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

Business zakat compliance in Algeria: an ethical perspective

Purpose This research aims to investigate the influence of political instability, trust and knowledge on the zakat compliance behaviour of Algerian business owners. Based on the lenses of the ethical theory mainly and by reference to Zakat Core Principles (that originally inspired from the Basel Core Principles), the paper aims to provide an understanding of how these factors affect zakat compliance in the Algerian context from an ethical perspective. Design/methodology/approach A cross-sectional research design was applied. Using self-administered questionnaires, a total of 575 business owners in Algeria participated in this study. The hypothesised model was tested by using the partial least squares structural equation model. Findings The study results support that the ethical approach can explain zakat compliance among Algerian business owners. Specifically, the results revealed that political instability, zakat knowledge and trust significantly influence zakat compliance. Practical implications The results offer meaningful insights for the zakat institutions in Muslim societies to enable them to formulate zakat collection policies, assess the level of societal trust in the zakat authority, evaluate the influence of political instability on Muslim entrepreneurs’ zakat compliance and strengthen the entrepreneurs’ zakat knowledge on the exigency of paying zakat to the authority. Originality/value This study breaks new ground by exploring the effects of political instability, zakat knowledge and trust on zakat payers’ compliance ethical decisions in developing countries such as Algeria. More significantly, this research contributes to the existing literature of the ethical theory specifically by investigating the effect of political instability on zakat compliance among Algerian business owners.

The Dynamics of Privately Held Business Assets in the United States

Although privately held businesses are central to the American economy, little is known about how their assets are distributed among the population. In this study, we describe the household distribution of private business assets in the United States and examine how it has changed over time. Using data from the 1989-2019 Survey of Consumer Finances, we show that the relative number of business owners has remained stagnant at low levels and that assets in privately held firms have become increasingly concentrated among the wealthiest owners over time. At the most recent wave of data collection, the top 1% of households controlled nearly 80% of private business assets, up from about 70% in the late 1980s. We attempt to explain this trend by evaluating how technological change, the financialization of banking, and rising market power have influenced the distribution of private business assets in recent decades. Our findings suggest that all three factors contributed to increasing asset concentration in this sector.

Aspek Penegakan Hukum Terhadap Kejahatan Fintech Syariah Pada Masa Pandemi di Indonesia: Perspektif Hukum Jinayah

With the development of the times, fintech companies in Indonesia are increasingly popular and are also increasingly sought after by many people. One of the developments in fintech is the emergence of Sharia fintech. This study aims to analyze fintech crimes that occur from the perspective of jinayah law and to analyze relevant dispute resolution for fintech crimes from the perspective of jinayah law. In this study, the author uses a normative legal research method that uses qualitative analysis, namely by explaining the existing data with words or statements not with numbers. Sharia fintech has a difference with conventional fintech, namely sharia fintech is carried out in the contract process between business owners and investors. The emergence of sharia fintech provides convenience for the community to carry out a credit process using sharia principles and principles. But there is also a negative side, namely sharia fintech crimes such as fraud, fraud. Based on the results of the study, it shows that this sharia fintech crime when viewed from the perspective of jinayah law is included in the ta'zir crime, which if there is a violation the law enforcement is in accordance with the existing legislation in the fairest manner and carried out indiscriminately and discipline that actually carries out sanki ta'zir for sharia fintech crimes, which in essence contain benefits for human life both in the world and in the hereafter.

Main street business owners: aging in plain sight

PurposeAging is the most important social-demographic issue worldwide, supported by the initiatives of the World Health Organization (WHO) in its global strategy and action plan for aging and health (Rudnicka et al., 2020). The average age of business owners in most industrialized countries is on the rise. In the United States, fifty-one percent of small private businesses are owned by someone age fifty-plus (SBA Office of Advocacy, 2018).Design/methodology/approachThe authors shed light on small business owners, who age in place. The authors suggest that their importance as long-term actors in entrepreneurial ecosystems nor the issue of “Main Street churn” have not been meaningfully explored. They become embedded in their community and possibly stuck there in retirement. Understanding the risks they face offers an opportunity for academics and practitioners to provide insights for business owners, the next generation of the acquirer and advisors. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has elevated the status of many of these businesses from invisible (and perhaps taken for granted) to “essential” and amplified the co-dependence of business and the local economy.Findings The anticipated “silver tsunami” caused by the retirements of Main Street business owners is not a national and homogeneous wave. Rather, each wave will land on beaches locally. Small business owners age in place, and their importance as long-term actors in entrepreneurial ecosystems nor the issue of “Main Street churn” have not been meaningfully explored. They become embedded in their community and possibly stuck there in retirement.Originality/value The embeddedness of these owners – who likely have social connections, community identification and feelings of responsibility to the community directly impacts the places that they care deeply about – is often unquestioned. However, their retirements call for increased visibility within entrepreneurial ecosystems and translations of scholarly work from several kinds of literature into policy and practice.

Balancing Interests

The political terrain surrounding the legalization of same-sex marriage and the need to accommodate individuals' faith-based objections have been part of public discourse since the passage of initial marriage equality statutes. These exemptions played an essential element in the bills' passages and have mainly gone unquestioned from proponents of marriage equality. But for many of the supporters of these religious exemptions, they did not go far enough to protect business owners or government officials who objected on religious grounds. This chapter discusses the resulting tension between religious freedom and marriage equality.

Risk of Business Bankruptcy

Recently, the demand of business owners to ensure the sustainability of their businesses has come to the fore. It results in a focus on identifying the risks of businesses' financial failure. Several prediction models can be applied in a given area. Which of these models is most suitable for Slovak companies? The aim of this chapter was to point out the possibility of applying the DEA method in measuring the financial health of companies and predicting the risk of their possible bankruptcy. The research was carried out on a sample of companies operating in the field of heat supply. The indicators were selected using related empirical studies, a univariate Logit model, and a correlation matrix. In this chapter, two main models were applied: the DEA model and the Logit model. The main conclusion of the paper is that the DEA method is a suitable alternative in assessing businesses' financial health.