Mobile Payment Services, Government Involvement, and Mobile Network Operator Performance

Problem definition: Recent developments in mobile payment services (MPS) have shown an increasing role of mobile-government (m-government) initiatives in improving the market performance of mobile network operators (MNOs) and financial inclusion. High costs and operational challenges have discouraged MNOs from fully committing to the development of MPS, but government involvement under m-government may increase MNO user bases by providing the scale and scope necessary to incentivize MNOs. Academic/practical relevance: Extant research on mobile payment has ignored the role of governments as important stakeholders in the mobile financial ecosystem. Our research contributes to the literature by examining the role of governments as business partners in MPS launches and the effect of government involvement on MNO user bases. Methodology: Using a unique proprietary data set from the mobile network industry, we design a quasi-experiment to examine the causal effects of government involvement in MPS on MNOs’ total mobile connections. More importantly, we adopt a changes-in-changes (CIC) estimation approach to further establish nonlinear treatment effects of government involvement based on MNO size and MPS type. Results: We find that government involvement expands MNO user bases beyond MPS launches. Such effects increase with MNO size and MPS variety, favoring larger MNOs and, to a certain degree, MNOs with diverse offerings of government-involved MPS. Government involvement in MPS launches also directly benefits MNOs with microloan services. In addition, government regulations and policies to encourage financial inclusion can also expand MNO user bases. Managerial implications: Governments play a critical role in promoting technologies and financial services both as a regulator and as a business partner. To improve market performance, MNOs should take advantage of the scale and scope of government services by partnering with government agencies in launching MPS. MNOs should also embrace government policies and regulations to increase user bases.

The localised accounting environment in the implementation of fair value accounting in Indonesia

Purpose This case study aims to investigate the role of actors in the implementation of fair value standards in an emerging country, Indonesia. Design/methodology/approach This study uses semi-structured interviews with important actors within the local accounting profession, standard setting and regulatory environment, to analyse fair value accounting implementation. This study also incorporates information from press releases and newspapers, to provide a more comprehensive picture of fair value implementation. Findings First, professionals undertake routine actions, cultivate interests and strategically navigate their environment during the process of fair value standard implementation. Second, the role of appraisers becomes more prominent during this process. Third, government involvement is significant in ensuring the successful implementation of global accounting standards. Research limitations/implications First, differing localised contexts, including communities and actors, may shape how an emerging country undertakes the diffusion and implementation of global standards, which in turn can also lead to institutional change. Second, government involvement is crucial in supporting the implementation of global accounting standards within emerging economies. Third, implementing market-based measurements within emerging economies characterised by a lack of an active and liquid market may present challenges. Practical implications Third, implementing market-based measurements within emerging economies characterised by a lack of an active and liquid market may present challenges. Originality/value This study applies the concept of Institutional Work within Institutional Theory to explain how fair value standards are implemented within a localised emerging economy characterised by unique actor roles and goal-directed action.

Political Polarization During 2017-2021

During the Trump era there was a significant rise of hate crimes, racial bullying, and violence against the LGBTQ+ community which can be explained by political polarization. Both major political parties were pushed to the far ends of the spectrum to counteract the influence of the other side. We tested how this polarization occurs at the level of individual political issues, and study the political factors under Trump that contributed to it. We used a survey research method to collect data on peoples’ beliefs over 5 different contentious political topics (abortion, climate change, gun control, healthcare, and immigration). This data was compared to data from studies performed in 2016 (pre-Trump). To ensure standardization of the data, our survey used the same questions as the previous surveys. Along with the questions gauging opinion, we also included an individual question per issue that gauged how the participant formed that opinion. Compared to 2016 there was a shift towards more government involvement and regulation in the areas of healthcare and gun control, respectively. There was a shift towards environmental protection, and less stringent immigration standards. More participants were in favor of abortion. Most participants said they formed ALL of their political opinions individually. However, social media and major news outlets had played a role in shaping opinions about abortion and environment, respectively. Compared to 2016 surveys there was a significant change in public opinion about various issues of contemporary importance, partly influenced by political polarization and by social media and news outlets.

Emirati 50-year economic plan offers mixed prospects

Significance It seeks to lessen direct government involvement in the economy, increase the importance of the private sector with a focus on high tech, improve business regulation, diversify from hydrocarbon revenues, reduce reliance on expatriate labour and upskill Emiratis. Impacts Growth in the digital, space, advanced and circular economies will be strong, because of high wages, low tax and capital availability. Unclear relations between federal and emirate-level plans such as Dubai 2040 and Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 may cause confusion. Parallel diversification efforts in Saudi Arabia could boost regional prosperity, but intensified competition also risks becoming zero-sum.

ELIXIR and Toxicology: a community in development

Toxicology has been an active research field for many decades, with academic, industrial and government involvement. Modern omics and computational approaches are changing the field, from merely disease-specific observational models into target-specific predictive models. Traditionally, toxicology has strong links with other fields such as biology, chemistry, pharmacology and medicine. With the rise of synthetic and new engineered materials, alongside ongoing prioritisation needs in chemical risk assessment for existing chemicals, early predictive evaluations are becoming of utmost importance to both scientific and regulatory purposes. ELIXIR is an intergovernmental organisation that brings together life science resources from across Europe. To coordinate the linkage of various life science efforts around modern predictive toxicology, the establishment of a new ELIXIR Community is seen as instrumental. In the past few years, joint efforts, building on incidental overlap, have been piloted in the context of ELIXIR. For example, the EU-ToxRisk, diXa, HeCaToS, transQST, and the nanotoxicology community have worked with the ELIXIR TeSS, Bioschemas, and Compute Platforms and activities. In 2018, a core group of interested parties wrote a proposal, outlining a sketch of what this new ELIXIR Toxicology Community would look like. A recent workshop (held September 30th to October 1st, 2020) extended this into an ELIXIR Toxicology roadmap and a shortlist of limited investment-high gain collaborations to give body to this new community. This Whitepaper outlines the results of these efforts and defines our vision of the ELIXIR Toxicology Community and how it complements other ELIXIR activities.

The Initiated of Formation of Linking Social Capital of Community in Creative Tourism Village Dago Pojok, Bandung, West Java Province, Indonesia

Poverty in rural areas is now reaching an alarming condition, according to the Central Statistics Agency at this time the poor in rural areas dominate the percentage of poverty in Indonesia by 60%. Efforts to improve the welfare of rural communities will not be separated from how people use and maximize their potential, especially in networking relevant to the issue of social capital. Based on the concept of social capital, there is currently a type of social capital linking, which means emphasizing how the community is able to build relationships with parties who have authority, especially in making policy. This is considered to be important to support the development of welfare for the community, especially in the Dago Creative Tourism Village. Based on this, the purpose of this study is how the community initiated the development of social capital linking in the community in Dago Creative Tourism Village. Therefore, based on these objectives, this study uses a qualitative approach with a descriptive type. The data collection is done by observation, study of documentation of relevant documents and interviews. In addition interviews were conducted on 15 informants obtained using purposive sampling technique to determine informants. The results of this study indicate that there are several ways in which people initiate government involvement in developing social capital linking, such as community legalizing organizations, people participating in activities organized by the government, and the community providing government opportunities to participate in every activity organized by the government

A new theoretical model of government backed venture capital funding

Government involvement in the venture capital (VC) market has become an important catalyst of the entrepreneurial ecosystem of young and innovative firms. There is an extensive literature describing the VC model, but the models of its government backed variants are not comprehensively discussed. The article focuses on the model of purely government backed venture capital (GVC) and hybrid venture capital (HGVC). The conclusion of this article is that, by the logic of their models, GVCs are destined to underperform than private VCs. Many articles see HGVCs as a step forward compared to GVCs, as they involve private participants. The novelty of the current article lies in bringing out the drawbacks deriving from the system of hybrid venture capital funding by creating a complex theoretical framework of the HGVC model. We show that due to the crowding in of private participants, this scheme creates a two-goal system where the private profit maximising interests conflict with the economic policy goals. The complex system of HGVC is exposed to increased moral hazard issues that might lead to higher distortions than GVC. The conclusions are especially relevant in the case of developing industries.

Kenyan Government Involvement on BIM and its Effect on BIM Adoption amongst Building Contractors.

Building Information Modelling (BIM) has been touted as a new outstanding technology and governments who have noticed this is getting involved. This study investigated the current level of the Kenyan Government’s involvement and how this has influenced adoption amongst building contractors. This study also compares global trends in the context to Kenya. This study identified roles like initiation and regulation that governments could undertake to encourage adoption. A random sampling of registered contractors with active construction sites within Nairobi County was used to identify respondents. Using a one-sample t-test with a universal mean of 2 representing weak government involvement, with t (61) = 2.39, α > 0.05, M = 2.05 and S = 1.53, the Kenyan government’s involvement in BIM and its performance on the roles was weak. There was no relationship between the government roles and BIM except for BIM Initiation which had a weak positive relationship. This study makes recommendations like the creation of a legal BIM mandate and the establishment of a BIM implementation body This is the first in-depth study in Kenya that critically looks at the government’s role on issues relating to BIM amongst Building contractors and gives precedence for subsequent comparative studies locally or regionally.

Tourism suppliers’ view of the role of government initiatives and tourism competitiveness in distressed contexts

This chapter analyses the role of government initiatives in tourism competitiveness, using data collected from suppliers operating in a distressed tourist destination. The government’s involvement in the process of tourism development, especially in developing countries, is critical. The role and participation of governments in tourism development vary from minimal to a high level of involvement. Developing economies with ongoing political and economic challenges like Zimbabwe have not been comprehensively researched, especially on the nexus between competitiveness and government initiatives. Using qualitative data from a convenience sample of 15 hospitality and tourism managers in Zimbabwe, it was found that the role of government is important for enhancing tourism competitiveness. The study concludes that a higher level of government involvement is needed for Zimbabwe to enhance competitiveness. The government should play a greater role, especially in providing an enabling environment for improved competitiveness while reducing corruption.

MENUNGGU KIPRAH NEGARA PADA SEKOLAH RUMAHAN ALA SAMIN: Studi Kasus di Kudus

This article describes the model homeschooling at Samin community in Kaliyoso and Larekrejo Village, Undaan District, Kudus, Central Java. Samin is Javanese ethnic community the originally driven by Ki Samin Surosentiko against invaders in Blora, Central Java. its existence extends to city Kudus, Central Java until now. This article is to explore Samin community no formal school purposed generation protected so that slip up present life. This research data were obtained by interview, participatory observation, and literature review. Data collection was analyzed using a qualitative descriptive approach. This curriculum are not slander (drengki), greedy (srei), hate others (panasten), indict without evidence (dawen), envy (kemeren), contempt fellow (nyiyo marang sepodo), and stay five away from abstinence are accuse (bedok), steal (colong), shoplifting (pethil-jumput); and don’t want to find goods (nemu wae ora keno). Samin community don’t formal school for maintain the teachings, inherit the speech in speech, educated by parent and figure, the evaluated in his life.The state must be present explaining by sustainable (1) developed the matter learning for homeschooling formal by persuasive approach,(2) village government involvement to guide about marriage not recorded according to the law married and people administration. For Samin a religion coloum in ID card still written Islam or strip for facilitated becomes indiginious religion.