EXPLORE THE IMPORTANCE OF CREATIVITY AND INNOVATION IN MICRO, SMALL AND MEDIUM ENTERPRISES (MSMEs)

Indonesia is a country with a large number of micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) sectors. MSMEs must apply creativity and innovation in order to face increasingly competitive levels of business competition. Understanding and awareness of the importance of creativity and innovation among MSMEs is still low. Understanding the differences between creativity and innovation is still felt to be ambiguous and wrong. The application of the concepts of creativity and innovation is still considered unimportant, considering that many business people want to succeed in their business instantly, without thinking too much, which can drain their mind and energy. The research explores the differences between creativity and innovation, the concept of the importance of creativity and innovation in MSMEs, and the results of research on the importance of creativity and innovation in MSMEs comprehensively examine these things as has never been done before. The aim of the research is to explore the importance of creativity and innovation in MSMEs. The method used is library research, using critical analysis techniques. The results of research exploring the importance of creativity and innovation in MSMEs show that there are 14 differences between creativity and innovation. The importance of creativity and innovation is: (1) creativity and innovation have been accepted in the fields of business/business and management, and can only be achieved through creative and innovative solutions; (2) creativity and innovation in business are two things that business people need to have and develop for success; and (3) creativity and innovation are so important in the business world, that it is necessary to optimize creative and innovative abilities and ideas. Research studies on the importance of creativity and innovation in MSMEs include: the importance of creativity and innovation, the role of creativity and innovation, the impact of creativity and innovation, and the influence of creativity and innovation. The research on the importance of creativity and innovation examines the following 12 things: (1) entrepreneurship (ability, competence, intention, spirit and entrepreneurial mindset); (2) business success/success; (3) continuity/sustainability of business; (4) business development/progress; (5) increasing competitiveness/competitive advantage; (6) buying interest; (7) purchasing decisions; (8) increasing consumer purchasing power; (9) consumer satisfaction; (10) increasing the value of products/services; (11) increase in sales volume/income turnover; and (12) business/marketing performance

Working Paper 19-08 - Quantifying environmental leakage for Belgium

This paper illustrates the deficiency of the production approach as a tool to measure a country's responsibility for international environmental impacts. A use approach is presented as a more suitable tool. The difference between the two approaches is determined by a better grasp of international trade, which can lead to environmental leakage when a country specialises in the production of environmentally friendly products and has the environmentally unfriendly products which it consumes produced abroad. We show that in the period 1995-2002 Belgium was on average a provider of air emission intensive products for the rest of the world. Environmental leakage was mostly negative. However, the evolution of the Belgian environmental terms of trade shows that by 2002 its imports had become considerably more air emission intensive with respect to its exports than in 1995. There are indications that this evolution is due to a considerable increase of extra-EU imports of air emission intensive products. This in turn could point to environmentally inspired offshoring. However, the currently available data do not allow us to test this hypothesis.Environmental leakage, Environmental terms of trade, Input-output analysis

Urban agriculture and sustainable urban landscape. An applied research on two case studies (Madagascar and Senegal)

In developing countries, like in Madagascar and Senegal facing high rates of urbanisation, urban agriculture is progressively taken into account in urban planning. To produce knowledge on this largely unknown activity and to help to design its place in urban landscape, two researches have been done with numerous surveys of farmers and of other stakeholders. We analysed the urban agriculture functions and its internal and external sustainability. With these tools and in straight relationships with urban planners and decision?makers, it was possible to discuss the types of production systems and zones where agriculture should be preserved to contribute to sustainable urban landscape. (Résumé d'auteur

Der Einfluss von Yersinia-Effektoren auf podosomale Adhäsionsstrukturen primärer humaner MAkrophagen

Podosomen sind aktinreiche Strukturen des Zytoskeletts primärer humaner Makrophagen. Für Adhäsion, Polarisation und Chemotaxis sind diese Strukturen von essentieller Bedeutung. Ihr ständiger Umbau und ihre Regulation unterliegt einer fein abgestimmten Balance der Rho GTPasen Rho, Rac und Cdc42. Pathogene Yersinien spp. haben Aktinzytoskelett von Wirtszellen durch Modulation von Rho GTPasen als Angriffsobjekt gewählt. Mit ihrem plasmidkodierten Typ III Sekretions- und Translokationsapparat werden wichtige Immunfunktionen paralysiert. In dieser Arbeit wurde in primären humanen Makrophagen der Einfluss von Yersinien-Effektoren auf Podosomen untersucht. Konkret interessierte die Frage, welchen Effekt YopE auf diese Strukturen hat. Hierzu wurden in einem standardisierten Verfahren gewonnene und gereinigte Makrophagen gesunder Spender mit unterschiedlichen Mutanten der Spezies Yersinia enterocolitica für verschiedene Zeiten infiziert. Nach Färbung der Zellen mit Rhodamin-Phalloidin wurde die Anzahl der verbliebenen Zellen mit Podosomen im konfokalen Mikroskop ermittelt und statistisch ausgewertet. Es konnte erstens gezeigt werden, daß ein voll virulenter Yersinien Stamm in der Lage ist, nach einer Infektion von bereits 30 min die podosomalen Strukturen der Makrophagen vollkommen zu zerstören. Zweitens sind an diesem Effekt verschiedene Yersinien-Effektoren und zusätzlich der Typ III Sekretions- und Translokationsapparat beteiligt. Drittens reicht YopE für die Zerstörung von Podosomen alleine aus. Viertens ist die GAP-Aktivität von YopE für die Destruktion von Podosomen nicht notwendig und lässt auf GAP-unabhängige Mechanismen von YopE schliessen. Zusammenfassend lassen die Ergebnisse dieser Arbeit vermuten, daß YopE ein wichtiger aber nicht der alleinige Effektor der Yersinien bei der Paralyse von menschlichen Makrophagen und insbesondere der Zerstörung podosomaler Adhäsionsstrukturen ist

Customer relationship management for brand commitment and brand loyalty

This article examined the impact of customer relationship management strategy on customers brand commitment and brand loyalty in the Nigeria financial sector. Methodology: the positivist quantitative survey approach was used to collect primary for this research. Simple random sampling was used to select 250 customers of Nigerian deposit accepting banks. Findings: the study found that CRM strategy impacts positively on banks’customers brand commitment and loyalty behaviours. However, continuance loyalty weighted highly positive on customer advocacy behaviour than affective loyalty. Conclusions: the study concluded that customer relationship management strategy helps in winning customers brand commitment and loyalty. Thus, continuance factors are suitable for predicting advocacy intentions of customers of Nigerian banks. Recommendations: the study recommended for strategic policy makers in the Nigeria financial sector to improve on their firms’ CRM infrastructure in order to continually meet customers’ expectations. KEYWORDS: Customer relationship management, customer advocacy, brand commitment, loyalt

An investigation of the effect of the European currency union (euro) on sectoral trade: an application of the gravity model of trade.

The introduction of the single currency (Euro) in Europe has been referred to as the worlds largest economic experiment and has led to major research on the effects of the adoption of a common currency on economic activity with considerable emphasis on its effect on trade flows at the macroeconomic level. However, the investigation of the euro effect on individual sectors has received very little attention and this provides the motivation for the research. The main contribution of this thesis is to the sectoral analysis of the single currency's effect on bi-lateral trade flows, specifically the effects on the transport equipment manufacturing sector. In order to achieve this, a comparison of the different estimation methods applied in the gravity model literature will be employed to investigate this effect and to identify the factors affecting trade in this sector. This study uses a panel data set which comprises the most recent information on bilateral trade for the EU15 countries from 1990 to 2008. This research aims to build on the results obtained in previous studies by employing a more refined empirical methodology and associated tests. The purpose of the tests is to ensure that the euros effect on trade is isolated from the other pro- trade policies of the European integration processes, particularly the introduction of the Single Market. The desirable feature of this approach is that, while other studies limit their attention to a particular issue (zero trade flow, time trend, sectoral analysis, cross-correlation, etc.), very few, if any, apply a selection of techniques. Overall, the results demonstrate that the single currency's effect on trade in this sector is limited with only the fixed effects formulation with year dummy variables showing a significant positive effect of the euro. An obvious policy implication for countries looking to adopt a single currency is that they should be cautious regarding the potential for growth in intra-bloc trade in a particular sector, although they will benefit from the on-going process of integration

Working Paper 13-09 - Qualitative Employment Multipliers for the Belgian Environmental Industry

The present paper computes cumulative employment generated by the Belgian environmental industry. Relying on Belgian input-output tables for the year 2000 and on detailed employment data (SAM sub]matrix), we investigate the patterns of the employment in the environmental industry, by considering the worker types differentiated by gender, educational attainment or a combination of these characteristics. The employment multiplier analysis of environmental employment reveals some interesting differences between employment of the overall economy and environmental employment for the level of education as well as for the gender type.

Three Poems by Uchenna Awa

This article was originally published in The Prophet -- a journal created by and for the students at the Boston University School of Theology (BUSTH) to amplify the voices of STH students by promoting and sharing a range of perspectives on matters of concern including, but not limited to, spiritual practices, faith communities and society, the nature of theology, and current affairs. It serves as a platform for STH students to share their academic work, theological reflections, and life experiences with one another and the wider community.Poems by Uchenna Awa