Opportunities, Challenges and Countermeasures of SMEs Based on "Inner Cycle"

Over a long time, the development of China’s economy has always relied heavily on investment, export and consumption, or is export-oriented to promote economic growth; however, in the new world economic situation, the export has been curbed and the economic focus needs to be shifted. And China has gradually formed the awareness and strategy of attaching importance to stimulating domestic demand and expanding the domestic consumption market. Therefore, internal circulation will bring unlimited opportunities and challenges to SMEs. It is necessary for SMEs to pay attention to internal circulation and formulate corresponding countermeasures according to internal circulation policies to promote the stable and sustainable development of SMEs.

The impact of expected pensions on consumption: evidence from China

We study how pension participation and expected pension benefits affect working-age adults’ consumption based on a nationally representative dataset from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) during the period 2011–2018. We find that the consumption of working-age adults who participate in China's Residents' Basic Pension is 15.4% higher than that of non-participants. Furthermore, we find that if working-age adults' expected pension benefits increase by RMB 1, their consumption will increase by RMB 0.34. Overall, our findings suggest that pension expectations are critical to the consumption decisions of working-age adults and can, therefore, positively affect total domestic consumption.

Textile Media

Byzantine textile arts can be grouped into Late Antique/Early Byzantine, Middle Byzantine, and Late Byzantine categories, dominated respectively by tapestry-woven decoration in wool, patterned silk textiles, and gold embroideries. Accidents of preservation have played a major role in determining what survives from each period and should be kept in mind when evaluating the history of Byzantine textile production. Nonetheless, these categories seem to reflect a series of real shifts in the focus of production. The first is a pivot from domestic consumption to the international mercantile context of silk production, controlled by the Byzantine court. The second, following economic and military setbacks (twelfth-thirteenth centuries), is a new emphasis on embroidered decoration, with the Orthodox Church as the dominant patron.

Locking-down instituted practices: Understanding sustainability in the context of ‘domestic’ consumption in the remaking

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, governments around the world placed communities under ‘lockdown’. Various practices of consumption were uprooted from their instituted settings and re-rooted in homes. This unprecedented reorganisation of normality resulted in increased instances of domestic consumption as practices occurring in offices, gyms and eateries were forced into homes, demanding the acquisition of materials and altering expectations of what homes are for. This article contributes to literature on COVID-19 and practice-based consumption research by complicating optimistic narratives about the potential for this disruption to downsize the consumer economy. Combining qualitative household interviews, with secondary data about wider trends, and historical reflection on changes in the meaning of the ‘home’ in the UK, we reveal how the re-rooting of instituted practices structures material acquisition and spikes desire for more domestic space. Recognising that professional practices and institutions have taken on increasing significance for domestic consumption, with stay-at-home orders blurring boundaries between home, work and leisure, we conclude by arguing that future research and sustainability policy should attend more to the institutional qualities of practices.

Optimization of Extrusion Process Using Response Surface Methodology for Producing Squid and Millet Based Extrudate

The squid is underutilized seafood than finfish and shellfishes in domestic consumption and millet is also an underutilized food grain. This study aimed to produce squid and millet- based extrudate under the optimized process parameters using Response Surface Methodology (RSM). The effects of process parameters such as heater 1 temperature (55°C, 60°C and 65°C), heater 2 temperature (120°C, 125°C and130°C), screw speed (250 rpm, 275 rpm and 300 rpm), and inclusion of squid powder (3%, 4%, 5%, 6% and 7%) were tested for responses like bulk density, expansion ratio and fifty product weight in RSM. All process parameters tested had significant (P<0.05) impact on responses. The optimized parameters were found to be 64.10°C of heater 1 temperature, 129.98°C of heater 2 temperature, screw speed of 317.87 rpm, and 6.56% of inclusion of squid powder.

Increasing The Income Of The Population And Reducing The Tax Burden As A Key Factor In Improving The Living Standards Of The Population

The article describes the increase in living standards, income of individuals, income from wages, salaries of employees of budgetary institutions and organizations, pensions, stipends and allowances, increase in domestic consumption as a result of income growth, growth of gross per capita income, tax rates have been reduced and simplified over the years

Do Tourism Activities and Urbanization Drive Material Consumption in the OECD Countries? A Quantile Regression Approach

The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs) elaborately encompass a global goal for sustainable consumption and production (Goal 12: SDGs), thus providing potential drivers and/or pathways to attaining sustainable consumption. In view of this global goal, this study examined the role of real income per capita, urbanization and especially inbound tourism in domestic material consumption for the panel of OECD countries. The study is conducted for the period of 1995 to 2016 by employing the panel quantile approach. Interestingly, an inverted U-shaped relationship between outbound tourism and domestic material consumption is established across the quantiles, thus indicating that sustainable domestic consumption is achievable after a threshold of domestic material consumption is attained. In addition, achieving sustainable consumption through economic or income growth is a herculean task for the OECD countries because the current reality indicates that income growth triggers higher consumption of domestic materials. However, the results suggest that urbanization is a recipe for sustainable domestic consumption since there is a negative and significant relationship between the two parameters across the quantiles. Nevertheless, the study presents relevant policy for efficient material and resources utilization and that is suitable to drive the SDGs for 2030 and other country-specific sustainable ambitions.

Self-sufficiency in cereal and potato production in Central and Eastern Europe: 2005–2019

The article’s main objective is to discuss changes in self-sufficiency levels in cereal and potato production in eleven selected Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries belonging to the EU, defined as the ratio of domestic consumption of certain agricultural products to domestic production. The research period covered the years 2005 to 2019. The article focuses on the technical and economic self-sufficiency of the countries analysed. It was found that CEE countries show a significant degree of diversity in terms of self-sufficiency of cereal and potato production. The most successful in these terms were Lithuania and Poland while the least – Slovenia.

Areas for development of the strategic planning system of the Republic of Mordovia's agro-industrial complex

Subject. This article considers the system of strategic planning for the advancement of the Agro-Industrial Complex of the Republic of Mordovia. Objectives. The article aims to analyze the current state-of-the-art of the system of strategic planning of the Republic of Mordovia and define areas for its further designing. Methods. For the study, I used systems, structural, logical, and comparative analyses, and the grouping, generalization, observation, and detailing methods. Results. The article identifies the problems and shortcomings of the strategic planning system of the Agro-Industrial Complex of the Republic of Mordovia and determines the areas to improve it. Conclusions. At year-end 2019, the Republic of Mordovia was a leading producer of certain agricultural products. It is expected that the capacity of the Russian agricultural market will expand due to domestic consumption and exports by 2025.

ASSESSMENT OF THE PANDEMIC SHOCK ON THE TOURISM SECTOR - THE CASE OF CROATIA

Due to the pandemic crisis, the decline in cross-border travel has caused deterioration of consumption and induced the collapse of domestic consumption. Finally, the drop of the consumption in travel service affected the travel trade balance and caused decline of the economy. The aim of this paper is to analyze the impact of the pandemic shock on the touristic sector in Croatia and to measure the effect of this negative trend. The research will be conducted using the SVAR model to disclose pandemic shock. The analysis considers the effect of the pandemic shock on the performance of the tourism sector, what is approximated by CROBEX turist index. Also, the analysis tests the impact of pandemic shock on turnover of the hotel industry. The results confirm the large-scale shock in the touristic sector and implicate the importance of measuring shock in assessing future trends and proposing measures for economic recovery in Croatia.