Using data from the 2024 National Socio-Economic Survey (Survei Sosial Ekonomi Nasional; SUSENAS) for 172,699 households across a 13-province Indonesian analytical domain, this study examines the relationship between microfinance-related credit receipt and expenditure-based material welfare. Credit receipt is defined as reported household receipt of credit from cooperatives, BUMDes, and/or PNM Mekaar during the previous 12 months. Inverse probability weighted regression adjustment estimates an Average Treatment Effect on the Treated (ATET) for log monthly household per-capita expenditure. The estimated ATET is −0.0806 log points (95% CI [−0.0999, −0.0612]; p < 0.001). The estimate is stable across alternative estimators, support restrictions, expenditure specifications, and province exclusions, but attenuates substantially when contemporaneous household economic-capacity measures are added, while hidden-selection diagnostics warrant further caution. Institutional estimates vary across credit sources, and a supplementary pooled interaction test indicates a more negative adjusted association in urban than rural households (Wald p < 0.001). These cross-sectional observational findings do not establish causal effects; rather, they show that credit access and higher expenditure-based material welfare are not synonymous and motivate institution-specific longitudinal evaluation.
This study examines the predictive role of strategic planning and managerial skills in the competitiveness of micro and small enterprises (MSEs) in northern Peru, addressing the limited use of inferential methods to assess managerial capabilities in emerging economies. A quantitative, cross-sectional design was applied to a stratified random sample of 358 firms. Data were collected using a 21-item questionnaire measured on a five-point Likert scale. Content validity was established through expert judgement, while internal consistency was satisfactory (Cronbach’s α = 0.81–0.91; composite reliability = 0.87–0.93). Analyses included Spearman correlation and ordinal logistic regression. Managerial skills significantly predicted competitiveness (OR = 2.63, p < 0.001), and this effect remained stable after adjustment for owner and firm characteristics. In contrast, strategic planning showed no independent predictive contribution after accounting for managerial skills (p = 0.376). Complementary mediation analysis did not support strategic planning as a mediating mechanism, and common method bias did not compromise the measures. The findings highlight managerial capabilities as a relevant factor associated with competitiveness and provide evidence to inform capability-building initiatives for MSEs in resource-constrained contexts.
Seafood-processing small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) face challenges related to perishable raw materials, food-safety requirements, certification, market access and value-added product development. However, limited evidence explains how internal capabilities and institutional requirements jointly shape innovation and growth in this sector. This study examines the effects of human resource competencies and certification and legality on product innovation and business growth, the mediating role of product innovation and the moderating roles of digitalization adoption and access to finance. Data were collected from 466 seafood-processing SMEs in East Kalimantan, Indonesia and analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling with SmartPLS. Certification and legality show the strongest effects on business growth and product innovation, while digitalization adoption strengthens the certification and legality–product innovation relationship. Product innovation contributes positively but only modestly to business growth and mediates the certification and legality–business growth relationship, but not the human resource competencies–business growth relationship. Access to finance does not moderate either growth relationship. The findings indicate that SME competitiveness depends on aligning internal capabilities and institutional legitimacy with sector-specific regulatory, operational and market conditions.
Portfolio outcomes depend not only on asset characteristics but also on how assets are selected, weighted and evaluated. Mixed findings on environmental, social and governance (ESG) portfolios are commonly attributed to differences in data, models, markets, or rating providers, with less attention to the stage at which ESG first enters the investment process. This study addresses that gap through a PRISMA-based systematic review of 201 included studies – 196 research articles and 5 review articles – combined with bibliometric analysis and directed content analysis. A theory-informed, rule-based codebook was applied to the full texts. Each study received one primary role based on the earliest material ESG entry in its principal analytical design. The final coding classified ESG as a Constraint that changes the investable universe in 51 studies (25.4%), a Mechanism that enters portfolio construction or allocation in 77 studies (38.3%), and Evaluation used to assess investment outcomes or behavior in 73 studies (36.3%). The classification distinguishes asset eligibility, portfolio allocation and investment evaluation as separate decision contexts. It provides a structured basis for organizing the literature and interpreting findings with attention to how ESG is used. Its contribution is descriptive and interpretive: the classification does not establish that differences in ESG entry points cause differences in portfolio returns.
Corruption is widely regarded as an institutional barrier to entrepreneurship, yet its effects may differ across stages of the entrepreneurial process. This paper examines the associated between corruption on entrepreneurship by evaluating how institutional quality differentially shapes early-stage versus mature market entry. Utilizing a panel dataset of eight Asian economies from 2010 to 2023, we employ Fixed Effects and Random Effects (FEM/REM) panel estimation to analyze two distinct dimensions of entrepreneurial activity: nascent entrepreneurship from the Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (GEM) and, formal business entry rates from the World Bank Group Entrepreneurship Survey. The results reveal a clear stage-dependent relationship. Improved corruption control is associated with a significant decline in nascent entrepreneurship (β = −1.520 to −1.903), implying an approximately 15–19% reduction in nascent entrepreneurial activity, while simultaneously increasing the mature business entry rate (β = 3.320–4.421). These findings remain robust when controlling market size, trade openness, political stability, and human capital, which positively correlate with entrepreneurship, and stock market capitalization and corporate tax rates, which exert a negative influence. Ultimately, by showing that the observed association between corruption and entrepreneurship is fundamentally contingent upon the developmental stage of the entrepreneurial venture.
