Is SMEs Able to Construct Business Strategy to Improve Its Performance Using Its Own Ability? (Study on SMEs Karawo Handicraft in City of Gorontalo, Indonesia)

The objectives of this study were to analyze and investigate the human capital resource of SMEs to achieve the expected level of performance and to see if the quality of human capital had been appropriate enough to be able to apply certain business strategy. This study also intended to see if the cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy, as well as appropriate focus strategy to improve the performance of SMEs. This study employed a survey design in which researcher conducted a survey to managers or owner of 68 SMEs of Karawo handicraft in Gorontalo city. This study also employed the structural equation or PLS approach using warpPLS application to analyze the data. The finding of this study showed that the ability of the human capital owned by the SMEs had not yet maximized in improving its performance. The role of the mediation business strategy (cost leadership strategy and differentiation strategy) have been appropriate and matched the ability of the human capital to improve the performance of SMEs. The result of this study enriches the body of knowledge related to the resource based theory and the development of strategic management of the human capital investment for the implementation of business strategy to achieve good performance and system. This study also offers practical benefit for managers or owners of SMEs, and government in developing the business. The data were collected using cross sectional strategy by analyzing the opinions and perception of the managers or owners of the business. Future researchers are encouraged to expand this by involving bigger number of sample and broader scope of study. Future researcher may also develop this study using mix method research design to verify and take action on the interesting result of this study related to the implementation of focus strategy based on the ability of the human capital which has been confirmed to have the highest coefficient path, yet did not have significant effect to the improvement of the performance without the involvement of mediational variables such as the combination of focus-cost strategy or focus-differentiation strategy. Keyword : Human capital, business strategy, cost leadership strategy, differentiation strategy, focus strategy, performance, SME

Experimental Investigation of Drone-Based Insecticide Application for Effective Pest Management in Groundnut Field Crop

Multi-rotor unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have recently emerged as a leading technology for crop spraying, with significant attention from researchers and manufacturers focused on the performance of battery-powered hexacopter UAVs. The UAV-spraying is influenced by several factors including drone design, configuration, capabilities, operating parameters and crop type. Therefore, in this study, a six-rotor UAV sprayer was experimentally investigated to characterize spray droplets and its effectiveness in a groundnut research field. Chlorantraniliprole insecticide (18.5% SC) was applied at concentrations of 0.10%, 0.15%, 0.20%, and 0.25% using the UAV sprayer. The UAV sprayer was operated under optimized conditions, with a forward speed of 3.0 m s-1, a spray height of 1.0 m, and a pump discharge rate of 1.6 L min-1. An effective spray width of 2.5 m was found during the spraying experiments. Spray droplet samples were analyzed, revealing an actual spray deposition rate of 0.89 μL cm-2 in the upper layer and 0.72 μL cm-2 in the bottom layer of the canopy. Compared to a manual knapsack sprayer (upper layer: 1.34 μL cm-2; bottom layer: 0.32 μL cm-2), the UAV sprayer achieved more uniform coverage in both layers, with 7.43% and 6.32% spray coverage per unit area in the upper and bottom layers, respectively, compared to 9.49% and 3.18% for the manual method. The biological efficacy in controlling leaf folder insect on groundnut was 85.0% to 90.0%. The theoretical and actual application rates of the UAV sprayer were 49.0 L ha-1 and 47.0 L ha-1, respectively. The cost of operation for groundnut crop using a UAV sprayer has been estimated as 350 Rs ha-1 (770 Rs h-1 i.e., 9.2 USD h-1). The powerful downwash airflow generated by the UAV’s propellers enhanced uniform droplet deposition, spray coverage, and area coverage compared to the knapsack sprayer. These findings demonstrated the potential of multi-rotor UAVs for efficient insecticide application in small-scale groundnut farming, providing valuable insights for improving UAV-based crop spraying techniques