Information Technology Capabilities, Organizational Agility, and Competitive Advantage: A Study of Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises in Indonesia

This paper aims to explore the relationship between information technology (IT) capabilities and competitive advantage, with organizational agility as a mediator, in the case of micro, small, and medium enterprises engaged in the fashion industry in Indonesia. Data were collected by distributing questionnaires to 180 small to medium-sized enterprises in Indonesia’s fashion industry that have used e-commerce platforms to conduct their business activities. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) in SmartPLS 3.0 software. The study suggests that IT capabilities significantly influence organizational agility and competitive advantage. Therefore, the study can serve as a basis for the Indonesian government to promote digitalization and the use of e-commerce among micro, small, and medium enterprise owners in order to face changes in the market and remain competitive. It can also be beneficial for business owners and managers that aim to increase awareness of the importance of technology in their business operations. The work of this paper deepens the understanding of the relationship between IT capabilities, organizational agility, and competitive advantage, which are becoming increasingly important in the current digitalized and ever-changing business environment. It enriches the literature about micro, small and medium enterprise that is related to their IT capabilities level, how they use it to handle changes and factors that contributes in obtaining competitive advantage.

MENINGKATKAN PEMANFAATAN PASAR DIGITAL UNTUK EKSPOR PRODUK UMKM DI JAWA TIMUR

ABSTRAKSektor usaha mikro, kecil dan menengah (UMKM) memiliki peran yang sangat penting dalam membangkitkan perekonomian di daerah, tidak terkecuali Jawa Timur. Kontribusi UMKM dalam peningkatan perekonomian provinsi Jawa Timur merupakan yang terbesar dibandingkan sektor lainnya. Gubernur Jawa Timur Khofifah Indar Parawansa pada acara Briliant Preneur 2021 bahwa kontribusi UMKM terhadap produk domestik regional bruto (PDRB) di Jawa Timur bahkan mencapai 57,25 persen. Agar pasar UMKM dapat lebih luas hingga ke luar negeri, maka pelatihan ekspor kepada para pelaku UMKM di Jawa Timur perlu diadakan. Kegiatan “Workshop Peluang Ekspor UMKM Melalui Pasar Digital” dilakukan untuk memfasilitasi para pelaku UMKM dalam memulai ekspor produk mereka. Kegiatan yang ini diikuti kurang lebih 50 perwakilan UMKM di Jawa Timur ini terdiri dari 3 tahap kegiatan, tahap persiapan, tahap pelaksanaan, dan tahap monitoring evaluasi. Pada tahap persiapan, panitia melakukan koordinasi internal juga memberikan lembar untuk diisi dengan data usaha pelaku UMKM. Pada tahap pelaksanaan, workshop dilakukan melalui dua (2) sesi. Sesi pertama merupakan pemberian materi terkait pemanfaatan pasar digital untuk ekspor produk-produk UMKM Jawa Timur. Pada sesi kedua, para peserta dapat langsung melakukan praktek atas materi yang diberikan, dan dapat melaporkan hasilnya. Monitoring dan evaluasi pelaksanaan dilakukan dengan mengisi lembar evaluasi kegiatan, baik yang dilakukan oleh narasumber terhadap pelaksanaan acara maupun para pelaku UMKM terhadap pelaksanaan acara. Seluruh peserta workshop dapat mengikuti dengan baik walaupun ada beberapa kendala saat sesi praktek seperti banyaknya penggunaan bahasa asing dalam praktek pembuatan akun website e-commerce maupun pembuatan deskripsi produk. Kata kunci: ekspor; pasar digital; UMKM. ABSTRACTThe micro, small and medium enterprise (MSMEs) sector has a very important role in generating the economy in the region. East Java is no exception. The contribution of MSMEs in improving the economy of East Java province is the largest compared to other sectors. East Java Governor Khofifah Indar Parawansa at the Briliant Preneur 2021 event that the contribution of MSMEs to gross regional domestic product (GRDP) in East Java even reached 57.25 percent. So that the MSME market can be wider overseas, then export training for MSME actors in East Java needs to be held. The activity "Workshop on MSME Export Opportunities Through Digital Markets" was carried out to facilitate MSMEs players in exporting their products. This activity, attended by approximately 50 representatives of MSMEs in East Java, consisted of 3 stages of activity, the preparation stage, the implementation stage, and the evaluation monitoring stage. The committee carried out internal coordination at the preparation stage and provided a sheet filled with business data for MSME actors. The workshop was conducted in two (2) sessions at the implementation stage. The first session was the provision of material related to the use of the digital market to export East Java MSME products. In the second session, the participants could immediately practice the provided material and report the results. Monitoring and evaluation of implementation are carried out by filling out activity evaluation sheets, both those carried out by resource persons on the implementation of the event and MSME actors on the implementation of the event. All workshop participants were able to follow well. However, there were several obstacles during the practice session, such as using foreign languages to create e-commerce website accounts and making product descriptions. Keywords: exports; digital market; MSMEs.

Invoices Classification Using Deep Features Based on SME Perspectives

Automation is seen as a potential alternative in improving productivity in the twenty-first century. Invoicing is the essential foundation of accounting record keeping and serves as a critical foundation for law enforcement inspections by auditing agencies and tax authorities. With the rise of artificial intelligence, automated record keeping systems are becoming more widespread in major organizations, allowing them to do tasks in real time and with no effort as well as a decision-making tool. Despite the system's benefits, many small and medium-sized businesses, particularly in Malaysia, are hesitant to implement it. Invoices are mostly processed manually that prone to human errors and lower productivity of the company. Artificial intelligence will further improve automated invoice handling making it simpler and efficient for all levels of businesses especially the small and medium enterprise This study presents a deep learning approach on record keeping focusing on invoices recognition by detecting invoice image classification. The deep learning model used in this research including the classic architecture of Convolutional Neural Network and its other variation such as VGG-16, VGG-19 and ResNet-50. Besides that, the constrains and expectation of the system to be implemented in small and medium enterprise in Malaysia are also presented in the interview scores. The research highlighted a comparison result between deep learning model and the perspective of SME presented in the discussion section. ResNet-50 shows a significant value in both training and validation accuracy compared to the other models with 95.90% accuracy in training and 74.24% accuracy for validation data. Future work will look at the suggested other deep learning method and intelligence features to be implemented for a more efficient invoices recognition and for small and medium enterprise.

Innovation Vouchers and the Sustainable Growth of High-Tech SMEs: Evidence from China

Innovation has become an essential source of sustainable growth for most firms, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Governments around the world widely implement innovation vouchers to promote innovation in SMEs. This study empirically explores the effects of innovation vouchers in stimulating patentable innovation and ultimately enhancing firms’ financial performance. Using a panel of 1274 listed SMEs from the Small and Medium Enterprise Board (SMEB) and the Growth Enterprise Board (GEB), we find that innovation vouchers lead firms to utilize knowledge-intensive services and significantly increase their financial performance. We further document that patentable innovations mediate the relationship between innovation vouchers and firms’ financial performance. We report that the effects of innovation vouchers on financial performance are more prominent for SMEs with limited external informational resources. We believe that our study yields novel evidence and sheds further light on the important policy implications of innovation vouchers to facilitate the sustainable growth of SMEs.