Indonesian batik small and medium enterprises (SMEs) are rapidly growing, but they face many challenges in developing their business. For this reason, we propose a combination of open innovation and engagement theory to overcome these challenges. We conducted interviews with 27 local government officers (external stakeholder) and 57 managers of batik SMEs (internal stakeholder). We confirmed the interview results with 20 batik experts and representatives from the Indonesian Ministry of Industry in the Focus Group Discussion. We have divided the findings of this study into two categories: Java and outside of Java, since the two areas have different characteristics. According to our findings, the biggest challenge of batik SMEs in Java is the emergence of the batik printing business. Meanwhile, batik SMEs outside of Java are having difficulty obtaining raw materials. Open innovation has been implemented by some batik SMEs in Indonesia and can improve their business performance. However, more batik SMEs do not implement open innovation due to the lack of their skills and involvement of other stakeholders. As a result, we suggest that open innovation in the Indonesian batik industry needs to be supported by the participation of various parties or that open innovation is combined with engagement theory.

The Conversion of Agricultural Land in Urban Areas (Case Study of Pekalongan City, Central Java)

Over the past few decades, agricultural land sustainability on the peri-urban areas face a threat to the agricultural land conversion, especially on the peri-urban areas of Pekalongan City. The sustainability of agricultural land is determined by the level of farmers’ perception. Therefore, this research was conducted to determine the factors that influence farmers’ perceptions toward agricultural land sustainability in peri-urban areas of Pekalongan City. The peri-urban areas of Pekalongan City were selected by purposive sampling method with a total sample of 90 farm owners and cultivators. Data were analyzed using OLS (Ordinary Least Square) regression model. The results have shown that the factors influencing farmers’ perceptions toward agricultural land sustainability in the peri-urban area of Pekalongan City were farmers’ knowledge, farmers’ land tenure and access to information. Based on the results of the study, the variables of farmers’ knowledge and land tenure had a negative impact, while the access to agricultural information had a positive impact on farmers’ perceptions. These results have the implication for farmers, that their perceptions can be improved by making advances to the quality of agricultural land in the suburbs, reducing both production and price risks and increasing the intensity of counseling or training related to agricultural activities in the suburbs of Pekalongan City.

In the last few decades, the implementation of tariff policies between countries has declined. As a result, the enforcement of non-tariff measures (NTMs) experiences an increase. Implementing NTMs raises a new obstacle to trade activities in the global market, including the trade of Indonesia’s natural rubber. Therefore, this study was conducted to determine the effect of enforcing NTMs on the export competitiveness of Indonesia’s natural rubber. This study utilized secondary data from UN COMTRADE on 1995 to 2019. The data was analyzed using frequency index, coverage ratio, comparative advantage, and two-stage least square regression model. The results revealed that India, China, and the USA enforced the most NTMs of Indonesia’s natural rubber. Additionally, the implementation of NTMs in importing countries positively correlated to the export competitiveness of Indonesia’s natural rubber in destination countries.