From Downturn to Upturn, An Economic Lift of Local Business Entrepreneurs in Qatar as Affected by the Covid-19 Pandemic: A Phenomenology

Background: Globally, local entrepreneurs have experienced an economic downturn brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. Local businessmen in Qatar are not an exception. Method: This qualitative research paper utilized the phenomenological approach as it sought to understand the lived experiences of business owners in Qatar who are experiencing financial decline relative to the central question: “How do local business owners deal with financial decline brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic?”. Findings: The verbal ponderings and statements of the respondents revealed three major themes that local business partners had experienced before their businesses finally reached an upswing. These are (1) CUSTOMER RELATIONS, dealing with Acknowledging Achievements, Attaining Customer Values, and Operating Responses, (2) ADJUSTMENT REMODELING, focusing on Building Foundations, Adapting to Changes, and Coping with Mishaps, and (3) BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT which is about Dealing Impacts, Relieving Stress, and Addressing Liabilities of the businesses impacted by the pandemic. Conclusion: Local Business Partners had a continuous downturn to a series of events revolving around its business, however, most of the respondents are satiated with operating the facility under circumstances. Recommendations: This study recommends that business owners here in Qatar enable themselves to be knowledgeable of the phases behind the strategies of managing a business. These can aid the entrepreneurs in their decision-making skills for the business to prosper. The upcoming related studies should further enlarge the concept of businesses as it will help begin a broader perception of the local businesses. Keywords: Qatar Business Owners, Entrepreneurs, Finance, Recession, Financial

Increasing Literature And Sharia Financial Management Through The One BMT Housing Area Program In Banguntapan District Bantul In Yogyakarta

The target of this PKM program is economically productive communities, namely people in housing in Banguntapan sub-district who have just established BMT covering aspects of marketing/socialization and management and accounting information systems (small businesses). The aim of the program is to develop an economically independent community with high literacy on syar'i transactions. Business partners in this program are BMTs that have just been established with a residential mosque base, namely BMT Sakinah, BMT Al-Anbiya and BMT Al-Huda. The problems faced by the three partners are: 1) Lack of competence and management in managing BMT, 2) Lack of legality, 3) Lack of Islamic financial literacy, so that BMT members still do not understand the function of BMT. As for the method of devotionare general lectures, short courses, tutorials and simulations. Materials that are focused on include the management and members of BMT: 1) Socialization of Transaction Contract applications legalized by the National Sharia Board, 2) Consolidating the understanding and application of Management Information Systems and Accounting Information Systems for BMT, for approximately eight months. The result of this dedicationis special assistance and provides BMT financial system software so that the BMT, BMT Sakinah (Puri Sakinah 2 Housing), BMT Al-Anbiya (Pesona Banguntapan Kotagede Housing) and BMT Al-Huda (Graha Banguntapan Housing) can manage accountably, professional and transparent. This program is expected to be able to facilitate the development of partner businesses so that they are able to provide a multiplier effect for housing-based BMTs and other newly established mosques.

Platform Business in Korea: Advent and Growth of Kakao

With the rapid development of ICT technology, a platform business is exerting a dominant influence in various fields. This type of a business has a great ripple effect in that it creates value by engaging and connecting various market actors such as producers, suppliers, and business partners to the platform ecosystem, rather than directly selling independent products or services. In this vein, the current study introduces the emergence and growth process of Kakao, which has a monopolistic dominance in the Korean mobile messenger market, as an example of a platform business. This company started to be distributed to Korean consumers in 2010 and is currently exercising its market influence in various fields such as commerce, entertainment, finance, and transportation, and more growth is expected in the future. Based on the case investigation, the background of Kakao’s success can be interpreted with a combination of various reasons, such as Korea’s developed ICT environment, a large game users’ population, quick service launch, the strategy to utilize the founder’s previous work experience, and service development geared towards Korean consumers.

Dimensions of learning organization: Implications for human resources effectiveness in commercial banks

This study examines the dimensions of learning organization essential in enhancing Human Resources (HR) effectiveness towards the attainment of the strategic objectives of commercial banks operating in Nigeria. This study adopted a survey research design following a quantitative approach for data collection and analysis procedure. The respondents (professional bankers) were selected using a convenience sampling technique. A structured questionnaire was designed and administered to 305 respondents in the participating commercial banks. The data was analysed using a variance-based structural equation modelling via SmartPLS, version 3.2.9. The results showcased specific learning dimensions to consider in designing learning and development interventions for HR effectiveness in commercial banks. There is a dearth of literature on the specific learning dimensions that play a prominent role in ensuring HR effectiveness in the banking industry in developing countries, particularly in Nigeria. The outcomes of this study contribute to the extant literature and assist HR business partners in adding value to commercial banks through HR effectiveness.

Penerapan Sistem Monitoring Hidroponik berbasis Internet of Things (IoT)

Hydroponics is a method of planting without using soil media by utilizing water. The problem occurs when the farmer cannot control the water used in hydroponic. Therefore, we need a system to monitor the amount of water used in the hydroponic planting system. This service activity aims to develop and implement a hydroponic monitoring system based on IoT. This activity was carried out by students, followed by several accompanying lecturers. It aims to assist partners in measuring water content, temperature, and water pH in hydroponic plants. One of the business unit partners for this activity is SMEs engaged in hydroponic agricultural cultivation at the Science Technology & Industrial Park (STIPARK) NTB. This community service activity was held for four months. From the process of analyzing partner problems, they were testing the STIPARK management and hydroponic SME business partners and the community who later needed a hydroponic monitoring system based on the Internet of Things so that information could be received in real-time. This product can help hydroponic SME business partners know the level of water levels or nutrients, monitoring water temperature and water pH to help farmers increase crop yields from hydroponic cultivation.

Fear or Competition? Antecedents to U.S. Business Student Immigration Attitudes

Immigration is an important and contemporary topic in management education given its impact on labor, wages, innovation, and diversity. However, extant research offers few insights into the antecedents to student immigration attitudes. Survey data from undergraduate students taking business courses at two large public universities in the southeast U.S. reveal that while student attitudes toward immigration are more moderate than the general U.S. population, these attitudes differ by gender, political affiliation, and immigration background. Following realistic conflict theory and social identity theory, these student immigration attitudes are a function of both fear and competition. First, their attitudes are confounded by conflicting antecedents in perceived personal competition for resources with immigrants (e.g., jobs, wages) versus immigration benefits (e.g., costs, labor base, innovation). Second, xenophobia (fear of immigrants) is a remarkably powerful influencer of one’s immigration attitude and its antecedents. With these points, management educators must engage students in critical thinking about immigration to prepare them to effectively work with diverse colleagues and business partners while leading global organizations. We, therefore, present four cross-disciplinary areas of intersection between immigration and management education, including diversity and cultural intelligence, human resource management and ethics, entrepreneurship and innovation, and finally, economic and socioeconomic impacts.

Pronouns, Positioning, and Persuasion in Top Nonprofits’ Donor Appeals

Despite increased giving in 2019, competition for donations among nonprofits remains high, especially when a charitable organization’s niche overlaps with that of others’. Consequently, nonprofit charitable organizations must tell stories that persuade donors to support their mission and contribute. This study uses positioning theory to examine how websites of the charitable organizations that appeared in Forbes Magazine’s 2019 top 100 charities use storytelling to facilitate their ethos such that they gain support and thus increase their donor base. The results revealed that nonprofits use positioning to establish two types of partnerships: invited and assumed. Furthermore, the coding revealed three primary types of positioning within these partnerships: savior-follower, business partners, and teacher-student. These positions organize and set the parameters for each organization’s story and will not only influence and potentially dictate the speech acts that follow, but also the responsibilities and rights of all those involved.

Empowerment of Micro, Small Medium Enterprises (MSMES) in Coconut Oil Development

Entrepreneurship development at the household level is the forerunner to the growth of an MSME. In the village of Antiga, Manggis District, Karangasem Regency, there is a home-based business engaged in the production of coconut oil (kelentik oil). Currently the level of marketing is only limited to traditional markets while the target is to be able to market products in modern markets. Therefore, this study has the objective to know the level of efficiency of production costs incurred by the producers of coconut oil (kelentik oil) in Antiga village, Manggis district, Karangasem regency; to know how to empower Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises producing coconut oil (kelentik oil) and to analyze the factors that influence the intention of buyers or consumers to buy coconut oil (kelentik oil) in Bali. The research method is a qualitative method. The result is that the production process is still traditional so that production cost efficiency is achieved. Furthermore, the empowerment of MSMEs is not yet optimal as business partners in marketing their products. Several factors influence consumers' intention to buy coconut oil (kelentik oil). So the input that can be given is to improve relationships or networks to be able to expand the market and improve product packaging.

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN LANGUAGE COMPETENCY AND BUSINESS OPPORTUNITY

The article reviewed the relationship between language competency and business opportunity in five global regional trading blocs. By having the language competency may facilitate the business opportunity but language differences may create frictions between the business partners and/or the workers. Besides for the purpose of communication, language use in the business world may enhance trust and loyalty between business partners and from the customers. Different linguistic landscapes are formed and dominated by different language communities in the global business world. Five important languages used in the global business world which are English, Mandarin, Spanish, German and Portuguese, are reviewed according to their regional trading blocs. Malaysian authority specifically the Malaysian Education Ministry is suggested to design and adapt more practical and relevant education language plan to produce graduates with different language competencies for the future human resource market. The authority is also suggested to create a favourable institutional environment for variant language use in the country.

Value cocreation in new service development: a process-based view of resource dependency

Purpose This study aims to examine value cocreation in terms of interfirm collaborations between service firms, their business customers and business partners at different stages of a new service development (NSD) process. Design/methodology/approach The study develops and tests hypotheses that examine the roles played by business customers and partners in NSD, assuming resource dependency of the focal firm during three NSD stages (ideation, development and deployment). Empirical data were collected from 200 NSD projects and structural equation modelling was used to test the hypotheses. Findings The results show that business customer collaboration has a positive effect on ideation performance and development performance, whereas business partner collaboration has a positive effect on deployment performance. These finding support the notion that the value cocreating roles of business customers and partners vary across NSD stages. Research limitations/implications Future research should focus on how business partners can be actively involved in the NSD process and how the interests of different parties can be safeguarded. The use of longitudinal data will allow a better examination of the process dynamics. Practical implications The study provides managerial implications for service managers in terms of acquiring and allocating resources needed from business customers and partners during different NSD stages. Originality/value The study contributes to the growing literature on value cocreation in NSD by empirically demonstrating the respective performance contributions of business customers and partners during different stages of NSD. Moreover, the results also shed light on interfirm collaboration mechanisms from the perspective of resource dependence theory.