleetingness and high production levels—opens the possibility of looking into a heritage of editorial products designed with the urgency of taking culture to popular sectors, and the immediacy of a political process of radical changes that appealed for the mass production of images, texts, and discourses. Finally, the problem of production time becomes relevant as content production teams, collections’ designs, and the dissemination and sales spaces introduced some ideas and innovations into the Chilean publishing milieu.

Capacity building and professional development in contemporary music careers: An Australian contemporary music case study

This paper examines capacity building and professional development in Western Australia’s contemporary popular music sector. It reports on a mixed-methods qualitative-quantitative study into the lived experiences and needs of musicians and industry practitioners alike. It examines learning which is undertaken outside of formal education settings, and includes conferencing, one-on-one mentorship and other workshop based modes of delivery. As is reported, participants are overall positive about their experiences when engaging in such activities however several barriers exist as they relate to the required investments of time and money, modes of delivery and the focus of specific opportunities. A range of recommendations are made in order to address these barriers and support a diversification within the capacity building and professional development space.

EVOLUTION AND APPLICATION OF INTERNAL MARKETING AND ITS ROLE IN FINANCIAL SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS

Internal marketing is one way to make employees and organizations different from others. In order to differentiate themselves from other actors in the financial sector, financial organizations face the need for competitive differentiation through the implementation of internal marketing. In this regard, previous empirical studies confirmed that the financial sector, especially the banking sector, is the most popular service sector in the context of internal marketing research. According to the above, the purpose of this paper was to present internal marketing, its evolution, application, and role in organizations operating in the financial sector. A preliminary analysis of previous empirical studies conducted in the financial sector showed that researchers used different internal marketing dimensions and tested internal marketing outcomes at different levels. In order to determine the dimensions and outcomes of internal marketing in the financial sector, an analysis of previous studies in this field published in the period from 2015 to the present and stored in Google Scholar base was conducted. The analysis in this paper showed that the most common testing of internal marketing outcomes is at the employee-level as well as the testing of internal marketing dimensions such as (internal) communication, training and development, rewards and other types of compensation, and empowerment of employees.

Investigation for Marketing Strategies in the Digital Economy——Based on Mercury Home Textiles

Our country is currently undergoing a digital economic transformation across various industries. As a traditional and popular sector, household textiles are also facing opportunities and challenges. This article utilizes the SWOT analysis method to explore the marketing strategies of Mercury Home Textile, the industry's leading enterprise, in the context of the digital economy. In the market, Mercury Home Textile has a number of benefits. The business has a vast distribution network that enables it to reach a sizable consumer base and realize economies of scale. However, For small and medium-sized textile businesses, the ongoing decline of the old economy and the unexpected rise of the digital economy create difficulties for transformation and upgradation driven by technical innovation. Mercury Home Textile also has to contend with the rapid rise of e-commerce and social media, as well as fierce rivalry in the textile business. It is crucial to improve its marketing strategy based on digitization.